Warning: Definitely contains spoilers.
1. Wideboy Dan clings on for another week in ‘The Apprentice’ Episode 9
Self-confessed “lover of banter” Daniel Lassman continued his reign of terror in this week’s episode of ‘The Apprentice.’ He returned to the boardroom for a fourth time, following his haphazard management of another failed task, causing Lord Sugar to bring out some of his best barbs so far. “Are you a season ticket holder at Leyton Orient?” he asked. “You’re a season ticket holder here, that’s for sure.”
Having consistently proven himself to be petulant, deluded and deeply despised his fellow contestants/housemates, the thick-jawed pub quiz director was again spared by Lord Sugar, who clearly still loves having a fired-up wideboy in the running no matter how exasperated he acts.
This time it was Felipe Alviar-Baquero’s turn to be the fall guy, after an attempt to bend the rules cost him dearly. The hapless lawyer rode his luck for long enough, but he couldn’t stop an ominous Lord Sugar from going biblical on him (“this isn’t a legal loophole, this is a noose around your neck.”) Elsewhere, the quietly competent Roisin Hogan came into her own this week to emerge as a strong favourite; assuming she already has a half-decent business plan, Lord Sugar’s £250,000 might as well have her name on it.
2. Tarantino’s favourite actor waltzes into the next Bond film
‘Spectre’ was unveiled as the title for the forthcoming James Bond film causing people to get about as excited as you can about the name of a film. But the best part of the announcement was the news that Christoph Waltz will play a character named Oberhauser, who may or may not be the son of Blofeld, arguably Bond’s most iconic nemesis.
Having been plucked from obscurity by Quentin Tarantino, Waltz’s almost overnight transformation to an Academy Awards darling – via two powerhouse performances in ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and ‘Django Unchained’ – has fuelled hysterical speculation amongst Bond buffs about what the diminutive Austrian can bring to the table, particularly on the back of the admittedly very good ‘Skyfall.’
Sam Mendes returns to the director’s chair and after attempting to reinvent Bond as a brooding, beer-drinking madman, his decision to cast Waltz – who is best known for playing articulate assassins with a glint in their eye – suggests he could be chasing something closer to the camper feel of older Bond movies.
3. Band beefs heat up in album of the year polls
It’s that time of year again when music writers indulge themselves in the pointless but strangely addictive activity of ranking their favourite albums from the past 12 months in order, revealing more often than not that they’re actually incapable of forming their own opinions. According to the Album of the Year aggregator, the tastemakers’ choice is ‘Lost In The Dream’ by The War On Drugs, after polling highly on a series of suspiciously similar lists.
‘Lost In The Dream’ narrowly outranks ‘Benji’ by Sun Kil Moon (aka Mark Kozelek) on many of the round-ups which have already surfaced. This will no doubt irk the notoriously grouchy singer, who recently penned a folky seven-minute diss track named ‘War On Drugs: Suck My Cock,’ calling them “the whitest band I’ve ever heard.”
Elsewhere, Rollin’ Stone managed to either troll the entire internet or prove just how out of touch it has become by naming U2’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ – the one that invaded people’s iTunes libraries this September like a nasty case of mumps – as its album of the year.
4. Adnan’s defence lawyer gets cross-examined in ‘Serial’ Episode 10
After bringing out the big guns in recent weeks to further support Adnan Syed’s innocence, in this week’s episode of true crime podcast ‘Serial,’ the show’s host Sarah Koenig – who now has the familiarity of a close friend or family member – turned her attention towards Adnan Syed’s defence attorney Cristina Gutierrez, a woman who up until now has only been portrayed as a somewhat unconventional, but overall respected lawyer, who may or may not have botched Syed’s case intentionally.
In this episode we learn that Gutierrez was a meticulous and brilliant workaholic, who obsessed over Syed’s case – and in turn, earned his deepest trust – to the extent that it probably contributed to her declining health (she died of heart attack four years after Syed was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend).
The court recordings of Gutierrez’s painfully drawn-out delivery gives the episode a slower feel, but Koenig is able to reach conclusions about how Gutierrez’s health may have affected her competency throughout the case – particularly as she appeared to gloss over a major piece of evidence and lost her temper in the court room on more than one occasion. Koenig also responds to rumours about a new appeal for Syed, saying “it is still alive by a thread… based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, meaning Christina Guiterrez screwed up.”
5. ‘The Newsroom’ passes its shelf life in Episode 3, ‘Main Justice’
‘The Newsroom’ entered the business end of its third and final season on Sky Atlantic, which, by American standards, is something of a failure. The criticism that has been heaped on the show throughout its short tenure has often felt unfair given its potential to be hugely entertaining, but the most recent episode – which bordered on nauseatingly schmaltzy – had all the hallmarks of a show well past its sell-by date.
The re-appearance of Lucas Pruit, an eccentric – and most likely autistic – new media mogul played by B.J. Novak (aka Ryan from the American version of ‘The Office’) was another example of the show’s paper-thin and frankly, unconvincing characters that cling tightly to tired stereotypes – much like the sanctimonious journalists and online-dwelling nerds that we’ve already endured.
The storyline that’s stringing the series together is at least captivating for the most part, so there’s still hope that Aaron Sorkin can tap into his former screenwriting glory and craft a fitting ending for the show.
Alex Andrews
Filed under: Pop Culture
