SHOW OF THE WEEK: Black Bird (July 8, Apple TV+)
It’s not the crime scenes that are the most chilling in the miniseries “Black Bird”; it’s the moments when murderer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) is describing to fellow prisoner Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) what he’s done.
There’s one scene in particular in the fifth episode that is harrowing.
Jimmy, a charismatic cocaine dealer who’s cut a deal with the FBI to reduce his sentence in exchange for getting information from Larry about his victims, has finally got the cagey, paranoid killer to open up. As they sit across a table from each other in the prison woodworking shop, the camera jumps back and forth between their faces: Larry’s as he matter-of-factly recounts raping, beating and strangling a teenage girl; Jimmy’s as he listens and struggles to disguise his growing horror.
Later, when they return to their separate cells, Jimmy sobs quietly into his hands.
The stellar work of Hauser (“Cobra Kai,” “Richard Jewell”) and Egerton (“Kingsman,” “Rocketman”) is more than enough to recommend “Black Bird,” but it’s not the only reason.
Ray Liotta, who died at age 67 shortly after shooting wrapped on “Black Bird,” gives a performance that is in some ways the heart of the series. He plays Big Jim Keene, Jimmy’s father, an ex-cop whose love for Jimmy is never in doubt even when his actions put Jimmy in danger.
There’s a poignancy to the fact that Liotta’s character is in ill health; one wonders how much of Big Jim’s frailty was also Liotta’s with scenes in which you can see his hands shaking. But the acting is still top notch, fiercely and deeply emotional.
The bond between father and son explains why Jimmy takes the deal in the first place, which involves moving from a minimum-security institution where he’s well-liked and comfortable to a maximum security prison specializing in the criminally insane where his life might be in danger.
We go into the show knowing that Jimmy will survive since the series is based on the real James Keene’s memoir, “In With the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption,” but that doesn’t make the prison scenes any less tense, especially after a guard outs Jimmy as a snitch.
The jail footage is intercut with scenes of the investigation into Larry’s crimes — in which both Greg Kinnear as detective Brian Miller and Sepideh Moafi as FBI agent Lauren McCauley also give excellent performances — and flashbacks to Larry’s and Jimmy’s childhoods.
These suggest that both men grew up with negligent fathers and indifferent mothers, although only Larry — a harmless weirdo to the cops in his hometown of Wabash, Indiana, who loved fixing up old vans and civil war re-enactments — turned into a killer.
In any event, the series doesn’t go too deeply into the why of Larry’s crimes — and in real life, he has never been convicted of murder, although he’s serving a life sentence for kidnapping. It’s about the cat and mouse game between Keene and Hall and is at its most gripping when Hauser and Egerton are onscreen together.
Short Takes
Moonhaven (July 7, AMC+)
I preface this by letting you know I’ve watched only two episodes of this six-episode sci-fi series, so consider this more of a first impression than a full review. The premise is that Earth is dying (that part is clearly not entirely fiction), but there’s a plan to save the planet and all its people via a revolutionary new form of machine learning that’s been developed in a colony on the moon. But “the bridge,” the name given for the imminent transfer by a giant corporation of tech and colonists back to Earth, is threatened by a couple of murders in the Garden of Eden-like colony, which might be part of a larger plot to sabotage the mission. Caught up in all of this is an earther named Bella Sway (Emma McDonald), a pilot and smuggler whose half-sister was the first murder victim and who witnesses the murder of the second. She teams up with a moon detective named Paul (played by Dominic Monaghan of “Lost” and “Lord of the Rings”) to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Monaghan is charismatic in the role and McDonald starts to grow on you once her character lightens up on the cynicism, but you have to wade through some hokeyness to get to the meat of the matter. The colonists come off as cultists, wandering around in colourful robes singing and dancing, and speaking in a stilted combination of very old-fashioned language and made-up words. If you can get past the new-agey trappings there might be a decent show under there. Joe Manganiello also stars.
Reel Black: Our Film Stories (July 8, CBC Gem; July 9, 8 p.m., CBC)
Got 20 minutes to spare? Then watch this documentary for a bit of a history lesson about Black filmmaking in Canada. It includes interviews with filmmakers Claire Prieto, Clement Virgo, Christene Browne, Karen Chapman, Karen King and Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, some of whom have been making documentaries and feature films for decades. But even with that wealth of experience, barriers remain thanks to ingrained racism in the screen industry. Yet the doc also imparts a sense of hope, highlighting a new generation of artists such as Ajahnis Charley and Christian Anderson, part of a mentorship program through the OYA Media Group. As Ajahnis points out, it’s not just about getting more Black faces onscreen and behind the camera, but more Black crews, writers, producers and executives. “I want more slices or let’s make a new, better pie,” he says.
and Mercedes Morris in “SkyMed.” PHOTO CREDIT: CBC
SkyMed (July 10, 9 p.m., CBC, CBC Gem)
If you like your medical dramas with liberal helpings of romantic entanglements this might be the show for you. The drama follows a group of young, attractive pilots and nurses providing medical care in northern Manitoba. Their ministrations are mostly provided in the back of a plane, which means they have to be fearless and quick on their feet. Back on the ground, the crews share a house, which means partying and hooking up are also on the agenda. But apart from the medical and relationship emergencies, the series — inspired by creator Julie Puckrin’s nurse sister and pilot brother-in-law, who met while serving on an airborne medical crew —also casts an eye on the racism and health care barriers faced by patients in remote Indigenous communities. And the natural scenery is a hell of a lot better than anything you’ll see on “Grey’s Anatomy.”
CBC and CBC Gem also have Season 2 of the sand-sculpting competition series “Race Against the Tide” (July 10, 8:30 p.m.). Gem has “Sorry for Your Loss” (July 4), which stars Elizabeth Olsen of “WandaVision” fame as a widow dealing with the loss of her husband; Season 3 of British comedy “Stath Lets Flats” (July 8) and Season 12 of “The Great British Baking Show” (July 10, 7 p.m., also on CBC TV).
Odds and Ends
Netflix’s offerings this week include “Boo, Bitch” (July 8), which stars Lana Condor of “To All the Boys” fame as a high school senior who uses her death to catch up on all the life she missed when she was trying not to get noticed. It has the usual high school tropes and is intermittently entertaining but doesn’t resemble any ghost story I’ve ever seen in the two episodes I watched. There’s also reality series “How to Build a Sex Room” (July 8), in which designer Melanie Rose, yes, helps couples build hanky panky spaces in their homes. True crime doc “Girl in the Picture” and rom-com “Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between” both debut July 6, and animated comedy “The Sea Beast” is out July 8.
I don’t watch much reality TV anymore, despite my handle, but I do make time for “The Amazing Race Canada,” which returns July 5 at 9 p.m. on CTV after a three-year absence due to the pandemic.
BBC Earth has the latest David Attenborough nature show, “The Green Planet” (July 6, 9 p.m.), which explores “the hidden life of plants,” including maple trees in northern Ontario and lodgepole pines in British Columbia.
The big PBS offering this week is “The Great Muslim American Road Trip” (July 5, 10 p.m.), featuring rapper Mona Haydar and husband Sebastian Robins travelling Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles, and visiting Muslim communities and people along the way.
NOTE: The listings here are in Eastern Standard Time and I’ve verified the times where possible, but it’s always best to check listings for your own area. The selection of programs reviewed reflects what I’m given access to by networks and streamers, whether reviews are embargoed, how many shows I have time to watch and my own personal taste. The Odds and Ends section includes shows that I have not watched.
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