In
what quickly becomes apparent as the show’s grisliest and most gruesome episode
yet, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Too Old to
Die Young right out of the gate right through the finale takes a sharp turn
into levels of violence not seen in the previous six entries. In the aptly named The Magician, things start coming to a head for our antihero Martin
Jones (Miles Teller) as his past consequences of underage sexing and prior
efforts to take out his crimelord boss Damian (Babs Olusanmokun) result in some
unexpected bouts of raw brutality. If
you recall the Danish writer-director’s 2011 Cannes favorite Drive, this is around the time in which
Christina Hendricks’ double-crossing gangster Blanche gets her head blown off.
For
the most part the seventh episode however is about Martin’s troubled
relationship with Janey Carter (Nell Tiger Free) who is in the midst of
celebrating her eighteenth birthday. Her
father Theo Carter (William Baldwin), who was mostly absent from the show but
left one Hell of an impression on the show’s pilot, is predictably unhinged
with some perverse surprises ahead for Martin.
The episode also brings Viggo Larsen (John Hawkes) back into the picture
as he and Martin embark on more assassinations of evildoers and abusers.
What’s
striking about The Magician aside
from the foray into what could in fact be the most horrific imagery the Danish
provocateur has ever conjured up from the dark recesses of his cinematic mind
is how it gradually starts introducing distance from our protagonist
Martin.
While the show made his
murderous tendencies and barely legal girlfriend known in the pilot, giving
viewers time to decide whether or not they were ready to commit to a thirteen
hour television series involving a character like this, the seventh episode all
but lets him walk through a red door into out and out psychosexual
sociopathy. Although we think we know
this character by now, all of that goes out the window as he himself freely
admits he doesn’t really know why he has to kill.
Needless
to say, for those who thought Nicolas Winding Refn’s penchant for ultraviolence
filtered through his own neon-fluorescent kaleidoscopic cinematographic prism
had reached its peak, it’s time for you to tighten your already buckled
seatbelt. But that’s not to say its all
dark red curtains drenched in crimson, as the episode does occasionally leave
room for some of the bizarre and goofy antics regarding Martin’s police
associates. Still, even this far into
Refn’s Los Angeles crime saga, I was not ready for where it took me with some
images permanently seared into my psyche and by this point it is unclear just
what will happen next.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki