Wild Palms, une vie sans histoire

The story is a veiled attempt at going where the church of Scientology exists. Anton Kreutzer, played fairly well by Robert Loggia, is pretty much L. Ron Hubbard. There are even spot lines that go to the arena of Aleister Crowley, Hubbard's "very good friend". The Sea Org and the Commodore's Messengers are dressed to the nines, perfect in their affectation of the naval attire. Coty is a mock-up of the now ruler of the Darkstar, the honorable king David. You know the Star of David is two inner locking equilateral triangles encompassing three 60 degree angles. "and ye shall know them by their number":666; a number exulted upon by Ron's very good friend, Aleister Crowley. The acting is spotty, some actor's can't and some can. However great imagery, fantastic attire, and far ahead of its time in technology make this a must see for the clued-in sci-fi fan. Hubbard might have been twisted, but give him his due, a genius for manipulation of the truth. Scientology is still standing and Tom Cruise can't handle the truth, can't handle it because he knows not what he do.

The real credit for WILD PALMS should go to Bruce Wagner and his flowing, prosaic dialogue. It's like classic Film Noir crossed with cyber-speak, doused with a fifth of Single Malt Scotch and set on fire. There are so many clever, nimble phrases that are turned on their axis and spun into something entirely different.

Examples:

"Mystery loves company."

"Do you know how much it hurts to be SHOT IN THE CHEST??"

"You're no General! You're a pimp with the wings of a bat!"

"You've got quite a mouth on you! Take care someone doesn't take a needle and sew it up."

"Weak dog! You stillborn calf! YOU MAKE ME VOMIT!"

Granted the whole package is a little hard to take in all at once - it's one of those things that becomes more interesting the more you watch it. And for everyone who argues it ends with a whimper, not a bang, well, you may be right, but I posit that The Senator, Harry's real lineage, The Go Chip, and the Mimezine are all besides the point. Enjoy it for one of the campiest, cleverest, most intelligent scripts ever written for television.(Thank You Bruce Wagner) This is a project that is not only entertaining to watch, but a JOY to listen to. It's FUN.

Transhumanism, techno-shamanism, hallucinations, cults, child abductions, mind control, mass media, mind altering drugs, virtual reality, political subterfuge, musings on the nature of the mind and reality and Buddhism and Philip K Dick and William Gibson, peppered throughout with excerpts of excellent poetry (Yeats, Wallace Stevens, TS Eliot, etc), Bruce Wagner's clever wordplay, Sakamoto's score, gauzy soft-focus camerawork a la Twin Peaks, with a bunch of rad flowy early 90s rayon shirts and outfits as the cherry on top of the quaalude sundae. Prophesied a lot of stuff happening today. A bit convoluted at times, but more than makes up for it as an overall piece of visionary art, even if Jim Belushi is the weakest link among an otherwise bravura cast. Amazed this show ever saw the air.

How to describe this series? Imagine if Shakespeare was alive during the late sixties and seventies and decided to write a sci-fi epic at the height of the early nineties hype about virtual reality, and you'd only be in the same ballpark.

The story? Okay, the story revolves around an unassuming family man, Harry, who only begins to realize the strangeness that is going on around him. A secret police force are kidnapping people. His daughter refuses to speak. His son is developing some violent behavior. His wife is withdrawing into a bottle. And a strange woman from his past is offering him a glimpse at a world he could only imagine before.

Combining elements of Japanese and Eastern myths, Phillip K. Dick's quest for reality, Twin Peak's surreality, a grand opera's sweep, and science fiction's imagination, Wild Palms sets up the dominos of a world that could be and then lets them fall.

Harry is drawn into the New Age cult of a powerful senator who is about to transform the world by introducing a new form of media - one that is so close to being real that it's often hard to tell the difference. If you had the choice of this world, or a world of your own creation, which would you choose? But what if that world was being controlled by someone with their own agenda? And as the world starts to deal with those questions, a group of libertarian `Friends' attempt to stop the senator any way they can. Two powerful houses will fight until there is only one remaining.

This is not a series for everyone. It isn't sci-fi in the genre of Star Trek like most television fans are used to. It's also told in the fashion of an opera, with high melodrama and amazing leaps of logic. And lest you think that it is heavy, it also has some great patches of absurdity. But it is thought provoking, and has something to say about technology, religion, power, politics, drug use, and a range of other topics. And it says it in a way that doesn't speak down or make the audience feel they are being unduly manipulated. It is fine television for a very small audience.

It's a pity it wasn't released 5 years earlier: the mood created by cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Phenomenon, Cool Runnings) is so eighties-like, the great Michael Mann (L.A. Takedown, Manhunter, The Insider) must like it, if only visually: it's very clean and cool. Except Mann usually adds some really excessive displayals of power with lots of shooting (Miami Vice) and lots of music. Wild Palms is far more subtle. The great score was created by legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence). The chosen hit songs (Where the streets have no name, Hello I must be going) just add slightly to the mood and you really have to pay attention to the songtexts. And notice the subtle fashion statements, like the sober collars? There are 5 episodes directed by 4 directors, one of which is Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, Point Break, Strange Days): Strange Days (1995) is a nice movie about more or less the same subject but without the aesthetics and the good acting. James Belushi is great, Robert Loggia and Angie Dickinson must be the devil themselves.

Wild Palms may feel like 'Dynasty - the play - set in the future' about families in multimedia instead of oil. The story IS about media monopolies and law-suits (MS anyone? - Church Windows): there seems to be no credible independent justice system anymore in this future. There are family intrigues, but definitely never really feels like a soap opera. However, one of the flaws of Wild Palms is that you can see that it is made for tv because you can see where the commercials are supposed to be. Wild Palms is quite lengthy, but I just couldn't wait for the next episode to be broadcasted seven days later. I wouldn't recommend trying to watch all episodes at once, because the pace is rather low. Cut it down to 180 minutes and you can show it in a theater (although Warhol's 'Empire' wasn't cut down a minute...). Definitely more interesting than 'JFK' and 'Nixon' together.

9/10