Monday, April 30, 2018

Rise Episode 3 Review: What Flowers May Bloom




Credit: Vulture

In the melodramatic version of high school presented by Rise, there are two polar archetypes of “Manhood” with a capital “M”: football and theater. 

Theater guys tend to talk about their feelings whereas football players tend to bury it away because it supposedly gets in the way of glorious character-building manly labor.  Theater guys are comfortable with all manners of non-straightness and might even be somewhere on the LGBQT spectrum, whereas football guys are too busy dealing with their magnetic allure to the opposite sex to notice such things.

Granted, "Rise" didn’t invent these stereotypes, but the show seems too lazy at times to portray its world any other way. This thematic axis guides the development of nearly everything in the world. The show’s alpha male characters, Mr. Mazzou and Robbie discover their self-actualization in the world of theater which refines their more masculine edges. It’s here that they both get in touch with their feminine sides (primarily being empathetic) needed to navigate all the challenges in their lives that require feelings and all that gooey stuff.

Mr. Mazzou needs to recognize Mrs. Wolfe as an asset and find the words needed to communicate with Simon's about why their son should stay in Staunton. One might call his two encounters with Mr. and Mrs. Saunders an arc of sorts: In the first encounter, he tries to us his masculinity to stake out his territory and puts his foot in the door when Simon’s mom tries to close it. But he lacks the words to follow through. Later, he’s miraculously granted the words (supposedly by being humbled by Mrs. Wolfe). Similarly, Robbie doesn’t yet have the words to put his crush at ease that he would be faithful to her but he’s getting there.

For the show’s reductive dichotomy of manhood, it at least gets credit for not villainizing the school of Strickland completely. Gordy, who’s been overly feminized in the world of theater, finds the lack of conversation with Strickland therapeutic in dealing with his punishment. Of course, there’s a separate conversation to be had over whether the punishment fits the crime in terms of drug offenses, but we’ll save that for another day. Interestingly enough, Strickland lacks the words to express what he needs to say to Vanessa so he has the same problems as Robbie and Mr. Mazzou. But Strickland has presumably gotten as far as he has in connecting with Vanessa because he’s capable of showing what he means through gestures. A cell phone cover doesn’t really fall under the category of Valentine’s gifts, but whatever floats your boat, Vanessa.

Beyond the character arcs themselves, there’s a lot to appreciate about the way Rise as a whole shows without words. Consider how well the interactions between Robbie and Lilliean encapsulate the sweetness of being out with your crush and the visceral awkwardness of feeling out your potential partner.  This is also a week where (as far as we know), Simon might be saying goodbye to the theater program that has given him so much. The sadness behind Simon’s eyes as he announces his departure to the group and that tear-swelling hug with Mrs. Wolfe are both well-deserved moments. True, the music’s a little sappy but it’s hard to understate the emotional impact of these moments. One might call it a masculine touch on a traditionally feminime genre, but if you throw the dichotomy away, it’s a visually poetic and effective way of storytelling.


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