{"id":206,"date":"2018-12-13T23:38:52","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T06:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mjalba.com\/blog\/?p=206"},"modified":"2022-01-12T04:33:29","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T04:33:29","slug":"romanoffs-final-episode-stunning-exploration-loss-legacy-other-dramatic-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjalba.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/13\/romanoffs-final-episode-stunning-exploration-loss-legacy-other-dramatic-words\/","title":{"rendered":"The Romanoffs\u2019 Final Episode is a Stunning Exploration of Loss, Legacy, and Other Dramatic Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow.<\/p>\n

When Dr. Steve Romanoff (Wilmer Valderrama) collapsed to the ground at the end of tonight\u2019s spectacular Romanoffs<\/em> finale, I felt as if I, too, had been shot by the cryogenically-preserved pistol originally used to assassinate Grigori Rasputin and \u2014 concurrently \u2014 Archduke Franz Ferdinand. In retrospect, that Dr. Steve should fall prey to the same shadowy conspirators that toppled Tsarist Russia, rang the bell of war in Europe, and had no particular involvement in the Kennedy assassination is the only way this beautiful time-twisting puzzle of a season could have ended. While Dr. Steve lies dying in the catacombs of Paris, his twin sister Dr. Stacy Romanoff (Wilmer Valderrama) at last uncovers their true lineage with the culmination of her season-long reverse Mamma Mia<\/em> plot, which reveals that their mother is none other than Joan of Arc herself \u2014 or in the original French, Joan d\u2019Romanoff<\/em>. And all this is to say nothing of that breathtaking cliffhanger with their half-brother Bud \u201cBig Jefe\u201d Romanoff (John Goodman) in the dusty Arkansas oilfields. Where\u2019d that big cliff come from, why is Bud so out of breath, and what manner of shenanigans will Big Jefe and the boys get up to in season two?<\/p>\n

I repeat: wow.<\/p>\n

The Romanoffs<\/em>, Season 1, Episode 8: \u201cRoamin\u2019 Off\u201d<\/strong>\n Written by Matthew Weiner and Alexa<\/strong>\n Directed by Matthew Weiner\n\nGrade: 8+\n<\/span><\/strong><\/pre>\n
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Screenshot: Amazon Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
But let\u2019s back up. At the end of last week\u2019s penultimate episode, \u201cPlease, Tsar, Can I Have Tsome More,\u201d the stage was set for a showdown between Dr. Steve\u2019s telekinetically-connected group of demographically diverse friends, the Romanoffs, and the secret worldwide crime syndicate headed up by Master Septimius Romanoff III \u2014 also called the Romanoffs. Joey Romanoff (Matt LeBlanc, in the role of a lifetime) had just revealed himself to be a double agent of the Romanoffs, and Norma-Rae Romanoff (the always game and incredibly talented and fantastically beautiful and flawless actress, Tatiana Maslany (I gush, but it\u2019s okay \u2014 I\u2019m a critic; and also Tatiana, if you ever want to meet me and talk about how much I know about your actressing, it won\u2019t be weird \u2014 I\u2019m a critic)) in turn revealed her own long-hidden allegiance. It was to the Romanoffs.<\/p>\n
With all that chaos in the air, it was a welcome respite to start this week\u2019s finale with a flashback to an event I suspect most of us have been hoping to hear more about all season: the Romanoff Family Reunion Karaoke BBQ of 2006. The show has hinted at the significance of this day a few times before, but \u2014 in a thematically-appropriate if frustrating refutation of narrative payoff \u2014 this opening flashback shows only the calm before the storm. We see Drs. Steve\u2019s and Stacy\u2019s father \u2014 Head of Neurosurgery Dr. Clint Romanoff, Ph.D \u2014 lead a game of flag football alongside none other than Master Septimius Romanoff III himself, in the flesh, before whatever tragic incident that stole the use of his legs, arms, and face. What a shock it is to see this villain as he was before, unmarred by his bitterness and grotesque physical deformities, laughing, playing, running with his family \u2014 happy. At one point he even exclaims, in a delicious bit of dramatic irony: \u201cNothing bad will ever happen to or amongst the Romanoffs! Or my legs, arms, or face!\u201d What caused this clearly affectionate familial relationship to sour and morph into a mutual lifelong vendetta backed by a centuries-old conspiracy theory?<\/p>\n
But substantive answers to this and every other mystery raised this season will have to wait. Matthew Weiner and co. clearly have a plan in mind \u2014 they\u2019re brilliant TV auteurs \u2014 but whatever it is, they\u2019re playing the long game. One possible clue comes to us courtesy of commenter desmondismycontent23, who pointed out that the ironic tee shirt Septimius wore a few episodes back may very well allude to the nature of his falling out with Dr. Clint: \u201cI Need Brain Surgery Like I Need a Hole in My Head!\u201d Innocent japery, or a sinister anti-doctor ethos writ x-large?<\/p>\n
But enough prelude \u2014 let\u2019s talk about that<\/em> scene. Spoiler warnings ahead!<\/p>\n
Lady Romanoff (Lady Gaga) may have deserved a more dignified send-off than being stripped fully but tastefully but still titillatingly nude and stabbed in egregious closeup by hundreds of shish kebab skewers, triggering her genetically-transmitted hemophilia and turning her into a darkly humorous human colander of blood, but boy \u2014 talk about powerful imagery. Only the master Weiner himself could have shot such an excessively violent scene with such inspired chiaroscuro so as to render it not only sophisticated but \u2014 indeed \u2014 beautiful, and therefore not problematic. Chiaroscuro is an Italian word that means I\u2019m better than you.<\/p>\n
For each of the Romanoffs on this season of The Romanoffs<\/em>, legacy is the name of the game. “We are all children of history, and we all of us deserve to suckle at her teat and drink of her sweet milk,” as Big Jefe explains to the judge at his DUI hearing. In this humble critic’s assertion, this egalitarian ethos is at the heart of The Romanoffs’ <\/em>narrative philosophy. Ontological equality has been the thread patching together all the jarringly disparate storylines this season: the simple idea that each of us, no matter who we are \u2014 white or other, rich or upper middle class, important doctor or merely important doctor adjacent, also assuming we\u2019re a secret descendant of the Romanoffs, also attractive \u2014 is worth making a TV show about. With many of the main characters dead and the smoke still clearing from that big battle scene that cost as much as some actual wars, it will be interesting to see how this theme plays out in a possible season two. If season one was all about reckoning with grounded themes of personal legacy (and superpowers and global conspiracies and some not-technically-zombies zombies and I think a mysterious creature made entirely of fog? did that really happen? sounds made up), then I have a feeling season two is where this show will really start to explore its meaty premise. Meditative character studies are all well and good and whatever, but this show-stopping finale proves that The Romanoffs <\/em>is ready to start being watchable, too.<\/p>\n
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Scraps From My Notebook; Go On, You Dogs, Lap Up The Scraps<\/strong><\/p>\n