Slings & Arrows 3.3: The Way Madness Lies

The third episode of Season Three of Slings & Arrows airs on Sundance tonight at 8pm. It will also be repeated throughout the week.

Use the comments section of this post to discuss the episode. Any comments I may have will also be posted in the comments section.

You can continue to discuss last week’s episode here, and the first episode here. Discuss Season 1 here and Season 2 here. Future episodes for Season 3 will be posted as they air on Sundance.

WARNING: Comments may contain further discussion of the show, including potential spoilers. Click through only after viewing the episode. Commenters may discuss this episode as freely as they like, though Canadian readers are asked not to post spoilers for any later episodes.

By the way, did you know that Sarah Polley (Sophie) is the real-life daughter of Michael Polley (Frank)? That’s hot.

4 Responses to “Slings & Arrows 3.3: The Way Madness Lies”

  1. Belinda Says:

    The first time I saw this episode, I was stunned into silence. I thought the Charles/Geoffrey scenes were among some of the most magnificent that I have ever seen on television. I knew, just knew, that it would come down to Geoffrey having to ‘help’ Charles with the heroin, but I wasn’t prepared for the impact or the reaction when it finally happened. And we got Lear’s storm! As we saw Paul Gross walking through the wet streets looking for Charles, I did think “I wonder if they are using that storm machine!”. I also loved that Geoffrey found Charles in a telephone box…the same place where he last spoke to Oliver (when he was still alive!).

    I do feel that the musical storyline and the ‘young cast’ storyline is letting the show down a little, possibly because I dislike musicals and I tend to find the young actors love plots rather boring.

  2. DeLisa Says:

    Quotes of the episode, “The irony is HEARTBREAKING.” And “Is there a heath nearby???”

  3. Bill Says:

    Paul is Edgar! And Frank is the Fool! And Richard saved the musical! With a flowchart!

    Quote of the episode is every single line from Darren Nichols, but especially “Talking to you about musical theatre is like talking to a dog about why it likes to lick its own ass.”

    And Paul, get over yourself. Not everyone has read King Lear. And what’s up with Sophie? Why the anger against the musical theatre folks? Their sins: not giving up their table at the bar, taking too long in the bathroom, storing bread in the refrigerator, drinking soy milk, not reading the news or knowing about King Lear. You get over yourself too, Sophie.

    She was right to yell at Charles, though. That’s who she’s really mad at.

    “I’m playing Goneril as a coldblooded, ruthless killer. I think the audience is going to find it a little hard to accept that she kills herself.”

    “If they can accept that Lear has a black daughter, they can accept anything.”

    So he had it coming.

    I agree with Belinda that the scenes between Charles and Geoffrey are amazing. I hadn’t made the connection to the phone box that Charles was found in and the one Oliver was killed leaving, but that’s a good one.

    Good quotes, DeLisa. One more from Darren:

    “I’m going to cut three scenes that are purely expositional and replace them with inappropriate dance numbers.”

    Looking forward to tonight’s episode.

  4. DeLisa Says:

    Good rundown, Bill. But I think you might be missing the point on Sophie’s hostility to the musical folks. A – she has an obvious unspoken thing for Paul and he dissapoints her by never realizing that a great – and substantive, aye there may be the rub – woman is right under his nose. B – I can’t stress enough the MASSIVE deliniation between the “legit” actors and the musical theatre “rats”. It’s a HUGE rivalry which must extend for centuries. The drama folk are always running around being “serious” and “intense” and the MT folk are always so loud and well… PERKY. It’s the enternal clash between optimists and pessimists and studious versus spectacle and I saw it all through my theatrical training, college training and in every production I’ve ever worked on. They are different and HIGHLY clashing animals and those who can straddle both worlds tend to hide it. It’s, oddly, more common in Shakespeare to join the two worlds together (Shakespeare is the largest employer of actors in the world) and when these two worlds come together there is a TON of elitism and hostility which I think the show captures beautifully.

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