I'm with the Maestro

Mozart in the Jungle is a show I think I wrote about but it was a super long time ago. I didn't do a review or anything, I think I just mentioned that I was watching it. So to recap, this is an Amazon Prime exclusive show about the life of Hailey Rutledge, a 26-year old woman living in New York trying to complete her dream of being an oboe player in the New York symphony. The show is based on the book with the same name. I tried reading the beginning of the book and I quickly got bored with it because all the girl does in the book is just keep having sex with all her teachers. Not a surprise in the classically trained conservatory world and it happens all the time in the show too. Thankfully, its not what defines the show like the how the book is. Let's talk about what makes this show great and a bit about season two.

Okay, so obviously the music is good. It's mostly the warhorses. Beethoven's fifth and all that jazz. But the music still sounds good when the musicians play. I don't know if they were really playing the music but it sounds fantastic to my somewhat musically trained ears. In addition, the acting in the show is phenomenal. There is a Mexican actor named Gael Garcia Bernal who just absolutely slays at acting. He plays a weird, musically-possessed conductor that cares deeply for the orchestra but just can't organize or run anything in the non-music world. Hailey becomes her assistant for a while. He's kind of like a real conductor probably. He's that good at acting. He makes you believe its all real. The old white conductor is also great. He does a great job of playing an old conductor who tries to write but turns out to be a washed up hack. The actress who plays Hailey is also great. Although sometimes it feels like you're watching an episode of Girls, I do believe that white girls act like that. Then there are the older musicians in the orchestra. They're all great. There's the hot cellist who turns out to be bi. There's the older oboe teacher for Hailey that turns out to be a bitch to her. There's the druggie percussionist. There's the good boy white bread white guy. There's the white guy violin soloist who's kind of the leader of the orchestra when the conductor isn't around. There's the actress who plays Gloria, who's chairman of the orchestra board. She's exactly what an orchestra leader should be. There are funny moments, dramatic moments, musical moments, and interesting mannerisms that get used throughout season one and two. This is what makes the show so great.

The ending of season 2 was pretty interesting. Basically its the same thing that's happening at my work between the company and our union. The musicians are fighting to get more rights and benefits and the people who run the orchestra aren't having none of it. Meanwhile, on a trip to Mexico Hailey gets into a sorta thing with the Maestro (Bernal) but doesn't tell anybody about it until she's drunk at a orchestra members party. Season two ends on pretty much a cliff hangar. Gloria (chairwoman of the orchestra) says she will resign if they give the musicians what they want and the Maestro says the same thing but it comes to a strange conclusion. I didn't really get it to be honest. Very unclear ending for season two but I think that's just because they want the viewers to wait until season three. And that won't be a while.

I first saw the show a long time ago but I only just finished season two last night. It was worth waiting for the second season and it makes me happy to see that there are great shows about music out there. It would be pretty cool if there was a show similar to this one but about jazz or something. Although I think this show is more classified as a comedy there are dramatic moments in it that you wouldn't find in many comedies. You should check it out on Amazon Prime or online. The show does feel like a luxury to be able to watch it because its only on Prime. It should be on cable TV or something because it would get the attention it deserves as a network show. One of the best music shows I've ever seen. Can't wait for season three. I've been writing a lot about shows it seems. The next post will most likely be about the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows movie. I might go see the new Warcraft movie this weekend too. Watch this space.