TV Review: PAN AM 1.4, "Eastern Exposure"
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue...
rating: 2
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. After a few episodes showing our happy crew going to various locations in Europe, this episode of Pan Am takes them to Rangoon, Jakarta and Hong Kong, in a fit of Far East excitement! Though, actually, not all that exciting, as once again the show gets buried in Cold War spy nonsense and way too many flashbacks. In the first plot, we have Kate (Kelli Garner), getting her new assignment from the CIA. Why they are still working with her when she went outside orders on only her second mission is beyond me. Why they continue to work with her after the events in this story is even more beyond me, but whatever. Anyhow, she is given a camera and told that instead of flying to Iceland, as she and presumably the rest of the flight crew had planned, theyre all being sent to Rangoon. Because the CIA can do that. Upon arrival in Rangoon (an arrival which includes some stereotypical ugly American behavior), Kate is given a camera. She goes to a far-off place to send a telegram (which I would think she could probably do from a place closer to the hotel), and waits for the CIA to let her know what to do with it.
Meantime, Laura (Margo Robbie), and Maggie (Christina Ricci), hit the pool, with co-pilot Ted Vanderway (Michael Mosley), along for the ride. Theres some banter with some Navy personnel and then we see the first of Teds several flashbacks showing how he ended up being a pilot. Turns out hes not quite over Macho Grande. I wonder if he also has a drinking problem. Perhaps his real last name is actually Stryker Anyhow, as Kate goes off to do her CIA thing, Maggie and Laura spend time in the hotel room getting ready to go out for the evening. Now, as I type the following, I want you to remember that while this show is set in 1963, its being aired in 2011. This is relevant, because while in the hotel room, Laura has a small lizard fall on her. Of course she screams, panics, jumps up onto the bed and knocks over things. Then, as shes standing on the bed with a pillow in one hand and a stiletto heel in the other, Maggie mocks her, only to then do her own screaming and jumping up onto the bed routine as she sees a snake. Yeah, so basically jokes that were old well before 1963, and massively sexist even then, are being recycled in 2011. There really was very little to recommend this episode. The idea of sending them to Rangoon or Jakarta had some real potential, but sadly its all discarded in a series of badly done, predictable scenes and, again, way too many flashbacks. Teds story really did not work for me, though it isnt quite the albatross that the CIA story is. That one seems to really be failing and the producers would be smart to ditch it as soon as possible. Really, this whole episode was just ill-advised from start to finish, and a real disappointment. Theres still a decent show lying under the crap that was piled onto it this week, and I do hope that its able to recover. But from the preview for next week, which seems to highlight the spy storyline, Im not holding my breath, and with the ratings dropping steadily for each episode, I think it might not be too long before the series goes the way of the actual airline.