Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

Episodes 1-5

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman is one of the strangest things I have ever seen. From the opening credits sequence (which eerily consists of just swelling orchestral music and a childlike voice shouting the name of the show), I was already transfixed. By the end of the episode, I was hooked. Which is why I'm surprised to say that I don't have much to say after the first five episodes. This isn't because there is nothing to say about the show, quite the contrary, but because episodes 2-5 mostly continued to deal with the conflicts set up in the pilot episode. There are three central plotlines that are ongoing right now (and one minor one, that I'll mention a little later once it picks up some steam). There's the mass murder of the new family that moved into Mary's neighborhood that pervaded the pilot episode, the ongoing struggle to keep Mary's grandfather out of trouble, and the growing rift in Mary's marriage when it comes to sexual intercourse. This last plotline has been the most fascinating, as the show is playing it so straight, it's hardly a comedy anymore when Mary ends up weeping in her bed because her husband won't have sex with her. There are so many great details that can be found in the show from the set-pieces (Mary's house does look like a set straight out of a Norman Lear sitcom, despite being a soap opera, to the costuming (Mary's husband is perpetually dressed in clothes and attire meant for high school students, depicting an off-putting sense of arrested development. It's this attention to detail, mixed with its bizarre beating heart that makes me think of it as Twin Peaks without the Lynchian surreality. Which might sound boring to some, but is mesmerizing for those that can get on the same wavelength as this gem.

Next time: episodes 6-10, and I'll say more about Loretta and Charlie: a marriage that's even more bizarre than Mary's, but with all of the affection that Mary's is missing.