I was surprised by the first episode of Robbie Pickering‘s Gaslit (Starz) last night. Surprised because I hadn’t realized the tone of this five-part limited series would be…well, vaguely farcical. I wouldn’t call it a comedy series (except for the Gordon Liddy portions), but it certainly seems to highlight the dopey or absurdist aspects of this tale of Watergate cloak-and-dagger foolery.
Gaslit is a fairly vigorous ensemble piece (John and Mo Dean are prominently featured) and therefore not just the story of the colorful Martha Mitchell (Julia Roberts), the flamboyant wife of RIchard Nixon‘s Attorney General John Mitchell (Sean Penn).
Mitchell was renowned as a Southern belle chatterbox (“the mouth from the South”) who had repeatedly been warned about sharing Watergate suspicions with journalists, and yet she refused to zip it. She paid the price for that.
What is Gaslit saying? It’s saying “if you’re married to a taciturn, pipe-smoking Richard Nixon loyalist and you have no inherited wealth or marketable skills above and beyond your relationship with this guy, you’d be wise to shut the fuck up about your Watergate suspicions. Because if you start shooting your mouth off life will become quite difficult for you. So don’t be a truth bomb…it’ll bring you nothing but grief.”
Roberts’ Mitchell performance is fully charged and 100% immersive; Penn’s Mitchell (covered under pounds of latex) is a hoot.
One thing that hit me the wrong way was Dan Stevens‘ portrayal of White House attorney and Watergate snitch John Dean. I’ve never liked Stevens anyway (he tends to play assholes, weird guys and also-rans) but he doesn’t look much like Dean, and he plays him as some kind of smarmy, simpering, run-at-the-mouth opportunist. Dean (whom I’ve spoken to once or twice) wasn’t like that — he speaks with a dry, laid-back, matter-of-fact attitude.
Betty Gilpin‘s performance as Dean’s wife (Mo or Maureen) has the most pizazz; Mo is wise and frank — the sharpest and best written character.
I have nothing more to say.
