Wow.
That was the first word to come to my mind after Quarry wrapped up its first season last night. A technical triumph, "Nuoc Chay Da Mon" was an immensely impressive hour and twenty minutes, featuring one of the best-directed sequences I've ever seen on television, that firmly cemented Quarry as a show well worth watching.
Where to start? Well, I suppose the aforementioned sequence is as good a place as any, as the massacre at Quan Thang, the fictional My Lai-type massacre that has haunted Mac since he returned home, was shot in all its terrifying glory, with director Greg Yaitanes choosing to direct the almost ten-minute sequence to appear as if it was shot in one single take.*
*It actually wasn't a single take, though the first seven or so minutes were. There are two hidden cuts. One when the plane flies overhead, and one when Mac throws the grenade into the hole. For more info on the sequence, and the insane preparation that went into it, check out Sepinwall's interview with Yaitanes.
But it's clear the preparation outlined in said interview paid off, as it resulted in perhaps the most exhilarating action sequence of the year, and one of the best-directed scenes in all of television. The decision to shoot the entire thing to seem like a "oner" could have come across as needlessly showy, but instead it served to immerse viewers into Mac's perspective, as the situation very quickly escalated and got out of control. A oner done well shouldn't draw attention to itself, but should only serve to heighten the visual experience, making it more visceral. This oner did just that, as we experienced the ever-increasing chaos and terror of the event right alongside Mac, right up until the final gut-punch when he threw that grenade only to realize too late who he threw it at, the screams of women and children immediately followed by the blast.
But as amazing as the Quan Thang sequence was - it automatically makes "Nuoc Chay Da Mon" one of the year's best episodes - the episode around it was pretty great too, and functioned as a perfect end to the season (and possibly the series), from both a narrative and thematic standpoint. Last week's cliffhanger was resolved quickly but stylishly, the opening gunfight, which began with Detective Olsen getting his face blown off, being a great example of how well choreographed all of this show's action sequences are. I especially loved how the merry-go-round was used throughout the scene.
The Moses/Solomon family drama had a really great payoff in the episode when, after Moses had dinner at the Solomons' house and grew ever closer to Ruth, we saw a different, more menacing side to the character, who up until then had been a relatively likable presence. The scene in which he threatens Marcus once he discovered the boy found Arthur's money was truly terrifying, and completely changes how we view that character.
Buddy's season-long journey and internal struggle also came to a brutally tragic end last night, as he worries his mother by talking of how he has wasted his life before going out and getting beaten to within an inch of his life by men pretending to want to have sex with him. Both scenes are hard to watch, for different reasons. Naomi's inability to help or even understand her son's struggle was heartbreaking, and the sudden brutality and hatred of the latter was sickening. Much of Quarry's first season has been spent following Buddy's deteriorating mental state, and Damon Herriman's performance lent this subplot an air of tragedy I hadn't expected.
The closing twist was also well-handled, the reveal that The Broker had been planning to expand his operations into the heroin trade and used the massacre at Quon Thang to do so feeling inevitable and fitting rather than completely unrealistic. We didn't spend a ton of time with The Broker this season, but from the little time we have spent with him, it doesn't seem like a stretch that he would do this. And the fact that this was how he learned of Mac in the first place makes the world of Quarry feel even bigger and more interconnected.
But of course, this episode brings everything back to the man at its center, by really putting a focus on Mac as a character similar to the also stunning "Seldom Realized", the season's fourth episode. That episode made clear just what Mac is going through: suffering from "shell-shock" i.e PTSD, he doesn't feel at home in Memphis, and only truly feels comfortable in combat. But because of what happened at Quon Thang and Nixon's "peace with honour" with the North Vietnamese, he can never return to war. Throughout the season we've seen Mac slowly get accustomed to a life of crime, and though this episode sees him getting both a legitimate job as a pool salesman and the money to pay back The Broker, he realizes that perhaps a life of crime could serve as a suitable replacement for combat. And so he accepts The Broker's new assignment.
One thing that allowed him to do this was his confrontation (engineered by The Broker) with James Thurston, the captain who led Mac and others into the attack on Quon Thang and forced them to commit atrocious acts of violence, a confrontation that ended with Mac killing his former superior, thereby revealing the meaning behind the series' opening scene eight weeks ago. This ended up being a win-win for The Broker. Not only did it allow Mac to say goodbye to that part of his life and encourage him to continue his work as a hitman, but it also led to the death of one of the few men who knew of The Broker's larger plans.
The episode brought the season to a somewhat ambiguous end. The episode took place on Election Day 1972, and over the final montage, McGovern's concession speech plays. In it, he wishes Nixon the best of luck in his next four years in office, but of course, Nixon ended up only lasting another two before the Watergate scandal ended his second term prematurely and completely changed the way the American public viewed the government. Joni places the humourous but ominous "Goodbye Cruel World" figure on a shelf, and Mac takes Arthur up on their 10-month old bet, and starts swimming across the Mississipi river. Much has been made of how good a swimmer Mac is, but as Arthur said, "Once that current gets a hold of you, you're done."
Episode Grade: A
Season Grade: A-
