Review: Pan Am – “Truth or Dare” – An Exploration of Grey Areas
Rating:
Air date: Sunday, November 6 at 10/9c on ABC
This week’s Pan Am starts off in a lighthearted manner with the crew of stewardesses drinking and laughing as they play a game of Truth or Dare. This game is fun for players who are able to step up to the challenges in stride such as Colette Valois (Karine Vanasse) does. Failure to complete the tasks as expected will cause them to face even more challenging dares and questions and we see this echoed in the personal lives of the Cameron sisters. In “Truth or Dare,” they face fairly greyish moral and personal dilemmas, all related to ‘boy trouble’ – as Kate Cameron (Kelli Garner) calls it – as the show turns to more solemn topics such as the recruitment of Cold War spies and racial barriers as the Civil Rights movement heats up.
Margot Robbie's character (Laura Cameron) has a new love interest which forces her to face racial barriers.
Is the combination of serious topics a good mix for a show centered on the nostalgia of an era where travelling was not only glamorous but adventurous?
In “Truth or Dare,” the crew is tasked with bringing home servicemen as a favor to Uncle Sam. The sailors have been stuck in a submarine for six months and throw an impromptu bachelor party as they fly across the Atlantic. Pan Am’s training of poise and diplomacy doesn’t fully prepare the stewardesses to deal with the rowdiness of these passengers and it’s fun to see them a bit disheveled at the commotion.
One of the sailors, Joe (guest star Gaius Charles from Friday Night Lights), develops a crush on Laura Cameron (Margot Robbie). This interest lands him at a wild party at Maggie Ryan’s (Christine Ricci), who also happens to be Laura’s roommate. As the party ends and Ryan leaves to continue her fling with Village Voice writer Mike Ruskin (Colin Donnell), Joe informs Laura that Maggie has offered him the apartment couch since he doesn’t have a place to stay. Being forced to spend time with him throws Laura into a series of situations she wouldn’t normally experience as the very polite and good-looking Joe happens to be black. Laura endures for the first time racial discrimination in New York City.
Robbie shines in this episode. I’ve always been impressed with the Australian actress’ impeccable American accent, but the way in which she conveys Laura’s emotional struggle when facing social pressures and the humility in which she admits to her own prejudices, tells me we are witnessing a star in the making. The manner in which Laura is being depicted as coming into her own has been pleasant and realistic as it hasn’t been an overnight Cinderella transformation.
Passenger Joe (Gaius Charles) develops a huge crush on Laura Cameron (Margot Robbie).
Niko Lonza (Goran Visnjic) has been called back to Yugoslavia and this causes Kate Cameron (Kelli Garner) to fear for his safety. In typical Cameron naiveté fashion, Kate’s lack of understanding of complicated circumstances puts Niko in a grave situation. In this episode, the couple experiences a full range of emotions —fear, despair and anger— as U.S. Intelligence is now involved. The couple’s contact is regulated by them, but in the end, their personal bond carries them through.
As someone who considers the sixties as a time of more than just retro-glamour, I applaud the Pan Am team in their efforts to infuse the show’s plot with more substantial storylines. However, I really struggled to finish watching this episode.
Kate Cameron's (Kelli Garner) mission becomes complicated as her lover Niko Lonza (Goran Visnjic) gets recalled to Yugoslavia.
I dislike the fact that the Kate-Niko story arc vacillates between being a suspenseful dramatic storyline to one which falls within the soap opera/romantic comedy category. Their last scene together at the airport clearly pays homage to those classical romantic dramas about passionate ill-fated lovers, but it over simplifies an extremely complex situation that shouldn’t be resolved within an hour as is characteristic of sitcoms of 1980s-1990s. The chemistry between Visnjic and Garner, along with their acting chops, salvage the deeply emotional scene but their storyline would have been better served without being rushed.
Vanasse gets more screen time this week and this is a pleasant change as she hasn’t been the focus of an episode for a while. A coffee run and a playful announcement to the female-obsessed Sanjeev (Kal Parekh) and Ted Vanderway (Michael Mosley) opens up an opportunity for Colette to spend some quality time with Captain Dean Lowrey (Mike Vogel) in the cockpit. Seeing them together made me grin as much as Colette. Although their possible romantic attachment has been suggested before, the writing staff seems to make a stronger insinuation by allowing Collette to have that flying ‘moment’ with Dean.
It’s worth noting that this past week’s episode was supposed to be titled “Romance Languages” but the “Truth or Dare” title change is definitely more suitable based on the episode’s focus.
Pan Am still appears to be fighting for its life and next week’s episode will have the crew facing an in-flight medical emergency and a hurricane. This show is one of my guilty pleasures and as many other fans, I’m enchanted by the idealized and glamorized nostalgia for the jet setting era (although I’m not nostalgic for the racial barriers!). I’m hopeful the next episodes will help pull the show out of the confusing storyline storm it’s in.
Tune in to Pan Am Sundays at 10/9c on ABC. For more on the show, visit http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/pan-am.
Follow @PanAmABC on Twitter.
All photos © 2011 ABC. All Rights Reserved.
elleL
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