At the end of January this year, one of the most exciting sci-fi shows of the 21st century finally returns. About 3 years after debut, disconnection‘s second season promises to resolve at least some of the many mysteries raised by the series about a sinister company with the ability to surgically split its employees’ consciousness between work and home life (the Mistresses and Outies, respectively). do. “Cut off” workers.
Created by first-time showrunner Dan Erickson disconnection It might never have existed if it hadn’t landed on the desk of Ben Stiller, who created the series and directed six of the first season’s nine episodes. But while Stiller’s emergence as a TV director came as a surprise to many, since when has Derek Zoolander made prestige TV? — It wasn’t his first attempt. Just a few years ago, he directed another critically acclaimed series. Escape from Dannemora.
The show, which premiered on Showtime in 2018, is now streaming for the first time on Netflix. Not only is it perfect to watch if you’ve already completed the study; disconnection It’s a rewatch of Season 1, but it may also give us a hint as to how Stiller and his crew plan to play out parts of Season 1. disconnectionAs we head into Season 2, many mysteries arise.
Escape from Dannemora is a dramatization of a real-life prison escape from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in 2015. The show features a wide cast but focuses on three characters. Richard Matt (Benicio del Toro), a charming prisoner who paints prison guards in exchange for favors; David Sweat (Paul Dano), another inmate who teams up with Richard to escape; and prison employee Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell (Patricia Arquette), who is romantically involved with both Richard and David. (According to records, an actual prison employee denied ever sleeping with either man and called Stiller a “son of a bitch liar” in an interview with The New York Post.)
Image: Showtime
After an opening scene following a prison escape in which the police take Tilly away for questioning, the series jumps back in time and painstakingly reveals how the two men escaped from the prison often referred to as New York’s Little Siberia. Winters in Dannemora are pretty cold 😉 Without spoiling too much, what makes it Escape from Dannemora The meticulous way the story unfolds is very interesting. Over the course of several weeks, we watched as Richard and David carefully planned their escape, manipulating Tilly into helping them, but then making incredibly bizarre decisions once they were finally freed.
As director of all seven episodes (the final is 99 minutes, but Netflix is splitting it into two parts), Stiller devotes time to the people inside the prison, carefully building the world of the prison and the surrounding town. Ordinary aspects of their lives. Through the eyes of everyone, from long-serving inmates and new inmates, to correctional officers and their families, we are plunged into this reality just in time to see Richard and David escape.
Stiller once told IndieWire that he never noticed any similarities between the two. Escape from Dannemora and disconnectionThey’re not exactly subtle. both Dannemora And the first season disconnection In some ways, it’s a prison break story. Ini/outi split disconnection It also feels like a reflection of the difference between prison life, with its unique rules and customs, and the forbidden world beyond the walls. watching Dannemorayou’ll discover how Stiller has honed his skills in bringing unfamiliar spaces to life, whether they’re high-security prisons or top-secret underground offices. He takes these hermetic settings and miraculously makes them feel like home, with precise, muscular camera work and a focus on the characters as they do their best in the situations they find themselves in.
But perhaps the most obvious comparison is how both shows handle their biggest twists. disconnection It has always been a series based on mystery. That’s baked into Erickson’s script from page one, and Stiller (along with Season 1’s other director, Aoife McArdle) fills every frame with a sense of foreboding. From the extremely clean office where Innies work to the constantly dark and cloudy surrounding village, everything is there. disconnection It seems a little off. Escape from Dannemora There aren’t a lot of twists to play with, but it does provide at least one shocking reveal.
Photo: Apple TV Plus
in DannemoraIn the second episode of , we finally find out what Richard and David did to end up in prison in the first place. Stiller films these scenes in brutal, bloody detail, making us care about each victim before revealing the horrific and brutal crimes committed by Richard and David. After witnessing such horrific acts, it suddenly becomes much harder to root for their escape. (A similar thing happens at the end. disconnectionIn the first season of , the hot babes temporarily break free from their corporate prison and experience life as a loner, leading to several surprising reveals that redefine almost everything that has happened up to that point.)
In a sense, that dramatic episode Dannemora It tells us everything we need to know. disconnection (Or at least almost everything – goats are still a mystery). Because the biggest twist in a show where everyone feels like a blank slate isn’t whether they will ultimately escape their selfish existence or why they were cut off in the first place. There’s a chance that this character’s true personality will tarnish the version of the character we’ve come to know and love. As a storyteller, Stiller is clearly interested in people’s different personalities and how little we actually know about each other. when disconnection We’ll know a little more whether we like it or not when Season 2 releases at the end of January this year.
Escape from Dannemora Streaming on Netflix.. disconnection Season 2 premieres January 17th.
