Everything that is wrong with „Mozart in the Jungle“, Season 1, Episode 4 „You have insulted Tchaikovsky“
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S060Z_8oFmw
YOU HAVE INSULTED TCHAIKOVSKY
1. The music that supposedly sounds in Rodrigo’s head is indeed Mozart, but not the passage he reads with his fingers. Again one may doubt the maestro’s musical abilities….
2. Of course it is difficult to find an actor who exactly looks like Mozart, but this guy is much too tall and good-looking by today’s standards. Where is Tom Hulce when we need him?
3. I wish I could say orchestra musicians arguing about the temperature in the hall is bollocks, but…it isn’t. I just wonder why they have set a table directly backstage next to a valuable organ, drinking, and eating (probably smelly) hamburgers. Is there no other room for them to sit and gather? There should be somebody shooing them off the stage, it’s simply improper to do that, especially when there are stagehands visible in the background, who seem to work. Would you hold an office meeting for your bank directly in front of a cashier’s desk?
4. Ok, Hailey preparing a cup of mate along tape instructions of Rodrigo is a very sweet and well-played scene, but….how much time does Rodrigo actually have? I know he wants to flirt and everything, but the life of conductor’s is usually too busy to spend hours preparing tapes that meticulously explain the making of mate. Perhaps he should work on his score reading skills, as they are clearly sup-par (see 1.). And yes, if you think that’s nitpicky than check that the tape is STILL playing in the next scenes. So it’s a very long-winded speech about mate.
5. The singer singing the Queen of the Night on Rodrigo’s phone clearly doesn’t reach the famous high f. Rodrigo just doesn’t seem to care much about accuracy, does he?
6. Hailey’s cell phone doesn’t switch off the screen when she puts it at her cheek, but amazingly she can still talk normally instead of switching off sound, switching to another number, accidentally ending the conversation, like happening to me all the time…When the cell phone screen is alight, it will react to the touch of your cheek. This is why cell phones usually have a feature that turns the screen off when you hold it to your cheek.
7. Just so that I understand this – Pembridge stepped down as the director of the orchestra….and he is STILL attending fundraising parties? He must be really desperate to meet a lot of boring people. And why is he holding the speech? What exactly is his job now?
8. THEY ARE KEEPING ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS BY MOZART IN A NORMAL PUBLIC LIBRARY WHERE EVERYBODY CAN JUST LEND THEM AND SIT AT ANY TABLE? What the heck…And why does Rodrigo only look at a single page? They are handing out single pages from a manuscript worth a million dollars… just like this?
9. Just shortly before the scene with the 2 girls in the limousine begins Rodrigo must have been nearly naked, because he is changing into a suit. Not surprisingly he doesn’t mind, but the girls are very relaxed about it, considering that neither of them has yet gone to bed to him. Of course we all know it will happen, eventually, but this doesn’t seem like the best way to seduce women in reality.
10. How can Hailey hear exactly the same piece in her head as Rodrigo? Must be telepathy.
11. So violinists only know “one position”? This suspiciously sounds like a VIOLA joke, and also one of the oldest and most tired ones. Rodrigo hasn’t heard it yet? Weird. Not surprisingly his own jokes are even worse!
12. Rodrigo seems awfully apt to tune glasses without actually checking what pitch they currently are. What he pulls off at the fundraiser is technically possible, but it would take a lot of preparation, at least 10 minutes removing and adding liquid to the various glasses. And the fundraising ladies are extremely talented in doing exactly what the maestro wants. But that is most certainly his biggest talent anyway.
13. “Fuer Elise”? Really? Come on, couldn’t you think of something less ordinary and done to death than this, Rodrigo?
14. I really don’t get Pembridge’s agenda. The only reason why he might possibly go to the fundraisers is to help the finances of the orchestra. And he actually tries very hard to do just that. But when Rodrigo does the same, he throws a fit. Is he with or against the orchestra? And again, what the f**** is he actually doing at this party again?
15. You just have to adore the extremely weird walking style of the extra with the skateboard behind Hailey in the scene on the street. What drugs is he on?
16. From what exactly is Pembridge retiring? It can’t be his job at the orchestra…And burning his complete personal memorabilia is something that only an extremely broken person with no vanity left would do, but he still seems jolly enough to chat with Rodrigo.
17. Is “Daisy von Scherler-Meyer” a real name or has somebody been embarrassed directing this episode?
(Moritz Eggert)
Komponist
About the mate. isn’t Rodrigo from Mexico? People drink mate in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, parts of Chile and southern Brazil. Not Mexico.
hahaha – thanks for the nit-picky detail, you have solved the *mystery with my mobile phone* that occurs because my cheek touches the screen and either mutes or goes on loudspeaker. I didn’t know it was supposed to stay black and not do that!
Myself… I’m enjoying Mozart in the Jungle… meh… TV – yeah it’s imperfect but I didn’t expect it to be a doco.
Another little thing with the „glass harp“ scene at the fundraiser: To produce a clear, vibrating sound, you need to hold the glass below the level of liquid. The way some of the ladies hold their glasses would have produced only squeaking noises.