Stephen Moyer in NY-LON

Here I am, again, in a desperate attempt to ease my ache from “True Blood” withdrawal and since paparazzi videos are disgusting (and there are not enough of them) I’ve been watching every movie and TV show where our beloved Stephen Moyer stars. Some of those experiences have been delightful, some of them have not. Today, my friends I bring you one of the good ones; today I’m going to tell you about NY-LON.

NY-LON is the flight connection between New York and London and this 7 episode series is a story about a Bohemian record store employee and night school teacher Edie Miller (played by the lovely Rashida Jones) from New York and the very driven stockbroker, overachiever and financial genius Michael Antonioni (played by our divine Stephen Moyer) from London.

Michael is a successful London banker that works in this crazy office with much too many people and even more work stations per square feet/square meters, whose boss has the most thoughtless ways of firing people; he is refined, handsome, afraid of commitment, in control and he has the longest sideburns after Bill Compton. He takes care of his family and his friends but apparently is a dirty bastard when it comes to the ladies, because obviously nothing is perfect. Edie works at a record store (which I found kind of funny being that Rashida Jones is the daughter of Quincy Jones) and teaches at a night school for disadvantaged people… in New York. She is ridiculously loyal to the people she loves, and is recovering from a really bad breakup from the biggest douche bag since Jeff Spicolli; she also has the most annoying and needy friends ever! They meet in an awkward situation in a bar in London, after her bag is stolen and he lends her some money after selling her one cigarette. (?)

They end up having this amazing night of endless talking, heavy smoking and easy drinking and next thing we know she’s late for her morning flight back to New York. They are so different we almost don’t understand why they even like each other. She works in an old record store and he doesn’t even own a cd player – and that’s a mortal sin everywhere but especially for Edie who’s last boyfriend is a musician.

He works in a bank selling stocks to make rich people richer, which she hates since she’s a bit of an anarchist/socialist/communist, take your pick; he’s a Catholic who believes in the sanctity/insanity of marriage and she’s an agnostic that doesn’t trust any kind of institution (even though sometimes she needs to be institutionalized herself). His life revolves around his family and his work and the only family she believes in are her friends. He’s a pragmatic and she’s an idealist. But one way or another they like each other and somehow he ends up flying to New York to deliver an earring she left in his apartment and he does it in such a romantic way he makes us hate the idiot we have in our bed.

Edie is insecure as any women we know (at least I know all the insecurities women can have, and I probably have them all). She has this complicated relationship with her ex-boyfriend that also happens to be her best friend even after he broke her heart. Her friends’ opinion is the most important thing for her, even though they are selfish, manipulative and plain irritating, but I couldn’t bring myself to hate her although I really wanted to. Michael is kind of full of himself, he’s used to calling all the shots, never asking what the other person wants, solving all of his family problems even when they ask him not to, taking care of his friends and their lives no matter how messed up his own life is. He takes Edie by surprise… the thing is, she hates surprises!

Despite all the warning signals, they start a relationship, flying back and forward between New York and London. Things gets complicated when he wants to meet her friends and she doesn’t want to as she knows they won’t approve of him – because no one likes a successful and handsome man dating your best friend, right? They are rude to him, they hurt Edie and they don’t apologize, they can forgive drug addiction but they will not tolerate capitalism, ‘cause the worst thing a person can do is work in a bank and having some money. On the London side things are not any easier when Edie realizes the extent of Michael’s commitment to his family and his friends. They are so used to having him around and counting on him that they fear they might lose the safety net that Michael represents if he leaves for New York… and they make sure Edie feels responsible for it. With such friends, who wants enemies? However, no matter how self-absorbed and exasperating they are, we know they act out of love… and that, we can totally understand.

She spends the entire show giving Michael mixed signals, she likes him but she’s not sure she wants a serious relationship; she wants to be with him but she doesn’t want to disappoint her friends or herself, she loves him but she’s not about to change everything she’s always believed in for someone she just met… and I respect her for that. Michael is a force of nature that won’t accept no for an answer and can’t take things slowly because he doesn’t know what slow means. He makes decisions without asking and refuses to go with the flow unless he is the flow; he knows what he wants and is not afraid of going after it… and that takes courage!

This show is about the issue that generates the greatest discussions and speculations at a dinner table and one of my favorites, I’ll tell you why. Here we ask ourselves the ultimate question when it comes to relationships and love, the same thing we ask ourselves all the time while having beers with our friends on a Friday night: Is it ok to give up your whole life for love? Of course the quick answer is yes, right? But what happens when you love a person, but you’re not sure that person is right for you? Is love, true love, delightful and romantic but also passionate and crazy love, enough to succeed in a relationship? Now, that’s a tricky one, isn’t it? Are you willing to give up your job, your friends, your comfort, your security, for a person that even though you love, represents everything you’ve always been against? Is it ok to sacrifice that much for love when maybe you don’t exactly believe in that kind of love? Of course, in a movie the answer is “hell yeah!”… but is it safe, is it smart, is it reasonable to do it in real life? Especially when your heart and your emotional stability are at risk?

NY-Lon is the story of a transatlantic love, between two very different people from two very different places… and it all happens in my two favorite cities in the world (sorry Paris!). It’s very avant-garde in the way they deliver the story from both Michael and Edie’s point of view so you get the same scene twice from two different perspectives, with divided screen, time zone differences and plenty of jetlag… they make it in a way that you always get the notion of “Ok, so when he was doing this, she was doing that.” They emphasize the differences not only in the characters lifestyles but also in their schedules, language pronunciation, habits… and they do it very convincingly helped by the most amazing soundtrack that gives you the exact feeling you need to have and sets the perfect mood for each situation with every character in both cities!

The story is offered in a probably flat and maybe naïve way at times but the characters are so real, their fears are so genuine and their emotions are so honest, you forget about it. There are some inconsistencies when it comes to flight scheduling, every now and then you get the feeling that going from London to New York is the same thing as jumping from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and I didn’t quite understand how Michael believes that “love is just a chemical reaction” and “you shouldn’t let chemicals mess with your mind,” but it’s ok to buy a transatlantic ticket to give back an earring to a girl that he just met and didn’t even sleep with – oops did I said too much? But you surely can relate to both characters and their friends, sometimes you’ll love them, some other times you’ll hate them, especially Edie and her friends. Most of the time you’ll want to kill the writers for having such a wonderful idea but not quite succeeding in delivering it, but at the same time you can understand where they’re coming from, their fears, their insecurities and the reason they act the way they do.

The chemistry between Steve and Rashida is sizzling. It’s a story about love in a world that has become smaller and the heartbreak of the fact that we can overcome the barriers of distance but sometimes we can’t overcome the barriers of difference. It has a bittersweet but realistic ending that even though leaves you asking for more, also gives you the feeling of a sad but fair closure.

P.S.: There are some curiosities in this show - or trivia if you will - that I’d love to point out, ‘cause it’s fun!

* For instance, Edie Miller is played by Rashida Jones, the daughter of the producer and music industry genius, Quincy Jones, and her character works in an old funky record store and is surrounded by musicians… so maybe that wasn’t a hard part to play for her.
* There’s another one in an episode when Michael is about to get fired and he makes a very risky move and not only keeps his job but gets a promotion. Right after that happens he receives a call from himself… right. Steve Emery is on line one! As a lot of you must know, Steve’s real name is Stephen Emery and he changed it when he started acting because apparently there was another Steve Emery in the same theater company.
* The last one - and my favorite - is really, really spoilerish so I’m gonna try to do it without telling you everything: In the last episode Michael makes a major decision and goes to New York to see Edie. Things go wrong and he leaves Edie’s apartment; while we see him walking and crying around Time Square we hear Breath Me, a beautifully haunting and heartbreaking song by Sia… that same song is the one we hear in the last scene of the final episode of Alan Ball’s Six Feet Under!

If you are within the United States, you can watch NY-LON online at HULU

Che poi, a 40 anni non c'è molto da ringiovanire, perchè al giorno d'oggi sono giovani i 40enni. Ne conosco che fanno 10 a 0 ai ventenni.