Television Review: Wild Palms (1993)

Television Review: Wild Palms (1993) | Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Predicting near future in films and television is a thankless task, because much of those predictions are doomed to become obsolete very quickly and, in most cases, proven very wrong. On the other hand, creators of those works could sometimes be commended even if they fail, provided that they have invested enough creativity into their visions. An example could be found in Wild Palms, 1993 television miniseries created by Bruce Wagner, known as one of the more unusual television events of its time.

The five-part series is based on the eponymous comic books by Wagner. The plot is set in Los Angeles in (then future) year 2007 and the protagonist is patents lawyer Harry Wyckoff (played by James Belushi). Things at the beginning look good for Wyckoff, who has a house in Beverly Hills, beautiful loving wife Grace (played by Dana Delany), 11-year old son Coty (played by Ben Savage) who is an aspiring child actor. The only things that makes his life less than perfect is mysterious muteness of 4-year old daughter Deirdre (played by Monica Mikala) and strange visions of rhinoceros in his pool. One day he is visited by his old girlfriend Paige Katz (played by Kim Cattrall) who asks him to help her find her 12-year old son Peter (played by Aaron Michael Meltchik). Soon afterwards Wyckoff starts working for Paige’s employer, ambitious US senator Tony Kreutzer (played by Robert Loggia), who is also founder of quasi-religious organisation known as Church of Synthionics and owner of influential Wild Palms Group, which includes Channel Three television network. Kreutzer’s plan is to start new popular television shows that would bring virtual reality experience to the home audience with the help of holograms and special designer drugs. In the meantime, Wyckoff gets involved into conflict between Fathers, sinister political organisation connected with Kreutzer and Friends, their opponents with underground. He also realises that members of his family have been involved in it and that much of his life was result of manipulation.

Wild Palms was produced by ABC, major television network which three years earlier experimented with different types of content and formats in Twin Peaks. Network executives, however, didn’t want to risk to invest too much precious time and resources in it, so Wagner had to deliver his material in the form of mini-series with clearly defined beginning, middle and end. Although the style of Wild Palms, especially in the beginning, when we are introduced to protagonist’s weird visions and experimentations with virtual reality, have some resemblance to work of David Lynch, the most important influence comes from then popular concepts of virtual reality and genre of cyberpunk whose founder William Gibson briefly appears playing himself in cameo role. Dystopian picture of near future California, where the modern technology becomes tool of media manipulation and mind control, goes hand in hand with motives of political conspiracies and shadow governments. This motive is enhanced thanks to producer Oliver Stone, who also appears in cameo role playing himself and proclaiming that the newly released documents have proven his claims about conspiracy in JFK right. Stone also introduced plenty of references to 1960s in form of pop and rock soundtrack, some of the characters, like Friends’ leader Eli Levitt (played by David Warner) being modelled after counteculture icons. Series’ slightly surreal style is further enhanced with soundtrack by Ryuchi Sakamoto and retro-futuristic costume design by Julianna Makovsky which imagines 2000s men to be dressed in fashion of Edwardian England.

However, in order to see this interesting vision of near future (which, like so many attempts in late 1980s and early 1990s failed to pay attention to Internet and mobile phones) audience has to sit through five hours which would at times make some of the flaws of Wild Palms very apparent. The pacing is very slow, some of the scenes are repetitive and confusing, while the finale seems rushed and provides somewhat too convenient happy ending for everyone. The acting varies in quality very much. James Belushi is adequate as protagonist, although he, by his admission, struggled to understand the script. Robert Loggia, on the other hand, is over the top and at times very irritating in the role of megalomaniac obviously modelled after L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Church of Scientology. Veteran Hollywood star Angie Dickinson, on the other hand, is very effective in the role of sociopathic elderly villainess and same can be said for Ben Savage, child actor who played Coty and later made successful career on television. Wild Palms would probably disappoint anyone expecting another Lynchian experience or disturbing paranoid vision associated with Oliver Stone, but for those patient enough could give interesting insight in how Hollywood imagined brave new world of our times.

RATING: 5/10 (++)