I will admit to a sniggering, presumptuous distraction upon my first viewing of Calderone’s Return, Part II which disabled my ability to perceive many of even its most basic themes and motifs. It is a valuable lesson not to underestimate the subject of one’s criticism.
If I was to make the same kind of over-inflated, indulgent, and bombastic remark about Calderone’s Return, Part II, that Francis Ford Coppola made about Apocalypse Now, it would be: ‘this show isn’t about the 1980s — it is the 1980s.’
Under the tutelage of those who taught me an invaluable lesson, this particular discipline assisted my class to get past the decades-old hammy acting and pastel palette of Miami Vice (the ‘80s television show) to analyse its underlying themes.
