Tell me Sam Levinson loves P. T. Anderson without telling me Sam Levinson loves P. T. Anderson, and you get this episode.
Anyone who has followed specially the first works of P. T. A., will notice without any doubt, the huge influence this director means for Levinson. The camera work, that is displayed in the previous episodes too, follows on this one, almost identical patterns to the ones we can find in "Magnolia" (1999). They are, in turn, influenced by the work of Scorsese ("Casino", "Goodfellas", even "Gangs of New York" Scorsese). What makes this episode particularly attached to Paul Thomas Anderson's style, but specifically "Magnolia", it's the combination of that camera work with the music and the follow up of parallel stories led by different characters. "Showtime" is the name of the musical piece that in "Magnolia" goes for almost ten minutes straight, which is extremely similar to the one used on this episode.
The whole sequence is so similar that it's, in fact, an undeniably outspoken homage from one director to another one.
PS: I'm a PTA nerd, and I needed to show off having found this parallelism.
Anyone who has followed specially the first works of P. T. A., will notice without any doubt, the huge influence this director means for Levinson. The camera work, that is displayed in the previous episodes too, follows on this one, almost identical patterns to the ones we can find in "Magnolia" (1999). They are, in turn, influenced by the work of Scorsese ("Casino", "Goodfellas", even "Gangs of New York" Scorsese). What makes this episode particularly attached to Paul Thomas Anderson's style, but specifically "Magnolia", it's the combination of that camera work with the music and the follow up of parallel stories led by different characters. "Showtime" is the name of the musical piece that in "Magnolia" goes for almost ten minutes straight, which is extremely similar to the one used on this episode.
The whole sequence is so similar that it's, in fact, an undeniably outspoken homage from one director to another one.
PS: I'm a PTA nerd, and I needed to show off having found this parallelism.