Der Spiegel (1975)

Der Spiegel: Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. With Margarita Terekhova, Oleg Yankovskiy, Filipp Yankovskiy, Ignat Daniltsev. A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation.

“The premise of this installment- u0026quot;leaving it all behind to escape to a tropical paradiseu0026quot;- is certainly a popular one, and is as relevant to todayu0026#39;s audiences as it was back then.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd, despite all the flack he gets from us TAGS fans for playing a u0026quot;dullu0026quot; character that canu0026#39;t match up to Barney Fifeu0026#39;s level of comedy- which is, letu0026#39;s face it, a somewhat unreasonable expectation- actor Jack Dodson was very good at playing u0026quot;quirky characteru0026quot; comedy when given the right material to work with (as he does in this episode), resulting in a fun performance for the audience.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHaving established all this, a good lead performance by Jack Dodson u0026amp; a few solid laughs (which u0026quot;Howardu0026#39;s New Lifeu0026quot; delivers) cannot totally save this episode from being overshadowed by two glaring (and major) issues:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFirst of all, can a 30 minute show that centers u0026amp; revolves around Howard Sprague- all by himself u0026amp; on his own, starting a new life thousands of miles away from Mayberry- really be considered u0026quot;The Andy Griffith Showu0026quot;? It certainly doesnu0026#39;t seem that way, and the episode feels more like the pilot episode of a separate spin off series than TAGS weu0026#39;ve come to know u0026amp; love. Itu0026#39;s not bad, itu0026#39;s just…weird u0026amp; unfamiliar. Maybe if Andy Griffith was the one u0026quot;getting away from it allu0026quot;, things would have clicked better within the context of the entire series, but the Howard Sprague character didnu0026#39;t even arrive on TAGS scene until nearly the end of Season 6, so devoting an entire episode to his life away from Mayberry is strange, especially for a TAGS character that we havenu0026#39;t known all that long.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSecond- and even more distracting for those fans that appreciate series continuity- it seems like the writers were in such a hurry to get Howard out of Mayberry u0026amp; on that island inside of 30 minutes that they completely threw out/ignored the u0026quot;playbooku0026quot; on Howard Sprague that had been built up over the last two seasons, creating with this episode two huge plot holes:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e1. What happened to Howardu0026#39;s extremely vocal, possessive, domineering mother, the one he lived with that used to freak out if Howard was 10 minutes late calling in/coming home? Howardu0026#39;s suddenly moving away forever- on the spur of the moment- and Mom is nowhere to been seen. Has she suddenly decided to keep quiet? Is she at home sulking? Has she mysteriously disappeared? Even more perplexing, Howard- in this episode- conveniently goes from being a mamau0026#39;s boy who is ALWAYS talking about u0026quot;motheru0026quot; to never mentioning her at all. This doesnu0026#39;t make any sense. with what weu0026#39;ve learned about Howard up to this time. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e2. And speaking of disappearing acts- what happened to Millie? After being in love u0026amp; engaged just three episodes ago, now she has vanished off the face of the earth. OK, maybe they broke up off camera, but Howardu0026#39;s leaving Mayberry forever and she doesnu0026#39;t even come to the bus station to say good-bye and wish him well??? Here again is another unexplained break in established character plot lines.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe aforementioned blatant disregard of established character backgrounds u0026amp; series continuity should result in this episode receiving a lower rating (shame on you, naughty writers), but I have to give it a 6 because of a strong (and funny) performance by Jack Dodson (perhaps his best outing in the series)- and for a very brief but funny appearance by legendary character actor Harry Dean Stanton (u0026quot;Alienu0026quot;, u0026quot;The Green Mileu0026quot;) as the nearly comatose proprietor of the island trading post.”