Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Studio episode 4The Studio’s latest episode, “The Missing Reel,” pokes fun at demanding directors who insist on shooting on celluloid, despite it being much more costly and technically finicky than digital. Shooting on film used to be the industry standard, but now it’s reserved for a particular set of revered auteurs like Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson. In the episode, Olivia Wilde is working on Rolling Blackout, a slick Chinatown-style neo-noir about the California solar panel racket. As her increasingly dictatorial directing style drives her cast and crew crazy, the final reel of the film goes missing.
If Matt reports the reel missing, then the insurance payout would cover the reshoots for the movie’s climactic shootout sequence, but his premiums would go up. So, he sets out to find the reel himself, recruiting Sal as his second-in-command. As they search L.A. for the missing reel and interrogate their suspects, “The Missing Reel” becomes a noir of its own.
Seth Rogen Dons A Trenchcoat & Records His Own Voiceovers
Every episode of The Studio so far has gotten delightfully meta in its construction, using its own cinematography and structure to reflect the aspect of filmmaking being covered by the episode. Episode 2, “The Oner,” about the stressful shoot of a meticulously crafted oner, is shot and edited as a meticulously crafted oner. The Studio’s third episode, “The Note,” ends with a shot-for-shot recreation of Ron Howard’s infamous motel sequence, which Matt has spent the whole episode trying to get him to cut.
“The Missing Reel” also gets meta in its filmmaking. It tells the story of Matt’s investigation into the missing final reel of a detective noir in the style of a classic detective noir. But it’s a bit too on-the-nose in the ways it apes that style. It dresses Matt in a fedora and trench coat and has him record his own hard-boiled voice-overs onto his phone. This overtly trope-heavy genre parody hurts the show’s realism — which, up until now, has been one of its greatest strengths — and makes it feel a bit too gimmicky and cartoonish.
This overtly trope-heavy genre parody hurts the show’s realism — which, up until now, has been one of its greatest strengths — and makes it feel a bit too gimmicky and cartoonish.
Still, the search for the missing reel is a surprisingly engaging mystery story full of unexpected twists and turns. All the clues are there from the beginning, and they get slowly pieced together throughout the episode. As with any great mystery, if you follow it closely, you might be able to figure it out for yourself.
Zac Efron & Olivia Wilde Give Memorable Guest Performances
Wilde, In Particular, Satirizes Her Own Public Image
In its fourth episode, The Studio continues to nail its satire of the Hollywood movie industry. One of the episode’s funniest moments lampoons the hypocrisy of studio heads ruthlessly cutting costs on their film productions while giving themselves shockingly large bonuses. When Matt tells Zac Efron they can’t afford a wrap party because they’re putting every penny on the screen, Efron dryly points out that Matt drives one of the first Corvettes ever made. Not only is that a great gag; it sets up the ending of the episode.
The Studio releases new episodes on Apple TV+ every Wednesday.
In portraying herself as a diva driving her cast and crew up the wall, Wilde seems to be poking fun at the rumors she was difficult to work with on her last directorial feature. Whether it was true or not, the media had a field day with reports of Wilde’s contentious on-set relationship with her star, Florence Pugh, and she’s really game to satirize that public image in The Studio. It’s hilariously ironic, which may or may not have been intentional, to hear the director of Don’t Worry Darling say, “Fine is not good enough!”
The Studio’s Episodic Structure Is Refreshing
It’s Rare That A Streaming Series Actually Feels Like A Traditional TV Show
I’ve been loving that The Studio isn’t afraid to be traditionally episodic. Each episode introduces a new conflict, escalates the stakes of that conflict, and resolves it in time for the end credits, all while exploring the show’s characters and their relationships. In a world where most streaming series are so serialized that they barely feel like television anymore, it’s refreshing to see a TV show that actually adheres to the tenets of a TV show, where a given viewer could drop in on any episode and follow what’s going on.
Although there are some issues with the episode’s noir gimmick, “The Missing Reel” builds to a hilarious ending. The shot of the film reel unspooling down the road, captured with expert precision by a moving camera, paired with Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic Chinatown score, is a beautifully cinematic image. Matt’s closing voice-over narration details another devastating L for the poor studio head: he had to sell his Corvette to Efron for cents on the dollar to pay for the reshoots out of his own pocket. After last week’s episode of The Studio wrapped things up a bit too neatly, this scene closes out “The Missing Reel” on the perfect punchline.
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