5 sentence review of Pan Am

Season 1, Episode 12: “New Frontiers”

5. One day, today’s kids will grow up and bemoan the umpteenth dramatic depiction of how people felt about Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and I actually look forward to that because it means TV will be all with crummy John F. Kennedy assignation rehashes like the “New Frontier” episode of the doomed period drama “Pan Am,” a show I liked until the last two weeks, which felt very jump the shark even though the show is likely cancelled.

4. The Kennedy assignation tack on at the end of this episode is almost as tedious as the is-she-or-isn’t-she lesbian subplot involving Ted’s (Michael Mosley) fiance Amanda (Ashley Greene) and the unnecessary soap opera wedge between Colette (Karine Vanasse) and Dean (Mike Vogel) or the positively embarrassing gender-reversed “Roman Holiday” insert when Colette romances Omar (Piter Marek), a prince pretending to be a rich vagabond.

3. More interesting is Maggie’s (Christina Ricci) temptation to become a smuggler under the guidance of George “Sky God” Broyles (Darren Pettie), an unethical captain, and if a show is going to dabble in historical fiction, an appearence by Andy Warhol, who wants to buy nude photos of Laura (Margot Robbie) — hey, who wouldn’t?

2. “Pan Am” still has its charms, most notably four spectacularly beautiful and skilled actresses, and I admire both the staging and lighting of the program as well as its admirable if somewhat cliched effort to depict the trials of women in a more masochistic era.

1. It’s a conundrum: I can’t stand “Pan Am” when its here but I’m already missing it and it’s not even gone.

Three of the four reasons why the General loves "Pan Am" without shame: Margot Robbie, Christina Ricci and Kelli Garner.

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