Panagoulious and Redbones have literally nothing to sell in Herndon, and that exhilarates them.
It gives them a challenge.
It also makes the triumph all about them.
Credit: Rhys Thomas/IFC
And so The Bunker coincidentally intersects with our basket ofdeplorables moment.
The tricks perpetrated by Panagoulious and Redbones arent all that funny, nor are they all that original.
Put another way: I think The Bunker is indicting itself, and anything like it.
It also slyly confronts us.
This was never about the state of Ohio, or Ben Herndon.
Its about what we did.
We changed the way election narratives are hijacked.
Yall are now political professionals.
You should be proud of that.
Im proud of you.
You love your work, and you learned a lot.
We all learned a lot.
Haders performance is chilly-funny.
He plays the speech with such deeply felt appreciation for his workers, youre almost moved by it.
But this, too, seems to be intentional.
His words arent a point theyre a question.
What have we gained from revelatory docs likeThe War Roomand biting fiction like The Bunker?
Do we learn anything from them that changes things for the better?
Or do they just teach us to love the fireworks?
The best thing about the second season ofDocumentary Now!is that The Bunker isnt even the best episode.
Im not even sure it comes close to whats coming in the next few weeks.
With a final twist, the greater whole becomes a spoof of unreliable narrator storytelling and Thats so meta!
Its a nice tonic for a summer ofMr.
WhateverDocumentary Now!is selling, Im buying.A-
