“Ich Bin Ein Berliner” takes Pan Am’s slowly developing cast of characters and thrusts them into a major historical event, President John F. Kennedy’s speech in Berlin during 1963. Previous episodes have darted in and out of events briefly, the pilot dealt with The Bay of Pigs Invasion and the second episode dealt with Kate’s involvement in the cold war, but this episode focuses squarely on real world history and runs into problems because of it.
The issue is partially of weight, Pan Am has real trouble integrating the gravely serious matters that this episode undertakes with the lighter stories that it tells at the same time. Two of the three plots in this episode deal with intensely dramatic subject matter, while the third features that same breezy tone that carried along the first two episodes and the two styles don’t mix particularly well. The main problem that emerges is that the subject matter overwhelms the rest of the show, causing it to rush into establishing backstories for characters or forcing them to act in ways that seem counter to what we’ve learned about them. Pan Am hasn’t had time to fully develop its characters yet so throwing them into a situation makes them conform to it rather than having it service them. It’s a less than ideal situation and it makes a strong argument for avoiding major historical moments until the show has settled into itself more thoroughly.
The episode starts with the crew departing for Berlin, most everyone is excited, but Colette seems to harbor some sort of worry, which we soon learn comes from the fact that she grew up in Nazi, occupied France. Karine Vanasse does an excellent job with the material she’s given, but I was ultimately left unmoved by the actual story even if Vanasse’s amazingly expressive face managed to invest me in her character’s heartbreak. The problem I had was that this material emerged seemingly out of the blue, while we’ve begun to get acquainted with these characters this episode throws us into the emotional deep end before we’ve had a chance to really latch onto these people. If this episode had taken place much later in the season it might have been far more effective simply because we wouldn’t have needed to be told why we should feel bad for Colette, we simply would have since we already knew about the character and her history. It was also jarring to head from the lighter tone that the previous two episodes utilized into the deathly serious reminiscence on the horrors of World War II that made up the bulk of Colette’s screen time. If the writing had been more nuanced maybe this plotline could have succeeded, but it never did enough to truly justify tackling the subject matter.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the endeavor was that the episode propped itself up with one of the laziest storytelling crutches a TV show can use. Just after the title sequence finished the episode leaps 24 hours ahead and we see the fallout of the trip to Berlin as the characters cryptically commiserate over the events that have just occurred, then we jump back in time to live them as they did. It’s a tactic designed to intrigue the viewer, but it’s been so overused that it only comes off as a cheap ploy, what’s worse is there’s no compelling reason to deploy it here as the episode gains nothing from it on either a plot or thematic level. It’s sad that Pan Am is already resorting to tricks like this so early in its run, and I’m hopeful this is a one time occurrence rather than a product of the shows preference for non-linear plot structures. The first two episodes deftly wove in flashbacks to elicit important character details, but now that we’ve gotten those out of the way the show still seems devoted to a story structure that jumps around in time even if there isn’t a good reason to do so.
The spy plot of the week with Kate doesn’t fare much better as she attempts to help another courier who has had her cover blown and fears for her life. It suffers from a similar problem to Colette’s story in that there’s no real lead up to the intensity we see here. It doesn’t have an issue with a tonal shift since Kate’s plots have routinely impressed on us the dangers of her work, but the fact that the show felt the need to have Kate go off mission in the episode immediately after Bridgette warned her to not go off mission last time was just too forced. If Pan Am had managed a few more episodes where Kate went about her business and settled into her position before throwing a decision like this her way it might have had more impact, but by swiftly accelerating her plot to the point where she is forced to make major decisions almost instantly it makes the whole affair seem more artificial than it might have otherwise.
That’s what felt so wrong about this episode in general, everything was too big. I understand the temptation of exploiting the culture of the 1960s for this show, it’s a major part of what makes the premise appealing, but “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” lets the historical event it’s tying into overpower the characters that are the true core of the show. Maggie’s always been portrayed as a smart, independent woman and while it makes sense that she’d be a JFK supporter, her fervor and desire to meet him simply feels off. She’s too single-minded and unquestioning of the man and I never felt that her adulation for the president rang true with what we’d learned about her character beforehand. Especially since it’s apparent that she knows JFK is a womanizer, something that should anger the character based on her frustration with the traveler who made a pass at her last week.
In all this the show never truly managed to invest me in the events that were transpiring. Sure I got a little choked up when Colette broke down over her lost family, but that wasn’t because of the writing, instead it was basic human empathy based on Karine Vanasse’s performance. The writing let this episode down, and now that the show has moved on from establishing its premise it needs strong writing to establish its characters. Jet setting is enjoyable, but if the writers of Pan Am want me to buy the heavy drama they seem intent on combining with that globe-trotting they’re going to have to do more than simply remind me of important moments in history. “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” makes the mistake of assuming that history will add to the characters we’ve been getting to know rather than distract from them. Hopefully in the future the folks behind Pan Am will realize that the show is about people in the ‘60s instead of a show about the ‘60s that just happens to have a few people along for the ride.
Other Thoughts:
- This episode throws in a weirdly unexpected attraction between Ted and Laura. It steps back from it nicely, but it’s not very gracefully handled even if I assume it’s not done with yet.
- I didn’t mind the beginning of Maggie’s plotline, mostly because Ricci sells Maggie’s go for broke attitude nicely, but by the time she was chasing JFK’s departing motorcade I’d lost just about any interest in it. The same goes for Kate’s story when it turns into her dressing up the East Berlin defector in her Pan Am outfit.