TV: Pan Am (episode 3)

Closing out the third week of new TV for the Fall season and Pan Am has been sliding a bit in the ratings from its debut with 11.06 million viewers to 7.76 million viewers for week two. I'm not sure how vested ABC is in the show (given all the advertising and such I would venture a lot), but if you haven't caught it yet and plan to - you better hurry. Episodes are available on ABC.com and on their iPad app. This one might be in for a bit more ratings turbulence.

Episode three is entitled “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” and centers around a famous conference in Germany where John F. Kennedy is to speak.


Naturally, the Pan Am crew is involved. The flight crew are ferrying reporters over for the big event. Kate has a new spy mission, to retrieve a book from a German book store. Maggie is a huge Kennedy supporter and plans to meet him. Collette seems a bit reluctant about going to Germany (she's never been, oddly, and that gives us the opportunity to learn more of her backstory).

I like how the show jumped ahead twenty four hours after they arrive in Berlin, sort of leaving the viewer to wonder what happened. That, we will find out as the episode unfolds. A very nice narrative trick. I also enjoyed that more of the story took place off of the plane. It allowed for more ambiance and costumes.

Christina Ricci really hits her stride in this episode; where in the first two she had a very small part this time she gets to put some meat on her role. Actually, all the actors got to work their craft a lot more with this episode.

I'm very much hoping the show gets the full season pass as I find the characters all growing on me. Time will tell.