Oh can’t you see
You belong to me
My poor heart aches
With every step you take
It didn’t take long for Carole & Tuesday to do it—episode five uses my favorite song, “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, as its title (1). I remember hearing Sting talk about it once, about how many people play it at their weddings when it’s not a love long. It’s about heartbreak. The singer misses his lover compulsively; he wants to have her to himself, to own her, but he cannot—she’s free.
The same can describe Carole and Tuesday. The naivete with which they’re approaching their careers matches their youthful energy, and the shoddy plans which Gus uses matches his long drought in the industry. But like some throwback to fifty years ago, to a time when we believed just a bit in magic and innocence, that a happy ending can come true—and from episode one (2), Carole & Tuesday promises us a happy ending—the girls march toward a beautiful destiny, full of innocence and free from the mechanics of this future world.
The cold, robotic nature of Tao and spoiled personality from Angela represent the opposite end of the spectrum, and that theme is pressed further in this episode. Gus thinks an old friend will get his girls, who have never performed in a true venue, to play a stage at a huge music festival. It’s nonsense (Roddy is able to save the day, however, and get them a very small but important gig), the exact opposite of Tao’s calculated approach as he goes to an investor for capital and plans “covert promotion” for Angela.
Everything Tao is doing makes sense—it’s the way to create a superstar in that time and place. He is going to create in Angela someone that the world values and what the world consumes. She’ll be a success, a major star. But what the world needs is something quite different. It needs the innocence it lost, and Carole & Tuesday will provide that, if only for seven minutes, but perhaps for much more to a world too similar to ours, to one that seems to have lost its heart.
Since you’ve gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but it’s you I can’t replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby, please
—
(1) Any thoughts as to what other songs will be featured as titles? I have a sneaking suspicion that “Blame it on the Rain” will make its way on. And a couple of Cyndi Lauper titles seems like shoo-ins, if “True Colors” hadn’t been used in episode one.
(2) Carole and Tuesday fumbling their way into fame reminds me of “Hard Day’s Night,” where the world’s more talented group makes their way along while keeping a youthful innocence. That vibe is there.
