I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: STUMPTOWN: Dex’s Mixtape (2020)

One of the fun things about Stumptown is Dex’s car–an old beat up Ford that she loves.

It has a cassette stuck in the player and the player goes on and off seemingly at will.  I don’t think the show has explored all of the music on the tape yet, but it keep the soundtrack squarely in the 1980s.

This Spotify playlist has 90 minutes worth of music that could easily fit on the cassette in the car.

The only discrepancy I have it is that “Yellow Ledbetter” from Pearl Jam didn’t come out until 1992.  We haven’t heard it in the car yet, although we have heard it in her house, so we’ll just consider that song a bonus cut.

Here’s the track list

• SIMPLISTICS-Heat of the Night
• BLONDIE-Heart of Glass
• ELTON JOHN, KIKI DEE-Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
• TIFFANY-I Think We’re Alone Now
• BLUE SHOES-Hey
• NEIL DIAMOND-Sweet Caroline
• THE O’JAYS-Love Train
• ASIA-Heat of the Moment
• CAPTAIN & TENNILLE-Love Will Keep Up Together
• PRETENDERS-Brass In Pocket
• HALL & OATES-Private Eyes
• CHAKA KHAN-I’m Every Woman
• KISS-I Was Made for Lovin’ You
• SNAP-Power
• AIR SUPPLY-All Out of Love
• PAT BENATAR-We Belong
• PLAYER-Baby Come Back
• EURHYTHMICS-Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves
• CYNDI LAUPER-Girls Just Want to Have Fun
• MISSING PERSONS-Walking In L.A.
• WILSON PHILLIPS-Hold On
• XTC-Dear God
• PEARL JAM-Yellow Ledbetter (1992)

What’s great about the soundtrack is that the rest of the show is contemporary and very cool, with some really good song choices.  But I love that they can have this unexpected throwback musical story running through as a commentary.

[READ: March 20, 2020] Stumptown Volume 1

I had heard promising reviews of a new show called Stumptown.  It is based on this graphic novel series from Greg Rucka (who has written some amazing books over the years).  When I saw that the graphic novels were still available (possibly with new covers–the publishing history is a little confusing), I knew I had to check it out.

I have since watched most of the episodes (I’m a little behind) and I am hooked.

This book is more or less the start of the first episode of the show, but the show has changed things (and basically made the ending very different).

But before I get to the story I want to comment on Matthew Southworth’s drawings which are really terrific.  His style is realistic but rough around the edges which works perfectly for this storyline.  There’s a lot of impressionistic moments where you can feel the person moving (or being moved) without the need for action lines.  Also, the casting of the show was really perfect.  Cobie Smulders is a dead ringer for Dex Parios in the book and Cole Sibus is amazingly cast as Ansel (Southworth does a great job showing Ansel’s Down Syndrome).  Cole Sibus is really outstanding in the role–his comic timing is excellent.  The only character who looks nothing like the book is Jake Johnson as Grey.  However, Jake Johnson is awesome and he is absolutely perfect for the role–I feel like he’s far more interesting than the comic book character (although in fairness, Grey doesn’t have that much to do in the book).

The book starts off (loike the show) in the middle of the action–Dex in a trunk tied up and being taken away.  The location is different but everything else is the same.

Then it flashes back to the casino where Dex owes a lot of money.  It is on a reservation and the leader of the casino is wiling to forgive Dex’s debt ($17,000) if Dex will find her granddaughter, Charlotte.  In the show Tantoo Cardinal is outstanding as Sue Lynn Black and really brings the character to life.

It turns out that the granddaughter fled her place in a hurry (she left her car, as the title says).  Up until this point, the show is pretty much the same.  But it differs once we get into why the girl is missing.

In the book Dex meets Hector Marenco, the seventh wealthiest man in Oregon and, according to some, the head of MS-13 in the PNW.  Hector has two teenage children.  Isabel, a pretty, tough woman and Oscar, a troublemaker and the person whom Dex believes is responsible for Charlotte’s disappearance–he and Charlotte were dating until recently.

Like in the TV show, Dex has a love-hate relationship with the police (one detective in particular).  In the book it is Tracy.  In the show it is Detective Miles played wonderfully by Micharl Ealy (his eyes are so striking).  This aspect isn’t played up all that much in this story.

There’s some good old-fashioned double crossing and false leads and we see that Dex is really, like really really, tough.  She can also read people really well–a very satisfying character trait.

The book’s ending is slightly unsatisfying. It’s possible that I have grown too attached to the storylines in the TV show, so I don’t care as much about this potential crime boss and his family.  Although the angle that Hector and Oscar are at odds about Oscar’s future in the crime family is an interesting angle.

I’m really curious what the other books (I believe there are three more) are all about and if the show started diverging right after volume one.