Imagine this: it is Autumn of 2005, and each morning there was a very dramatic 14-year-old, dramatically looking out the window of his school bus, blasting Sufjan Stevens dramatic ballad “Chicago” on his headphones, pretending that in the end some of work properly a dramatic movie montage. At 14 years of age was of me, and I was, as I said, very dramatic — not unlike Payton Hobart, the lead of Netflix’s The Political. Coincidentally, Payton adolescence is also set in “Chicago,” which serves as the Ryan Murphy-created dramedy the theme of the song.
It is the perfect, the sweep of choice for a montage that shows everything that goes into the construction of Payton’s larger-than-life person — medals, political pins, a box of matches — that ends with a statue modeled after the character (played by Dear Evan Hansen‘s Ben Platt) to become human and casting an intimidating look directly into the camera. It is true that, at first listen, the song of the Stevens of the Illinois it feels a bit out of place in a compelling series as The Political, which has a caramel color from the color palette and the mile-a-minute dialogue. If you listen carefully, however, “Chicago” is a good choice for Payton’s journey.
Stevens song that has the remarkable ability to leave you feeling cheerful and breathless, while also punching her in the gut and ready to sink into a box of tissues. So also does The Politicalthat never is decided that the type of story it wants to tell, or the tone that you want to follow. The lyrics of “Chicago” also make reference to the search of escape and liberation — “If I was crying / In the van with my friend / it was for freedom / From myself and from the land” — something Payton has as objective to make once you get your acceptance to the university of Harvard in the first season.
As you prepare to binge-watch the second season, here is “Chicago” for your listening pleasure.
