Bureau of magical things netflix review11/11/2023 ![]() ![]() They lean on casual, winding narratives with punch lines that get buried inside little observations. “We’re all gathered around this fire” is a mode that fits well with Martin’s style of comedy. It begins in a place of mysticism and lightness, but by the end, it gets somewhere familiar from every other campfire revelation: personal disclosure, deeply felt frustration with the world, and declarations of sincerity because there’s no other choice that makes sense. You’re allowed to be sappy around a campfire, and that’s exactly where Martin wants to take this special. ![]() It’s the only setting where the song “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” can exist free from mockery. Personal revelations come more quickly and are met with more generosity. ![]() It feels singular and closed off from the rest of the world. People say things when they’re gathered around a campfire that they may not otherwise say in broad daylight. It’s about creating a space that looks like a comfortable storytelling hour, that signals all the things we expect when we think about someone telling tales in front of a fire. Yet the campfire mood isn’t just about the explicit connection to that closing anecdote. There is an appropriately sappy reason for Martin to be standing in the middle of a forest: a closing story that hinges on an image of tree sap that’s meant to be literal but also meant as a metaphor for things that sustain us as human beings living in a disastrous world. In the background, there’s a black screen dotted with little lights to mimic a starry sky. In lieu of the usual stool and water bottle, Martin stands near an upturned log with a camping mug on it. Then the special begins in earnest with Martin walking out onto a stage full of lush greenery: big pine trees and little shrubs, rocks, and logs. It’s a strange little opening based on the idea for a joke that the audience won’t understand until later, but its off-kilter, Twin Peaks–y vibe is enough to carry the sketch regardless. Martin hands him a snow globe and asks him to introduce them. The first time, it’s a short opening sketch in which Martin sits down at a campfire in the middle of the woods and starts chatting with a man (played by Phil Burgers) who’s already there. Mae Martin’s new Netflix special, SAP, begins in a forest, twice. ![]()
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