In his cell-like room, Elliot kept a copy of Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection, a story in which the narrator with a guilty conscience seeks redemption - new life - by helping the inmates at a prison, including a fair number of wrongly or unfairly convicted people. Would Elliot sprint toward greater authenticity and honesty or sink deeper into his kingdom of bulls-?Įxplicit references to other cultural texts also encouraged us to consider that Elliot had been sent to The Big House and was trying to escape it, at least in his own mind. His capacity for self-deception was as deep and dangerous as his pain. Elliot, agent of cynical realism and speaker of brutal truths, was a profound hypocrite, as most badly broken mad men of American pop culture tend to be these days. The revelation - more like clarification - was actually the secondary detonation of another shocker, a true stunner for most: It turned out that Elliot had completely forgotten that his fsociety compatriot Darlene (Carly Chaikin) was also his sister. So it wasn’t so surprising when, in the eighth episode, the show’s misfit and certifiably mental hero Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) realized that he’d been hallucinating this wish-fulfillment revolutionary rogue and ragged father figure, and in the form of his dead dad, no less. Robot (Christian Slater), the elusive leader of an anarchist hacker collective known as fsociety. (Yes, you should make a reservation, and you should do so in advance.For most of season 1, creator Sam Esmail provoked us to entertain the notion that there was something suspiciously unreal about Mr. The dress code here is “fashionable attire,” but the space just makes you want to look nice, without having to be told. Chandeliers wear shimmering fringed skirts, and columns are topped with gold palm leaves. The decor is lush, classic supper club put through a modern filter, all peacock swirls and gleaming golds, with dark leather, rich wood, and crushed velvet wall curtains. Grace by Nia is 5,000 square feet, but it feels intimate, carved into several different spaces: a long bar, standing room only at this hour the stage, fronted by an array of chairs and small round tables just the right size to hold two drinks and two plates, with a banquette and more tables alongside for lounging a dining area away from the entertainment, for those who just want to focus on their food. Grace by Nia is part of the shift.Ĭreole seafood gumbo, a roux-based stew with shrimp, crawfish, chicken, sausage, and okra over rice at Grace by Nia in the Seaport. But between some intentional planning by developers and the tendency of the human spirit to ooze through small cracks, that is starting to change. Soul, character, and diversity are harder to find. Office towers and luxury housing are everywhere in the glossy Seaport neighborhood. Grace also owns Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen, serving food and live music on the border of the South End and Grace’s native Roxbury. It is the latest project from namesake impresario Nia Grace, in partnership with entertainment and hospitality group Big Night. Grace by Nia - part restaurant, part nightclub, all vibe - opened this month. Acquaintances run into one another: “Well well well! Is this your first time?” The friendliness extends among strangers, too, and the staff works the room shaking hands. The bar is jam-packed, with men in button-downs and fleece vests, women in going-out dresses and towering heels, and everyone and anyone in between - all ages, colors, and fashion senses - drinking cocktails and moving their hips side by side. “I love music! I love it,” she says to no one in particular. When the saxophone player eases into a solo, a woman in a black-and-white jacket with bright red hair begins dancing, arms in the air, pure joy on her face. Is this really the Seaport - the neighborhood a Globe Spotlight story once referred to as “a brand new Boston, even whiter than the old”? Onstage, a singer is channeling Chaka Khan against a backdrop of curtains lit up blue and purple, the name of the venue - Grace by Nia - illuminated in white and turquoise neon.
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