Pairs Unknown

How to spend a great evening

At this point, the memory of Who Anthony Bourdain Was has become sanctified in our culture—he was everyone: style icon, writer, chef, world traveler, lefty but mainstream, punky but refined. Those who didn’t know of him when he was alive certainly know of him now, and his status as “one of the coolest and realest mfs to ever live” is reified af. This man has achieved apotheosis.

But there is something many people don’t know about Anthony Bourdain: he actually made some awesome TV shows. The other night, I rewatched two episodes of Parts Unknown that paired quite well, and it made me question what other two episodes might go well together. Each episode is essentially a self-contained and tonally cohesive documentary about a place, opinionated and paying homage to the homegrown media from the area. They’re a joy to watch and a true reminder of the depth and expansiveness of the world we live in.

Here are 3 pairings of Parts Unknown episodes that might go well together. Though, of course, the possibilities are infinite.

Madagascar / Marseille

I love the Madagascar episode because it’s pretty uncomfortable—the theme is that there are no easy or sexy solutions to the problems of development, that a place dreamt of as an island paradise is struggling with the power vacuum of postcolonial leadership, that preserving the land and its biodiversity comes at a human cost to the people who live there, and that cute solutions like ecotourism are often a return to the oppressive and extractive environment of the colonial era. The episode doesn’t shy away from violence, hunger, or complexity. Darren Aronofsky is a bit of a douchebag but an excellent foil to Bourdain; he’s ultimately a weird but very curious guy who’s sort of on his own mission. There’s also a bizarre amount of promo for the 2013 movie Noah.

Pair that with the Marseille episode; one of the all-time classics. Swerves quickly away from any kind of actual engagement with Marseille as it sits in the French imagination—dirty, crowded, Maghrebin, dangerous, gang-ridden—and becomes instead a lovely portrait of

Eric Ripert and Bourdain goofing around in the French countryside, soaking in luxury and pleasure, talking authentically about how lucky they feel to live the special lives they do. Bourdain posits that he hopes reincarnation isn’t real because he feel like he’s reached the peak of existence. He suggests that Eric Ripert, in his next life, will “end up a mime. A diseased, itinerant mime wandering the streets scrounging for money.” It’s a little dark, considering Bourdain’s actual death, and Ripert’s discovery of him, but I think that tinges the episode with joy too—it’s a perfect artifact of the true friendship and cameraderie that Bourdain did have during his life.

Borneo / Congo

The boat episodes. In both of these, Bourdain takes a long boat journey down a river to reach his destinations. The Congo episode, influenced deeply by Heart of Darkness, is a meditation on postcolonial trauma and obsession, a study of the relationship between abuser and abused. The Borneo episode is significantly more personal; Bourdain returning to a village he visited long ago for an earlier show, and spending days drinking and celebrating in a somewhat vulgar and sometimes punishing festival. The two couldn’t be more different, but they’re bound together by their river journeys in ways that I think excite and complement each other.

Quebec / Hanoi

A study of contrasts. I picked these two because the rich, buttery, French-influenced, maple-sodden Quebec episode could not be more different than the down home, spicy, sour, salty flavors in the Hanoi episode. Both engage deeply with the idea of longstanding culinary traditions, as evidenced in the Joe Beef guys’ obsessions with constantly eating fancy French food and the one Hanoi grandma’s obsession with her broth. But they’re both excellent episodes in their own right, and it’s interesting to see them both together as an artifact of how the show grew in its time on the air.

Nabeel’s Footnote

Stanley Tucci renaming his show and going to a different network. Eva Longoria searching for Spain instead of Mexico. Embarrassing stuff from the boy’s successors