Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 108
January 3, 2021
Your Honor 1.5: The Vice Tightens
Big Mo has a lot of it. She takes in the one survivor of the blast that killed every other member of his and Kofi's family. She goes to see Baxter, because she wants to tell him what actually happened in the death of his son, and how Kofi couldn't have done it, because she doesn't want all-out war.
That war may be averted, but the daggers are closing in on Judge Diasato. The episode ends with Baxter now knowing 100% that Diasato was involved in the death of Baxter's son. And the blackmailer was in the car behind Adam at the gas station Adam went to after the fatal accident, and took a video of it. Hard for Your Honor to maintain honor with life-and-death facing you at every turn.
Adam, however, continues to draw on an unexpected reservoir of cool. When Baxter's daughter asks him what emotionally big event happened to Adam other than the death of his mother, Adam suavely responds that he met an impressive girl. That kind of quick thinking may or may not save him and his father as the vice tightens.
At this point, halfway through the series, just about everything else is going wrong for Adam and his father. All the attempts the judge made to direct attention away from Adam are having just the opposite result. Does he have any more moves? Hard to say. But what is becoming increasingly clear is he has decreasing time to make them.
See also Your Honor 1.1: Taut Set-Up ... Your Honor 1.2: "Today Is Yesterday" ... Your Honor 1.3: The Weak Link ... Your Honor 1.4: The Dinner
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January 2, 2021
Rust Creek: Not Rusty or Creeky
We saw Rust Creek, a 2018 movie, on Netflix last night. Neither rusty nor creeky, and in fact a quite good rendition of the well worn theme of a young woman drives off the road in some backwoods area, and is accosted by guys ranging from criminals to miscreants.
The first thing I liked about Rust Creek is the reason Sawyer (the young woman) winds up off the road: a lame GPS system that directs her to a closed road, and then provides no coherent way of getting back to the highway. How many times has that happened to you, right?
The miscreants, who are meth dealers, are no great shakes in originality, but the cook -- the guy who makes the meth -- turns out to be a decent, likeable, highly intelligent and reliable character. In his own way, he turns out to be the hero of the story.
The anti-hero is a local sheriff, genial and ... deadly. He's actually running the meth show, and the ease with which he kills anyone who gets in his way provides some surprises in the narrative. I realized, as I was watching this movie, that Sheriff O'Doyle could have been a template for Big Rick, the genial sheriff in Big Sky who will also kill anyone he perceives as a danger to his illicit business. (I have no idea who in the making of Big Sky saw what in Rust Creek, but I'm just saying the two characters seem cut from the same cloth.)
So, all in all, Rust Creek is an enjoyable movie, well directed by Jen McGowan, with good acting by Hermione Corfield (who was also good as the villain in We Hunt Together) as Sawyer and Jay Paulson as meth-cook Lowell and Sean O'Bryan as O'Doyle, and good writing by Julie Lipson and Stu Pollard. I say see it.
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January 1, 2021
Equinox (2020 TV series): Touches But Misses Kierkegaard and Darko
There have been a handful of movies and TV series named Equinox - check out the disambiguation page on Wikipedia -- but I thought I'd devote my first review here on Infinite Regress in 2021 to a Danish TV series by the name of Equinox that just debuted on Netflix on December 30, 2020, or two days ago.
The story begins with the sudden disappearance of high school kids on a bus, which could have made Equinox an entry in one of my favorite genres, Nordic Noir. But crime is not in play in Equinox, unless you're talking about crimes of the soul, or, if you're inclined to be unkind, crimes of narrative.
Not that the narrative isn't compelling, which it often is. But the mainspring of the narrative is fantasy, and not in the alt-science fiction way of His Dark Materials or Game of Thrones. No, the fantasy at work in Equinox is some kind of mythological rite of Spring, an inchoate demon of something that demands to be satisfied when frustrated.
There are elements in this story, which apropos its Danish provenance, partakes of Kierkegaard, who is indeed mentioned at one point, but not really explored (that is, his brilliant philosophy of dread isn't intertwined in the story). There are also elements of Donnie Darko in Equinox, but other than the demon who looks from some angles like the Darko rabbit, there's no time travel, however torturous it is in that 2001 classic.
What we do get in Equinox, which is good, and may make it worthwhile viewing for some people, is an intricate, powerful family relationship story, exploring the connection of sisters, mother and daughters, father and daughters, at younger and older ages. But I crave a plot that weaves these relationships, if not into a current or historical reality, into a crime story that takes place in our real world, or a science fiction tale in a world that is plausibly ours or someone else's.
Instead, Equinox pins its exploration on a map of grade D fantasy (on a grading scale of A to F), which makes it disappointing in my book.
December 31, 2020
Vikings Season 6 Part 2 (11-20): America
I thought I'd conclude my reviews for 2020 with Vikings Season 6, Part 2 (episodes 11-20) -- the end of the saga -- which I was able to binge on Amazon Prime Video the past two nights. I thought it was wonderful, with one truly outstanding interlude.
This second half of the final season actually comes in two parts. The first focuses on the Rus, with Ivar and Hvitserk in major play. And in the West, Ubbe gets to Iceland and points west with Torve. The second focuses on Wessex, again with Ivar and Hvitserk on centerstage for the Norse. And in the West, Ubbe and his crew make it all the way to America.
That last part had my favorite interlude: the way that Ubbe's group gets along so well with the indigenous people who live in America. As a counterpart and antidote to all the fighting and death we've seen all these years on this powerhouse historical series, there was one scene in which the Vikings and the people who already lived in this lush new world exchange gifts and get to know each other, at least a little. I have no idea if anything like that really happened. But it was good to see on the screen, good for the soul to see.
I've been predicting all along the Floki made it to America, and Ubbe's meeting with the master boat-builder was good to see, too. Ubbe was always the most like Ragnar -- at least, the son who was most like Ragnar when Ragnar was the most rational -- and when Floki and Ubbe are together, especially in that final scene, it was indeed like Floki and Ragnar were back together.
There were lots of fine realizations in this finale, too. For some reason, my favorite was that the old sage who knows everyone's future but never quite spits it out is actually in everyone's imaginations. That is, each of the Vikings who seek counsel with him are really seeking council in each of their own selves.
Back to America: you thought Leif Erikson was the first to make it America, right? Well, in terms of oral and then recorded history, he was -- a bit later than Floki and Ubbe. And we'll see his and related stories when Valhalla, the sequel to Vikings, gets back on the screen. And I'll be back here on the screen when it does.
See also Vikings 6.1-2: Russia! ... Vikings 6.9: Othere = ? ... Vikings 6.10: The Conversations
And see also Vikings 5.1-2: Floki in Iceland ... Vikings 5.3: Laughing Ivar ...Vikings 5.4: Four of More Good Stories ... Vikings 5.5: Meet Lawrence of Arabia ... Vikings 5.6: Meanwhile, Back Home ... Vikings 5.7: A Looming Trojan-War Battle, Vikings Style, and Two Beautiful Stories ...Vikings 5.8: Only Heahmund? ... Vikings 5.9: Rollo ... Vikings 5.10: New and Old Worlds ... Vikings 5.11: Rollo's Son ... Vikings 5.12: "The Beast with Two Backs" ... Vikings 5.13: The Sacrifice ... Vikings 5.14: Fake News in Kattegat ... Vikings 5.15: Battle ... Vikings 5.16: Peace and War ... Vikings 5.17: No Harmony in Iceland ... Vikings 5.18: Demented Ivar ... Vikings 5.19-20: Endings and Beginnings
And see also Vikings 4.1: I'll Still Take Paris ... Vikings 4.2: Sacred Texts ...Vikings 4.4: Speaking the Language ... Vikings 4.5: Knives ... Vikings 4.8: Ships Up Cliff ... Vikings 4.10: "God Bless Paris" ... Vikings 4.11: Ragnar's Sons ... Vikings 4.12: Two Expeditions ... Vikings 4.13: Family ... Vikings 4.14: Penultimate Ragnar? ... Vikings 4.15: Close of an Era ... Vikings 1.16: Musselman ... Vikings 1.17: Ivar's Wheels ...Vikings 1.18: The Beginning of Revenge ... Vikings 4.19: On the Verge of History ... Vikings 4.20: Ends and Starts
And see also Vikings 3.1. Fighting and Farming ... Vikings 3.2: Leonard Nimoy ...Vikings 3.3: We'll Always Have Paris ... Vikings 3.4: They Call Me the Wanderer ... Vikings 3.5: Massacre ... Vikings 3.6: Athelstan and Floki ...Vikings 3.7: At the Gates ... Vikings 3.8: Battle for Paris ... Vikings 3.9: The Conquered ... Vikings Season 3 Finale: Normandy
And see also Vikings ... Vikings 1.2: Lindisfarne ... Vikings 1.3: The Priest ... Vikings 1.4: Twist and Testudo ... Vikings 1.5: Freud and Family ... Vikings 1.7: Religion and Battle ... Vikings 1.8: Sacrifice
... Vikings Season 1 Finale: Below the Ash
historical science fiction - a little further back in time
December 30, 2020
Four Publications
I've had four publications in the past week, and since all are available FREE online, I thought I'd list them for you right here:
Foreseeable -- brand new science fiction story in debut issue of AcademficThe Missing Orientation -- essay about space exploration, sense of wonder, and religion in ReligionsPopper and Evolution Over the Decades -- how I met the great philosopherTetrads and Chiasmus: A Reclamation of the Tetrad Wheel -- a pathbreaking, scholarly new article by Matt Lindia and me in New ExplorationsMore Freebies from my science fiction, media theory, and music! Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's musicDecember 28, 2020
His Dark Materials 2.7: Lots of Action, Little Time
And it did answer some questions. Let's see, we know that the Spectres can take a sleeping witch. We know who Will's father is, even though now that "is" is "was". Lee was badly wounded, but it looks like another witch will bring him back. (Again, I haven't read the books.)
I thought the most interesting development was Lyra saying she's feeling that she's changing. In one scene, she's starting to look a lot more like her mother. She says the change has in part something to do with Will. She's changing into a woman.
Mrs. Coulter ended the season in the strongest position we've seen her in since the beginning of this story. Who or what is more powerful than the Spectres? Not the witches, though maybe a group of them will do better than just one, asleep. Not the Magisterium's Nazi soldiers. Coulter's power over the Spectres will make her a formidable force in the third season.
Mary had almost no role in this season finale. In many ways, she's our character, because she seems the most like all us here off the screen on our Planet Earth. I'm assuming she'll have a pivotal role in the final season. But there are still a lot of characters and story arcs at play. And in order for them all to be accommodated, we'll either need more episodes, or less time with the bear.
See also His Dark Materials 2.1-3: Dust, Dark Matter, and Multiple Universes ... His Dark Materials 2.4: Chosen by the Knife ... His Dark Materials 2.5: Daughter and Mother ... His Dark Materials 2.6: The Hug and the Control
And see also His Dark Materials 1.1: Radiation Punk ... His Dark Materials 1.3: Coulter's Daemons ... His Dark Materials 1.4: The Bears ... His Dark Materials 1.5: Sleepers and Questions ... His Dark Materials 1.6: His Fast Materials
December 27, 2020
Your Honor 1.4: The Dinner
Another wrenching, heart-in-your-mouth episode -- 1.4 -- of your Your Honor tonight, in which I thought the dinner at the Desiasto home, with the Judge and Adam, Grandma (good to see Margo Martindale!), the detective, the lawyer/the Judge's girlfriend, the Mayoral candidate, and even Django the dog all in attendance, was just a perfect set-piece for what is going on this riveting story.
The dog goes for the bloody rag he hid a few episodes ago. Only Michael knows for sure where that blood came from, and probably Adam, too. And, yeah, we the audience. But the other people around the table? As smart as they are, they have no idea. Nancy the detective realizes there's blood on cloth, but that could have come from a cut Michael or Adam had. There's no reason she or any of the other guests at that table would even think that it came the hit and run which is gradually eating this family up alive. Or rather, not the hit and run per se, but the Judge's understandable attempt to cover it up.
Which is already exacting an awful price. Kofi was killed because of it. And at the end of this episode, his home and who knows how many members of his family are burned up, as the mother of the hit and run victim exacts her revenge. On a family that had nothing to do with her son's death, because only we know the truth.
And because of that knowledge, we flinch every time the slightest thing happens to Adam. He gets into a fight in school. That kind of thing happens all the time with boys that age if a friend makes some kind of sexually provocative comment about someone the boy has a crush on. But we immediately worry that Adam is reacting to the hit and run, showing his guilt for something the Judge wisely wants his son to keep out of his mind, and certainly not act out in any public place, let alone a school.
A harrowing situation getting more so every episode. Just what we want to see in a narrative.
See also Your Honor 1.1: Taut Set-Up ... Your Honor 1.2: "Today Is Yesterday" ... Your Honor 1.3: The Weak Link
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Bridgerton: Alternate Austen
My wife and I binge-watched Bridgerton the past two nights, and loved it. She's a devoted Shonda Rhimes fan, and has watched and is watching everything she's done on network television. I can take or leave these shows, and usually leave them. But I'm also a big Jane Austen fan, and enjoy historical drama, so I gave Bridgerton a try.
It does have a lot in common with Jane Austen's novels, taking place in the Regency era in England, but it has a bold alternate history element: people of color are in the aristocracy, including Simon aka the Duke of Hastings (one of the two leading characters) and Queen Charlotte. Actually, historians have been debating for at least fifty years about whether Charlotte had African ancestry -- see the 1761 portrait by Allan Ramsay -- so that part of Bridgerton is more aptly described as controversial history not alternate history. But Simon's character, along with other secondary characters in Bridgerton, is clearly alternate history, which is a plus in my book.
The other way in which Austen's novels differ from Bridgerton -- based on the series of best-selling novels by Julia Quinn over the past twenty years (which I haven't read) -- is the hot sex between Simon and Daphne Bridgerton that lights up several episodes. Simon's lust for Daphne, which he has to mediate with his vow (to his father) not to have children, in age in which the withdrawal method is by and large the only way to do that, is one of the fulcrums of the narrative, and is presented just short of graphically but effectively on the screen. And I'll say that the acting of both Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne and Regé-Jean Page as Simon was superb across a wide range of tempestuous and profound emotions,
The other notable element in Bridgerton is Whistedown (voice by Julie Andrews), a Regency gossip columnist who stirs the pot with her all-too-savvy reports. Her true identity is not revealed until the very end, and though my wife and I pretty much guessed it, it was still fun to see this played out.
The secondary characters and stories were well done, the cinematography was just gorgeous, and I'm glad there's a second season already in the works. Check back here in 2021 for the review.
December 25, 2020
Perfume: A Kind of Science Fiction
Perfume, a 2018 movie which my wife and I saw just last night on Netflix, starts out as a straight-up, if perverted, serial killer story, based on Patrick Süskind's 1985 novel of the same name. A beautiful singer is found dead, with her scent glands removed. There apparently is a murderer at large who gets off so much on scents, he (or she) needs literally cuttings of glands to satisfy the craving.
But as the six episodes of the limited series unfold, we gradually learn that there's much more than a homicidal psychosis at play here. In the world of contemporary Germany and France where this story takes place, sense of smell is so powerful that it can make someone fall in love with someone else, or at very least irresistibly need to have sex with them.
There's no doubt that, in our off-screen world, the olfactory sense is very powerful and under-estimated. But, as far as I know, it has nothing close to the power it conveys in this narrative, in which the scent conveyed is the equivalent of a magic spell that is cast. In fairness to the TV series, the 1985 novel, correctly billed as historical fantasy (the story in the novel takes place in the 18th century), tells a similar fantastical story. And I have nothing against fantasy, or its mix with detective mystery, in print or on the screen. I thus wished it had been, I don't know, better mixed in this series.
Otherwise, the story was quite good, especially the way police as well as suspects get caught up in the same olfactory problems. The resolution, however, was a bit rabbit of a hat, and so was less than thoroughly satisfying. That can be remedied by a second season, which I'd definitely see.
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December 23, 2020
The Midnight Sky: Uplifting Downer
Well, you couldn't ask for a better movie than The Midnight Sky in these our Covid-ridden times. An Earth, in the year 2049, in even far worse shape than ours. Just about everyone on the planet dead, due to some kind of planet-wide catastrophe. A spaceship returning home to Earth from a habitable moon of Jupiter, unaware of what they are returning to. A very sick scientist on Earth, desperately marshalling his last energies to contact them, and tell the ship to turn around.
You know what? I think this movie, directed by and starring George Clooney, was a superb movie, and would've been outstanding, in any time, Covid or not. In other words, I strongly disagree with the one myopic critic, in Variety, I think, whom I happened to read yesterday, who panned the movie.
The idea of a spaceship returning to a dying Earth -- an Earth that was fine when the ship took off -- as at least as old Arch Oboler's 1956 Broadway play Night of the Auk. That was a masterpiece, too. It's a powerful theme, one that combines the heights and the deadly failures of human civilization. I haven't read the 2016 novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton, Good Morning, Midnight, on which Mark L. Smith's screenplay is based, so I can't tell you who deserves credit for what. But I can say the narrative was powerful and plausible, and very well directed by Clooney,
Truthfully, despite the many things that have gone very wrong in our world, in reality, I'm much more of an optimist about our planet's future than either Auk or Midnight Sky allow. But I'm always up for a provocative downer like his, if it's done right. Clooney was just right as Augustine. The spaceship crew were just right, too -- Kyle Chandler as Mitchell, determined to go back so he can at least be close to his family, gave one of his best performances in years. Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Damian Bichir (from The Bridge!), and Tiffany Boone as the rest of the crew were good, too.
[Spoilers below]
As to the fine point of the plot -- Sully on the ship is really Augustine's daughter, and the little girl who shows up and both inspires and protects Augustine is just his vision of her (my wife realized this early in the movie)-- well, sure, it was a little hoaky, but I think that worked very well, too. And the remaining big questions, like what kind of life will Sully and Adewole have with their baby on that moon around Jupiter, are ok, too. Because, I would recommend, if there is a sequel, that it turns out there are some humans alive with sophisticated tech back on Earth.
But, again I'm an optimist at heart. I don't know if you are, but see The Midnight Sky, and see what you think.
first starship to Alpha Centauri ... and they only had enough fuel to get there
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