Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 135

Yesterday: And I Love It

Well, my wife and I just saw Yesterday, having taped it last week on HBO, and we loved it.  This is contrary to some otherwise worthy critics, but what else is new.

The premise, that some kind of solar flash causes just about everyone in the world to have no memory of the Beatles, except a struggling young songwriter, Jack Malik, who remembers the Beatles and all of their songs, was a nice, even brilliant, piece of science fantasy.  It's a set-up Mark Twain would've been proud of, not to mention all kinds of more recent science fiction and fantasy writers.

And the song delivery was excellent - Himesh Patel, who played Jack, has a fine voice.  Yesterday would've been enjoyable, just because of all of those wonderful Beatles songs, even if the plot was bad or rickety.  As it was, the plot was good enough, with everything from true love to commerciality and its drawbacks as Jack becomes world famous - as a writer of fabulous (Beatles) songs - given a solid workout.

And there were some points of sheer, heart-breaking incandescence.  As I a science fiction writer, I've explored John Lennon not being killed more than once - see my Loose Ends Saga - but Yesterday explored it in a unique way.   They got an actor to look just as Lennon might in his 70s, and even if his voice and accent weren't perfect, just his face was enough to nearly stop your heart.

Back to the plot, there were some good jokes on jokes woven into the story, such as the oft-commented upon pressure by Ed Sheeran (who plays himself) on Jack to the change the title of "his" song to "Hey, Dude".  And the dream sequences were handled very well, including the oddities of Jack's dreams, as when Paul and Ringo show up in Jack's nightmare as the true writers of the Beatles songs.

So, hats off to Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis for creating this movie, to Himesh Patel and Lily James and Ed Sheeran for memorable performances, and to the Beatles for such peerless music.  I predict that Yesterday will become a much-loved classic.





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The Sinner 3.7: Confession and Connection

A powerful, pivotal episode 3.7 of The Sinner last night, in which Harry's decision to spend the night in a grave bears fruit.  Of course, given that this is The Sinner, Harry's insano strategy bears fruit that is not entirely sweet.

He gets a confession from Jamie - recorded - after the written confession is burned.  But it doesn't stand up in court, because Jamie's attorney lets the judge know that Harry has been more than a detective investigating Jamie.  They have become, well, also friends.

And that's indeed the crux of this story.  Jamie is seeking to recreate with Harry the relationship Jamie had with Nick (whom Jamie let die).  And Harry finds in Jamie someone who can speak to that inchoate vulnerability, searing sensitivity to life and its bruises that Harry has always carried in his soul.

And, therefore, the judge releases Jamie.  And (of course) there's a steep price to be paid.  Jamie kills Harry's boss in a scene shot in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, where my wife grew up, and where we lived and raised two kids, until we moved a bit up north.  Fortunately, we never ran into Jamie on those steep stairs.

Next week is the season finale.  I have to say that, with last night's next-to-last of the season episode, this year's Sinner had fallen into much better place.  Of course, I mean that in terms of plot, not what's happening to the characters, and I'll let you know what I think of how all of that works out next week.

See also The Sinner 3.1: Second Degree Murder, First Degree Detective ... The Sinner 3.2:  The Contractor and the Contractee ... The Sinner 3.3: The Baby Monster ... The Sinner 3.4-5: Why Doesn't Harry Just Arrest Jamie ... The Sinner 3.6: Faustian Bargains

And see also The Sinner 2.1: The Boy ... The Sinner 2.2:  Heather's Story ... The Sinner 2.3: Julian's Mother ... The Sinner 2.5: The Scapegoat ... The Simmer 2.7: Occluded Past Unwound - Mostly ... The Sinner Season 2 Finale: The Ambiguity of Harry

And see also: The Sinner season one: Wild, Unconventional, Irresistible Mystery

 
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Homeland 8.6: Carrie vs. the World

The vice continues to tighten around Carrie in Homeland 8.6, but of course she breaks out of it, in a great scene in which she bolts at the airport from boarding a plane that would take her out of the action.

What's somewhat different about this vice is that Saul is applying it to Carrie, or, to be fair to Saul, he has little choice but to apply it.  On the other hand, this is not the first time he wasn't completely on Carrie's side.  As he should be, because she's almost always right, if not in the short run, certainly in the long run.

But the screws are on Saul, too, and the stakes couldn't be higher: the assassination of the U. S. President.  Was Yevgeny behind it, drawing on information Carrie literally unconsciously gave him?  You know what - I don't think so.  Although he drives a hard bargain, as he did with Carrie to get his help in locating Max, he just doesn't seem like someone who would mastermind an assassination of a U. S. President, or even implement someone else's plan to do that.

I'm glad Max is still alive.  He not only provides a plausible occasion for Carrie to defy Saul, he's a good character and deserves to survive.   I suppose that doesn't matter in a series like Homeland.  But seeing as how this is the final season, I'll bet that Max will be alive at the end of it.

And what of Carrie?  Anything is possible.  I wouldn't be stunned if she doesn't survive, or if her survival is ambiguous.  But that would be a shame.  She deserves to be rewarded for her brilliant analytic and instinctive mind, which has saved the CIA's and the nation's bacon, lo these many times over the eight seasons her story has been on the screen.

See also Homeland 8.1: Lost Time ... Homeland 8.3: Ohio ... Homeland 8.4: Helicopter Down ... Homeland 8.5: Is Carrie Another Brody?

And see also Homeland 7.1: The Worse Threat ... Homeland 7.2: Carrie vs. 4chan ... Homeland 7.3: Separating Truth from Hyperthinking ... Homeland 7.4: Fake News! ... Homeland 7.5: "The Russian Angle" ... Homeland 7.6: Meets The Americans, Literally ... Homeland 7.7: Meets The Americans ... Homeland 7.8: Evenly Matched ... Homeland 7.9: Franny vs. the Job or the U.S. Hacks Twitter ... Homeland 7.10: President Trump and President Keane ... Homeland 7.11: Carrie in Action ... Homeland Season 7 Finale: The President
And see also Homeland 6.1: Madam President-Elect ... Homeland 6.2: Parallel Program ... Homeland 6.3: Potentials ... Homeland 6.4: "A Man with Painted Hair" ... Homeland 6.5: The Attack on Carrie's Brownstone ... Homeland 6.7: The Arch Villain ... Homeland 6.8: Peter's Problem ... Homeland 6.9: The Tide Begins to Turn ... Homeland 6.10: Fake News! ... Homeland 6.11: Quinn and Dar ... Homeland Season 6 Finale: Chilling - and True to Life
And see also Homeland 5.1: Moving into the Age of Snowden ... Homeland 5.2: Who Wants to Kill Carrie ... Homeland 5.3: Carrie and Kerry ... Homeland 5.5: All Quinn ... Homeland 5.6: Saul Wises Up ... Homeland 5.7: Tough to Watch ... Homeland 5.9: Finally! ... Homeland 5.10: Homeland and Homeland ... Homeland 5.11: Allison as Primo Villain ... Homeland Season 5 Finale: RIPs
And see also Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie's State of Mind ... Homeland 4.3: Quinn and Carrie ... Homeland 4.4: Carrie's Counterpart ... Homeland 4.5: Righteous Seduction ... Homeland 4.6: The Biggest Reveal ... Homeland 4.7: The Manifestation ... Homeland 4.8: Saving Someone's Life ... Homeland 4.9: Hitchcock Would've Loved It ... Homeland 4.10: The List ... Homeland 4.12: Out of this Together
And see also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal
And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality
And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional


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The Plot Against America 1.1: Yet Another Alternate Nazi History, with Forshpeis

I find myself in the less than jubilant position of reviewing the third television science fiction series about Nazis - science fiction, loosely defined - in the past three days.  The first would be Hunters (my review here), the second Westworld (more, precisely it's season three coda; my review here), and now The Plot to Against America on HBO.  I'll leave it to you to explain why Nazis are so popular on American television these days.

The Plot hinges on Charles Lindbergh, who in real history was a non-interventionist and likely Nazi sympathizer in the 1930s, bur did fight against the Nazis and Japanese in the Second World War. In the television series, he beats FDR in the Presidential election of 1940, and (though I haven't read the 2004 novel by Philip Roth or seen more than the first episode of the series) presides over an America in which anti-semitism is rampant.

Philip Roth and Philip K. Dick are two very different kinds of brilliant writers, so don't expect any Man in the High Castle (in my view, probably the best science fiction series ever on television) in The Plot Against America alternate history.  Instead, think about Roth's other notable works, like Goodbye Columbus, which focus on the pleasures and problems of Jewish life in mid-20th-century New Jersey.  You'll find lots of that in the first episode of The Plot Against America, which introduces the extended Levin family, its struggle to move up in the middle class and fend off the rising Nazi tide. 

The details in 1940 Newark are spot on, ranging from the Esso gas station to the clothing to the Yiddish sprinkled in the conversations.  This has to be the first time I've heard the word forshpeis in an American TV drama.  It brings back wonderful memories of both my grandmother's voice and her forshpeis.   

The acting in The Plot Against America is top-drawer, too, with Winona Ryder, John Turturro, and David Krumholtz in important roles, eating rolls that made me hungry, and I'll be back here next week with a review of the second episode.

 
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Westworld 3.1: The Great Outside

Westworld checked in with a fine cyberpunk third season last night, with an at once sharp and lush episode that had fine outings for two of the major original characters, introduced a new one or two, and brought back another original in a surprising coda.

Dolores is in better shape than ever, now out in the world, and doing her best to get an in with the AI brain that moves a lot of the world, by forging a relationship with Liam, the son of the man who may or may not control the AI company.   She's true to herself and talents, and offers more of the philosophic commentary which we first saw signs of last season.  She also intersects significantly with Aaron Paul's character Caleb, who pretty much saves her life.

Bernard's story is a little less, but nonetheless promising.  He's doing his best, and he's been doing for most of his host life, to live his life as a human.  But that doesn't include being beaten to a pulp, and it was good to see him rise up and exercise his rights, literally.

Liam is a good new character, as is Caleb, and I'd add Liam's minder with that great UK accent, whom Dolores replaces with a host double.   In previous seasons, that kind of replacement was a big deal, sometimes the biggest deal of the season, and it's a measure of how far and well Westworld has evolved that it happens just a little more than casually in this first episode.

And then there's Maeve, who continues to inhabit the surprising coda category in the narrative.  In this one, we find her in the third Nazi story I've seen on television in the past few days (the other two are Hunters, reviewed here, and The Plot Against America, which I'll review soon).  The tiny piece of this story we saw after the closing credits is the closest to what we saw last season, since it takes place in yet another theme park.  But I wouldn't be completely sure that it has the same creators as the earlier ones.

See you here next week.  One advantage of staying home in this time of the Coronavirus is you get a lot more time to watch television.  And it just occurred to me: hosts probably don't suffer the ravages of viruses, right?  The physical kind of virus, that is ... because AIs are prone to be infected by the digital kind.  There's some kind of odd parity in that.




See also Westworld 2.1: Maeve's Daughter ... Westworld 2.2: "Narcissus Narcosis" ... Westworld 2.3: The Raj and Guns of the South ... Westworld 2.4: Questions Pertaining to Immortality ... Westworld 2.5: Telepathic Control ... Westworld 2.6: The Dangling Conversation ... Westworld 2.7: Maeve vs. Dolores ... Westworld 2.8: The Wrong World ... Westworld 2.9: Fathers ... Westworld 2.10: The Realist World

And see also Westworld 1.1: Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick Served Up by Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, and J. J. Abrams ... Westworld 1.2: Who Is the Man in Black? ... Westworld 1.3: Julian Jaynes and Arnold ... Westworld 1.4: Vacation, Connie Francis, and Kurt Vonnegut ... Westworld 1.5: The Voice Inside Dolores ... Westworld 1.6: Programmed Unprogramming ... Westworld 1.7: The Story of the Story ... Westworld 1.8: Memories ... Westworld 1.9: Half-Truths and Old Friends ... Westworld Season 1 Finale: Answers and Questions  Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.9: Science Fiction

A rare Curb Your Enthusiasm - 10.9 - tonight, in which science fiction figures in a semi-major way.

First, in a conversation with Freddy Funkhouser (Vince Vaughn), Jeff, and Richard Lewis, the subject of a car moving without a driver comes up, and the danger that it might hit a stroller with a baby comes up.  One of them says if the baby were a future Hitler, that might change everything, but that's dismissed as "science fiction".

I wouldn't say that qualifies as a "semi-major way," but it turns out Richard is staring in a theatrical presentation of Flowers for Algernon.   Now that's science fiction.  In fact, I consider Daniel Keyes's 1959 novelette (later expanded into a novel and then made into a movie) the best science fiction novelette ever written.  That's why, when I President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000, I named Keyes our Author Emeritus at our New York Nebula Awards Celebration.  My wife, two kids, and I had dinner with Keyes and his wife after the award presentation, and it was one of best dinners my family and I ever had.



Scott Edelman (toastmaster, left); Daniel Keyes; my hands clapping (right), at Nebula Awards, New York City, 2000

Anyway, the rest of this Curb was, let us say, not on such a literary level.  So I'll leave it there, and see you here after the season finale next week.

See also:  Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.1: Reunited! ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.3: Garbage Cans and Apples ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.8: Meets Mad Men

See also: Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.1: Hilarious! ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.2: Wife Swapping ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.3: Benefits ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.4: "Hold You in his Armchair" ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.5: Schmata At Large ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.8: The Unexpected Advocate ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 1.9: Salmon Discretion ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 1.10: Outfit Tracker


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Biden vs. Bernie in our Coronavirus Time

A powerful Presidential debate just concluded between Biden and Bernie on CNN.  The backdrop and of course the greatest sources of questions were about the Coronavirus pandemic.  But there were other crucial issues debated as well.

I thought both candidates did well, but Biden did better.

On the Coronavirus, and health care in general:  I'm strongly in favor of universal health care provided by our government (see my William H. McNeill and The Logic of Universal Health Care from January 2017).  But I think Biden's way of getting there -- building upon  Obamacare, with a free, robust public option -- is better than Bernie's (which amounts to just magically declaring that we'll have free universal healthcare).  In other words, at all times, but especially in this time of the Coronavirus, practical construction is more reliable than revolution.   Biden added to this with his point about look how poorly Italy is doing in combating the Coronavirus.  They have free healthcare for all, and their  problems with the Coronavirus show that their way is no sure way of limiting the devastation of the virus.

And Biden did very well with his commitment to put a progressive woman as Vice President on the ticket, in contrast to Bernie who, the best he could say was "in all likelihood" he would put a woman on his ticket.  I also liked Biden's commitment to put an African-American woman on the Supreme Court.

As for the past, each candidate had some warranted criticism of the other.  But for me, the criticism that counted the most was Biden's critique of Bernie for voting no on the Brady Bill to limit guns no less than five times.  That's another crucial, literally life-and-death issue.

I'm looking forward to Tuesday's primaries and Bernie's recognition that the best way to get rid of Trump is for Bernie to give his support to Biden,





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Outlander 5.5: Lessons in Penicillin and Locusts

Another outstanding episode - 5.5 - of Outlander, in this truly outstanding season, in which penicillin plays yet another crucial role.

Ironically, it's penicillin that doesn't work for Claire's patient in Boston in the 1960s.  He turns out to be one of the small percentage of people who have deathly allergies to the antibiotic.  And he's a Scot, in America.  The result gets Claire to want to go to London, and bring Briana along, which sets in motion the re-discovery of Jamie and everything else that has happened in the past few years of this series.   Claire knows about time and its workings indeed.

And there are two other important threads in this episode.  Roger discovers Bonnet's gem, and Brianna tells him the whole story.   Truth can hurt, as Claire tells Roger, but it can also be a powerful disinfectant, and it's good for Roger and Brianna that there's now truth between them about Bonnet, including his being alive.

The other thread has Jamie in action, and he's forced to kill the Brit who learns that Jamie and Murtagh are relatives.  What's not clear is why Jamie told him about Murtagh - was it because Jamie figured the Brit would find out about this anyway, given that the messenger had just delivered that incriminating list?  I guess so.  But this should have been made a little more clear.

The dominant theme of Outlander, over and over again, are unintended consequences.  These of course are ubiquitous in time travel.  But in Outlander they even extend to a sweet little kitten Jamie brings back home to Claire - which, if I got the coming attractions right, brings locusts to the farm?

See you here next week.

See also Outlander 5.1: Father of the Bride ... Outlander 5.2: Antibiotics and Time Travel ... Outlander 5.3: Misery ... Outlander 5.4: Accidental Information and the Future

And see also Outlander 4.1: The American Dream ... Outlander 4.2: Slavery ...Outlander 4.3: The Silver Filling ... Outlander 4.4: Bears and Worse and the Remedy ... Outlander 4.5: Chickens Coming Home to Roost ... Outlander 4.6: Jamie's Son ... Outlander 4.7: Brianna's Journey and Daddy ... Outlander 4.8: Ecstasy and Agony ... Outlander 4.9: Reunions ... Outlander 4.10: American Stone ... Outlander 4.11: Meets Pride and Prejudice ... Outlander 4.12: "Through Time and Space" ... Outlander Season 4 Finale:  Fair Trade

And see also Outlander Season 3 Debut: A Tale of Two Times and Places ...Outlander 3.2: Whole Lot of Loving, But ... Outlander 3.3: Free and Sad ... Outlander 3.4: Love Me Tender and Dylan ... Outlander 3.5: The 1960s and the Past ... Outlander 3.6: Reunion ... Outlander 3.7: The Other Wife ... Outlander 3.8: Pirates! ... Outlander 3.9: The Seas ...Outlander 3.10: Typhoid Story ... Outlander 3.11: Claire Crusoe ...Outlander 3.12: Geillis and Benjamin Button ... Outlander 3.13: Triple Ending

And see also Outlander 2.1: Split Hour ... Outlander 2.2: The King and the Forest ... Outlander 2.3: Mother and Dr. Dog ... Outlander 2.5: The Unappreciated Paradox ... Outlander 2.6: The Duel and the Offspring ...Outlander 2.7: Further into the Future ... Outlander 2.8: The Conversation ... Outlander 2.9: Flashbacks of the Future ... Outlander 2.10: One True Prediction and Counting ... Outlander 2.11: London Not Falling ... Outlander 2.12: Stubborn Fate and Scotland On and Off Screen ... Outlander Season 2 Finale: Decades

And see also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

   
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The Pale Horse: The Rational Twist

Good to see the versatile Rufus Sewell in The Pale Horse, a two-episode mini-series adaption of Agatha Christie's 1961 novel of the same name.

Agatha Christie is of course known for her cosy British detective stories, and The Pale Horse at first and even continuing glance seems something else.  Mark Easterbrook (played by Sewell) finds himself on a list of people who died, and who, apparently are due to die, after he wakes up next to a dead redhead he slept with.   It seems, at first, that a witches coven is responsible for this lethal mischief.

But, have no fear, Christie is a rational being, just as Easterbrook professes to be, and provides a perfectly logical, non-supernatural explanation for what happened and what is going on, at the end.  Sewell provides a great performance of Easterbrook's tormented evolution along the way, and the end, like conclusions of all excellent mysteries, provides culprits and villains who were hiding in plain sight but seem perfectly plausible in retrospect.

I do wonder, though, why this Pale Horse was presented as a two-part mini-series?  Why not just a one-part movie, or stretch out the story to make it a three- or four-part little series?  But, hey, those kinds of divisional choices have no impact on the plot and performances (also good to see Kaya Scodelario, from the unfortunately not renewed Spinning Out, as Easterbrook's second wife Hermia) and The Pale Horse, especially with its twist that it's all-too-natural murder not supernatural witchcraft that moves the pieces, is wholeheartedly welcome viewing.




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Hunters: Praise and Reservations

Hunters, due to its unusual mix of things I really liked and aspects I found annoying, is one of the strangest television series I've ever seen.   For that reason alone, it's unique,

What I really liked was of course Al Pacino's superb acting in the lead role in late 1970s America.  The rest of the acting was excellent, too, including Logan Lerman as Jonah.  The concentration camp scenes in 1940s Nazi Europe were of course not likeable, but as powerful as ever I've seen in a television series or a movie.  The depth of the Fourth Reich hatred of Jews in late 1970s America was well portrayed, which is to say, chilling and sobering to the core, even though it's not completely clear how much exaggeration, if any, is in that portrayal.

The series is billed as based on true events.  It is true that America welcomed Wernher von Braun and other Nazi scientists to the U. S. after the war, rather than see them fall into the hands of the Soviets.  It's also true that von Braun's genius in rocketry was at partly responsible for the U. S. beating the Soviets in the space race, and getting us to the Moon and back in 1969.  What's not clear at all in our history is whether von Braun had any connection to American neo-Nazis, and, indeed, to indicate that he did, as in Hunters, moves his true story into rank conspiracy theory.

And that gets to the parts I really didn't care for in Hunters.  In addition to playing fast and loose with life and death matters, Hunters deliberately almost frolics at times in a cartoonish ambience.  Faux commercials either promoting the Fourth Reich or telling the truth about some political matter are peppered into the episodes.  Although the action scenes are excellent, there's a bit of too much derring do and wise-cracking among the combatants.  The story works best when it tenderly presents the foibles of vulnerable human life, and worst when it verges into super heroism.

The plot is complex and, for the most part, very effective.  I'll leave it to you to decide if you liked the stunning revelation in last episode.  I didn't, particularly, and also think it didn't quite make sense.

Nonetheless, I'd rate Hunters as well worth your seeing.



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