Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 156

The Rook 1.3: Gestalts

The most compelling thing(s) about The Rook 1.3 on Starz earlier this evening was the Gestalts and the short but effective explanation we got about them.  They make a nice piece of science fiction, especially for the television screen, and work well in that Philip K. Dickian tradition.

They're a special kind of rook, a group of four in constant telepathic connection, emotional and visceral as well as intellectual.   When Eliza passionately kisses Myfanwy, her three empathic blond brothers feel it to the extent that one of them drives off the road.  Of course, that's not what Chequy recruited, bred, trained, whatever exactly intended for them.  That would be to fight, which we also see a neat example of as the four get Myfanwy out of a perilous situation on a train.  I'm always up for an action scene on the London underground, and this was a good one, ending in the Gestalts capturing a vulture.

That would be someone out to kill or capture a rook, and it's instructive to see the tables turned.  Of course, this captured vulture can't be expected to tell Checquy and us too much, and that's exactly what happens (or doesn't happen).   We still haven't much of clue, for example, as to who is the traitor in Checquy's midst.

One thing I think we can be pretty sure of, however, is that it isn't the Gestalts.  Because one couldn't be a traitor without the other three knowing.  And, if all four were traitors, that would likely be easier to spot than just one.  I'm thinking the traitor could be Myfanwy herself - or, rather, the Myfanwy whose memory was wiped, and left messages for the current rook with that name.  That would make, say, Farrier likely to know this, and her current game being to find out what made the original Myfanwy turn.

But I'm getting too far ahead here, and I'll see you again next week after we find out more.

See also:  The Rook 1.1: Dickian Pastiche ... The Rook 1.2: Live Details


"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction,
The Silk Code delivers on its promises." - The New York Times Book Review
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The Loudest Voice 1.3: Prelude to Trump

The most chilling part of The Loudest Voice 1.3 tonight on Showtime is Roger Ailes, in his speech in Warren, Ohio after Barack Obama's victory, saying we need to "make America great again".  That, combined with the talk about immigrants ruining America, on the day that our ICE gestapo began rounding up immigrants for deportation, is an eerily prescient voicing of the worst instincts in America in 2008 and shortly after - when Obama won and became President.

Before that, we see Ailes struggling to stop that from happening.  But he's hampered by his boss Rupert Murdock, who genuinely wants Fox News to live up to its "fair and balanced" moniker.  And he's hampered by the sheer dumbness of Sarah Palin.  And by David Axelrod, who stands up to Ailes and his political abuses.

On being dumb, we also get an eerie glance at our present day when Ailes says Biden, the VP candidate, is "dumb as an ash tray".  Again, our modern day fascist in the White House has said much the same about Biden today.  Trump has not originated much.  He's good at borrowing insults from Ailes and the cunning intelligentsia of the new right in America.

We also see more of the ways that Ailes preys on women.  All of this is leading up to what happened with Gretchen Carlson, which we saw the beginnings of in this episode.   We've yet to see what Ailes did to get Trump in office - in addition to giving him phrases - and get the disaffected in the midwest to leave the Democratic Party.  The Loudest Voice continues to be one of the best accountings of how fascism has managed to get such a grip in America.  In laying that bare, it may also show some pathways for rooting it out.

See also:  The Loudest Voice 1.1: Fox Launch ... The Loudest Voice 1.2: September 11 and After Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Big Little Lies 2.6: It (Isn't) Over

First, let me say about Big Littles Lies 2.6, just on HB0: wasn't it sublime to hear Roy Orbison's "It's Over," played in its entirety, over the closing credits?  You don't hear that every day, or every year or decade, on television.  And it befits a show as special as Big Little Lies.

This episode was creme de la creme, especially the court scenes.  Celeste's cross-examination by Mary Louise's lawyer laid it all out.  The only thing he was wrong about was who pushed Perry down the stairs.  But, even so, Celeste still deserves custody of her kids.  And her move at the end, to get Mary Louise on the stand, and personally question her, was a moment of brilliance.

Meanwhile, we finally get Bonnie confessing to pushing Perry - to her comatose mother.  And the confession finally tells us exactly why she pushed him: she was pushing her abusive mother down the stairs.  Unfortunately for Celeste and Jane, who have most motive for killing Perry, Detective Quinlan was not on hand for that confession.   But she's never too far behind.

And the alliance continues to crack, with Madeline this time being the one to publicly doubt why they're protecting Bonnie.   There's a lot to be worked out in this story, and there's only one episode left this season.

Unlike Orbison's finale song, this series definitely isn't over.   And I'm not talking about just next week's finale.  Here's a strong vote for it not being the series finale - contra to what HBO boss Casey Bloys says.  We'll see.  And I'll definitely see you all here next week.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission ... Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny ... Big Little Lies 2.3: Together ... Big Little Lies 2.4: Bonnie's Deepest Motives ... Big Little Lies 2.5: Little Red Riding Hood

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 
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City on a Hill 1.4: Enjoyable Derivative

City on a Hill 1.4 chugged along with no great surprises but a bunch of significant developments.  My favorite, this time, was DeCourcy with the grand jury.  Not that anything too exciting happened here, either, but you don't see grand jury proceedings too much in TV drama, and it was fun to see this one.

Otherwise, Jenny and Father Doyle got to the next predictable step - he invites her to do volunteer work in the church, so he can be close to her - but that doesn't get beyond the first minute, due to Jackie's intervention, i.e., carrot and stick with Doyle.  I'm still holding out hope of seeing Jenny and Doyle in bed together.

Cathy Ryan (well played by Amanda Clayton) had a strong role in at least two ways in this episode.  She puts her foot down on her daughter seeing a shrink (never a good idea when the family is involved in crime) and knows just what to do when one of the gang is thrown in jail for physically going after DeCourcy at the grand jury.  Again, we've seen this all before, but it's nonetheless enjoyable to see it so well played.

But while I'm in a complaining mood, I heard someone mention Richard Nixon.  Sheesh, this is 1992, no one was talking about Nixon anymore by then.  And, unlike JFK, Nixon had no intrinsic connection to Boston.

In sum, City on a Hill is derivative to a fault.  I wish it had something more.  But I'll keep watching because I'm hoping it does and it's still fun to watch if it doesn't.

See also City on a Hill: Possibilities ... City on a Hill 1.2: Politics in a Cracked Mirror ... City on a Hill 1.3: One Upping The Sopranos

 
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The Loudest Voice 1.2: September 11 and After

The Loudest Voice continued to make history in its second episode, depicting September 11 and its aftermath in way that's never been done before.

That way is the reaction and the role played by Roger Ailes.  As a disclaimer, I should say that I have no idea if what Ailes is depicted as saying is 100% true.  I was on Fox Magazine for a 10-minute interview on October 20, 2001 about propaganda in war time, but that's the closest I got to Fox News in this crucial period.   Ailes is shown to be shocked by the twin towers attacks - as was every American, especially those of us living and working in New York - and then quickly turning to his seeing how this could be an advantage for Fox News, and then close to calling some of the shots with Dick Cheney and through him Bush and the White House in the subsequent attack on Iraq.

What is undeniable is that this was the period of time in which Fox surpasses CNN to first place in cable news.  MSNBC was so far in third place that it's rarely seen or mentioned.  Ailes got Fox to this commanding place by both supporting the US attack on Saddam Hussein and to a degree making it happen.  In that sense, Ailes is like William Randolph Hearst, who at the end of the 19th century leveraged the U. S. into the Spanish-American War over Cuba with his newspaper's reporting.

That war set up America for the 20th century, just as the war in Iraq, based on the fiction that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction - a fiction promoted by Fox News - set up America for the 21st century.  Given the current war of words with Iran, which grew far stronger when we crushed Iraq, we clearly are still experiencing the effects of that war in Iraq today.

If nothing else, The Loudest Voice is a vivid tableau on the media determinism of television news.  But it is much more than that, and I'll be back with a report on what I see next week.

See also:  The Loudest Voice 1.1: Fox Launch

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Big Little Lies 2.5: Little Red Riding Hood

I thought Big Little Lies 2.5 was the best yet of this powerhouse second season.  It had Madeline riffing on "Natural Woman" (Reese Witherspoon did a great job as June Carter in Walk the Line in 2005, it was great to hear her sing again), Mary Louise yearning for "an app like that," i.e., one which would enable people to just enjoy each other's company, and all kinds of good stuff like that.

But the centerpiece, like a gathering hurricane, of course concerns Perry's death.  Celeste worries that she and her friends will be called to testify in her custody hearing.  Renata assures her that they can all go down for perjury if they are asked about Perry's death, and they stick to their story - which Madeline still insists they keep adhering to as the best way to move forward will no ill effects, as they've been doing.  And this discussion takes place right in front of Bonnie.

The nub of this elephant in the room is why should they all protect Bonnie?  They didn't ask Bonnie to push Perry down the stairs, let alone kill him, though none of them were unhappy that that happened.   We the viewers still don't know the deepest reason that Bonnie did this.  Neither do her protectors.   This means that, sooner or later, this ring of protection will come apart.

Bonnie clearly has homicidal tendencies.  It looked at the end of tonight's episode that she's on her way to mercy-killing her mother.  But I'm going to go out on a limb and make a prediction for how this season will end: someone, maybe more than one, is going to kill Grandma Mary.  Like a new version of Little Red Riding Hood, in which the grandmother/wolf is killed by one or more women from the town.

Anyway, great episode tonight, and we'll see what next week holds in store.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission ... Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny ... Big Little Lies 2.3: Together ... Big Little Lies 2.4: Bonnie's Deepest Motives

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 
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The Rook 1.2: Live Details

The July 4th weekend is over, episode 1.2 of The Rook was just on Starz, no more lazing around by me with leisurely reviews.

This new episode contained a bunch of important new details.   The two most important were:

1.  EVAs - people with Extreme Variant Abilities - are not limited to the British Checquy.  EVAs are known worldwide (less than one-percent of the population) and at least two other top-secret government organizations have them.  These would be American (from which presumably Monica hails) and Russian, at least thus far in the story.  Each organization has a suitably recondite name, and (unsurprisingly) the Russian is at odds if not war with the British and likely the American.   I said last week that The Rook was reminiscent of Counterpart, and it still is.  But this international scope is something that Counterpart never got around to.   Also, it's worth mentioning something that was just hinted at last week: EVAs have different super-talents.  That's what makes Myfanwy (I keep wanting to spell that My Fanny) so important.

2. Apparently one of the talents is coming back from the dead, apropos the last scene of a guy in the morgue rising.  Now that's a theme that runs all the way from Frankenstein to The Walking Dead.  But in The Rook, it holds all kinds of new possibilities.   In a sense, Myfanwy has come back from the dead, at least the dead zone of her memory.  It was nice to see this metaphor turn into a reality with the guy on the table getting up and walking out.   Presumably his memory is still intact.  Is he always invulnerable to death, or just the way it was meted out in his case?

Lots of interesting questions and areas for exploration in this compelling new series.  I'd like to learn more about the blond Gestalts.  I'll see you here next week with reflections on what I learn from the next episode.

See also:  The Rook 1.1: Dickian Pastiche


"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction,
The Silk Code delivers on its promises." - The New York Times Book Review Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

The Rook 1.2: Live Detals

The July 4th weekend is over, episode 1.2 of The Rook was just on Starz, no more lazing around by me with leisurely reviews.

This new episode contained a bunch of important new details.   The two more important were:

1.  EVAs - people with Extreme Variant Abilities - are not limited to the British Checquy.  EVAs are known worldwide (less than one-percent of the population) and at least two other top-secret governments organizations have them.  These would be American (from which presumably Monica hails) and Russian, at least thus far in the story.  Each organization has a suitably recondite name, and (unsurprisingly) the Russian is at odds if not war with the British and likely the American.   I said last week that The Rook was reminiscent of Counterpart, and it still is.  But this international scope is something that Counterpart never got around to.   Also, it's worth mentioning something that was just hinted at last week: EVAs have different super-talents.  That's what makes Myfanwy (I keep wanting to spell that My Fanny) so important.

2. Apparently one of the talents is coming back from the dead, apropos the last scene of a guy in the morgue rising.  Now that's a theme that runs all the way from Frankenstein to The Walking Dead.  But in The Rook, it holds all kinds of new possibilities.   In a sense, Myfanwy has come back from the dead, at least the dead zone of her memory.  It was nice to see this metaphor turn into a reality with the guy on table getting up and walking out.   Presumably his memory is still intact.  Is he always invulnerable to death, or just the way it was meted out in his case?

Lots of interesting questions and areas for exploration in this compelling new series.  I'd like to learn more about this blond Gestalts.  I'll see you here next week with reflections on what I learn from the next episode.

See also:  The Rook 1.1: Dickian Pastiche


"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction,
The Silk Code delivers on its promises." - The New York Times Book Review Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Absentia 2: Even More There Than the First Season

Absentia showed up for its second season on Amazon Prime a few weeks ago.  I liked it even better than the first, for at least three reasons:

1.  The villain was a terrorist group rather than a serial killer.  Emily's story - she was chosen for a combination genetic/conditioning experiment to bring out her innate violence - is still paramount.  But her prime antagonist is an international group bent on lethal damage to society.

2. I liked the new characters introduced, especially at the FBI.  Rather than Emily as a former/current FBI agent against her superiors and colleagues, season 2 provides a much richer tableau of agents with all kinds of agendas.

3.  In part as a result of #2, but for other reasons as well, there are more surprises in season 2, including unexpected deaths and one huge surprise about one of the villains.   Even in the first season, most of the characters were so conflicted that they easily could have turned out to be demons.  This is accentuated in the second season, giving it a more edge-of-your-seat ambience, especially in the concluding episodes.

All in all, Absentia has carved out an unusual niche for itself, in a television field crowded with female FBI agents all over the screen.  Emily has a unique provenance with an unusual set of traits, and she slowly is becoming one of my favorite characters on television.

See also: Absentia: In Your Face and Worth Watching


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City on a Hill 1.3: One Upping The Sopranos

What better day to review City on a Hill and its Boston story than July 3?  Well, maybe tomorrow, July 4, but I'll be spending most of that day in Cape Cod Bay, and likely won't be writing many reviews.  As for City, of its three primary interlocking stories lines - police Jackie, DA DeCourcy, and heister Frankie - I continue to find Jackie's the most powerful, in particular the story of Jackie and his wife Jenny.

In 1.3, Jenny, like the mostly good Catholic she is, seeks the advice of her priest in dealing with her frustrating lack of sexual relationship with her husband.  The priest's counsel is, unsurprisingly, not very helpful.  But note the handsome young priest who is also sitting in on the conversation.   Jackie certainly did, though she kept it to herself in the conversation.  The audience certainly did.   It whispered a revisiting one of the most memorable interludes on The Sopranos.

Carmela Soprano had, well, not an explicit sexual relationship with Father Phil, but there was erotic energy in every plate of food she made for him.  Jenny is not quite there yet with Father Doyle, but his paying Jenny a visit at her home later in the episode is a big step in the right direction.   Carmela never got beyond the food surrogate.   Maybe that was because, let's face it, Tony might well have killed Phil if his relationship with Carmela went any further.  But Jackie's not a killer - at least, not that kind of killer - so that leaves more room for Jenny and Doyle to sooner or later end up in bed.  Add to that the fact that Jenny is far more motivated than Carmela - Jenny's been sex-deprived for how many years? - and I'd say it's a very good bet that the comfort they'll share will be more than food.

Hey, enjoy the 4th and the food and the family, and I'll see you here next week.

 


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