Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 170

Outlander 4.10: American Stone

Another superb episode of Outlander - 4.10 - just on tonight.  I know I'm repeating myself here, but these episodes just keep getting better and better, making this the best season so far, in my not so humble opinion.

The biggest reveal came at the end of the hour, as it often does in Outlander.  There's a time-traveling stone in the forest in America!  This raises all kinds of future possibilities, as well as travels to the past and the future that may have already happened here in America.  Meanwhile, the episode leaves us wisely on the edge of not knowing whether Roger will take the gate back to the future.

And also significant regarding the stones is what Claire says to Brianna about going through the stones with a baby in her arms.   As far as we know, people travel through the stones individually.  A pregnant woman can get through with her baby just fine, as Claire did.  But a babe in arms is something else - and something, at least at this point, unknown as to whether the two will arrive together, and whether a baby can travel through with no ill consequences..

Back at the homestead, Brianna was at her very best tonight, telling off Jamie and Young Ian.   It was the maid's fault, though, that Roger was beaten.  And even Claire has some responsibility for not telling Jamie right away that Brianna's rapist was Bonnet.   The only one not to blame for this was Brianna.  (Well, Murtaugh, too.)

I had was especially glad to hear the Mohawks talking about a river that flows both ways.  I liked that concept so much, I made it the basis of my science fiction novel, Borrowed Tides, the first section of which is entitled "The River that Flows Both Ways" (after the great Rick Nestler's song that our kids sang in Fieldston Outdoors every summer.)

And I'll see you here next week.

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

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 Post: More Timely Than Ever

Just saw The Post again on HBO, and figured it was long since time to post a brief review.  Since the movie first came out at end of 2017, the need for a brave press to stand up to an autocratic, paranoid President has become even more acute.  The story of how Katherine Graham, Ben Bradlee, and Ben Bagdikian defied legal counsel, an at first badly misguided Federal Judge in New York (Murray Gurfein, who issued a restraining order on The New York Times for one day, then refused to grant the government's demand for a permanent injunction), and lots of strong advice from the Post's inner circle, could not be more timely today.

And the acting, especially for those three heroes of the press and democracy, couldn't have been more vivid.  Meryl Streep portrays Graham with just the right mixture of concern about the consequences and devotion to a free press.   Tom Hanks' Bradlee led the punch for publication, smiling but tough as steel, and also felt compelled to warn Graham that they both could be held in contempt of court and sent to prison.  Bob Odenkirk's Bagdikian made a commitment to Daniel Ellsberg to publish, and was just right as one-hundred-and-ten-percent advocate of publication.

In some ways, the America we live in today is in even more dire straits regarding freedom of the press than it was with Nixon in office.   Trump and his minions daily denounce the press as fake new news.  CNN reporter Jim Acousta had his White House press credentials invoked (they were shortly after reinstated).   The one advantage we have in 2019 over 1971 is that we have so many sources of news, on cable and the Internet, as well as printed papers and network television, that it's harder to suppress the truth.

But The Post provides a jolting reminder of how close Nixon came to muzzling the Washington Post and The New York Times.   With Trump still in the White House, how much further have we really come since then?




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Narcos Mexico: A Riveting Prequel

With Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán on trial in New York, what better time to watch - and review - Narcos Mexico, the fourth installment in Netflix's justly acclaimed Narcos series.  Actually, it's a prequel to the other three Narcos, but it's just as powerful.   It takes place (obviously) in Mexico, but it's the story of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and the massive weed cartel he and his brother Rafael Caro Quintero put together in the 1980s.

El Chapo appears as a low-to-high-level henchman of Rafael's.   And Pablo Escabar and the Kings of Cali put in an appearance in a great episode in which Gallardo goes to Colombia to get make a deal for the coke distribution which is beginning to rival and exceed his weed trade.   Indeed, Gallardo's shift from marijuana to cocaine is one of the turning point in Narcos Mexico, and has some unforeseen and unhappy consequences for Gallardo.

The other central theme is the dedication - some would say obsession - of American DEA Agent  Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena to bring down Gallardo's Guadalajara/Mexican/world drug cartel.   In case you're not familiar with the real history, and/or haven't seen Narcos Mexico, I won't tell you how this all turns out.  But I will say that there are close calls galore, and death expected and unexpected meted out in almost every episode.

There's a narrator - Scoot McNairy - who sounds a lot like like the narrator of the first three seasons but is not.  The acting is excellent - especially Diego Luna as Miguel, Tenoch Huerta as Rafael, and Joaquín Cosio as their uncle 'Don Neto' Fonseca Carrillo. Michael Peña does memorable work as Kiki, as does Alyssa Diaz as his wife. And it was a real treat was seeing Wagner Moura as Escobar and Francisco Denis and Alberto Ammann as the Cali bosses back in the 1980s one more time.

And here's the confession I often make when I watch these series:  I know the drug cartels murdered a lot of people and did a lot of very evil things.  But in the narrative framework of the story on screen, I always feel a little bad when things don't go right for them, and a little bit glad when they do.  For that reason, I wouldn't be totally devastated if El Chapo dug a tunnel and got out his jail in New York, just as he did in Mexico, but that's another story.

See this series.  If you like this kind of stuff, you'll love it.

 the Neanderthal cartel Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Bird Box: Definitely Watch, Don't Do

I'm not usually a fan of post-apocalyptic horror - I even gave up on The Walking Dead last year - but Bird Box on Netflix is something else.  That is, it's post-apocalyptic horror alright, but done with such sensitivity and style as to be in a class by itself.  It also doesn't hurt to see top talent like Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich on the screen, along with newer talent like Trevante Rhodes who does a fine job, too.

The story is a take on the ancient Medusa myth.   If you looked at her, you would turn to stone.  In Bird Box, some hideous creatures that we never actually see afflict our world.  To look at them is to go crazy, in one of two ways.  Either you commit suicide, which is what happens to most onlookers, or you become an agent of the creatures, with a view to convincing other humans to look at these "beautiful" things.  In that sense, Bird Box is also in the tradition of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

In such a world, the only way to survive is to be indoors with the curtains drawn, in a car with the windows covered and the driver can look outside either, or if you're outside on foot make sure you wear a blindfold, too.  (This has jumped off screen and led to the Bird Box challenge, which Netflix has warned against.)  In the movie, driving with blindfold requires reliance on GPS - in one of the best scenes of the movie - and you know how reliable GPS is even in a world without monsters.

Bullock plays Malorie, a mother of two little kids, and Malkovich someone who professes to never be wrong (and he's right).  I won't say  more about plot, because there are many jolts you'd be better off seeing uninformed.  But I will say that I did guess one of the key plot points, which is that blind people have an edge in this world on the precipice of insanity and death.

Beautifully photographed.  Directed by Susanne Bier from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer from the novel by Josh Malerman, and highly recommended.


brief interview with Josh Malerman

 winner, Locus Award, Best 1st Science Fiction Novel, 1999

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The Orville 2.2: Porn Addition and Planetary Disintegration

Porn addiction and planetary disintegration were not really connected in the excellent second episode of the second season of The Orville tonight - that is, at least, not at first.  By the end, they come together and make for a compelling and as always funny episode in this bizarro Star Trekian series.

Bortus is the one with the porn addition - via the holodeck, or whatever it's called on The Orville. Meanwhile, there is a planet that is being pulled into its sun, putting its 75 intelligent inhabitants at deadly risk.  So how are these two disparate situations tied together?   The new sex program Bortus has put into The Orville's system has a virus.  It progressively disables the starship, until it too is plunging into the sun, with only seconds left before it is cooked.

Of course The Orville survives - thanks to Isaac - but along the way we learn all kinds of things about Bortus's marital life - where divorce happens by one spouse killing the other - and Dr. Finn's talents as a marriage counselor.   Interesting, by the way, that on The Orville, medicine and psychology are invested in one person, in contrast to Star Trek: TNG.  (I can't exactly recall - did McCoy do counseling on TOS?  I guess he did.)  And on the same subject, too bad there's no beaming on The Orville - that would have been a better solution to saving the doomed planet's inhabitants, rather than a shuttle which can only carry less than half of the 75.

Back to the porn:  probably the funniest thread was when the virtual Moclan in the holodeck began caressing Isaac.  But this whole narrative was a deft mixture of humor and the serious issue of a couple struggling to stay together.   Given our somewhat presumably better understanding of these problems in 2019 in comparison to the mid-1960s,  The Orville is in a good position to explore them.

I look forward to more of everything.



love across alternate realities

See also The Orville 2.1: Relief and Romance

And see also The Orville 1.1-1.5: Star Trek's Back ... The Orville 1.6-9: Masterful ... The Orville 1.10: Bring in the Clowns ... The Orville 1.11: Eating Yaphit ... The Orville 1.12: Faith in Reason and the Prime Directive


1st starship to Alpha Centauri ... had only enough fuel to get there
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Vikings 5.16: Peace and War

A quieter than usual episode of Vikings tonight - 5.16 - as the major players re-set the table after last week's epic battle.  Quieter than usual, that is, until the end.

In real history, Alfred succeed Athelred to the throne, after he died.  In Vikings, Athelred dies because his mother poisons him, so her other son, King Alfred, can remain King.  It's a nice dramatic touch, and makes sense, given that Judith will do anything to protect her beloved Alfred.  After all, he's sick now, and Athelred came close to betraying Alfred before.

Poison is not as boisterous as battle, so I guess this episode of Vikings did remain pretty quiet throughout.  But it's certainly building up to another massive battle, as Bjorn joins Harald in his plan to take back Kattegat.  Give the look in Harald's eye at the end, though, it's not clear whether the two will make the journey without out some sort of duel which will leave one of them dead.

About the only thoroughly peaceful development takes place in Iceland with Floki and his small band of people.  They decide to go help the family which didn't want to join them, disdained what they were trying to do, when Floki and his people learn that the outsiders are very ill.  Significantly, they have none of our modern fear of contagion, likely because back then, disease was thought to be caused by evil spirits or displeasure of the gods, not bacteria or viruses.  In the sense that this absence of knowledge allows Floki to do something very generous and humane, we could say that ignorance is bliss.

I have no knowledge of what actually happened to Ivar, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens there in ensuing episodes.  Actually, based on what happened to Athelred, knowledge of history doesn't actually tell you what will happen in this docudrama, either.   That's just one of its many charms.

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

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 2.1-2: Upping the Ante of Conquest ... Vikings 2.4: Wise King ... Vikings 2.5: Caught in the Middle ... Vikings 2.6: The Guardians ...Vikings 2.7: Volatile Mix ... Vikings 2.8: Great Post-Apocalyptic Narrative ... Vikings Season 2 Finale: Satisfying, Surprising, Superb

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
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Captain Phil interviews Paul Levinson about his Music, Views of Trump, and Ultima Thule

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 115 - a 2019 New Year's special - in which Captain Phil (on WUSB Radio) interviews me about my music, views of Donald Trump, and NASA's Ultima Thule fly-by.  Not only that - Phil plays, for the first time on any radio station, three rough mixes from my forthcoming Welcome Up album of science fiction songs, to be released by Old Bear Records this Spring: "Samantha", "If I Traveled to the Past", and "Welcome Up".  I always have a good time talking to Phil, but these 90 minutes were really out of the ball park.
Relevant links:
1. Music from my one other album - Twice Upon a Rhyme (1972) - on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music.
2. Bill O'Reilly's interview with me about Catherine Bosley: the video.
3. My review of Alec Nevala-Lee's Astounding.
4. My best-known book about Trump: Fake News in Real Context


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Deadwind: Live-Wire Whodunnit

I thought I'd start off 2019 with a review of a new Nordic Noir series on Netflix - something I haven't done in a while.  (We binged a lot of it last night, because New Year's Eve on CNN without Kathy Griffin was not worth watching.)  Deadwind (originally Karppi) is an excellent Finnish whodunit.  Although my wife and I both had a bad feeling about the killer at the very beginning, his/her identity was kept beyond logical deduction until the 12th and last episode.  That's a good thing in a mystery.

The central characters are Sophia Karppi, a seasoned homicide detective just back to work after the death (by accident, he was hit by a car when he was jogging) and Sakari Nurmi, a detective from "financial" investigations, on his first homicide case.  The victim is a former swimmer, now working for a big company trying to get approval for a new kind of energy-saving wind plant, who has been having an affair with the lead scientist/boss of the company.  There are suspects galore, ranging from the victim's husband to the boss to the head of a rival company for which she (the victim) was working as a spy.

The action is fast and the emotional involvements deep.  I don't speak Finnish, but the captioned translation was ok (the word "bullshit," though, appeared in almost every scene), and the meaning clear.   The murder took place in October, and the narrative unfolds over the ensuing months, making the snow that was always on the ground plausible (I don't know, is there always snow on the ground in Finland?)  Despite the murder and other bad doing afoot, Helsinki looks like a good place to visit.

The acting for the two lead characters - Pihla Viitala as Sophia and Lauri Tilkanen as Sakari - was effective, and I'd definitely be interested in seeing more of their exploits (ok, that tells you they both survived, but it's impossible to have no spoilers at all in a review).  Rike Jokela directed and is listed on IMDb as the first writer,  so hats off to him - though maybe not on a windy day in winter in Helsinki.  I understand there's a new season being written - count my wife and me in as viewers.

 Neanderthal noir Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Dirty John 1.6: Getting Wise

One last review for 2018 - but I'll be back in the next few says with reviews of Vikings, The Orville, and who knows what else.   But this review is of another episode of one of the strangest stories, also based on true events, ever on television: Dirty John.

The good news in episode 1.6 is Debra is finally getting wise to John.  Actually, she's been wise to him before, but came back to him, while we've been seeing the horrible things he did to people in the past, and is doing to Debra's family in the present.  In 1.6 we see him sent to jail in the past, but let out too soon.  In the present, he spits on Ronnie's passport, and scares a divorce lawyer half to death.

Debra gets a new lawyer who has chops in both divorce and criminal cases.  She tells Ronnie and then John that she wants a divorce, and (somewhat uncharacteristically) he lets her walk out of their house.  It's hard to predict what's in his mind or what he'll do next.

John is clearly a sociopath, resourceful, and quick on his feet.  What it will take to bring him down for good is not clear at all.  Since this story is based on real life - indeed, not only real life, but a podcast about that - lots of people (presumably) already know what happened.   Just two more episodes left, so we should know soon, too.

I'm hoping - for Debra's sake, her family's sake, for the world's sake - that John's behind bars.  But given his cunning, nothing would surprise me.  See you next year.

See also: Dirty John 1.1: Hunter and Hunted ... Dirty John 1.2: Motives and Plans ... Dirty John 1.4: The Forgiveness Gene ... Dirty John 1.5: John's Family

 


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Ray Donovan 6.10: Working Together

The best Ray Donovan of the season - 6.10 - last night.  Because ... there's nothing as impressive as the Donovans working together.  Even just most of them, in a configuration we haven't quite seen before.

Mick continues to be at the top of game, encouraging Ray, not quite himself (always, this season) after all of the continuing beatings he's taken.  Mick tells Ray to do what Ray already knows: take one of theirs, the only way to have any chance of getting back Bridget.

The "theirs," as we know, are the NYPD's - I'm sure they're thrilled with this season of Ray Donovan - and Mick does a great job in the bar of capturing one of the cops or detectives or whatever these lowlife criminals with badges are who took Bridget as a way to pressure Ray to give back his recording of the Mayor ordering a hit. 

Sadly, also among those miscreants is Mac, but he still has a heart.  He apparently took Bridget somewhere, for her safety, after getting the call from the other bald guy with a badge that Ray had Danny (the detective in the bar), and he (the bald guy) was on his way to take care of things.

All of which resulted in: Danny beaten by Mick, and threatened by Ray (not only Danny but his family), revealing where Bridget is being held.  And although Ray doesn't free her in the end - because Mac has (presumably) taken her somewhere to keep her out of harm's way - at least Ray is close.

It's always good to see Donovans working together - in this case, with Jerry Orbach getting a shout-out from Mac for his Law and Order role, with Dirty Dancing playing on television.

See Ray Donovan 6.1: The New Friend ... Ray Donovan 6.2: Father and Sons ... Ray Donovan 6.4: Politics in the Ray Style ... Ray Donovan 6.6: The Mayor Strikes Back ... Ray Donovan 6.7: Switching Sides ... Ray Donovan 6.8: Down ... Ray Donovan 6.9: Violence and Storyline

See also Ray Donovan 5.1: Big Change  ... Ray Donovan 5.4: How To Sell A Script ... Ray Donovan 5.7: Reckonings ... Ray Donovan 5.8: Paging John Stuart Mill ... Ray Donovan 5.9: Congas ... Ray Donovan 5.10: Bunchy's Money ... Ray Donovan 5.11: I'm With Mickey ... Ray Donovan 5.12: New York

See also Ray Donovan 4.1: Good to Be Back ... Ray Donovan 4.2: Settling In ... Ray Donovan 4.4: Bob Seger ... Ray Donovan 4.7: Easybeats ... Ray Donovan 4.9: The Ultimate Fix ... Ray Donovan Season 4 Finale: Roses

And see also Ray Donovan 3.1: New, Cloudy Ray ... Ray Donovan 3.2: Beat-downs ... Ray Donovan 3.7: Excommunication!

And see also Ray Donovan 2.1: Back in Business ... Ray Donovan 2.4: The Bad Guy ... Ray Donovan 2.5: Wool Over Eyes ... Ray Donovan 2.7: The Party from Hell ... Ray Donovan 2.10: Scorching ... Ray Donovan 2.11: Out of Control ... Ray Donovan Season 2 Finale: Most Happy Ending

And see also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair ... Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and his Family ... Ray Donovan 1.3: Mickey ... Ray Donovan 1.7 and Whitey Bulger ... Ray Donovan 1.8: Poetry and Death ... Ray Donovan Season 1 Finale: The Beginning of Redemption


 

It started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...

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