Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 177

Outlander 4.1: The American Dream

Outlander's return with episode 4.1 was all too relevant and excellent, at turns splendid and brutal, which is the way Outlander has always told its stories.

The lynch pin is Claire's soliloquy to Jamie about what America will become.  Looking west from North Virginia in 1767, she tells him about how American will expand and become a vibrant home of opportunity for people around the world.  Even then, Jamie counters with a question of what will become of the native inhabitants.  She truthfully tells him, from her knowledge of mid-20th-America, that the native inhabitants will be killed and forced to live on reservations.  A dream for one can be a nightmare for another, he sagely replies.

But even Claire can have no knowledge that in 2018, America will have a President determined to build a wall to stop immigrants and refugees and the American dream.  The situation in the 4th season of Outlander, in America just before the American Revolution, couldn't have come at a better and more instructive time for us in 2018.

The new villain Stephen Bonnet is suitably charming and despicable, again combining the opposites than animate Outlander.  His attack on Jamie and Claire and their kin and friends on the placid boat on the river at the end was unexpected but in retrospect thoroughly consistent with the struggles of our heroes in this story.  Nothing comes easy for them and their love and the people they love.

As a devotee of time travel, I always enjoy the little and big ways that Claire uses her knowledge of the future to guide Jamie.  In 4.1, she warns him that if he accepts the Crown's officer of land in 1767, he will be on the losing side of the American Revolution that will begin nine years later.  Nice touch.

And, I always like the easy wisdom of Outlander.  This time, it was Jamie's musing about different parts of the body and their different consciences that caught my ear.

And I'll be back here tomorrow with a review of the next episode.

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

 

It all 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" ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Democrats Regain Control of the House

Well, it wasn't quite the massive blue wave that many people, including me, were hoping for.  Republicans still control the Senate.  But Democrats took back control of the House of Representatives in today's election.  And I'll certainly take that.

Because it means that all programs - health care, environment, immigration, much more - are safe from Republican despoiling.  It take both branches of Congress - the House and the Senate - to pass a bill to send to President to sign into law.  That's just not going to happen now, not with the destructive, racist, un-American ideas that Trump and all too many Republicans want to see enacted into law in our nation.

America is still in serious danger, with Republicans in control of the Presidency, the Senate, and via that, therefore the U. S. Supreme Court.  But we now have one branch of government where rationality and decency can reign.

That's better than where we've been these past two years, and provides real hope for completing the conversion back to sanity in 2020.  A victory for democracy - this time in small districts of humanity across the United States.  Next time we'll take it all back.


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The Deuce Season 2 Finale: The Video Revolution

An excellent ending to an excellent second season of The Deuce tonight - better, as I've been saying, than the first season in all respects.

My favorite bit tonight was Harvey talking about how the newly available video cassette playing on VCRs would revolutionize porn viewing.  As he correctly pointed out, this would allow everyone to see porn in the privacy of their homes on their own TV screens.  And it would give them all kinds of benefits like being able to watch the same hot scene over and over again.  As I've been saying all season, The Deuce is most viewing for all media historians, pro and amateur.

Harvey also was responsible for the funniest line on the show tonight.  After he says "mazel tov" to Frankie, the good wish is returned by Frankie as "mazel top",   That's a great title right there - "Mazel Top".

Of course, not everything was funny or fun in the episode, but in general it was almost and actually uplifting.  Larry concludes the night auditioning for a new part, signaling his departure from pimping.  And Lori makes it out to LA, free at last from C.C, since he is, after all, dead.

Candy is mostly happy, but not completely, due to her family estrangement.  She's ridiculed in a funny send-up of The Tonight Show,  replete with an Ed McMahon-like character grinning like a buffoon at the far end of the couch as "Johnny" goes for the cheap laugh at Candy's expense.  But she's on her way to becoming the well recognized movie director that she deserves to be.

Harvey is never completely, but that's his nature.  He can't help but be upset by "The Producer"-like financial entanglements of Red Hot.   But he has a breakout hit on his hands with that movie, and it will fun to where that lands him in the next and final season.

And that's all for The Deuce this season folks.  See you back here whenever the third season is back on HBO.

See also The Deuce Is Back - Still Without Cellphones, and that's a Good Thing ... The Deuce 2.2: Fairytales Can Come True ... The Deuce 2.3: The Price ... The Deuce 2.4: The Ad-Lib ... The Deuce 2.6: "Bad Bad Larry Brown" ... The Deuce 2.9: Armand, Southern Accents, and an Ending

And see also The Deuce: NYC 1971 By Way of The Wire and "Working with Marshall McLuhan" ... Marilyn Monroe on the Deuce 1.7 ... The Deuce Season 1 Finale: Hitchcock and Truffaut 

  
It all starts in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn walks off the set
of The Misfits and begins to hear a haunting song in her head,
"Goodbye Norma Jean" .. Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Ray Donovan 6.2: Father and Sons

Well, tonight's episode 6.2 of Ray Donovan showed that, even in his diminished capacity, Ray still has the smarts and brass to kill two birds with one stone.  Literally, or half literally.

He cleans up the mess that Samantha wanted him to - the dead body - but getting the Samoan who knew too much about Ray to take the fall.   The result: a drug deal gone bad, two dead bodies in a room, no one to talk to the press about what he saw of Ray last week.  A nice tidy piece of work from Ray Donovan, worthy of what he did on a regular basis back in Los Angeles in (somewhat) happier times.

And, like father like son.  Or, maybe sons.  Bunchy breaks Mickey out of the hospital by killing the guard with a hammer.  Not as smooth as Ray might have handled this, but Bunch has a bunch of that Donovan talent.  And, of course, so does Mickey.  After all, it mostly came from him.

But Mickey out of prison poses a mortal threat to Ray.  Mickey is now set on killing Ray for framing him.   Whether Mickey will actually be able to do it remains to be seen.  But it's a sure thing that he'll cause Ray all kinds of grief along the way.  And Daryll, too.  Though Mickey might forgive him.  Though I'd say never Ray.

That leaves Terry as the sanest, most together of the Donovans, as always, seen in this episode in his New York gym with Ray's new NYPD friend Mac.  Terry always provided a needed balance and ballast to the Donovans, and it will be good to see how he does that this season.

See you here next week with my review of 6.3.

See Ray Donovan 6.1: The New Friend

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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Mayans M. C. 1.9: Simplifying the Chessboard

Well, nothing is simple in the complex plot within plot that is Mayans M. C., but in last week's episode 1.9 - the penultimate episode, with the season finale looming next week - we could say that the chessboard was simplified, with the death of a semi-major character and a character a little less important than that, but still significant, and the letting loose of a decisive family secret.

The death of both characters comes from Miguel's alliance with Adelita, who is seeking revenge from the murder of her family, as the price of her professional union with the Galindo cartel.  The objects of her revenge are the current priest who as a younger man sold out her family, and Devante, Miguel's current consigliere, who as a younger man was a "lieutenant" in the attack on Adelita's family.  Miguel's discovery that Devante lied about the death of Miguel's brother years ago was the last straw in his giving Devante over to Adelita's revenge.  This results in the loss of Devante's head.  Significantly, Miguel's mother is not on the scene, but Emily is.  This also speaks to the profound change of power in the Galindos, or maybe a consolation of a change that was already underway.

The secret concerns Emily's one-time lover, E. Z.  To make a powerfully played story short, E. Z. has no power stop the diabolical Potter from revealing to brother Angel that E. Z. has been serving as a spy for the Feds.  Angel has due cause to be more than furious.  Not only does that violate the profound principle of most criminal organizations not to be a stooge - hey, Whitey Bulger was just murdered in prison, in his 80s, because of that - but Angel is now personally on the line if anyone in the M. C. finds out that his younger brother was feeding the DEA any information.

Angel's learning this secret certainly makes the chess game a little more clear, but with Potter nothing is ever clear and no one is out of danger.  We'll see this week how the Reyes' family and everyone connected with them deal with the steeply priced deal Potter has offered the brothers.

As for episode 1.7, it was one of the best episodes of the series, as next-to-last episodes often are, and amidst all the great scenes, I though the most emblematic was the motor bikes scaring a mouse off the road into the mouth of a snake.  Yeah, those Mayans are a powerful bunch.

See also: Mayans, M. C. 1.1: Pulling Us In ... Mayans M. C. 1.2: The Plot Thickens ... Mayans M. C. 1.3: Two Presidents ... Mayans M. C. 1.4: Finger and Face ... Mayans M. C. 1.5: "Not Fredo" - "Putas and Plata" ... Mayans M. C. 1.7: The Conversation
 

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The Romanoffs 1.4: Expectation: Unfulfilled

I thought The Romanoffs 1.4:  Expectation, on Amazon Prime this past Friday night had great dialogue, tip-top New York scenery, and fine acting.  But the weakness of its plot, and the in-media-res ending made it feel like much ado about nothing, and thus the weakest of the four episodes so far.

I liked the slight connection to 1.3.  It was fun getting to meet the guy who wrote the script of the television series about the Romanovs that lead to the death of its prime actress last week.  As always, John Slattery gave a good performance.  So did the other Jon - Tenney - as the assumed grandparent of the Romanov heir, when Slattery's character was the real one.  But that's pretty much the long and the short of this little story.

Well, Olivia's struggles were of some interest, too.  But the way the story was told in flashbacks, which works when the plot structure is strong, didn't in this frozen-in-time photograph in slight motion.   Not to mention that we didn't even get the payoff of seeing the baby born, and the reactions of all the characters.

Not to make too much of the title - which works as a double entendre - but I was expecting a little more in this episode.   As I said in my review of the first episode, there's a lot in The Romanoffs that reminds me of Woody Allen.   Expectation shows that that's a two-edged sword.  Because, although some of Allen's movies are brilliant, some are just great dialogue, scenery, and acting, which, without a commensurately strong plot, don't add up to anything close to great.

But I'll be back here next week with a review of episode 5.

See also: The Romanoffs 1.1: The Violet Hour: Compelling, Anti-Binge Watchable Comedy of Manners ... The Romanoffs 1.2: The Royal We: A Walk on the Dark Side ... The Romanoffs 1.3: House of Special Purpose: Ghost Story
  
It all starts in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn walks off the set
of The Misfits and begins to hear a haunting song in her head,
"Goodbye Norma Jean" ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

The Deuce 2.9: Armand, Southern Accents, and an Ending

Great penultimate episode of this season's The Deuce last night (2.8 of 2.9), which had at least three outstanding scenes -


Armand Assante's cameo as Vincent and Frankie's father was as sharp a few minutes as I've seen so far on the series.  With his long, slightly unkempt hair, not to mention his tough but caring fatherly attitude, Assante was reminiscent of, yes, Brando in The Godfather, just sayin'.And speaking of dropping final "g"s,  Larry's little speech on the set, the latest in his standing up for actors (also reminiscent of what Brando did), was just right.  He wants to speak English in this Little Red Riding Hood like a 1970s New Yorker, not like a slave on some plantation.  Significantly, Candy wasn't there.  I bet she would have agreed with Larry.But what CC got from Bobby and Frankie was the pay-off:  after what he did and has been doing to Lori, who could say that he didn't deserve it? And the line about his being murdered gets the prize for the best of the hour.The Deuce has really found its footing this season.   It has far more surprises than the first season, and delves far more deeply in societal norms on the street and beyond.   Next week is the season finale - of just nine episodes, as I mentioned above.  Why and how it was decided to limit this season to just 9 episodes, rather than at least an even 10, or even 12, is beyond me.

But hey, it could have been an even eight, and I'll be watching the finale next week.

See also The Deuce Is Back - Still Without Cellphones, and that's a Good Thing ... The Deuce 2.2: Fairytales Can Come True ... The Deuce 2.3: The Price ... The Deuce 2.4: The Ad-Lib ... The Deuce 2.6: "Bad Bad Larry Brown"

And see also The Deuce: NYC 1971 By Way of The Wire and "Working with Marshall McLuhan" ... Marilyn Monroe on the Deuce 1.7 ... The Deuce Season 1 Finale: Hitchcock and Truffaut 

  
It all starts in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn walks off the set
of The Misfits and begins to hear a haunting song in her head,
"Goodbye Norma Jean" .. Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Bodyguard: Brilliant and More

We've all seen stories on the screen about the bodyguard whose job is complicated by falling for the woman he's tasked with guarding.   Some, like The Bodyguard (1992) have been brilliant.  Bodyguard, a BBC six-episode production now streaming on Netflix has all of that and is also brilliant.   And it has something more than that, making it something I've never quite seen before on any screen.

Part of it is the adrenalin - not so much nonstop as it is so high in certain scenes that you're totally strapped into the rollercoaster you're on, its sudden dips and crests and twists nearly out of your seat.  David Budd is a British vet doing security for the U. K. government in London.  We meet him as he gets a woman all strapped up with a suicide bomb on a train to disarm, with his kids on the very same train.  That gets him a job as the guard for the Home Minister.  And did I mention he's suffering from PTSD and is splitting up with wife?   Then things take off from there.

I'll say no more, lest I give away the plot, but like in the excellent MI-5, Budd is thrust into a nest competing vipers.   And, much like in superb Borgen, the Home Minister is a powerful woman with possible designs on the Prime Minister, and consequent enemies around every corner.   Suffice to say that the initial suicide bomb disarming is not the last one we'll see in this story, and not every attack is foiled.

And explosions happen not only physically but in the very fabric of the narrative, with unexpected turns and just about everyone and their relative being some kind of suspect.   The tense situations are handled with excruciating detail and aplomb, the acting is memorable with Richard Madden as Budd and Keeley Hawes as the Home Minister, and the result is being on edge of your seat becomes more than a metaphor.

Highly recommended - but not if you're looking for a nice relaxing evening or two.




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Ray Donovan 6.1: The New Friend

Ray Donovan returned for its sixth season last night, with Ray in New York, and fished out of the river, alive and punching, by a New York cop.   That's not too surprising - no one at all expected Ray to die - but what is of note is how quickly in the hour and the passage of narrative time Ray and Officer Sean ‘Mac’ McGrath become friends and allies.

He's well played - no, perfectly played - by Domenick Lombardozzi, whom I first remember seeing on The Wire.  Hey, it becomes increasingly apparent, year after year, that there were no actors on the The Wire who weren't and aren't superb at their craft.  (Well, the "were" part was clear to anyone who saw The Wire).   If you think about how many subsequent TV series The Wired alum have lit - The Affair, Fringe, etc - not to mention Idris Elba's career as a movie as television actor (his Stringer Bell on The Wire will always be one of all-time most brilliant characters) - The Wired almost seems like the launching pad for at least the subsequent decade and more on the screen.

But back to Ray: he's quieter, more introspective, and I'd say more interesting in New York than he was in Los Angeles.  When he declines Lena's invitation to come back with her to L.A., it's no surprise, and that's not just because he associates L.A. with Abby.   He's like a fish in water in New York, though maybe that's not to best metaphor giving his dive into the water, which he correctly insists was not an attempt at suicide but just following his hallucination of Abby.

Ray in New York is far less connected to his family than he was in Los Angeles, though that may change.   Not only is Lena out of daily sight, but so are Ray's brothers (his kids were already scarce). Mickey's in prison, so he's in his own world, anyway, but the coming attractions show that will change, too.   But for now, Ray has no one in New York that he can trust at all or bond with, which makes Mac all the more important - more important than a replacement for Avi, though that would be pretty important in and of itself.

I'm very much looking forward to this new locale and season.

See 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" ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Recording Brand New Album of Science Fiction Related Songs

For immediate release...

Paul Levinson[image error]Off in a few days to Batavia, NY - Old Bear Records - to record a brand new album of my science fiction related songs with Chris L. Hoisington producing ... my first album of new songs since Twice Upon A Rhyme in 1972!  Watch my music page on Facebook for progress reports, including photos and video clips from the studio.
I wrote the words and music to most of these songs, and collaborated with Linda Thaler, John Anealio Mazzarella, and Peter Rosenthal on several songs in which I wrote the lyrics and one of those fine composers the music.Here's a list of the songs I'll be recording:"Alpha Centauri" (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal, 2000)"Cloudy Sunday" (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan Thaler, 1968)"I Knew You By Heart" (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal, 2000)"If I Traveled to the Past" (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, 2011)"Picture Postcard World" (words and music by Paul Levinson, 1968)"Samantha" (words and music by Paul Levinson, 2018)"Tau Ceti" (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, 2011)"Welcome Up (Hiding Behind a Raindrop)" (words and music by Paul Levinson, 2018)I'll be touring in the Spring and Summer, performing these songs, mostly at science fiction conventions.  Watch here and on my Facebook music page for announcements.

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