Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 206

The Girlfriend Experience 2.1-2: Two for One

Well, The Girlfriend Experience has returned to Starz for its second season, and its very different from the first.

To begin with, each hour contains two separate half-hour stories, with different characters, which so far have no connection to each other.  And no discernible connection to the first season, either.

And the specific storylines are also different in tone and texture from the compelling attorney/call girl (the same person) who was the central character in the first season.  Now we have a political story in the first - maybe, I don't know, like The Good Wife, or its political parts.   And in the second we have a Homeland kind of story, or at least a call girl (actually two) put into some type of high-tech witness protection set-up on an offshore island.

The common thread, of course, is all the call-girls are providing girlfriend experiences, or will provide them, for whatever reason.  And this still makes the stories more interesting than just a call-girl or prostitute story (not that those can't be interesting, too, as demonstrated by The Deuce this year on Showtime).  But the desire for not just sex but a girlfriend for the money makes the men inherently more unusual, ranging from almost verging on decent to sick sadistic bastards.

It's tough to be new or original on television these days, with so much already done, and so much new coming out on every streaming service, as well as cable and the ancient networks.  But Starz is giving us a good run for its (or rather, our) money, and The Girlfriend Experience is part of this, and looks to still be well worth watching.

See also The Girlfriend Experience: Eminently Worth It (my review of Season 1)

 

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

Outlander 3.8: Pirates!

Well, with Black Sails sailed off the air earlier thus year, Outlander couldn't have come up a pirate thread at a better time - that is, if you like pirate stories (I do) and if that ship at the end of episode 3.8 whose men captured young Ian are pirates. 

I think they are.  But who can be sure (since I haven't read the novels, I'm only sure of what I've seen on screen).  I'm indeed sure that tonight's episode was excellent, in the new series that's come back to us with Claire's return to Scotland and the past.  Her reunion with Jamie, and all its difficulties, have been handled with intelligence and style.

As always, I have questions (and maybe these were answered already in the novels).  But -

1. Why didn't Jamie go up to the stones, rather than swim to the island, when he was out of prison, any time during the 20 years?  Is it possible that stones won't work for Jamie?  But, if so, how would he know that?  Or, did he try to travel to the future via the stones, but got nowhere?

2. Less cosmic: how was young Ian supposed to get the coins and jewels back to Jamie and Claire without a boat?  It's already been established that the swim is rough, even treacherous, so what was the plan?  (And my wife wonders why young Ian couldn't take a boat in the first place?)

But I'm loving Outlander, anyway, and the prospect of Jamie and Claire going to the same part of the world as James Bond, played by Sean Connery, another Scot, would fictionally do in our own century - come to think of it, around the same time Claire was in Boston - is appealing indeed.  How do you say shiver me timbers in Scottish?

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 3.7: Reunion ... Outlander 3.8: The Other Wife

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

Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.5: Schmata at Large

Well, I held off reviewing Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.5 as long as I could - because I don't usually review comedies - but it deserves a review, if only because it had the word "schmata," the second in as many weeks for a show on HBO (the first was in The Deuce, from Harvey).

This time, in Curb, it's from Larry, but 9.5 was one of those episodes with lots of good schtick and lots of good lines, from everyone.   It was also good to see Larry maybe start up a romance with the mail deliverer aka mail woman, though, of course, given it's Larry, he torpedoes it before it's really had a chance to begin.

Other good segments delivered their expected dose of humor wrapped in insult, ranging from Larry commenting on the baby with Asian eyes to Larry refusing to go along with the "thank you for your service" to Jeff's soon-to-be-son-in-law, who served in Afghanistan.

But the funniest shtick has to be the mixture of words and pantomime, carried over in at least two scenes, wherein Larry tries to determine if the chef "made a face" when the waiter presented Larry's request that the dish be broiled rather than sauteed.  As in all things Larry, his goal of knowing what was on the chef's face makes perfect sense: you don't want to get the chef to change the order he or she's expecting or accustomed to preparing, unless you're sure that's ok with the chef.

My wife and I discuss this every time one of us is thinking of asking if a dish can be slightly changed to our liking, especially at a restaurant where we've never eaten before.  Once, on Cape Cod about ten years ago, my daughter and I asked for our fish to be prepared slightly differently, and it came out way too dry.  But my wife didn't ask to have her order changed, and she said her food was delicious.

I'd like to see Larry and the mail deliverer give it one more shot, maybe in a restaurant, where Larry can opine about changing the order and gauging the chef's face, and no one will be wearing a schmata of any kind.

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"





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

Stranger Things 2: Bigger, Better

I found Stranger Things 2 bigger and better than 1 -

1. More science, less metaphysics in 2 than 1.  For me, this makes the horror impact of the story even stronger.  Will is infected by a kind of virus from the other dimension.  That means there's a logical way to fight it - in this case, heat.  And this in turn means our heroes have a logical chance of winning, in addition to the supernatural, supra-physical, which also plays a major role, in the person of Eleven, aka Jane.

2. Speaking of science, the demogorgons aka demodogs are a good addition, too.   Dart, in particular, makes a nice viper (as per Aesop) or snake (as per Al Wilson's "The Snake" - see my review of The Lady in the Woods for more) which Dustin takes in, nurtures, and is almost killed by, more than once.  And many people are indeed killed as the demogorgon molts into numerous demogorgons.  But Dart remembers Dustin at a crucial time, and eats his nougats rather than Dustin, so in Stranger Things 2 the ancient fable has a better ending than it does in Al Wilson's hit record.

3. Sean Astin and Paul Reiser make great new characters.  So, for that matter, does the much lesser known Sadie Sink as Max.  (Tiny spoiler: one of the three won't be coming back, but I won't tell you which one.)  In Stranger Things 2, all three bring spunk and heart in different ways to the story.

4. Back to Eleven: she has a much richer role in Stranger Things 2 than 1, though in 1 she was certainly a crucial if not the crucial character.  But in 2, we're treated to a high-octane episode in Chicago, with Eleven moving all kinds of things around.

In general, the canvas in 2 is larger than in 1.  The narrative in 2 is much more than a boy lost, and though most of the action still takes place in the small town in Indiana, you get a feeling that much more of the world is at stake.   Good job on all accounts.

See also Stranger Things 1.1-1.5: Parallel Horror ... Stranger Things 1.6-18: Lando to Fringe


more parallel worlds ... "flat-out fantastic" - says Scifi and Scary

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Heather, the Totality: The Bombshell

As everyone knows who has read this blog or seen me talk at conferences about The Sopranos,  etc., I've long admired Matthew Weiner's work on both The Sopranos and Mad Men, and indeed consider it to be at the very apex of television.  I was thus more than pleased to get a slightly-advance copy of Weiner's first novel (due to be published November 7) late yesterday, and read it one-and-a-half sittings (a little in the wee hours of the morning, the rest just this afternoon).  It's only 134 short pages, but it's so compelling I'm sure I would have read all of it in that time, anyway, had it been twice as long.

It didn't need to be. Weiner's novel is exceptional, very much a slice of life in New York at this moment, and very different in style and pacing at the same time.  There's only one line of true dialogue, and it's a bombshell.  The descriptive passages are reminiscent of both Dickens and Salinger.  And the story rings true on all kinds of levels.

Not long ago, I got in my car in the parking lot of a supermarket, and noticed a guy looking at a woman who was walking by.  There was something in his eyes that, I don't know, was more sinister than just appreciation.  I stayed in my car a few minutes, until the woman got safely in her car and drove away.

This is the spark plug of Heather, the Totality .  A father (Mark) notices a construction worker looking at his 14-year old daughter (Heather) as she walks out of their building.  That scene happens 2/3s or more into the novel.  Before that, we learn a lot about Mark, Karen (Mark's wife and Heather's mother), Heather, and the construction worker, Bobby.  We learn enough about Bobby to know that Mark's concerns about what Bobby might do to his daughter are well-founded.

I'm not going to tell you the ending.  Give yourself a treat and get a copy of this novel, destined to be recognized as a new kind of story telling.

  
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 Day I Met El Chapo: Rings True

I just saw "The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate Del Castillo Story" on Netflix.  I've half-joked that I admire El Chapo's construction of a tunnel (or his people constructing a tunnel) which enabled him to escape from a Mexican prison a few years ago - well, more truth in that joke than half, I've always thought tunnels under buildings were cool - but nothing that I'll say in this review is joking.  Like the documentary, it's 100% real.

I first became aware of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto when U. S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump went to Mexico to meet him.  That meeting did people who opposed Trump in the U. S., and therefore the people of the United States, no favors.  It helped legitimize Trump and his dangerous bluster.  I therefore didn't like Peña Nieto, for that very important reason, from the moment I first heard of him.

Having seen "The Day I Met El Chapo," I like Peña Nieto even less.  If we are to believe what is shown in the movie, and said by many of the people interviewed - journalists, actors, producers, and mostly Kate Del Castillo herself - the Mexican government under Peña Nieto, embarrassed by El Chapo's escape, have persecuted Del Castillo, even though El Chapo has since been recaptured, extradited to the U. S. (the day before Trump's inauguration), and is now awaiting trial in Brooklyn.

The reason is Kate's meeting with El Chapo, along with Sean Penn, several months before El Chapo's recapture.   The purpose of the meeting was undeniably murky, and included making a movie about El Chapo (Kate's main reason for going to the life-endangering meeting), an article Sean Penn was writing about El Chapo for Rolling Stone, and the excitement of meeting an iconic actress (apparently El Chapo's reason, partially reciprocated by Kate, which makes that a second reason for her).  How or why any of that should be illegal, or grounds for the Mexican government coming after Kate, defies logic, and makes Peña Nieto the worst bad guy in this documentary.

Sean Penn doesn't come out smelling like a rose, either.  He denied (in an interview by Charlie Rose) tipping off the U. S. or Mexican government about El Chapo's whereabouts, and points out that El Chapo was ultimately captured nowhere near where  their meeting took place.  But why then did he refuse to appear in the documentary?  What was he afraid of?

And some of the media, who suggested that Kate was having an affair with El Chapo (she admits that she slept with Penn), or laundered money for him, on zero evidence, come off poorly, to say the least, as well.   Being an already well-established actress, her stated reason for taking the meeting - to discuss making a movie about El Chapo - seems much more plausible.  And Kate indeed seems like a passionate person -  but passionate about her work, and her desire to help the Mexican people - not to share El Chapo's bed or his money.

The current crisis with opiates in the U. S. should tell us something about drugs in America.  Years ago, a friend of mine from Colombia told me something which has always stuck with me: the group most responsible for the drug problem in America are not the suppliers, but the people who take the drugs.  Until we do a better job as a society in getting people not to take addictive drugs, we'll always have a drug problem, whether the drugs are supplied by foreign cartels or American pharmaceutical companies.

In the meantime, we should be grateful that people like Kate Del Castillo, who started it all with a tweet, are willing to stand up for their beliefs.

  
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 Season 1 Finale: Hitchcock/Truffaut

Hitchcock/Truffaut, a 1966 book of interviews of film genius Alfred Hitchcock by film genius Francois Truffaut, is generally recognized as one of the best, if not the best, book about the strategies of film making ever published.  I certainly do, and just this term at Fordham had reason to cite in one of my classes Hitchcock's distinction  between surprise and suspense mentioned in the book.  (Surprise is when the viewer doesn't know what's going to happen - a bomb suddenly explodes on a crowded bus.  Suspense is when the viewer knows there'a a bomb ticking on a crowded bus.  Hitchcock correctly thinks suspense is usually a much stronger way to go.)

So, I was delighted to see Harvey compliment Candy and her film making natural savvy by saying what she was talking about was straight out of Hitchcock/Truffaut.  She of course hadn't read the book, and Harvey knows that.  So his compliment was high praise indeed.  And that's high praise for The Deuce, for mixing a little high culture into its pop culture of pornography.

It was also great to see Clarke Peters holding forth as a retired pimp.  There's of course a lot of The Wire in The Deuce, with David Simon involved, and that includes not only the flow and ambience but the actors.   Peters is having a good year - I was just enjoying his performance on The Tunnel, Season 2, on PBS.  I hope he's a regular character on The Deuce.

But the creme de la creme of this season finale was Harvey and Candy going to see a porn film which all but made the X-rated movie legitimate back then - Deep Throat.   Linda Lovelace played by Heather Cole was there, and I swear I saw the real Andy Warhol there, too, though of course that's impossible (on the other hand, people are saying this is Halloween weekend).

There's powerful, simmering material for a second season, and The Deuce has been renewed.  Count me in.

See also The Deuce: NYC 1971 By Way of The Wire and "Working with Marshall McLuhan" and Marilyn Monroe on the Deuce 1.7 

  
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 5.12: New York

I was glad to see Ray Donovan - the person and the season, in the season 5 finale just aired - end up in New York.  That's where I live, and it's my favorite place in the world.  Non-stop energy.  Much better than Boston - I agree with Sam that Boston's an "ice cube of angry people" - and LA ain't even in the running.

As to what we saw in the very last scene.  Either (a) Ray's still on the roof, and imagining himself in the water with Abby, or (b) he's in the water, but he'll swim up and survive.  Because Ray is, if nothing else, a survivor.

But he is a lot of other things.  He remains a master fixer.  He killed the guy that Sam wanted him to kill, made it look like a suicide by hanging, but what about that actress who saw him get out of the elevator?  Ray may be a master fixer but he can never stay totally out of deadly trouble.

I liked the scene between Ray and the shrink.  I think Ray did the right thing.  He is what he is, and no shrink can ever change that.  I liked where Bunchy wound up, owning the bar, with his daughter and Abby's dog.  He'll find another woman who will love him.

Connor's a sad story.  He wasn't wrong about what Ray thinks about him.  But he's wrong about enlisting changing that.  I fear for the worst about Connor.

Mickey, on the other hand, has as much resilience and smarts as Ray.  Mickey didn't succeed tonight, but he won't take his fate quietly, and will no doubt come up with another plan to free himself and get Ray, or maybe just get Ray.

I can't remember every show of every season, but this season was considerably stronger than last year's, and may be the best we've seen so far.  Ray and New York are right for each other.  I'll see New York tomorrow, and look forward to more of Ray in New York next year.


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

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

Just published ...


 

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

Outlander 3.7: The Other Wife

A rip-roaring, excellent episode 3.7 of Outlander tonight, in which Jamie reveals a secret - to us, the audience, at this point, and not yet Claire - and his life as A. Malcolm the printer goes literally up in flames.

First, I should say that I find this show much better - more interesting, exciting, more everything - when it's back in the past, in the 1700s.  When Claire returned home to Jamie, Outlander returned home, too.

My wife and I also began watching Outlander with subtitles on - this makes the Scottish easier to understand.  I mean, I know what ken means, but sometimes it's hard to get when conveyed only as sound.  And the conversations were especially significant in tonight's episode - of course, they always are - as we get the fine tunings on Jamie's relationship with his nephew Ian and Fergus, what Fergus has to tell Ian about women, etc.   It's also a nice touch to hear Fergus throw in some French in his conversation, including the French pronunciation of "catastrophe".

Jamie and Claire are always on the verge of catastrophe, both Jamie on his own, and their newly recovered relationship.  Claire is inevitably of the 20th century, with values that sometimes don't add up to Jamie, and vice versa.  But that's what makes their story so much fun.

So it looks as if Jamie and Claire will be leaving not only the printshop, but the brothel, as they're both set to leave Edinburgh.  I like Edinburgh - a lot - in our own time.  My wife and I went up there from London in the 1970s on our honeymoon and loved it.   I'll miss this big city by 1700s standards in Outlander.

Jamie and Claire never seem to get a chance for an extended honeymoon.  I'm looking forward to seeing some of what fate has in store for them next week.


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 3.7: Reunion

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

Omni's Back! And My Reviews of Time Travel TV Are In It

I'm delighted to announce that Omni magazine - last seen in print in 1995, a year after it published my article, "There Are Just Some Things You Can't Do in Cyberspace" (see here for a longer piece based in part on this article) - is back on news stands, in Barnes & Noble, i. e., back in print!  And, it has my reviews of six time-travel shows on some current kind of TV screen:  Dr. Who, 12 Monkeys, Travelers, Somewhere Between, Outlander, and Timeless.   (Click on the tags below for episode-by-episode reviews of all except Dr. Who.)

And pick up your copy of Omni - you'll love it!



Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music