Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 223

Black Sails 4.7: Jack Rackham and Fake News

Another really excellent Black Sails last night - 4.7 - with my favorite part being Jack Rackham giving a little exposition on fake news in newspapers versus truth in books, in Philadelphia.

It was great to see the Caribbean pirate in Philadelphia anyway, coping with the cold and snow on the ground, on a mission to see Eleanor's grandfather.  But his denunciation of false stories about his friend Charles Vane to a wide-eyed young woman, and her response that the truth is less captivating, was just perfect.

Also in Philadelphia, the revelation that Eleanor's grandmother wields the power was a good twist, and consistent with the ease of power exercised by her granddaughter.  And it also sets one of the powerful pieces against Flint, with Rackham off to kill him against all odds.  History says Rackham won't survive and Stevenson says Flint will, but you never know.

And Rackham is just one of the big players now suddenly arising in an alliance against Flynt.  Billy and Rogers are now working to together towards this end, and even Long John could (but likely won't) pivot away from Flynt.  Madi surviving has changed Long John again (a reader pointed out to me that in Treasure Island, Long John is said to be married to a woman of "color," so it looks like Stevenson's story holds sway again as a postscript to Black Sails).  As we see in coming attractions, if Flynt's plan to rescue Madi doesn''t succeed, then Billy's plan to use Madi to divide Flynt and Long John may well pay off.  (But there was something thrilling in hearing Flynt talk about "sacking Boston," wasn't there?  Or maybe that's just me as a New York Yankee fan talking.)

But back to Jack - that kiss he gave Ann sure looked final, didn't it?  I hope not, but ...

See also: Black Sails 4.1: "True Friends and Mortal Enemies" ... Black Sails 4.2: Bones vs. Flint ... Black Sails 4.3: Decisive Victories and Losses - On Both Sides ... Black Sails 4.4: Chess Game ... Black Sails 4.5: Bold Moves ... Black Sails 4.6: Spanish Horsemen with Lances

See also Black Sails 3.1: Restored ... Black Sails 3.2: Flint vs. Sea ... Black Sails 3.3: Gone Fishin' ... Black Sails 3.4: Mr. Scott's People ... Black Sails 3.5: Alliance ... Black Sails 3.6: The Duel ... Black Sails 3.7: The Blackening of John Silver ... Black Sails 3.8: Whether Vane? ... Black Sails 3.10: Wither Vane ... Black Sails Season 3 Finale: Throckmorton

And see also Black Sails 2.1: Good Combo, Back Story, New Blood ... Black Sails 2.2: A Fine Lesson in Captaining ... Black Sails 2.3: "I Angered Charles Vane" ... Black Sails 2.4: "Fire!" ... Black Sails 2.5: Twist! ... Black Sails 2.6: Weighty Alternatives, and the Medium is the Message on the High Seas ...Black Sails 2.7: The Governor's Daughter and the Gold ... Black Sails 2.9: The Unlikely Hero ... Black Sails Season 2 Finale: Satisfying Literate and Vulgar

And see also Black Sails: Literate and Raunchy Piracy ... Black Sails 1.3: John Milton and Marcus Aurelius ... Black Sails 1.4: The Masts of Wall Street ...Black Sails 1.6: Rising Up ... Black Sails 1.7: Fictions and History ... Black Sails 1.8: Money

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Bones 12.7-8: Loss and Recovery

Catching up with two recent, excellent episodes of Bones - 12.7-8 - as it moves close to closing its final season.  Both deal with a serious death threat to Booth and its aftermath, as a son seeks revenge for Booth's killing of his father, a Serbian war-criminal, when Booth was a sniper years ago.

With just a few episodes left, it's not surprising that assassins sent by the son to kill Booth and Bones' kids end up killing Bones' father, Max.  He goes out in a blaze of glory, saving the kids and demolishing the assassins.  As Bones in the following episode at Max's funeral says, however, his bravest act was actually coming back into Bones' life 10 years ago.  All of this was done beautifully, and my only regret is we didn't actually get to see the shoot-out - which would have made one fine piece of television.

Bones wanting some time for her herself after this loss makes perfect sense, if not for the reasons Bones gives at the end of 12.8 to Booth.  I would think that underlying Bones' reaction is an anger or at least resentment that Booth's former life has cost her a father and their children a grandfather.  She says that seeing her first lover, who comes to town to see her after hearing what happened to Max, was something that actually was beneficial to her and Booth, because it got her in touch with what she needed to be all those years ago before she could love Booth.   Fair enough, but there was also a reason that she was ready to see this guy, which she doesn't quite acknowledge to Booth.

Nonetheless, it was good to see them hug, and say they love each, as the episode concludes.   This could have been a good final episode of the series.  But - there are still some stories to be resolved, especially Zack Addy's.   I'll be back here in a few weeks or sooner with more.

See also Bones 12.1: Back in Business

And see also Bones Back for Season 11: Aubrey and 'Audrey' ... Bones 11.2: Back in Place ... Bones 11.5 Meets Sleepy Hollow 3.5: Time Travel ...Bones 11.10: Shake-Up ... Bones 11.11: Meets Ironside ... Bones 11.18: Meta-Bones ... Bones Season 11 Finale: The Ultimate Intern

And dee also Bones 10.1: The Fulcrum Changes ... Bones 10.2: J. Edgar and the DNA Confession ... Bones 10.3: Meets Rush and a Dominatrix ... Bones 10.4: Brennan and Angela on a Bench in the Playground ... Bones 10.5: Two Jokes and Three Times ... Bones 10.6: A Thousand Cuts ... Bones 10.7: The A-Word and Quarks ... Bones 10.8: Daisy's Doula ... Bones 10.9: The Milgram Experiment and the Birds ... Bones 200: 10.10: Just like Bogey and Bacall ... Bones 10.11: Life after Death, and Sweets in Wonderland ...Bones 10.12: The Digital Revolution ... Bones 10.13: The Almost-Serial Killer ...Bones 10.14: meets La Parure ... Bones 10.15: Cards in Hand ...Bones 10.16: Hodgins' Money ... Bones 10.17-18: Bullies and Capital Punishment ... Bones 10.19: Do You Buy Booth's Gambling Addiction? ...Bones 10.20: Intimations of a New Jeffersonian ... Bones 10.21: Ten Years Isn't Enough ... Bones Season 10 Finale: Rehearsals for Retirement?
And see also Bones 9.1: The Sweet Misery of Love ... Bones 9.2: Bobcat, Identity Theft, and Sweets ... Bones 9.3 and NCIS 11.2: Sweets and Ziva ... Bones 9.4: Metaphysics of Death in a Television Series ... Bones 9.5: Val and Deep Blue ... Bones 9.6: The Wedding ... Bones 9.7: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ...Bones 9.8: The Bug in the Neck ... Bones 9.9: Friday Night Bones in the Courtroom ... Bones 9.10: Horse Pucky ... Bones 9.11: Angels in Equations ... Bones 9.12: Fingernails ... Bones 9.13: Meets Nashville, and Wendell ... Bones 9.14: "You Cannot Drink Your Glass Away" ... Bones 9.15: Hodgins' Brother and the Ripped Off Toe ... Bones 9.16: Lampreys, Professors, and Insurance Companies ... Bones 9.17: Spartacus in the Kitchen ... Bones 9.18: Meets Day of the Triffids ... Bones 9.19: The Cornucopic Urn ... Bones 9.20: Above the Law ... Bones 9.21: Freezing and Thawing ... Bones 9.22: Promotion ... Bones 9.23: The New Intern ... Bones Season 9 Finale: Upping the Ante

And see also Bones 8.1: Walk Like an Egyptian ... Bones 8.2 of Contention ... Bones 8.3: Not Rotting Behind a Desk  ... Bones 8.4: Slashing Tiger and Donald Trump ... Bones 8.5: Applesauce on Election Eve ... Bones 8.6: Election Day ... Bones 8.7: Dollops in the Sky with Diamonds ...Bones 8.8: The Talking Remains ... Bones 8.9: I Am A Camera ... Bones 8.10-11: Double Bones ...Bones 8.12: Face of Enigmatic Evil ... Bones 8.13: Two for the Price of One ... Bones 8.14: Real Life ... Bones 8.15: The Magic Bullet and the Be-Spontaneous Paradox ... Bones 8.16: Bitter-Sweet Sweets and Honest Finn ... Bones 8.17: "Not Time Share, Time Travel" ... Bones 8.18: Couples ... Bones 8.19: The Head in the Toilet ... Bones 8.20: On Camera ... Bones 8.21: Christine, Hot Sauce, and the Judge ... Bones 8.22: Musical-Chair Parents ... Bones 8.23: The Bluff ... Bones Season 8 Finale: Can't Buy the Last Few Minutes

And see also Bones 7.1: Almost Home Sweet Home ... Bones 7.2: The New Kid and the Fluke ...Bones 7.3: Lance Bond and Prince Charmington ... Bones 7.4: The Tush on the Xerox ... Bones 7.5: Sexy Vehicle ... Bones 7.6: The Reassembler ... Bones 7.7: Baby! ... Bones 7.8: Parents ...Bones 7.9: Tabitha's Salon ... Bones 7.10: Mobile ... Bones 7.11: Truffles and Max ... Bones 7.12: The Corpse is Hanson ... Bones Season 7 Finale: Suspect Bones

And see also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects ... Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo, and Plymouth Rock ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7:  Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ...Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ...Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder ... Bones 6.20: This Very Statement is a Lie ... Bones 6.21: Sensitive Bones ... Bones 6.22: Phoenix Love ... Bones Season 6 Finale: Beautiful

And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ...Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ...Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ... Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution
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the Sierra Waters time-travel trilogy
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Colony 2.9: Together Again

No more info about the invaders, but a strong episode 2.9 of Colony tonight, anyway.

The best scene was Katie and Broussard shooting up the red hats who were holding the three kids hostage.   Good to see them working and killing stooges together, especially on behalf of such a good cause.  When Broussard earlier says "of course" to Katie's plea to help free the kids, he means it.

Second best scene was Will gutting that despicable former IA guy with the broken bottle.  Not that I especially like seeing that kind of gore, but I'm definitely up for seeing the last of that guy.  I'm hoping he doesn't recover from his wounds.

And the overall story, with which the episode begins and ends, promises some strong turns ahead, too.  The real war is coming, she says.   I certainly hope so.  A narrative like Colony deserves a bigger tableau.

The last few episodes have done well in setting this up.   The family was reunited at last in last week's show, separated at the point of guns this week, but reunited again in the end.   The Bowmans have never been stronger.

But I'd still like to know a little more about the invaders.  Actually, a lot more.  For some reason, Colony has played this part of the story very close to the chest, disclosing just a bit about the attack from space, and the state of Earth in the aftermath, with the action focused on a very narrow slice of the occupation.   I'm looking forward to more in the next few weeks.

See also Colony 2.1: Prelude ... Colony 2.2: 1969 ... Colony 2.3: The Wall ... Colony 2.7: Countdowns and Intentions ... Colony 2.8: What Passes for a Happy Ending

And see also Colony 1.1: Aliens with Potential ... 1.2: Compelling ... 1.5: Questions ... 1.6: The Provost ... Colony 1.7: Broussard ... Colony 1.8: Moon Base and Transit Zones ... Colony 1.9: Robot Arm ... Colony Season 1 Finale: Not Quite Enough


not exactly aliens, but strange enough ...  The Silk Code
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Humans 2.4: Android Orgasms

Humans 2.4 offered two new threads to the intricately woven story this year.

Actually, the first was not a thread, but a perspective on the entire fabric of the season.  This year, far more than last year, we're getting a wide and vibrantly populated diversity in the kinds of synths we're seeing, one which goes well beyond the sentient self-aware and slave-to-programming distinction we saw in the first season.  Among those who are self aware, we have not only those who were secretly programmed to be that way, but synths who were turned from automata into self-aware either by Niska's globally transmitted virus (Hester) or by Mattie's direct application (Odi).  And we have Athena's plan, which I discussed last week, to transfer an already-existing human mind into a synth.  When we add these new actualities and possibilities to the range of sentient synth personalities we already saw last season, we get a rich tapestry of synthetic personality indeed - one which moves closer, of course, to the diversity of human life.

The other thread is an insight into how at least one synth experiences a very fundamental human activity - orgasm.  Ed wants to know how Mia enjoyed their first sexual encounter, which was great for him.   The most that she can say, other than that she liked it, is that it gave her a sense of "proximity".  This raises a bunch of important questions.  Did she in fact have an organism, but doesn't know how to describe it, or doesn't even have a word for it?  If not, is that because this was her first experience, which means that, with time and practice, she'll indeed come, in the good old-fashioned human way?  Or is it the case that she and all the sentient synths just don't have the hormonal formula needed have an organism?

Last week, Athena told her synth mind-in-a-desktop that she needed a body because she was "young". That was a good answer, but doesn't yet tell us what sentient androids are capable of doing. If I remember correctly, Niska in the first episode of this season didn't exactly go wild with pleasure when she was in bed with Astrid.   If time travel could be worked into this story, it would be fun to see Masters and Johnson called in for an observation.

See also Humans 2.1: Westworld meets Nashville ... Humans 2.2: The Consciousness Code ... Humans 2.3: Motives and Uploads


And see also Humans: In Ascending Order ... Humans 1.7: "I Think You're Dead, George"

Hey - if you're in the New York area, I'll be talking about Humans at HELIOsphere this Saturday and Sunday!



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The Americans 5.1: The Theft

Well, The Americans couldn't have timed it much better for the return of season 5 tonight, what with American-Russian tensions at an all-time high since those halcyon Reagan years in the 1980s, due to the current occupant of the White House and who knows what he and his cronies have been doing the past year or more with the current Kremlin.

This backdrop makes this excellent series even better.  Lots of good new pieces of business tonight, but the most harrowing is a wrap-up of a nasty loose end from last season, with Philip and Elizabeth digging deep into the ground with some Russian comrades to fetch a piece of Willian Crandall, that germ-warfare scientist who gave his life for the cause.  The piece is literally a piece of him, presumably to get the pathogen back in the hands of the Soviets.  Ever ruthless, they don't hesitate to kill the poor guy who fell into the hole, sustained a puncture wound, and may have been infected.  I mean, what else could they do?   But it was ruthless, anyway.

At least Philip and Elizabeth didn't do it, though Elizabeth would have fired the shot in a heartbeat, and so would Philip, after a moment, maybe, of reflection.  The opening scene introduces one of the new threads, with the two posing as different American parents, with a new son, on a mission to reign in, or who knows, kill if necessary, a family of Russian immigrants, or at least the father.  (Presumably they wouldn't be on Trump's immigration ban.)  Should be some tense stories lines ahead for this family.

And there's a nice Russian narrative - two of them, in fact - one involving Oleg's new job in Moscow (I was glad to see they didn't call him back home to kill him), and the other a story about Philip's son.

I'm glad The Americans are/is back.  Hey, life was a little simpler and even sweeter back then, when we didn't have to worry that our President was do whatever with the Russians to get elected.

See also The Americans 4.4: Life and Death ... The Americans 4.6: Martha, Martha, Martha ... The Americans 4.8: Whither Martha? ... The Day After The Americans 4.9 ... The Americans 4.10: Outstanding! ... The Americans 4.11: Close Call ... The Americans 4.12: Detente and Secret History
And see also The Americans 3.1: Caring for People We Shouldn't ... The Americans 3.3: End Justified the Means ...  The Americans 3.4: Baptism vs. Communism ... The Americans 3.6: "Jesus Came Through for Me Tonight" ...The Americans 3.7: Martha. My Dear ... The Americans 3.8: Martha, Part 2 ... The Americans 3.10: The Truth ... The Americans 3.12: The Unwigging ... The Americans Season 3 Finale: Turning a Paige
And see also The Americans 2.1-2: The Paradox of the Spy's Children ... The Americans 2.3: Family vs. Mission ... The Americans 2.7: Embryonic Internet and Lie Detection ... The Americans 2.9: Gimme that Old Time Religion ...The American 2.12: Espionage in Motion ... The Americans Season 2 Finale: Second Generation

And see also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III ... The Americans 1.11:  Elizabeth's Evolution ... The Americans Season 1 Finale: Excellent with One Exception Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Black Sails 4.6: Spanish Horsemen with Lances

The best scene in the powerful, game-changing, battle-packed Black Sails 4.6 was the Spanish horsemen with lances attacking Long John's encampment.   You think of lances as the Middle Ages, and Black Sails takes place in the 1700s, so the scene was surprising but historically accurate - the best kind of scene in an historical drama.

And the human drama in all of this was at its peak.  Eleanor's death was also a shocker, but karmic repayment both for her betrayal of Vane and for her husband's brutality and inviting the Spanish to scourge "his" island of the pirates.   That's a lot of bad karma to repay.  But I still felt a little bad for Eleanor as she ferociously defended herself, and then died on the sand in Flynt's arms.

Madi was a different matter.  She deserved nothing other than to live a happy life with Long John Silver.   Her death was mercifully quick, but far more unacceptable than Eleanor's, bringing exquisite grief to good people like Long John and the Maroon Queen.

In a crucial scene near the end of the episode, Long John tells Flynt that he doesn't blame him for Madi's death.  Flynt made a tough call - had he not gone after the Spaniards, they would have indeed brought an unstoppable force back to the house.  But by leaving Eleanor and Madi without his protection, he understandably feels guilty about their deaths,

What's left of the pirates (probably including even Billy) will now be united against Woodes Rogers. Max's plan to enlist Eleanor's grandfather can give them the requisite numbers to beat the Spanish. Black Sails is ending with a bang.

See also: Black Sails 4.1: "True Friends and Mortal Enemies" ... Black Sails 4.2: Bones vs. Flint ... Black Sails 4.3: Decisive Victories and Losses - On Both Sides ... Black Sails 4.4: Chess Game ... Black Sails 4.5: Bold Moves

See also Black Sails 3.1: Restored ... Black Sails 3.2: Flint vs. Sea ... Black Sails 3.3: Gone Fishin' ... Black Sails 3.4: Mr. Scott's People ... Black Sails 3.5: Alliance ... Black Sails 3.6: The Duel ... Black Sails 3.7: The Blackening of John Silver ... Black Sails 3.8: Whether Vane? ... Black Sails 3.10: Wither Vane ... Black Sails Season 3 Finale: Throckmorton

And see also Black Sails 2.1: Good Combo, Back Story, New Blood ... Black Sails 2.2: A Fine Lesson in Captaining ... Black Sails 2.3: "I Angered Charles Vane" ... Black Sails 2.4: "Fire!" ... Black Sails 2.5: Twist! ... Black Sails 2.6: Weighty Alternatives, and the Medium is the Message on the High Seas ...Black Sails 2.7: The Governor's Daughter and the Gold ... Black Sails 2.9: The Unlikely Hero ... Black Sails Season 2 Finale: Satisfying Literate and Vulgar

And see also Black Sails: Literate and Raunchy Piracy ... Black Sails 1.3: John Milton and Marcus Aurelius ... Black Sails 1.4: The Masts of Wall Street ...Black Sails 1.6: Rising Up ... Black Sails 1.7: Fictions and History ... Black Sails 1.8: Money

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pirates of the mind in The Plot to Save Socrates 
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24 Legacy 1.6: George Washington Bridge

Something I didn't want to see in 24 Legacy 1.6.  The George Washington Bridge has always been one of my favorite parts of New York life.  I used it hundreds and hundreds of times when I taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the late 1970s and half of the 1980s, and I've used it hundreds of times since.

But 24 has always been about the worst happening, beginning with that shocking end of the first season, when Jack's wife Teri is killed.  This was 24 keeping true to the horror and terror of September 11.  24 never trafficked in happy endings. It depicted a world far too dangerous, a world that hung in the balance, all the time. And, let's face it, we're still in that world now.  Maybe even more so, given the results of our last election.  And 24 Legacy is true to that.

The cop on the bridge did the best that he could.  He almost stopped Amira from pressing the button. A better trained agent would have made sure she was dead, or taken the detonator out of her hand, as soon as he opened the door of the cab of that truck with the bombs.  But he came close to stopping it, and did the best he could.

And the greater terror is all the other cells and heinous plans that are still afoot.   The terrorists have Carter's wife and brother.  There's no way he'll cooperate for real with them, even for a second.  He'll pretend and use this as a way getting closer to the terrorists.

But how did the terrorists know where Carter's wife and brother were?  We're forced to face, again, that there's a mole in CTU.  We forced to return to the question at the root of all of this.  Who can it be? Not the Senator's father, because he was in no position to tip off anyone.   And everyone else looked suitably traumatized at what happened to the bridge.

So ... I'm stumped.  Which is a good thing at this point in a series like 24 Legacy.

See also 24 Legacy 1.1: Dammit! I Liked It ... 24 Legacy 1.2: Heroes and Villains ... 24 Legacy 1.3: First Big Card Revealed ... 24 Legacy 1.4: Who's Gabriel? ... 24 Legacy 1.5: Who's Left?


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Homeland 6.7: The Arch Villain

He was never a likable character in any scenario or season.   But last night, in Homeland 6.7, Dar Adal showed just how despicable he could be, as the man behind not one but two atrocious acts.

I guess the slightly lesser of the two is what he's doing and trying to do to Peter. He has him kidnapped, held hostage by a German agent (she's at least more attractive than Dar, though that's not hard), and just for good measure tells Peter that Carrie has been helping him not out of love or even affection, but guilt for bringing him out of his coma too soon on behalf of the mission last year.  Of course, Dar neglected to tell Peter that Carrie also risked her life and broke rank repeatedly to save Peter.   My guess is Peter will found out the truth, sooner or later, and make Dar pay for lying to him. At least, that's my hope.

But even worse is what Dar is doing directly against Carrie, enlisting a soulless child welfare woman to get Franny away from Carrie.  This woman is herself a kind of monster, figuratively prostituting herself and her profession to get Carrie's daughter committed.  But since Dar was behind it, the prize for worst human being in these events goes to him.

And, actually, the list of soulless losers didn't stop with Dar or that woman last night.  The President-elect, who until now has seemed to be fairly good, gave a dismal accounting of herself by not coming to Carrie's aid when she called the President-elect, desperate to get some help in keeping her daughter.

But back to Dar, he also lies to Saul, and puts him through some paces, too.   I'm looking forward to Saul and Carrie and Peter putting Dar out of his misery before the season is over.

See also Homeland 6.1: Madam President-Elect ... Homeland 6.2: Parallel Program ... Homeland 6.3: Potentials ... Homeland 6.4: "A Man with Painted Hair" ... Homeland 6.5: The Attack on Carrie's Brownstone
And see also Homeland 5.1: Moving into the Age of Snowden ... Homeland 5.2: Who Wants to Kill Carrie ... Homeland 5.3: Carrie and Kerry ... Homeland 5.5: All Quinn ... Homeland 5.6: Saul Wises Up ... Homeland 5.7: Tough to Watch ... Homeland 5.9: Finally! ... Homeland 5.10: Homeland and Homeland ... Homeland 5.11: Allison as Primo Villain ... Homeland Season 5 Finale: RIPs
And see also Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie's State of Mind ... Homeland 4.3: Quinn and Carrie ... Homeland 4.4: Carrie's Counterpart ... Homeland 4.5: Righteous Seduction ... Homeland 4.6: The Biggest Reveal ... Homeland 4.7: The Manifestation ... Homeland 4.8: Saving Someone's Life ... Homeland 4.9: Hitchcock Would've Loved It ... Homeland 4.10: The List ... Homeland 4.12: Out of this Together
And see also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal
And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality
And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional

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  more espionage in New York City
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Time after Time: H. G. Wells Back in Action

With Frequency and Timeless concluded - the first seasons, I hope, not the series - I figured what better time to watch Time After Time, which debuted tonight on ABC with a two-hour episode.

The story is an adaptation of the 1979 movie of the same name, in which H. G. Wells, who in real life published The Time Machine in 1895 and went on to have an illustrious career as one of the grandfathers (along with Jules Verne) of science fiction, uses his machine to travel to our present day.  The 1979 movie creatively has Wells in pursuit of Jack the Ripper, who has absconded with Wells' time machine (which the story imagines Wells not only wrote about but actually built) into 1979, to save the future from the Ripper's depredations and get back sole control of the time machine.  The TV series does the same for the two main characters, except their terminus point is our present, 2017.

The series mines all sorts of opportunities for Wells to be amazed by Google and smartphones, just as the movie did for Wells and MacDonald's.  But the movie was far more serious than the series, which is maybe 70/30 drama and humor, in comparison to 90/10 for the movie.

The first two episodes have some cool time-travel wrinkles, including H. G. Wells and his great-great-grand-daughter in 2017, motivated to meet and help Wells because an older version of himself met a younger version of her years earlier, introduced himself, and gave her a brief letter and a request to give the letter to Wells when they met in 2017.   Wells, though young and at the beginning of his career, already understands the complexities and dangers of time travel and its paradoxes, including why it's perilous to travel too many times to the same time in the past (it could create "a hole in time," as Wells puts it),  which neatly explains why Wells doesn't just travel back to a little before the Ripper ripped off the machine, and nip that in the bud.  And there are some nice dabs of young Wells in 2017 seeing a library with his books, yet to be written.

Those kinds of touches happen all the time in time travel stories about real writers who travel through history, but they're good to see anyway, and the same can be said for Time After Time, which I'll definitely keep an eye on.


not only H. G. Wells but Orson Welles in this tale Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly

My wife and I have been much enjoying Big Little Lies, set to put on its third episode in a limited series on HBO tonight.

Murder stories are a dime a dozen, ranging from some of the almost unbearably trite series on the old networks to the compelling Nordic and kindred noir series streaming on Netflix and Amazon.  In view of those superb binge-watchable programs, I'm sometimes moved to say that the cutting edge of television has already passed from cable to streaming services.

But Big Little Lies proves otherwise, and at very least shows that HBO can still come up with a unique kind of story.  For starters, here we are after two episodes, and we still don't know who the victim is, let alone the killer.  HBO is showing that it can still put up a whodunnit with the best of 'em, without not only an identifiable body but a name.   Other series - such as The Affair - have woven a little of this into their stories.  In Big Little Lies, it's the whole story, or at least, one of two of them.

And the star power, especially regarding the women, is incandescent.  Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, and the lesser-known Shailene Woodley are just superb, conveying a range of nuance not often found in a television series, especially not one about a murder.

But Iain Armitage, who plays a boy who at this point is accused only of grabbing a little girl by the neck, puts in a stellar performance, too.   So much so that, although I think he's being wrongly accused, I wouldn't quite bet the house on it, yet.   (But if I had to bet, my wife and I think the culprit is likely one of Celeste's - Nicole Kidman's - twin boys - which would follow from their having a physically abusive father.)

That incident at school, by the way, is the second story I alluded to earlier.  But everything's intricately connected and woven together on Big Little Lies, and I'm looking forward to more of this compelling David E. Kelley creation (who also does Amazon's Goliath, and goes back to great network drama such as The Practice), based on the novel by Liane Moriarty.

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