Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 236

Designated Survivor 1.8: Kitchen Sink

Good to see Designated Survivor back in action with episode 1.8 last night, with Kirkman have everything and the kitchen sink thrown against him in his effort to rebuild the political structure of our country after the devastating State of the Union attack.

Top of the list is a germ warfare attack - biological terrorism - designed to stop the election of a new House of Representatives.  Talk about elections being rigged!  As in everything it does, Designated Survivor takes this scenario one big step over the top, in true riveting 24 fashion.

Meanwhile, Kirkman's paternity of his son comes to a head, and I was glad to see this story wrapped up.  It was a soap-opera move, not really necessary in the high stakes of everything else, in which the nation itself is at risk.

The continuing story here is who was responsible for the Capitol bombing?   We learned last night that it's not the likely next VP, who is now seen being run by the villains, rather than being one of them.  All signs point to the group being domestic, but with Designator Survivor's ear clearly attuned to what's actually going on in our world, in real news, there still may be a foreign power yet to be revealed that's behind this ... such as the Russians.

Jack Bauer in 24 of course had plenty of dealings with hostile foreign powers, including the Chinese and the Russians.  If the Russians play a bigger role in Designator Survivor - we've already seen them as a problem for Kirkman a few episodes ago - will Putin's name be specifically mentioned?   Probably not - but here's a vote to bring John Noble back as Anatoly Markov in some Russian spy role, if Kiefer Sutherland has to tangle with him in Designated Survivor.

See also Designated Survivor: Jack Bauer Back in the White House ... Designated Survivor 1.2: Unflinching and Excellent ...  Designated Survivor 1.4: "Michigan's on the Verge of Anarchy" ... Designated Survivor 1.5: The Plot Thickens ... Designated Survivor 1.6: The Governors ... Designated Survivor 1.7: Reassuring Fiction


  terrorist squirrels and bombs in NYC

#SFWApro

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

Rectify 4.6: Shedding the Straw Man

A beautifully powerful episode 4.6 of Rectify tonight, easily the best of this final season so far.

It was so good, that it almost convinced me that the most important story is not whether Daniel was guilty or innocent of Hanna's rape and murder, but whether he can find himself enough to survive and live in this world today, out of prison.

Chloe puts this well when she challenges Daniel to find out whether he can shed the persona of shame via which he survived in prison and since his release.   I don't agree that seeing a therapist is the only way to do this - which was Chloe's point - but her underlying motive of wanting Daniel to shed his shame is profound and sums up his life now beautifully.

Jon's story was powerful tonight, too.  He's convinced that Daniel is innocent and Jon has committed himself to doing all he can to make sure that Daniel is cleared forever, and never threatened again for a crime he didn't commit.   Note that this, also, is a story different from whether Daniel is guilty or innocent - Jon assumes he's innocent - but that's nonetheless a strong and worthy story, too.

Also in that story, I do hope Jon and Amantha can get back together, but there's not much motion on that score as yet.  Ted Sr and Daniel's mother, though, seem to be on the verge of pulling closer, after they've come this close to falling apart.

In a way, the ending, with Teddy Jr. shooting himself in the leg as he tries to bring down the balloon man, is a good template for the whole story of Rectify, too:  everyone shooting themselves in the foot as they try to bring down straw men, largely of their own creation.  This applies most to Daniel, as he struggles with the straw man of shame, though that of course is by no means all of his own creation.

I'll be sorry to see this great series conclude, as it promises to do, in the two final episodes.

See also Rectify 4.1: Rummy  ... Rectify 4.4: Slow Motion ... Rectify 4.5: Temper

And see also Rectify 3.1: Stroke of Luck ... Rectify 3.2: Daniel and Amantha ... Rectify 3.5: Finally!

And see also Rectify 2.1: Indelible ... Rectify 2.2: True Real Time ... Rectify 2.3: Daniel's Motives ... Rectify 2.4: Jekyll and Hyde ... Rectify 2.6: Rare Education ... Rectify 2.7: The Plot Thickens ... Rectify 2.8: The Plea Bargain and the Smart Phone ... Rectify 2.9: Dancing in the Dark ... Rectify Season 2 Finale: Talk about Cliffhangers!

And see also Rectify: Sheer and Shattering Poetry ... Rectify 1.5: Balloon Man ... Rectify Season 1 Finale: Searingly Anti-Climactic

 
another kind of capital punishment

#SFWApro

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

Vikings 4.11: Ragnar's Sons

Vikings returned tonight with the second half of its 4th season - 4.11 - with a powerful story, mostly about Ragnar and his sons.

We last saw Ragnar's sons, briefly, at the end of 4.10 long ago - that is, earlier this year - with all of them grown into young manhood.  Tonight, Ragnar returns with a request of his sons to accompany him to England, to reclaim his lost stronghold near Wessex.

His sons have different ideas.  Bjorn wants to go to the rich cities of the Mediterranean - much to plunder and enjoy - and all but one of his other sons agree.   Ivar the Boneless - so named because his legs are useless - wants to go with his father, and this provides a satisfying ending to the episode.

Ivar is the most interesting of the sons, because of his disability and his attempts to overcome it. Here's the best marksman of his brothers, by arrow and axe.  He apparently can't satisfying a woman - at least, not in a way that can bring her children - but I have a feeling the story on this is not yet complete.   Most impressively, he has a burning intellect, which will make a great strategist - eventually.

Floki has built ships for Bjorn's planned trip, and his not wanting to join Ragnar, much as he loves him, is the one of the things that pushes Ragnar to test the gods, by attempting suicide.  The fact that the crows or whatever causes the rope to give way offers some kind of proof to Ragnar that he still has some of their favor.

So the stage and scene is set for Ragnar's return to England, with Ivar, and his other sons going with Bjorn to warmer water to the South.   History has all kinds of stories about what happens with Ragnar's sons, and it will be fun to see what the History Channel will tell of them, and spin in new directions.

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"

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


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

Donovan Concert Cancelled Tonight - with Strange Coda

Hey, I'm not even sure this warrants a blog post, but -

Tina and I were looking to forward to seeing Donovan tonight at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey - part of his Sunshine Superman 50th Anniversary Tour.  Actually, that's about my least favorite of his songs, but "Jennifer Juniper" and "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" and its recitation of gorgeously unusual colors are among my all-time favorite songs, period.

So we were really looking forward to this concert.  I even passed up a dinner with some Fordham University colleagues - which I actually enjoy - to go see Donovan.  We even arrived uncharacteristically early, and had a delicious dinner at the nearby Pintxo y Tapas restaurant.

Then we walked over to the concert hall.  The place was deserted.   We found out why: Donovan had cancelled.  He's ill.  Email had gone out, while we were sipping some scrumptious soup in the restaurant.

But here's the coda.   We walk back to our car, are just about to pull out, when another car parks in a little in front of us.  A couple emerges, and I could just tell that they're on the way to the Donovan concert.  Whether they had been sipping soup somewhere, too, or for whatever reason, they hadn't seen the email. So I tell them the concert had been cancelled - to save them a walk in the rain - because Donovan had taken ill.

"Oh my God!" the woman said.   "The last time I was at this theater, the concert was suddenly cancelled, too!   It was for Lou Reed.  He was ill - and you know what happened to him!"

Oi!  I certainly do.   I'm hoping that this woman and the Bergen Performing Arts Center aren't locked into some kind of jinx.  It's a good diabolical story - "The Dybbuk of Bergen County" - but I'd rather hear Donovan sing.   I hope he's soon back in the best of health.


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

Timeless 1.8: Time and Space

An outstanding Timeless 1.8 tonight, in which our team goes back to July 1969 to save the first men on the Moon.

The mission is jeopardized - with Armstrong and Aldrin's lives at risk - due to a virus put into the NASA computer operation by Flynn.   Rufus is the only one with sufficient knowledge to fix it - put in a cure - but he actually doesn't have quite enough know-how to do this, after all.  He needs the help of Katherine Johnson, a real person who was given the Medal of Freedom by President Obama last year. Back in 1969, she has the knowledge to program Rufus's cure into the paper-punched NASA computer system.

Given that Obama presided over the Medal of Freedom ceremony for this year just a days ago, Katherine Johnson was a really nice touch, and a pleasure to see.  And just for good measure, Lucy throws in a timely lecture to the male chauvinists in Mission Control about not treating the secretaries like mere carriers of coffee.

There's also a nice Flynn story wrapped into this tonight, as he meets another secretary, with a talent for rocket design, who turns out to be his mother.   Wyatt (who is an FBI agent - with the name "Mulder," another nice touch) witnesses part of this, and there's an implicit question raised at the end - should Wyatt have done something to stop Flynn's mother, so that Flynn would never be born?

This is a perennial time-travel question - if the traveler had a chance to kill Hitler's mother, or otherwise prevent her from meeting Hitler's father, should the traveler do that?  Usually, the answer is no - the morality of time travel is that you don't mess up the lives of innocents to get at the bad people in history.

Unless, you have to shoot an essentially innocent person to save someone crucial to the mission, which Rufus had to do tonight.

A nice, provocative hour of time travel indeed.


See also Timeless 1.1: Threading the Needle ... Timeless 1.2: Small Change, Big Payoffs ... Timeless 1.3: Judith Campbell ... Timeless 1.4: Skyfall and Weapon of Choice ... Timeless 1.5: and Quantum Leap ... Timeless 1.6: Watergate and Rittenhouse ... Timeless 1.7: Stranded!



a time-travel agency in Riverdale ....

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

Westworld 1.9: Half-Truths and Old Friends

Another episode of Westworld tonight - 1.9 - just breathtaking in its philosophical insight and daring. The series, brilliant from the outset, just keeps getting better.

The agenda is set tonight with what Maeve, now in control of her android programmer, tells Bernard: truth is "like a good fuck - half is worse than none at all".

We've known less than half the truth about Bernard, until last week, when we found that he was a host aka android.   Tonight we learn that that was not the half of it.

Because, in another standout conversation between him and Ford, in which Bernard pushes Ford to tell him the truth about Bernard, and Ford presumably obliges, we find that Bernard is not just any host. Not even just any host put in charge by Ford to program and oversee the other hosts.  No, Bernard is a host programmed by Ford in Arnold's image.

Well, not just his image, but, presumably, something, maybe even a lot, of Arnold's mind.   Further, according to Ford, Arnold and Ford had two different ideas about how to build the minds of hosts - two different approaches, both of which co-exist, to some degree in each of the hosts we now encounter.   This is one iteration of Jaynes' bicameral mind,

The other iteration is that Arnold's idea of consciousness is that one voice within the mind talks to the other, and consciousness emerges as the two are in some way blended or brought into synch.  So, if this represents Arnold's idea of a host's consciousness, and it co-exists in the hosts' minds along with Ford's, we have a bicameral mind within a bicameral mind.   All that assuming, of course, that Ford was telling Bernard and us the truth - not a thoroughly reliable proposition, since Ford plays with Bernard and tells him half-truths and other-sized fragments in every conversation they have.

Hey, I told you the philosophical insight was daring.  And I'm not even 100% clear what we saw tonight means.  But I'm pretty sure that in this penultimate episode of the first season, we've received at least half the truth of what's going on.  Or maybe not, but let's go with that assumption.  It was certainly, to get back to Maeve's declaration, a movable feast for the intellect.

And the other half?  Well, I doubt we'll get all or even most of it next week, since, after all, this is only the first season.  But I'm looking forward to whatever little shred more we'll get.


See also Westworld 1.1: Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick Served Up by Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, and J. J. Abrams ... Westworld 1.2: Who Is the Man in Black? ... Westworld 1.3: Julian Jaynes and Arnold ... Westworld 1.4: Vacation, Connie Francis, and Kurt Vonnegut ... Westworld 1.5: The Voice Inside Dolores ... Westworld 1.6: Programmed Unprogramming ... Westworld 1.7: The Story of the Story ... Westworld 1.8: Memories


  paradoxes of AI abound

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

Why the Recounts in WI, MI, and PA Make Sense

I don't think they're likely to change the results of our Presidential election - Hillary Clinton would need to win all three of these states to win the electoral vote -  but I'm glad to see that the recounts for Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have been funded and are proceeding,

In order for democracy to work, we have to have 100% confidence in the results of elections - not that we have to like them, but we need to believe in them.  And if we don't like them, we can use those results as the basis for improving our losing positions, so they won't be losing next time.

Hillary Clinton of course won the national popular vote.  She lost the electoral vote, based on the tallies before the recounts.   But that crucial difference, in itself, demands that we be super sure when it comes to the counts in crucial states.

Computer scientists say that the voting patterns reported in those three states are such that there could be some sort of irregularities in the tallies.  That doesn't mean that there are - but surely we should investigate further.

It's often said that previous candidates who lost in close Presidential elections didn't go for recounts. Nixon didn't in his close loss to JFK in 1960, and Gore didn't in his loss to Bush in 2000 (when Gore also won the national popular vote).

But Nixon didn't lose to a Donald Trump, and Gore actually did pursue recounts in Florida, which we stopped not by him but by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who joined the majority decision to stop the recount, later said she regretted.

The election of Trump is the most extraordinarily bad result of a Presidential election in my and I'd bet most American's lifetimes (well, certainly a majority).   We owe it to ourselves and the future of this country and the world to be sure of its results. Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Paranoid on Netflix: Pre-Brexit

We streamed Paranoid on Netflix - we never pass up a British cop drama, and this one was uncommonly good.

First, it was good to see Indira Varma in a starring rather than supportive role.  She impressed in everything from Rome to Luther, and she's excellent as the lead detective (Nina) investigating what may be a murder by a homicidal maniac.   Even more interesting in many ways is her private life, with all kinds of unexpected alliances and vulnerabilities and twists and turns, including with the young guy on her team, Alec (played just right by Dino Fetscher).

Speaking of moving up to a more major role, Robert Glenister, who played a sometimes arch superior in MI-5, is down in the trenches as a hard-bitten, heart-on-his-sleeve detective on Nina's team, and the drugs he's taking for his anxiety may be making him a little paranoid himself.   Leslie Sharp is also sharp, definitely memorable, as his quirky love-interest Lucy.

But the villain in this story [mild spoiler], as soon becomes apparent, is big pharma, and its reach extends from England to Germany, which soon pitches the narrative into a tale of two detective units, one in a smallish town in England, the other in Dusseldorf, with all kinds of helpful and otherwise interactions.

It occurred to me, as I was watching and enjoying this, that this kind of cooperation, conducted via Skype and the occasional in-person visit, was pre-Brexit.   I suppose there's no reason it couldn't continue, but this subtle subtext of Paranoid, that the Brits and the Germans are almost just two different units of some same transnational police force, somehow seems a little more wishful thinking now than it did earlier this year.

Which makes Paranoid even more appealing as a cop show.   See it.

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

Rectify 4.5: Temper

What did we learn about Daniel's guilt or innocence in Hanna's murder in Rectify 4.5? He has a temper.

We of course knew this before, and seeing it demonstrated, again, has the effect of keeping his possible culpability in Hanna's murder in the mix.   It doesn't matter that Daniel's anger was justified last night, and that he was only standing up for his own human dignity.  The takeaway still is that he's given to rage.

As always, though, we have no way of knowing if the rage existed before Daniel went to prison, or because of it.   Certainly what happened to him in prison contributed to his rage at someone masturbating in his presence in the bedroom.

Meanwhile, his erstwhile lawyer continues, at a snail's pace, to pursue the evidence.  And Hanna's brother has come to realize that there's a more likely murderer of his sister than Daniel.

Families and relationships have been what this series has always been about, and most have either shattered or on the edge of falling apart.  The end of Tawney and Ted Jr was especially touching this week, and the conversations between Janet and Ted Sr were a close second.   Who has the best relationship amidst all this unhappiness?

That would probably be Daniel and Chloe, which not only lends a ray of hope to the series, but makes Daniel being innocent of Hanna's murder even more important.

Looking forward to some resolution in the concluding episodes.

See also Rectify 4.1: Rummy

And see also Rectify 3.1: Stroke of Luck ... Rectify 3.2: Daniel and Amantha ... Rectify 3.5: Finally!

And see also Rectify 2.1: Indelible ... Rectify 2.2: True Real Time ... Rectify 2.3: Daniel's Motives ... Rectify 2.4: Jekyll and Hyde ... Rectify 2.6: Rare Education ... Rectify 2.7: The Plot Thickens ... Rectify 2.8: The Plea Bargain and the Smart Phone ... Rectify 2.9: Dancing in the Dark ... Rectify Season 2 Finale: Talk about Cliffhangers!

And see also Rectify: Sheer and Shattering Poetry ... Rectify 1.5: Balloon Man ... Rectify Season 1 Finale: Searingly Anti-Climactic

 
another kind of capital punishment

#SFWApro


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

The Affair 3.2: Sneak Preview Review: Right Minds

Well, here I am again with a sneak preview review of The Affair 3.2, which of course I couldn't help watching on Showtime On Demand.  Spoilers abound below.

Alison's story in the second half covered a huge amount of territory - the gist of which is that Cole and Luisa now have custody of Joanie, because Alison left her with him as she was having what used to be called a nervous breakdown, brought on by Joanie having a bad flu or whatever, and Alison understandably "freaking out" that what happened to Gabriel could happen to Joanie, and it would be Alison's fault.   She compounds this by signing away her parental rights to Joanie - giving them to Cole - but now she's out and cured and back in her right mind and wanting her daughter back, and of course--

Well, Luisa doesn't even want Joanie to see her mother, and Cole certainly doesn't want to give her back to Alison.   Of course, as Oscar aptly tells Alison - I have to admit, it was good to see him back - all she needs is a good lawyer.   Cole almost does the right thing, bringing Joanie to see her mother - but only for an hour, that's why I said "almost".   Lots of ground covered indeed, and the good makings of a powerful season.

Another bad result of Alison's institutionalization is she received none of Noah's letters from prison, which brings us to the first half hour, and Helen's story.   Noah, in jail now for two years, is angry at Helen.  But what he's likely really angry about is Alison's lack of response.  Helen still loves him - especially after he took the rap for her drunk driving - and is doing the best to make a life for herself and her children with the doctor who saved her son last season.

So we have a fine kettle of fish brewing here for all of our major characters.   And one last note - Helen mentions a "dick" who voted for Trump.  Did she mean in the primaries, which would make last week current time, and this week - which began the advisory that it was a "year earlier" - taking place last year?   Or is Helen in current time in this episode - with the Trump vote in our election two weeks ago -  which would put  Noah's episode last week a year in our future?

The Affair always messes with time - as well as our minds - and that's one of its most endearing qualities.

See also The Affair 3.1: Sneak Preview Review

And see also The Affair 2.1: Advances ... The Affair 2.2: Loving a Writer ... The Affair 2.3: The Half-Wolf ... The Affair 2.4: Helen at Distraction ... The Affair 2.5: Golden Cole ... The Affair 2.6: The End (of Noah's Novel) ... The Affair 2.7: Stunner ... The Affair 2.8: The Reading, the Review, the Prize ...And see also The Affair Premiere: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 1.2: Time Travel! ... The Affair 1.3: The Agent and the Sleepers ... The Affair 1.4: Come Together ... The Affair 1.5: Alison's Episode ... The Affair 1.6: Drugs and Vision ... The Affair 1.7: True Confessions ... The Affair 1.8: "I Love You / I Love You, Too" ... The Affair 1.9: Who Else on the Train? ... The Affair Season 1 Finale: The Arrest and the Rest

podcast review of every 2nd season episode


podcast review of every 1st season episode


the Sierra Waters time-travel trilogy
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music