Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 248

Murder in the First 3.3: Fast and Steady

Things move very quickly in Murder in the First.  Hildy is diagnosed with end-stage cancer one week; the diagnosis is revealed as pertaining not to Hildy the very next.   Terry shoots a suspect without a gun one week; a kid finds the missing gun in next episode, 3.3, which was on last night.

And weaving through these fast moves are the two underling season-long stories. One, about the celeb who is gunned down, is moving at a snail's pace, which works well in contrast to the quickies.

The other, about Siletti, is moving at a moderate pace, so all the bases are covered.  Last night was probably his most interesting episode so far.  After his attorney tells him his fate depends on his wife's support - not testifying he was drunk when driving - he comes to talk to her, and lays his soul bare, including taking responsibility for what went wrong in their marriage.  She's moved, and says she'll at least think about moving back with him.

This is at least a partial victory for Siletti, and he'll take it.  But is he being sincere in what he says to his wife, or just playing her, telling her what she thinks she needs to hear?  Tough to say, and probably a little of both.   He knows just what she wants to hear from him, and the fact that he says it so well suggests that it's more of an act than the truth.  But we'll see.

Meanwhile, compare their relationship to what we're seeing between Terry and Hildy.  She lies about seeing the gun, before it was recovered, because she was determined to stand by her partner and her man.  And the last scene, with the two of them watching television with Hildy's daughter on the couch, and two holding hands behind her, was pure gold.

Murder in the First is first class TV, and I'm looking forward to more.

See also Murder in the First 3.1-2: Wild Ride and  Murder in the First: A Review


 

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The Day After "The Night Of" on HBO

HBO continues to come up with surprisingly powerful programming - which is high praise indeed, since HBO has been offering surprisingly powerful series and documentaries in various forms for years.   Only Netflix has recently given HBO a run for its money, as Showtime has for a while, but HBO is still far ahead of the competition.   Consider, for example, The Night Of, a short series based on a British show, which debuted on HBO last night.

Did Naz do it?  Well, we don't know, and he doesn't know, either, given that he passed out and can't recall anything of what happened between the time he had sex with the beautiful Andrea, after he reluctantly stabbed her in the hand as per the game she insisted on playing, and he woke up to find her stabbed multiple times to death.   We do know he took lots of drugs - at Andrea's behest - and perhaps could have turned maniacally violent under their influence. On the other hand, he seems on the surface like the last person who would do something like this, and is genuinely horrified by what he saw and what he's now accused of doing.

That in itself is a pretty compelling set-up.  But The Night Of wraps this in a package in which every conceivable witness and piece of evidence that links Naz to the murder falls inexorably into the hands of the police.   And yet Naz almost walks out of that police station, in a first episode in which the slow-moving clockwork of police work at the beginning of an investigation almost allows him to escape, at least temporarily.   That vignette is one of the most memorable of its kind I've ever seen on television.

But if Naz didn't do it, who did?   Usually it's one of the witnesses, one of the people we've already come to know.   So far, none jump out.  As a wild guess, I'm thinking someone like Naz's brother, or someone even more on the periphery at this point than the witnesses.    This would certainly be more noteworthy and chilling than the killer being someone we so far haven't seen at all.   On the other hand, we know nothing about Andrea's life, so there's lots of room here for a currently hidden story to emerge.

We'll just have to see, and I certainly will.  Kudos to Richard Price, who wrote The Wanderers and so many other brilliant New York stories, for putting most of this together.


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Black Lives Matter ALSO

Racists and perhaps some well meaning people have been proclaiming on television and the Internet that "Black Lives Matter" is racist, because it excludes the lives of other ethnic groups as mattering. As an example of a racist, former NYC Rudy Giuliani, whose record on police brutality directed against African-Americans was deplorable, point blank said on CBS's Face the Nation yesterday that "Black Lives Matter is inherently racist" and "anti-American".

At very best, such a claim misses the crucial context of Black Lives Matter, which is not that ONLY Black Lives Matter, but quite the opposite: Black Lives Matter ALSO.   In fact, though this argument has been become searingly heated with the awful murders of African-Americans in Louisiana and Minnesota and murder of police officers in Dallas last week, I've been seeing people point out this all-important "also" subtext on the Web and TV ever since the Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013, to finally address a problem that has been going on for centuries.

Why have so many people missed this obviously implied "also"?  A better question would be why has anyone?   As Marshall McLuhan pointed out back in the 1960s, everyone who communicates does so on two levels, a figure and a ground.   When someone says some music is cool, people intuitively understand that you don't need to put on an extra shirt or an overcoat to enjoy it.

There is some minimal education needed to get the ground, the context, of any given statement.  A child would not instantly know that cool music has nothing to do with literal temperature.

Bur how could any sentient human being alive the past decade or longer not immediately get the context of Black Lives Matter - not immediately understand that it's a plea for black lives having as much worth less as white lives, and, yes, as much worth as lives of police?

As much worth, not more worth, and the fact that Giuliani and others somehow miss this, and say that Black Lives Matter is racist, only demonstrates, once again, that they are the racists themselves.



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Tyrant 3.1: Barry -> Bassam

With the terrible killings this week in the United States, I didn't have the heart to review the Season 3 debut of Tyrant, a story in large part about killings in the Middle East.  Indeed, it's tough to say whether the murder of two innocent African-Americans by police in two different American cities, followed by the murder five police in Dallas, is less horrendous than anything that actually has been happening in the Middle East, or in the fictional narrative of Tyrant.

Of course, fiction can be safely watched from the vantage of point of its not actually happening.  But one of the great strengths of Tyrant is that it seems very realistic, and that's impressive indeed, given that the root of the story is the improbably proposition of an American dentist becoming the dictator of a fictitious Middle East country.

But Tyrant has pulled this off remarkably well, and it's come to some fruition now in the season 3 premiere, with Barry solidly - well, more or less - in charge.   He's far more humane than his nearly killed brother, but he has an underlying ruthlessness that occasionally comes to the fore.   Does he really believe that Sammy's wife committed suicide in her prison cell?  Surely he knows Aziz well enough to know what he is capable of doing.  But chances are Barry will do nothing about this.   Or maybe Barry would, but Bassam won't.

His love life is also worth following.  He loves that women he met in the desert, but he also loves his wife Molly.   Significantly, she's on some level aware of this, which promises some interesting developments this season.   Come to think of it, Leila probably still loves Basham, too, to add another powerful character to this mix.   In fact, in some ways, Leila has always been my favorite character in this series.

I'm glad, by the way, that Jamal is still alive.  Not that the character really deserves to be, but he's too provocative and Hamlet-like to throw away.   So I'm looking forward to more - and hoping that what we see in Abbudin is worse than what's happening in our fragile real world.

See also: Tyrant 2.1: The Tyrant's Character ... Tyrant 2.5: The Caliphate ... Tyrant Season 2 Finale: Deserves to be Renewed
And see also: Tyrant: Compelling Debut ... Tyrant 1.2: The Brother's Speech and His Wife ... Tyrant 1.3: A New Leaf? ... Tyrant 1.4: Close to the Bone ...Tyrant 1.6: Don't Mess with Jamal ... Tyrant 1.7-8: Coup ... Tyrant 1.9: Tariq ... Tyrant Season 1 Finale: The Truest Tyrant

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Hell on Wheels 5.12: Sailing Away

Sailing away can sound like a good thing.  In the last scene of the excellent episode 5.12 of Hell on Wheels last night, it was not so good, or maybe a mixture of good and bad, with hope for some good sometime in the future.

Bohannon has just told Mei Fong that he loves her.  He's also said that he was lying when he said he's lost everyone he's loved - lying, because he actually left them, at least at first.   This was the case with his wife before he left to fight for the South in the Civil War, then Lily of the West, and most recently his Mormon wife.  Bohannon says he's not going to do that, again.

Mei loves him, too.  Perhaps too much.  Because she's witnessed how close Bohannon came to death when he protected her - making like the great gunslinger that he is, which was good to see - but Mei does not want to be the cause of her beloved's death.  So the last scene shows her on that boat to China, in place of Chang's woman.   Hey, she's still alive, while there's life there's hope, so we may yet see Mei and Bohannon back together before the series ends.

I have no idea how long it takes to sail to China and back - months?   It doesn't matter.  We've already seen Hell on Wheels skip to the future with last week's powerful Durant story, so it can do the same with Bohannon.  He's a fearsome man now - his limp only makes him more so - and there's certainly every chance that he will survive.

Of course, since Durant is a true historical character and Bohannon is not, Durant's survival after the rail is completed is assured, while Bohannon's is not.  I assume Durant dying alone which we saw last week is historically accurate.  Now Bohannon is alone, too, but there's no real history to insist that that this sad symmetry be the final fate of Bohannon, too.

Just two more episodes left in the series, right? I'm betting we'll see him standing in the end, and if not with Mei, on a boat to China to find her.


See also Hell on Wheels 5.1: Rails and Truckee ... Hell on Wheels 5.2: Mei and Cullen ... Hell on Wheels 5.3: Prejudice ... Hell on Wheels 5.8: Letting Him Live? ... Hell on Wheels 5.9: A Good Night for Bohannon ... Hell on Wheels 5.10: Nitroglycerin and Love ... Hell on Wheels 5.11: Durant and Shakespeare

And see also Hell on Wheels 4.1-2: Rolling Again ... Hell on Wheels 4.5: New Blood ... Hell on Wheels 4.6: Bear and Sanity ... Hell on Wheels 4.7: Why? ... Hell on Wheels 4.8: Aftermath and Rebound ... Hell on Wheels 4.9: High Noon ... Hell on Wheels 4.10: A Tale of Two Sicko Killers ... Hell on Wheels 4.11: The Redemption of Ruth ... Hell on Wheels 4.12: Infuriating and Worthwhile ... Hell on Wheels Season 4 Finale: The Buffalo

And see also Hell on Wheels 3.1-2: Bohannan in Command ... Hell on Wheels 3.3: Talking and Walking ... Hell on Wheels 3.4: Extreme Lacrosse ... Hell on Wheels 3.5: The Glove ... Hell on Wheels 3.6: The Man in Charge ...Hell on Wheels 3.7: Water, Water ... Hell on Wheels 3.8: Canterbury Tales ...Hell on Wheels 3.9: Shoot-Out and Truths ... Hell on Wheels Season 3 finale: Train Calling in the Distance

And see also  Hell on Wheels: Blood, Sweat, and Tears on the Track, and the Telegraph ... Hell on Wheels 1.6: Horse vs. Rail ... Hell on Wheels 1.8: Multiple Tracks ... Hell on Wheels 1.9: Historical Inevitable and Unknown ... Hell on Wheels Season One Finale: Greek Tragedy, Western Style



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Outlander Season 2 Finale: Decades

An outstanding Season 2 finale last night for Outlander, which in general ended altogether better in Scotland than where the season began, in Paris.   Not only that, but we got a powerful Scotland in 1968 story, too.  My wife and I honeymooned in Scotland in 1976, so it all seemed enjoyably familiar. We saw the Culloden battle ground, but found not even a trace of those time-portal stones.

But let's cut to the chase.   It's fabulous that Claire is going back in search of Jamie.  This opens up all kinds of possibilities.  Here are the parameters of this new chapter (again I haven't read any of novels):  We know that time lived in the past or future counts when the time traveler - or at least, Claire - goes through the stones.  So Claire was missing in the 1940s for exactly the amount of time she spent resisting and then falling in love with Jamie 200 years earlier.

We know that Claire has spent two decades - 1948 to 1968 - after she returned to the 20th century and Frank took her back (and great acting, by the way, by Caitriona Balfe as the older Claire).   They moved to America, which gave Jamie-and-Claire's daughter Brianna a nice American accent (though I've got to say that she sounded more than an American girl in 2016 than 1968).   But the important point  here is that Jamie will have aged two decades in the past, as well, when Claire goes back to find him.

What a love story!  He'll have assumed, in the past, that he'd never see his beloved Claire again.   He's bound to have married someone else, and they likely had children, too.  So Brianna should have at least a few half-siblings.  What will Jamie think when he sees Claire after 20 years?

Did he marry someone new or someone we know?  I'd put money on the blonde who was madly in love with him before Claire came into his life the first time.   The easiest thing for the story would be if she died and Jamie was a now a widower.  But nothing ever goes easy in Outlander, so likely Jamie is still married in the past.

I wonder if at some point Brianna will travel to the past, too?   Questions, questions ... all of which make for a great third season, which I wish were starting tomorrow.   Either that, or I wonder if there might be some stones in my area which could take me to a year ahead in time, see season 3, then right back here to review it? I'll keep you posted ...

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

And see also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History




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Why FBI Director's Comments about Hillary, Other than No Indictment, Are Out of Line

As everyone has no doubt already heard, FBI Director James Comey announced today that no criminal charges would be brought against Hillary Clinton for use of her private email system for State Department business. He added that he also thought her use of email was nonetheless "extremely careless".

It's important to keep in mind that this "careless" assessment not only carries no legal weight, but was entirely inappropriate to publicly make. As Matt Miller - a former Department of Justice spokes-person who says he's voting for Hillary - succinctly just said on MSNBC: making such statements is not the FBI Director's job and therefore not appropriate.   The biggest wrongdoing pertinent to Comey's  statement about Hillary being "careless" is not about Hillary, but that Comey went way beyond his job and gave a non-legal opinion.   What law, exactly, did the alleged "extremely careless" break?

What the FBI is supposed to do, and has done in past cases like this, is either announce an indictment recommendation, and say why, or no indictment, and leave it at that.   There is no requirement for the FBI to explain why there will be no indictment.   Indeed, explaining why, and commenting on what was uncovered in its investigation other than evidence that is legally actionable, is nothing but sheer political grandstanding, and is itself worthy of reprimand.

Or maybe kowtowing would be the better word than grandstanding.   Apparently the GOP and most of the media have brow-beat the FBI Director to the point where he felt he owed them an opinion.   But that's not what he was appointed to do.

Meanwhile, Hillary has said numerous times that she would not have used a private email server knowing what she knows now.   It was poor judgement, made eight years earlier and less sophisticated in our digital age, but the FBI's year-long investigation could not find even a single instance in which any state secrets were actually leaked, or anyone's lives were endangered or compromised.   That should be the story that's being reported.

And Comey should stick to his job.  The FBI Director has more than enough work to do in our dangerous time, and should not waste his and ours with inflammatory statements that go far beyond his purview.   Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Ray Donovan 4.2: Settling In

Ray Donovan settled in to its 4th season last night, with a good episode that had no surprises but moved everything along at a reassuringly disconcerting pace.

Actually, there was something that was somewhat surprising: Avi is continuing his disobedience to Ray.   This has been happening in one way or another ever since Avi killed the reporter Ray was falling for at the end of season 2.   It took a lot of season 3 to get Avi working again for Ray, but what happened last night - Avi being singularly unhelpful to Ray's request to get guns - could spell trouble ahead.

Meanwhile, Mickey on the way to Las Vegas is a good move, which promises some action ahead in what has become the patented Mickey style - the plan has some merit, but also some insanity, and Mickey will endanger not only himself but his family as he tries to see it through.   Las Vegas is the perfect backdrop for whatever this plan may be - too bad CSI still isn't in business there.

Abby's keeping her Stage 0 breast cancer from her family is predictable, and it's interesting to contrast how this is being handled with the cancer diagnosis on Murder in the First, which had a stunning twist last night on TNT.

Yet to happen: Ray even close to being in bed with another woman.   But there was a good Terry story, as he struggles with his Parkinson's to lead the life to which he was accustomed.

The thing to remember about Ray Donovan is that it moves at the pace of real life, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometime even.   It's a warped life, to be sure, and because of that even a slow pace can be fun, as a prelude to an explosion which you just know is coming.

See also Ray Donovan 4.1: Good to Be Back

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


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Murder in the First 3.1-2: Wild Ride!

Murder in the First is off to a high-octane roller-coster ride in its first two episodes, with more twists and surprises than you'd find all season on a more conventional network TV cop show.

And so far the biggest shocks and swings have not been about the presumably first-degree murder we saw in 3.1, when a celeb is shot dead at point-blank range on the dance floor.

Instead, the rug has been pulled out, at least twice, on Siletti's hitting a woman when he was driving and having an argument with his wife about more than a flirtation with a woman who was sitting at their dinner table.  It wasn't a hit-and-run, but Siletti had been drinking at the dinner.  He cleverly delays getting his blood alcohol tested, but the cops are on to this strategy, and are eager to nab him, even though or maybe because he's Chief Prosecutor.   But Siletti has an ace in the hole - the woman he's having an affair with is also a prosecutor, and she's been assigned to the case!   Good twist - and as icing on the cake for viewers, Assistant Attorney General Melissa Danson is played by Amanda Schull, seen on Monday evenings as Dr. Reilly in 12 Monkeys on the Syfy Channel.  Hey, it's easy to take on new identities when you can travel around on a dime in space and time.

But that was just in episode 3.1.  In 3.2, we find out that not only is Danson not inclined to give Siletti a break, she's gung-ho to get the book thrown at him.   A presumed go-free card and a smirk on Siletti's face turn into a lot of trouble.

Meanwhile, there's a twist I've never seen before on the personal level in Murder in the First.  Hildy gets a cancer diagnosis that's so bad she's told by her doctor to "get your affairs in order".  This brings her and Terry together.   But in 3.2 we find out that she was given a diagnosis meant for someone else!   She and Terry are so relieved that they spend a great night in bed together.

But hold on - don't think that they'll live happily ever after.  As a final kicker, Terry shoots a guy he's chasing - and there's no sign of the gun he saw.  We've seen this on many cop shows before, but coming at the end of these first two frenetic weeks, it's the perfect jolt.

Whew - I'll be back here with another review next week.

See also Murder in the First: A Review


 

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Hell on Wheels 5.11: Durant and Shakespeare

As Hell on Wheels winds down with its final few episodes in one hell of a last season, we get a memorable hour devoted almost solely to Durant, in which Bohannon doesn't even appear.

The intro flashforward to Durant's death in New York a decade after the railroad is finished sets the tone, tells us a lot of things, and is true to history. Durant died a poor man.  His dreaming and scheming completed the railroad but eventually caught up with him.    The rest of the hour details why he got just what he deserved.
As I mentioned last week, it was good to see Durant finally in bed with a good woman.   She was strong, loving, intelligent, capable - the best partner Durant ever had, including likely his wife - and his scheming unintentionally killed her.
He needed money.  He had himself kidnapped as a way of getting this cash.   What he didn't count on was the woman he loved selling her property to raise this cash, and getting killed when she came to deliver it to free Durant.  The story had real Greek tragic and Shakespearean overtones.
Mickey's story is Shakespearean, too.  He earlier killed his own brother.  Last night he kills his cousin, to stop him from killing Durant.   Campbell of course doesn't buy the story (it was good to see him again, too), but can't possibly figured out exactly what happened.   As consolation, Mickey at least gets Eva, and they do make a good if mutually desperate couple.  Eva's embracing of Mickey provides the tenderest moment in the episode.
They'll be no consolation when Hell on Wheels ends in the next few weeks.  It's been uniquely original and satisfying television, a worthy successor to the golden age of Westerns on television in the 1950s.
See also Hell on Wheels 5.1: Rails and Truckee ... Hell on Wheels 5.2: Mei and Cullen ... Hell on Wheels 5.3: Prejudice ... Hell on Wheels 5.8: Letting Him Live? ... Hell on Wheels 5.9: A Good Night for Bohannon ... Hell on Wheels 5.10: Nitroglycerin and Love

And see also Hell on Wheels 4.1-2: Rolling Again ... Hell on Wheels 4.5: New Blood ... Hell on Wheels 4.6: Bear and Sanity ... Hell on Wheels 4.7: Why? ... Hell on Wheels 4.8: Aftermath and Rebound ... Hell on Wheels 4.9: High Noon ... Hell on Wheels 4.10: A Tale of Two Sicko Killers ... Hell on Wheels 4.11: The Redemption of Ruth ... Hell on Wheels 4.12: Infuriating and Worthwhile ... Hell on Wheels Season 4 Finale: The Buffalo

And see also Hell on Wheels 3.1-2: Bohannan in Command ... Hell on Wheels 3.3: Talking and Walking ... Hell on Wheels 3.4: Extreme Lacrosse ... Hell on Wheels 3.5: The Glove ... Hell on Wheels 3.6: The Man in Charge ...Hell on Wheels 3.7: Water, Water ... Hell on Wheels 3.8: Canterbury Tales ...Hell on Wheels 3.9: Shoot-Out and Truths ... Hell on Wheels Season 3 finale: Train Calling in the Distance

And see also  Hell on Wheels: Blood, Sweat, and Tears on the Track, and the Telegraph ... Hell on Wheels 1.6: Horse vs. Rail ... Hell on Wheels 1.8: Multiple Tracks ... Hell on Wheels 1.9: Historical Inevitable and Unknown ... Hell on Wheels Season One Finale: Greek Tragedy, Western Style



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