Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 260

American Crime 2.7: Seeds of a School Shooting

One thing you can depend on in American Crime, one of the most powerful and important series ever on television: when things get really bad, they get even worse.  Until last night's episode 2.7, we had a rape and a searing portrayal of anti-gay bias and racial relations.   Last night we had a murder - in a school.

And in many ways the most horrifying thing about this shooting is that it was deeply motivated, to the point in which you can almost feel that the victim had it coming.   Taylor was not only raped a few weeks ago, but beaten a few days ago by the homo-phobic jocks in the school.  He shows up with a gun, but we don't know what he actually would have done it.
Possibly nothing.   But he uses it after one of his beaters threatens to kill him if he makes any more trouble.

This part of the story is also an indictment of how easy it is to get guns in this country.  Taylor gets it from a closet, where it shouldn't have been left.   The irresponsibility of gun owners results in a continuing stream of deaths in America.

Connor Jessup gives a tour-de-force performance as the kid with the tortured soul and the gun.  Even the people who have tried to help have been making his mental situation worse.  He told his mother what happened - that was he raped - in the first place, but pleaded with her not to go to the press, which she did.   His girlfriend tried to comfort him, but got furious when she found out he was gay.

And Taylor is still struggling with his sexual identity.  Drugs, of course, only make all of this worse.

And now the police, who have had not much of a role this season, in contrast to last, will be pulling Taylor into the criminal injustice system.  Look for things in American Crime to get even worse.

See also: American Crime 2.1-3: So Real, It Hurts ... American Crime through 2.6: Brilliant and Unflinching

And see also: American Crime, American Fine ... American Crime 1.7: The Truest Love ... American Crime 1.10: The Exquisite Hazards of Timing ...American Crime Season 1 Finale: The Banality of So-Called Justice



a different kind of crime
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Billions on Showtime: Winning Me Over

I thought I'd check in here with a few words about Billions, which just posted its fifth episode on Showtime last night.

The series, tailor-made for Bernie Sanders' campaign, started a bit slowly for me. The rapacious Wall Street billionaire has been well trodden on television and in the movies - in fact, there was a pretty-good two-night special about Bernie Madoff on network television just a few weeks ago.   I didn't see that much different in Billions at first.   But--

Well, the series is growing on me.  Last night's episode 1.5 was the best so far.   Bobby Axelrod is moving to leave it all, and take his family on a long boat ride to the Galapagos Islands, of Charles Darwin and survival of the fittest fame.  Aside from this cool history-of-science resonance, the storyline has a nice wrap-up: Axe instructs his people to sell off, including a bundle that crashes, and when Axe decides not to go, at last minute, he looks like a genius to his second-in-command, who comes to realize that likely Axe was serious about sailing off, after all.

The mortal antagonism of Axe and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades, hell-bent on putting Axe away, is also developing well,   Interestingly, Axe likes good old-fashioned sex with his hot wife, and resists the temptation to cheat on her when he's away in Canada.   Chuck is also loyal to his wife, but their cup of tea - or at least, his, which she accedes to - is sadomasochism, stilettos, cigarette burns, and all. And though Axe is no angel to his staff, Chuck is often even worse, all adding to a complex and appealing dynamic of no one is really totally the good guy here.

Chuck's wife working for Axe as his sort of company psychologist is somewhat implausible.   On the other hand, as my late science fiction editor David Hartwell always told me, your audience can allow one unbelievable jump, if you stick to a plausible narrative in the rest of your story.

I'm certainly going to stick with Billions, and will be back here with reviews as the season progresses.


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The Good Wife 7.14: "Target on His Back"

Now that the non-continuing of The Good Wife after this season has been announced, everything we see from now on in this final season is inevitably viewed through the lens of how will this lead to the end of this superb series?

Indeed, the big storyline of episode 7.14 tonight makes no sense, other than as prelude and foundation for an ultimate ending.  Peter was beaten badly in the Iowa caucuses.   Ok.   But why should that put a "target on his back," as Ruth explains to Eli, who in turn explains that to Alicia?   Yeah, we've known all along that Peter has not been completely kosher in his politics,  but why, other than that leading up to some dramatic ending, should that now provoke an FBI investigation aimed at the jugular?

My wife, when she first heard that the show would not be continuing, thought that Peter might drop dead in the next or next-to-last episode, with the result that Alicia would be appointed his successor as governor.   I suppose that could still happen - especially given the high blood pressure that will come from this investigation.   But would Alicia be likely to appointed Peter's successor if he's under some Federal indictment?  (Not to mention that wouldn't the Associate Governor or whoever the second-in-command was be the one to step into the Governor's office?)

I'll tell you one thing I don't like about television - how sometimes you can see the external requirements of a series, having nothing to do with the internal logic of the storyline, seeping into the narrative.   This is inevitable when an actor dies - or leaves, as Josh Charles did.

I thought The Good Wife handled that pretty well.  Maybe even very well - I haven't really missed Will too much at all.   But so far, The Good Wife is not off to a very good start in handling its self-imposed cancellation.

Which is a shame.  And maybe it will wrap up with some outstanding story after all,  But the truth is I would really rather it didn't end at all - at least, not this year, on such little notice.

See also The Good Wife 7.1: Shake-Up ... The Good Wife 7.6: Hillary, Trump, and Alicia ... The Good Wife 7.10: Selfish Eli

And see also The Good Wife 6.4: Run-up to Running ... The Good Wife 6.10: Cary's Fate ... The Good Wife 6.11: Kalinda for Cary

See also I Dreamt I Called Will Gardner Last Night

And The Good Wife 5.1: Capital Punishment and Politicians' Daughters ... The Good Wife 5.5: The Villain in this Story ... The Good Wife 5.9: Reddit, Crowd Sourcing, and the First Amendment on Trial ... The Good Wife 5.11: Bowling Bowls and Bogdanovich ... The Good Wife 5.13: NSA on Television ... The Good Wife: 5.15: Stunner! ... The Good Wife 5.19: Tying Up Loose Ends ... The Good Wife Season 5 Finale: Musical Chairs

And see also The Good Wife 4.1 Meets Occupy Wall Street ...  The Good Wife 4.2: Reunited ... The Good Wife 4.3: "Template-Based Link Analysis Algorithm" ... The Good Wife 4.5 Meets The Sopranos ... The Good Wife 4.20: Anonymous ... The Good Wife Season 4 Finale: Good Twist!
And see also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype ... The Good Wife 3.7: Peter v. Will ...  Dexter's Sister on The Good Wife 3.10  ... The Good Wife 3.12: Two Suits  ... The Good Wife 3.13 Meets Murder on the Orient Express ... The Good Wife 3.15: Will and Baseball

And see also  The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars 
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                                   the Sierra Waters trilogy
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Black Sails 3.4: Mr. Scott's People

Black Sails introduced a vibrant new sector last night in episode 3.4, with "Maroons" - Africans who escaped their fate as slaves in America - on what otherwise would have been a paradisiacal island of salvation for Flint, Silver, and their men after the doldrums on the sea.

And as a nice twist at the end, we learn that the queen of the island is Mr. Scott's wife.   For most of the hour, I thought that talk of her husband, and their daughter's talk of her father, was either just talk about a myth not a real man, or about a real man who was far more gone than just missing.  But making him Mr. Scott literally makes this story much more real, and invests our series with all kinds of possibilities.

Scott has been a secondary but important character on Black Sails.  His allegiance has been helpful to crucial, but not always to the best people.  He was once Eleanor's trusted adviser, but events propelled him into the employ of Hornigold, who is now one of the villains in the story.

I think the writing is on the wall about what will happen now with Scott and his island family and warriors.   Clearly Flint and Silver are now badly outnumbered vis-a-vis the English.  So are Vane and Blackbeard.  And Rackham doesn't have much of a force, either.  Even with all the pirates together, the English, Hornigold, and the pirates who took the pardon would likely be superior in numbers to what our heroes could muster.

But Scott and his people on the side of the pirates could tip the balance.   Not only in numbers, but the intelligence that Scott and his wife would add.   Will be fun to see how this all shakes out in the rest of this season of Black Sails and beyond.

See also Black Sails 3.1: Restored ... Black Sails 3.2: Flint vs. Sea ... Black Sails 3.3: Gone Fishin'

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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Scenario after the Passing of Antonin Scalia

Barack Obama will no doubt make an appointment as soon as possible - after all, he has less than a year left as President.

The Republican controlled Senate will no doubt do everything it can to either prevent the nominee from getting a vote, or defeating the nominee, whomever she or he may be.  (And, sure enough, AP just reports that Senate Majority Leader McConnell says Senate should not act on any Obama nomination.)

The President will then have the option of taking the Senate to court over its intransigence, and this suit could well end up in the United States Supreme Court -

Which is now spit, 50/50, between progressives and conservatives.   A tie in the Supreme Court would leave nothing changed.

But possibly Justice Kennedy or Roberts would do the right thing, and strike down the Senate's failure to act on the President's appointment.

Interesting times ahead!

And here's a video of Hillary Clinton letting the Republicans know what the Constitution is about...
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Initial Thoughts on the Passing of Antonin Scalia

Barack Obama will no doubt make an appointment as soon as possible - after all, he has less than a year left as President.

The Republican controlled Senate will no doubt do everything it can to either prevent the nominee from getting a vote, or defeating the nominee, whomever she or he may be.  (And, sure enough, AP just reports that Senate Majority Leader McConnell says Senate should not act on any Obama nomination.)

The President will then have the option of taking the Senate to court over its intransigence, and this suit could well end up in the United States Supreme Court -

Which is now spit, 50/50, between progressives and conservatives.   A tie in the Supreme Court would leave nothing changed.

But possibly Justice Kennedy or Roberts would do the right thing, and strike down the Senate's failure to act on the President's appointment.

Interesting times ahead!

And here's a video of Hillary Clinton letting the Republicans know what the Constitution is about...
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Colony 1.5: Questions

Colony has continued in its past few episodes to offer good, taut, exciting stories, with lots of action, drama, and surprises, including sudden death in high places.   But as the series continues, big questions not yet addressed become more relevant, and the lack of information about these questions weakens the narrative.

These in include -
Who are the aliens?  It even occurred to me that maybe they're not aliens, after all, but humans with some kind of advanced technology.  Not likely, I guess, but until we know more about the apparent conquerers, it's hard to get a handle on the story.What's going on in other countries, on the rest of the Earth?  Has every nation succumbed?  Are there pockets of resistance all over?For that matter, what were the decisive battles that led to the occupation as we're currently seeing it in the LA area?In the case of the late, lamented Revolution on NBC, which wasn't about aliens, but a sudden, apparently universal power failure that set back our civilization, the myopic view, with no indication of what was really happening world-wide or even country-wide until the end of first season, hurt the series.    I hope we don't see Colony go the same way.

To be clear, the stories are working well on the micro-level, in the new Los Angeles.  The treatment of Geronimo - the identity of the rebel leader and what would be done about him - was sophisticated and satisfying.  But I'm waiting for the series to roll out that intelligence to the deeper, bigger questions that surround this story.

See also Colony 1.1: Aliens with Potential ... 1.2: Compelling


not exactly aliens, but strange enough ...  The Silk Code

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Colony 1.4: Questions

Colony has continued in its past two episodes - 1.3 and 1.4 - to offer good, taut, exciting stories, with lots of action, drama, and surprises, including sudden death in high places.   But as the series continues, big questions not yet addressed become more relevant, and the lack of information about these questions weakens the narrative.

These in include -
Who are the aliens?  It even occurred to me that maybe they're not aliens, after all, but humans with some kind of advanced technology.  Not likely, I guess, but until we know more about the apparent conquerers, it's hard to get a handle on the story.What's going on in other countries, on the rest of the Earth?  Has every nation succumbed?  Are there pockets of resistance all over?For that matter, what were the decisive battles that led to the occupation as we're currently seeing it in the LA area?In the case of the late, lamented Revolution on NBC, which wasn't about aliens, but a sudden, apparently universal power failure that set back our civilization, the myopic view, with no indication of what was really happening world-wide or even country-wide until the end of first season, hurt the series.    I hope we don't see Colony go the same way.

To be clear, the stories are working well on the micro-level, in the new Los Angeles.  The treatment of Geronimo - the identity of the rebel leader and what would be done about him - was sophisticated and satisfying.  But I'm waiting for the series to roll out that intelligence to the deeper, bigger questions that surround this story.

See also Colony 1.1: Aliens with Potential ... 1.2: Compelling


not exactly aliens, but strange enough ...  The Silk Code

#SFWApro

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American Crime through 2.6: Brilliant and Unflinching

American Crime in its second season continues to be what it was in its first season - a brilliant, unflinching examination of American life, with all its warts.  As of episode 2.6, it's easily still one of the best series ever on television.

It's ugly and uncompromising, but that's the way truth often is.   The revelation that Taylor is gay could have been the end of his rape story - it certainly was a stunner - but it actually is only the beginning of a much deeper, and more needed narrative.  Rape aka unconsensual sex is wrong - not only morally, it's a brutal crime - regardless of whether the victim is gay or heterosexual, and regardless of the sexual orientation of the perpetrator.

Of course, many of the characters in this story don't see it that way.   They assume, out of prejudice, that if a boy or man claims he was raped by a man, and the victim turns out to be gay, that this fact somehow negates the rape, or makes the act automatically consensual.   If that absurd argument were true, then that would negate the myriad of heterosexual women who have been raped by heterosexual men over the millennia.

The acting, as it was in the first season, is just exceptional.   Not only Connor Jessup as Taylor and Joey Pollari as his accused rapist Eric, but everyone around them and in this story gives edge-of-your-seat performances.

The default mode in American Crime is powder keg, either already lit or about to be.  There are no doubt some shockers and shake-ups ahead, and I'm both looking forward to and bracing for the ride.

See also: American Crime 2.1-3: So Real, It Hurts

And see also: American Crime, American Fine ... American Crime 1.7: The Truest Love ... American Crime 1.10: The Exquisite Hazards of Timing ... American Crime Season 1 Finale: The Banality of So-Called Justice



a different kind of crime
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Bernie Sanders Sources of Support in New Hampshire from Gun Owners

MSNBC reported the following biggest sources of votes for Bernie Sanders in his victory in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary over Hillary Clinton:




The third line - "gun owner" - should stick out like a saw thumb for anyone interested in a better, safer America - a country not riven by bullets in big cities, school, and sometimes even fired by police officers against innocent people, all too often African-African.

This is - or certainly should be - the key reason for Democrats in other states, and independents, too, to vote for Hillary not Bernie.   Bullets that kill people and destroy the lives of their families are surely a more important issue than what Hillary said in her speeches to Wall Street.

As I've said before, I actually agree with Bernie on some important issues - including his call to abolish capital punishment and establish higher public education for all.  But these issues also pale in comparison to the death daily meted out by guns gone wild in America.

I hope the Clinton campaign moves this issue to the front of its discussion points in upcoming primaries, especially in South Carolina, which has suffered so tragically in the past year from the gun epidemic.


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