Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 278

Game of Thrones 5.8: The Power of Frigid Death

An exceptionally good Game of Thrones 5.8 tonight, with a battle scene just as powerful and in some ways more fierce than last season's Jon and the Night's Watch vs. Mance Rayder's Wildings from the North.

We've always known, as Jon knows, that the Wildings including the Giants are ultimately allies in the fight against much more fearsome enemies, and we see that played out brilliantly and savagely tonight.  What could be worse than an enemy already dead?  Well, a dead enemy who turned your own people into his troops by killing them, so that if you retreat without taking your killed with you, they will be raised with the wave of the hand of the Night's King, which will instantly increase his army.

And that's just what we see at the very end of this episode, when the appealing Wilding Chieftainess, after fighting heroically and ferociously, but dying under the overwhelming onslaught of the cold dead, is raised up by the Night's King.  I would have liked to have seen her a little more as Jon's ally among the living, and who knows what terror she'll wreak as part of the army of the dead.

It's hard to see how Jon Snow with whatever army under his command will be able to best this.  (I haven't read more than the first novel in this series.)  It's always been the dragons and their fire that might melt and undo the frozen dead, but Daenerys is still a ways off from King's Landing, let alone the Wall and what's north of that.   But that ultimate battle, whenever it comes, will surely be one worth waiting for.

In the meantime, it's great to see Tyrion at her side - good for Daenerys, Tyrion, and the story, since he, as the best and brightest of the Lannisters, can give her advice more sage than probably anyone else in this story.  And as for battles, I'm glad I saw tonight's on a summer's eve, since it makes the deathly grip of the cold a little less of a real threat - just a little.

See also Game of Thrones 5.1: Unsetting the Table

And see also Games of Thrones Season 4 Premiere: Salient Points ... Game of Thrones 4.2: Whodunnit? ... Game of Thrones 4.3: Who Will Save Tyrion ...Game of Thrones 4.4: Glimpse of the Ultimate Battle ... Game of Thrones 4.6: Tyrion on Trial ... Game of Thrones 4.8: Beetles and Battle ...Game of Thrones 4.9: The Fight for Castle Black ... Games of Thrones Season 4 Finale: Woven Threads

And see also  Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere ... Game of Thrones 3.3: The Heart of Jaime Lannister ... Game of Thrones 3.6: Extraordinary Cinematography ...Game of Thrones 3.7: Heroic Jaime ...  Game of Thrones 3.9: A Critique 
And see also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2 ... Game of Thrones 2.2: Cersei vs. Tyrion

And see also A Game of Thrones: My 1996 Review of the First Novel ... Game of Thrones Begins Greatly on HBO ... Game of Thrones 1.2: Prince, Wolf, Bastard, Dwarf ... Games of Thrones 1.3: Genuine Demons ... Game of Thrones 1.4: Broken Things  ... Game of Thrones 1.5: Ned Under Seige ... Game of Thrones 1.6: Molten Ever After ... Games of Thrones 1.7: Swiveling Pieces ... Game of Thrones 1.8: Star Wars of the Realms ... Game of Thrones 1.9: Is Ned Really Dead? ... Game of Thrones 1.10 Meets True Blood

And here's a Spanish article in Semana, the leading news magazine in Colombia, in which I'm quoted about explicit sex on television, including on Game of Thrones.

And see "'Game of Thrones': Why the Buzz is So Big" article in The Christian Science Monitor, 8 April 2014, with my quotes.

Also: CNN article, "How 'Game of Thrones' Is Like America," with quote from me

 

"I was here, in Carthage, three months from now." 

#SFWApro



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

Bones 10.20: Intimations of a New Jeffersonian

Well, the most memorable line in Bones 10.20 this past week was that the Internet is "a land of nasty, bitter people," thereby continuing Bones' critique of this very medium - which I love, and use all the time, and I'm definitely not bitter though maybe once in a blue moon nasty - but at least the blow came from one of the suspects, none of our central characters.

As for the Jeffersonian crew, I'm still feeling bad about Hodgins and Angela leaving, which, if the coming attractions are to be believed, is a fait accompli.  It's bad enough to have one great person leave the series - like Sweets - but two?  Well, at least they'll still be alive, so a return is possible.

Aubrey has filled in better than well as Booth's partner, and the new Jeffersonian intern that he's flirting with seems highly intelligent - as do all the interns - but is she bright enough to replace not just Hodgins but Angela, too, in the lab?   Not by an infinitely long shot.

So we're looking forward to be a very different Bones next season.   Let's assume Bones and Booth are back together and functioning at top level.   Who will they rely upon in the lab to come up with the brilliant angles to break cases?

I guess there's a bright side to this - the pressure to come up with new scenarios, not about killers, but about the scientists and how they solve the cases.  This has actually always been one of the great strengths of Bones, the mix of memorable and indelible personalities with the ingenuous use of forensics and all kinds of cutting edge technology, digital and hands on, in the lab.   If done well, we could be treated to a new and nearly as unforgettable Jeffersonian team.

In the meantime, we'll have to see its depletion in the next two episodes, and hope it's at least compensated by Booth back home where he belongs.

See 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?
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

#SFWApro

Neanderthal bones
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

I thought most of the previous episode of Outlander, two weeks ago, was unnecessarily violent and unwatchable, and therefore I didn't review it.   A lot of Game of Thrones is like that, too, and life's too short to write about that, also.  Some of tonight's season finale of Outlander continued the brutally graphic story we saw two weeks back, but there was enough about the episode that was redeeming, hence this review.

The best personal part of the episode - love can conquer and heal all - was well played and well motivated.   It was good to see Claire and Jamie together at the end.

Even better was what Claire proposes to Jamie - that she and he can try to change history, by connecting with Prince Charlie in France.  This raises a whole series of intriguing questions, attendant to any time traveler's attempt to change history.   If Claire succeeds, then how is it that she knew to want to change the future in the first place?   The multiple-worlds hypothesis in physics is the answer usually provided:  Claire 1, in World 1, in which the Scots are subsumed by the British, travels back in time, stops that subjugation, which creates World 2, in which the Scot Highlander culture thrives, independent of England.  In this World 2, Claire 2 has no knowledge of a Scotland under English control, but paradox is avoided because the agent of the change is not Claire 2 but Claire 1.  If these multiple worlds sound crazy, they're no more crazy than time travel itself.

Of course, there's another reason why Claire's attempt the change history won't rob her of the knowledge of the history that she wants to change:  Claire and Jamie's attempt to change history fails, and unfolds the way she - and we - know it.

It will be fun to see which of these scenarios plays out next season - or maybe it will be a third, completely different scenario (and, again, I have not yet read the books).   But one thing is certain: Claire is pregnant, and, if that baby comes to term, that will in itself dramatically change history for all concerned.

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

 
Sierra Waters series, #1, time travel

#SFWApro

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

The Following Ends

The Following concluded its three-year run on Monday, and I gotta say I was sorry to see it go. Though it started off slowly this season, it ended on one of its most riveting notes, a lot better, in fact, than anything in the second season.

Michael Ealy as Theo was a great sociopathic brilliant villain, in many ways better than Joe, though James Purefoy's performance as Ryan Hardy's signature nemesis was unassailable.  Max really came into her own in the end, with her radiant smile and love for Mike, and it would have good to see them finally together for a while next season.   Kevin Bacon as Hardy was outstanding throughout.

So where did The Following go wrong this final season?   Too little Joe, too late in the story.  Too much Mark, who should either have been killed last season or very early in this.   And too many heads of the unit or whatever they're called in the FBI - just one or two would made for a more appealing character.

The ending of The Following was excellent.  Ryan himself now living in the shadows - to protect his new family - and, for all we know, Theo alive, too.   This seems like more than enough for a new season, and maybe there'll be one, if Netflix or Amazon or some other streaming service come to the rescue.

But with the death of Joe Carroll,  the story won't quite be about a following any more.  Theo is brilliant - but, as far we've seen, has inspired nothing like the following that worked so well under Joe's leadership in the first season.  Still, the Ryan, Max, and Mike characters are different from what we usually see on television, and compelling.   And Theo is clearly one of the most ruthless, ingenious villains we've yet seen on TV, running rings around the psychos of Criminal Minds and even The Blacklist.

Hey, I'll be back here for sure with more reviews if The Following's back somewhere, sometime.

See also The Following 3.1: Miasma of Terror ... The Following 3.3: The Mellowing of Ryan ... The Following 3.8: Theo ... The Following 3.12: Joe and Theo
And see also The Following Is Back for Its Second Season ... The Following 2.2: Rediscovering Oneself ... The Following 2.3: Coalescing ... The Following 2.4: Psycho Families and Trains ... The Following 2.5: Turning Tides ... The Following 2.8: Coalescing? ... The Following 2.9: The Book Signing ... The Following 2.11: Lily not Joe ... The Following 2.13: The Downfall of Mike ...The Following 2.14: Twists and Deaths ...  The Following Season 2 Finale: The Living

And see also The Following Begins ... The Following 1.2: Joe, Poe, and the Plan ... The Following 1.3: Bug in the Sun ... The Following 1.4: Off the Leash ... The Following 1.5:  The Lawyer and the Swap ... The Following 1.7: At Large ... 
#SFWApro


Like a Neanderthal serial killer in the current world? Try The Silk Code   


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

Mad Men: The End of an Era and the Ultimate Cool

I've been saying lately that we're in the third golden age of television, epitomized by House of Cards streaming all at once on Netflix.  Mad Men was one of the stalwarts of the second golden age - the revolution of cable over network and the first golden age of television in the 1950s.  Mad Men debuted just a month after the conclusion of The Sopranos, which initiated the second golden age.  And tonight Mad Men concluded in its turn, as well.  It was advertised as the end of an era, and it was - the end of cable television as the undisputed creative edge of television drama.

As for the stories themselves in this final episode, there was a lot that was good in them, even satisfying in some cases.  The best of this was Peggy finding happiness and true love at last with Stan.   Pete's ending is happy, too, and so is Roger's.

Joan's is bitter sweet,   In order to pursue her creative, professional self, she has to give up the man she loves.   The lesson there is that in the society of the early 1970s, at least, it was difficult for a woman, in contrast to a man, to have both.  Mad Men has been brilliant in showing the struggles of professional women in that era.  Presumably our world has improved at least a little in that regard since then.

And Don?  His ending is the most frustrating - for the audience as well as him.  He perhaps has finally shed the illusion that he built around himself, but what's left?  I always thought that Don Draper was the most real part of Dick Whitman, and now Don has neither.

Or maybe not.   Who did the Coke commercial we see at the very end?   Peggy and Stan would be the logical people, since we saw Peggy talking to Don on the phone about his doing it, which means it was certainly on her mind.   But could Don have gone back to New York and done it himself?   Or, was Peggy, Don's greatest student, finally putting into best practice what she learned from the master?  Or, in perhaps the happiest ending that went unseen, maybe the three worked on it together. (My wife correctly points out that Don has a motive to go back to New York - to be with his kids - and the coke commercial could easily have been inspired by that Esalen or whatever hippy therapy group that was.  On the other hand, Don sitting there with that beatific smile on his face is a very long distance from Manhattan.)

Matthew Weiner, like David Chase before him, is a master of ambiguity. Instead of the sudden cut to black in The Sopranos, we get the Coke commercial - which, in terms of the most important things in life, is itself a blackness or a celebration of nothingness, just a stupid soft drink with caffein.  It's ultimate McLuhanesque medium cool, a canvass that invites us to fill in the story.

But isn't that what Mad Men has always been most about, a celebration of illusions writ large, perpetrated by professionals and self-generated by consumers, in advertising and true life stories alike?  I don't know for sure, but I sure enjoyed the ride.

-> 20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) in 2007 at Light On Light Through

See also  Mad Men 7.1: Vignettes and Playboy ... Mad Men 7.2:  Flowers and the Hung-Up Phone ... Mad Men 7.3: "Lunch with Rod Serling" ... Mad Men 7.4: Computer! ... Mad Men 7.5: Retrofit Paranoia ... Mad Men 7.6: The Dance ...  Mad Men Mid-Season 7 Finale: Telescope vs. Television ... Mad Men 7.8: Don, Rachel, and the Waitress ... Mad Men 7.9: Fast Ride ... Mad Men 7.10: "Fast Girl" ... Mad Men 7.11: The End of Sterling, Cooper, Draper. ... Mad Men 7.12: Poor Betty

And see also Mad Men 6.1-2: The Lighter and the Twist ... Mad Men 6.3: Good Company ... Mad Men 6.4: McLuhan, Heinz, and Don's Imagination ... Mad Men 6.5: MLK ... Mad Men 6.6: Good News Comes in a Chevy ...  Mad Men 6.7: Merger and Margarine ... Mad Men 6.8: Dr. Feelgood and Grandma Ida ... Mad Men 6.9: Don and Betty ... Mad Men 6.10: Medium Cool ... Mad Men 6.11: Hand in the Cookie Jar and Guy de Maupassant ... Mad Men 6.12: Rosemary's Baby, Dick Cheney, and Sunkist ... Mad Men Season 6 Finale: Beyond California

And see also Why "You Only Live Twice" for Mad Men Season 5 Finale ... Mad Men Season Five Finale

And see also Mad Men Season 5 Debut: It's Don's Party  ... Mad Men 5.3: Heinz Is On My Side ... Mad Men 5.4: Volunteer, Dream, Trust ... Mad Men 5.5: Ben Hargrove ... Mad Men 5.6: LSD Orange ... Mad Men 5.7: People of High Degree ... Mad Men 5.8: Mad Man and Gilmore Girl ...Mad Men 5.9: Don's Creativity  ... Mad Men 5.10: "The Negron Complex" ... Mad Men 5.11: Prostitution and Power ... Mad Men 5.12: Exit Lane

And from Season 4: Mad Men 4.1: Chicken Kiev, Lethal Interview, Ham Fight ... 4.2: "Good Time, Bad Time?" "Yes." ... 4.3: Both Coasts ... 4.4: "The following program contains brief nudity ..." 4.5: Fake Out and Neurosis ... 4.6: Emmys, Clio, Blackout, Flashback  ... 4.7: 'No Credits on Commercials' ... 4.8: A Tale of Two Women ... 4.9: "Business of Sadists and Masochists" ...4.10: Grim Tidings ... 4.11: "Look at that Punim" ... 4.12: No Smoking!  ... Mad Men Season 4 Finale: Don and -

And from Season 3: Mad Men Back for 3 and 3.2: Carvel, Penn Station, and Diet Soda and 3.3: Gibbon, Blackface, and Eliot and 3.4: Caned Seats and a Multiple Choice about Sal's Patio Furniture and 3.5: Admiral TV, MLK, and a Baby Boy and 3.6: A Saving John Deere and 3.7: Brutal Edges ... August Flights in 3.8 ... Unlucky Strikes and To the Moon Don in 3.9 ... 3.10: The Faintest Ink, The Strongest Television ... Don's Day of Reckoning in Mad Men 3.11 ... Mad Men 3.12: The End of the World in Mad Men ... Mad Men Season 3 Finale: The End of the World

And from Season Two: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.9: Don and Roger ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12 The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men ... 2.13 Saving the Best for Last on Mad Men

And from Season One: Mad Men Debuts on AMC: Cigarette Companies and Nixon ... Mad Men 2: Smoke and Television ... Mad Men 3: Hot 1960 Kiss ... Mad Men 4 and 5: Double Mad Men ...Mad Men 6: The Medium is the Message! ... Mad Men 7: Revenge of the Mollusk ... Mad Men 8: Weed, Twist, Hobo ... Mad Man 9: Betty Grace Kelly ... Mad men 10: Life, Death, and Politics ...Mad Men 11: Heat! ... Mad Men 12: Admirable Don ... Mad 13: Double-Endings, Lascaux, and Holes

If you'd like a little more surreal, step into "The Other Car"





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

Breaking Bad: The Official Book: A Review

Breaking Bad is indisputably one of the titans of the second golden age of television - the first being Dragnet through The Twilight Zone in the 1950s-(early)1960s, the third being the masterpieces of streaming such as House of Cards on Netflix right now.  The second age, already fading just a bit, begins with The Sopranos and The Wire, and continues with American Crime (a brilliant exception to the fading).  It was born on cable, continues there to some degree, and inspired occasional greatness in network television.

Breaking Bad sits at the apex of this second golden age, not better per se than The Sopranos or The Wire, but even less connected to the crime stories of the past.   David Thomson, who edited this book, and wrote much of it, aptly says in the introductory chapter that "no American film of the twenty-first century has matched the achievement of Breaking Bad".  How could it - how could a narrative of let's say two-three hours possibly match a narrative of 52 hours, more or less, told over 5 seasons?

Breaking Bad: The Official Book presents every aspect of this tour-de-force you could possibly want, including in-depth interviews with creator Vince Gilligan and the people who called all the visual and acoustic shots.  There's a section on the show's predecessors and inspirations, ranging from The French Connection to Scarface.  The titles of each episode are compellingly deconstructed.  Each of the characters, major and minor, is analyzed to the max, all the way up and down, in life, and, usually, death. You'll find a whole section just on the chemistry of Breaking Bad - the literal science, ranging from ricin to lilies of the valley, which often literally ignited the narrative. This made me realize that another predecessor of Breaking Bad would be MacGiver - in addition to its other superlatives, Breaking Bad is also a masterpiece of science on television, educational against all odds, a Mr. Wizard set to riveting narrative.

The visual imagery is itself the story of Breaking Bad, and it's powerfully represented in this book with photography, including of the cars in Breaking Bad, that rivals what we or at least some people used to expect in Life Magazine.  Music was also an important part of the story, and my one regret about this book would be that I couldn't press an image on a page and get some music playing out it - but, hey, that's what the interactive Breaking Bad: Alchemy is for, and one of the joys of Breaking Bad: The Official Book is that this bad puppy doesn't need batteries to enjoy, and has more than a hundred new images to boot.

I have no doubt that the series will be watched and talked about for hundreds of years to come, and Breaking Bad: The Official Book will be a welcome and indispensable companion.



See also Breaking Bad Final Episodes #1: Walt vs. Hank ... Breaking Bad Final Episodes #2: Skylar and Jesse ... Breaking Bad Final Episodes #3: The Ultimate Lie ... Breaking Bad Final Episodes #4: Old Yeller ... Breaking Bad Final Episode #5: Coordinates ... Breaking Bad Final Episode #6: The Knife and the Phone ...  Breaking Bad Penultimate: $10,000 for 2 Hours ... Breaking Bad Finale: "I Did It for Me"

Talking about Walter White and Breaking Bad

And see also Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere: Riveting Entropy ... Breaking Bad 5.3: Deal with the Devil ... Breaking Bad 5.7: Exit Mike ... Breaking Bad Final Half-Season Finale

And see also My Prediction about Breaking Bad ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Debuts ... Breaking Bad 4.2: Gun and Question ... Breaking Bad 4.11: Tightening Vice ... Breaking Bad 4.12: King vs. King ... Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale: Deceptive Flowers

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

Bones 10.19: Do You Buy Booth's Gambling Addiction?

A good espionage-like Bones 10.19 last night, with Booth in Iran, Bones in Washington, and the rest of our team connected via Skype or whatever converging on an investigation in Iran to free Aristoo from potential imprisonment or worse.  The action reminded me of Homeland, with less fighting and more science, as is the hallmark of Bones.

But the real action - or, the enduring action, at least - concerns Booth's gambling, which we've seen building up to a confrontation with Bones for the past few episodes.   In 10.19, Bones asks Booth point blank if he's gambling - after she discovers that he is - and Booth, in one of the worst interactions I've ever seen from him, lies right to Bones' face.  It's a bad moment, and Bones throws him out.

Can we blame her?  I'm not sure - maybe she should have taken the approach of trying to help him, with her love and support.   But I'm also not sure that I agree that the character - Booth - would have lied like that when Bones asked him to please be truthful with her.

Booth might well lie to protect Bones, as he's done before.  But lying to protect himself is something quite else, and I'm not sure I buy it.  I guess we're supposed to believe that when someone is gripped by the gambling addiction, they'll do anything to protect themselves, including lying and even stealing from people they love.  But although this may be clinically true, I guess I'm not buying that Booth is in fact in the jaws of such an addiction.

And that's because there may not have been sufficient build-up for that to believable.  As it is, and though I hate to say it, this almost feels as if Bones needed a reason for Bones and Booth to be in danger of falling apart, and his gambling was a good gambit.

We'll just have to see how this works out in the concluding episodes this season - assuming it does.

See 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
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

#SFWApro

Neanderthal bones


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

American Crime Season 1 Finale: The Banality of So-Called Justice

American Crime ended is first season last night with its story of star-crossed lovers, Carter and Aubry, whose complicated love was too pure, too innocent, too compelling and beautiful to ever survive this gaggingly ugly and brutal world.   Carter dies from Russ's bullet  just as he's trying to call Aubry, no doubt to tell her he loves her, and Aubry's last thought before she dies of her own hand is maybe somehow Carter survived.

But we can the narrow indictment to something more specific than the world, and I don't mean just the hapless, tormented Russ, whom I'll get to in a minute.  It's the breathtaking cluelessness of the justice system, which can't get anything right.  We've seen evil in police work on television before - The Shield would be an outstanding example - but never an exposition such as in American Crime of a system so rotten at every level.   The season ends without our knowing who did the initial killing, and certainly the authorities don't know.  They're good at nothing - not catching the criminals in the first place, not protecting the souls who come into their custody - except providing an effective training camp for further criminal acts.   I suppose this banal ineptitude afflicts most parts of our society, but it's especially grievous when it inhabits a system in which life and death is literally at stake.

Certainly the inanity prevails in the ease with which people can get guns in this country.  I knew the moment Barb bought the gun that its bullets would be used to kill Carter, though I thought she not Russ would pull the trigger.   But, in retrospect, Russ was always more broken than Barb, and it figures that his naive belief in the justice system (taking its word for it, to the end, that Carter killed his son) - unlike Barb, who was finally maybe glimpsing a deeper truth, and was pulling away from the system - would propel Russ to his act, pathetic for him, the ultimate voice of the deadly ignorant injustice for Carter and Aubry.

There are slender threads of hope, maybe Carter's sister and Aubry's mother hugging, and perhaps realizing that they contributed to the deaths of Carter and Aubry, too.  Maybe Hector, maybe Tony, but the odds are against them, as long as this sick system of justice continues.

America needs more shows like John Ridley's American Crime and its splendid acting (special kudos to Caitlin Gerard, Elvis Nolasco, Richard Cabral, Benito Martinez, Regina King, Timothy Hutton, and Felicity Huffman, but everyone was just brilliant) to strip the system bare, so we can see it for what it is.  I'm glad there'll be more of this remarkable series next season.

See also: American Crime, American Fine ... American Crime 1.7: The Truest Love ... American Crime 1.10: The Exquisite Hazards of Timing


a different kind of crime
#SFWApro

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

Mad Men 7.13: Poor Betty

Betty with ice water flowing in her veins has in many ways been the least sympathetic character in Mad Men, which is saying a lot, as the show is awash in people who are in one way or another hard cases, but in this penultimate episode of the series, we can finally shed some tears for her.   She handles her impending death from lung cancer with grace and style, down to the letter and love she leaves for Sally, which was surprisingly and really moving.

A whole show devoted to this crucial story would have been nice - appropriately upsetting - but that's not and has never been the way of Mad Men.  So instead, we also see a lot of Don on the road, in another odyssey replete with barely understandable meaning.   But that in itself may have a peculiar charm, at least on some days, and we do get what I think is revelation from Don, that he killed his CO in Korea, but I'm not completely sure it's a revelation, because we may have been told some to even all of that before.  But like dreams and nightmares, the specifics of previous Mad Men are not easy to remember, especially over time, and I don't want to look it up, lest I spoil the spoilt dreams.

The conclusion of the Don segment was pretty good, though - he gives the kid with the black hair his car - there's the car, again - and the kid rides off, the new Don, to whatever fate may hold for him. And Don?  Who knows, who ever knows?  Maybe we'll find out next week - but maybe not.

This episode did make something of history for the series, however, with what looks like a flat-out happy ending for Pete and wife, implausibly brokered by Duck, but hey, I'll take it, gladly.  Happy endings are hard to come by in this life, and harder yet on the surreal story of life that is Mad Men.   So hard to come by, in fact, that I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Pete, because his happy ending may yet vanish in the mists, too.

We'll know more, and all that is left to know about this series, next week.  Or maybe not.  But I wouldn't miss that finale for the world, anyway.

-> 20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) in 2007 at Light On Light Through

See also  Mad Men 7.1: Vignettes and Playboy ... Mad Men 7.2:  Flowers and the Hung-Up Phone ... Mad Men 7.3: "Lunch with Rod Serling" ... Mad Men 7.4: Computer! ... Mad Men 7.5: Retrofit Paranoia ... Mad Men 7.6: The Dance ...  Mad Men Mid-Season 7 Finale: Telescope vs. Television ... Mad Men 7.8: Don, Rachel, and the Waitress ... Mad Men 7.9: Fast Ride ... Mad Men 7.10: "Fast Girl" ... Mad Men 7.11: The End of Sterling, Cooper, Draper.

And see also Mad Men 6.1-2: The Lighter and the Twist ... Mad Men 6.3: Good Company ... Mad Men 6.4: McLuhan, Heinz, and Don's Imagination ... Mad Men 6.5: MLK ... Mad Men 6.6: Good News Comes in a Chevy ...  Mad Men 6.7: Merger and Margarine ... Mad Men 6.8: Dr. Feelgood and Grandma Ida ... Mad Men 6.9: Don and Betty ... Mad Men 6.10: Medium Cool ... Mad Men 6.11: Hand in the Cookie Jar and Guy de Maupassant ... Mad Men 6.12: Rosemary's Baby, Dick Cheney, and Sunkist ... Mad Men Season 6 Finale: Beyond California

And see also Why "You Only Live Twice" for Mad Men Season 5 Finale ... Mad Men Season Five Finale

And see also Mad Men Season 5 Debut: It's Don's Party  ... Mad Men 5.3: Heinz Is On My Side ... Mad Men 5.4: Volunteer, Dream, Trust ... Mad Men 5.5: Ben Hargrove ... Mad Men 5.6: LSD Orange ... Mad Men 5.7: People of High Degree ... Mad Men 5.8: Mad Man and Gilmore Girl ...Mad Men 5.9: Don's Creativity  ... Mad Men 5.10: "The Negron Complex" ... Mad Men 5.11: Prostitution and Power ... Mad Men 5.12: Exit Lane

And from Season 4: Mad Men 4.1: Chicken Kiev, Lethal Interview, Ham Fight ... 4.2: "Good Time, Bad Time?" "Yes." ... 4.3: Both Coasts ... 4.4: "The following program contains brief nudity ..." 4.5: Fake Out and Neurosis ... 4.6: Emmys, Clio, Blackout, Flashback  ... 4.7: 'No Credits on Commercials' ... 4.8: A Tale of Two Women ... 4.9: "Business of Sadists and Masochists" ...4.10: Grim Tidings ... 4.11: "Look at that Punim" ... 4.12: No Smoking!  ... Mad Men Season 4 Finale: Don and -

And from Season 3: Mad Men Back for 3 and 3.2: Carvel, Penn Station, and Diet Soda and 3.3: Gibbon, Blackface, and Eliot and 3.4: Caned Seats and a Multiple Choice about Sal's Patio Furniture and 3.5: Admiral TV, MLK, and a Baby Boy and 3.6: A Saving John Deere and 3.7: Brutal Edges ... August Flights in 3.8 ... Unlucky Strikes and To the Moon Don in 3.9 ... 3.10: The Faintest Ink, The Strongest Television ... Don's Day of Reckoning in Mad Men 3.11 ... Mad Men 3.12: The End of the World in Mad Men ... Mad Men Season 3 Finale: The End of the World

And from Season Two: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.9: Don and Roger ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12 The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men ... 2.13 Saving the Best for Last on Mad Men

And from Season One: Mad Men Debuts on AMC: Cigarette Companies and Nixon ... Mad Men 2: Smoke and Television ... Mad Men 3: Hot 1960 Kiss ... Mad Men 4 and 5: Double Mad Men ...Mad Men 6: The Medium is the Message! ... Mad Men 7: Revenge of the Mollusk ... Mad Men 8: Weed, Twist, Hobo ... Mad Man 9: Betty Grace Kelly ... Mad men 10: Life, Death, and Politics ...Mad Men 11: Heat! ... Mad Men 12: Admirable Don ... Mad 13: Double-Endings, Lascaux, and Holes

If you'd like a little more surreal, step into "The Other Car"#SFWApro

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

Outlander 1.14: All that Jazz

An outstanding episode of Outlander 1.14 tonight, in which the story turns on Claire's rendition of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," the red-hot 1940 hit by the Andrews Sisters, made popular again closer to our own time by Bette Midler, though of course Claire never heard that second smash version.

It's her suggestion to "jazz" things up that leads to her rendition of the song, and on from that to a plan to save Jamie by attracting him to her location as word of her performance spreads through the highlands. Nothing like a musical meme to make an impact - in this case, a meme from centuries in the future, a new time-traveling twist in jazz improv.

The payoff is not (yet) Jamie, but Dougal proposing to Claire, as the only way she can survive with Jamie gone, and Claire turning that into one last desperate attempt to free Jamie from the redcoats, with the help of just four men, none of them Dougal.   And that's where this episode ends.

Just two more episodes ahead this season, with more to come next season, and I should mention again that I haven't read the books, so in my world anything is possible at this point.  But I don't think that Jamie will die, as interesting as it would be for a Dougal and Claire marriage.  So that means that Claire will have to find a way to rescue Jamie, against all brutal odds.

Further, it's unlikely that Claire will do this in a way that will make her Black Jack's prisoner again, because we've already seen that.   But how, then, will she do it?  Possibly the season will end with Jamie still prisoner, but that wouldn't be very satisfying, either.

My prediction: her survival, and Jamie's, will again draw upon some surprising knowledge or talent she has a woman from the future.   Since I'm not a time traveler myself, and haven't seen the two next episodes as well as not read the books,  I'll eagerly be watching to see how this all plays out.


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

 
Sierra Waters series, #1, time travel

#SFWApro

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