Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 300

Bones 10.1: The Fulcrum Changes

I just watched the Bones 10th season premier - I was giving a Keynote address at Baylor University last night.  It's the kind of episode that's best to watch at home.

Sweets in many ways was the moral center of Bones, mediating between the science of Bones and the spirituality of Booth, and a lot more between them.  Even in this episode, his advice to Bones and Booth, individually and together, was crucial in the two rediscovering their relationship after Bones' daring move to get Booth released from prison - which was a really fine piece of acting by Emily Deschanel, by the way.

At some point last season, Sweets looked like he was leaving the show.  He broke up with Daisy - which I was sorry to see - and talked increasingly about doing other things in his life.  But then he came back, and even spent a night or two with Daisy.   Good move.

Episode 10.1 pretty quickly establishers that Daisy is very pregnant with Sweets' baby, even better. They were a great couple, and would have made great parents, which Bones attests to when she tells Sweets he will make a great father.

And now that's been taken away from us and the story.   The usual explanation for these sorts of things is that the actor wanted to leave the show.  But that doesn't really matter, because this isn't a question of blame.  It's a question of mourning what could have been had Sweets been able to continue.

There's a new young FBI agent who has style and is even a little reminiscent of Sweets.   But he won't be Sweets.   And so the fulcrum of Bones has now changed, to something different from the perfect mix it's been.   There are still lots of great stories to be told, especially Booth and Bones, who were just outstanding in every scene they were in tonight.  But the show will be missing one central story, which moved everyone, on both sides of the television screen.


See also Bones 9.1: The Sweet Misery of Love ... Bones 9.2: Bobcat, Identity Theft, and Sweets ... Bones 9.3 and NCIS 11.2: Sweets and Ziva ... Bones 9.4: Metaphysics of Death in a Television Series ... Bones 9.5: Val and Deep Blue ... Bones 9.6: The Wedding ... Bones 9.7: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ...Bones 9.8: The Bug in the Neck ... Bones 9.9: Friday Night Bones in the Courtroom ... Bones 9.10: Horse Pucky ... Bones 9.11: Angels in Equations ... Bones 9.12: Fingernails ... Bones 9.13: Meets Nashville, and Wendell ... Bones 9.14: "You Cannot Drink Your Glass Away" ... Bones 9.15: Hodgins' Brother and the Ripped Off Toe ... Bones 9.16: Lampreys, Professors, and Insurance Companies ... Bones 9.17: Spartacus in the Kitchen ... Bones 9.18: Meets Day of the Triffids ... Bones 9.19: The Cornucopic Urn ... Bones 9.20: Above the Law ... Bones 9.21: Freezing and Thawing ... Bones 9.22: Promotion ... Bones 9.23: The New Intern ... Bones Season 9 Finale: Upping the Ante

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

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

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

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

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Boardwalk Empire 5.3: Veal Parmagian and Family

Well, for the second time as many weeks, my favorite scene in Boardwalk Empire - episode 5.3 in this case - was once again Nucky and Joseph P. Kennedy.

Nucky introduces Joe to a new dish, veal parmagian - a veal chop, in this serving, split in the middle, breaded, and smothered in tomato sauce.  I don't eat veal parm that much anymore, but it just so happens I had a mouth-watering rendition, made just as Nucky described, in Slyce, a trendy new restaurant in Ardsley a few weeks ago.  Joe loved it on the show, too.  Here's my review from my food blog.

In addition to the food, the conversation was also prime.  Joe regales Nucky with talk of Joe's family - eight kids at this moment, and a ninth to come (to complete the team, as Joe says).   Wild to think that that ninth would be Teddy Kennedy.

Nucky, asked by Joe about his own family, sort of bends the truth a little when he responds with Margaret's children as his.   But this works as an excellent segue into bringing Margaret back into Nucky's life, which we see with a great last scene with Nucky waking up to Margaret in his room.  Not that she's about to jump into bed with him - as yet or ever again - but the two look good together, smiling and relaxed.

What brought Margaret back to Nucky is also important.  Arnold Rothstein - regrettably killed off camera (his death was historically factual, so there was no avoiding that, but why make it between seasons when we couldn't see it?) - is still a player in absentia in many peoples's lives.  Everything Lucky and Meyer do, at this point, is in a sense in Rothstein's image, and it's good to see the fight ratcheting up between those two (and Benny) and everyone else, including that nefarious Narcisse - who, if we know one thing about him, has the ability to hit back hard when he's down.

I could have lived without the whole Chalky story, which was somewhat predictable and really beside the point.  But if it gets him out of the outskirts and back into the central action, that's a good move for the series.


See also Boardwalk Empire 5.1: Lucky Rising ... Boardwalk Empire 5.2: Joe Kennedy

And see also Boardwalk Empire 4.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: J. Edgar ...Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview Review 4.3: Honey, Sunny ...Boardwalk Empire 4.3: Nucky, Sunshine, and Heroin ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview Review 4.4: Downfalls ... Boardwalk Empire 4.4: Bullies and Betrayals ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.5: The Gift of Rage ... Boardwalk 4.5: Two Deaths ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.6: Good Lovin' ... Boardwalk Empire 4.6: Sally and Margaret ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.7: Beds, Promotions, Surprises ... Boardwalk Empire 4.7: Family and History ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.8: The Blues ... Boardwalk Empire 4.8: Knives in the Back ... Boardwalk Empire 4.9: The Imbecile ...Boardwalk Empire 4.10 Sneak Preview Review: Unholy Alliances ...Boardwalk Empire 4.10: Family Treachery ... Boardwalk Empire 4.11: Nucky on the Beach

And see also Boardwalk Empire 3.1: Happy News Year 1923  ... Boardwalk Empire 3.2: Gasoline and the White Rock Girl ... Boardwalk Empire 3.3: The Showgirl and The Psycho ... Boardwalk Empire 3.5: "10 L'Chaim" ... Boardwalk Empire 3.7: Deadly Gillian ... Boardwalk Empire 3.8: Andrew Mellon ... Boardwalk Empire 3.9: Impaired Nucky

And see also Boardwalk Empire 2.1: Politics in an Age Before YouTube  ... Boardwalk Empire 2.2: The Woman Behind the Throne ... Boardwalk Empire 2.3: Frankenstein and Victrola ... Boardwalk Empire 2.4: Nearly Flagrante Delicto ... Boardwalk Empire 2.5: Richard's Story ... Boardwalk Empire 2.6: Owen and Other Bad News for Nucky ... Boardwalk Empire 2.7: Shot in the Hand  ...Boardwalk Empire 2.8: Pups with Fangs ... Boardwalk Empire 2.9: Ireland, Radio, Polio ...Boardwalk Empire 2.10: Double Shot ... Boardwalk Empire 2.11: Gillian and Jimmy  ... Boardwalk Empire Season 2 Finale: Stunner!

And see also Boardwalk Emipre on HBO ... Boardwalk Empire 1.2: Lines and Centers Power ...Boardwalk Empire 1.10: Arnold Rothstein, Media Theorist  ... Season One Finale of Boardwalk Empire

 
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Ray Donovan 2.11: Out of Control

If Ray has one problem, it's his temper - and the way it's provoked whenever Mickey's involved.

Take tonight's episode 2.11, for example.   The last thing Ray needs is to be in police custody. Cookie's a threat to Bridget, Kate's about to write a story that will hang him, and what does Ray do? He goes at Mickey a second time, a few seconds after the cops warned him to cool it and he assured them he was all right.

But Ray's also been out of control with Kate.   Not that he should kill her, as Ezra wants, pursuant to the Yiddish principle of Rodef that no one ever heard of, including me.   But shouldn't Ray try to figure out some strategy to get Kate off the story?

He's tired, as he has every right to be.   But the essence of this show is that Ray, of all people, is able to surmount the turmoil that daily is on the verge of engulfing him.   My guess is he will, somehow, next week, in the Season 2 finale.

But here's what we're left with right now -
Terry's likely in police custody, too.  Ray knows this, which makes his loss of control with Mickey and the cops even more vexing.Abby's getting a gun, to do the job with Cookie that her detective boyfriend couldn't bring himself to do.Cochran's still in command, at least of the LA FBI office, and he's desperate - which makes him a danger, too.Looking forward to next week - and, for that matter, next season for this ever-pulsing, dirty drama.
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

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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Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy

Another outstanding episode - 1.7 - of Outlander, for reasons almost completely the opposite of last week's powerful episode.   In place of the beatings and brutality meted out by Black Jack to Jamie and Claire, we get Claire and Jamie together, before, during, and the night after they are married.

And what an exquisite portrait it was.  They make love at least four times - providing quadruple ratification of their marriage for all concerned - and each time was a delicate and passionate sight to behold.   As Claire has been throughout her relationship so far with Jamie, and indeed just about everyone else (except Black Jack) 200 years in the past, she softly calls the shots, leading Jamie - a virgin (but not, as he aptly says, a priest) through the pleasures of the flesh.   Since Claire is from the future, and married in the future at that, she knows things about the bedroom that Jamie had never even dreamed of.  She responds like a woman from the future, too. The fact they're not only physically attracted to one another, but love each other - even though neither will quite admit it - makes all of this a tenderly beautiful series of scenes to behold.

Which is not to say Claire no longer has any problems.   She runs into one about 3/4s into the erotic night, when Jamie is sleeping and Dougal comes in the room to tell Claire that he broke the news of her marriage to Black Jack, and then makes a move of his own.   Fortunately for Claire, the Scots never shared the Inuit custom of wife lending.

But if the coming attractions to next week's midseason finale are an indication, Claire has far more serious problems awaiting her in the future - or its interaction with her present in the past.  She has now two husbands, both of whom she loves, separated by 200 years.   In that sense, Outlander gives serial polygamy a new kind of meaning.  Or maybe we need a new name for it - intertemporal polygamy.

Claire symbolizes this situation when she holds up her two hands to herself at the end of this episode. Each hand as a wedding ring.   Which hand will prevail in this Big Love across time?

Hard to say, but the episode that got us to this place will surely go down as one of the best, tenderly sensual and beautifully filmed marriage-night stories ever seen on television.

See also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding

 
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Hell on Wheels 4.8: Aftermath and Rebound

Hell on Wheels 4.8 brought us the aftermath of Cullen's mercy killing of Elam last week.   But other than Cullen's explaining that the Elam he killed wasn't the Elam he and we all knew, we got little more of Elam tonight.  That book is closed.

One delayed result of what happened last week is Naomi going back to her father and her community.   Cullen catches up with her on the trail, but he decides not to stay with her and their son after one night back in her Mormon home.   She's understandably not completely optimistic when he vows that he'll return.

But with Elam gone and Naomi safe, the decks are now cleared on Hell on Wheels for Cullen to confront the threat that's been looming and growing all season.   That would be Campbell and his particular enforcement of the law.  Campbell is probably someone who can best Durant, but the ultimate test for Grant's appointee will be what he can do against Cullen - who, lest we forget, has Grant's favor, too.

Campbell's opening gambit tonight of making Snow the new marshal was a masterstroke.  Snow has shown himself quick-witted and ever willing to mete out deadly force.   Left to his own, and now backed by Campbell, Snow could bring Cheyenne to heal.    He's made some progress to that end already.

The last scene tonight sets the state for what will be coming.  Cullen straps on his gun.   He can take Snow, but Cullen is outnumbered.   He'll have to break some people out of prison now, and get Mickey out of hiding, to equalize the odds.   There'll be a good, big battle ahead.   As they're saying in the currently ubiquitous Jaguar commercial, it's good to be back.

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?

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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Ray Donovan 2.10: Scorching

Ray Donovan has just been scorching on Showtime these past few episodes, firing and burning on all cylinders since the killing of Marvin Gaye Washington, which itself was a superb episode, coupling the beauty of the duet between Marvin and Bridget with Marvin's brutal murder that Bridget witnessed.

That's still the main problem Ray has to address, with Cookie the killer breathing down his family's necks, and Abby only making things worse by bringing her police detective lover into this, and now priming him to take out Cookie.   That can't end well for either man, and my guess is the detective will get the worst of it. 

But, typically, and what makes this series really fly, is the plethora of crises Ray has to face and attempt to solve on a daily basis.   The FBI guy is more dangerous than ever, as he sees his appointment as FBI Chief under attack.   He'll do anything to get it, including killing Kate and Ray, too, if he has to, and can get away with it.   Cochran's been one of my favorite villains since he showed his colors, and it will be harrowing fun to see how this part of the story all plays out.

Meanwhile, Terry throwing in with Mickey is bound to result in some deaths, and I just hope it's no one we care about.  Mickey continues to be one of the most resourceful characters in the series, managing now to even bring his parole officer, under Ray's command, into Mickey's action.  Jon Voight's performance in this role continues to be one for the ages.

Even Ray can't deal with all of this, and the ending to last night's show, as it was to 2.9, was completely on-target.  Whether spending a night with a slightly psycho couple, or jumping naked into the Pacific, Ray needs something to calm his nerves.  He's certainly not getting that back home.

Which leads me to my final thought for now:  Abby continues to be my least favorite character on the show.   And if someone else has to go in the season finale, well ...

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

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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Boardwalk Empire 5.2: Joe Kennedy

Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr - father of JFK, Robert F. Kennedy, Teddy, and a family of people who helped shape and change the second part of the 20th century - was something of a rogue in his younger days, mixing bootlegging and high financing to establish his economic and political fortune.  A perfect character, therefore, to be brought into Boardwalk Empire in its final season, situated, other than the flashbacks, in 1931.

We don't see all that much of Joe in episode 5.2, but there's magic in the scene between him and Nucky, when Nucky says "Mr. Kennedy".   And Nucky has a lot of other interesting things to say in this and other scenes throughout the episode.

His litany of mob bosses who have perished - including Rothstein, and, just last week, Joe Masseria - is clearly a sign of killings to come.   Maranzano, we know from history, does not have long to survive.  And, as we also know from history, Lucianio and Lansky - along with Bugsy - are solidifying their relationship, not ending it, and this new world will leave little room for the old bosses.

The same is happening in Chicago, with Capone consolidating his power.  The scene with the tailor was outstanding - Al is literally on a pedestal now, being outfitted like a king, with a retinue of jokesters.  Eli, though, is a mess, and a sour note in this whole Chicago criminal symphony.  I have to expect that his character will be given a more interesting arc in this final season.

His son - Nucky's newphew - is already undergoing a compelling progress, with one foot in a law-enforcement and the other loyal to Nucky.   Will be interesting to see where this goes.

But missing in action - as she was for most of the last season - is Margaret.   With Nucky almost killed in Cuba, and likely to spend more time up north, there are possibilities for her to get back into the story.

See also Boardwalk Empire 5.1: Lucky Rising

And see also Boardwalk Empire 4.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: J. Edgar ...Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview Review 4.3: Honey, Sunny ...Boardwalk Empire 4.3: Nucky, Sunshine, and Heroin ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview Review 4.4: Downfalls ... Boardwalk Empire 4.4: Bullies and Betrayals ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.5: The Gift of Rage ... Boardwalk 4.5: Two Deaths ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.6: Good Lovin' ... Boardwalk Empire 4.6: Sally and Margaret ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.7: Beds, Promotions, Surprises ... Boardwalk Empire 4.7: Family and History ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.8: The Blues ... Boardwalk Empire 4.8: Knives in the Back ... Boardwalk Empire 4.9: The Imbecile ...Boardwalk Empire 4.10 Sneak Preview Review: Unholy Alliances ...Boardwalk Empire 4.10: Family Treachery ... Boardwalk Empire 4.11: Nucky on the Beach

And see also Boardwalk Empire 3.1: Happy News Year 1923  ... Boardwalk Empire 3.2: Gasoline and the White Rock Girl ... Boardwalk Empire 3.3: The Showgirl and The Psycho ... Boardwalk Empire 3.5: "10 L'Chaim" ... Boardwalk Empire 3.7: Deadly Gillian ... Boardwalk Empire 3.8: Andrew Mellon ... Boardwalk Empire 3.9: Impaired Nucky

And see also Boardwalk Empire 2.1: Politics in an Age Before YouTube  ... Boardwalk Empire 2.2: The Woman Behind the Throne ... Boardwalk Empire 2.3: Frankenstein and Victrola ... Boardwalk Empire 2.4: Nearly Flagrante Delicto ... Boardwalk Empire 2.5: Richard's Story ... Boardwalk Empire 2.6: Owen and Other Bad News for Nucky ... Boardwalk Empire 2.7: Shot in the Hand  ...Boardwalk Empire 2.8: Pups with Fangs ... Boardwalk Empire 2.9: Ireland, Radio, Polio ...Boardwalk Empire 2.10: Double Shot ... Boardwalk Empire 2.11: Gillian and Jimmy  ... Boardwalk Empire Season 2 Finale: Stunner!

And see also Boardwalk Emipre on HBO ... Boardwalk Empire 1.2: Lines and Centers Power ...Boardwalk Empire 1.10: Arnold Rothstein, Media Theorist  ... Season One Finale of Boardwalk Empire

 
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Outlander 1.6: Outstanding

Well, I've been watching and much enjoying Outlander - enjoying it as historical fiction not time travel - but tonight's episode 1.6 was just outstanding.

We finally see what Black Jack is made of, and it's ugly indeed.   I don't like half-hearted villains. One of the things that made Alfred Hitchcock's movies so memorable is that his villains were bad through and through, like Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train, who, dying, still points his finger to frame an innocent man.  Black Jack appears to be just as bad - he nearly whipped Jamie to death and came to enjoy it as art, and he's likely to do the same to Claire if she doesn't tell him what he wants and he can get away with it.

The question is what makes him so bad, especially given that he has some obvious connection, not yet revealed in the television series, to Claire's husband in the 20th century.   Is the message here that time mellows a bloodline, if Black Jack is Frank's ancestor?   Whatever the explanation, and whatever its resolution in subsequent episodes and seasons, Tobias Menzies has given this all-but-depraved character a sterling performance.

Meanwhile, Dougal's plan that Claire marry Jamie as the only way she can be legally protected from Black Jack and the redcoats is a good one, both for the logic of the story and because Jamie and Claire go so well together.   But if they have children, what role will their descendants play in the 20th century, where Claire is also alive?   At very least, it avoids the possibly incestuous consequences of Claire sleeping with Black Jack out of love for Frank.

Ah, but this goes back to the paradoxes of time travel, which so far Outlander has been little about.
What it is excelling at beautifully is a story of how a woman with future sensibilities and literal experience can fare in a wilder time two centuries before her.   I'm looking forward to the two final episodes of this inaugural season, and Season 2 and beyond.

See also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel

 
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Hell on Wheels 4.7: Why?

An episode of Hell on Wheels so brutally powerful that it's hard to write about it.

But the question remains:

Why did Cullen kill Elam?

Elam was already wounded by Cullen - who himself would have been stabbed through the head by Elam if he hadn't defended himself - but would Elam have died just of the knife wound?  Hard to say, and we'll never know.  But if Cullen thought Elam was going to die a slow death anyway, then maybe Cullen shot Elam dead to cut short Elam's misery.

But the death of Elam only brought more misery to Cullen.  Possibly he shot Elam himself because he couldn't bear to watch the Governor's lawmen do it.  By taking matters in his own hands, Cullen allowed Elam to be killed by someone who loved him, if that made any difference.

Still, why couldn't Cullen give Elam, wounded, a chance to be nursed back to mental as well as physical health?   Did Cullen see that as impossible, since every appeal to Elam's rational self, including Cullen's and Eva's, fell on deaf ears?

Hell on Wheels has never flinched when it came to killing major characters - beginning with Lily of the West and now Elam.  In that sense, the show has been been true to life, especially life in the violently wild West.   And, all in all, the past two episodes are among the best I've ever seen on any television show.

But I'll miss Elam.  And Cullen will never be quite the same, if what we saw at the end of the episode is any indication.   And I'm looking more forward than ever to next week's installment.

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

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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The Bridge 2.9-10: Deaths and Close To

A scalding, concrete stripping last two episodes of The Bridge - 2.9 and 2.10 - featuring the deaths and brushes with death of the following major characters -
Charlotte - dead - shot by Fausto's men in the house last week.  She was a strong character in the first season, but was a shadow of herself in season two.   Waste of a good actress, Annabeth Gish, who was standout in Brotherhood.DEA agent McKenzie - shot by Fausto's men in the same house last week.  Not a particularly likable but a strong character.   And another waste of acting talent - Abraham Benrubi, memorable in ER.Hank - close to death, but hanging on, after being shot in that same house last week.   Hank is arguably the third most important character on the show - after Marco and Sonya - or maybe tied for third with Fausto.   He now looks likely survive, in the hands of Sonya and Marco after a dramatic car interception, but you never know.   I'd hate to see him go, if the show's renewed.Eleanor - shot, again, in the house - not that to close to death, but you have to admire her recovery after she lost a lot of blood from a wound.   The woman even manages to walk away after her car is rammed, and only collapses when Sonya tells her to get down on the ground. Her survival is testament to the sheer survival power of deep, inchoate evil.Sonya was rescued last week from what could have been death, but, again, her death would leave a season three bereft of one of the central characters on the show, and a compelling one at that. Probably the nicest moment in the tonight's episode is when she thanks Marco for saving her.   Just two weeks ago, she was disgusted with both Hank and Marco.  Now she's drawing close again to both of them.  Credit regarding Hank goes to Fausto's bullets.

Missing in action - once again - are Eva and Linder.   But the reporters are playing a bigger role, which is good to see.   Just two more episodes left this season - I'd definitely be up for watching a third.

See also The Bridge 2.1: What Motivates Sonya? ... The Bridge 2.2: First-Class Serial Killer ... The Bridge 2.3: Marco's Dilemma ... The Bridge 2.4: Marco Redeemed and Mr. Writ Large ... The Bridge 2.5: The Soul of the Not-Killer ... The Bridge 2.7: Major Business ... The Bridge 2.8: Parallel Stories

And see also The Bridge Opens Brooding and Valent ... The Bridge 1.2: A Tale of Two Beds ... The Bridge 1.6: Revelations ... The Bridge 1.7: A Killer and a Reluctant Professor ... The Bridge 1.8: Some Dark Poetic Justice ... The Bridge 1.9: Trade-Off ... The Bridge 1.10: Charlotte's Evolution ... The Bridge 1.11: Put to the Test ... The Bridge Season 1 Finale: Marco Joins Mackey and Agnew

 
another kind of crime story

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