Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 310

The Blacklist Season 1 Finale: Meets Keyser Soze

A superb Season One final for The Blacklist tonight, which leaves us with -
Meera is dead.Tom is very likely dead.  Why just likely?  Lizzie tells Red that Tom is dead, but she asked him to leave the room after she shot Tom, and she has some reason to want to keep Tom alive.   Also, though Tom was shot a bunch of times, it wasn't in the head.  Still, he's likely dead.  Just not definitely.Either Berlin or Red is Lizzie's father.   They both have a picture of someone who almost definitely is her, when she was a girl.  I guess it's more likely Berlin who's her father, but Red has shown he's more than willing to dissemble when he sees that as protecting Lizzie.   Red also assured Lizzie that her father is dead - died in the fire.  Which means either that Berlin isn't Lizzie's father, or Red is lying.  But if neither Berlin nor Red are Lizzie's father, then who? Someone we haven't met before?   That wouldn't be as good a solution as either Berlin or Red being Lizzie's father, and since both of those possibilities require Red lying to Lizzie, I still prefer thinking that Red his lying to her along about not being her father.  I mean, why else would he be so devoted to her?  The very last scene clearly shows Red with scars from being burned.   So either he's the devoted friend who brought her to Sam, or he's Lizzie's father, who was burned but didn't die in the fire.  We'll see in the seasons ahead. Berlin is a great Keyser Soze character, the best I've seen so far on television.   But Red is a Keyser Soze kind of character, too.   They both run constant circles around the best police and their efforts.   As I was watching the season finale tonight, I realized that The Blacklist has both been inspired by The Usual Suspects - one of my all-time favorite movies - and has taken some of its cues from that movie, not easy at all to do on television, especially network TV.  And come to think of it, James Spader and Kevin Spacey both have that quirky, irrepressible power on any screen they're on.See you back here in the Fall, with Season 2.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution ... The Blacklist 1.12: The DNA Meister ...  The Blacklist 1.13: Red Writ Large ... The Blacklist 1.15: The Husband's Other Shoe ... The Blacklist 1.16: True Colors ... The Blacklist 1.19: Leveling the Scales? ... The Blacklist 1.20: Unanswered Questions

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24 Season 9.3: Shades of Disloyalties

A fine 24 episode 9.3 tonight, which drew well on its London locale, with Jack ranging from the Tube to the Parliament Building, where U.S. President Heller was attempting to address it.  But as is often case with 24, the best parts of the hour concerned the shades of loyalty and disloyalty of all the major players and their associates.

Chloe, for example, is loyal to the max to Jack.  But not so her dour-faced boss or head of her hacker group - who looks like he's just sucked a lemon - and indeed undermines Chloe's attempt to get Jack into the Parliament by making his fixed-up credentials a little suspicious. Jack will have to get in some other way.   Meanwhile, we earlier have a great scene in which Chloe tells Jack about the apparent death of her husband and son, to which Jack replies that he knows what that kind of loss is, and the only way to get through it is working to save other people.  Jack indeed knows about such loss, ranging from wife Teri in the first season to lover Renee in the last (8th) season, and what he says to Chloe provides as good a description of what moves Jack as anyone could provide in under a minute.

Back to different loyalties, we also have Audrey and her husband, the President's Chief of Staff, who clearly does not have the President's best interests in mind, though he may be right about the bad timing of the President's attempt to address the Parliament.   Audrey and her husband Mark certainly don't feel the same way about Jack.  Mark wants to destroy Jack as quickly as possible - is that because he's behind the plot to kill the President and knows Jack is the only person who could stop it, or because he knows that Audrey still loves Jack, or both?

And there are sharply different loyalties in the group of three terrorists.  The mother, played by Michelle Fairley of Game of Thrones fame (Caitlin Stark!), clearly has misgivings about her daughter, who's doing her best to keep her husband and his misgivings in line.   Good grist for future blow-ups here, as is also the case for Kate, not quite on the same page with Erik, and neither on the same page with Steve, who is not quite on the same page with Mark, either.  All of which makes for one dysfunctional, combustible little CIA family.

Looking forward to the next hour.

See also 24 Season 9 Hours 1 and 2: The Sheer Intelligent Adrenalin Is Back

And see also Season 8 reviews: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5 ...Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hour 8 ... Hour 9 ... Hour 10 ... Hour 11 ... Hour 12... Hour 13 ... Hour 14 ... Hours 15-16 ... Hour 17 ... Hour 18 ... Hour 19... Hour 20 ... Hour 21 ... Hour 22 ... 24 Forever!

And see also Season 7 reviews: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5... Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hour 8 ... Hour 9 ... Hour 10 ... Hours 11-12 ...Hour 13 ... Hour 14 ... Hour 15 ... Hour 16 ... Hour 17 ... Hour 18 ... Hour 19 ... Hour 20 ... Hour 21 ... Hour 22  ... Hours 23-24  

And see also Season 6 reviews: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5 ... Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hours 8 and 9 ... Hour 10 ... Hour 11 ... Hour 12 ... Hour 13 ... Hour 14 ... Hour 15 ... Hour 16 ... Hour 17 ... Hour 18... Hour 19 ... Hour 20 ... Hour 21 ... Hour 22 ... Hours 23-24

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Penny Dreadful: Intelligent, Shocking, and Promising

Penny Dreadful, which debuted on Showtime last night, was quite good!

The setting is post-Jack-the-Ripper London - a newspapers headlines which asked "Is Jack Back?" made me want to say yes, in 24: Live Another Day - but this is a good time and place for a tense, exciting, harrowing story.   It's already being mined with the BBC's Ripper Street, which I found a little too talky.  In Penny Dreadful, there's so far plenty of gore and horror and full frontal male nudity to go along with the talk, and the talk is highly and scientifically intelligent.

At its best, we have Dr. Frankenstein, revealed as such as the end of the episode, explaining to Sir Malcolm why he has such contempt for knowledge pursued for its own sake.  This was a disquisition on behalf of technology, or the application of knowledge, in contrast to pure science, that was worthy of being published in a philosophy of technology journal somewhere.  (More about this issue in my 1988 book, Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age.)

The acting is also outstanding.  Timothy Dalton as Sir Malcolm is brilliant, and Eva Green as Vanessa was compelling - her eyes stole every scene she was in.   It was also good to see Josh Hartnett on hand as a Buffalo Bill Cody kind of character, quick with the charm and the gun.

The plot looks promising - Malcolm assembling a team to find his daughter, who has apparently been taken by the evil beings in residence in the city.   The timing of the Frankenstein character is somewhat off - Mary Shelley's novel was first published in 1818 - but the character has become so iconic that he transcends the time of his creation.    And the "monster" - the assemblage of parts of dead bodies that Dr. Frankenstein brings to life - may not be such a monster, and in fact even smiles.

The next episode is on Showtime Anytime, and I'll no doubt watch it in the next few days, but I'll save the review for next week.



not quite has shocking, in the present day

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Game of Thrones 4.6: Tyrion on Trial

An outstanding Game of Thrones 4.6 last night, with Tyrion at last on trial for the murder of Joffrey, which we know he didn't commit.

First, let me again mention that I haven't read more than the first novel in this series, so I'm watching the television series now with no prior knowledge.   I've thought, since the murder, that Jaime would come to Tyrion's defense, and it was gratifying to see that happen last night.

Tywin's actions, though, were not as predictable, and it was also gratifying to see that he didn't want his son dead - or, at very least, was willing not to let that happen, if he could get Jaime to father some non-incestuous Lannisters back in their home city.   Indeed, Tywin's plan was a good one.  But its unraveling was well founded, and, in retrospect, inevitable, given what we know of Tyrion.

He never stopped loving Shae.  Thus, his departing from the script - the quick agreement that Jaime had concluded with him - was completely motivated, after Shae took the stand and testified against him. Seeing and hearing what had happened to the love of his life, due to his father and everyone in that room, made it impossible for Tyrion to go along with any plan that called for him to mouth an insincere apology.  Because, as he aptly said, he did not after all kill Joffrey, however much he deserved to be killed.

Tyrion's calling for "God" to decide his fate, via a trial by combat, was also an excellent and brilliant gambit. Tyrion's better with the sword than his father and most people realize.  But whom will he fight? It occurred to me that Jaime could face him, and in an ultimate act of sacrifice allow his brother to kill him.   But likely that won't happen.

Meanwhile, it was also exciting to see Tywin finally getting down to focus on Daenerys.  I can't quite see his optimism in besting her army and her dragons, but that contest will be something to see.

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

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.

 

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

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Mad Men 7.5: Retrofit Paranoia

Mad Men 7.5 tonight had one saving grace, one good moment: Don finally standing up for himself and against Lou and Jim, and talking sense to the tobacco people at the end of the episode after Harry warns him, which was also nice to see.   Jim's firm merging with Don's was a bad move from the outset, and it's satisfying that Don is finally fighting back for his rightful place.  As only Roger and Harry seem to realize, Don is a genius and the best thing the current company has going.  

Otherwise, though, the episode was littered with stories that were either ridiculous or trite.  Ginsberg flipping out about the computer in the office was top on the list of ridiculous.  I grew up in the 60s, and I never met or heard of anyone who had that kind of paranoia about computers in the office.  It's a convenient retrofit that has no accordance with real history.

Also on the ridiculous list, and trite as well, is Don's reaction in California to a pot party.  How many times have we seen this already in prior seasons of Mad Men?  It made a little sense in the earlier 60s, but none in 1969.  This part of episode at least had the refreshing ingredient of Don in bed not with just Megan but her female friend.

But the Betty part of the episode was the worst.  How many times do we have to be shown what a terrible mother and wife Betty is?   Not to mention that the male chauvinism displayed by Henry is not fully believable for a man of his culture and status.   The only conversation that lifted this part of the episode was the little talk Sally had with her brother.

It's always a pleasure to see Mad Men, even when it creaks.   Let's hope for more Don resurgence in the episodes ahead.

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 7.5: Computer!

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

  

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Da Vinci's Demons 2.8: The Talking Head

Another excellent Da Vinci's Demons last night - 2.8 - with not one but two scientific wonders.

One was a parachute, sketched but not actually constructed by the real Da Vinci.   But when it was eventually made and tested hundreds of years later - in the year 2000, by Adrian Nichols - it worked! And, as this Da Vinci page notes, "Despite skepticism from experts, da Vinci’s design worked as intended and Nichols even noted that it had a smoother ride than the modern parachute."  The man was a transcendent genius no doubt, in our reality as well in this fine television series, where Da Vinci's parachutes enable him and his party to escape their Inca-like captors via a jump off a sheer, very high cliff, aka the vault of heaven.

The second marvelous invention which plays a pivotal role in this episode was a talking head, of Da Vinci's mother.  Da Vinci neither in reality or in Da Vinci's Demons sketched or invented this device, but, as I point out in my Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution (1997), the phonograph in our reality was a mechanical invention (Edison was its inventor, in 1877), meaning it did not need electricity.  Therefore, it indeed could have been invented at any time in history, and there is even some speculation that potters in the ancient world may have captured sound waves as imprints on their pottery, analogous to the grooves on vinyl records.  (My novel, The Silk Code, explores this possibility.)

Significantly not discovered in this episode was the Book of Leaves, but Da Vinci is of course not discouraged but inspired to search further for it.   Da Vinci and company are thus left on the shore, waiting for Amerigo Vespucci to arrive, which he does.   This  could have been a good final episode of this season, but there are important matters coming to the boil back in Europe.

The evil Pope treats the Turkish envoy poorly (and did I hear the Pope call one of his cardinals "Rodrigo," as in Rodrigo Borgia?), Lorenzo has increased his strength, and Lucrezia is still in Istanbul. Lots of clashes to be resolved in the next two episodes - and with Da Vinci and Giralamo now allied, their return to Europe and their impact on these clashes should be fun to see indeed.

See also Da Vinci's Demon's 2.2: Science Fiction v Fantasy ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.2: Renaissance Radio ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.3: Submarine ... Da Vinci's Demon's 2.4: Copernican Revelation ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.5: Corn ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.6: Meets Charles Dickens ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.7: Four Stories

And see also Da Vinci's Demons:  History, Science, and Science Fiction ... Da Vinci's Demons 1.7: Leonardo Under Water with a Twist ... Da Vinci's Demons Season 1 Finale: History, Science Fiction, Time Travel 



a phonograph in ancient India in The Silk Code




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Revolution 2.20: Hillary

Well, you have to hand it to Revolution 2.20, which came up with a great line at the very beginning of the episode, when the President says to his man called back from Texas to see him, "Hillary had a pair like yours."  So does this mean that Hillary Clinton was President some time before the big blackout? Likely yes, otherwise why would the President years after the blackout make reference to her?  A very nice provocative touch of possible future history, which Revolution has been very good at this year.

The story tonight was pretty good, too.  Tom, at the very end, makes an alliance with Monroe and son, which makes perfect sense, given what the Patriots did to his family.   Tom was with Monroe for most of the first season, so there's a poetry in their reunion.

And the same is true for Miles and Rachel.  After tricking Monroe and the viewers to think that Miles was standing with Monroe in his aggressive, who-cares-who-dies tactics,  Miles gives the best declaration of love or something close to it to Rachel.  He admires her because she's still fighting for a better world, or a world in which some decency survives.

Not so the nanites in Priscilla, who profess their disgust with humanity and our violence through her voice. As I've said here before, I find the nanites a distraction to the more interesting post-apocalyptic plots unfolding now.  I'm assuming/hoping that these glittering sentient irritants will be dispatched with in some way in the climatic season finale a few weeks down the road.   Based on the series so far this season, that finale deserves to be just for this season, and not for the series.

See also Revolution 2.1: "The Last Surviving Friend" ... Revolution 2.2: Reanimation ... Revolution 2.4: Nanites and ... Maybe Aliens? ... Revolution 2.7: Firestarter Aaron vs. the Creepster ... Revolution 2.9: The Boy and the Attitude ... Revolution 2.10: Mexico and More ... Revolution 2.11: Captives and Nanites ... Revolution 2.12: Eugenics and Lubbock ... Revolution 2.13: Steve Tyler, Mummy ... Revolution 2.14: Time Travel! ... Revolution 2.15: Not Time Travel ... Revolution 2.16: The Manchurian Post-Blackout Candidate ... Revolution 2.17: Arabic Writing on the Wall ... Revolution 2.19: No to Nanites, Yes to Post-Apocalypse

And see also Revolution: Preview Review  ... Revolution 1.2: Fast Changes ... Revolution 1.14: Nanites and Jack Bauer ... Revolution 1.15: Major Tom and More 24 ... Revolution 1.16: Feeling a Little Like the Hatch in Lost ... Revolution 1.17: Even Better Nanites ... Revolution 1.18: Whodunnit? ... Revolution 1.19: Cheney's Bunker ... Revolution Season 1 Finale: Good Pivot

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24 Season 9, Hours 1 and 2: The Sheer Intelligent Adrenaline Is Back

Jack is back on 24 and the first two hours look as good or better than ever.

In the first hour, Jack allows himself to be captured by the CIA's London branch - he's a wanted "terrorist" - in order to save Chloe, who's in custody herself as an Edward Snowden-type hacker of Defense Department files. The CIA branch features three notable people: Kate (played by Yvonne Strahovski of Dexter fame), Steve (played by Benjamin Bratt of Law and Order and Private Practice), and Gbenga Akinnagbe of The Wire and more).  The star power is definitely there, and Kate looks to be the most intelligent - as Jack notes in the second hour.   In the first two episodes, Kate is Jack's most effective opponent, nearly getting the better of him a couple of times. My guess is she will be a powerful ally in the world-moving battle ahead.

That battle will center around an attempt to take out U.S. President Heller (played by William Devane) with an American drone while he's in London to seal a deal with the U.S. and the U.K.   Heller of course played a crucial role as U.S. Defense Secretary in previous seasons of 24.  On Day (Season) 9, Heller is not only President but apparently suffering from very early stages of Alzheimer's.  His daughter Audrey (played by Kim Raver, last seen in Revolution) was loved by Jack in previous seasons, and she loved him, but she lapsed into a catatonic state after being captured and worked over by the bad guys.  She's in much better shape now - looks better than she ever did -  and is married to Heller's Chief of Staff, Mark, played by Tate Donovan (who's been in a handful of series in the past few years, the best of which was Damages).   Mark appears to only want to help Heller, but something about him - maybe his zeal to show that Heller's mentality is not what it used to be - raises some suspicion about his ultimate motives, at least to me.

The pace is sharp and pounding as ever, and the plot may be even better than some of the past seasons, in which a series of attacks, sometimes by different forces, rolled out over the 24 hours.   This time it seems, for now, that we'll be treated to one major plot, with a tentacled web of intersecting stories.  The digital savvy in the story is best we've seen so far in 24, as befits the debut of this season in 2014.

Kiefer Sutherland as Jack, and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe, are as strong as ever.  Jack looks a little older, but that actually ads a bit depth to his character.   Relaunching an iconic series with a season that takes account of a four-year hiatus is no easy thing, but 24 looks to be off to a sharp start.  There's a fine mix of old and new here, respect for the past and the cutting-edge present.  And there's just nothing like this series for sheer intelligent adrenaline pumping through the veins.

See also Season 8 reviews: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5 ...Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hour 8 ... Hour 9 ... Hour 10 ... Hour 11 ... Hour 12... Hour 13 ... Hour 14 ... Hours 15-16 ... Hour 17 ... Hour 18 ... Hour 19... Hour 20 ... Hour 21 ... Hour 22 ... 24 Forever!

And see also Season 7 reviews: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5... Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hour 8 ... Hour 9 ... Hour 10 ... Hours 11-12 ...Hour 13 ... Hour 14 ... Hour 15 ... Hour 16 ... Hour 17 ... Hour 18 ... Hour 19 ... Hour 20 ... Hour 21 ... Hour 22  ... Hours 23-24  

And see also Season 6 reviews: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5 ... Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hours 8 and 9 ... Hour 10 ... Hour 11 ... Hour 12 ... Hour 13 ... Hour 14 ... Hour 15 ... Hour 16 ... Hour 17 ... Hour 18... Hour 19 ... Hour 20 ... Hour 21 ... Hour 22 ... Hours 23-24

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Turn 1.5: Shot in the Arm

An excellent Turn 1.5 last night, in which George Washington makes his first appearance, and Abe kisses and almost beds Anna.

The Anna scene was especially good to see.   Abe, drunk, kisses her.  She pulls away.  But then, as she's about to leave his house, she impulsively turns back to him for an impassioned embrace and kissing.  Clothes begin to come off-  But they're interrupted by the redcoat staying in the house, who walks in on Abe and Anna and gives Abe a lecture.

Not that I wish Abe's wife any ill, but it's good to see Abe with the woman he loves.  The Brit interruption is nicely symbolic of everything the Brits are now doing in America - sticking their noses in and disrupting affairs that are properly American.  Whether affairs of the heart or of business and state, the Brits don't belong here.

Their freeing of our slaves creates an interesting moral conflict.  The Brits were right to free slaves, anywhere and everywhere, and we in American were very wrong to take so long to do that.  But the cynical Brit use of our slaves to aid their war effort, with the reward at the end that they'll be freed if they perform well for the Crown, is cynical and despicable.

Meanwhile, it's great to see George Washington finally in the mix.  One of the great pleasures of historical dramas is seeing real characters in history, people that we already know well.   This was one of the great strengths of Rome and The Tudors.   So far, Turn has gone with fictional or little-known characters, and confined itself to mentions of movers and shakers like Washington.

Now that he's in the action, we can look forward to the heat being turned up in both the battles and espionage, which should provide a good shot in the arm for Turn.

See also: Turn Premiere: Good Historical Drama in Revolutionary New York


 
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Mad Men 7.4: Computer!

A top-notch Mad Men 7.4 tonight, in which, among other things, a computer is installed in the office.

This gives Don a chance to wax philosophic to the computer installer about computers replacing people, which in turn serves as a potent metaphor for Don's return to Sterling, Cooper, et al.  As Bert tells Don, the new company, in Don's absence, found it had no use for him.  And as Bert savagely indicates, the company has no use for Don now.

Aside from the question of why Bert is being so vicious - I had the same question last week, and the same question about Joan's attitude towards Don - Bert's view of Don reflects just about everyone's in the company, with the exception of Roger.   More about Roger in a minute.

Back to Don:  Lou makes Don report to Peggy on the Burger Chef pitch.   I honestly never heard of them, even though they were a real fast-food chain, with outposts in the New York area.  (Maybe their ultimate failure was due to Don not being in charge of their ad campaign.)   In any case, Peggy is more than happy to continue lording it over Don - yeah,  I know she has more good reason to do this than does Lou, but even so - and the result is Don is driven to drink.

And who saves him?  Freddy!   There is a beautifully sad symmetry in this, given Freddy's past with the bottle.   And this thread concludes with Don back in the office the next work day, ready to work at least for starters for Peggy.   The opening of the elevator doors each time Don arrives at the office serves as a nice metronomic accompaniment of Don's voyage back, syncopated as we might expect in the dawning computer age.

And then there's Roger.  His daughter has turned hippy, Roger is at first more reasonable than his ex-wife in trying to meet her half-way or more, but Roger fails in the end and walks off on a dirt road to catch a train home.  This is the story not only of Roger, but of advertising in general.  As Don explains earlier, it by no means always works.

But it's working just brilliantly as the storyline on Mad Men this year, which is having one of best half-seasons ever.

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"

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

  

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