Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 312

Da Vinci's Demons 2.6: Meets Charles Dickens

Well, Da Vinci's Demons finally veered off into the mystical last night, in episode 2.6, which I was hoping all season it wouldn't do.  For me, life after death, the living walking in the realm of the dead, just isn't as interesting as the straight-up scientific history and science fiction which has animated most of Da Vinci's Demons this excellent season.

Still, the episode had its moments.  Over in South America, it was fun to see our young Da Vinci converse with his older self, on his deathbed, even if the scene was reminiscent of Dickens' Christmas Carol and lots of time travel stories over the years.   And the battles that Girolamo fought on Da Vinci's behalf were fun enough to see, even if the outcome was foreordained, i.e., there's too much story left for Girolamo to let him to die, let alone Da Vinci.

Better was Lorenzo in Naples, triumphing over his cruel and deadly captors, thanks to prompts his own imagination in the form of his late brother gave him.  Though Da Vinci wasn't there, you could see his hand in the crucially careful sub rosa figuring Lorenzo did to land in arrow in the horse (which was masterful, even though I did feel a little bad for the horse).

And it was good to see Lucrezia, both in Da Vinci's vision as he was obliged to make love to the high priestess in America, in one of the hottest scenes this season, as well at the doorstep of Constantinople, which was already Istanbul, i.e., the Byzantine Empire had already fallen to the Turks.  In effect, the narrative of Leo has now branched out in two directions, to the New World to the West, and the new Ottoman Empire to the East.

Looking forward to seeing where this gets us, next week.

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

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 

 
an ancient voyage to the New World in The Plot to Save Socrates

#SFWApro



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

Chris Hayes on Showtime's Years of Living Dangerously Tonight

No one needs another show to watch on Sunday night these days.  In addition to Mad Men and Game of Thrones, which I watch and regularly review, there's also The Good Wife and Turn, which I watch and sometimes review, and Mr. Selfridge, which I watch and enjoy and usually don't review, because enough is enough.   On the other hand, to paraphrase the Victorian poet Robert Browning, one's reach on TV should exceed one's grasp, or what's a DVR for?   And Years of Living Dangerously, whose third episode is on tonight, is also On Demand.

I'm looking forward to Chris Hayes' contribution to this high-tech broadside on the need to wake up to the dangers of global warming.  Just to be clear, though I think Hayes is one of the brightest and most cogent voices on television, I don't agree with everything he says.  For example, I'm not too worried about the apocalypse to democracy thought to be engendered by Citizens United, seeing as how Obama - whom I voted for twice, and strongly support - handily won reelection in 2012, or two years after that much derided Supreme Court decision.   This confirms to me, once again, that Milton and Jefferson were right that people are inherently rational and vote their best interests - now in the 21st century, regardless of the mega-bucks spent on political advertising.

But Hayes and James Cameron and the all-star cast both in front of and behind the camera in Years of Living Dangerously are completely right that we need to do something about what is going on in the climate around us.   Look, even if all the evidence that the world is slowly heating up is wrong, wouldn't we be better off having some control over our climate and the temperature of the world?  To say, as do some Republicans, that the climate is in God's hands, misses the point that God or natural selection or whatever brought us here left us with minds and the capacity not to just accept the natural world around us but improve it, for us,  and most living denizens of this planet.   Surely, we're better off now than in ancient Rome, with its average lifespan of 20-30 years (45-47 for those who made it to the age of 10) - a result of science and medicine and its invention and application via human mentality.

The Scientific Revolution in the Renaissance was borne on the wings of the printing press (as I detail in The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution).  Television in America, though it's had its moments with Nova and the original Carl Sagan Cosmos series and the reboot now on Fox, has by and large not risen to the task.   It's good to see Years of Living Dangerously and some of the best minds on the planet join the ranks.




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

Vikings 2.9: Great Post-Apocalyptic Narrative

My favorite scene in Vikings 2.9 was at the very beginning, where Althestan reads Ecbert some Roman military strategy, and concludes with, and there "the fragment ends".  What a perfect picture of a post-apocalyptic culture, reliant on just shards of the previous civilization.  It's a scene that many a science fiction narrative has tried to present - like in the George Pal 1960 movie of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine - but none has done it better than Vikings, and its focus on a Britain struggling to recover some of the store of knowledge fleetingly left to it by the departed Romans.

My second favorite scene also features Ecbert, talking in Olde English which sounds so much like German, and actually, even more like Yiddish.   But these fine scenes by no means indicate that the rest of the episode didn't shine, and indeed 2.9 was one of the best episodes of the season and the series.

Especially compelling and vexing is Floki's growing antagonism towards Ragnar.   It was not justified in the first place, as I mentioned in my review of the episode a few weeks ago in which it first reared its ugly head, and now Horick, whom I'm liking even less than Jarl Borg and Haraldson (well, maybe about the same as Haraldson) is egging the deranged Floki on to kill Ragnar's children.  Floki seems to have a special fixation on Bjorn, and I wouldn't mind Bjorn sending Floki on to the after-life as Bjorn defends himself.

But the wily Floki is unlikely to challenge Bjorn face to face, so who will be watching his back? Ragnar can't be everywhere at once.  My guess/hope is that Lagertha will save Bjorn.   Althestan, who I'm glad to see is back with the Norse, could also come to Bjorn's aid (but if he dies doing this, that would be a shame and a waste of a pivotal character). Also, possibly, Floki could snap out of it.   In any case, I've grown tired of his whining, and the Norse obviously have enough to ships to get to England that they don't need his shipbuilding craft any longer.

Looking forward to next week's episode.

See also Vikings 2.1-2: Upping the Ante of Conquest ... Vikings 2.4: Wise King ... Vikings 2.5: Caught in the Middle ... Vikings 2.6: The Guardians ... Vikings 2.7: Volatile Mix

And see also Vikings ... Vikings 1.2: Lindisfarne ... Vikings 1.3: The Priest ... Vikings 1.4:  Twist and Testudo ... Vikings 1.5: Freud and Family ... Vikings 1.7: Religion and Battle ... Vikings 1.8: Sacrifice
... Vikings Season 1 Finale: Below the Ash

 
historical science fiction - a little further back in time

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

The Americans 2.9: Gimme that Old Time Religion

An unusual and memorable Americans 2.9 tonight in which, though there was plenty of physical violence, the story hinged on psychological violence, and the mental health and self-control of the usually well-grounded Phil.

The trigger is the quick series of deaths Phil metes out at the beginning of the episode on a mission.  As he later tells Elizabeth, such killings on behalf of their work are easier for her than for him.  She takes some exception to this, but we've seen this to be manifestly true.

The accelerant, which nearly pushes Phil over the edge, is daughter Paige's immersion in her new-found religion, and in particular her donation of $600 to her church.  Elizabeth is not at all happy about this, but Phil, upset about his killings, first screams at Paige, and later goes to the church to confront the pastor.   The ensuing scene ended the episode, as was so tightly drawn that I wasn't sure if he was going to kill the pastor right then and there.   The man who doesn't like killing for his beloved Soviet Union was this close to killing the pastor for what he did to Phil's daughter, and maybe because of his infuriating believe in "his" God, too.

Phil manages to walk out of the church, but this interlude shows, like nothing else before on the show, how fine a line Phil walks between his family and his job.  His fury at what Elizabeth has been doing has nothing to do with his job.  It stems from Phil's feelings of protectiveness as a father.   From his and Elizabeth's point of view, Paige's finding religion is a development that goes against every grain of their Soviet being.   But what really makes it hurt is the love they feel for their daughter - a love that, on the one hand, is part of their pretense of being a normal American family, but, on the other hand, is as real as the love that any parent feels for his or her child.

Meanwhile, there are lots of good developments in the spy part of the story. Gaad threatening Arkady was unexpected and bracingly out of character, providing an analog to Phil being so out of character himself.  It will be interesting to see where that goes.   Martha, goaded by Phil's playing the doctored tape to her, has now been positioned to do more serious damage to Stan and Gaad.   And Stan's wife telling him point blank that she was leaving for a weekend tryst was just what he deserved.  Ok, that wasn't part of the spy story per se, but it's certainly part of the life of a spy.

The Americans continues to be original, exceptional television in its second season.

See also The Americans 2.1-2: The Paradox of the Spy's Children ... The Americans 2.3: Family vs. Mission ... The Americans 2.7: Embryonic Internet and Lie Detection

And see also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III ... The Americans 1.11:  Elizabeth's Evolution ... The Americans Season 1 Finale: Excellent with One Exception

#SFWApro



Like a post Cold War digital espionage story?  Check out The Pixel Eye

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

The Good Wife 5.18: Tying Up Loose Ends

A powerful Good Wife 5.18 Sunday night, which tied up lots of loose ends, and moved the narrative along to new, more stable ground, which will be a good foundation for future developments.

The realization that the NSA had been tapping her phone conversations snapped Alicia out of her depression about Will's death.  This had all kinds of beneficial consequences.   She gave an aggressive defense of Finn, which shut down, at least for now, the dastardly attempt of the new state prosecutor to make Finn the scapegoat for Will's death.  (But it's great to see Michael Cerveris aka the Observer from Fringe play the prosector Castro.)   And Peter's brilliant political maneuvering to get the NSA to back off - after Alicia alerts him to the problem, which afflicts them both - serves as the basis for something a rapprochement between the two.

The NSA story, in general, has been of the high points of this season's The Good Wife, which has easily been its best season so far.   The NSA has been woven in and out of several crucial story lines, and though it's a relief to see this put to rest, I have a feeling we won't be seeing the last of the NSA, if not in this season than the next.

Back at the firm, the big addition of course is Michael J. Fox's Louis Canning as a named partner.  The flirtation with Alicia coming back was good, but only as a bubble quickly burst.  Alicia on her own - that is, with Cary - puts her and the overall narrative in a much better position to make waves, cause trouble, rise to the occasion, and keep The Good Wife on the high-energy level it's been on this season.

CBS has complained that it's not fair that shows like The Good Wife, which perform all year with 20+ episodes, be judged for the Emmys against shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones which air only a third to a half as many episodes.   Hart Hanson, show runner of Bones, has tweeted much the same.   My view: CBS and Hanson are right.  The Emmys should split the dramatic series award into Long and Short forms, just as the Hugos and Nebulas have separate awards for science fiction novels and short stories (and, indeed, for novellas and novelettes).  This should be in addition to the mini-series category, which has been subject to controversies of its own.

See also I Dreamt I Called Will Gardner Last Night

And The Good Wife 5.1: Capital Punishment and Politicians' Daughters ... The Good Wife 5.5: The Villain in this Story ... The Good Wife 5.9: Reddit, Crowd Sourcing, and the First Amendment on Trial ... The Good Wife 5.11: Bowling Bowls and Bogdanovich ... The Good Wife 5.13: NSA on Television ... The Good Wife: 5.15: Stunner!

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

And see also  The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars 
#SFWApro



Like police fiction in Chicago?   See The Consciousness Plague ...




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

The Good Wife 5.19: Tying Up Loose Ends

A powerful Good Wife 5.19 Sunday night, which tied up lots of loose ends, and moved the narrative along to new, more stable ground, which will be a good foundation for future developments.

The realization that the NSA had been tapping her phone conversations snapped Alicia out of her depression about Will's death.  This had all kinds of beneficial consequences.   She gave an aggressive defense of Finn, which shut down, at least for now, the dastardly attempt of the new state prosecutor to make Finn the scapegoat for Will's death.  (But it's great to see Michael Cerveris aka the Observer from Fringe play the prosector Castro.)   And Peter's brilliant political maneuvering to get the NSA to back off - after Alicia alerts him to the problem, which afflicts them both - serves as the basis for something a rapprochement between the two.

The NSA story, in general, has been of the high points of this season's The Good Wife, which has easily been its best season so far.   The NSA has been woven in and out of several crucial story lines, and though it's a relief to see this put to rest, I have a feeling we won't be seeing the last of the NSA, if not in this season than the next.

Back at the firm, the big addition of course is Michael J. Fox's Louis Canning as a named partner.  The flirtation with Alicia coming back was good, but only as a bubble quickly burst.  Alicia on her own - that is, with Cary - puts her and the overall narrative in a much better position to make waves, cause trouble, rise to the occasion, and keep The Good Wife on the high-energy level it's been on this season.

CBS has complained that it's not fair that shows like The Good Wife, which perform all year with 20+ episodes, be judged for the Emmys against shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones which air only a third to a half as many episodes.   Hart Hanson, show runner of Bones, has tweeted much the same.   My view: CBS and Hanson are right.  The Emmys should split the dramatic series award into Long and Short forms, just as the Hugos and Nebulas have separate awards for science fiction novels and short stories (and, indeed, for novellas and novelettes).  This should be in addition to the mini-series category, which has been subject to controversies of its own.

See also I Dreamt I Called Will Gardner Last Night

And The Good Wife 5.1: Capital Punishment and Politicians' Daughters ... The Good Wife 5.5: The Villain in this Story ... The Good Wife 5.9: Reddit, Crowd Sourcing, and the First Amendment on Trial ... The Good Wife 5.11: Bowling Bowls and Bogdanovich ... The Good Wife 5.13: NSA on Television ... The Good Wife: 5.15: Stunner!

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

And see also  The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars 
#SFWApro



Like police fiction in Chicago?   See The Consciousness Plague ...




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

The Blacklist 1.19: Leveling the Scales?

The Blacklist 1.19 was back with an excellent episode on Monday night - and a significant, maybe game-changing development in Lizzi's relationship with Red.

It all hinges on what Tom says to Lizzie at the end of her interrogation:  "I'm one of the good guys. Reddington is not who he seems to be, and I can prove it."

Let's unpack this.  Have we seen Tom do things that are not good?  Let's take lying to Lizzie off the table, since Tom is apparently saying that his years-along intimate deception was for her own good. But we've also seen Tom do things to other people that are not good - like killing Jolene.   Was that also for Lizzie's own good?  Possibly, but it seems more likely that Tom killed Jolen for Tom's own good - because he didn't want that loose cannon out there, compromising whatever he had going on with Lizzie.

Tom's "proof" that he's a good guy and Reddington is not is in a bank box, he says, for which he gives Lizzie a key.  The last scene and the coming attractions for next week show that Lizzie is indeed disturbed by what she sees.   This does not necessarily prove that Tom is a good guy, but it does strongly suggest that Red is indeed not who he says he is.   My guess is that both are true:  Red has indeed deceived Lizzie about something very important, but Tom's deception was not done in the interest of helping or protecting Lizzie.  The differential diagnosis is that Tom set up whatever was in the bank box as a failsafe to incriminate Red and disqualify him in Lizzie's mind as her protector.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the episodes ahead, and whether we'll get any final closure on the Tom story this season.

One other point about episode 1.19.  Lizzie understandably expresses how outraged she is about Tom wanting her to adopt a baby.  But think about how much more powerful this story line would have been had Tom made Lizzie pregnant.   I wonder if this occurred to the writers, but the limitations of network television obliged them to go in a tamer direction.

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

#SFWApro


  Enjoy a little espionage?  Try The Pixel Eye

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

Bones 9.22: Promotion

Well, Bones didn't keep us hanging on too long about the fingernail aka ghost serial killer this season. The case was broken open and solved in tonight's solid episode 9.22.

Along the way, we get some more good shots not only at the mega-rich, but against the government that all too easily marches to their tune.   Bones does take place in Washington, DC, and episodes that involve politicians are always welcome.

Our central characters all performed to good effect, too.   Sweets and Caroline are always at their best when they stand up to authority, and it was especially good to see Caroline with Booth's help make an uncooperative Federal agency back down.   Cam started out with her officious attitude, all too prominent in the past few episodes, but quickly saw the light about the need for Bones to be on the case even if it did go against some rules.  And Edison's commitment to Bones that he wouldn't rest until the killer was nabbed was one of the best scenes ever between Bones and an intern, even though Edison is no longer an intern.

But the most important part of the episode was the progress Booth was making - whether he fully wanted it or not - in his selection by the FBI to head up that new task force.  There has been a lot of speculation all over the web about what Bones and Booth would do if Booth was offered the job.  I've thought, as soon as the job possibility was raised, that there would be some unexpected twists and turns, but nothing that would put a wedge between the two.   Tonight we learn that Bones wrote her heart out in support of Booth for this position, and that Booth has indeed been offered it.

What this will do to the narrative of the series is anyone's guess.  But I'm thinking it's a safe bet that it will make Booth and Bones' relationship even stronger.

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

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



Like scientific mysteries and science fiction?  Check out The Pixel Eye

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

The Following 2.14: Twists and Deaths

Well, you have to hand it to The Following: they packed this season with so many characters, good and bad, that there's always room for a shocking death of a major player, and a bad guy somewhere getting an upper hand.

Last week, we saw Lilly killed.   But her twin sons are still alive and deadly kicking, and in tonight's episode 2.14, they get the drop on Claire, who has against all odds managed to survive a confrontation with Emma.

Indeed, Claire has killed Emma, and with her death, The Following loses one of its big-time sicko villains.  As Emma reminds Claire and us before she dies, Claire had been Joey's nanny for two years, becoming a de facto crucial part of Claire's family.  So it was only poetic justice that Claire offs Emma, as Emma tries to kill Claire.

But that's not the most shocking death in tonight's episode - assuming it was a death, and not a swift-of-hand misdirection.  The screen goes to black with Mike presumably shot by Joe, and, in the coming attractions for next week's season finale, we see no sign of Mike.   Of course, the shot ringing out could have come from Ryan, aiming at Joe (but not apparently hitting him), or anyone else.  Or, the shot could have been from Joe, but over Mike's head, or wounding Mike, or nowhere near Mike, for whatever reason.

I certainly hope it's one of those Mike-not-dead things.   Mike is usually my favorite character, the most human in many ways.  Yeah, I get that he in some way self-destructed when he gave into his impulse and killed Lilly.  But it would be mawkish, obvious television to punish him now with a fatal bullet from Joe.

So we'll see what happened to Mike next week, with the psycho twins and Claire converging on the cathedral with Joe and Ryan and the whole world looking via live streaming in the narrative, and millions looking at the narrative via television and web and however we watch our screens at 9pm on a Monday night these days.

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

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

Game of Thrones 4.3: Who Will Save Tyrion?

Well, it looks as if  Little Finger, who had diminished to almost no role in last season's action, was behind the murder of King Joffrey last week.   His saving Sansa, which also suits his own goals of making someone other than him look like the killer, certainly supports the view that he was responsible for the poison.

Not that other major characters are not without powerful motive.  As Tyrion aptly says, everyone other than Cersei, who if nothing else loves her children, is suspect.  Certainly Stannis Baratheon is well served by Joffrey's demise, and, who knows, maybe that worm he consigned to the flames had some magical effect.   And Olenna articulated the benefits of Joffrey's death to her granddaughter - though we learn that because she didn't consummate her marriage with Joffrey, she's not really a full-fledged queen.

The most interesting developments continue to be in King's Landing, though we got some good scenes with Daenerys and in two places up North.   But Tywin's prepping of Joffrey's young brother for kingship, Jaime and Cersei, and most of all the progression of Tyrion for trial were all primo.

Again, I haven't read beyond the first novel, and the television series has shown us there's no telling about what might occur, so we have to assume that Tyrion is in real danger, even though he's the best character in the narrative.   Will Tywin let his son be put to death - much as his son's an embarrassment - and even though Tywin, savvy as he his, must know that it wasn't Tyrion who did the deed? Probably not, but I wouldn't bet on it.  Jaime wouldn't ordinarily let his brother be killed either - and he stands up for Tyrion to Cersei - but he's pretty much indicated in the past that he'd do anything for Cersei.  Has he changed so much that his devotion now has limits?   Also hard to say, and he does certainly still desire Cersei.

Season 4 is shaping up as the best season so far, with riveting story lines in the center and all the peripheries.

See also Games of Thrones Season 4 Premiere: Salient Points ... Game of Thrones 4.2: Whodunnit?

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." 

#SFWApro

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