Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 332

Boardwalk Empire 4.6: Sally and Margaret

A satisfying Boardwalk Empire 4.6 tonight, in which finally get to see Margaret and hear what she's been up to, as well as Nucky in another scene down in Florida and up against the wall with Sally.

Margaret hasn't been up to much - or, at very least, what's she's been up to hasn't been very interesting. The most memorable part of her conversation with Nucky were historically enjoyable - to us - mentions of the IRT (Interboro Rapid Transit subway line) and the Loew's King movie theater in New York City.  I still use the IRT on occasion, and visited one Loew's or another many occasions when I was a kid.  But as for Margaret, whether because they're writing her off the show, or who knows, but the substance of her conversation was nothing special at all.

In contrast, Sally in Florida is special, in an Annie Oakley or Calamity Jane sort of way.  She stylishly brandishes a shotgun, punches Nucky around, and the punches lead to Nucky doing it with her against the wall.  Good to see Nucky in such good spirits.

Not everyone, of course, is happy in this episode of Boardwalk Empire.  Eli cries about the death of Eddie, in a scene that typifies what we all feel.  There was something about Eddie which made him a unique character on the show.  He'll be hard to replace and likely won't be.  The course of life and death in television drama never did run smooth or right.

It's good, however, to see Richard back in town, especially because he's in many ways the most ethically centered person on the show.  He obviously kills when he needs to, but his loyalty and devotion to those he loves is remarkable and necessary for the series.

The best line of the show comes from Chalky about Narcisse, whom Chalky describes as a "nigger with a dictionary".   Aside for the shock value that such an epithet carries for our ears, the dictionary part is right on about Narcisse.   Boardwalk Empire may be locked into what actually happened with this real historical personage, but I'm hoping he suffers the same fate as previous villains on the show.

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'

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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Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.6: Good Lovin'

Continuing with my sneak preview reviews of Boardwalk Empire - this one of 4.6 - courtesy of screeners from Starpulse, guaranteed to be specific spoiler free, and to be followed this Sunday with a proper recap/review right after the episode has aired in New York City, just up the road from A.C.
Episode 4.6 is a good and even great regrouping episode - a resetting of the table after the death of Eddie, whose untimely and cruel departure is felt in almost every scene, and explicitly discussed in many.    And appropriate to the deaths last week, we take a breather from death this coming Sunday.

More than that, episode 4.6 has two fine scenes with passionate love-making, one of which involves Patricia Arquette's Sally, who's good with a shot gun, throws a good punch, and is good up against the wall with her partner, too.  The other involves Chalky, who gets off the best line of the evening about Narcisse, and finally gives in to his craving.

Back to Florida, we're also treated to an agenda-setting scene between Lansky and Luciano, who join Nucky for his still not completed new business combine.  The result of all this, if Boardwalk Empire continues to toe the line of history, will be a move against Joe Masseria.

And at long last that central and missing character turns up at a table with Nucky in a restaurant over Pennsylvania Station.  She's gets Nucky to deliver a good line - "I wouldn't put something alive in a box" - and it's good to hear her mention the IRT (subway line in New York City), and the Loew's King movie theater (I spent many a Saturday night in the Loew's Paradise in the Bronx).  But their conversation says there's not much left between her and Nucky - and, I've to say, I don't mind that.
And I'll be back here this Sunday night with a more detailed review of this episode after it airs on HB0.

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 Empire 4.5: Two Deaths

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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The Civil Rights of Robots

Hey, if you're in the New York City area, I'll be on a panel tomorrow at New York Comic Con, 5:15-6:15pm , talking about the civil rights of robots. The panel will be previewing The Science Channel's new FUTURESCAPE series, with James Woods hosting like a 21st-century Rod Serling.  More details here.

I first wrote about the civil rights of robots in a little article for Shift Magazine - the Canadian Wired - back in 1995.  An expanded version of the article was published in my Bestseller anthology in 1999.

A succinct version of the almost paradoxical situation our increasing perfection of robots brings us to: We invent robots to be our servants -- to do dangerous or tedious jobs that we would rather not do. We try to make them more and more intelligent, so they do their jobs better. What happens when we make our robots so intelligent that they are sentient beings? Are we morally entitled to continue treating them as slaves? Or will our future robots be entitled to civil rights?

Robots as citizens will be one of the episodes of FUTURESCAPE, which will debut on The Science Channel on November 19, 2013.  I've seen clips from the episodes, and they're excellent!  You'll be able to see some of them tomorrow.







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NCIS 11.3: Twitter to the Rescue

A Twitter-savvy NCIS 11.3 last night, in which the social medium played a crucial role in nabbing LTJG Terrence Keith in the small plane he was flying, laden with explosives and heading for the USS Benjamin Franklin.

The title of the episode - "Under the Radar" - captures NCIS's problem: this small plane is able to fly under the radar and therefore NCIS's detection.  McGee, who's in the doghouse because he lost his credentials, comes up with a brilliant idea: let the Twitter-verse know about this plane, and ask anyone who sees it flying overhead to tweet about it with an appropriate hashtag.  We get a good laugh at Gibbs' expense for not knowing what a hashtag is - DiNozzo does - but, more important, the tweets allow NCIS to track the plane and identify its intended target.  I love examples of social media and crowdsourcing can be put to such good use - it's something to throw in the face of critics who yearn for the 19th century and its world of newspapers and telegrams as the fastest modes of communication.

This was also the first episode without Ziva, and I thought her absence was handled well and naturally. Everyone is a little upset, in their own way, but they're able to get on with the business at hand. DiNozzo was especially good at this - given what he went through last week with Ziva.

And just for good measure, we get some laugh-out-loud humor from Vera - Franks' old partner - who's retiring, just looking to "park" her "ass" somewhere for her last week on the job, but gets sent out by Gibbs (she still calls him probie) with DiNozzo with some hilarious results.   Like its younger sibling NCIS-LA, NCIS knows to tell a dangerous story interspersed with laughs.  Definitely something to tweet, and, in this case, blog about.

See also Bones 9.3 and NCIS 11.2: Sweets and Ziva

And see also NCIS 10.11: Family and Bullets

And see also NCIS 9.1: Unpacking Partial Amnesia ... NCIS 9.2: Lying to Yourself ... NCIS 9.3: McGee's Grandmother ... NCIS 9.4: Turkey Vulture as Explained by DiNozzo ... NCIS 9.5: Behrooz's Mother ... NCIS 9.6: Too Good to be True ... NCIS 9.7: "You Were My Shannon, Leroy"... NCIS 9.8: Intersections with Reality ... NCIS 9.9: Twists and History ... NCIS 9.10: Almost One Agent Short ... NCIS 200 ... NCIS 9.15: DiNozzo and the Word Slinger

And see also NCIS Back in Season 8 Action ... NCIS 8.2: Interns! ... NCIS 8.3: Tiff! ... NCIS 8.4: Gary Cooper not John Wayne ... NCIS 8.5: Dead DJ, DiNozzo Hoarse, and Baseball ... NCIS 8.6: The Written Woman ... NCIS 8.7: "James Bond Movie Directed by Fellini" ... NCIS 8.8: Ziva's Father ... NCIS 8.9: Leon's Story ... NCIS 8.10: DiNozzo In and Out ... NCIS 8.11: "The Sister Went Viral" ... Bob Newhart on NCIS 8.12 ... NCIS 8.13: The Wife or the Girlfriend ... NCIS 8.14: Kate ... NCIS 8.15: McGee and DiNozzo's Badges ... NCIS 8.16: Computer Games ... NCIS 8.17: Budget Cuts ... NCIS 8.18: Gibbs vs. the Kid ... NCIS 8.19: The Deadly Book ... NCIS 8.20: CIRay ... NCIS 8.21: Mask and Eye ... NCIS 8.22: "I'd Rather Have a Lead" ... NCIS 8.23: Answers and Questions ... NCIS Season 8 Finale

And see also NCIS  ... NCIS 7.16: Gibbs' Mother-in-Law Dilemma ... NCIS 7.17: Ducky's Ties ...NCIS 7.18: Bogus Treasure and Real Locker ... NCIS 7.21: NCIS Meets Laura ... NCIS Season 7 Finale: Retribution





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Bones 9.4: Metaphysics of Death in a Television Series

Bones 9.4 checked in last night with the best episode of the season so far - and one of the best episodes in the overall series.

The episode had everything - a puzzle featuring the evil genius Pelant, getting the better of our heroes, as always, for most of the hour.  But getting his just desert in the end - an apparently fatal bullet from Booth, even though Bones at first was wanting Booth not to kill their nemesis.

Speaking of desserts - with two s's - Sweets was back in this episode, too.  And the coming attractions show him back again next week.  Which makes his departure from the show the shortest on television, because it wasn't a departure at all, unless he leaves again somewhere down the line.

But the most satisfying part is Booth finally proposing to Bones at the end.  The episode had a great chemistry between them, including a passionate kiss in public early in the hour, and it's good and right to see them getting on with their lives now that the Pelant threat is gone.   One thing's for sure about Sweets: if there's a wedding this season, he'll definitely be there.

But speaking of coming back, I know Pelant looked dead, lying there with his eyes open - shot, I presume, in the heart by Booth.  But there's this thing about deaths on television. If the person doesn't get his or her head blown to smithereens right before our eyes, there's always a chance they didn't die.

The lists of surely dead who've come back and walked among us  - and I don't mean as The Walking Dead - include Tony Almeida on 24 and many others that I won't mention lest you haven't seen the shows.   I'm not saying I like Pelant - I actually can't stand the character - but I am just saying, about the undoing of death in the metaphysics of television.

Anyway, I'm happy that the season has taken this turn, and I'm looking forward to more.

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

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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The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights

The Blacklist offered another high-intensity episode last night - 1.3 - with a fight on a construction site that had so many good moves and punches that it could have almost come out of a Mission Impossible movie.  Which I consider a plus.

Red also continues to be a plus, with his wisecracking that he likes to play by himself, "in private," and his calm and powerful insouciance to all around him, as his strategies mostly bear fruition.   Liz continues to be appealing, even if she's too willing to accept Red's sliver of answer when she finally gets a response to her question of why she means so much to him.   What's both maddening and intriguing about this is that the obvious answer that Red is really her father is becoming not so obvious, or else why is The Blacklist taking so long to reveal this?

Liz's husband, however, now out of the hospital and home, continues to be just annoying.  We're treated to his bestowing every token of kindness and affection he can on Liz, while she muses about the passports that she has not yet asked him about, and he - maybe - is looking at her with some kind of less than kind eye out of the window.  In other words, let's find out more about this guy already.

My guess is he'll end up on Red's blacklist - meaning, he was there already - but if that's the case, why is Red allowing this woman he cares so much about - as a surrogate daughter, at very least - to keep coming home to this recondite guy?

One clear beacon on The Blacklist, though, is the FBI - especially Agent Ressler's performance in the construction site fight, as indicated above.  The FBI, in general, is portrayed in a more interesting way - with a better bench of supporting players - than in other shows about the FBI, including Bones.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries




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Connected Editions Publishes J. Charles Sterin's Hell Scrolls

I'm pleased to announce that Connected Editions, in cooperation with its partner JoSara MeDia, has just published J. Charles Sterin's historical thriller Hell Scrolls.

Following the brutal murder of his Chinese lover, successful filmmaker Carl Benjamin is drawn into the dark world of espionage and Chinese organized crime Triads - and down the rabbit hole of history as he struggles to understand the secret past of his father who served in China and was recruited in 1949 by the Israeli Mossad.  Carl and  close friend and former special forces officer Clarence Washington are soon joined by the beautiful daughter of his father’s old Mossad controller.  They’re chased across Europe and Southeast Asia by  the sexually perverted daughter of the most powerful Triad leader, by the CIA, and by the unfinished legacies of their fathers, and  use the coded messages within a set of Chinese Hell Scrolls to gain a tenuous upper hand.   Filled with intrigue, action, and explicit sexual encounters - rooted in 35 years of wars and criminal power-plays -  Hell Scrolls delivers everything fans of history-rooted thrillers want.

Connected Editions began in the early 1990s as the publishing arm of Connected Education, Inc.,  the organization headed by Tina Vozick and me which offered online courses for academic credit with The New School in New York City, Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, Bath College of Higher Education in the U.K,, and other schools around the world.  Connected Editions published a small number of books with wide diversity on computer disks, including The Age of Choice by US Ambassador to NATO Harlan Cleveland, Decisions by American Arbitration Association president Donald B. Straus, The Keyboard and the Loom by Gail S. Thomas, fiction by Sharon Lerch, and books of poetry by Bill Dubie and Ron Buck.

The publication of Hell Scrolls by J. Charles Sterin represents Connected Editions' reanimation and entry into the current digital age of publishing - ebooks on Kindles and like devices and apps, rather than text files on disks.   Chuck and I have worked together on a variety of projects, including his video interviews with me in his textbook, Mass Media Revolution.

J. Charles Sterin is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, investigative television journalist, author and screenwriter. Over the course of his 40 year career Sterin has produced over 60 hours of television documentaries, including episodes of A&E Network's primetime series Investigative Reports an Ancient Mysteries, and documentary specials aired on PBS. Sterin is the author of the popular undergraduate textbook "Mass Media Revolution" (Pearson Education), and the history-based thriller "Hell Scrolls"(Connected Editions). Sterin co-produced a national media project with 10 of the world's leading humanist thinkers (including anthropologist Margaret Mead, psychologist Carl Rogers, an anthropologist Ashley Montague) and was selected by the Poynter Institute to produce its seminal PBS documentary series NewsLeaders on the leading figures of American news media. He was the co-author, along with Richard Shames,M.D., of the trend-setting late 1970s holistic health primer "Healing With Mind power" (Rodale Press) and numerous holistic health articles published in Rodale's health and women's magazines.

I decided to work with JoSara MeDia on Hell Scrolls because this small, savvy publisher did such a good job with my own novels The Silk Code, The Plot to Save Socrates, Unburning Alexandria, and The Consciosuness Plague as ebooks, as well as the Unburning Alexandria paperback published this summer. JoSara MeDia has published award-winning authors in multiple formats, including print, eBook, and enhanced eBooks as iPad and Android applications. JoSara MeDia also works with non-profit organizations, such as the Texas State Historical Association, assisting them with strategies and solutions to get their content available in these multiple formats.  Hell Scrolls is a Connected Editions imprint published by JoSara MeDia.



As a novelist myself, I take special pleasure in discovering new writers of fiction.  Hell Scrolls is Chuck Sterin's first novel, but his perception of human nature and gift for language and narrative speaks of a talent as old has the hell scrolls themselves.   He sat for the following brief interview about his novel last month:




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Low Winter Sun Season 1 Finale: Best for Last

Well,  Low Winter Sun certainly saved the best for last for its first season - a two-hour finale that pulled out all the stops, offered a swerving ride with surprises at very turn, and even managed to wrap it up with a big provocative question mark at the end.

The first hour was a classic, excellent cop throws it all away episode.  Agnew, despondent over Katia's death - that is, murder by Geddes - gives away his money, almost takes his life, has some kind of heart-attack-like episode, and confesses it all to his former partner Sean, now a druggie staying at Agnew's place. Agnew veers from confessing it all to the world to planning an escape to Germany, but can't quite do either. He walks in to the Detroit Police building - only to discover along with the audience the huge surprise of the evening: Sean has confessed to the McCann and related murders.  And, since Agnew earlier confessed to Sean, Sean is in possession of details that only the killer would know. Brilliant!

Of course, this won't satisfy Internal Affairs Boyd, who's pieced the real truth together, and the second hour features a great pivot by Agnew, who's regained his sense of self-preservation, and now is thinking fast about how he can walk away from this without a murder charge against him.  He does feel bad about Sean going down for this, but not bad enough to really stop Sean, and in the end Agnew throws in a phone which offers physical evidence in support of Sean's confession.

But the factor that tips the balance against Boyd as the higher-ups meet to sort this out is that Katia is nowhere to be found, depriving Boyd of the one witness who would push his story into the believable column even with Sean's confession working against that.  And so, in one of the crowning ironies of the series, Geddes' dispatching of Katia last week saves the day for not only Geddes but Agnew tonight.

But there's one last pulsing question mark left hanging in this story:  Agnew goes to claim Katia's body. The coroner or whoever asks Agnew for Katia's name.  Agnew hesitates and there the story ends (I hope, for just now).  If he says Katia, that will give evidence which Boyd at some point could dig up and use against Agnew.  If he says another name, that would in effect be disrespecting the woman he loved.

I'm betting AMC will give us a chance to see what he does next year.

See also Low Winter Sun 1.1-2: High Hopes ... Low Winter Sun 1.3: Katia and the Bridge ... Low Winter Sun Penultimate Review




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Boardwalk Empire 4.5: Two Deaths

Boardwalk Empire's 4.5 tonight brought us two deaths - one, not unexpected, given what we know from real history - the other totally unexpected, because it was of a character for whom there is no record, but for whom most viewers including me have had great affection.

Eddie has been a staple on the series from the beginning, an epitome of loyalty for Nucky in a world in which even his own family often failed to come through for him. Why the show runners chose to write Eddie off the series beats me.   The usual reasons range from the actor leaving to the producers wanting to put someone else in that niche who could have a great impact, so who knows.   But if the reason is anything other than the actor - Anthony Laciura - leaving, I'd say the producers made a mistake.

Eddie was in many ways the soul of the series, the person who kept track of almost all of Nucky's activities, and thereby bore witness to the show we were seeing.   The Feds probably don't realize the full measure of ultimate damage they did to Nucky by turning Eddie, which had the effect of Eddie taking his own life. We haven't actually seen Eddie's dead body, so I suppose anything is possible, but Eddie's surviving that fall has to be highly unlikely.  Loyal to the very end, unable to live with himself as an informer on his boss, Eddie chose to take his own life.

The other death is one which history tells us happened in 1924:  Frank Capone, portrayed in BE as a moderating influence on Al (in reality he was said to have been even more violent than Al), was in fact killed, likely by police, in April 1924.   Boardwalk Empire did do a good job in showing us Frank's last minutes, in particular his realization that Van Alden was about to kill Al.  In that context, the death of Frank was even more of a crucial turning point than it might have been in real life:  had Frank not been shot up at that instant, he would have killed or badly wounded Van Alden, which would have changed the course of the series.

Other than Van Alden's brief resurgence as a would-be killer of criminals now sealed to secrecy with Frank's death, the only other bright spot in this episode was Nucky's masterful saving of his nephew - it's always a pleasure to see Nucky operating at his peak.

Just as watching Boardwalk Empire continues to be a rare pleasure of television.

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

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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Hell on Wheels Season 3 Finale: Train Calling in the Distance

Well, I knew that the Mormon girl that Bohannan slept with earlier in the season would have significance later on.  She looked far too young for Bohannan, and sleeping with her, when she came to him, didn't quite seem in tune with his gentlemanly style.  I thought it was an indication that he was no longer courtly, that the death of Lily had liberated him, and that was true enough ...

But in the season 3 finale tonight, we find out a much specific reason: she's pregnant with Bohannan's baby (she says she's 18, by the way), and Bohannan figures that marrying her would be a way of getting out of the noose that her Morman father had planned for him.  And Bohannan, in a wild twist, figured that right.

Not only that, but the Bishop who marries them is none other than the Swede.  No one knows the truth of what he did - only the son, who is with Ruth and the railroad.  The Swede decides that he would rather let Bohannan live, so he can subtly torture him over the years.   A wild ending in itself.

But not only that - Elam, on his way to save Bohannan, gets attacked by a bear.  Eva is sure he is dead. I'd say not - Hell on Wheels would be crazy to kill offf such an important character.

And, with Bohannan nowhere to be seen, Ulysses S. Grant has no choice but to acquiesce in Durant's reappointment to run the railroad.

All of which sets up a powerful last scene.   Bohannan is farming, thirsty.  His wife wants to bring him water, but the Swede takes the water instead.   In the distance, we and Bohannan can hear the railroad. Elam and the bear are both stretched out, unconscious.  I'm betting Elam will rise and the bear will not.

The haunting thing about that last scene is that Bohannan, married with a child on the way, has found part of what he always wanted.  We'll see how it turns out next season, which I'm hoping will rise up as well.

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

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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download Hell on Wheels season 3 on Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music