Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 345
June 23, 2013
Mad Men Season 6 Finale: Beyond California
As I noted earlier in my reviews of this season's Mad Men, California has always played a very special place in Don's and therefore the series' life. It's been the place where Don can really be himself.Therefore it wasn't all that surprising that the first big shock of tonight's Season 6 finale was Don's announcement to Megan and SCP that he'll be setting up an outpost for the firm in Los Angeles. Megan and the partners are both game. It would have made for a great concluding season next year. But it wasn't to be.
And precisely because it made so much sense to go to California was it so surprising that Don did the right thing and let Ted take his place out West. Los Angeles would have taken Don away from Sally and what she saw of Don with Sylvia. For that matter, it would have taken Don away from Sylvia too. It all fit into place - Mad Men situated in California, with a truer version of Don.
But there was a truer version still, and that was to hold sway. All season long, all series long, Don has swung like a pendulum between good and bad, decent and uncaring. Last week was one of his lowest moves. He and we were due for a pendulum swing back towards the good and the caring. So as much sense as it made for Don to go to California, it made more sense for Don to let Ted go, so Ted could get away from Peggy, left once more in the lurch.
But that wasn't the biggest surprise of all, which happens at the end, and is also fully motivated and justified. Don blows up another client, this time Hersey, with his confession of what his boyhood was really like, and Sterling, Cooper, and the rest of the partners retaliate - by pushing Don out the door, at least for a couple of month, maybe more.
And so we're set up for the series final season next year, which will start with the truest version of Don we've seen so far - without Megan, without Peggy, and now without a job. All of this he has sacrificed so he can finally be honest about himself. And he doesn't need to be in California to do this.
We're ready for the truest Don, in New York - the city where he's lived and loved. And, if he can make it here next year, he can make it anywhere.
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
See also Why "You Only Live Twice" for Mad Men Season 5 Finale ... Mad Men Season Five Finale
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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David Gregory vs. Glenn Greenwald: Lessons about So-Called Progressives
David Gregory asked Glenn Greenwald on Meet the Press today why Greenwald "shouldn't be charged with a crime" for publishing Edward Snowden's leaks about NSA snooping on American phone calls and Internet activities. So this is how far we've come: a journalist doing precisely the job intended by the First Amendment, being a watchdog on the American government, is asked why he shouldn't be considered a criminal - and, most pathetically, by another so-called journalist. John Adams, who signed the Alien and Sedition Acts that threw journalists into jail who criticized the President in the 1790s, would likely have approved of the question and answered it in the affirmative. Thomas Jefferson no doubt would not.
But we shouldn't be surprised, and certainly not that this demonization of the press is going on in a Democratic, so-called progressive administration. After all, Democrats as well as Republicans have sent our nation to war in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, twice in Iraq, and once in Afghanistan, without the Declaration of War required by our Constitution. We're on the road to doing that again in Syria. And Democrats as well as Republicans have trampled on the First Amendment for almost a hundred years, fining radio and television stations for broadcasting "objectionable" content, and arresting reporters trying to do their job during Occupy Wall Street.
You have but to look at MSNBC, the so-called progressive voice, to see how far and badly we've come. In prime time, only Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes have been strongly and unambiguously supportive of Greenwald. Lawrence O'Donnell, acknowledging the damage wiretapping did to Martin Luther King, Jr., says he's not too worried about the damage that can do today. Chris Matthews is typically on all sides of this issue.
Only Ron Paul and Ran Paul - whom I wouldn't vote for because of their fiscal policies and positions on women's issues and immigration and other reasons - have come down hard on the right side of this issue.
Whatever happens, I hope no one votes for a Democrat as the lesser of two evils in the next election, because the evil they pose to our freedom and rights is too much to bear. We can fight terrorists and totalitarians without becoming them ourselves.
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But we shouldn't be surprised, and certainly not that this demonization of the press is going on in a Democratic, so-called progressive administration. After all, Democrats as well as Republicans have sent our nation to war in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, twice in Iraq, and once in Afghanistan, without the Declaration of War required by our Constitution. We're on the road to doing that again in Syria. And Democrats as well as Republicans have trampled on the First Amendment for almost a hundred years, fining radio and television stations for broadcasting "objectionable" content, and arresting reporters trying to do their job during Occupy Wall Street.
You have but to look at MSNBC, the so-called progressive voice, to see how far and badly we've come. In prime time, only Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes have been strongly and unambiguously supportive of Greenwald. Lawrence O'Donnell, acknowledging the damage wiretapping did to Martin Luther King, Jr., says he's not too worried about the damage that can do today. Chris Matthews is typically on all sides of this issue.
Only Ron Paul and Ran Paul - whom I wouldn't vote for because of their fiscal policies and positions on women's issues and immigration and other reasons - have come down hard on the right side of this issue.
Whatever happens, I hope no one votes for a Democrat as the lesser of two evils in the next election, because the evil they pose to our freedom and rights is too much to bear. We can fight terrorists and totalitarians without becoming them ourselves.
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June 19, 2013
James Gandolfini, Tony Soprano, and Hamlet
Stunning news that James Gandolfini died, at the young age of 51. While there was considerable debate about whether his character Tony Soprano met his end in the finale of the series that Gandolfini's great acting helped build - I'm one who thought Tony lived - there can be no doubt about James Gandolfini. One of the truly unfortunate things about real life in contrast to life on television is death is undebatable.
More than one genius contributed to The Sopranos on HBO. Conception and production by David Chase, production and writing by Matthew Weiner, and many more. And while the words that an actor says are rarely his or her own - being supplied by the writer - the way that the actor delivers the words makes all the difference. In Gandolfini's case, he brought that mixture of brutal and tender, of lethal mobster and caring family man, that defined Tony Soprano and made the series as revolutionary as it was.
Books have written about why The Sopranos was such a pathbreaking series, some in part by me. I hosted a scholarly conference about The Sopranos at Fordham University in May 2008, organized by David Lavery, Doug Howard, and me. The gist is that prior to The Sopranos, television was unwilling to take a chance on a narrative about a mobster who could kill an adversary one hour and return to his family to worry about how his kids were doing in school the next. We saw that in the movies, in The Godfather trilogy, for sure. But not on television.
And the result changed everything - for cable shows like Dexter on Showtime, for House of Cards on Netflix, and much more. We live now in a new golden age of television, and that age started with The Sopronos, brought to life by the breathtaking acting of James Gandolfini.
The person is no longer with us. But the character he created will live along with Hamlet forever.
See also A Conversation with Dominic Chianese for more on James Gandolfini.
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More than one genius contributed to The Sopranos on HBO. Conception and production by David Chase, production and writing by Matthew Weiner, and many more. And while the words that an actor says are rarely his or her own - being supplied by the writer - the way that the actor delivers the words makes all the difference. In Gandolfini's case, he brought that mixture of brutal and tender, of lethal mobster and caring family man, that defined Tony Soprano and made the series as revolutionary as it was.
Books have written about why The Sopranos was such a pathbreaking series, some in part by me. I hosted a scholarly conference about The Sopranos at Fordham University in May 2008, organized by David Lavery, Doug Howard, and me. The gist is that prior to The Sopranos, television was unwilling to take a chance on a narrative about a mobster who could kill an adversary one hour and return to his family to worry about how his kids were doing in school the next. We saw that in the movies, in The Godfather trilogy, for sure. But not on television.
And the result changed everything - for cable shows like Dexter on Showtime, for House of Cards on Netflix, and much more. We live now in a new golden age of television, and that age started with The Sopronos, brought to life by the breathtaking acting of James Gandolfini.
The person is no longer with us. But the character he created will live along with Hamlet forever.
See also A Conversation with Dominic Chianese for more on James Gandolfini.
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June 18, 2013
Falling Skies 3.3: The Smile
Falling Skies episode 3.3 last night had lots of good parts, but the most significant, in terms of long-range consequences in our story, concerned Tom and Anne's baby girl.Last week, we see Anne noting and worried about the baby's way-too-rapid development. As I mentioned in my review, the human-alien hybrid is something we've seen before on television, most effectively in V. What was most interesting about Tom and Anne's child is where the alien came into the equation. Since neither is an alien - as far as we know - the only way I can see alien DNA entering the baby's genome is via something implanted in Tom, when he was whisked away on the alien ship.
Last night, the focus shifts to Anne, and the possibility that she is imagining the unusual behavior of her baby, in some kind of post-partum blues or even psychosis. Neither Tom nor Lourdes has seen any evidence that the baby is progressing in anything other than a human way - and Lourdes says her tests show the same - so the pressure's on Anne, who steadfastly denies that she's imaging the baby standing up and talking, just a week after her birth. Of course, if Anne is indeed losing her mind, that's exactly what she would do.
But in an excellent last scene, with bad-alien ships flying over the Charleston compound, we catch a glimpse of the baby looking up with a distinct smile on her face. It's a chilling and effective scene, and suggests that the baby is exercising significant intelligence indeed, to hide what she really is from everyone other than Anne. This in turn raises the interesting question of why the baby is signaling Anne about its identity.
The other nice reveal last night is that the original President of the United States - when the aliens attacked - is still alive and still in office. Not only does this create good competition for Tom, but opens up all kinds of possibilities - and another parallel between Falling Skies and Revolution.
See also Falling Skies 3.1-2: It's the Acting
And see also Falling Skies Returns ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's Motives ... Falling Skies Second Season Finale
And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season
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June 17, 2013
Magic City: Yiddish, Cuba, Bathing Suit Excellent
I caught up with the first season of Magic City and the first episode of the second season in the past few days, and was impressed indeed. It takes place a tad before the start of Mad Men - in late 1958 into 1959 - but it has almost nothing else in common with Mad Men. Instead of high-rolling Madison Avenue advertising, we get beach-front Miami Beach, where the main high-rolling depicted is among gamblers, mobsters, and hotel owner Ike Evans. The mob - in the person of Ben Diamond - contributes murders - and the women, from prostitutes to girl friends and wives, are sassily bright and beautiful. There's plenty of nudity of all kinds, making Magic City much more like Rome than Mad Men.The plot is pretty good, too, with some genuinely climatic and touching moments, and a few over-the-top situations and resolutions, which are ok by me. Ike - well played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan - is struggling to keep his hotel successful and even afloat. He seeks the help of Diamond, ends up with a murder of union head on his hands, who also happens to be an old friend. To make matters even more tense, Ike's son Stevie is sleeping with Diamond's wife, and Ike's other son Danny wants to work in the DA's office - the very DA who is out to get Ike and Diamond at any cost.
A lot of the first season was devoted to Stevie keeping polaroids of him and Diamond's wife out of Diamond's hands. When Diamond finally does get a look at them, however, he kills neither his wife or Stevie, because he rather watch them making love. Not completely believable, but I guess there are crazed mobsters like Diamond around somewhere, so why not in Miami Beach.
The show has a Yiddishe tahm - look it up if you don't know the language - which makes it especially welcome and appealing. More than just a Yiddish word is thrown in every now and again. Magic City is thoroughly steeped in Jewish customs and attitudes. And among the characters who are Jewish are not only Ike and his kids (though not his second wife, who is Cuban), but Ben Diamond (far more brutal than Meyer Lansky), the late union leader, and even the obsessed DA. And Cuba indeed plays a significant role in this story. As does JFK, not yet seen, but on his way to becoming President.
In short, Magic City is zesty, refreshing, pounding, and sexy - I'll be an avid viewer from now. And my wife really likes it, too.
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June 16, 2013
Mad Men 6.12: Rosemary's Baby, Dick Cheney, and Sunkist
What do Rosemary's Baby, Dick Cheney, and Sunkist have in common? They all played significant roles in tonight's Mad Men 6.12. Dick Cheney because Ken Cosgrove gets shot in the the face on the hunt - literally and figuratively - by client General Motors. Sunkist because Harry lands them as a client, which allows Don to stick it to Ted and Ocean Spray. But the best story concerned Rosemary's Baby, the 1968 supremely creepy movie by Roman Polanski about a guy a who drugs out his wife so the devil can sleep with her and bear the devil's baby.No one is drugged in this episode of Mad Men, but Don is certainly a devil. Peggy has a brilliant idea for a St. Joseph's Aspirin ad - do a take on a Rosemary Baby's scene which culminates in the pitch for the aspirin from the baby's perspective. It's a wonderful ad, which had me laughing, but it comes with a big price tag, much more than St. Joseph's expected to pay.
Joan realizes this, but Don runs with it. He and Megan earlier bumped into Ted and Peggy in a movie theater, where all were seeing Rosemary's Baby, for different reasons. Ted and Peggy tell Don they needed to see the movie again to be sure about a scene, but Megan instantly realized there's something going on between Ted and Peggy, something more than business.
Don figures out a way to get St. Joseph to go for the expensive ad - at least with part of the cast - but in doing so manages to embarras Ted and Peggy. His real agenda, of course, is not only to sell the ad to St. Joseph, but indeed to embarras Ted and Peggy. Why? Don has been in competition with Ted since the merger, actually before as well, and whatever he may say (including to himself) to the contrary, the last thing he wants to see is Ted finding happiness with Don's girl Peggy. It's not that Don wants Peggy himself, it's that he doesn't want to Ted have her.
Peggy realizes some or most of this, and in one of the most satisfying verbal thrashings in the series, calls Don a "monster". In the pendulum of Don swinging from admirable to despicable, which is more often than not on the despicable side, Don achieved some pretty impressive lows tonight.
But the season is at some kind of high with the advertising and personal hardball it has been serving, and the season's finale is on cue for next week.
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
See also Why "You Only Live Twice" for Mad Men Season 5 Finale ... Mad Men Season Five Finale
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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June 12, 2013
Star Trek Into Darkness: Echoes, Resonances, and Great
Tina and I just got back from seeing Star Trek Into Darkness - at a theater on Cape Cod on Enterprise Road, no less - and just loved it. We both think this second J. J. Abrams Star Trek outing is a lot better than the first - which was excellent - and I think this movie is one of the very best of the twelve Star Trek movies made thus far.Our central characters were more natural and confortable in their skins than in the first movie, in which they sometimes verged a little too close to caricature. This time, not only were Kirk and Spock superb, but Bones, Scottie, and Sulu were outstanding, and played crucial roles in the story. Chekov was still and likely always will be a little ridiculous with his Russian accent - I bet the average person who speaks English in Russia today speaks with less of an accent - but that's part of what makes him endearing. My wife Tina wanted to see more echoes of the original Uhura in this movie, but I liked this Uhura just fine.
Bear in mind, as the old Spock explained to us in the previous movie, that what we've been seeing in this and the previous movie is an alternate reality of Star Trek - alternate, that is, in contrast to what we saw in the original and subsequent Star Trek television shows and the first 10 movies, which we can now identify as pre-JAbrams. In most ways, the characters are the same. And most of the original characters are in this rebooted universe. Hence Nurse Chapel from the original series is mentioned in Into Darkness.
But there are differences, which account not only for Uhura - and her romantic relationship with Spock in the J. J. Abrams movies - but other characters including Christopher Pike. In the original series, he ends up in a wheel chair, face disfigured, on a world in which he can live his dreams (Kirk and Spock help get Pike there). In the new movie, he ends up dead - killed by Khan's attack. My wife wondered why he couldn't have wound up disfigured in a wheelchair in the new movie, too. It would have made a nice closing of the loop between the original and current Star Trek realities, and I would guess that J. J. Abrams and his producers and writers didn't want it to close quite so neatly.
They're probably right. What we want are glimmering reflections of the original Star Trek, not a more intense, constant search for similarities and coincidences with the original. Khan, for example, who was a crucial character both in the original TV series and the original movies, was a Khan who in this movie bears only some resemblances to the original. But Old Spock tells Spock about the essential similarity: Khan is a lethal danger to Kirk and Spock and the Enterprise.
In the end, people who have seen every Star Trek ever made will have to decide if they think the similarities are too little, too much, or just right. My wife wanted more of the original Uhura - especially because other characters resonated so well with the originals - but I didn't really miss her in this movie at all. But such differences in taste are akin to whether you prefer this touch of spice or that in a great dish. What's undoubtable is Star Trek Into Darkness was one great movie indeed.
See also Star Trek: Reborn, Reset, Resplendent
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Falling Skies 3.1-2: It's the Acting
Falling Skies was back with its two-hour Season 3 premiere on Sunday. The show continues to be an appealing amalgam of trite parts that somehow add up to something pretty good.
The Earth attacked by superior aliens is of course a trope most made famous by H. G. Wells more than a century ago. The addition of aliens fighting amongst themselves, with some allying with us, is also something we've seen before. So are the mechs, recently seen to best effect as the toasters in Battlestar Galactica. A new component in this season's Falling Skies is the star child, a human-alien hybrid who grows more quickly than humans and has superior powers - last seen in the late lamented V on ABC-TV a few years ago.
The child in Falling Skies is Tom and Anne's, which raises the question of where she - the baby girl - is getting her powers. Possibly this has something to do with the time Tom was on the alien ship, in between seasons 1 and 2. Meanwhile, Tom's relationship with his three sons also continues to be well depicted, with Ben, the middle son who was freed from alien harness, still of greatest interest, though Hal's relationship with his former girlfriend, now a bad-alien leader, has potential.
The locus of the action has shifted from the road and make-shift headquarters to something more substantial in Charleston, where Tom has been elected President of a fledging United States. This makes for a refreshing touch with Weaver, now a Colonel, calling Tom "Sir," but the move to genteel Southern cities is also something we've seen in other post-apocalyptic dramas, including Revolution and even a bit in The Walking Dead. And a resurgent United States after the apocalypse also popped up in Revolution's season 1 finale.
So what makes Falling Skies appealing? It's the acting, most notably Noah Wyle as Tom. And with Gloria Reuben as Tom's aide and House's Robert Sean Leonard as an eccentric scientist (what else?) this season, I'm definitely in for the run.
See also Falling Skies Returns ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's Motives ... Falling Skies Second Season Finale
And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season
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The Earth attacked by superior aliens is of course a trope most made famous by H. G. Wells more than a century ago. The addition of aliens fighting amongst themselves, with some allying with us, is also something we've seen before. So are the mechs, recently seen to best effect as the toasters in Battlestar Galactica. A new component in this season's Falling Skies is the star child, a human-alien hybrid who grows more quickly than humans and has superior powers - last seen in the late lamented V on ABC-TV a few years ago.
The child in Falling Skies is Tom and Anne's, which raises the question of where she - the baby girl - is getting her powers. Possibly this has something to do with the time Tom was on the alien ship, in between seasons 1 and 2. Meanwhile, Tom's relationship with his three sons also continues to be well depicted, with Ben, the middle son who was freed from alien harness, still of greatest interest, though Hal's relationship with his former girlfriend, now a bad-alien leader, has potential.
The locus of the action has shifted from the road and make-shift headquarters to something more substantial in Charleston, where Tom has been elected President of a fledging United States. This makes for a refreshing touch with Weaver, now a Colonel, calling Tom "Sir," but the move to genteel Southern cities is also something we've seen in other post-apocalyptic dramas, including Revolution and even a bit in The Walking Dead. And a resurgent United States after the apocalypse also popped up in Revolution's season 1 finale.
So what makes Falling Skies appealing? It's the acting, most notably Noah Wyle as Tom. And with Gloria Reuben as Tom's aide and House's Robert Sean Leonard as an eccentric scientist (what else?) this season, I'm definitely in for the run.
See also Falling Skies Returns ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's Motives ... Falling Skies Second Season Finale
And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season
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June 10, 2013
The Borgias Farewell: Sneak Preview Review of Series Finale
The cancelation of The Borgias with its Season 3 finale was announced last week. Borgias creator Neil Jordan, who had previously said he wanted to make a two-hour movie to properly complete The Borgias, pronounced himself satisfied that this season's finale completed the essential story he wanted to tell.
I just saw the season 3 finale On Demand - where Showtime occasionally puts up a programs a week in advance of their air date. I thought this and last week's episode - which I also saw a week before its air date - were superb, in fact, the best of the season. But I have to strongly disagree that the Borgias story, as presented in this series, has been completely told.
=====SPOILERS BELOW=====
Rodrigo and Cesare have to come terms - Rodrigo would like to see his son inherent his position as Pontiff. We of course know this didn't come to pass in reality, and I would very much have liked to seen why it didn't in this series.
Cesare sets a new assassin - with Micheletto gone - on to the task of assassinating Lucrezia's husband Alfonso. Before that can take place, though, Alfonso attacks Cesare, who of course defends himself successfully and gravely wounds Alfonso. Lucrezia is deeply hurt and furious and attempts to take her own life. We know from history that Alfonso dies but Lucrezia does not. Wouldn't you like to know and see played out what goes on to happen between her and her brother?
Nowadays, it's easier than ever before for writers of books, and creators of movies, to publish and produce their own works. That revolution has to come to television, however, and more's the pity.
The Borgias provided a good three years of sage and enjoyable television viewing. The public deserves more of an ending than this season finale turneed into a series finale gives us. Maybe someday we'll see it. If not, my enduring thanks for this unconventional peek into religious and political history.
See also The Borgias Season 3 Premiere: "Blade's Breath" ... The Borgias 3.2: Going Both Ways ... The Borgias 3.4: Incest and Debauchery ... The Borgias 3.5: Normal Love and Lampreys ... The Borgias 3.6: Plague and Belief
And see also The Borgias Season 2 Sneak Preview
And see also The Borgias Sneak Preview Review ... The Borgias 1.5: Machiavellian Politics and Marriage ... The Borgias 1.6: Beds, Leg, Cannon ... Borgias Season One Concludes
#SFWApro
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
I just saw the season 3 finale On Demand - where Showtime occasionally puts up a programs a week in advance of their air date. I thought this and last week's episode - which I also saw a week before its air date - were superb, in fact, the best of the season. But I have to strongly disagree that the Borgias story, as presented in this series, has been completely told.
=====SPOILERS BELOW=====
Rodrigo and Cesare have to come terms - Rodrigo would like to see his son inherent his position as Pontiff. We of course know this didn't come to pass in reality, and I would very much have liked to seen why it didn't in this series.
Cesare sets a new assassin - with Micheletto gone - on to the task of assassinating Lucrezia's husband Alfonso. Before that can take place, though, Alfonso attacks Cesare, who of course defends himself successfully and gravely wounds Alfonso. Lucrezia is deeply hurt and furious and attempts to take her own life. We know from history that Alfonso dies but Lucrezia does not. Wouldn't you like to know and see played out what goes on to happen between her and her brother?
Nowadays, it's easier than ever before for writers of books, and creators of movies, to publish and produce their own works. That revolution has to come to television, however, and more's the pity.
The Borgias provided a good three years of sage and enjoyable television viewing. The public deserves more of an ending than this season finale turneed into a series finale gives us. Maybe someday we'll see it. If not, my enduring thanks for this unconventional peek into religious and political history.
See also The Borgias Season 3 Premiere: "Blade's Breath" ... The Borgias 3.2: Going Both Ways ... The Borgias 3.4: Incest and Debauchery ... The Borgias 3.5: Normal Love and Lampreys ... The Borgias 3.6: Plague and Belief
And see also The Borgias Season 2 Sneak Preview
And see also The Borgias Sneak Preview Review ... The Borgias 1.5: Machiavellian Politics and Marriage ... The Borgias 1.6: Beds, Leg, Cannon ... Borgias Season One Concludes
#SFWApro
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Mad Men 6.11: Hand in the Cookie Jar and Guy de Maupassant
Well, it probably wasn't Don's hand, and it wasn't exactly a cookie jar, but he sure got caught in last night's episode 6.11 of Mad Men - and by his daughter Sally, no less.
The season and the episode had been building up to this beautifully. Early in the season, Sally gets a glimpse of Don and Megan in the bedroom. Last night, we get too parallel stories that lead up to the great revelation.
In one of these threads, Sally develops an instant crush on Sylvia and the doc's teenage son. Sally's with her friend, the two are staying over Don and Megan's apartment, and the two girls giggle and plot about the doc's son. Near the end of the episode, Sally's friend reveals that she left a note for the doc's son, signed by Sally - who rushes back to the apartment building, and sweet talks the genial doorman to give her the key to the doc's and Sylvia's apartment. Sally walks in, and sees-
Well, the second story also features the doc's son, who has a received a 1A and is thus in imminent danger of being drafted. The doc and Sylvia are desperate to keep their son out of Vietnam. Don, who tells Megan it's none of their concern, nonetheless later says the war is "wrong," and soon Don is pitching the big client Chevy's people who have some connections with the military - pitching Chevy not on SC&P's advertising acumen, that is, but on the inequity of the war. This leads nowhere except to Ted's chastising Don for getting political with a client - but it turns out that Ted has a connection which can put the doc's boy in a plane far away from Vietnam. Don conveys the good news to Sylvia, the two get to talking, and-
This is how Don ends up in bed with Sylvia when Sally walks in. It's a brilliant little short that Guy de Maupassant would have pleased to write. Don, of course, as befits Mad Men, doesn't quite get his comeuppance but neither does he escape unscathed. And I fear the wheels are now in motion for Don and Megan to split, which, actually, I'd hate to see because I like Megan.
But looking forward more than ever to rest of this season's Mad Men.
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
See also Why "You Only Live Twice" for Mad Men Season 5 Finale ... Mad Men Season Five Finale
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
#SFWApro Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
The season and the episode had been building up to this beautifully. Early in the season, Sally gets a glimpse of Don and Megan in the bedroom. Last night, we get too parallel stories that lead up to the great revelation.
In one of these threads, Sally develops an instant crush on Sylvia and the doc's teenage son. Sally's with her friend, the two are staying over Don and Megan's apartment, and the two girls giggle and plot about the doc's son. Near the end of the episode, Sally's friend reveals that she left a note for the doc's son, signed by Sally - who rushes back to the apartment building, and sweet talks the genial doorman to give her the key to the doc's and Sylvia's apartment. Sally walks in, and sees-
Well, the second story also features the doc's son, who has a received a 1A and is thus in imminent danger of being drafted. The doc and Sylvia are desperate to keep their son out of Vietnam. Don, who tells Megan it's none of their concern, nonetheless later says the war is "wrong," and soon Don is pitching the big client Chevy's people who have some connections with the military - pitching Chevy not on SC&P's advertising acumen, that is, but on the inequity of the war. This leads nowhere except to Ted's chastising Don for getting political with a client - but it turns out that Ted has a connection which can put the doc's boy in a plane far away from Vietnam. Don conveys the good news to Sylvia, the two get to talking, and-
This is how Don ends up in bed with Sylvia when Sally walks in. It's a brilliant little short that Guy de Maupassant would have pleased to write. Don, of course, as befits Mad Men, doesn't quite get his comeuppance but neither does he escape unscathed. And I fear the wheels are now in motion for Don and Megan to split, which, actually, I'd hate to see because I like Megan.
But looking forward more than ever to rest of this season's Mad Men.
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
See also Why "You Only Live Twice" for Mad Men Season 5 Finale ... Mad Men Season Five Finale
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
#SFWApro Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Levinson at Large
At present, I'll be automatically porting over blog posts from my main blog, Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress. These consist of literate (I hope) reviews of mostly television, with some reviews of mov
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