Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 350
April 21, 2013
Jersey Boys: Transcending Musical
My wife and I finally got to see Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway last night, thanks to the tickets daughter Molly gave us as my birthday present. I say "finally" because The Four Seasons were among my all-time favorite groups. And a wonderful, one-of-a-kind birthday present it was.
The Four Seasons were a pivotal group in my life - my own group, The Transits, regularly sung "Dawn" and "Rag Doll" in our performances at various spots in the Bronx in the early 1960s, including Poe Park and the corner of Allerton Avenue and White Plains Road under the el. Their harmony and Franki Valli's falsetto were second to none, and I modeled my own falsetto after his. For a few years, The Four Seasons were right up there with the Beachboys, matching them hit for hit. But the two groups were soon surpassed by the Beatles, which had easy superiority in lyrics, inventive chord progressions, and even harmony. And while the Beachboys managed to make their own signal contributions to the psychedelic era, thanks to Brian Wilson, and "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains," The Four Seasons and Franki Valli veered off into a kind of pop with songs like "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," which sounded more like Andy Williams than the Four Seasons I loved, which is to say, hopelessly old-fashioned to me. But "Candy Girl," "Dawn," "Rag Doll" (breathtakingly glorious harmonies), "Big Man in Town," "Marlena," "Silence is Golden," and "Tell it to the Rain," and their transcendence of the doo wop genre have never been far from my ears in my brain since then.
Jersey Boys was fabulous, not only because it provided superb renditions of many of these songs, but because it told a story - researched and written by Marshall Brickman - which I hadn't known before. Frank Valli and two of the other Seasons (Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi) had served a little time in prison - they came from a much grittier culture than their polished harmony suggested. Each member of the group had a strong personality and set of opinions, which often conflicted. I'd known that Bob Gaudio was the creative writing genius of the group - and had loved his "Short Shorts" with the Royal Teens when I was kid - but I hadn't known he had to fight so hard at first to get into The Four Seasons. I would have liked to have seen a little more in Jersey Boys about Bob Crewe's creative input as producer of The Four Seasons - I met Crewe one or two times in the 1960s - but overall the play gave due shrift to all the important players in their success.
And the performances were wonderful - especially of the players of each of The Four Seasons, who spoke and sang powerfully. Especially noteworthy last night was Russell Fischer, understudy for the Franki Vallie role, who rose to the occasion with a stunning portrayal and a full-voiced and falsetto'd splendid rendition of the songs - it's hard to image that anyone could do better in the singing, dancing, and acting. Andy Karl as Tommy DeVito, bass-man Matt Bogart (who appears as JFK on "Smash" on NBC) as Nick Massi, and especially Drew Gehling as Bob Gaudi were also superb.
The combination of songs and story - highs and lows, personal and professional - make Jersey Boys a musical masterpiece for the ages.
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
The Four Seasons were a pivotal group in my life - my own group, The Transits, regularly sung "Dawn" and "Rag Doll" in our performances at various spots in the Bronx in the early 1960s, including Poe Park and the corner of Allerton Avenue and White Plains Road under the el. Their harmony and Franki Valli's falsetto were second to none, and I modeled my own falsetto after his. For a few years, The Four Seasons were right up there with the Beachboys, matching them hit for hit. But the two groups were soon surpassed by the Beatles, which had easy superiority in lyrics, inventive chord progressions, and even harmony. And while the Beachboys managed to make their own signal contributions to the psychedelic era, thanks to Brian Wilson, and "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains," The Four Seasons and Franki Valli veered off into a kind of pop with songs like "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," which sounded more like Andy Williams than the Four Seasons I loved, which is to say, hopelessly old-fashioned to me. But "Candy Girl," "Dawn," "Rag Doll" (breathtakingly glorious harmonies), "Big Man in Town," "Marlena," "Silence is Golden," and "Tell it to the Rain," and their transcendence of the doo wop genre have never been far from my ears in my brain since then.
Jersey Boys was fabulous, not only because it provided superb renditions of many of these songs, but because it told a story - researched and written by Marshall Brickman - which I hadn't known before. Frank Valli and two of the other Seasons (Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi) had served a little time in prison - they came from a much grittier culture than their polished harmony suggested. Each member of the group had a strong personality and set of opinions, which often conflicted. I'd known that Bob Gaudio was the creative writing genius of the group - and had loved his "Short Shorts" with the Royal Teens when I was kid - but I hadn't known he had to fight so hard at first to get into The Four Seasons. I would have liked to have seen a little more in Jersey Boys about Bob Crewe's creative input as producer of The Four Seasons - I met Crewe one or two times in the 1960s - but overall the play gave due shrift to all the important players in their success.
And the performances were wonderful - especially of the players of each of The Four Seasons, who spoke and sang powerfully. Especially noteworthy last night was Russell Fischer, understudy for the Franki Vallie role, who rose to the occasion with a stunning portrayal and a full-voiced and falsetto'd splendid rendition of the songs - it's hard to image that anyone could do better in the singing, dancing, and acting. Andy Karl as Tommy DeVito, bass-man Matt Bogart (who appears as JFK on "Smash" on NBC) as Nick Massi, and especially Drew Gehling as Bob Gaudi were also superb.
The combination of songs and story - highs and lows, personal and professional - make Jersey Boys a musical masterpiece for the ages.
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Evaluating Traditional and Social Media in Boston Bombing Reporting
I was interviewed this morning on KNX1070 Radio and earlier in the week by AP and USA Today and college radio stations about the media coverage - including errors - of the Boston bombings and the hunt for suspects, and thought I'd share what I said in the interviews here.
First, we need to distinguish between traditional mass media and social media (or what I call new new media) and the intersecting ways in which they covered the story.
The big flub in traditional media was the reporting on Wednesday by CNN and other outlets that the two suspects had been arrested. This turned out to be false. And since some news operations - such as MSNBC - refrained from reporting this, CNN and the others came in for much criticism.
At least three points, however, need to be kept in mind regarding what happened with the traditional media.
One, the media are always caught between the conflicting goals of getting the news out as quickly as possible and making sure the news reported is accurate. The public wants both, and is entitled to both. Further, people in times of crisis do better with more information - being kept in the dark, or feeling you don't know what's going on in life-and-death situations, is a prescription for high anxiety and jumping to all kinds of wrong conclusions.
The second is that John King on CNN who first went public with the wrong information that arrests were made obviously didn't just make this up. He reported what he had been told by law enforcement. So, the blame for this incorrect reporting resides at least as much as with law enforcement, which gave King the erroneous information.
And third, and most important, the incorrect reporting in no way impeded the bringing of the two brothers to justice.
How did social media do in the past week?
The big error occurred on Reddit, and its crowd-sourced identification, based on the photos of the suspects, of two people as the bombers who in fact had nothing to do with the bombing. This error was compounded by the unfortunate fact that one of the two people wrongly identified was a student missing from Brown University, whose family was already worried about him. And the error was technologically compounded by its dissemination on Twitter.
On the other hand, crowd-sourcing was crucial in bringing the real bombers to justice, as the public responded with their own photos after the FBI's somewhat blurry photos released on Thursday. The ubiquity of cameras in phones is making it increasingly impossible for criminals who strike in public to remain anonymous.
So social media, like traditional media, get less than perfect grades for their performance in the past week. But, on the whole, both helped far more than they hurt. Traditional media did for the most part keep the public accurately informed during this crucial time, and social media crowd-sourcing played a crucial role in apprehending the suspects.
And regarding the wrong information, we were made aware once again of a truth about all reporting, traditional as well as social media, that we should always keep in mind: don't believe everything you see and hear from any journalist, whether professional or citizen, whether on CNN or MSNBC or Reddit or Wikipedia. Take everything with a grain of salt. Don't accept it as truth unless and until it is confirmed by all sources. In that way, a wrong report's damage can be limited, and we can reap the benefits of being the best informed people in history, as did this past week with the reporting from Boston.
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
First, we need to distinguish between traditional mass media and social media (or what I call new new media) and the intersecting ways in which they covered the story.
The big flub in traditional media was the reporting on Wednesday by CNN and other outlets that the two suspects had been arrested. This turned out to be false. And since some news operations - such as MSNBC - refrained from reporting this, CNN and the others came in for much criticism.
At least three points, however, need to be kept in mind regarding what happened with the traditional media.
One, the media are always caught between the conflicting goals of getting the news out as quickly as possible and making sure the news reported is accurate. The public wants both, and is entitled to both. Further, people in times of crisis do better with more information - being kept in the dark, or feeling you don't know what's going on in life-and-death situations, is a prescription for high anxiety and jumping to all kinds of wrong conclusions.
The second is that John King on CNN who first went public with the wrong information that arrests were made obviously didn't just make this up. He reported what he had been told by law enforcement. So, the blame for this incorrect reporting resides at least as much as with law enforcement, which gave King the erroneous information.
And third, and most important, the incorrect reporting in no way impeded the bringing of the two brothers to justice.
How did social media do in the past week?
The big error occurred on Reddit, and its crowd-sourced identification, based on the photos of the suspects, of two people as the bombers who in fact had nothing to do with the bombing. This error was compounded by the unfortunate fact that one of the two people wrongly identified was a student missing from Brown University, whose family was already worried about him. And the error was technologically compounded by its dissemination on Twitter.
On the other hand, crowd-sourcing was crucial in bringing the real bombers to justice, as the public responded with their own photos after the FBI's somewhat blurry photos released on Thursday. The ubiquity of cameras in phones is making it increasingly impossible for criminals who strike in public to remain anonymous.
So social media, like traditional media, get less than perfect grades for their performance in the past week. But, on the whole, both helped far more than they hurt. Traditional media did for the most part keep the public accurately informed during this crucial time, and social media crowd-sourcing played a crucial role in apprehending the suspects.
And regarding the wrong information, we were made aware once again of a truth about all reporting, traditional as well as social media, that we should always keep in mind: don't believe everything you see and hear from any journalist, whether professional or citizen, whether on CNN or MSNBC or Reddit or Wikipedia. Take everything with a grain of salt. Don't accept it as truth unless and until it is confirmed by all sources. In that way, a wrong report's damage can be limited, and we can reap the benefits of being the best informed people in history, as did this past week with the reporting from Boston.
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 18, 2013
The Americans 1.11: Elizabeth's Evolution
The Americans - along with The Following, the best new series on television debuting in 2013 - put up an important episode (1.11) last night, in which Elizabeth shows some surprising restraint.
The occasion is the murder of her beloved General Zhukov, taken out on Gaad's order in retaliation for the murder of Stan's partner Chris a few weeks ago. Up until now, Elizabeth has shown herself more likely than husband Phillip to use the "wet" solution, i.e., shoot an opponent or a target dead. She starts out determined to do this to whoever ordered Zhukov's assassination. When we find out that the guy she gets strapped into a chair with her gun to his head is not Gaad, and was only following orders, we expect Elizabeth to kill him anyway, since he was at least in part responsible. And then she walks away from the imminent kill.
Why? She later explains to Claudia that she figured out that Claudia was playing her to kill whoever ordered Zhukov's killing - because Claudia loved him, too - and Elizabeth doesn't like being manipulated. But that doesn't ring completely true. If Elizabeth had already felt, on her own, that she wanted retribution for what happened to Zhukov, she would have pulled the trigger whether she felt she was being manipulated or not.
So her reason, I think, is her continuing Americanization, or the growth of that part of her that feels like a normal American housewife in the 1980s, whatever exactly that is. And that's the great strength of the series - the tension between who Elizabeth and Phillip are and were, and who they are and are coming to be. As the killing escalates on both sides, this growth out of their origins as sleeper agents who just follow orders becomes even more riveting. Elizabeth and Phillip were strangely fascinating and dangerous to begin with. But they are becoming even more so with every episode and every piece of the story it delivers.
See also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
The occasion is the murder of her beloved General Zhukov, taken out on Gaad's order in retaliation for the murder of Stan's partner Chris a few weeks ago. Up until now, Elizabeth has shown herself more likely than husband Phillip to use the "wet" solution, i.e., shoot an opponent or a target dead. She starts out determined to do this to whoever ordered Zhukov's assassination. When we find out that the guy she gets strapped into a chair with her gun to his head is not Gaad, and was only following orders, we expect Elizabeth to kill him anyway, since he was at least in part responsible. And then she walks away from the imminent kill.
Why? She later explains to Claudia that she figured out that Claudia was playing her to kill whoever ordered Zhukov's killing - because Claudia loved him, too - and Elizabeth doesn't like being manipulated. But that doesn't ring completely true. If Elizabeth had already felt, on her own, that she wanted retribution for what happened to Zhukov, she would have pulled the trigger whether she felt she was being manipulated or not.
So her reason, I think, is her continuing Americanization, or the growth of that part of her that feels like a normal American housewife in the 1980s, whatever exactly that is. And that's the great strength of the series - the tension between who Elizabeth and Phillip are and were, and who they are and are coming to be. As the killing escalates on both sides, this growth out of their origins as sleeper agents who just follow orders becomes even more riveting. Elizabeth and Phillip were strangely fascinating and dangerous to begin with. But they are becoming even more so with every episode and every piece of the story it delivers.
See also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 16, 2013
The Following 1.13: At Last Something of a Day for the Good Guys
Sometimes the good guys have a pretty good day - or, at least a day that's not close to a total disaster. One of the problems with The Following, otherwise excellent, is that the good guy innings have been few and far between. That was corrected in one of the best episodes in the series - 1.13 - which aired last night.
As Joe says more than once, he's having a bad day. Before that day and evening are over, Joe will have lost his son Joey to safety, Claire will have stabbed him as she pretends that she's trying to love him again, and Roderick will have broken lose and been killed.
Even so, one of Joe's following manages to stick some kind of needle into the FBI chief's eye at the end, and Claire is is more peril than ever. The needle in the eye was the following's response to Ryan's unauthorized plea that one of them turn in him or herself in return for immunity. One thing that The Following has been consistent about is the blind loyalty of the following - which now has led to a blinding or worse of the FBI guy leading the investigation. Too bad, he was just beginning to see the light about the value of Ryan's methods.
I'm still thinking, as I've been all season, that someone in the FBI may be a follower. We've seen deputies and, with Roderick, a sheriff in the sociopathic fold, so an FBI double agent makes sense. But who could that be? Mike was my early choice, but he was beaten to within an inch of his life by the bad guys, and he's killed or tried to kill them many times. Same more or less for Debra. So maybe I'm wrong.
But the very fact that I'm looking for this shows how successful The Following has been in cultivating the sense that there could be a homicidal maniac right next to you, whether in front of you in the classroom or behind the desk in the sheriff's office. As such, The Following is remarkably in tune with the tragic state of our world.
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 ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
As Joe says more than once, he's having a bad day. Before that day and evening are over, Joe will have lost his son Joey to safety, Claire will have stabbed him as she pretends that she's trying to love him again, and Roderick will have broken lose and been killed.
Even so, one of Joe's following manages to stick some kind of needle into the FBI chief's eye at the end, and Claire is is more peril than ever. The needle in the eye was the following's response to Ryan's unauthorized plea that one of them turn in him or herself in return for immunity. One thing that The Following has been consistent about is the blind loyalty of the following - which now has led to a blinding or worse of the FBI guy leading the investigation. Too bad, he was just beginning to see the light about the value of Ryan's methods.
I'm still thinking, as I've been all season, that someone in the FBI may be a follower. We've seen deputies and, with Roderick, a sheriff in the sociopathic fold, so an FBI double agent makes sense. But who could that be? Mike was my early choice, but he was beaten to within an inch of his life by the bad guys, and he's killed or tried to kill them many times. Same more or less for Debra. So maybe I'm wrong.
But the very fact that I'm looking for this shows how successful The Following has been in cultivating the sense that there could be a homicidal maniac right next to you, whether in front of you in the classroom or behind the desk in the sheriff's office. As such, The Following is remarkably in tune with the tragic state of our world.
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 ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
New Dallas Season Two Finale
I'll come right out and say it. I think the second season of the new Dallas on TNT, which flagged a little at the beginning, put together a brilliant narrative after actor Larry Hagman died, and wove that into a superb and satisfying J. R. story capped off with a masterful twist ending last night.The question after J. R.'s death was, once again, who killed J. R.? Evidence increasingly pointed to Cliff Barnes, who certainly would have shot J. R. in a heartbeat if he'd had the chance. And Cliff was indeed in Mexico in the same hotel as J. R. at the time of his death.
But it turns out that J. R., dying of cancer, had one of his loyal men shoot him, to give the Ewings a hand they could play to get the best of Cliff Barnes in his attempt to wipe the Ewings clean out of the energy business. This was indeed a master plan, and Bobby played it to perfection in the weeks that followed.
Even the acting improved in the series, almost as if the actors were galvanized into better performances, rallying to keep the series flying, after the death of Larry Hagman. Josh Henderson, who often seemed to rattle out his lines in the first season, and the first part of the second season, suddenly began to almost channel J. R., and Hagman's delivery, in crucial scenes. The result was a powerful and effective performance. Julie Gonzalo, who was ok in the first season and a half, also put in some impressive performances as she lost her babies and confronted her father Cliff. Jesse Metcalf, who was probably the best of the new cast in the first season, continued to put in good work in the second season.
Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray were fine as Bobby and Sue Ellen in the first season and a half, but they too got even better in the aftermath of J. R.'s death. Duffy in particular put in some of the best acting in the whole history of the series, as he dealt with the death of his brother and strove to implement J. R.'s plan.
At this time, the continuation of the series is not clear, but it would be a shame if it didn't come back. In addition to perfectly wrapping up the death of J. R., the finale also set the foundation for a new series of powerful conflicts. John Ross is not only married to Pamela but sleeping with Emma - continuing the great duplicitous tradition of J. R. And Elena, spurned to some extent by Christopher - who then changes his mind and wants her back - seems to be forging an alliance with Cliff who's behind bars.
The revived series has found its beat, and I'd love to see what happens next.
See also New Dallas Back for Second Season and Dallas 2.8: The Death of J. R.
And see also The New Dallas: An Outright Pleasure and New Dallas One Season One Evaluation
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 15, 2013
Bones 8.22: Musical-Chair Parents
A really good, heart-warming Bones 8.22 tonight, where, unlike in the real world, the crimes don't hurt that much and often admit to neat, cool endings. But as is almost always the case on Bones, it's the personal relationships not the crimes and solutions that really make the show.
Joanna Cassidy appears as Booth's long-absent mother. Now, if she looks familiar, that's because the same Joanna Cassidy also plays Dr. Megan Hunt's mother on another crime show steeped in biology, Body of Proof, which, come to think of it, does owe a lot to Bones. But there's something else here worth mentioning - Ralph Waite, who plays Booth's grandfather, also plays Gibbs' father on NCIS. There's something about Bones that seems to encourage musical-chair parents and grandparents across series.
But the best thing about Booth's mother - well, actually there are two best things, I'll tell you the other in a minute - is the way Bones works to get Booth and his mother back together after their first series of meetings goes badly. What's especially gratifying here is how Bones, who's supposed to be the one who has problems with human relationships, is able to talk Booth into taking a step to repairing his relationship with mother. Bones is able to do this because her relationship to Booth and their daughter Christine is making her more fully human. She's still the same charmingly brilliant Bones in all matters intellectual - including how she convinces Booth to forgive his mother by repeatedly citing the "myth" of Jesus - but now she has increasing emotional power as well.
Which leads to the second best thing about Booth's mother: After Booth walks her down the aisle for her marriage, she throws the wedding bouquet and it's caught by ... Bones! Now, I make it a point never to look ahead at any descriptions of future episodes, but this catching of the bouquet can only mean that Bones and Booth will be getting married at the end of this season.
Which makes complete sense now, in view of Bones' emotional growth. Why didn't they get married in the first place after they found out about Christine? I think Booth was ready but Bones was not. But now that she is, marriage should be in the cards. Which will make, to borrow an apt word from Angela tonight, for a lot of gruntled viewers, including me.
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
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
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Joanna Cassidy appears as Booth's long-absent mother. Now, if she looks familiar, that's because the same Joanna Cassidy also plays Dr. Megan Hunt's mother on another crime show steeped in biology, Body of Proof, which, come to think of it, does owe a lot to Bones. But there's something else here worth mentioning - Ralph Waite, who plays Booth's grandfather, also plays Gibbs' father on NCIS. There's something about Bones that seems to encourage musical-chair parents and grandparents across series.
But the best thing about Booth's mother - well, actually there are two best things, I'll tell you the other in a minute - is the way Bones works to get Booth and his mother back together after their first series of meetings goes badly. What's especially gratifying here is how Bones, who's supposed to be the one who has problems with human relationships, is able to talk Booth into taking a step to repairing his relationship with mother. Bones is able to do this because her relationship to Booth and their daughter Christine is making her more fully human. She's still the same charmingly brilliant Bones in all matters intellectual - including how she convinces Booth to forgive his mother by repeatedly citing the "myth" of Jesus - but now she has increasing emotional power as well.
Which leads to the second best thing about Booth's mother: After Booth walks her down the aisle for her marriage, she throws the wedding bouquet and it's caught by ... Bones! Now, I make it a point never to look ahead at any descriptions of future episodes, but this catching of the bouquet can only mean that Bones and Booth will be getting married at the end of this season.
Which makes complete sense now, in view of Bones' emotional growth. Why didn't they get married in the first place after they found out about Christine? I think Booth was ready but Bones was not. But now that she is, marriage should be in the cards. Which will make, to borrow an apt word from Angela tonight, for a lot of gruntled viewers, including me.
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
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
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Game of Thrones 3.3: The Heart of Jamie Lannister
As I've said before, my favorite parts of Game of Thrones are the spectres of the north and the dragons of the south - ice and fire - but we've gotten precious little of either so far in season three, after a promising start in the north at the beginning of the debut episode a few weeks ago. What we did get last night was a pretty good episode about Jamie Lannister, always welcome because he's one of the sharpest arch-villains in the series.
What we find about Jamie, first, is that he may have some kind of heart that extends beyond his family. Though there may something in this for himself, Jamie aka Kingslayer actually seems to talk his captor out of killing Brienne, who pretty much bested him in one-to-one combat before the two were taken prisoner. It will be fun and instructive to see where this develops.
And Jamie all but seems to have convinced his captors into letting him go - he certainly was persuasive - only to find that his captor doesn't share what he thinks is Jamie's opinion that Jamie is the smartest man in the world. The Lannisters are indeed uncommonly shrewd, but none of them hold a candle to Tyrion, who at least in part usually gets his way because he combines his keen intelligence with his adversaries - including his father - taking him not as seriously as they should because of his size. Indeed, Tywin puts Tyrion in charge of the treasury, and he's bound to find he regrets that sooner or later.
There was a smidgeon of action in the dragon story, as Daenerys gets herself a new servant - a translator for her negotiating opponent, who treats to us to a series funny attempts to disguise the translator's coarseness to Daenerys.
But I'm eager to see the dragons not only in flight but in combat, and if with the creatures of the bitter north so much the better.
See also Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere
And see also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2 ... Games 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 quote about explicit sex on television, including on Game of Thrones.
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
What we find about Jamie, first, is that he may have some kind of heart that extends beyond his family. Though there may something in this for himself, Jamie aka Kingslayer actually seems to talk his captor out of killing Brienne, who pretty much bested him in one-to-one combat before the two were taken prisoner. It will be fun and instructive to see where this develops.
And Jamie all but seems to have convinced his captors into letting him go - he certainly was persuasive - only to find that his captor doesn't share what he thinks is Jamie's opinion that Jamie is the smartest man in the world. The Lannisters are indeed uncommonly shrewd, but none of them hold a candle to Tyrion, who at least in part usually gets his way because he combines his keen intelligence with his adversaries - including his father - taking him not as seriously as they should because of his size. Indeed, Tywin puts Tyrion in charge of the treasury, and he's bound to find he regrets that sooner or later.
There was a smidgeon of action in the dragon story, as Daenerys gets herself a new servant - a translator for her negotiating opponent, who treats to us to a series funny attempts to disguise the translator's coarseness to Daenerys.
But I'm eager to see the dragons not only in flight but in combat, and if with the creatures of the bitter north so much the better.
See also Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere
And see also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2 ... Games 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 quote about explicit sex on television, including on Game of Thrones.
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Vikings 1.7: Religion and Battle
I greatly enjoyed the end of Haraldson last week - very well presented, though I didn't have a chance to review it - but my favorite part of Vikings is the conflict of cultures between Scandinavia and England. I thus was especially interested in the continuing story of that in last night's episode 1.7.
What's especially noteworthy about this physical and social culture clash is how the Vikings keep managing to best the English, and badly, in each interchange. The first time, ok - the monks of Lindisfarne were like children, as Ragnar aptly said. But the Viking raiders have been facing increasingly sophisticated English defenses, and are getting pretty much the same results: the Vikings sail away laden with treasure and the English are left shaking their heads and vowing revenge.
Lest anyone think this is dramatic overkill, the Viking military superiority over the English shown on Vikings is pretty much the way it happened. And indeed, this was a pattern repeated more than once in history - a pattern of a seemingly less civilized culture running roughshod over a more "advanced" society. It happened most spectacularly when the Mongols conquered more of the world than the Roman Empire, until they were finally turned around in Europe, in Vienna. The Vikings did much the same a half millennium or less earlier, and indeed the fragility of more civilized cultures is still a problem in our world today.
The Vikings did sustain a few losses in last night's battles with the English, and a poignant part of the story involved an elderly Viking warrior wanting to go to Valhalla, which required him getting killed in battle. Ragnar agrees to take him on this raid, the elderly Viking curses his bad luck when he gets out of the first skirmish unscathed, but he's finally mortally wounded in the final battle and he dies with a smile on his face and with Ragnar nodding about the warrior getting what he wanted. It was an effective little tableau about the power of religions which promise blissful afterlives to their warriors who die in battle - which, again, has tragically meaningful implications in our world today.
The fine historical drama of Vikings continues apace ...
See also Vikings ... Vikings 1.2: Lindisfarne ... Vikings 1.3: The Priest ... Vikings 1.4: Twist and Testudo ... Vikings 1.5: Freud and Family
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
What's especially noteworthy about this physical and social culture clash is how the Vikings keep managing to best the English, and badly, in each interchange. The first time, ok - the monks of Lindisfarne were like children, as Ragnar aptly said. But the Viking raiders have been facing increasingly sophisticated English defenses, and are getting pretty much the same results: the Vikings sail away laden with treasure and the English are left shaking their heads and vowing revenge.
Lest anyone think this is dramatic overkill, the Viking military superiority over the English shown on Vikings is pretty much the way it happened. And indeed, this was a pattern repeated more than once in history - a pattern of a seemingly less civilized culture running roughshod over a more "advanced" society. It happened most spectacularly when the Mongols conquered more of the world than the Roman Empire, until they were finally turned around in Europe, in Vienna. The Vikings did much the same a half millennium or less earlier, and indeed the fragility of more civilized cultures is still a problem in our world today.
The Vikings did sustain a few losses in last night's battles with the English, and a poignant part of the story involved an elderly Viking warrior wanting to go to Valhalla, which required him getting killed in battle. Ragnar agrees to take him on this raid, the elderly Viking curses his bad luck when he gets out of the first skirmish unscathed, but he's finally mortally wounded in the final battle and he dies with a smile on his face and with Ragnar nodding about the warrior getting what he wanted. It was an effective little tableau about the power of religions which promise blissful afterlives to their warriors who die in battle - which, again, has tragically meaningful implications in our world today.
The fine historical drama of Vikings continues apace ...
See also Vikings ... Vikings 1.2: Lindisfarne ... Vikings 1.3: The Priest ... Vikings 1.4: Twist and Testudo ... Vikings 1.5: Freud and Family
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
The Good Wife 4.20: Anonymous
I haven't had a chance to review as much of The Good Wife as I would have wanted this season, but that doesn't mean I haven't been very much enjoying the show, which I have. Indeed, I think it's the best season of The Good Wife so far, and episode 4.20 has all the winning ingredients - high tech social media savvy, powerful personal and professional stories, and great courtroom scenes.
Aaron Swartz and Anonymous both figure in the 4.20 story. Swartz, a real life hacker, hounded by the government, who committed suicide just this past January, and Anonymous, a real organization that offers anonymous trenchant criticism and guerrilla reporting, both intersect with Alicia and Will as they pursue a civil suit against a rapist who has managed to beat the criminal charges. Anonymous has been criticized in our reality for hacking sites of major corporations - and I agree with this criticism - but Anonymous has also played a legally protected (under the First Amendment) and important role in providing information and critique of the government not readily available elsewhere.
In The Good Wife, a new organization representing Swartz and his legacy come up with evidence not available in the criminal trial which proves the rapist's guilt. Anonymous members show up in the courtroom donned with Guy Fawk "V" masks - to the judge's consternation - but more importantly get a video out to the world online with the rapist in a position which shows he's lying. The mistrial that's declared is the first step for the rape victim finally getting some justice.
Aside from this powerful story even more "ripped from the headlines" than Law and Order, this episode of The Good Wife gives us a variety of other excellent threads. Diane's chance of getting a judgeship turns out to be in jeopardy not because of her libertarian fiance but because of Will's quasi-disbarment. This sets in a motion a possibility of her turning on Will and leaving the firm, both of which I doubt will happen. But, meanwhile, Alicia may also be tempted to leave the firm, and she gets the details on Cary's move in precisely that direction. And all of this is happening against the backdrop of the smoldering passion between Alicia and Will coming closer to the surface.
A great season, as I said, and I'm looking forward to the two concluding episodes.
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
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
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Aaron Swartz and Anonymous both figure in the 4.20 story. Swartz, a real life hacker, hounded by the government, who committed suicide just this past January, and Anonymous, a real organization that offers anonymous trenchant criticism and guerrilla reporting, both intersect with Alicia and Will as they pursue a civil suit against a rapist who has managed to beat the criminal charges. Anonymous has been criticized in our reality for hacking sites of major corporations - and I agree with this criticism - but Anonymous has also played a legally protected (under the First Amendment) and important role in providing information and critique of the government not readily available elsewhere.
In The Good Wife, a new organization representing Swartz and his legacy come up with evidence not available in the criminal trial which proves the rapist's guilt. Anonymous members show up in the courtroom donned with Guy Fawk "V" masks - to the judge's consternation - but more importantly get a video out to the world online with the rapist in a position which shows he's lying. The mistrial that's declared is the first step for the rape victim finally getting some justice.
Aside from this powerful story even more "ripped from the headlines" than Law and Order, this episode of The Good Wife gives us a variety of other excellent threads. Diane's chance of getting a judgeship turns out to be in jeopardy not because of her libertarian fiance but because of Will's quasi-disbarment. This sets in a motion a possibility of her turning on Will and leaving the firm, both of which I doubt will happen. But, meanwhile, Alicia may also be tempted to leave the firm, and she gets the details on Cary's move in precisely that direction. And all of this is happening against the backdrop of the smoldering passion between Alicia and Will coming closer to the surface.
A great season, as I said, and I'm looking forward to the two concluding episodes.
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
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
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
The Borgias Season 3 Premiere: "Blade's Breath"
One of the challenges of historical drama is how to tell a riveting story involving life and death when the denouement - whether the protagonist lives or dies - is already known. Although it is true, as the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock said, that suspense, or waiting for a bomb to explode on a bus, can have more of an impact in a story than surprise, or a bomb that we didn't know about suddenly exploding, it is also true that knowing that a character cannot die can rob a perilous jeopardy scene of its power. In reality, Rodrigo Borgia - Pope Alexandria VI - died of a fever in 1503. This means that Rodrigo could not have died years earlier of a deadly poison administered by his enemies - not to mention that it would be crazy to take Jeremy Irons, the superb lead actor of The Borgias, off the show. But The Borgias nonetheless managed to pack quite a punch with the poisoning of Rodrigo, and how he and his family managed to survive by a "blade's breath" not only the poisoning but a second attempt to kill Rodrigo and his entire family.
Rodrigo survived the poisoning due to the quick action and medical knowledge of Lucretia, who administers charcoal through a tube she puts in her father's mouth to his stomach. The charcoal gets there just in time to absorb most of the poison, in a series of scenes that are both medically and dramatically satisfying.
But things get even worse for the Borgias, as a new villain - a genius master strategist working for Caterina Sforza - unleashes a plan that puts a blade within inches of the necks of just about everyone in the family. This includes the slowly recovering Rodrigo, who is about to be killed by Cardinal Ascanio Sforza - up to now an uncomfortable more-or-less supporter of Rodrigo - when Cesare bursts into the room. Ascanio manages to put his blade away before Cesare can see it, but we have seen just how close Rodrigo again came to death. And, again, it's exciting to see this - and how everyone in the family were but a "blade's breath" from death as Cesare puts it - even though we know historically that everyone survived.
The blade signals a profound shift in the heft of Borgia enemies. The poison was della Rovere's show, and although he has no shortage in pious cunning, he has none of the massive strategic power Caterina Sforza, who has moved into first place as the anti-Borgia this season. Which means it should an appealing, exciting season indeed.
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
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Rodrigo survived the poisoning due to the quick action and medical knowledge of Lucretia, who administers charcoal through a tube she puts in her father's mouth to his stomach. The charcoal gets there just in time to absorb most of the poison, in a series of scenes that are both medically and dramatically satisfying.
But things get even worse for the Borgias, as a new villain - a genius master strategist working for Caterina Sforza - unleashes a plan that puts a blade within inches of the necks of just about everyone in the family. This includes the slowly recovering Rodrigo, who is about to be killed by Cardinal Ascanio Sforza - up to now an uncomfortable more-or-less supporter of Rodrigo - when Cesare bursts into the room. Ascanio manages to put his blade away before Cesare can see it, but we have seen just how close Rodrigo again came to death. And, again, it's exciting to see this - and how everyone in the family were but a "blade's breath" from death as Cesare puts it - even though we know historically that everyone survived.
The blade signals a profound shift in the heft of Borgia enemies. The poison was della Rovere's show, and although he has no shortage in pious cunning, he has none of the massive strategic power Caterina Sforza, who has moved into first place as the anti-Borgia this season. Which means it should an appealing, exciting season indeed.
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
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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