Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 370
April 9, 2012
Bones 7.8: Parents
Bones continues to break new ground with every episode. Think about it. In the past 60+ years of television, we've had crime fighters, male and female, single and married, some even with kids playing a significant role (for example, 24 and The Shield). But Bones is now on the way to doing it all, and more with each episode.
For most of the series, Bones revolved around a deeply flirtatious, star crossed couple. At the end last season, Bones got pregnant. At the end of last week's episode, Bones and Booth had their baby - Christine. This week, we get to see Bones and Booth at home with the baby, and attempting to wrap their previous and continuing professional lives around Christine.
It can't be an easy thing. Bones and Booth both work in the most demanding jobs imaginable. Though the humor in them and all around them leavens this, their work is no less life-and-death demanding. Can they sustain this work and be the wonderful parents we know them to be?
In one sense, this is a metaphor for all parents. But it's also very real and literal for Bones and Booth. In episode 7.8, they leave Christine in good hands for the day. Like all parents, Bones and Booth wonder if Christine will be ok? Each, in their own way, are distracted by this as they nonetheless give their all and crack the case.
The real question, of course, is not whether Christine be ok, but will Bones and Booth? In the excellent last scene, Bones does not want to stop holding Christine sweetly asleep in her arms. She's missed her baby, apart from her all day. Booth asks if maybe Bones should stay home longer with Christine. Bones answers that it won't be easy, but she wants to continue working as well as being a mother.
So the stage continues to be set for the quintessential 21st century family. Who would have ever imagined that Bones would become a tableau for the best of family values. In an ideal world, we might get to follow this family until Christine became an adult. As it is, we'll have to do well with just a couple of years.
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!
And see also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects ... Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo, and Plymouth Rock ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7: Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ... Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ... Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder ... Bones 6.20: This Very Statement is a Lie ... Bones 6.21: Sensitive Bones ... Bones 6.22: Phoenix Love ... Bones Season 6 Finale: Beautiful
And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ... Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ... Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ... Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ... Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution
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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
For most of the series, Bones revolved around a deeply flirtatious, star crossed couple. At the end last season, Bones got pregnant. At the end of last week's episode, Bones and Booth had their baby - Christine. This week, we get to see Bones and Booth at home with the baby, and attempting to wrap their previous and continuing professional lives around Christine.
It can't be an easy thing. Bones and Booth both work in the most demanding jobs imaginable. Though the humor in them and all around them leavens this, their work is no less life-and-death demanding. Can they sustain this work and be the wonderful parents we know them to be?
In one sense, this is a metaphor for all parents. But it's also very real and literal for Bones and Booth. In episode 7.8, they leave Christine in good hands for the day. Like all parents, Bones and Booth wonder if Christine will be ok? Each, in their own way, are distracted by this as they nonetheless give their all and crack the case.
The real question, of course, is not whether Christine be ok, but will Bones and Booth? In the excellent last scene, Bones does not want to stop holding Christine sweetly asleep in her arms. She's missed her baby, apart from her all day. Booth asks if maybe Bones should stay home longer with Christine. Bones answers that it won't be easy, but she wants to continue working as well as being a mother.
So the stage continues to be set for the quintessential 21st century family. Who would have ever imagined that Bones would become a tableau for the best of family values. In an ideal world, we might get to follow this family until Christine became an adult. As it is, we'll have to do well with just a couple of years.
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!
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
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Awake 1.6: Popper's Penguin
Another excellent Awake last Thursday - 1.6 - which, like all the episodes, teaches us something profound and useful about Britten's condition. Indeed, the show in effect makes use of philosopher Karl Popper's observation that we increase our knowledge not by finding or proving what's true, but by proving what's not true - and thereby increasing our knowledge by subtracting what's false. If we think all swans are white, and see a million white swans, we haven't proven that all swans are white - the very next one may be black. But as soon as we see one black swan, we now know that all swans are not white.In Awake 1.6, we get a penguin not a swan, and like all penguins, it's black as well as white. But this penguin is different from Popper's swan, white or black, because of the important fact that it's hallucinatory. Now, an imaginary swan of any color would do Popper's epistemology no good at all - it would say nothing about the nature of real swans in the world - but the imaginary penguin in Awake provides us with an important lesson:
If Britten can hallucinate, and pretty quickly realize that what he's seeing is an hallucination, then that suggests that what he usually sees in yellow and blue worlds is real. True, Dr. Lee shows up as an hallucination, but that's only after Britten is given ketamine in this "real" world. Which suggests to me, again, that we don't need quotes around "real" in either world.
Yes, I can see that the penguin could also be a metaphor or a symbol for the whole series, and the "fact" that one or both worlds are really dreams, but, as I've been saying (actually, writing) about this series from the beginning, that would be an obvious and too-easy resolution for what Britten is going through.
If have an interest in philosophy, and the finer intellectual things in life, you just gotta love Awake. Where else can you get a review of a television show with relevance to Karl Popper's der Logik der Forschung.
See also Awake ... Awake 1.2: "Whole" Family ... Awake 1.3: Frequency of Yellow and Blue ... Awake 1.4: The Baker and the Hooker ... Awake 1.5: Stretching a Dream
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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Game of Thrones 2.2: Cersei vs. Tyrion
The best part of Game of Thrones 2.2 last night was the brother-sister conversation/confrontation between Tyrion and Cersei. Tyrion knows and gets everything Cersei has been up to - he even thinks she gave the order to kill all of Robert's bastards, and is mildly surprised to find that it was Joffrey's idea and he who gave the order.
Cersei usually outwits and outplays in the game of the thrones just about everyone - not only Little Finger, as we saw last week, and of course Robert last year, but even Eddard Stark, as we also saw last year. Cersei is prone to kill anyone who knows her and Jamie's secret - anyone likely to really do something about it - and this was the reason that Eddard had to die, risky and provocative of bloodshed and war as that was.
Tryrion, the one person other than Jamie who knows this but is in no real danger from Cersei, sees things differently. He would not have killed Ned, and wants to return his bones to his family as a gesture of respect and civility. He's not in favor of slaying the bastards. Having been to the northern wall, he also realizes what lies behind is a real danger - scoffed at by Cersei.
I haven't read the books beyond the first volume, so I'm predicting just based on what we now know, but it's becoming ever more clear that the imp has the greatest survival chances of not only of his family, but of most all the families in Game of Thrones. He's certainly one of the most appealing characters. As just a small example of his survival quotient, he dismisses the Captain of the Guards who follows Joffrey's orders and replaces him with his own man. Tyrion can do this as the Hand.
The Queen is stronger than the Hand in terms of formal power, but not necessarily with Tyrion as the Hand. Meanwhile, in other doings, Arya has some expected difficulties in her feigning young malehood, Snow's in trouble with that uber-polygamous creep with many wives-daughter, and Greyjoy really enjoys a close ride on horse with his sister, before he finds out that she's his sister. An incestuous bunch, these gamers of thrones. Still not much doing with the dragons - but they're like sleeping giants who will soon arise.
See also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2
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
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Cersei usually outwits and outplays in the game of the thrones just about everyone - not only Little Finger, as we saw last week, and of course Robert last year, but even Eddard Stark, as we also saw last year. Cersei is prone to kill anyone who knows her and Jamie's secret - anyone likely to really do something about it - and this was the reason that Eddard had to die, risky and provocative of bloodshed and war as that was.
Tryrion, the one person other than Jamie who knows this but is in no real danger from Cersei, sees things differently. He would not have killed Ned, and wants to return his bones to his family as a gesture of respect and civility. He's not in favor of slaying the bastards. Having been to the northern wall, he also realizes what lies behind is a real danger - scoffed at by Cersei.
I haven't read the books beyond the first volume, so I'm predicting just based on what we now know, but it's becoming ever more clear that the imp has the greatest survival chances of not only of his family, but of most all the families in Game of Thrones. He's certainly one of the most appealing characters. As just a small example of his survival quotient, he dismisses the Captain of the Guards who follows Joffrey's orders and replaces him with his own man. Tyrion can do this as the Hand.
The Queen is stronger than the Hand in terms of formal power, but not necessarily with Tyrion as the Hand. Meanwhile, in other doings, Arya has some expected difficulties in her feigning young malehood, Snow's in trouble with that uber-polygamous creep with many wives-daughter, and Greyjoy really enjoys a close ride on horse with his sister, before he finds out that she's his sister. An incestuous bunch, these gamers of thrones. Still not much doing with the dragons - but they're like sleeping giants who will soon arise.
See also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2
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
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 8, 2012
The Killing 2.2: Holder
As intrepid as Linden is, she's never going to catch Rosie's killer entirely on her own - there are just too many people and obstacles in the way of that. She needs Holder. In The Killing 2.2, the two get back together.
Holder is in some crucial ways as powerful a character as Linden. He's weaker - ethically - than Linden. But that means he has to struggle more, win a victory over himself, in order to get back on the path of doing the right thing. He did this last week, when he proved that his superiors just wanted to bury the Rosie case - not really do anything to find her real killer. Linden realizes this tonight, and she pulls Holder back from some brink and back into partnership with her.
They'll need all the help they can get. The mob boss - Yanic - bald-facedly lies to Stan, to get him off the track of the real killer, which evidence that we and Linden and Holder are beginning to see is pointing in Yanic's mob's direction. Of course, we've gotten lots of false leads in this story before, but sooner or later one is bound to pan out.
The greatest strength of The Killing remains the portrait it provides of Rosie's family in the aftermath of her death. Tonight we see Mitch in a tryst with a guy she picks up in a bar, desperate for some kind of feeling. It's another facet of a family unraveling, disintegrating, understandably unable to come to tems with the brutal loss of Rosie. Mitch's sister is the only one holding them together.
Jamie is also a hero, doing his best to keep Richmond afloat. The candidate at first can't accept that he'll never walk again, but begins to see the harsh truth by the end of the episode. Does he still have a chance to get elected and a role in finding Rosie's killer? I'd say yes to both.
See also The Killing Season Two Premiere
And see also The Killing on AMC and The Killing 1.3: Early Suspects ... The Killing 1.5: Memorable Moments ... The Killing 1.6: The Teacher ... The Killing 1.8: The Teacher, Again ... The Killing 1.9: The Teacher as Victim, Again ... The Killing 1.10: Running Out of Suspects ... The Killing 1.11: Rosie's Missing - from the Story ... The Killing 1.12: Is Orpheus the Killer? ... The Killing 1.13: Stretching Television
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic,
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Holder is in some crucial ways as powerful a character as Linden. He's weaker - ethically - than Linden. But that means he has to struggle more, win a victory over himself, in order to get back on the path of doing the right thing. He did this last week, when he proved that his superiors just wanted to bury the Rosie case - not really do anything to find her real killer. Linden realizes this tonight, and she pulls Holder back from some brink and back into partnership with her.
They'll need all the help they can get. The mob boss - Yanic - bald-facedly lies to Stan, to get him off the track of the real killer, which evidence that we and Linden and Holder are beginning to see is pointing in Yanic's mob's direction. Of course, we've gotten lots of false leads in this story before, but sooner or later one is bound to pan out.
The greatest strength of The Killing remains the portrait it provides of Rosie's family in the aftermath of her death. Tonight we see Mitch in a tryst with a guy she picks up in a bar, desperate for some kind of feeling. It's another facet of a family unraveling, disintegrating, understandably unable to come to tems with the brutal loss of Rosie. Mitch's sister is the only one holding them together.
Jamie is also a hero, doing his best to keep Richmond afloat. The candidate at first can't accept that he'll never walk again, but begins to see the harsh truth by the end of the episode. Does he still have a chance to get elected and a role in finding Rosie's killer? I'd say yes to both.
See also The Killing Season Two Premiere
And see also The Killing on AMC and The Killing 1.3: Early Suspects ... The Killing 1.5: Memorable Moments ... The Killing 1.6: The Teacher ... The Killing 1.8: The Teacher, Again ... The Killing 1.9: The Teacher as Victim, Again ... The Killing 1.10: Running Out of Suspects ... The Killing 1.11: Rosie's Missing - from the Story ... The Killing 1.12: Is Orpheus the Killer? ... The Killing 1.13: Stretching Television
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic,
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Mad Men 5.4: Volunteer, Dream, Trust
Three fine stories in Mad Men 5.4 tonight -
Greg's back home on leave from Vietnam. I wrote a few weeks ago that I didn't see much of a future for Joan and him - an obvious point, because she and Roger belong together - but I was thinking Greg just wouldn't come home. Tonight provided a better solution: Greg comes home, but soon tells Joan that he's volunteered for another tour in Vietnam. Joan tells him to leave and never come back. She and her baby - which is Roger's - will be better off without Greg, even if Joan and Roger don't get together, which I expect they will.
Meanwhile, Don has a bad cold with cough, and runs into an old flame in the office elevator with Megan. Not clear how old the flame is - did they sleep together before or after Don married Megan? Don tells Megan it was before, but with Don you never know. He eventually goes home to sleep the cold off, but the flame shows up at his door. He says go away but lets her in, they sleep together, and when she comes back for another round, Don strangles her to death. Not to worry, it's just a dream (pretty clear that it was, especially with the strangling). Does this dream symbolize that Don has throttled his extra-marital proclivities? Probably not - but it was a good dream.
And the third good story has Peggy offering her couch to Dawn for the night. Peggy has qualms that Dawn may steal money from Peggy's pocketbook, but Peggy stops short of saying anything to Dawn. Morning comes, Dawn is gone, and the pocketbook is on the table with a note of thanks to Peggy. Her trust was justified. It was one of most uplifting moments of the series, in a series with otherwise few uplifting moments.
One story which was not at all uplifting, and more in line with Mad Men's typical ambiance, is the current event de jour for the episode: Richard Speck's torture, rape, and murder of eight student nurses in Chicago in July 1966. Women ranging from Peggy and Megan in the office to Henry's mother at home are more fascinated, even titillated, than horrified by the story, especially the crime-scene naked photos brought into the office. Was that an accurate portrayal of women at the beginning of the sexual and feminist revolutions? Dunno - I wasn't in any comparable office at the time.
See also Mad Men Season 5 Debut: It's Don's Party ... Mad Men 5.3: Heinz Is On My Side
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
20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Greg's back home on leave from Vietnam. I wrote a few weeks ago that I didn't see much of a future for Joan and him - an obvious point, because she and Roger belong together - but I was thinking Greg just wouldn't come home. Tonight provided a better solution: Greg comes home, but soon tells Joan that he's volunteered for another tour in Vietnam. Joan tells him to leave and never come back. She and her baby - which is Roger's - will be better off without Greg, even if Joan and Roger don't get together, which I expect they will.
Meanwhile, Don has a bad cold with cough, and runs into an old flame in the office elevator with Megan. Not clear how old the flame is - did they sleep together before or after Don married Megan? Don tells Megan it was before, but with Don you never know. He eventually goes home to sleep the cold off, but the flame shows up at his door. He says go away but lets her in, they sleep together, and when she comes back for another round, Don strangles her to death. Not to worry, it's just a dream (pretty clear that it was, especially with the strangling). Does this dream symbolize that Don has throttled his extra-marital proclivities? Probably not - but it was a good dream.
And the third good story has Peggy offering her couch to Dawn for the night. Peggy has qualms that Dawn may steal money from Peggy's pocketbook, but Peggy stops short of saying anything to Dawn. Morning comes, Dawn is gone, and the pocketbook is on the table with a note of thanks to Peggy. Her trust was justified. It was one of most uplifting moments of the series, in a series with otherwise few uplifting moments.
One story which was not at all uplifting, and more in line with Mad Men's typical ambiance, is the current event de jour for the episode: Richard Speck's torture, rape, and murder of eight student nurses in Chicago in July 1966. Women ranging from Peggy and Megan in the office to Henry's mother at home are more fascinated, even titillated, than horrified by the story, especially the crime-scene naked photos brought into the office. Was that an accurate portrayal of women at the beginning of the sexual and feminist revolutions? Dunno - I wasn't in any comparable office at the time.
See also Mad Men Season 5 Debut: It's Don's Party ... Mad Men 5.3: Heinz Is On My Side
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
20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through
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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 7, 2012
Fringe 4.17: Second Chances
Another tip-top Fringe last night - 4.17 - which delivered on a good, possible advantage of having an alternate reality at hand: a place to get a second chance at what didn't quite work out right for you in this reality.
The pinpoint character in Lincoln Lee, whom we first met years ago in the alt-reality, along with Fauxlivia and Walternate. He was my favorite new character over there - favorite among people whose alternates we did not already know over here. He and Fauxlivia looked and worked great together.
Over here, Lincoln has specs and is more cerebral than his counterpart (memorable alternate acting by Seth Gabel). He was starting to fall in love with Olivia, but Peter's return pre-empted any romantic feelings she might have been starting to feel for Lee, not to mention her loss of memory. Thinking there might be something more over there, or at least of pertinence to his life and the loss of his partner, our Lincoln goes over to the other side.
It was an excellent, action filled show. But in the denouement, alt-Lee is killed by a sniper's bullet meant for his prisoner. Our Lincoln decides to stay on the other side, for at least a little while. But I have a feeling it will be for a lot longer. On the other side, Lincoln could have Olivia - an Olivia - after all.
Fringe has opened up the possibility of a new kind of happy ending. You may not be able to go home again, but you can travel to an alternate home where, if the circumstances allow, you can get a second shot of putting it all together. Happy endings, alternate reality style.
Hey, check out my essay The Return of 1950s Science Fiction in Fringe in this new anthology
See also Fringe Returns for Season 4: Almost with Peter ... Fringe 4.2: Better and Worse Selves ... Fringe 4.3: Sanity and Son ... Fringe 4.4: Peter's Back, Ectoplasm, and McLuhan ... Fringe 4.5: Double Return ... Fringe 4.6: Time Slips ... Fringe 4.7: The Invisible Man ... Fringe 4.8: The Ramifications of Transformed Alternate Realities ... Fringe 4.9: Elizabeth ... Fringe 4.10: Deceit and Future Vision ... Fringe 4.11: Alternate Astrid ... Fringe 4.12: Double Westfield / Single Olivia ... Fringe 4.13: Tea and Telepathy ... Fringe 4.14: Palimpsest ... Fringe 4.15: I Knew It! ... Fringe 4.16: Walter Likes Yiddish
See also Fringe 3.1: The Other Olivia ... Fringe 3.2: Bad Olivia and Peter ... Fringe 3.3: Our/Their Olivia on the Other Side ... Fringe 3.5: Back from Hiatus, Back from the Amber ... Fringe 3.7: Two Universes Still Nearing Collision ... Fringe 3.8: Long Voyages Home ... Fringe 3.10: The Return of the Eternal Bald Observers ... Flowers for Fringenon in Fringe 3.11 ... Fringe 3.12: The Wrong Coffee ... Fringe 3.13: Alternate Fringe ... Fringe 3.14: Amber Here ... Fringe 3.15: Young Peter and Olivia ... Fringe 3.16: Walter and Yoko ... Fringe 3.17: Bell, Olivia, Lee, and the Cow ... Fringe 3.18: Clever Walternate ... Fringe 3.19 meets Inception, The Walking Dead, Tron ... Fringe 3.20: Countdown to Season 3 Finale 1 of 3 ... Fringe 3.21: Ben Frankin, Rimbaldi, and the Future ... Fringe Season 3 Finale: Here's What Happened ... Death Not Death in Fringe
See also reviews of Season 2: Top Notch Return of Fringe Second Season ... Fringe 2.2 and The Mole People ... Fringe 2.3 and the Human Body as Bomb ... Fringe 2.4 Unfolds and Takes Wing ... Fringe 2.5: Peter in Alternate Reality and Wi-Fi for the Mind ... A Different Stripe of Fringe in 2.6 ... The Kid Who Changed Minds in Fringe 2.7 ... Fringe 2.8: The Eternal Bald Observers ... Fringe 2.9: Walter's Journey ... Fringe 2.10: Walter's Brain, Harry Potter, and Flowers for Algernon ... New Fringe on Monday Night: In Alternate Universe? ... Fringe 2.12: Classic Science Fiction Chiante ... Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again" ... Fringe 2.14: Walter's Health, Books, and Father ... Fringe 2.15: I'll Take 'Manhatan' ... Fringe 2.16: Peter's Story ... Fringe 2.17: Will Olivia Tell Peter? ... Fringe 2.18: Strangeness on a Train ... Fringe 2.19: Two Plus Infinity ... Fringe the Noir Musical ... Fringe 2.21: Bring on the Alternates ... Fringe 2.22: Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming ... Fringe Season 2 Finale: The Switch
See also reviews of Season One Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Times ... 11. A Traitor, a Crimimal, and a Lunatic ... 12, 13, 14: Fringe and Teleportation ... 15: Fringe is Back with Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Men ... 17. Fringe in New York, with Oliva as Her Suspect ... 18. Heroes and Villains across Fringe ... Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe ... Fringe Alternate Reality Finale: Science Fiction At Its Best
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
The pinpoint character in Lincoln Lee, whom we first met years ago in the alt-reality, along with Fauxlivia and Walternate. He was my favorite new character over there - favorite among people whose alternates we did not already know over here. He and Fauxlivia looked and worked great together.
Over here, Lincoln has specs and is more cerebral than his counterpart (memorable alternate acting by Seth Gabel). He was starting to fall in love with Olivia, but Peter's return pre-empted any romantic feelings she might have been starting to feel for Lee, not to mention her loss of memory. Thinking there might be something more over there, or at least of pertinence to his life and the loss of his partner, our Lincoln goes over to the other side.
It was an excellent, action filled show. But in the denouement, alt-Lee is killed by a sniper's bullet meant for his prisoner. Our Lincoln decides to stay on the other side, for at least a little while. But I have a feeling it will be for a lot longer. On the other side, Lincoln could have Olivia - an Olivia - after all.
Fringe has opened up the possibility of a new kind of happy ending. You may not be able to go home again, but you can travel to an alternate home where, if the circumstances allow, you can get a second shot of putting it all together. Happy endings, alternate reality style.
Hey, check out my essay The Return of 1950s Science Fiction in Fringe in this new anthology
See also Fringe Returns for Season 4: Almost with Peter ... Fringe 4.2: Better and Worse Selves ... Fringe 4.3: Sanity and Son ... Fringe 4.4: Peter's Back, Ectoplasm, and McLuhan ... Fringe 4.5: Double Return ... Fringe 4.6: Time Slips ... Fringe 4.7: The Invisible Man ... Fringe 4.8: The Ramifications of Transformed Alternate Realities ... Fringe 4.9: Elizabeth ... Fringe 4.10: Deceit and Future Vision ... Fringe 4.11: Alternate Astrid ... Fringe 4.12: Double Westfield / Single Olivia ... Fringe 4.13: Tea and Telepathy ... Fringe 4.14: Palimpsest ... Fringe 4.15: I Knew It! ... Fringe 4.16: Walter Likes Yiddish
See also Fringe 3.1: The Other Olivia ... Fringe 3.2: Bad Olivia and Peter ... Fringe 3.3: Our/Their Olivia on the Other Side ... Fringe 3.5: Back from Hiatus, Back from the Amber ... Fringe 3.7: Two Universes Still Nearing Collision ... Fringe 3.8: Long Voyages Home ... Fringe 3.10: The Return of the Eternal Bald Observers ... Flowers for Fringenon in Fringe 3.11 ... Fringe 3.12: The Wrong Coffee ... Fringe 3.13: Alternate Fringe ... Fringe 3.14: Amber Here ... Fringe 3.15: Young Peter and Olivia ... Fringe 3.16: Walter and Yoko ... Fringe 3.17: Bell, Olivia, Lee, and the Cow ... Fringe 3.18: Clever Walternate ... Fringe 3.19 meets Inception, The Walking Dead, Tron ... Fringe 3.20: Countdown to Season 3 Finale 1 of 3 ... Fringe 3.21: Ben Frankin, Rimbaldi, and the Future ... Fringe Season 3 Finale: Here's What Happened ... Death Not Death in Fringe
See also reviews of Season 2: Top Notch Return of Fringe Second Season ... Fringe 2.2 and The Mole People ... Fringe 2.3 and the Human Body as Bomb ... Fringe 2.4 Unfolds and Takes Wing ... Fringe 2.5: Peter in Alternate Reality and Wi-Fi for the Mind ... A Different Stripe of Fringe in 2.6 ... The Kid Who Changed Minds in Fringe 2.7 ... Fringe 2.8: The Eternal Bald Observers ... Fringe 2.9: Walter's Journey ... Fringe 2.10: Walter's Brain, Harry Potter, and Flowers for Algernon ... New Fringe on Monday Night: In Alternate Universe? ... Fringe 2.12: Classic Science Fiction Chiante ... Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again" ... Fringe 2.14: Walter's Health, Books, and Father ... Fringe 2.15: I'll Take 'Manhatan' ... Fringe 2.16: Peter's Story ... Fringe 2.17: Will Olivia Tell Peter? ... Fringe 2.18: Strangeness on a Train ... Fringe 2.19: Two Plus Infinity ... Fringe the Noir Musical ... Fringe 2.21: Bring on the Alternates ... Fringe 2.22: Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming ... Fringe Season 2 Finale: The Switch
See also reviews of Season One Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Times ... 11. A Traitor, a Crimimal, and a Lunatic ... 12, 13, 14: Fringe and Teleportation ... 15: Fringe is Back with Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Men ... 17. Fringe in New York, with Oliva as Her Suspect ... 18. Heroes and Villains across Fringe ... Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe ... Fringe Alternate Reality Finale: Science Fiction At Its Best
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 2, 2012
House 8.15: Fake Out
I've watched a lot of television, and I'm usually not taken in by deceptive advertising - but I have to admit I was tonight, regarding House 8.15, and I liked it.
All week and longer we've seen ads for the final 8 episodes of House, and tonight's in particular, telling us that House himself would have a life-and-death crisis - that is, a crisis about House's health, and his own life and death.
And, sure enough, we find that House may have a deteriorating liver, the result of his constant vicodin intact. Of the team, only Chase doubts it - and thinks House may be testing the team, trying to ferret out who would be rat, the most likely to tell Foreman about House's condition. But tests confirm that House's liver is amiss, and Chase, as well as Wilson, all come to believe that House is in serious physical peril.
I was thinking - I wish the ads for the show hadn't given this away - would've been nice to really wonder if House was really sick or putting his team to the test. But, hey, that's the way with show promotions, they often spill the beans. So House was really sick, and -
Guess what - it turns out he isn't, and not only did House fool his team, but the show's promos fooled me, and made the show much more interesting by lying to us.
I wonder what the next seven episodes have in store us. Maybe House will get sick for real - vicodin is vicodin. Or - no, I won't get fooled again. Or maybe I will, and enjoy it .... Good to see that House still has some punches.
See also House 8.2: Patient Lungs ... House 8.3: Dr. Adams and Thirteen ... House 8.5: The Congenital Liar
And see also House and Cuddy on the Other Side in Season 7 Premiere ... House 7.2: House and Cuddy, Chapter 2 ... House 7.3: The Author and the White Lie ... House 7.9: The Vilda Chaya ... House 7.11: The Patient's Most Important Right ... House 7.14: House, Death, and Cuddy ... House 7.16: Broken Hearts and their Repair ... House 7.17: Deadly Healthy Diet ... House 7.18: Thirteen Mysterious ... House 7.19: Rules ... House 7.20: Cuddy's Mother as Catalyst ... House Season 7 Finale: In Paradise
And see also House Reborn in Season Six? ... 6.2: The Gang is Back and Fractured ... 6.3: The Saving Hitler Quandary ... 6.4: Diagnosis vs. Karma ... 6.5 Getting Better ... 6.6 House Around the Bases ... Four's a Crowd on House 6.7 ... House 6.8 and the Reverse of Flowers for Algernon ... House 6.9: Wilson ... House 6.10: Back in Business ... House 6.11: Making Amends, Mending Fences, and a Psychopath ... House 6.12: The Progression to Mensch ... House 6.13: Cuddy's Perspective ... House Meets Blogger in 6.14 ... House 6.15: About Taub ... House 6.16: Revealing Couples ... House 6.17: Socrates on Steroids ... House 6.18: Open Marriage
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic, Mozy
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
All week and longer we've seen ads for the final 8 episodes of House, and tonight's in particular, telling us that House himself would have a life-and-death crisis - that is, a crisis about House's health, and his own life and death.
And, sure enough, we find that House may have a deteriorating liver, the result of his constant vicodin intact. Of the team, only Chase doubts it - and thinks House may be testing the team, trying to ferret out who would be rat, the most likely to tell Foreman about House's condition. But tests confirm that House's liver is amiss, and Chase, as well as Wilson, all come to believe that House is in serious physical peril.
I was thinking - I wish the ads for the show hadn't given this away - would've been nice to really wonder if House was really sick or putting his team to the test. But, hey, that's the way with show promotions, they often spill the beans. So House was really sick, and -
Guess what - it turns out he isn't, and not only did House fool his team, but the show's promos fooled me, and made the show much more interesting by lying to us.
I wonder what the next seven episodes have in store us. Maybe House will get sick for real - vicodin is vicodin. Or - no, I won't get fooled again. Or maybe I will, and enjoy it .... Good to see that House still has some punches.
See also House 8.2: Patient Lungs ... House 8.3: Dr. Adams and Thirteen ... House 8.5: The Congenital Liar
And see also House and Cuddy on the Other Side in Season 7 Premiere ... House 7.2: House and Cuddy, Chapter 2 ... House 7.3: The Author and the White Lie ... House 7.9: The Vilda Chaya ... House 7.11: The Patient's Most Important Right ... House 7.14: House, Death, and Cuddy ... House 7.16: Broken Hearts and their Repair ... House 7.17: Deadly Healthy Diet ... House 7.18: Thirteen Mysterious ... House 7.19: Rules ... House 7.20: Cuddy's Mother as Catalyst ... House Season 7 Finale: In Paradise
And see also House Reborn in Season Six? ... 6.2: The Gang is Back and Fractured ... 6.3: The Saving Hitler Quandary ... 6.4: Diagnosis vs. Karma ... 6.5 Getting Better ... 6.6 House Around the Bases ... Four's a Crowd on House 6.7 ... House 6.8 and the Reverse of Flowers for Algernon ... House 6.9: Wilson ... House 6.10: Back in Business ... House 6.11: Making Amends, Mending Fences, and a Psychopath ... House 6.12: The Progression to Mensch ... House 6.13: Cuddy's Perspective ... House Meets Blogger in 6.14 ... House 6.15: About Taub ... House 6.16: Revealing Couples ... House 6.17: Socrates on Steroids ... House 6.18: Open Marriage
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic, Mozy
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Bones 7.7: Baby!
The last 10 or so minutes of Bones 7.7 were pure gold. Bones, highly pregnant, and Booth in a prison riot, but with just right touch of lightness to make the scene hilarious. Then, Bones and Booth in the car when Bones goes into labor - also presented in just the right way to be hilarious. Bones winds up giving birth in a manger with a horse and Booth in attendance - also laughing-out-loud funny but now verging into just beautiful. And the ending, Bones and Booth at home with the baby and the gang was just plain wonderful. An instantly classic series of scene that were immensely satisfying and only Bones could present.
Now, ordinarily, I'd segue in the review to my favorite line in the show, something funny and profound that Sweets or someone said, or even some thoughts about the case, the villain, and how he or she was nabbed.
But that's for regularly excellent episodes of Bones, and tonight's show, especially the ending described above, was especially excellent. Ordinarily, an ending like this if it came along might be the series finale, or the season's finale. But here it is, in the middle of the season.
So where do we go from here?
I think I'll talk about that next week, and leave this review to the baby, and how good it was to see Bones and Booth not only in love but such happy parents. The series, ostensibly about death or its investigation was always really about life, and never more so than tonight. Congratulations, Bone and Booth and all the talent that created Christine Angela.
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
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
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Now, ordinarily, I'd segue in the review to my favorite line in the show, something funny and profound that Sweets or someone said, or even some thoughts about the case, the villain, and how he or she was nabbed.
But that's for regularly excellent episodes of Bones, and tonight's show, especially the ending described above, was especially excellent. Ordinarily, an ending like this if it came along might be the series finale, or the season's finale. But here it is, in the middle of the season.
So where do we go from here?
I think I'll talk about that next week, and leave this review to the baby, and how good it was to see Bones and Booth not only in love but such happy parents. The series, ostensibly about death or its investigation was always really about life, and never more so than tonight. Congratulations, Bone and Booth and all the talent that created Christine Angela.
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
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
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2: Power Is Power
My favorite scene in the Season 2 premiere of Game of Thrones on HBO last night was Cersei tutoring Little Finger in the realities of power. He seeks advantage over her by indicating that he knows King Joffrey Baratheon is not really a Baratheon. "Knowledge his power," advises Little Finger, archly. She responds by ordering her guard to put knives to Little Finger's neck and slit his throat. Then she says she's changed her mind and orders them to withdraw. "Power is power," she now replies with words. An important and a sage indication of what really counts most in Game of Thrones: raw, unapologetic power.
My second favorite scene also includes Cersei, this time with Joffrey present, who also raises the question of his lineage and asks Cersei if she actually slept with her brother and who knows who else. She slaps her son. He replies that she just committed a capital offense, and indeed he'll order her execution should she ever do it again. Another reminder of stark with a small "s" power - even a childish King can wield it, and kill just about anyone he pleases.
Back in dragon land, no one has much power, including Daenerys and her fledgling brood. There's a comet in the sky, that everyone in every land sees, and it's a reminder of just how far Daenerys's dragons are from getting into the sky and doing damage,
There's not much action up north, either, though it's now agreed that the long summer is ending, which will be followed by a long winter. It was good to see a dire wolf again, but, speaking of these fierce and loyal animals, I still don't get why none charged forth to protect Eddard, and why none comes forth now to protect Sansa from Joffrey. Power is power, as Cersei says, but the dire wolf unexpectedly attacking should be more powerful than any king.
And so the stage is set. Tyrion's in good form, new characters are on hand including a fire priestess and a sicko with numerous wives who are also his daughters, and I'm looking forward to the fights, the flights, and the winter.
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
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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
My second favorite scene also includes Cersei, this time with Joffrey present, who also raises the question of his lineage and asks Cersei if she actually slept with her brother and who knows who else. She slaps her son. He replies that she just committed a capital offense, and indeed he'll order her execution should she ever do it again. Another reminder of stark with a small "s" power - even a childish King can wield it, and kill just about anyone he pleases.
Back in dragon land, no one has much power, including Daenerys and her fledgling brood. There's a comet in the sky, that everyone in every land sees, and it's a reminder of just how far Daenerys's dragons are from getting into the sky and doing damage,
There's not much action up north, either, though it's now agreed that the long summer is ending, which will be followed by a long winter. It was good to see a dire wolf again, but, speaking of these fierce and loyal animals, I still don't get why none charged forth to protect Eddard, and why none comes forth now to protect Sansa from Joffrey. Power is power, as Cersei says, but the dire wolf unexpectedly attacking should be more powerful than any king.
And so the stage is set. Tyrion's in good form, new characters are on hand including a fire priestess and a sicko with numerous wives who are also his daughters, and I'm looking forward to the fights, the flights, and the winter.
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
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 1, 2012
The Killing Season 2 Premiere
Lots of critics were complaining that The Killing did not reveal Rosie's killer at the end of Season One. They prophesied a mass abandonment of the show this second season, as frustrated fans with short attention spans turned elsewhere. I certainly hope not, for their sake - the first two hours of the new season were just superb!
The very end of last season brought us Holder in cahoots with corrupt forces to nab Richmond as Rosie's killer, via a doctored photograph. Holder is sure that Richmond is the killer, and just wants to move the process along and Linden out of town by closing the case. Linden's on a plane waiting to take off, and gets a call that the photograph was taken when the cameras on the bridge were down. And Richmond, before the police have a chance to arrest him, gets shot by Belko.
This season begins with Linden and Jack leaving the plane - she knows the photo's fake, and is determined to find a real solution to the case - only to learn on a television screen at the airport that Richmond was shot. Jack thinks he was killed, but he's still alive, barely. Holder's in a car with Lt. Gil Sloane (the shady cop in someone's pocket who's working to frame Richmond), when Holder gets a call about Richmond's shooting. Gil could care less.
But Holder cares, and these first two hours tell the fascinating, painful story of Holder starting to move from the dark side back to the honest light of finding Rosie's killer. The real killer, or someone in contact with him (or her), leaves Rosie's bag in front of the Larson home. Holder brings it in for analysis, finds his boss Lt. Oakes' approach suspicious - Oakes doesn't want the bag assigned to the usual forensics man - and Holder gives Stu (Oakes' forensics guy) a bogus bag for analysis. When the report comes back with Rosie's prints, Holder has his proof that his department is up to no good on this. It will be a while before Linden can in any way trust and work with him again, but the wheels are in motion for Holder's redemption.
Linden, for her part, finally finds where Richmond was after he left Gwen on the night of Rosie's murder - he was trying to commit suicide in the water. He didn't succeed, decided to live, but didn't want word to get out about this, lest it ruin his campaign (who's going to vote for someone who tried to commit suicide?). We find out now, in the hospital, that he'll live, but he'll be paralyzed for life. Seeking office from a wheelchair could actually make him a more appealing candidate. If he decides to continue the campaign, he'll have the loyal and brilliant Jamie Wright at his side, who puts in another heroic performance tonight.
And so the second season is off and running - even better, I'd say, then the first season as this point - with screws turning and daggers flying in all kinds of directions.
See also The Killing on AMC and The Killing 1.3: Early Suspects ... The Killing 1.5: Memorable Moments ... The Killing 1.6: The Teacher ... The Killing 1.8: The Teacher, Again ... The Killing 1.9: The Teacher as Victim, Again ... The Killing 1.10: Running Out of Suspects ... The Killing 1.11: Rosie's Missing - from the Story ... The Killing 1.12: Is Orpheus the Killer? ... The Killing 1.13: Stretching Television
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic, Mozy
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
The very end of last season brought us Holder in cahoots with corrupt forces to nab Richmond as Rosie's killer, via a doctored photograph. Holder is sure that Richmond is the killer, and just wants to move the process along and Linden out of town by closing the case. Linden's on a plane waiting to take off, and gets a call that the photograph was taken when the cameras on the bridge were down. And Richmond, before the police have a chance to arrest him, gets shot by Belko.
This season begins with Linden and Jack leaving the plane - she knows the photo's fake, and is determined to find a real solution to the case - only to learn on a television screen at the airport that Richmond was shot. Jack thinks he was killed, but he's still alive, barely. Holder's in a car with Lt. Gil Sloane (the shady cop in someone's pocket who's working to frame Richmond), when Holder gets a call about Richmond's shooting. Gil could care less.But Holder cares, and these first two hours tell the fascinating, painful story of Holder starting to move from the dark side back to the honest light of finding Rosie's killer. The real killer, or someone in contact with him (or her), leaves Rosie's bag in front of the Larson home. Holder brings it in for analysis, finds his boss Lt. Oakes' approach suspicious - Oakes doesn't want the bag assigned to the usual forensics man - and Holder gives Stu (Oakes' forensics guy) a bogus bag for analysis. When the report comes back with Rosie's prints, Holder has his proof that his department is up to no good on this. It will be a while before Linden can in any way trust and work with him again, but the wheels are in motion for Holder's redemption.
Linden, for her part, finally finds where Richmond was after he left Gwen on the night of Rosie's murder - he was trying to commit suicide in the water. He didn't succeed, decided to live, but didn't want word to get out about this, lest it ruin his campaign (who's going to vote for someone who tried to commit suicide?). We find out now, in the hospital, that he'll live, but he'll be paralyzed for life. Seeking office from a wheelchair could actually make him a more appealing candidate. If he decides to continue the campaign, he'll have the loyal and brilliant Jamie Wright at his side, who puts in another heroic performance tonight.
And so the second season is off and running - even better, I'd say, then the first season as this point - with screws turning and daggers flying in all kinds of directions.
See also The Killing on AMC and The Killing 1.3: Early Suspects ... The Killing 1.5: Memorable Moments ... The Killing 1.6: The Teacher ... The Killing 1.8: The Teacher, Again ... The Killing 1.9: The Teacher as Victim, Again ... The Killing 1.10: Running Out of Suspects ... The Killing 1.11: Rosie's Missing - from the Story ... The Killing 1.12: Is Orpheus the Killer? ... The Killing 1.13: Stretching Television
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic, Mozy
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ... 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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