Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 384

NCIS 9.8: Intersections with Reality

A powerful, sensitive NCIS 9.8 last night, which begins with Gibbs dreaming about Shannon, awoken with news about a plane bringing fallen Marines back to the United States, which crashes.  It turns out that Marine First Lieutenant Gabriela Flores, thought to be among the fallen, was apparently not on the plane - none of her DNA was there - and the story shifts to an attempt to find out what happened to her.  This is the first of a two-part story, so we'll find out more next week.


The story is very much Gibbs', with his much younger self played by Mark Harmon's son Sean.  Any episode that tells us more about Gibbs is always welcome and prime.


But what I was thinking about most, this morning, as I set out to write this little review, was the synchrony between last night's episode and what's happening in the real world.  The news broke yesterday about the mishandling of Marines' remains at Dover Air Force base.   I couldn't help envisioning what Gibbs would have thought and done about this.


And I've been thinking for two weeks about former Marine Scott Olsen, who was critically injured by a point-blank shot to the head with a rubber bullet, fired by a cop in Oakland, California when Olsen was peaceably demonstrating as per his First Amendment rights.  I've called upon President Obama to send in the National Guard to protect our American citizens from out of control cops - just as Eisenhower sent in the Guard to protect the civil rights of Americans in the South in the 1950s - but I don't expect that to happen any time soon.


But how would Gibbs react to what happened in Oakland?  What about the NCIS-LA team?   They no doubt would have already gone in, and brought the criminal police to justice.  Sure, they would have run into resistance from the local authorities, but that never stopped them before.


If only our real world could be as just and satisfying as NCIS on television.


See also NCIS 9.1: Unpacking Partial Amnesia ... NCIS 9.2: Lying to Yourself ... NCIS 9.3: McGee's Grandmother ... NCIS 9.4: Turkey Vulture as Explained by DiNozzo ... NCIS 9.5: Behrooz's Mother ... NCIS 9.6: Too Good to be True ... NCIS 9.7: "You Were My Shannon, Leroy"

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

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

Voicemail from Marshall McLuhan, 1978

Here is a voicemail from Marshall McLuhan to me, left on what we then called our "answering machine," from August 1978.   I had just completed my doctoral dissertation at NYU - but hadn't yet even handed it in to my advisers, Neil Postman and Christine Nystrom.  Instead, I decided to mail it up to Marshall McLuhan in Toronto - we had met after I wrote the Preface to his "Laws of the Media" published in June 1977 in et cetera, and the "Tetrad Conference" I had organized with him, Eric McLuhan, Bob Blechman, and other notables at Fairleigh Dickinson University (where I then was an Assistant Professor) in March 1978.  Tina and I went on vacation right after I sent up the dissertation, and this is message from Marshall we found on our return...



voicemail from Marshall McLuhan, 1978


See also Levinson re: McLuhan 2011 list of conferences and interviews, 2011 Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

The Good Wife 3.7: Peter vs. Will

A good Good Wife on CBS last night, at last featuring a confrontation between Peter and Will.

Peter's office has evidence of an alleged bribe that Will took, years ago when he was an attorney in Baltimore. Actually, new character Dana - played by Lie to Me's sassy Monica Raymund - brings the issue to Cary (recently promoted), who questions Will with Dana, and brings this to Peter's attention.

Interestingly, Peter isn't exactly gung ho to get Will, but he wouldn't be averse to destroying or at least damaging Will either.   Will, for his part, is furious, and confronts Peter on the steps of his office building, for one of the best scenes in the series.  Why don't you grow a pair and punch me, Will goads Peter, who pretty easily keeps his cool, even when Will jibes Peter with the observation that, of the two of them, it's Peter who's been on the inside of a prison cell.

Will of course is sure that Peter is doing this out of jealously over Alicia, but that may not quite be the reason.  Clearly Dana has some animus against Peter, who, at the close of the episode, wisely decides to put the investigation and the possible case in the hands of a independent prosecutor to be appointed by Peter's office.  I'd say that this round goes to Peter.

Meanwhile, Alicia learns what it's like to almost be thrown under the bus by Diane, who now all but knows for sure that Alicia and Will are in bed together.  Alicia is caught in bind when she's obliged to answer questions from a Federal investigator - assigned to this task by Diane - but doesn't want to compromise her attorney-client privilege.  Cue the wacky, brilliant Elsbeth - whom Alicia has the savvy to retain rather going with the firm's recommendation - to get Alicia out of this jam.

The show continues to be brilliant, funny, and cutting edge, replete with references to Rahm and Blogo thrown in whenever possible.

See also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype

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


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

Boardwalk Empire 2.6: Owen and Other Bad News for Nucky

In terms of a major jolt to the leading characters, here is the most important revelation and develepment in Boardwalk Empire 2.6:   Margaret is yearning for Owen.

We learn this when Margaret finally goes to confession - the stern priest who is working with her son gave her no choice.  Nucky is concerned lest Margaret reveal any of Nucky's criminal undertakings in her confession.  But if he knew what Margaret surprisingly says about longing for Nucky's enforcer- who is often under their roof, in bed with Katie the maid - Nucky would no doubt be far more upset.

There's no surprise in Margaret being attracted to the handsome, charming Owen.  But if Margaret is revealing this attraction to a priest in confession, it must be more than casual.

In other potentially bad news for Nucky, US Attorney General Daugherty knuckles under pressure from the Senator from New Jersey, and takes the Nucky's case away from the attorney who would have soft-pedaled it out of the courtroom.   The upshot for Nucky is that he now faces charges worse than the election fraud - violating the Mann Act by transporting prostitutes across state lines.   (I was never comfortable with the plan to "help" Nucky by bringing Federal charges against him, but nobody asked me.)

And, to make matters even worse, it looks as if Jimmy and Lucky may be forming an alliance - boding ill for both Rothstein and Nucky.

About the only possible good news for Nucky is Lucy giving birth to Van Alden's baby.  Perhaps this will distract Van Alden, at least a little, from his campaign against bootlegging booze?  Nah, not likely, and that's part of what makes this series so good.

And the historical media scene of the episode (I'm adding this category to every Boardwalk Empire review):  Jimmy's wife Angela marveling about the advantages of radio  - you can get great music for free, without having to pay for the recordings.  She hit the nail right on the head.


See also Boardwalk Empire 2.1: Politics in an Age Before YouTube  ... Boardwalk Empire 2.2: The Woman Behind the Throne ... Boardwalk Empire 2.3: Frankenstein and Victrola ... Boardwalk Empire 2.4: Nearly Flagrante Delicto ... Boardwalk Empire 2.5: Richard's Story

And see also Boardwalk Emipre on HBO ... Boardwalk Empire 1.2: Lines and Centers Power ... Boardwalk Empire 1.10: Arnold Rothstein, Media Theorist  ... Season One Finale of Boardwalk Empire

                 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

Boardwalk Empire: Owen and Other Bad News for Nucky

In terms of a major jolt to the leading characters, here is the most important revelation and develepment in Boardwalk Empire 2.6:   Margaret is yearning for Owen.

We learn this when Margaret finally goes to confession - the stern priest who is working with her son gave her no choice.  Nucky is concerned lest Margaret reveal any of Nucky's criminal undertakings in her confession.  But if he knew what Margaret surprisingly says about longing for Nucky's enforcer- who is often under their roof, in bed with Katie the maid - Nucky would no doubt be far more upset.

There's no surprise in Margaret being attracted to the handsome, charming Owen.  But if Margaret is revealing this attraction to a priest in confession, it must be more than casual.

In other potentially bad news for Nucky, US Attorney General Daugherty knuckles under pressure from the Senator from New Jersey, and takes the Nucky's case away from the attorney who would have soft-pedaled it out of the courtroom.   The upshot for Nucky is that he now faces charges worse than the election fraud - violating the Mann Act by transporting prostitutes across state lines.   (I was never comfortable with the plan to "help" Nucky by bringing Federal charges against him, but nobody asked me.)

And, to make matters even worse, it looks as if Jimmy and Lucky may be forming an alliance - boding ill for both Rothstein and Nucky.

About the only possible good news for Nucky is Lucy giving birth to Van Alden's baby.  Perhaps this will distract Van Alden, at least a little, from his campaign against bootlegging booze?  Nah, not likely, and that's part of what makes this series so good.

And the historical media scene of the episode (I'm adding this category to every Boardwalk Empire review):  Jimmy's wife Angela marveling about the advantages of radio  - you can get great music for free, without having to pay for the recordings.  She hit the nail right on the head.


See also Boardwalk Empire 2.1: Politics in an Age Before YouTube  ... Boardwalk Empire 2.2: The Woman Behind the Throne ... Boardwalk Empire 2.3: Frankenstein and Victrola ... Boardwalk Empire 2.4: Nearly Flagrante Delicto ... Boardwalk Empire 2.5: Richard's Story

And see also Boardwalk Emipre on HBO ... Boardwalk Empire 1.2: Lines and Centers Power ... Boardwalk Empire 1.10: Arnold Rothstein, Media Theorist  ... Season One Finale of Boardwalk Empire

                 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 Walking Dead 2.3: Shane and Otis

Another great Walking Dead with a stunning ending last Sunday, as episode 2.3 tells us how Shane and Otis fared in getting the crucial respirator back to save Carl.

Shane and Otis are badly over-matched by zombies - to say the least - as they try to make their way back with the respirator to their car.  They painstakingly make progress, saving each other's asses at every turn.  We see all this in a classic series of ongoing flashbacks, against what's happening back at the doc's house, and back in the car pile-up.

Time's running out for Carl, who awakes briefly with a beautiful memory of the deer in the forest.  Even Rick's transfusions - which could soon put Rick in a coma from lack of blood - won't save Carl.  He's losing more blood than can possibly be replaced.   The doc says they have no choice but to operate without the respirator, an operation that could kill Carl right there.  Lori - who was questioning whether Carl would be better off alive or dead in this hellish world - gives the go-ahead.

And Shane shows up, shaken to the point of speechless, with the respirator.  But where's Otis?  He obviously and tragically didn't make it.

Otis's not making it is in itself no great surprise, given his condition.  But the reason that he didn't get back with Shane is the kick-in-the-gut stunner.

Shane, after taking a shower, inspects his bruises.  For a second, I had the horrible feeling that Shane might have been bitten.

But the final flashback reveals their source:  Otis gave the brusies to Shane, as he struggled for his life, and against Shane's move to leave Otis behind to satisfy ans distract the zombies, so Shane could get back with the respirator for Carl.

There was no other way.  But this act certainly supports Lori's misgivings about whether this is a world worth living in.   I guess I'd have done what Shane did in such circumstances, but ... the walking dead have made this a tough world in which to live indeed.   They not only kill us, but put good people in a position to kill other good people, and for good reasons.   Which is a bad situation, any way you turn it.

See also The Walking Dead Back on AMC ... The Walking Dead 2.2: The Nature of Vet  And see also The Walking Dead 1.1-3:  Gone with the Wind, Zombie Style ... The Walking Dead Ends First Season

                 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

Fringe 4.5: Double Return

Last night's episode of Fringe - 4.5 - showed why Fringe is not only the best science fiction on television this season, but among the best science fiction series ever to be on television.

The episode brought us two stories - now slightly intertwining, soon to be more - the shapeshifters and Peter, both of whom have returned.

Dr. Truss used to work for Massive Dyamic, until Bell put an end to his research.  Truss's work was in cell regeneration, or the science at the basis of shapeshifting.  In terms of his genius, belief in his own work, but guilt when things go wrong, Truss is in many ways another version of Walter.

The real Walter has his hands and mind and heart full, as Peter, now in Fringe Division custody, asks Walter to help find out what happened to him.  On the way to his first meeting with Peter, Water hypothesizes that this could be a third Peter, from yet another (third) alternate universe.   Olivia refutes the hypothesis, pointing out that it wouldn't account for why she had been seeing Peter's face in her dreams.  And we viewers of course know that this Peter is our Peter - that is, the Peter from last year's alternative universe (the alternative universe of all seasons thus far), whom Walter kidnapped/saved as a boy.

In one of the most touching scenes ever seen on Fringe, Peter pinpoints in his conversation with Walter just where and when the new reality - without Peter - came to be: the Eternal Bald Observer did not save Peter when he fell through the ice all of those years ago.   Yet he - our Peter - is back now.

Walter, for all his genius, still can't quite accept this.  His heart tells him this is the Peter he raised, and knows as an adult.  His brain tells him this too.   But the guilt he still feels for breaching the two universes, and losing Peter in the water anyway, blocks his coming to terms with Peter's return now.  But give him time.

Meanwhile, Peter is making his customarily excellent contribution to the Fringe team, helping them in their attempt to understand the shapeshifters.  But we'll need more than understanding to beat them.  Their agent has now transformed into someone working in Fringe division, and - guess what - they're under the likely direction of Walternate, or someone from the alternate universe that communicates with ours via clacking typewriter.

Kudos to J. R. Orci and Graham Roland for writing a really memorable episode.

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

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

Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam

Hey, I was overseas last week, and missed Dexter 6.5.  But a Showtime screener was waiting when I got back home, with Dexter 6.5 and 6.6, so I'll review the both of them here.  Most of the review will focus on Dexter 6.6 - which was the better of the two episodes - and will therefore contain some choice spoilers (Dexter 6.6 will be live on Showtime tomorrow).

In fact, I thought 6.6 was one of the best episodes ever of Dexter.  It contains a decisive move - to the dark side - in the fight for Dexter's soul.

The champion of the light for Dexter is Sam, and Dexter gets the call that Sam has been shot just as Dex is about to close in and physically confront the Doomsday Killers.  It's a brilliant piece of turning point ironic writing.   Gellar and Travis get to live and religiously kill another day, because Dexter, a decent human being in almost all ways, wants to be with his new friend and partial inspiration.

But when Dexter gets Sam's parting plea on his deathbed in the hospital, Dexter is pitched into a new, harrowing internal battle between the light and dark inside him.  Don't kill my killer, Sam implores Dexter - forgive him,  let your hatred go.  Dexter might have been at least a little convinced.  He confronts Sam's killer - Nick - and might have let him live, but the taunts about getting away with Sam's killing goad Dexter into drowning the life out of him.

This is a decisive moment for Dexter.  So far this season, he's done little of the ritualistic killings that have been his stock in trade.   Dexter was almost about to do this to Travis, but let him loose in the hope that Travis would lead Dexter to Gellar,  which he almost did, had it not been for the call about Sam's shooting.   But Dex's not killing Travis, for whatever reason, continued his streak of non-killing, a continued upper hand for the light.

The streak is now broken, though Dex's killing of Sam's killer was not at all ritualistic.   At a time like this, we might expect some laconically appropriate words from Dex's father Harry.

But what we get, instead, is a reappearance of Brian/Rudy/the Ice Truck Killer - Dexter's brother, killed by Dexter in Season One.   And if Dex's brain is bringing him into view, there is some deep darkness indeed ahead for Dexter.

See also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals?

And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ... Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers  ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain

And see also Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ... Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ... 4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations

See also reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ... Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter


                 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

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

Bones 7.1: Almost Home Sweet Home

Bones was back with the debut of its seventh season tonight, and a delightful, satisfying premiere it was.

Bones is pregnant with Booth's baby, and she's "crying at the crime scene," courtesy of the flood of hormones.  But what's giving her real concern, even without the hormones, is where she and Booth will live.  He wants them to move in together, she at first demurs, but even when she agrees, she wants Booth to move in with her - as the Iroquois do - while Booth would like them to get their own, new place.

The case at hand has relevance to their new lives together.  The victim is yet another person with memory loss - this has been a theme on at least three different series other than Bones this season (can you recall which?) - and for Booth and Bones it serves as a good metaphor for the bad memories each of them will be leaving in the dustbin.

The bad guy turns out to be the doctor - for some reason, I saw this in his first scene - who has lots of money riding on the status of his patient's memory.  Bones, every bit as brilliant as before her pregnancy, solves the case on evidence that even Hodgins and Wendell miss.   Speaking of Hodgins, we get some great scenes of him and Angela and their adorable baby, who charms even Cam, who's in officious mode tonight.

Hodgins and Angela are clearly happy together.  And it seems that, against all odds, so by and large are Booth and Bones.  They not only tell each other that they love each other, but they exhult in each other's company, and the prospect of their baby.   In the end, Bones sees the wisdom of Booth's wanting a new home, though they (of course) still can't agree on Bones' logical point that they should get a home commensurate with her millionaire status.

In other words, the chemistry of Bones has definitely changed, at least a little, and I'd say much for the better.

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, 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

NCIS 9.7: "You Were My Shannon, Leroy"

A superb NCIS 9.7 on Tuesday, with a case revolving around Gibbs and Fornell's ex-wife Diane and her current husband.  Lots of occasions for NCIS quintessential humor, as well as a good dangerous story.

Among the funny lines were Diane's reference to Gibbs as "Mr. Woodchuck."  But my favorite belonged to DiNozzo who, early in the episode, concerned about his and everyone's thinning hair, remarks about the "skin yamulke" on top of Tim's head.   Ouch, been there (actually, still there).

Meanwhile, the nub of the story concerns an apparently terrorist plot to unleash a deadly virus at a big stadium.   Diane and especially her husband Victor may be involved, but he turns out to be hero, and all Diane really did wrong was cheat on poor  Fornelle in 2004.  And the target was actually of the assassination not terrorist variety.

The best scene comes at the end, when Diane pays another visit to the woodchuck in his lair (den, hole?).   She confronts Gibbs about his having only ever loved Shannon, and Gibbs (again, nicer this season than in previous ones) tells Diane he did like her, and still does.  That's pretty high praise indeed from Gibbs.   But Diane has the best line, saying, "you were my Shannon, Leroy."  With that, she leaves the lair and Gibbs, with his bourbon and memories of Diane and Shannon.

And us with a soft, haunting ending to another fine and funny ride.

See also NCIS 9.1: Unpacking Partial Amnesia ... NCIS 9.2: Lying to Yourself ... NCIS 9.3: McGee's Grandmother ... NCIS 9.4: Turkey Vulture as Explained by DiNozzo ... NCIS 9.5: Behrooz's Mother ... NCIS 9.6: Too Good to be True

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

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


                 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