Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 399
April 15, 2011
The Killing 1.3: Early Suspects
The Killing continued with its 3rd episode on AMC last Sunday, gradually heightening the intensity on all fronts. Among the highlights -
Linden of course is continuing on the case, and Rick is of course less than thrilled. Although everything is still pretty good between them at this point, I for some reason can't seem them ever getting together.Richmond has staff problems - in particular, a leak from one of his two key aides, Jamie, a guy. Or so it seems - meaning, I believed Jamie when he protested his innocence. I think Gwen, the other aide, is setting Jamie up. And, so far, I think she is at this point the best bet for the murderer (to destroy Richmond's campaign). Not much evidence of that, as yet, but I've got a feeling ...Rosie's various friends and who knows how much more are developing into an interesting nest of vipers. Jasper is looking like the bad guy at this point, but he's too obvious. Rosie's best friend clearly knows more than she's saying, but, then again, so does just about everyone in this thoughtful series.Rosie's father Stan continues to be the rock in his family. I think Mitch - Rosie's mother - will soon join him in that role.The Killing continues to proceed at its own pace - one which we've don't usually see on television, not to mention that it's a whole series devoted to one murder, which is unusual in and of itself.
See also The Killing on AMC ...
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
Linden of course is continuing on the case, and Rick is of course less than thrilled. Although everything is still pretty good between them at this point, I for some reason can't seem them ever getting together.Richmond has staff problems - in particular, a leak from one of his two key aides, Jamie, a guy. Or so it seems - meaning, I believed Jamie when he protested his innocence. I think Gwen, the other aide, is setting Jamie up. And, so far, I think she is at this point the best bet for the murderer (to destroy Richmond's campaign). Not much evidence of that, as yet, but I've got a feeling ...Rosie's various friends and who knows how much more are developing into an interesting nest of vipers. Jasper is looking like the bad guy at this point, but he's too obvious. Rosie's best friend clearly knows more than she's saying, but, then again, so does just about everyone in this thoughtful series.Rosie's father Stan continues to be the rock in his family. I think Mitch - Rosie's mother - will soon join him in that role.The Killing continues to proceed at its own pace - one which we've don't usually see on television, not to mention that it's a whole series devoted to one murder, which is unusual in and of itself.
See also The Killing on AMC ...
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
Friday Night Lights Returns for Final Season: Sneak Preview Review
Friday Night Lights returns for its final season on NBC tonight. It was already aired on DirecTV in the Fall, and my wife and I saw the complete final season on DVD (via Netflix) earlier this week. In a phrase: it was everything we hoped it would be, and more. In a word: superb. I would add: Friday Night Lights is in a class by itself as a television series, and though comparison with radically different kinds of series such as The Shield make no sense, I would say FNL is the best series ever to have been on television.
I'll be reviewing every episode here of the final season, starting tonight. I promise in the reviews not to post any explicit spoilers, and I'll try not to let my knowledge of what will happen seep into or influence the tone and text of my reviews.
In the meantime, here are some non-spoiler tidbits:
almost every major character in the entire run of the series makes an appearancethere are some excellent new charactersfootball of course continues as the centerpiece, but, as in the past, FNL is much more importantly about a multitude of aspects of real lifethe acting continues to be extraordinaryyes, you'll see plenty of Tim Riggins (I had to tell you that)I'm dying to tell you more, but I don't want to give anything away. But I'll be here later tonight with my first review of the final season ...
See also Reasons to Watch Friday Night Lights
And coming this summer, my "Friday Night Lights, NBC, and DirecTV: How an Unlikely Partnership Saved a Great Show and Pointed the Way to the Future" in this brand new anthology ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
I'll be reviewing every episode here of the final season, starting tonight. I promise in the reviews not to post any explicit spoilers, and I'll try not to let my knowledge of what will happen seep into or influence the tone and text of my reviews.
In the meantime, here are some non-spoiler tidbits:
almost every major character in the entire run of the series makes an appearancethere are some excellent new charactersfootball of course continues as the centerpiece, but, as in the past, FNL is much more importantly about a multitude of aspects of real lifethe acting continues to be extraordinaryyes, you'll see plenty of Tim Riggins (I had to tell you that)I'm dying to tell you more, but I don't want to give anything away. But I'll be here later tonight with my first review of the final season ...
See also Reasons to Watch Friday Night Lights
And coming this summer, my "Friday Night Lights, NBC, and DirecTV: How an Unlikely Partnership Saved a Great Show and Pointed the Way to the Future" in this brand new anthology ...
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 14, 2011
Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra
Another lighthearted Bones tonight - 6.18 - in which the abrasive host of a myth-debunking TV program is found dead, the apparent victim of a mythical creature, the chupacabra.
Unlike the Gormogon which received so much press in Bones a few years ago, the body of a chupacabra seemed to actually have been found in our off-television reality a few years ago, but, alas turned out to be only a disease-ridden coyote. The team in Bones tonight is tasked with finding out who killed the TV host, if not the chup.
Lots of good scientific work goes into the effort, but Angela's astute analysis is once again the most responsible for finding the all-too humans culpable for the death and the chupacabra cover-up, motivated by all-too-human reasons. Nigel-Murray also turns out to be all-too human, confessing tonight to Angela, Cam, and Bones about his fantasies about sleeping with them (ad seriatim, not all together).
As I said, a light episode, including the ending, which was probably the least significant verbal play between Bones and Booth we've seen at the end any episode this entire season, maybe the entire series. I confess to missing the Gorgmogan, at least a little.
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
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, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
Unlike the Gormogon which received so much press in Bones a few years ago, the body of a chupacabra seemed to actually have been found in our off-television reality a few years ago, but, alas turned out to be only a disease-ridden coyote. The team in Bones tonight is tasked with finding out who killed the TV host, if not the chup.Lots of good scientific work goes into the effort, but Angela's astute analysis is once again the most responsible for finding the all-too humans culpable for the death and the chupacabra cover-up, motivated by all-too-human reasons. Nigel-Murray also turns out to be all-too human, confessing tonight to Angela, Cam, and Bones about his fantasies about sleeping with them (ad seriatim, not all together).
As I said, a light episode, including the ending, which was probably the least significant verbal play between Bones and Booth we've seen at the end any episode this entire season, maybe the entire series. I confess to missing the Gorgmogan, at least a little.
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
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, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
April 13, 2011
Criminal Minds 6.21: The Tweeting Killer
Social or new new media played a more interesting and brutal role than usual in tonight's Criminal Minds 6.21, with a killer who not only hunts his victims online, but after one murder tweets his head off under his victim's name, and she lay dying from his knife wounds. Fortunately for his ultimate dispatching by Rossi's bullets, his victim unknowingly took a picture of her killer on her phone.In between, we have the first episode in which Seaver makes a real contribution since she was introduced earlier in the season. She's different from the other BAU members, in that she is the only one to have been the victim of a psycho herself as a child. Tonight she uses that knowledge to establish rapport with the killer, and distract him enough for Rossi to get him. He had no choice but to kill the psycho, with his knife at the neck of his next would-be victim. Rossi and Hotch praise Seaver for her good work.
But all's not quite well that ends well, at least not for Hotch tonight. He's still tied up, in some way, with Emily's "death" which isn't really a death, having to lie now to Erin, his boss, about how he grappled with his own feelings about Emily's "death". Feelings about what, since he almost certainly knows that she's not dead. Feelings about lying now not only to his team but his boss?
This has certainly got to be one of the strangest gambits on Criminal Minds, which means strange indeed, since Criminal Minds is one strange but darkly appealing show. We also learn at the end of the episode that Erin will be "away" for a while, which means we'll likely not get to see how she'll react if and when the truth comes out about Emily ... unless her going away is also somehow tied to the Emily deception.
The chess game of Criminal Minds continues ...
See also Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ... Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus ... Criminal Minds 6.20: Emily's Ghost
And Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
April 12, 2011
NCIS 8.21: Mask and Eye
A murder at the Pentagon starts off NCIS 8.21, and serious as that is, it may be least significant in terms of longer range implications in tonight's episode. But let's deal with that first.
Why would Navy Lieutenant Junior Lauren Ross happily say hello to Navy Petty Officer Eric Donner - the whole encounter was caught on security camera - only to be killed by him a few seconds later? Answer: Donner is not really Donner, but Navy Commander Nelson Tunney, who, it turns out, was wearing a lifelike Donner mask, and has a motive for the murder. Far from being the easiest case Gibbs ever had, because it was all on camera, this one turns out to be a complex whodunit, with great lip-reading by Abby - of the security tape - to put the team on the track of realizing Donner was not Donner.
Masks ... DiNozzo gives a nice homage to the master of suspense, when he sees a mask of Alfred Hitchcock. DiNozzo also needs to have a frank conversation with Gibbs, no masks, about Gibbs not being happy about DiNozzo in bed with E. J. As I mentioned last week, there's no way that DiNozzo would let Gibbs run his personal life, much as DiNozzo is devoted to Gibbs professionally. If E. J. and DiNozzo are to split, it will not be because of Gibbs - even though Gibbs may think he has that kind of control. Which is to say, much as I admire Gibbs, I'm with DiNozzo on this.
The purveyor of the eye also sought to award it to DiNozzo last week. Lots of speculation on the web about whose eye that is, fueled, in part, by Pauley Perrette's revelation on Twitter last week that the eye came from someone we know.
Tonight we learn, from what Ducky tells E. J., that the eye came from a male in his 30s, who had lasik surgery. Let's assume this is true - that Ducky's not lying to E. J. We also know the eye is blue. And at the end of tonight's episode, we learn than that the eye opens up the door to the M-tack room, which confirms what Perrette said on Twitter.
So where does that leave us? CIRay would be a possibility - we haven't seen him this week - except he has dark eyes (and, come to think of it, I don't know if CIA agents have clearance to M-tack). I was thinking maybe Jenny - if someone took and preserved her eye a few years ago - but she obviously was not male I think Mike has blue eyes, but he's way older than 30.
Ok - I'm stumped. Which is good, that's just what I most enjoy in a mystery.
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 8.21: CIRay
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, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
Why would Navy Lieutenant Junior Lauren Ross happily say hello to Navy Petty Officer Eric Donner - the whole encounter was caught on security camera - only to be killed by him a few seconds later? Answer: Donner is not really Donner, but Navy Commander Nelson Tunney, who, it turns out, was wearing a lifelike Donner mask, and has a motive for the murder. Far from being the easiest case Gibbs ever had, because it was all on camera, this one turns out to be a complex whodunit, with great lip-reading by Abby - of the security tape - to put the team on the track of realizing Donner was not Donner.
Masks ... DiNozzo gives a nice homage to the master of suspense, when he sees a mask of Alfred Hitchcock. DiNozzo also needs to have a frank conversation with Gibbs, no masks, about Gibbs not being happy about DiNozzo in bed with E. J. As I mentioned last week, there's no way that DiNozzo would let Gibbs run his personal life, much as DiNozzo is devoted to Gibbs professionally. If E. J. and DiNozzo are to split, it will not be because of Gibbs - even though Gibbs may think he has that kind of control. Which is to say, much as I admire Gibbs, I'm with DiNozzo on this.
The purveyor of the eye also sought to award it to DiNozzo last week. Lots of speculation on the web about whose eye that is, fueled, in part, by Pauley Perrette's revelation on Twitter last week that the eye came from someone we know.
Tonight we learn, from what Ducky tells E. J., that the eye came from a male in his 30s, who had lasik surgery. Let's assume this is true - that Ducky's not lying to E. J. We also know the eye is blue. And at the end of tonight's episode, we learn than that the eye opens up the door to the M-tack room, which confirms what Perrette said on Twitter.
So where does that leave us? CIRay would be a possibility - we haven't seen him this week - except he has dark eyes (and, come to think of it, I don't know if CIA agents have clearance to M-tack). I was thinking maybe Jenny - if someone took and preserved her eye a few years ago - but she obviously was not male I think Mike has blue eyes, but he's way older than 30.
Ok - I'm stumped. Which is good, that's just what I most enjoy in a mystery.
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 8.21: CIRay
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, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
April 11, 2011
House 7.18: Thirteen Mysterious
We finally learn what happened to 13 tonight on House 7.18. It's a doozy of a story, leading to her return to the show, and to another expression of House's humanity.
He picks her up as she's released from prison. We learn that she's been locked up six months, but why? House knows the legally indicated charges - mis-prescription of drugs - but there's obviously more, and he and we go on a journey of unraveling the mystery.
Its revelation - that she put her brother to death, at his request, to put him out of the pain of progressed Huntington's - is sad and satisfying as a motivation for her actions. She laments to House that there's no one in her family to perform that service for her.
House takes this as an implicit plea for his help, though it's not clear if that's what 13 intended. In previous House years, any such pleas, implicit or explicit, would have fallen on deaf ears. Until this year, House cared only or mainly for himself.
He's still pretty selfish, but his love for Cuddy has humanized him, somewhat. And so he tells 13 at the end that she can count on him to help her - "I'll kill you," he says to her - if that's what she wants.
It's just like House the series and House the man to show his humanity by agreeing to take someone's life in these circumstances. But House is also a genius, and I'd like to see him do the impossible by coming up with a cure for 13's illness.
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
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, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
He picks her up as she's released from prison. We learn that she's been locked up six months, but why? House knows the legally indicated charges - mis-prescription of drugs - but there's obviously more, and he and we go on a journey of unraveling the mystery.
Its revelation - that she put her brother to death, at his request, to put him out of the pain of progressed Huntington's - is sad and satisfying as a motivation for her actions. She laments to House that there's no one in her family to perform that service for her.
House takes this as an implicit plea for his help, though it's not clear if that's what 13 intended. In previous House years, any such pleas, implicit or explicit, would have fallen on deaf ears. Until this year, House cared only or mainly for himself.
He's still pretty selfish, but his love for Cuddy has humanized him, somewhat. And so he tells 13 at the end that she can count on him to help her - "I'll kill you," he says to her - if that's what she wants.
It's just like House the series and House the man to show his humanity by agreeing to take someone's life in these circumstances. But House is also a genius, and I'd like to see him do the impossible by coming up with a cure for 13's illness.
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
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, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
China Goes Totalitarian about Time Travel
I've been fortunate about my books in China - at this point, seven have been translated into Chinese, and are available to students, scholars, and the general public in the People's Republic of China. In fact, seven is the largest number of my books translated into any language. The runner-up for my translations is Polish, at five. But unlike the Chinese translations, two of my Polish translations have been of my science fiction. China, in contrast, has only translated my nonfiction. I've always wondered and felt a little bad about this, but a story in The New Yorker last week may provide a piece of an answer.
It's the kind of story that you don't know whether to laugh or cry about - in fact, Richard Brody in The New Yorker says when he first heard about it, he thought the report was an "Onion-style joke". My friend Barna Donova wrote on my Facebook wall about it last week, and my first thought was that he had come upon some April Fool's joke. But it's apparently no joke at all.
The Chinese government is banning time travel movies. They think "the producers and writers are treating the serious history in a frivolous way" (see the ChinaHush web site). Aside from the fact that most time travel stories have a philosophic thread which is about as serious as it gets - how can you go back in time and change the past, when that very change will create a future in which you will not be aware of what you wanted to change (see my Enjoyable Trouble with Time Travel for more) - and aside from the great likelihood that, due to such paradoxes, time travel is manifestly impossible, there is a sad, grievous to the Chinese government's ban:
Why can't they let their people decide on their own what movies to see? Why must a government treat its own people as if they were very little children, and the government the parents, with a responsibility to keep them from unworthy information?
It is easy to forget that there are still differences in this world between open and closed societies, between democracies which assume its citizens are usually rational adults, usually able to make their own decisions, and totalitarian states which try to regulate every aspects of their peoples' lives. It is easy to forget that that's why we have a First Amendment in this country, in case even our own government forgets.
I hope the Chinese government reconsiders its decision, and allows its people to come more fully, unimpeded, into present and the future.
In the meantime, I can't resist wondering if, as per my 1995 novelette, made into a 2002 movie, the Universe itself isn't somehow at work here ... [joke ... but here's the movie]
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
It's the kind of story that you don't know whether to laugh or cry about - in fact, Richard Brody in The New Yorker says when he first heard about it, he thought the report was an "Onion-style joke". My friend Barna Donova wrote on my Facebook wall about it last week, and my first thought was that he had come upon some April Fool's joke. But it's apparently no joke at all.
The Chinese government is banning time travel movies. They think "the producers and writers are treating the serious history in a frivolous way" (see the ChinaHush web site). Aside from the fact that most time travel stories have a philosophic thread which is about as serious as it gets - how can you go back in time and change the past, when that very change will create a future in which you will not be aware of what you wanted to change (see my Enjoyable Trouble with Time Travel for more) - and aside from the great likelihood that, due to such paradoxes, time travel is manifestly impossible, there is a sad, grievous to the Chinese government's ban:
Why can't they let their people decide on their own what movies to see? Why must a government treat its own people as if they were very little children, and the government the parents, with a responsibility to keep them from unworthy information?
It is easy to forget that there are still differences in this world between open and closed societies, between democracies which assume its citizens are usually rational adults, usually able to make their own decisions, and totalitarian states which try to regulate every aspects of their peoples' lives. It is easy to forget that that's why we have a First Amendment in this country, in case even our own government forgets.
I hope the Chinese government reconsiders its decision, and allows its people to come more fully, unimpeded, into present and the future.
In the meantime, I can't resist wondering if, as per my 1995 novelette, made into a 2002 movie, the Universe itself isn't somehow at work here ... [joke ... but here's the movie]
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 8, 2011
The Killing on AMC
Caught the first two hours of The Killing on AMC the other night. The series has a lot going for it, including
a genuine whodunit, where we don't know who killed Rosie Larsen - in contrast to Criminal Minds, where we usually know the killer fairly early, but like Wire in the Blood from England and Wallander from Sweden - and The Killing is indeed an English-language adaptation of a very successful Danish seriesMireille Enos in the starring role of Sarah Linden - Enos did a great job on Big Love, and on also played memorable guest roles Numb3rs, Lie to Me, and Medium which I happened to see ... here, Enos is reminiscent of Olivia from Fringe, though at once grittier and more emotional ...Michelle Forbes in a supporting role as Rosie's mother ... Forbes always puts in a winning, no-holds-barred performanceRosie's father is good, too, and the reactions of the family, the various police, and the politician and his staff who (at this point) may or not be involved in some way in the murder are all believable, and more real - less contrived in their reactions - than you often get on television. This is especially true of the family, and it's already clear that the search for Rosie Larson's killer on The Killing will be no search for Laura Palmer's killer on Twin Peaks, but instead will be an unvarnished, powerful look at a murder, its impact on the family, and on a police investigation comprised of detectives with talent but no ready answers.
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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 Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
a genuine whodunit, where we don't know who killed Rosie Larsen - in contrast to Criminal Minds, where we usually know the killer fairly early, but like Wire in the Blood from England and Wallander from Sweden - and The Killing is indeed an English-language adaptation of a very successful Danish seriesMireille Enos in the starring role of Sarah Linden - Enos did a great job on Big Love, and on also played memorable guest roles Numb3rs, Lie to Me, and Medium which I happened to see ... here, Enos is reminiscent of Olivia from Fringe, though at once grittier and more emotional ...Michelle Forbes in a supporting role as Rosie's mother ... Forbes always puts in a winning, no-holds-barred performanceRosie's father is good, too, and the reactions of the family, the various police, and the politician and his staff who (at this point) may or not be involved in some way in the murder are all believable, and more real - less contrived in their reactions - than you often get on television. This is especially true of the family, and it's already clear that the search for Rosie Larson's killer on The Killing will be no search for Laura Palmer's killer on Twin Peaks, but instead will be an unvarnished, powerful look at a murder, its impact on the family, and on a police investigation comprised of detectives with talent but no ready answers.
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eHarmony, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
April 7, 2011
Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet
A delightful Bones 6.17 tonight, in which Bones works with a Canadian forensic podiatrist - whose field and work she earlier dissed in an article - to investigate eight pairs of feet found on the Canadian-American border.
Seven of the pairs come from a body farm - in the apt words of Angela, about an odiferous sneaker found with the feet, "ugh!" - that is, a lab in the great outdoors, near some university, created to scientifically measure the decomposition rates of human bodies in various climatic states and positions. They fall off nooses, fall apart, and in one case explode almost in Booth and Bones' faces - "Uch!" - but Bones of course loves it.
The Canadian podiatrist - Dr. Filmer (coincidentally the name of a British sociology prof I had at CCNY a long time ago) serves as the de facto assistant to Bones this week, and he does a good job. He not only helps solves the case, but has a winning delivery, and I wouldn't mind seeing him on the show as regular.
The other story tonight has Cam's daughter Michelle getting into Columbia University (a 100% university episode) even though she never applied. How did she do this? Cam sent in the application, unbeknownst to her daughter. Oi!
But all ends well - with Cam confessing to Michelle, who says she'll take a year to work, and then apply to Columbia and get in on her own. Hey, as long as she doesn't apply to that school with the body farm ....
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
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 Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Seven of the pairs come from a body farm - in the apt words of Angela, about an odiferous sneaker found with the feet, "ugh!" - that is, a lab in the great outdoors, near some university, created to scientifically measure the decomposition rates of human bodies in various climatic states and positions. They fall off nooses, fall apart, and in one case explode almost in Booth and Bones' faces - "Uch!" - but Bones of course loves it.
The Canadian podiatrist - Dr. Filmer (coincidentally the name of a British sociology prof I had at CCNY a long time ago) serves as the de facto assistant to Bones this week, and he does a good job. He not only helps solves the case, but has a winning delivery, and I wouldn't mind seeing him on the show as regular.
The other story tonight has Cam's daughter Michelle getting into Columbia University (a 100% university episode) even though she never applied. How did she do this? Cam sent in the application, unbeknownst to her daughter. Oi!
But all ends well - with Cam confessing to Michelle, who says she'll take a year to work, and then apply to Columbia and get in on her own. Hey, as long as she doesn't apply to that school with the body farm ....
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
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, eHarmony, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
April 6, 2011
Criminal Minds 6.20: Emily's Ghost
Although the central story on Criminal Minds 6.20 was a serial-killing mom scaldingly played by Kelli Williams (of The Practice and Lie to Me), the more important subtext and frame of the episode was the team's reaction to the loss of Emily.
I used the word "loss" very carefully, just as Hotch tells Derek he's "wishing she [Emily] was here," because in fact Emily's not dead. J. J. knows this, 100%, and it's 99.99% clear that Hotch knows it, too. Why else would we not be able to hear what J. J. whispers to him, after she tells the team that Emily had been killed? And Hotch's careful choice of words tonight further suggests, even confirms, this. On the other hand, Hotch heroically risked his life tonight (just as Spencer did last week), the kind of thing someone in his position might do when an agent on his team has been killed - or is this kind of thing Hotch would do out of some guilt, about lying to his team?
Which raises the question of why is Hodge lying to everyone on the team, putting them through their grief paces, wanting them to come to the painful terms of her death, if he in fact knows she's not dead? Seems like that's a lot to put them through, just to make the ruse of her death ring true. Does he suspect that one of the team might somehow compromise Emily? Did Emily ask for this to protect the team? None of the answers really make sense.
One thing is clear: Emily's ghost continues to influence the team, even though she's alive. We've likely not seen the last of that ghost, this season or who knows when in the future of Criminal Minds.
See also Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ... Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus
And Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media
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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 Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
I used the word "loss" very carefully, just as Hotch tells Derek he's "wishing she [Emily] was here," because in fact Emily's not dead. J. J. knows this, 100%, and it's 99.99% clear that Hotch knows it, too. Why else would we not be able to hear what J. J. whispers to him, after she tells the team that Emily had been killed? And Hotch's careful choice of words tonight further suggests, even confirms, this. On the other hand, Hotch heroically risked his life tonight (just as Spencer did last week), the kind of thing someone in his position might do when an agent on his team has been killed - or is this kind of thing Hotch would do out of some guilt, about lying to his team?
Which raises the question of why is Hodge lying to everyone on the team, putting them through their grief paces, wanting them to come to the painful terms of her death, if he in fact knows she's not dead? Seems like that's a lot to put them through, just to make the ruse of her death ring true. Does he suspect that one of the team might somehow compromise Emily? Did Emily ask for this to protect the team? None of the answers really make sense.
One thing is clear: Emily's ghost continues to influence the team, even though she's alive. We've likely not seen the last of that ghost, this season or who knows when in the future of Criminal Minds.
See also Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ... Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus
And Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media
Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eHarmony, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle
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
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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