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Podcast Review of House of Dragons 1.1-1.3

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 337, in which I review episodes 1.1-1.3 of House of Dragons on HBO Max

Blog post written review of these episodes.

FREE: My short story, It's Real Life -- expanding it into a novel, and working on a radioplay of the story, is why I haven't put up a podcast review in a month.

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Published on September 05, 2022 14:55

House of the Dragon 1.1-1.3: Drawing Me In

It's been almost a month since I posted any reviews here -- I've been busy expanding my alternate history story, It's Real Life, in a novel, and helping put together a radioplay of the story -- and I figured House of the Dragon would be a good series to resume my reviewing. I saw the first three episodes, and I really enjoyed them. Indeed, I liked them more than some of Game of Thrones. Here are some non-spoiler reasons:

1. The dragons are handled very well. Their scorching fire is very effective and great to have on your side, but the dragon and especially its rider are not invincible. They can even be hit by well-aimed arrows. We saw some of this in Game of Thrones, but that action was in momentous battles, and in House of the Dragon it's just a fact of war.

2. I like the way the story just in the first few episodes jumps ahead a few years. This seems like an excellent way to tell such a big story.

3. There a far fewer pieces and physical places in House of the Dragon so far than in Game of Thrones, and I like that, too. There were times when GoT had so many moving pieces, the narrative was hard to follow.

4. House of the Dragon at times almost has a Walt Disney Cinderella-like quality -- look at that coach that carries the King in episode 1.3 -- and I sorta like that, too.

Now for some spoilers ...

5. Matt Smith's Daemon is a great character. He's defeated in that joust in the first episode, but he comes back like gangbusters in the third episode. True, he wouldn't have made it on his own, but he single-handedly wiped out enough of the bad guys to make it possible for the cavalry to come in and save the day.

6. Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke)'s stories are both a little obvious and predictable at this point, but they're well played and interesting enough to keep me watching.

7. Same for King Viserys (Paddy Considine), whom I didn't much like in the first episode, but he's growing on me, and could have the makings of a really pivotal, unpredictable character, after all.

So count me in as a fan, and I'll keep watching and reviewing.

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Published on September 05, 2022 12:57

Tokyo Vice: Vivid, Dirty, Colorful, Riveting

Just finished watching the eight episodes of Tokyo Vice, first season, on HBO Max, and I'm sorry I didn't see them sooner. A vivid, dirty, colorful sojourn into the Yakuza underbelly of late 1990s Tokyo, with cinematography so convincing you can smell the smoke, taste the booze and the delicious food as you're glued to a narrative so compelling you don't want to be anywhere else.

The story is said to be loosely based on Jake Adelstein's nonfiction book with the same name as the movie. In both cases, he's a young American who gets a job as a crime reporter with a Japanese newspaper -- first American to get such a job. I haven't read the book, know nothing more about the real Adelstein, so the rest of this review will be about the television series.

The story in the series abounds in partnerships -- business, romantic, even cop and criminal. My favorite of these is a triad of sorts between Jake, Samantha (a hostess in a men's club with dreams and plans for opening her own), and Sato (an up and coming enforcer for one of the two Yakuza clans in a life and death struggle for dominance in Tokyo). The acting of Ansel Elgort (I last saw him The Goldfinch), Rachel Keller, and Shô Kasamatsu in these roles was just superb. Other partnerships that animate the narrative are Jake's with Detective Katagiri, and Sato with Ishida (second in command but running the day-to-day operations in the gang). Ken Watanabe and Shun Sugata put in memorable performances in these roles.

There are, unsurprisingly, a bunch of surprising twists in just about every episode. I won't tell you anything specific, but I will say I very much regretted the apparent murder of a very major character in the end -- though I always say that if you don't see the character's head literally blown to pieces there's at least an outside chance that the character survived -- and I'm not a big fan of series that start with a provocative scene, and then devote the rest to the story that happens years before. But there will be a second season, and Tokyo Vice is so good that I it give my highest rating even with these flaws.

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Published on August 10, 2022 20:39

Podcast Review of The Orville season 3 finale

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 336, in which I review episode 3.10 of The Orville on Hulu

Blog post written review of this episode

Podcast reviews of The Orville third season: 3.1... 3.2 ... 3.3... 3.4... 3.5... 3.6... 3.7-3.8... 3.9

Joel McKinnon interviews Paul Levinson about Star Trek and The Orville on McKinnon's Seldon Crisis podcast.

First chapter of It's Real Life novel, mentioned at the end of the podcast

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Published on August 05, 2022 09:46

The Orville season 3 Finale: Matrimony and the Prime Directive

A really satisfying, gratifying season 3 finale of The Orville on Hulu this past evening, especially welcome after last week's harrowing, kinetic masterpiece in which a major crew member was lost.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The two main themes were a treatment of the Prime Directive ala The Orville, and the marriage of Claire and Isaac. Not doing anything that might unhinge a less-than-space-faring civilization is of course a theme that goes back to Star Trek. The Orville handled it well -- as it did back in the first season in episode 1.12 -- this time with its story of Lysella (well played by Giorgia Whigham), back from the "Majority Rule" episode 1.7 of the first season. The short lesson Grayson gives her is a fine primer on the dangers of what contact too early can do,

And speaking of the first season, it was also good to see Alara (Halston Sage) back from the first two seasons -- as a guest at Claire and Isaak's wedding. That ceremony and its build-up had all kinds of goodies, including Bortus's atrocious effort at being best man, Gordon's excellent job at it, the wedding vows, the Kaylon guests, and Ed and Kelly holding hands at the end.

I've been raving about the music in the past two episodes, and the concert in space of songs in my lifetime continued with Aretha in the background, Bortus giving an atrocious rendition of Elvis (I know, you're not supposed to use the same word twice in such proximity, but there's no other word for Bortus's performances), and Gordon on guitar singing James Taylor's "Secret of Life". Now, I liked Gordon and Charly's harmony last week more than just Gordon alone tonight, and the same for Simon and Garfunkel a little more than James Taylor, but Gordon's performance was still memorable, and an excellent capstone to the role music has played this season of The Orville.

Gordon also figured in the time travel nod in which the sandwich he sent to the future a few episodes back suddenly appears. That's what I call continuity! And the expression on Mercer's face, who knows that he made Gordon forget what happened to him after he sent the sandwich ahead, was just right.

The Orville has really grown up this season into a wonderful science fiction series. It has managed to retain its humor -- see what I said above about Bortus -- while presenting consistently superior stories, such as tonight's marriage of a human woman and an android. I'll see you back here with reviews of every episode of the 4th season, wherever and whenever it might be.

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Published on August 04, 2022 22:16

Peaky Blinders Season 6: The Big Twist

Well, it's rare indeed that a series on as high a level as Peaky Blinders surprises me at the end as much as the final, sixth season of Peaky Blinders did, but, yes, indeed it did, big time.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

What I'm talking about, of course, is Tommy not really dying of some kind of tubercular infection of his brain stem, as his doctor told him and even showed him on (by our standards, primitive) X-rays. Turns out that doctor is a Nazi, and convinced Tommy he was dying as the key to a nefarious Nazi plan to get Tommy to take his own life. Given Tommy's seeming invincibility to bullets fired by his enemies, the fascist plan of getting Tommy to die by a bullet fired by his own hand, as a way of ending his own existence, as a way of avoiding needing care that could only be given by those who loved him very much, was pretty ingenious. But Tommy figured it out, just in time.

How did he manage to do that? Not completely clear, but the likely explanation is Tommy wasn't feeling as sick as he should have, if he was really dying of natural causes. And there's also this: maybe Tommy realized he was suffering from tremors and hallucinations before he picked up the lethal bacillus from his sweet little daughter Ruby, who did succumb to it. One thing is clear: Tommy hasn't lost his mastery of strategy, including his capacity to recognize a brilliant piece of work by the Nazis that almost succeeded, which included doing everything they could to separate Tommy from his wife Lizzie, who might have at least been a little suspicious of the doctor who broke the bogus news to Tommy.

As always in Peaky Blinders, the surrounding characters were played perfectly. The scene between Tommy and Arthur, when Tommy tells his older he's dying, was nonpareil. Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson were once again just perfect in the roles. And so were the Naziss -- of the British and American variety -- played with subtle to conspicuous despicability. At the end of the final episode, though their plan was foiled, they're still at large and riding high. Good to see there'll be a a final Peaky Blinders movie coming up. Stay tuned, at least a few years, for my review.

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Published on July 31, 2022 15:00

Podcast Review of The Orville 3.9

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 335, in which I review episode 3.9 of The Orville on Hulu

Blog post written review of this episode

Podcast reviews of The Orville third season: 3.1... 3.2 ... 3.3... 3.4... 3.5... 3.6... 3.7-3.8

Joel McKinnon interviews Paul Levinson about Star Trek and The Orville on McKinnon's Seldon Crisis podcast.

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Published on July 30, 2022 11:27

The Orville 3.9: Why It's Become Better than any Current Star Trek

Having just watched The Orville 3.9, let me explain why I think The Orville is better than any current Star Trek series, as well as in the same league with The Original Series and The Next Generation.

It's because The Orville is not beholden to any prior or current Star Trek, not burdened with being true to all that was Star Trek before, and is Star Trek now. The Orville can plot its own course, take its own chances. And now that it's on Hulu not Fox, The Orville is also free all the network constraints, including length of episode and language.

Spoilers ahead ... ]

Episode 3.9 makes use of, and epitomizes all of those advantages. It was unafraid to kill off a semi-major character, Admiral Perry (played by Ted Danson) and a major, vibrant new character introduced just this season, Ensign Charly (played by Anne Winters). Charly was so impressive, she even sang some great harmony and lead when she and Gordon performed Simon and Garfunkel's "Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall" in this episode.

The story line was also top-notch, for a bunch of interlocking reasons. "The Orville" has increasingly become a continuing story this season. Episode 3.9 picks up on the Moclans leaving the Union, and they form an alliance with the Krill against the Kaylon. And by the end of the episode, the Kaylon (impressed by Charly's sacrifice) are aligned with the Union. These seismic shifts are conducted with subtlety and apt motive. For example, the Moclan at first balk at giving the Krill co-command of their military, because the Krill leader is a woman. And we see the Kaylon leader very aware of the enormity of Charly's sacrifice.

The battle scenes were also outstanding, especially the spaceship dogfights between the Union and the Kaylon vs. the Moclan and the Krill. All of this was reminiscent of an extended scene from a movie like Star Wars, and was possible because "The Orville" as been given room to the breathe on Hulu, in this case, an hour and nineteen minutes.

Next week is the season 3 finale. I'm very much looking forward to that, and to many seasons to come.

Joel McKinnon and I discuss Star Trek, The Orville and much more

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Published on July 29, 2022 15:58

Podcast Review of No Time to Die

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 334, in which I review No Time to Die, the final Daniel Craig as James Bond movie

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Published on July 29, 2022 12:46

No Time to Die: Quibbles about that Death

My wife and I finally saw the new (to us) final Daniel Craig as James Bond movie -- on Amazon Prime. We very much enjoyed it. In fact, although it has its flaws, I'd say No Time to Die is certainly among best James Bond movies ever made.

[Spoilers follow, of course.]

Let's begin with that shocker of an ending: Bond dies. I didn't like to see that as it was happening --not at all -- but it is a highly original way of ending a Bond movie, and deserves credit for that. It does explode or reveal as a myth the fact that Bond never dies. Those around him die, and he must suffer that. But not Bond himself.

The words on the screen at the end of the movie assure us that we'll see Bond again, and this will no doubt occur the way it's been presented in every transition to a newly acted Bond since it first happened back in Sean Connery's reign, actually twice, once for one time with George Lazenby, and then for a new series of Bond movies with Roger Moore. In those and every subsequent case, the new Bonds were introduced with no mention of the fact that they looked different from their predecessor. The same logic says the new post-Craig Bond can be introduced with no reference to his predecessor being killed. What this, I suppose, means is that Bond's death at the end of No Time to Die is no big deal -- even though it meant the world in the context of that movie.

I did have two quibbles about the two characters must crucial to that death. Rami Malek was superb as the arch-villain Safin who engineered Bond's death -- no one can match Malek's way of delivering powerful lines in a soft voice and a nearly expressionless face. But given the profundity of Bond's death, I would have rather seen it done by a life-long adversary, like Blofeld, who's not able to step up to that role because he's earlier been killed by Bond in another nefarius Safi move on the lethal chessboard. Similarly, although Madeleine (well-played by Léa Seydoux) with a most worthy love of Bond's life. we unfortunately don't meet her until the beginning of this very movie. I would have rather seen someone we already got to know in previous movies. Of course, since Vesper was already killed, it would have been difficult to pull someone out of the earlier Craig as Bond movies, but, nonetheless, that would have added a special gravitas in No Time to Die. Bond's daughter was a really nice part of this movie, and had a gravitas of its own, but a mother with a history of Bond loving her before this story began would have added more.

Otherwise, I thought every other aspect of the movie was outstanding. I especially loved the reprise of Louis Armstrong's "We Have All the Time in the World" at the end of No Time to Die. The reprise, of course, was from Her Majesty's Secret Service, where it was also played at the end of the movie. In other words, the death of Bond's true love, and then all these years later, the death of Bond, get the same musical aftermath. Unless you're made of stone, that song is bound to bring a tear to your eyes.

Thinking about what the next Bond movie will bring, we have the question of how many of the agents and administration in No Time to Die with survive. I see no reason why all of them can't, deprived of course of any grief at the loss of the Bond played by Craig. I've seen and really enjoyed every Bond movie ever made, pretty much in the year in which they were released, and I'm looking forward to more.

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Published on July 27, 2022 15:07