Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 62
April 23, 2022
Podcast Review of Slow Horses 1.5
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 285, in which I review episode 1.5 of Slow Horses on Apple TV+
Written review of this episode of Slow Horses
Podcast reviews: 1.1-2... 1.3 ... 1.4
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Interview with Joel McKinnon about Uncanny Similarity of Working for Apple and Working for Lumon
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 284, in which I interview Joel McKinnon about the uncanny similarity he noticed in working for Apple and working for Lumon (as depicted in Severance on Apple TV+).
video of this interview
podcast reviews of Severance: 1.1-1.2... 1.3... 1.4... 1.5 ...1.6... 1.7... 1.8... 1.9
audio podcast interview of Cora Buhlert and Joel McKinnon about first season of Foundation on Apple TV+
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April 22, 2022
Slow Horses 1.5: Did You Hear the One about the ...
[Spoilers ahead... ]
No explicit flatulence from Lamb tonight, or even a mention of it from the lead Slow Horse. But he did manage to come through with a comment about being "bitten in the canal". I'd give him credit for that for this episode. He was in the right area -- wasn't talking about his ear canal, right?
And the jokes in the car near the end that Hassan was telling were very good. I found myself laughing with the three bozos in the car. I won't list all of them here, though. My favorite was the note left in the underpants. In the same area as the canal Lamb was mentioning.
The action was good, too. Cartwright was top-notch in the park -- that's a name for MI5 headquarters, right -- there might have also been some action in a real park, which wasn't nearly as good as inside the big building. The Brits call the areas with grass and benches and trees "parks", don't they? It gets confusing, because they also call what we in New York say are parking lots "car parks".
I'm still missing Sid. But I saw or read somewhere that there'll be some big surprise about her in next week's episode. It can't be that she died, because that wouldn't be much of a surprise. Not to mention disappointing. It could be that she suddenly recovers, but I'm not holding my breath for that. So I'd say the surprise is something about who she really is. Maybe she's Taverner's daughter?
I'll see you back here next week, and let you know I feel about the discovery about Sid.
See also Slow Horses 1.1-2: Fast-Moving Spy Thriller ... Slow Horses 1.3: The Fine Art of Bumbling ... Slow Horses 1.4: Fine New Song by Mick Jagger
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
April 21, 2022
Review of Star Trek: Picard 2.8
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 283, in which I review Star Trek: Picard 2.8 on Paramount+
written blog post review of Star Trek: Picard 2.8
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.7
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.6
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.5
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.4
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.3
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.2
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.1
podcast review of Star Trek: Picard season 1
a little time travel story -- free
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Star Trek: Picard 2.8: Borg, Q, Soong, FBI
Well, all kinds of profound developments in episode 2.8 of this strange season of Star Trek: Picard, with all kinds of plots and subplots milling around.
Let's see, I'll try to present them in descending order of importance, with importance defined as the future both of our characters and the universe at large [Spoilers ahead ... ]
1. The Borg Queen has pretty much taken over Agnes, but there's still some Agnes in there. We know this because Agnes wouldn't have murdered that guy with the beard, but she stops trying to kill Raffi, and Raffi realizes this means that some element of Agnes is still at work inside the Borg Queen. But even more important than that, the Borg Queen now has an alliance with Dr. Adam Soong, who seems to be getting more evil by the episode. He's spurred on by his daughter exercising her freedom -- who gave her that get-out-jail free capsule, by the way, Q? (See the next paragraph.) He's the likely candidate. But it's interesting to think about how much the daughter leaving Soong suits the plans that the Borg Queen has for him.
2. Q realizes/says he's dying. 'Nuff said. That's a pretty big deal. Immortality isn't what it used to be.
3. I said last week that I thought the FBI guy was on the Q Continuum. Ok, I was wrong. But we did see Q wearing an FBI shirt, and the FBI guy did have an extraterrestrial connection -- he was visited by a Vulcan couple as a boy. I'll tell you one thing: Earth in this not too distant future sure has a lot of extraterrestrials here and about, and well before the arrival of Picard and company via time travel. Let's see ... we have Guinan, the Watcher, and now these two Vulcans. And a lingering question: why did the mind meld on the boy fail? Was it because the Vulcan didn't do it right, or was there something special about the boy? I'm betting on the boy.
4. Not all that important to the universe, but it was nice, once again, to see Rios with the doc and her son -- and this time, on an interstellar ship.
Just two episodes left this season. Not enough time to resolve some of the issues -- such as the Borg Queen, now assimilating other people, in addition to what she's done to Agnes. Well, that's a what season 3 is for. And I'll see you here next week with my review of the penultimate episode of this season 2.
See also Picard 2.7: The Bread Was Tastier than the Meat ... Picard 2.6: Borg and Soong .. Picard 2.5: Don't Walk Away Renee ... Picard 2.4: 2024 LA ... Picard 2.3: Agnes, Borg, Badge ... Picard 2.2: Q and Borg ... Star Trek: Picard 2.1: Cameos and Time Travel ... Star Trek: Picard (Season One): Non-Pareil
a little time travel story -- free
Star Trek 2.8: Borg, Q, Soong, FBI
Well, all kinds of profound developments in episode 2.8 of this strange season of Star Trek: Picard, with all kinds of plots and subplots milling around.
Let's see, I'll try to present them in descending order of importance, with importance defined as the future both of our characters and the universe at large [Spoilers ahead ... ]
1. The Borg Queen has pretty much taken over Agnes, but there's still some Agnes in there. We know this because Agnes wouldn't have murdered that guy with the beard, but she stops trying to kill Raffi, and Raffi realizes this means that some element of Agnes is still at work inside the Borg Queen. But even more important than that, the Borg Queen now has an alliance with Dr. Adam Soong, who seems to be getting more evil by the episode. He's spurred on by his daughter exercising her freedom -- who gave her that get-out-jail free capsule, by the way, Q? (See the next paragraph.) He's the likely candidate. But it's interesting to think about how much the daughter leaving Soong suits the plans that the Borg Queen has for him.
2. Q realizes/says he's dying. 'Nuff said. That's a pretty big deal. Immortality isn't what it used to be.
3. I said last week that I thought the FBI guy was on the Q Continuum. Ok, I was wrong. But we did see Q wearing an FBI shirt, and the FBI guy did have an extraterrestrial connection -- he was visited by a Vulcan couple as a boy. I'll tell you one thing: Earth in this not too distant future sure has a lot of extraterrestrials here and about, and well before the arrival of Picard and company via time travel. Let's see ... we have Guinan, the Watcher, and now these two Vulcans. And a lingering question: why did the mind meld on the boy fail? Was it because the Vulcan didn't do it right, or was there something special about the boy? I'm betting on the boy.
4. Not all that important to the universe, but it was nice, once again, to see Rios with the doc and her son -- and this time, on an interstellar ship.
Just two episodes left this season. Not enough time to resolve some of the issues -- such as the Borg Queen, now assimilating other people, in addition to what she's done to Agnes. Well, that's a what season 3 is for. And I'll see you here next week with my review of the penultimate episode of this season 2.
See also Picard 2.7: The Bread Was Tastier than the Meat ... Picard 2.6: Borg and Soong .. Picard 2.5: Don't Walk Away Renee ... Picard 2.4: 2024 LA ... Picard 2.3: Agnes, Borg, Badge ... Picard 2.2: Q and Borg ... Star Trek: Picard 2.1: Cameos and Time Travel ... Star Trek: Picard (Season One): Non-Pareil
a little time travel story -- free
April 19, 2022
Podcast Review of Bridgerton 2
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 282, in which I review Bridgerton Season 2 on Netflix.
Written blog post review of Season 2 of Bridgerton.
Podcast review of Bridgerton Season 1.
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April 18, 2022
The Weekend Away: Evocative Whodunnit
I caught The Weekend Away on Netflix last night, based on the 2020 novel by Sarah Alderson of the same name (which I haven't read). I'll begin by saying don't expect a sleeper by Hitchcock, but The Weekend Away is nonetheless a pretty good thriller with some nice twists.
[Spoilers ahead ... ]
The set-up: Beth (well played by Leighton Meester) shows up on the Croatian coast for a weekend getaway with her best friend Kate. By the next morning, Beth wakes up not remembering the night before (she suspects she was drugged) and Kate's body is fished out of the sea. Everyone's a suspect, ranging from Zain (the nice, friendly cab driver) to Sebastian (the creepy landlord).
Creds to The Weekend Away for neither them being a killer or a rapist, though Sebastian is later discovered by Beth to have spying video cameras in every room. The police turn out to be a mixed bag, and making the detective Pavic almost the killer is good twist.
Even better is Beth's finding out that Kate was having an affair with her husband Tom (they have a newborn and he hasn't had sex with Beth for a year), and even better than that the unveiling of the true villain in this story: Tom, who accidentally kills Kate in an argument which gets physical and lands Kate on the rocks then the water.
The Weekend Away has a good sense of Beth feeling like her world is falling apart, she can't trust anyone, and her instinct that Zain is a good guy fulfilled. I'd recommend this movie, but I suppose if you've read this far, you've already seen it, so I hope you agree that it was worth seeing.
Bridgerton 2: Even Better than the First
Bridgerton is a little off the beaten track of the science fiction/fantasy and detective/police fiction I usually review here, but as I pointed out in my review of the first season, Bridgerton is a kind of alternate history, and besides, it's superb television anyway.
Indeed, I liked the second season, up on Netflix for nearly a month now, and sitting atop the list of Netflix all-time most popular English-language series (i.e., greatest number of viewers). There was less explicit sex than in the first season, but the narrative was more profoundly moving, and the secondary stories were handled very well, especially the Whistledown, which is arguably the primary story, the one which will apparently run through every season.
The star crossed lovers who eventually get it right are Anthony and Kate. I almost always think in these kinds of stories that it takes too long for these true lovers to eventually get together. In this case, Kate's half-sister Edwina is what gets in the way. I think it took her far too long to see how deeply Anthony loved and longed for Kate, but Edwina's almost marriage to Anthony was a great scene, and her recovery -- the way Edwina began to set everyone straight, including the Queen herself, was satisfying and good to see.
Indeed, Edwina's transformation from child-pawn to determiner and controller of events is one of the best elements of this season of Bridgerton, and exemplifies its fundamental tenet of women as the ultimate controllers of the events of men. The Whistledown narrative brings home this point in another way. It was good to see that story progress, concluding for now with at least two other people -- Delacroix and Eloise -- knowing Whistledown's true identity, even if Eloise never wants to talk to Penelope (Whistledown) again, which surely won't last.
Eloise and her printer proto-boyfriend could well be the centerpiece of the next season, and will likely have that role in some subsequent season in any case. Penelope isn't getting much joy from Colin, and it's difficult to say where that will go, in part because Colin's feelings for Penelope are unclear, maybe including even to himself.
The acting, as always, was excellent. Jonathan Bailey as Anthony and Simone Ashley as Kate were well up to their leading roles, and even Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte upped her game.
See you back here whenever Season 3 is on Netflix.
See also Bridgerton: Alternate Austen
April 17, 2022
Podcast Review of Outer Range 1.1-2
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 281, in which I review the first two episodes of Outer Range on Amazon Prime.
Written blog post review of these episodes of Outer Range.
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