Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 70
February 28, 2022
Grzegorz Kwiatkowski Interviewed by Paul Levinson about Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 253, in which I interview Polish poet and Trupa Trupa band member Grzegorz Kwiatkowski about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the role of music and beauty in the struggle for freedom.
video of this interview review of Crops, Kwiatkowski's book of poetry about the Holocaust review of Trupa Trupa's new album B Flat A
Watch the video
February 26, 2022
Podcast Review of Severance 1.3
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 252, in which I review Severance episode 1.3 on Apple TV+.
Written blog post review of Severance 1.3
podcast reviews of Severance: 1.1-1.2
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Severance 1.3: The History and the Neighbor
It's hard to watch and review a profoundly dystopian science fiction series when a profoundly dystopian reality -- the horrendous, Nazi-like invasion of Ukraine by Russia -- is going on and available to see on a myriad of television screens. I'll be interviewing the Polish holocaust poet Grzegorz Kwiatowski about this on Monday (I'll be posting links to the video and audio recordings to that interview here), but for now, I wanted to take an hour to keep up with and review episode 1.3 of Severance on Apple TV+.
Severance is indeed a starkly powerful story about a uniquely totalitarian society. [Spoilers ahead ... ]
We saw some of the history of Lumon in this vivid episode. Apparently the corporation goes back to the middle of the 19th century. What's not clear is exactly when the severance process was introduced. This means, however, that Severance is not just a near-futuristic science fiction narrative. It's also a secret, steampunk history -- that is, a history that occurred in our reality without our knowledge -- and/or perhaps an alternate history as well. And, if you think about it, it's not even clear that what we're seeing is taking place in the future. If not, we're watching an alternate reality.
Moving on from the classification, there were lots of important ingredients in this episode. I think my favorite is Harmony, well played by Patricia Arquette. She's Mark's next door neighbor, as well as a high-level supervisor at Lumon (but not the highest -- she's called on the board by the board of directors, whoever they are). It seems that unlike Mark et al, Harmony is is not severed -- at very least, she has continuity between inside and outside, though this is not completely clear, either. But what does it mean that she's Mark's neighbor on the outside? That Mark has some sort of special role in this story that we haven't yet seen?
On the inside, Dylan, Helly, and Irving all had important roles in this episode. Dylan gets off one of the best lines, remarking that the museum reconstruction of the founder's home smells like "19th century ass". Helly's heroic but foiled attempt to escape was instructive. And the sheer demeanor of Irving is chilling.
See you back here next week with my review of the next episode of this unique narrative.
See also Severance 1.1-1.2: Erving Goffman Meets The Prisoner
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's musicFebruary 25, 2022
Podcast Review of Suspicion 1.5
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 251, in which I review Suspicion episode 1.5 on Apple TV+.
Written blog post review of Suspicion 1.5
Podcast reviews of Suspicion 1.1-1.3... Suspicion 1.4
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Suspicion 1.5: Tara and Sean
Superb, delightful episode 1.5 of Suspicion up today on Apple TV+. Yes, delightful.
[Spoilers follow ... ]
My favorite scene was Tara and Sean in undies at the door, pretending to be a couple when the pesky neighbor came calling with a shotgun or a rifle. Perfectly staged and acted. Tara actually enjoying it underneath the pretence. Sean almost reminiscent of James Bond.
And my favorite line came a little earlier, when Sean remarked of Tara that she looks more like Lara Croft than a professor. Can't argue with that. The two have a chemistry that we see again, near the end of the episode, when Tara talks to Sean who is completely unclothed in the bathroom. Again, well staged and acted. Good work by Elizabeth Henstridge and Elyes Gabel.
The whole story was well plotted and paced in this episode. It now looks like Martin Copeland, Katherine's second in command, was responsible for Leo's kidnapping. Which in turn means that all of presumed kidnappers were set up to take the fall. And that also means that the killers with American accents who showed up in episode 1.4 are working for Copeland.
But we still don't have the complete story. There's clearly more to each of the suspects than we knew last week. Aadesh has sophisticated computer skills, Natalie has more money, etc. At this point, Suspicion is really shaping up as a first-rate stylish whodunnit, and I'm looking forward to more.
See you back here next week with my review of the next episode.
See also Suspicion 1.1-2: Excellent Start, But Is It Four or Five? ... Suspicion 1.3: The Fifth ... Suspicion 1.4: Surprises and Invincibility
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
February 24, 2022
Podcast Review of Raised by Wolves 2.5
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 250, in which I review Raised by Wolves episode 2.5 on HBO Max.
written blog post review of this episode
Further listening:
podcast review of Raised by Wolves 2.4
podcast review of Raised by Wolves 2.3
podcast review of Raised by Wolves 2.1-2.2
podcast review of Raised by Wolves 1-3
podcast review of Raised by Wolves 4-5
podcast review of Raised by Wolves 6-10
Further reading:
Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Interaction of Space and Religion
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Raised by Wolves 2.5: Science Fiction and Horror
A jam-packed episode 2.5 of Raised by Wolves on HBO Max, with enough profound and provocative gambits to comprise half a season or more.
Here are my favorites, in no particular order, because they all are excellent:
[Spoilers of course follow ... ]
The face on the Frankenstein-like, Mother-like android that Father has brought back to life. It's behind a veil. He's interrupted before he gets a chance to see it. And the kids don't quite get a chance to see it, either. This means that its identity must be pretty important.The leeches that save Paul. They comes to Sue in vision. Later, she gets more words from a formless voice. The words of Sol? That's what Paul thinks. Sue doesn't know or care, as long they help her and Paul and those she cares about survive. Vrille coming back to life. Actually, she was never dead. I said last week that I'd miss her character. Well, she certainly made a provocative reappearance, killing everyone in Marcus' group except Marcus and Holly. Marcus being brought back to town, formerly under the Trust's control, now under Mother's, has plenty of possibilities. His seeing Sue again will be fun to see.That creepy being that we first see coming out of the acid sea, and later another as an old monster coming back to life, underlines along with Vrille's new face that Raised by Wolves is as much a horror as a science fiction tale. Works for me,It looks like there will only be six episodes to this second season -- though you never know with Wikipedia or IMDb listings of episodes in seasons, which sometimes can be incomplete. There's a lot left to be resolved or even explained a little in the fascinating stories this season. I'll be back here next week with my thoughts on the sixth and perhaps final episode of this second season.
See also Raised by Wolves 2.1-2: A Viking Out in Space, with Androids ... Raised by Wolves 2.3: Marcus and the Android Skeleton ... Raised by Wolves 2.4: Kinds of Sentience and Conflicts
And see also Raised by Wolves 1.1: Fast Action and Deep Philosophy ... Raised by Wolves 1.2-3: More than Meets the Eye ... Raised by Wolves 1.4-5: Halfway to Dune ...Raised by Wolves 1.6-7: The Look on Mother's Face ... Raised by Wolves 1.8-1.9: Frankenstein and Motherhood ... Raised by Wolves Season One Finale: The Serpent
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
February 23, 2022
Podcast Review of Severance 1.1-1.2
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 249, in which I review Severance episodes 1.1-1.2 on Apple TV+.
Written blog post review of Severance 1.1-1.2
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Severance 1.1-1.2: Erving Goffman Meets The Prisoner
Finally saw the first two episodes of Severance. Well it's only been up on Apple TV+ for less than a week, and I'd intended to watch them earlier, but got caught up in other things, and I wanted to give those two episodes my full attention. Hey, I almost sound like a perpetually apologetic worker (John Turturro's Irving in particular) in that quasi-totalitarian workplace, in which workers or "innies" have no knowledge of their lives outside of work, and vice versa, hence the title of the series, Severance.
Totalitarian is a good word for the ambience of this new series, reminiscent in various ways of George Orwell's 1984 and The Prisoner (great 1960s TV series). At this point, we don't know how or why this schizoid society arose, and neither do the inhabitants that we've met. Fortunately, by the end of the second episode, we meet a former employee, Petey, who has somehow re-integrated his workplace and off-time personas, and is beginning to spark an undoing of this system, in which the severance is said to be irreversible.
One of the sociologists in our off-screen world who would have had a lot to say about Severance is Erving Goffman (1922-1982), who said in The Presentation of Everyday Life (1956/1959) we all have front regions, that we show to our public, and back regions, in which we interact with our close friends and families. A waiter in a restaurant, for example, might be perfectly polite and friendly to an obnoxious customer, and then tell his or her spouse later that night about the jackass in the restaurant. Of course, that waiter has continuous memories of both front (public) and back (private) regions, unlike the severed workers in Severance.
It's been a while since I've encountered as coldly and frighteningly intellectual a science fiction narrative as Severance. In addition to Turturro, the series has Christopher Walken and Patricia Arquette in supportive roles, and Adam Scott in a strong performance in the lead role as Mark, severed, but now in contact with Petey on the outside. I'm going to give this series, directed by Ben Stiller, a shot -- see you back here with my next review in a few days.
February 21, 2022
Slipping Time
Here's another one of my time travel stories available FREE on Vocal: "Slipping Time"
Illustration from painting by Gustave Caillebotte, 1877Earlier version of story published in Amazing Stories, 2018Get the story for your Kindle
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