Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 76

Station Eleven 1.6-7: Time, Blake, and Bosch

First, let me say in this review of Station Eleven 1.6 and 1.7, up on HBO Max today, that I thought episode 1.7 was the best so far in this superbly powerful series.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The vehicle of the adult Kirsten, poisoned by darts in the present, going back to Frank's apartment in Chicago to interact with her younger self, as she observes her younger self along with Frank and Jeevan, was brilliant and brilliantly executed. My single favorite of moment of that: Kirsten assuring her younger self not to worry she'll see Frank again, because, the person who is saying that, the older Kirsten, is right there in Frank's apartment, was a perfect meta-gambit to make this point. A close second was discovering at the end that the adult Kirsten may have actually been there, in the physical apartment in the present, with Frank's dessicated corpse in the bed.

If truth be told, I've liked these earlier episodes, from the first episode through the airport last week to tonight's episode 7, a little more than the episodes that take place in the future (or the present), depending on how you look at it. Probably because the near future day-after-tomorrow story is just easier to relate to.

The troubadour future, though, has its tapestry and its moments. Episode 1.6 tonight felt like a new William Blake poem, wrapped in a Bosch painting (mostly the Dutch painter with a bit of the Amazon Prime series), with lots of choices for appropropriate music. (Back to 1.7: The rap song by Frank was off-the-charts great. Dan Romer gets credit for the music -- I have no idea if he wrote it or chose it. Either way, kudos!) If I could choose a song to add to that 1.6 tapestry, I think it would be "You Know My Name" by the Beatles.

And my favorite moment of 1.6 was learning that that airport was the Museum. That's a clever stroke, too. If you think about it, airports and museums have a lot in common.

At this point, although there is a lot of competition, I'm thinking Station Eleven is up there or down there with best post-apocalypse narratives I've seen on the screen.

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Published on December 30, 2021 21:26

Meet the Alternative History: What If Hillary Clinton Had Run for President in 2004?

Doubling back to review the second episode of Chuck Todd's Meet the Alternative History podcast -- the first was about what if Bill Clinton had resigned in 1998, the third about what if JFK had lived, which I reviewed before the second episode because the topic is so transcendent. This second episode finds Todd talking to Curtis Sittenfeld, whose 2020 novel Rodham (which I've yet to read) is an alternate history in which Hillary and Bill don't marry.

The conversation about the novel is fun and a good entree about how authors ply their craft. The idea that Hillary Rodham would have had an incandescent public life not as Hillary Clinton is of course a paean to Hillary, and one which certainly seems plausible. But I thought the real payoff in this podcast episode comes when the two discuss Todd's notion that Hillary Clinton, pursuing the exact same path as she did in our reality up until 2004, might well have won the U. S. Presidency had she run for that office that year.

Among the nuggets Todd reveals in that conversation is what David Axelrod told him about something that happened in 2009: that Trump had called Axelrod offering to run the early Obama dinner which the Salahis notoriously crashed. Axelrod never returned (or was very slow to return) Trump's call. Trump in turn didn't turn against Obama until a year or two later. Todd says Axelrod wondered: could Trump have been an ally of Obama and the Democrats had Axelrod graciously accepted Trump's offer back then?

It's a fascinating conjecture about the very stuff of alternate history: little, seemingly inconsequential interactions or non-interactions that can have massive effects on subsequent history, aka the butterfly effect. If ever those was a person in politics whose path was filled with those butterflies it would be Hillary Clinton. She came razor close to winning the Democratic primaries in 2008, and in fact won the popular vote in 2016. Todd also offers his view that, fifty years from now there may well be more books written about Hillary than Bill, and he may be right.

Listen to Meet the Alternative History on Spotify.

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Published on December 29, 2021 14:21

Meet the Alternative History: What If JFK Had Lived?

A superb second episode of Chuck Todd's Meet the Alternative History podcast, in part because Todd's conversation was with Michael Beschloss, the de facto Historian Laureate, and in part because their main topic was what if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated, pretty much the gold standard or apex of time travel objectives (see my Loose Ends) and alternate history speculation, informed and otherwise.

My two favorite consequences of JFK surviving in this highly informed conversation were

JFK ends the Vietnam War in 1966, after being elected to a second term (a sure thing) and after it was clear that the U. S. was fighting a losing battle over there. Beschloss explains that Kennedy didn't have the do-or-die commitment to not backing down in a military confrontation that Lyndon Johnson and his closest advisors in Texas had in their bones, and Kennedy also would have been better at explaining what was happening in Vietnam to the American people. A wonderful scenario to consider.RFK (also not assassinated) wins the election in 1968 (after first beating Johnson in the primaries) and appoints his brother JFK as Secretary of State. The very thought is what makes Beschloss so effective as an historian of the real world -- he has a way of mixing the personal with the international that puts life on this planet in a relatable, comprehensible tableau.One point I wish Todd and Beschloss had considered is what would have to the U. S. space program if JFK had survived? I always thought that we got to the Moon in 1969 because everyone working on this challenge were determined to fulfill the slain President's commitment to landing a person on the Moon by the end of the decade. (See my The Missing Ingredient for my thoughts and feelings about the real progress and lack of in the effort to get off this planet.)

Prior to discussing JFK, Todd and Beschloss also briefly considered what would have happened had Lincoln survived. Their discussion provided an astute political dimension to the many alternate histories about the Civil War, and is well worth listening to in its own right.

Listen to Meet the Alternative History on Spotify or Goodpods or Podchaser

another alternate space travel history

The Loose Ends Saga

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Published on December 29, 2021 12:37

Podcast Review of Dexter: New Blood 1.7-8

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 231, in which I review Dexter: New Blood 1.7-8 on Showtime.

Written reviews of Dexter: New Blood 1.7 and Dexter: New Blood 1.8

Written review of episodes in all eight seasons of Dexter (the original series):

Reviews of Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope

Reviews of Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

Reviews of Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Gellar Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra: Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

Reviews of 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

Reviews of 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

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

Season 1: First Place to Dexter

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Published on December 29, 2021 11:08

True Story: Truly Excellent

As the year quickly draws to a close, I wanted to tell you that True Story, a seven-episode mini-series my wife and I finished watching last night on Netflix, has to be one of the best crime dramas of year. That's right. Clean out of the ballpark with a fast-moving story that manages to pull the rug out at the end of just about every episode.

[Spoilers ahead ...]

It starts when Kid, a stand-up comedian just become a big action-hero movie star, wakes up to find the woman he was with the night before dead in bed beside him. Great performance right there and throughout by Kevin Hart as Kid, and, while I'm at it, by Wesley Snipes as Carlton, Kid's brother, who wakes him up on that fateful morning. Snipes has always been one of my favorite actors, and he hasn't lost a thing.

Now, one thing Carlton and Kid really didn't do is carefully check to make sure the woman was dead, and that made me think that maybe she wasn't, and Kid was being set up for some kind of scam. And that's indeed what we discover at the end of this story. But I didn't mind being right about the plot, and the story of how True Story got from the beginning to the end was worth watching every minute.

One of the issues explored in depth is the nature of fandom, how it can be exploited by the star, what's really going on in the head and the heart of the fan. Gene, well-played by Theo Rossi, will go down as one of the most memorable fans in history, given the noble sacrifice he makes at the end.

The Philadelphia ambience was also good to see, and I thought True Story captured the Philadelphia convention scene -- which I know quite well as science fiction writer -- to a tee. The bad guys in the story -- Ari and his brothers --- were something we've seen before, but still packed at least a couple of surprises. Hats off to Eric Newman -- who also produced the superb Narcos series -- for a great job. I'd love to see a Season 2.

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Published on December 29, 2021 09:05

Podcast Review of Don't Look Up

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 230, in which I review Don't Look Up, and offer up a rare pan (for me) of a science fiction movie.

Written blog post review of Don't Look Up

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Published on December 27, 2021 14:58

Don't Look Up: Look Elsewhere

I'm going to check in with a rare pan for me of a science fiction film. Rare not because I love every science fiction movie I've ever seen, but because I usually review only movies that I think are worth seeing. Don't Look Up serves up a variety of narratives and storylines, and, in the end, I think most of them are not worth watching.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Let's start with what is worth seeing in this movie, about a comet that's six months away from an extinction-event impact with our planet. I liked the satire of our media and politicians, and I liked the acting.

But I didn't the pessimistic, deeply dispirited ending. Not only did the two major attempts to stop the comet by launching a missile or missiles at the comet fail -- one blew up on the launch pad, the other hit the comet with multiple explosives, but some of them failed to arrive or ignite, and the result was not enough to knock the comet off course -- but even the attempt to cryogenically save humanity by sending some people on a multi-millenium voyage to an Earth-like planet way out there in space fails as well, as voracious birds attack our people as they come out of their suspended shells, including gobbling up the U.S. President's head. That was a little funny in a perverted slapstick way, but not worth the enduring message of death it delivered.

Now, I'm not saying that both or either of these methods of saving our species would work. But why make a movie that makes that hopeless point? The lampooning of politics and media here on Earth could have worked just as well with at least some ray of hope for our species in the end. (There was a last man on Earth ala The Twilight Zone episode at the end of the movie, but no indication was given that humanity would survive via that guy, either.)

Watching movies and television series, for me, is a form of entertainment. The reality which it describes and plays off of can be dangerous and deadly. But it's not hopeless, and I don't like and wouldn't recommend a movie that traffics so completely in despair.

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Published on December 27, 2021 00:25

Dexter: New Blood 1.8: The Hug in the Car

An excellent, satisfying Dexter: New Blood 1.8, even though we knew pretty much exactly how this episode would end.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Meaning, there was no way that Kurt was going to kill Harrison, however close he came to doing that. Harrison is too important a character, in this season, and I hope in seasons that I hope will follow. But Kurt came pretty close. And all I regret about that scene in his cabin with Harrison is that I couldn't have some of that venison, because it sure looked good.

But the single best moment in this episode is Harrison hugging Dexter in the car, after Dexter tells his son about that dark passenger that he and Harrison have within them. That hug in itself will be the basis of everything that comes after, everything we'll ever see between Dexter and Harrison.

And the ball is now in Angela's court. She's beginning to get some evidence to confirm her suspicion that we saw emerging last week, that Dex is the Bay City Butcher. And it's tough to see how this will be resolved, with just two episodes left to this season. I can't quite see Dexter throwing her off track, at this late date. But I can't see Dexter going to prison, either,

I suppose Dexter might allow that to happen to him, if it some way safeguarded Harrison. But how could Dexter protect Harrison, if Dexter were behind prison bars? The future is always opaque, especially in these concluding episodes of the season, and that's a good thing for this series.

See you back here next week as we get another glimpse.

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

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Published on December 26, 2021 14:49

Hightown Season 2 Finale: Brilliant End-Up, Looking for 3

You know, I've been noticing over the years that the penultimate, aka next to last, episode in a television season is often better than the finale. Last week's episode of Hightown was superb, powerful, hard to surpass. And I've just seen the finale. And, you know what? It's even better than last week's episode. There may be a pattern of finales not being as good as the penultimates, but in Hightown Season 2, this ain't it.

So ... where to start. My wife who watched the whole season said right away that Charmayne should've been given more of an armed escort on her trip to Boston. I had a feeling that she wouldn't get there as soon as I saw her in the car with Jackie and Leslie. It's not because they are women. It's because Charmayne needed more coverage, given her importance. And as soon as Leslie told Charmayne the car wasn't stopping for anything, I had feeling she would escape.

Jackie is brilliant in her instincts, but unseasoned. Her emotions, including empathy, are always close to the surface. So her response to Leslie was predictable -- as was Leslie turning on her the day after.

On to Frankie and Osito. It was good to see what happened to Frankie in prison. He deserved it. But is he dead? I'll once again cite one of my principles in reviewing: if you don't see someone's head cut off or riddled with bullets there's always a chance that the recipient survived. We'll just have to wait for Season 3, and at this point, Hightown has yet to be renewed. I think Starz would be crazy not to renew this superb series, which got better and better, from Season 1 to 2, and as Season 2 progressed.

In a third season, we'd get to see Osito in charge. I've been saying through both seasons that Atkins Estimond's character is one of the most memorable in this series, in which there are many. Monica Raymond as Jackie was also outstanding, a lot more vivid than she was in Chicago Fire. James Badge Dale as Ray and Riley Voelkel as Renee were also especially excellent.

Speaking of which -- I'm glad to see them together. But, given that Renee's shooting of Jorge was accidental, I'm wondering why she can't just tell Ray exactly what happened? I guess that reluctance, and several other things, shows there's still not 100% trust just between them.

Dohn Norwood as Alan also deserves a shout-out for that incandescent scene in which he lets Ray know exactly how he feels about that "lateral" move to "bodies" aka homicide. That call from Boston will give him some strong material to get his spot back in Season 3.

So bring it on, and I'll be back here with weekly reviews.