Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 84
November 12, 2021
Review of Invasion 1.6
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 209, in which I review the sixth episode of Invasion on Apple TV+.
Earlier podcasts about Invasion:
November 6, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.5 ... November 2, 2021, Review of Invasion 1.4 ... October 26, 2021, Review of Invasion 1.1-3Written blog post review of Invasion 1.6 is here.
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Invasion 1.6: Close Up!
Well, I'm beginning to feel like I'm handing out "best episodes of the season so far" like bouquets at the end of this week, but they're well deserved. I said yesterday that Foundation 1.9 was best of the season so far -- actually, tied with Foundation 1.7 at that spot, in my opinion -- and tonight I'll say that about Invasion 1.6. In fact, I'd say it easily is the single best episode of the season so far.
Why?
First of all, it's an episode devoted completely to one family's storyline -- an approach Foundation could stand to use, once in a while, come to think of it -- and the story about the Maliks in New York was 30+ minutes of sheer adrenalin.
The beginning sees Aneesha struggling to get back to that house with that couple that I was suspicious of, and I was sorta of right about them. They're not in league with the interstellar invaders, just insanely afraid of them, but of course it's not insane to be afraid of them. But the woman wants the Maliks out of her house because they're too noisy, and the husband is a little too quick to point his rife.
[Spoilers follow ... ]
And then things really get rough. It looks like Ahmed might have been killed by an invader, but he staggers out of the house in the end. The important thing, as far as the overall series is concerned, is that we get a pretty close look at the tentacled monsters that are attacking us. That part was nothing we haven't seen before in countless interstellar invasion movies and TV series, but at least we got a close look at them in action.
As I said in a previous review, we still don't know if these murderous creatures are the intelligent beings that traveled through space, or in effect a living weapon being wielded against Earth by the beings from outer space that traveled here. Four more episodes to find out at least more about that, as well as how our people are doing in the other three theaters of focus, and I'll be back with reviews of that all.
See also Invasion 1.1-3: Compelling Contender ... Invasion 1.4: Three Out of Four ... Invasion 1.5: The Little Creepy Crawly Thing
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Podcast Review of Foundation 1.9
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 208, in which I review the ninth episode of Foundation, just up today on Apple TV+
earlier podcasts about Foundation: November 5, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.8 ... October 29, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.7 ... October 22, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.6 ... October 15, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.5 ... October 8, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.4 ... October 1, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.3 ... September 24, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.1-2 .... July 17, 2021: Thinking about Asimov's Foundation Series on AppleTV+ ... March 12, 2009: Asimov's Foundation and Herbert's Dune Trilogies as Sources of Philosophy written blog post review of Foundation 1.9 postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogyPaul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Review of Foundation 1.9
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 208, in which I review the ninth episode of Foundation, just up today on Apple TV+
earlier podcasts about Foundation: November 5, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.8 ... October 29, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.7 ... October 22, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.6 ... October 15, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.5 ... October 8, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.4 ... October 1, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.3 ... September 24, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.1-2 .... July 17, 2021: Thinking about Asimov's Foundation Series on AppleTV+ ... March 12, 2009: Asimov's Foundation and Herbert's Dune Trilogies as Sources of Philosophy written blog post review of Foundation 1.9 postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogyPaul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
November 11, 2021
Foundation 1.9: Vindication and Questions
Well, quite a penultimate first season Foundation episode -- 1.9 -- which as I think about what I just finished watching, I'd say is the best episode so far in this series. I said that about episode 1.7, didn't I? Does this mean that I think 1.9 is therefore better than 1.7? No. I think they're equally the best at this point. Is that a problem? Not in a story in which triplicate clones of different ages are as much or even more of the riveting story than is the adaptation of Asimov's original tales. So I'll stick with the equal bests, separately aged, and see if the season finale makes the analogy even better with a triple equal.
And I'll tell you just one more thing before I invoke the cover, aka alert you, that spoilers will follow. For the first time in this series, Isaac Asimov's name is the same size as the other credits that appear on the screen before and after. That cannot be an accident. I've been a little annoyed that the size of his name in the opening credits was smaller. I wonder why this injustice was rectified in this particular episode. Is it because one of Asimov's most famous quotes -- "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" -- was clearly spoken in this episode? Maybe. (Though I'm pretty sure there were exact quotes from Asimov in the first episode.) Or perhaps [but this goes into spoilers] --
[Huge spoilers ahead ... ]
Perhaps it's the thrilling ending of this episode: Hari Seldon's hologram -- looking much better than the Hari hologram on 1.8's ship, by the way -- walks out of the vault and speaks on Terminus! Asimov's vision realized at last! But what's going on? Was the Hari hologram we saw last week defective for some reason? Or, is the Hari on Terminus tonight somehow the real Hari? Not likely. But the vindication of Asimov in the Hari holograms opens up all kinds of intriguing questions.
Defects in copies is what the other superb part of tonight's episode was all about. We learn why Dawn is defective. Not because of some accident, or deliberate move of Demerzel. But because of an ingenuous plot by the underground on Trantor to infiltrate the Triumvirate. And in an excellent twist on a twist, Dusk representing the true Cleon DNA pulls the rug out from under the underground anyway. As I've been saying, these clones are a first-rate science fiction story, a triumph in itself.
One more episode left in this first season. I'll see you back here with a review of the season finale minutes after it's on next week.
See also Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematician, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones ... Foundation 1.3: Clonal Science Fiction, Hari Seldon as V. I. Lenin ... Foundation 1.4: Slow Hand, Long Half-Life, Flipped Coin ... Foundation 1.5: What We Learned in that Final Scene ... Foundation 1.6: Folded Variations ... Foundation 1.7: Alternate History/Future ... Foundation 1.8: Divergences and Convergences
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November 10, 2021
CSI: Vegas 1.6: Bald Luminol
A top-notch CSI: Vegas 1.6 tonight -- easily the best so far of the rebooted series -- because, in a nutshell, it had two top-notch stories.
First, it turns out that the blood splatter on the wall that so impressed Gil last week was not quite the thing that impressed him: it was the luminol (possibly he said that last week and I wasn't paying sufficient attention). The luminol came from CSI, and seemed to implicate Chris (an excellent new character) but dandruff and other evidence led to another suspect -- an attorney who had a great motive for discrediting CSI, to wit, the 40% he would net in attorney's fees for as many of the 8000 suits occasioned by Hodges' tainted work that the attorney could handle. I like stories in which the or an attorney is the villain.
Now this first, primary, continuing case has not been thoroughly put to rest, but the second story proved to be a continuing proposition, too. It was a little trite -- an arrogant psycho in prison who can manipulate hapless souls on the outside to do his deadly dirty work -- but the part and the killings and the investigation were well played. And, most important, the psycho is promising that tonight's story was just the beginning, and a flood of his sick atrocities would follow.
So there are two ways that CSI: Vegas could now go. The Hodges case could hand-off to the psycho in prison case, and it'll be fun to see where that goes. Or -- is it possible that the two cases are somehow related? That the bald attorney with dandruff is somehow doing the psycho's bidding?
Probably not, but the new CSI is picking up speed and appeal as it moves along, and I'm happy to be here for the ride.
See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets ... CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress ... CSI: Vegas 1.5: Double Header
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Walter Herbst's It Did Not Start with JFK: The Decades of Events That Led to the Assassination of John F Kennedy
Just published. Highly recommended. My interview this afternoon with author Walter Herbst will tell you why.
November 9, 2021
La Brea 1.7: Time Sinkholes Not Only in Different Places, But From Different Times
Well, the most important thing that happened in La Brea 1.7 happened at the very beginning: we heard again that the sinkholes not only exist in different places but different times. There was one back in the Civil War, which lead to the chest of gold going back 12,000 years. We already knew that some people from a few years ago went back to that past. But the Civil War origin shows that these gateways to the past exist throughout history.
This opens up all kinds of time travel possibilities. In addition to gold, people from the Civil War could join our friends from La Brea in the past. Who knows, maybe they're already there. And if our crew finds another sinkhole, who knows to when it might take them. Maybe even further back than the Civil War. Maybe to sometime in our future.
It's becoming clear that two characters we've already met come from a time not exactly our own. Paara speaks perfect English, with an American accent. She clear came from sometime close to ours, certainly closer than even the Civil War. As I said in my review of La Brea 1.5, she looks a lot like Rebecca. I'd say there's a chance the two are related, if not somehow the same person.
And then there's Gavin. Tonight's episode strongly implied that he's not from our time. That leaves either the past or the future as his time of origin. I'm thinking he comes from the future, though we have no indication as yet of any time travel from the future to our present or to 12,000 years ago.
La Brea is deepening in time travel metaphysics in every episode. In my book, that's a very good thing. See you back here next week.
See also La Brea 1.1: Pros and Cons of Falling Into the Past ... La Brea 1.2: Deepening Horizons ... La Brea 1.3: Descending Into the Maelstrom ... La Brea 1.4: Expanding Horizons ... La Brea 1.5: The Letter and the Resemblance ... La Brea 1.6: Cross-Temporal Communication
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Manhunt Season 2.3-4: Profound and Engaging Snapshot
I saw the conclusion of Manhunt Season 2 -- episodes 3 and 4 -- last night on Acorn on Amazon. Colin Sutton and the police hunting the serial rapist of elderly women were in top form.
There's something about these UK police series that really get it right. Maybe it's the pacing. American police dramas move more quickly, which can be exciting, but that often happens at the expense of important little details. Colin's conversations with his wife, for example, are not the most pressingly germane to the police story, but they help us understand how Colin can be so calm and understanding in the face of such human depravity.
It's also fun to see the technological progress and savvy the Brit police evince in 2009. They understand DNA well enough to know that the rapist's attempt to implicate his son (a real piece of work, this guy) won't work, because although twins share identical DNA, fathers and sons do not.
The excellent finale, though, didn't answer every question. How did the rapist, a man at least in his late 40s or 50s, manage to outrun the Brit copper who was in his 20s, and a marathon runner, no less? I'm also wondering how many of those exquisite coincidences really happened? Did the elderly woman victim who was "interfered" with by the rapist really pass away an hour so before her daughter arrived from New Zealand to see her? And was the rapist really caught on the day Colin took a day off to get some well earned rest?
But these are minor quibbles indeed. It was a great pleasure to get to know Colin Sutton (wonderfully played by Martin Clunes) in this short but profound and engaging series, and I wish him the best in his post-police endeavors.
See also Manhunt Season 1 and 2.1-2
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November 8, 2021
Baptiste 2.4: Aftermath and Paradox
The best moment is Baptiste shaving off his beard in the present, soon saying he felt different, because he was ... was more himself. This meant he could now work fully and whole-heartedly with Emma Chambers, who had come to terms with Baptiste killing her son. This wasn't a question of forgiving him. It was a question of understanding, and letting that understanding reach her soul. The plain reality is her son Alex could well have killed her, had Baptiste not stopped him.
And Emma no doubt realized, on some deep level, that if she had been killed on that street by her son Alex, she would not be around now to search for her younger son Will. Would not have been able to enlist Baptiste's help, which she successfully did.
And so they indeed found Will, alive, but who knows how well. But that's not the end of it. Julien and Emma still have to nab the people who set all of this in motion. So far, no justice has been done.
And there's still the question of Julien's wife. In episode 2.4, the two are, if anything, even further apart. And there seems scant prospect of their getting back together. Julien is not going to give up who he is. But he deserves some happiness. And that's the paradoxical nub of this series (and Missing before it), and its central character. In order to do his work successfully, Julien has to devote so much of himself that he hasn't enough time for family. That's happens to many people, and it's always difficult. But in Julien Baptiste's case, he gives so much to the world that it also seems manifestly unfair.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this round concludes for Baptiste in the two upcoming episodes.
See also Baptiste 2.1: Souls on Edge ... Baptiste 2.2:The Odd Fellow ... Baptiste 2.3: Massacre and Answers ... Baptiste 1: Logic, Passion, and Unflappability ... The Missing 1: Worth Finding and The Missing 2: Unforgettable
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