Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 91
September 28, 2021
La Brea 1.1: Pros and Cons of Falling into the Past
Well, I thought I'd take a look at La Brea, which debuted a few hours ago on NBC. One on the one hand, a time-travel sinkhole story is right up my alley. On the other hand, science fiction on network television all too often turns out to be annoying. Or, if not -- like Debris, which was pretty good -- it's cancelled after one season. Gone are the days of Star Trek the original series on NBC, or Lost on ABC. But it's time travel. I won't say no to at least giving a time travel series on network television a chance.
And the good news is there's what to like in La Brea. The premise is sound: a sinkhole opens in the La Brea tar pits of Los Angeles. Humans who fall in end up in the prehistoric past. Prehistoric birds fly into our present. The set-up definitely has possibilities.
The characters who fall into the past also have possibilities. As one of them notes, their plight is indeed reminiscent of those people on the island in Lost. They're a good assortment of people of various ages, relationships, professions, talents, and situations.
Not quite as promising are the people left in our present. The government officials are trite, almost ridiculous cutouts. The husband (Josh) whose wife (Eve) and son (Jack) fell into the past has a not very believable story of somehow having true visions of his wife and son and other people in the past. At this point at least, his story is sheer fantasy, which doesn't jibe well with the science fiction of a wormhole in present La Brea to the past.
But there are some good actors in this show. Jon Seda who plays an MD in prehistoric La Brea is always welcome on screen, as is Natalie Zea as Eve. So, yeah, I'll give this series a chance, for now. It's time travel.
September 27, 2021
American Rust 1.3: Highs and Lows of Life at the Same Time
A superb third episode American Rust on Showtime last night. I like the way the show has a way of juxtaposing the best and the worst on the screen at the same time, exemplified in the concluding scenes last night of Billy in bed with Lee (she came over to his place, after saying the love they made last week never happened) and the guy who drove to West Virginia phoning in to the sheriff that he saw Billy punch out the former cop who wound up dead.
Except the caller didn't say that he actually saw Billy kill the ex-cop, and there's no guarantee at all that Lee will keep being with Billy, so it's not quite the worst or the best for Billy, and that ambiguity amidst the life and death is one of the best part of this series.
I also especially liked two of the many good conversations that animate the narrative. Del's telling Grace why he left Pittsburgh provided a crucial insight into his life, helpful to Grace and us in understanding him. And the young woman recounting her recollection of the man who fed his dog one night and "barbecued" it the next is not only a priceless little piece of Americana, but a good entree (pardon the expression) of what will be a significant relationship for Isaac, based on the coming attractions.
Meanwhile, the whodunnit of the murder still looms large. Here's my current best guess: it's neither Billy nor Isaac, but the caller heading into West Virginia. That would be his motive for calling the sheriff -- get the law to focus on someone other than him. But, it's only the third episode, and we'll just have to see. I have a feeling American Rust is going to take its own sweet time in making this ultimate revelation, and the trimmings in this narrative are so compelling, I'd say that's all for the better.
See you back here next week with my next review.
See also American Rust 1.1-2: Pennsylvania Noir
September 25, 2021
The Defeated: Moral Complexity in the Ruins
My wife and I just saw The Defeated aka Shadowplay on Netflix. A powerful, riveting, brutally honest, at times brutal, at times tender, eight-episode 2020 mini-series that takes place in Germany just after the Nazis lost the war in 1945. Co-produced by German and Canadian companies, it's evocative of both Babylon Berlin and Hunters, with an on-the-scene Rome: Open City ambience and a piercing morality all its own.
Like all powerful, complex narratives, The Defeated has characters with all shades of loyalties and goals. They range from Max (NYPD cop on hand to help out in Germany, but really there to find his brother) and Elsie (a German cop determined to do the right thing), to Max's brother Moritz (a psychotic Nazi hunter) and Tom (Max's boss, lining his pocket with proceeds from smuggled art that the Nazi's stole during the war) to the "Angel Maker" (a Nazi doctor who preys on young women) and Karin (a young woman who assists and urges the Angel Maker to do even more).
The action is literally searing and bone crunching, and the acting delivers. Taylor Kitsch puts in his best performance as Max since we saw him as Riggins in Friday Night Lights. Nina Hoss, whom I haven't seen before, is excellent as Elsie. They and any character with a shred of decency struggle to navigate this strange new world in Germany, where the Nazis are officially gone but the ideology noxiously lingers, and those who are free of the ideology wonder how they can bring a more sane, decent life into being.
From our current vantage point, it seems like they succeeded. But the deeper lesson of The Defeated may well be that the Nazi perspective lingers still, because indeed it does, as we see in many places, like the continuing mistreatment of immigrants seeking refuge and freedom at the southern border of the United States.
There is supposed to be a second season of The Defeated in the making. I'll be back with a review when it's streaming.
September 24, 2021
Podcast Review of Foundation 1.1-2
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 192, in which I review the first two episodes of Foundation, just up today on Apple TV+
earlier podcasts about Foundation: 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 1.1-2 postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogy
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematics, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones
I've been saying on Twitter and Facebook and anyplace with an eye or an ear that I've been waiting most of my life to see Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy and then series on a screen. That's surely a prescription for disappointment. But I just watched the first two episodes of Foundation on Apple TV+ and I thought they were superb. Not perfect, but more than enough to be not disappointed but thrilled.
First, let me say that, in general when I review a movie or TV series based on a novel or story I previously read, I try not to get tied up in comparisons. The screen and the page are, after all, very different media, with different necessities of expression and portrayal. But Asimov's stories are so incandescent, it's not possible to ignore them when thinking about the television series.
And I think the first two episodes of the series do capture the best parts of the Asimov stories. The primacy of mathematics in predicting the broad currents of history, but not the actions of individuals, come through powerfully in the first two episodes. Especially in the stunning ending of the second episode.
[Spoilers follow ... ]
That would be Haru Seldon murdered by his adopted son Raych, on the ship to Terminus. I don't know if I liked that -- actually, I do know, I didn't -- and I'm not sure it was well enough motivated. But it certainly was traumatically shocking, and amply demonstrated the unpredictability of individual behavior.
Cleon's clones, though, on the other hand, were somewhat predictable, certainly the cruelty of Brother Day. But the relationship between the boy (Dawn), the old man (Dusk), and Day was interesting, even fascinating, and one of the best parts of the TV series not in the Asimov stories.
I also really loved the scene on the ship to Terminus with Hari talking to the workers in the laundry room. It was good and comforting to see the esoteric mathematician being such a true man of the people. Seldon was never fleshed out on Asimov's pages, and Jared Harris did a fine job of doing that in the first two episodes. As I was watching them, it occurred me to me that Foundation in these first two episodes was most like David Goyer's Da Vinci's Demons, which makes sense, since Seldon and Da Vinci were both geniuses who predicted the future.
In addition to Harris, Lou Llobell does a fine job as Gaal Dornick, who has an excellent expanded role in the TV series as not only a mathematician but a human being. And Lee Pace is powerful and believable as the powerful Brother Day. Robots played no role in the original Asimov trilogy, and an increasing role in the sequels. I'm not sure what I think as yet of Laura Birn's Demerzel on the TV screen.
I'll tell you more when I review the third episode right after I see it next Friday early morning. And look for my audio podcast later today in which I'll talk more about the first two.
September 21, 2021
American Rust 1.1-2: Pennsylvania Noir
My wife and I just had a chance to see the first two episodes of American Rust on Showtime. We'll definitely be watching the ensuing six episodes.
It occurred to me that American Rust is part of what may be called Pennsylvania Noir, joining Mare of Eastham (which received three impressive Emmys the other night) and Your Honor (which should have received some Emmys). American Rust is the most down in the dirt, depicting a way of life under siege from poverty and the elements, with characters who know what's good even if they can't have it, and escape to New York City if they can.
The acting that portrays those characters is outstanding. Jeff Daniels is Chief of Police Dell Harris. He's on some kind of PTSD-control drugs, in love with Grace Poe (played by Maura Tierney), who is married to a jackass husband Virgil (Mark Pellegrino), but Harris still manages to do his job with a moral code that transcends the law. But I think my favorite character is Billy Poe (played by Alex Neustaedter), somehow involved in a murder which I'm guessing he didn't commit, and reminding me a lot of Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) on Friday Night Lights, which is a very good thing.
More on the murder: the whodunnit is the heart of narrative, and so far it has some compelling players. Harris will bend the rules to the point of breaking them to protect Billy, and it's not clear at this point what Harris really believes. Billy's in love with the sister of the guy who may have committed the murder with Billy, or maybe did it just on his own, and I was glad to see the two of them totally together again, even for just a night, because I'm a hopeless romantic. It was sweet to see Lee (Julia Mayorga) fall asleep in Billy's arms as they were dancing at a wedding.
So there's a lot of story to see in American Rust, and I'll be back here with weekly reviews.
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
September 16, 2021
Podcast Review of Star Trek: Discovery season 3
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 191, in which I review Star Trek: Discovery season 3.
written review The Missing Orientation podcast review of Picard season 1, and Discovery seasons 1 and 2Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music
September 15, 2021
Star Trek: Discovery 3: Fulfilling the Promise
Checking in with a review of Star Trek: Discovery season 3, which was on CBS All Access now Paramount+ nearly a year ago, but I just had a chance to binge-watch the past few days.
The first 10 of its 13 episodes were a mix of good, ok, and very good. The final three episodes were pure gold, with outstanding hand-to-hand combat, and some of the best personal stories and trials and tribulations in any Star Trek, of whatever vintage, on whatever kind of screen.
First, it was ingenuous to move the storyline in this season from before the start of Star Trek: The Original Series to further in the future than any other Star Trek narrative has been located. I won't give away too much of the plot in this review, but I will say that although we've seen plenty of time travel in many a Star Trek season, the goal of Discovery in staying in this far future -- what it must do -- is original, unexpected, and sufficiently cosmic to motivate all the twists and turns and surprises in the story.
The continuing characters, especially Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Saru (Doug Jones), really come into their own. And lots of memorable new characters this season, too. My favorites were Booker (David Ajala), Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr), Osyraa (Janet Kidder), and Kovich (David Cronenberg -- yes!). There was good integration of Vulcan and Romulus into the story, and a nice shout-out to "City on the Edge of Forever," with Paul Guilfoyle (CSI's Jim Brass) playing the Guardian of Forever.
I've come to realize -- and I may have said this is in an earlier review, but it's worth repeating -- that the Star Trek franchise is more than a superb one-of-a-kind series of television series and movies. It's a blueprint for our future, a blueprint which is helping that future come into being, by being such a continuing inspiration. Or, as I said my essay, The Missing Orientation, published late last year, "my lifelong commitment to doing what I could via writing and speaking to help lift our species off this planet was baked in for life by Star Trek in the mid-1960s."
The third season of Star Trek: Discovery amply continues that inspiration. I'll be back here with a review of the fourth season, which will start on Paramount+ on November 18, and everything Star Trek that comes after.
September 11, 2021
The Voyeurs: Not Rear Window, But Still Worth Looking Through
We caught The Voyeurs -- not real people, the movie that just went up on Amazon Prime Video -- and enjoyed it. It's been compared by critics -- unfavorably, of course -- to Hitchcock's 1954 masterful Rear Window, but it's still worth watching, looking through, choose your metaphor.
And though The Voyeurs lacks the dramatically harrowing tension of Rear Window, it's a pretty enthralling, attractive mystery, with some good surprises, mostly stacked up near the end. The cinematography, the ambience, and the bodies all work well.
[SPOILERS AHEAD ...]
I guessed the first big surprise, and that gets at the one underlying problem in the plot. I had a feeling Julia wasn't dead, and she and Seb were just acting that out to amuse and ensnare Pippa and Thomas. I was also a little not quite believing that Thomas took his life, though the funeral made it clear that he was dead. But in both Julia's and Thomas's cases, taking their own lives seemed a little extreme. Yes, they would have been hurt, even devastated, by the infidelity of their partners, but there wasn't quite enough psychological development to make their suicides plausible, at least to me.
That said, though, I was impressed with what Pippa was able to pull on Seb and Julia in revenge. That effective twist, a good way to cap off the movie, was due to Sydney Sweeney's convincing portrayal of Pippa as a sweet young woman with a raging libido just waiting to be tapped. In all the scenes prior to her turning the tables on her tormentors, she was able to convey an interpersonal and erotic vulnerability.
Back to Hitchcock -- he's in a class by himself. His movies are peerless, and François Truffaut's Hitchcock/Truffaut (1966), an extended interview with Hitchcock in which he talks about his many movies, is far and away the most instructive book about film I've ever read. (I'll review the 2015 HBO documentary here soon.) So don't let the primacy of Rear Window get in the way of your watching The Voyeurs, and enjoying it, if you have a heartbeat.
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September 9, 2021
The Chair: Hilarious, Sage, and Close to the Truth
My wife and I saw The Chair last night -- six episodes, thirty minutes each, on Netflix -- and loved it. It's billed as a comedy drama, and that's what it is -- a depiction of college professors, administrators, and students -- at a fictitious university, Pembroke, not quite Ivy League. It's also close enough to the truth that it could have been a documentary of any university I've ever taught at, all these years.
Sandra Oh, always superb, plays Ji-Yoon Kim, who has just become Chair of the English Department. Her primary nemesis is Dean Paul Larson (that is, he's a Dean) perfectly played by David Morse. He's interested in money. Which means he's out to get -- as in get them to leave -- elderly professors who pull in high salaries and few students. He's smart, articulate, and other than money his only other goal is to protect the image of the university. If you're a professor, who has served time as Chair of your department, as I have, you'll instantly recognize Larson. He, along with the university public relations hack -- another instantly recognizable character -- provide the drama that spices up the comedy.
Kim must also deal with another recognizable academic problem: the short shrift that women have been given over the decades in their professorial roles. Holland Taylor plays sassy Joan Hambling, one of the oldsters Larson has on his hit list. She's stymied by the university's computer technology -- who isn't -- but puts up a fight, and conducts it with style and bon-vivance
Social media are whipping boys for everything these days, and The Chair is no exception. A professor explaining to his class how fascism arises gives a sieg heil to demonstrate a point. That's captured by a student's phone, sent out to social media, and the professor soon finds himself condemned as a Nazi. Larson of course wants to fire him, even though he has tenure, draws in lots of students, and is not that old.
Lots of other all-too familiar academic gambits just slightly exaggerated, if at all, in The Chair, which makes not only for continuous good laughs but a blueprint for change in academe.
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