The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey 6: The End

The last episode of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, on Apple TV+, was better than it could have been, but not what I'd hoped for.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

At least Ptolemy didn't take his own life, as suggested by the opening of the first episode.  But he died, with barely if any at all of the enormous improvements in his mentality brought about by Dr. Rubin aka Satin's medical treatment.  And I wanted Ptolemy, with his exceptional intelligence, to come up with a way of making it last.  But years ago, when I started out as a writer, I once heard another writer retort, when his work was faulted by a critic, hey, if you think that's such a good idea, why don't you write your own story?  And Walter Mosley could certainly say that to me in response to what I would have liked the ending his Ptolemy Grey story to be.

And there were many enduringly beautiful and profound elements to this TV series (I haven't read the book).  Robyn's development was wonderful to see.  The baddest guy got just what he deserved.  The interplay of Ptolemy's memories with the complex reality that swirled around him was handled memorably.   Indeed, it's not clever to say that the whole story about the loss of human memory was handled memorably.  It's true.

Getting old is a hell of a thing.  The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey is eminently worth seeing, even if it doesn't have the happy ending my stubborn heart desired.

See also The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey 1-3: In Flowers for Algernon Territory ... The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey 4: Ptolemy's Fate ... The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey 5: Slippage

a little time travel story -- free

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