Ray Donovan 6.7: Switching Sides

Well, not quite switching sides, but in Ray Donovan 6.7 Ray is persuaded to take the Mayoral candidate that he helped with that false attack in the park "down a notch" so the incumbent can get back in top.

How that happens is a case study in how Ray operates.  He resists going along with this - including being brutalized by the NYPD - until he is really given no other choice.  His family is at risk if he doesn't undo what he's done, and Ray is assured that the Mayor won't serve long in office, anyway.  In the end, Ray, notwithstanding his violent loyalty, goes along with what is rational.

Of course, life being what it is - Ray's in particular but also life in general - Ray's undermining the candidate doesn't satisfy the Mayor after all.  He wants Sam taken down, too.  Understandable, since it was Sam who hired Ray to take down the Mayor, and everything he did towards that end was at Sam's behest.  The net result is that switching sides is not only not advisable, but it can get you in even worse trouble.  Loyalty is always what counts most in Ray's world.

The rest of the family - or, at least, the brothers, especially Terry - already know this.  If I had to choose whom I would rather have in my corner, Ray or Terry, I might well go with Terry.  Ray is more agile and resourceful, but sometimes too smart for his own good.  In contrast, Terry is nothing but rock-solid reliable.

The Donovans on the East Coast continue to make for an appealing season this year.  I'll see you back here next week with more.

See Ray Donovan 6.1: The New Friend ... Ray Donovan 6.2: Father and Sons ... Ray Donovan 6.4: Politics in the Ray Style ... Ray Donovan 6.6: The Mayor Strikes Back

See also Ray Donovan 5.1: Big Change  ... Ray Donovan 5.4: How To Sell A Script ... Ray Donovan 5.7: Reckonings ... Ray Donovan 5.8: Paging John Stuart Mill ... Ray Donovan 5.9: Congas ... Ray Donovan 5.10: Bunchy's Money ... Ray Donovan 5.11: I'm With Mickey ... Ray Donovan 5.12: New York

See also Ray Donovan 4.1: Good to Be Back ... Ray Donovan 4.2: Settling In ... Ray Donovan 4.4: Bob Seger ... Ray Donovan 4.7: Easybeats ... Ray Donovan 4.9: The Ultimate Fix ... Ray Donovan Season 4 Finale: Roses

And see also Ray Donovan 3.1: New, Cloudy Ray ... Ray Donovan 3.2: Beat-downs ... Ray Donovan 3.7: Excommunication!

And see also Ray Donovan 2.1: Back in Business ... Ray Donovan 2.4: The Bad Guy ... Ray Donovan 2.5: Wool Over Eyes ... Ray Donovan 2.7: The Party from Hell ... Ray Donovan 2.10: Scorching ... Ray Donovan 2.11: Out of Control ... Ray Donovan Season 2 Finale: Most Happy Ending

And see also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair ... Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and his Family ... Ray Donovan 1.3: Mickey ... Ray Donovan 1.7 and Whitey Bulger ... Ray Donovan 1.8: Poetry and Death ... Ray Donovan Season 1 Finale: The Beginning of Redemption


 

It started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...

Counterpart 2.1: "Strange" and "Lucky"

Counterpart is one of the strangest science fiction series ever on television.  It is also one of the best.  That's why it wasn't the least bit strange that I was glad to see it return for its second season tonight.

"Strange" also plays a major role in tonight's story.  Emily Silk, back from not the dead but a coma, is having trouble adjusting to home life in our world.  In particular, she finds her husband Howard a little strange - he doesn't seem quite right to her.  We know why - this Howard is not really her Howard, the Howard she is married to.  It is Howard from the other world, under cover here as our Howard.  Though he puts on a good act, he's not quite as affable as Howard her husband.  This Howard certainly betrays to us on the other side of the screen a hard glint in the eye, when he thinks Emily isn't looking.

By the way, I have to say, again, how impressed I am with J. K. Simmons.   He is able to play tough Howard portraying softer Howard just perfectly, when he (tough Howard) is trying with about 99% success to be softer.  That can't be easy to do for an actor.

He also portrays just tough Howard to a tee, like when he's taking to his colleague other-worlder Clare.  This bring us to the second key word tonight - "lucky".  That's what Peter says to himself and to us he's been up until now.  Followed by he's not going to rely on that anymore.  He has a daughter and a wife to protect, even though his wife Clare is from the other side, which means Peter must be ready to protect himself from her, too.

Just what this Clare will ultimately do is a big question left over from the first season.  She says having a daughter has changed her, and her deepest loyalties, and demonstrated this last season.  But tonight, in that conversation with Howard, she sure seems loyal to that other side that trained her.  Or maybe she's putting on a act for him.  In a world in which doppelgangers lurk almost around every corner, you better be ready to put on act any time it's needed.  Your life may and likely does depend upon it.

As I said, Counterpart is a strange show.  And we're lucky to have it.   And good to see Betty Gabriel in an important role as Naya Temple, new bureau chief on our side.  I'll see you here next month with review of the next episode.

In the meantime, check out the rough mix of my song "Samantha," recorded last month at Old Bear Records in Batavia, NY, and due to be released on my new album of science fiction related songs in 2019.  ("Samantha" is about love between people from parallel worlds.) 




See also  Counterpart 1.1: Fringe on Espionage ... Counterpart 1.2: Two Different Worlds ... Counterpart 1.3: Identification and Pandemic ... Counterpart 1.4: The Switch ... Counterpart 1.5: Ménage à Alternates ... Counterpart 1.6: Alternate Prince, Funeral, and Clear Clare ... Counterpart 1.7: Spying Across Dimensions ... Counterpart 1.8: Conversations ... Counterpart 2.9: The Spy Who Came Into the Fold ... Counterpart Season 1 Finale: Stuck in the Middle

more alternate reality - "flat-out fantastic" - Scifi and Scary

Outlander 4.6: Jamie's Son

Another outstanding episode of Outlander - 4.6 - tonight, in what has been my favorite season by far so far.   Indeed, there hasn't been a single episode that hasn't been riveting and memorable at this point.

The best scene tonight, I thought, was when William spears a fish in Cherokee territory, which brings the Cherokees quickly down on him in retribution.  Jamie has just arrived and argues that they shouldn't take William's life, because William is his son - something William doesn't know (or maybe doesn't consciously know, but on some level suspects) - and when William protests that Jamie is not his father, the Cherokees let him off with a very minor cut, out of respect for his courage.  Lots of powerful action and profundity packed into that one short scene.

Otherwise, back at the homestead, Claire's tending of John, stricken with measles (which easily can be deadly for an adult), leads to some excellent heart-to-heart conversations between those two, too. Placing Jamie and Claire in the New World in the late 1760s is a great set-up for visits from various people in their tumultuous past.  What this does, in effect, is allow us to catch up with earlier stories and "ken" how the characters are doing now (hey, that language is cool and catching).

Not yet on hand, though, yet, is Brianna, whom we last saw going back in time through those stones in Scotland.  Her appearance in North Carolina in the years just prior to the American Revolution will likely be the climax of this season, though with Outlander, you never know what other surprises wait in store.   As I've mentioned many times, I haven't read the books, so all of this is genuinely new and especially surprising and enjoyable to me.

See also Outlander 4.1: The American Dream ... Outlander 4.2: Slavery ...Outlander 4.3: The Silver Filling ... Outlander 4.4: Bears and Worse and the Remedy ... Outlander 4.5: Chickens Coming Home to Roost

And see also Outlander Season 3 Debut: A Tale of Two Times and Places ...Outlander 3.2: Whole Lot of Loving, But ... Outlander 3.3: Free and Sad ... Outlander 3.4: Love Me Tender and Dylan ... Outlander 3.5: The 1960s and the Past ... Outlander 3.6: Reunion ... Outlander 3.7: The Other Wife ... Outlander 3.8: Pirates! ... Outlander 3.9: The Seas ...Outlander 3.10: Typhoid Story ... Outlander 3.11: Claire Crusoe ...Outlander 3.12: Geillis and Benjamin Button ... Outlander 3.13: Triple Ending

And see also Outlander 2.1: Split Hour ... Outlander 2.2: The King and the Forest ... Outlander 2.3: Mother and Dr. Dog ... Outlander 2.5: The Unappreciated Paradox ... Outlander 2.6: The Duel and the Offspring ...Outlander 2.7: Further into the Future ... Outlander 2.8: The Conversation ... Outlander 2.9: Flashbacks of the Future ... Outlander 2.10: One True Prediction and Counting ... Outlander 2.11: London Not Falling ... Outlander 2.12: Stubborn Fate and Scotland On and Off Screen ... Outlander Season 2 Finale: Decades

And see also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

 

It all started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...

David Crosby and Friends: Carrying On and Inspiring

Michael League, Becca Stevens, David Crosby, Michelle Willis (photo Tina Vozick)

Tina and I saw David Crosby and friends at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY, earlier tonight.  A short ride from our home, but we don't get to Port Chester too often.  Last time was when we had dinner with Aleksandar Bogdanic and his wife in Maya, before they returned to Bosnia.  Aleksandar was a visiting scholar studying with me at Fordham University and concluding his visit in May.  We had a great time that evening.  Make that two for two for Port Chester: Tina and I had a great time tonight.

Crosby has had a fabled career.   He first found success as part of The Byrds, a West Coast folk-rock group in the mid-1960s that had a huge hit with Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man".   Crosby went on to an even more important role in Crosby, Stills, and Nash - later Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - which arguably was the second best supergroup that ever existed (the first would be The Traveling Wilburys some two decades later), and had enormous political impact ("Ohio") as well as cultural and artistic influence.

Like some aging superstars (see my review of Dylan's concert last month), Crosby mostly sang songs that we (Tina and I) didn't know.  Like all aging superstars, Crosby was backed by an outstanding band, playing and singing (Michael League, Becca Stevens, Michelle Willis).  See my reviews of Elton John's, Joan Baez's, Paul Simon's, and Paul McCartney's concerts earlier this year for their superb back-up bands.  Regarding the songs we didn't know, there were some gems in tonight's Crosby concert.  My favorite was "Janet," a song about "jealousy," as introduced by Michelle Willis, who wrote it and sang lead.


David Crosby and Michelle Willis (photo Tina Vozick)

Crosby was in fine voice for harmony, and clear, strong, and sweet when he needed to be for lead.  His repartee with the audience was excellent - in contrast to the taciturn Dylan, though that's part of Dylan's charm - and I especially enjoyed Crosby's account of how he introduced Ravi Shankar and Indian music to George Harrison.  I was also glad to hear him mention that some of his songs are "science fiction" - music to my ears, since my new album for Old Bear records (to be released in 2019) is just that, my science fiction songs (see the song at the top of this blog page for a rough mix example).

But Crosby and friends brought the house down with their last number, "Ohio".  I'd wager there wasn't a dry eye in the house.  The parallels to Trump, who regularly demonizes people and groups not in his favor, to Nixon, who called students protesting the Vietnam War "bums" are impossible to avoid. In Nixon's case, it created the climate in which the Kent State massacre of students occurred in 1970 - the subject of "Ohio".  Let us hope that Trump, who was criticized often and aptly by Crosby tonight, is out of office before anything like Kent State happens.

"Ohio" is an ever-necessary, sobering reminder of what can happen, even in a democracy.  But there was also a lot of beauty in Crosby's concert tonight.  I wholeheartedly recommend it - or the successor concert, because this was end of this tour - for both the politics and the beauty.

Broken Sleep: Wanting More

Time travel is my favorite genre - as a reader, writer, and viewer - so how could I resist watching Broken Sleep, which turned out to be a 12-minute gem of a short, on Amazon Prime (2018, year listed as 2017 in the movie).

Emily from the 1840s travels into Nathan's tattoo parlor in the present.  There's no scientific explanation offered for how this happens, which makes Broken Sleep more magical realism than science fiction.   But that's ok.  The same is true of Outlander.

The time-traveling has something to do with Emily drifting off to sleep.  The two fall in love, and need to figure out a way of staying together, which takes into account Emily's sleep cycles and its effects.   See the movie to see if they succeed.

Broken Sleep is beautifully filmed and touchingly told.   Tom Dowuona-Hyde wrote and directed. Tom Beaurepaire and Senie Priti are fine as Nathan and Emily.  There are, basically, two kinds of short movies which are good:  One kind leaves you thorough satisfied after watching the limited number of minutes on the screen.  The other kind leaves you hungering for more - a full-length treatment.   The tender story in Broken Sleep was definitely the latter for me.   I'll definitely be back here with a review of the full length move, if ever one is made, and I get a chance to see it.   No, I'll make sure I see it.

watch The Chronology Protection Case FREE on Amazon Prime

Remembrance: Philip K. Dick Would've Liked It

Hey, it's December.  That being the case, I thought I'd get back to something I was doing December last year - reviewing some of the plethora of short science fiction you can find and watch for free on Amazon Prime Video (that is, free if you have Amazon Prime).  I'll review as many of these as I can, until the creative demands of the New Year say otherwise.

First up is Remembrance, a 13-minute short with a 2016 date on it, but listed as 2017 on Prime Video and IMDb.   Mining our memories - that is, technology that allows someone to look in on someone else's memories - has become something of a staple in science fiction, and almost seems natural in this our world of Philip K. Dick, the writer whose stories have become the basis of more movies and television series than the works of most other science fiction writers combined.

Remembrance, indeed, is Dickian with a vengeance, in that it combines memory retrieval with murder, or the tapping of memory as a means of nabbing a killer.  I don't want to give too much away about this short film, so I'll confine myself to mentioning that it tells the story of two woman who are twins, one boyfriend, and a memory technology that is being developed by one of the twins.

On the one hand, there's not all that much that's new in Remembrance.  On the other hand, the acting is convincing (Selena Moreno as the twins, Will Lurie as the boyfriend), and the short is memorable and even powerful at times (directed by Madison Campione, written by Madison and Troy Campione).  So I'd say see it if you have 13 minutes to spare.  And I'll be back here soon with another short review of a short science fiction movie on Prime Video.

watch The Chronology Protection Case FREE on Amazon Prime

The Life and Times of Phil D'Amato

I was pleased to find out today that my novel The Consciousness Plague - second novel in my Phil D'Amato series - is referenced in Damien Broderick's recently published Consciousness and Science Fiction.

Phil's had a pretty exciting life, since he first appeared in my novelette, The Chronology Protection Case, published in Analog Magazine in September 1995, and reprinted six times.   Here's a complete list of exploits, followed by a podcast episode, and photos and videos:

• 1995: "The Chronology Protection Case," Analog Magazine, nominated for Nebula and Sturgeon Awards, reprinted six times in: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel, 2013; The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time, 2003; Nebula Awards 32: SFWA’s Choices for the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, 1998; Infinite Edge (online magazine), June-July 1997; Supernatural Sleuths, 1996 
• 1996: "The Copyright Notice Case," Analog Magazine, nominated for Nebula Award 
• 1997: "The Mendelian Lamp Case," Analog Magazine, reprinted four times in: The Hard SF Renaissance, 2002; Ikarie (translated, Czech Republic), 2002; Science Fiction Theater, 1999; Year’s Best SF3, 1998
• 1999: The Silk Code, Tor Books, winner of Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction Novel of 1999 
• 2002: The Consciousness Plague, Tor Books 
• 2002: Jay Kensinger's short film of "The Chronology Protection Case" 
• 2002: Mark Shanahan's radio play of "The Chronology Protection Case," nominated for the Edgar Award 
• 2003: The Pixel Eye, Tor Books, nominated for Prometheus Award 
• 2007: The Silk Code podiobook, performed and produced by Shaun Farrell, in Top 20 Podiobooks of 2007 
• 2012: "author's cut" Kindle and Nook ebook editions of The Silk Code published by JoSara Media 
• 2013: "author's cut" Kindle and Nook ebook editions of The Consciousness Plague published by JoSara Media 
• 2013: new version of “The Chronology Protection Case” short film, with extended ending written by Paul Levinson and Jay Kensinger; on Amazon Prime Video 
• 2014: "author's cut" Kindle and Nook ebook editions of The Pixel Eye published by JoSara Media
• 2016: Rita Ora uses The Silk Code in her Tezenis campaign (see video).

Check out the Phil D'Amato page on Facebook.

Chicago Heroes: Med, Fire, PD as of the Fall 2018

Hey, I don't usually review NBC's "Chicago Heroes" Wednesday triad - MD, Fire, and PD - because, well, sometimes it's fun to just watch and not review.  And my wife and I watch these three Dick Wolf productions every Wednesday, and think the shows are among the best on any kind of television (network, cable, streaming).  So here's a little review of the Fall finales, just on this evening.

Chicago Med has been the weakest of the three, but it's been getting better and better.  Oliver Platt's Dr. Charles, a psychiatrist, is a complex, fascinating character, played brilliantly by Platt.   The ethical quandaries he faces and more or less solves could make an excellent series in themselves.  And this year, there's been much more integration of Med and PD, as well as Fire, which is always welcome.   The outright cross-over shows in which an episode in Med literally continues in Fire and in turn in PD are always a special pleasure to watch.

Chicago Fire was the first of the Chicago shows to go on the air (Med is the most recent).  For most of the years, it's been easily in first place.  The combination of firefighters always being on the verge of mortal danger, and the well-handled personal lives, made for a unique and winning combination.  It still does.  But this season, PD is giving Fire a run for its money.

PD grew out of Fire, with Casey from Fire getting entangled with a corrupt and violent detective, Hank Voight.  He was (partially) rehabilitated and became head of a rough and tumble unit, and has been given a tour de force performance by Jason Beghe.  Indeed, everyone in PD puts in a powerful, charismatic performance, which I couldn't quite say of Fire and definitely not of Med.  So, with the Fall finales that were broadcast tonight, I'd say PD goes into the New Year in the lead in terms of consistently compelling stories, with a minimum of fluff.

But all three are well worth watching, which I'll definitely be doing in 2019.

 

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Escape at Dannemora 1-3: Cold True Crime

Tina and I have been watching and enjoying Escape at Dannemora - first three episodes - and I thought I'd check in with a review.

It's a docudrama, based on real events, that occurred when we were up on Cape Cod in June a few years ago.  Prison breaks make for good movies and TV series, especially when they're based on real escapes, and Escape at Dannemora doesn't disappoint.  Richard Matt and David Sweat are the inmates who have nothing to lose, and seduce Tilly Mitchell who works at the prison into having sex with them (at this point, it's not yet a threesome) and helping them escape.  Or, to be more precise, the seduction is sort of mutual, and at first she doesn't know the tools she's smuggling into them are being used to cut through walls.  Matt's a painter, and he tells he needs the tools to make picture frames,

The acting is superb.  Patricia Arquette as Mitchell is different from her usual roles and outstanding. Same for Benicio Del Toro as Matt, who never disappoints. Paul Dano as Sweat is good, too.  What makes the story so compelling is that Matt and Sweat, against all odds, manage to pull of the escape.  That much I remember from the news, and remembering it doesn't weaken watching the series in the slightest.

There's a lot more to be told.  I recall the ending in reality, but not exactly how Matt and Sweat and Mitchell get there.  I'll be watching the rest of this, and the great upstate New York scenery, with great interest.  It's a lot more fun learning about an actual prison break when it's a finely crafted docudrama, rather than seeing it played out on the night news.   I'll see you here next week, and let you know how it goes.

 

Dirty John 1.2: Motives and Plans

Well, Debra'a finally beginning to get wise to John in episode 1.2 of Dirty John, though she certainly took long enough.

A second indication that he's not really a doctor didn't get Debra there.  Nor did the insensitive
comment he made to Debra's nephew Toby (good acting by Kevin Zegers).  But Ronnie unfazed.  She puts a tracker on John's car, which so far turns up nothing untoward, and hires a private detective, who finds the trailer park where John had been living.   Toby and Debra go there, and find a woman who knows John all too well, and tells them he's never been to Iraq.

And just when we'd be justified in giving up all hope for Debra, she grows suspicious when John gets a letter from someone in prison, and he gets defensive and hostile when Debra questions him about it.  Finally!

But what is John really up to?  To somehow get all of Debra's money?  To kill her?  The answer resides in just how much of a psycho he really is.  At this point, anything is possible, and the episode ends with only Debra's mother having anything good to say about John, because she "loves" the way he treats her daughter.

Back to Debra's money: the two got married without (as far as we know) a pre-nuptial agreement, so if they got divorced now he'd be entitled to half of her money (and property, etc).  But if that's all he wanted, he could have filed for divorce already.   (By the way, I know this limited series is based on a podcast and a true story, but I'm familiar with neither, and I'm actually glad about that, because it makes the series more fun.)

What will John do when he learns Debra is on to him?  Will he change his plans (whatever they are) and do something worse, or just try to cash in and get out of there?  I''ll definitely be along for the ride, and back here with more reviews.

See also: Dirty John 1.1: Hunter and Hunted

 

Ray Donovan 6.6: The Mayor Strikes Back

Tough going for Ray tonight in episode 6.6 - indeed, for most of the Donovans - not to mention Sam.

The evening starts off with someone breaking into Sam's apartment at night, and not raping her but knocking her unconscious in her bed.  Right before delivering a warning to Sam to keep her hands off the Mayor's race.

Of course, that's the last thing Ray would now do.  In a satisfying scene, he knocks the Mayor to the floor in the men's room of Hizzoner's gym.  But Ray has taken on more than he counted on.  I always thought the NYPD was more to be reckoned with the the LAPD - though what do I know - and Ray learns this the way he learns most things, the hard way.  He (again, of course) ignores the advice of his NYPD friend to leave to town.  And he winds up being knocked to the ground and taken into custody by the NYPD by the end of the episode.

Meanwhile, Bunchy's daughter is back with his estranged wife, after she admits that she never loved him, just to rub it in.  Terry has another success in the ring, but that could be the worst thing for him, since the lure of additional fights could well kill him.  Only Mick does ok tonight, with all the money he has in hand.

And so it goes with the Donovans.   The good news is no matter how often they and Ray's clients are knocked down or knocked unconscious, they alway manage to come back.  And I'll be back here next week with another review.

See Ray Donovan 6.1: The New Friend ... Ray Donovan 6.2: Father and Sons ... Ray Donovan 6.4: Politics in the Ray Style

See also Ray Donovan 5.1: Big Change  ... Ray Donovan 5.4: How To Sell A Script ... Ray Donovan 5.7: Reckonings ... Ray Donovan 5.8: Paging John Stuart Mill ... Ray Donovan 5.9: Congas ... Ray Donovan 5.10: Bunchy's Money ... Ray Donovan 5.11: I'm With Mickey ... Ray Donovan 5.12: New York

See also Ray Donovan 4.1: Good to Be Back ... Ray Donovan 4.2: Settling In ... Ray Donovan 4.4: Bob Seger ... Ray Donovan 4.7: Easybeats ... Ray Donovan 4.9: The Ultimate Fix ... Ray Donovan Season 4 Finale: Roses

And see also Ray Donovan 3.1: New, Cloudy Ray ... Ray Donovan 3.2: Beat-downs ... Ray Donovan 3.7: Excommunication!

And see also Ray Donovan 2.1: Back in Business ... Ray Donovan 2.4: The Bad Guy ... Ray Donovan 2.5: Wool Over Eyes ... Ray Donovan 2.7: The Party from Hell ... Ray Donovan 2.10: Scorching ... Ray Donovan 2.11: Out of Control ... Ray Donovan Season 2 Finale: Most Happy Ending

And see also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair ... Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and his Family ... Ray Donovan 1.3: Mickey ... Ray Donovan 1.7 and Whitey Bulger ... Ray Donovan 1.8: Poetry and Death ... Ray Donovan Season 1 Finale: The Beginning of Redemption


 

It started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...

Outlander 4.5: Chickens Coming Home to Roost

All kinds of chickens and baser things coming home to roost in Outlander 4.5, another fine episode filled with Colonial culture and danger.

Measles and superstition were the real villains in this episode, as the illness fells a mother and her newborn baby - delivered by Claire - and her grandfather thinks the culprit was not ultimately an illness but a curse put in his water by the native Cherokee.  Again, Outlander in 1768 portrays some of the irrationality that grips some of America today, where some people think illegal immigrants are the source of all the problems that beset our world.

Meanwhile, Jamie runs into Murtagh, who turns out to be an American revolutionary, or one in the making.  This is another kind of chicken coming home to roost for Jamie, who was warned by Claire that, as a holder of land granted him by the Crown, he'd be on the wrong side of the American Revolution, just a few years away.

But the best - at least, as far as time travel is concerned - was saved for last, as Brianna travels via the stones to the past in search of her parents, on a quest to warn them of the deadly fire that awaits them. As a chilling prelude to that, we have just seen the Cherokees burn down the grandfather's house, after he kills the Cherokee woman healer who became Claire's mentor and friend.

The course of history never did run smooth, as I often say, especially when time travel is involved.  And I'll see you here next week after the next episode is on.

See also Outlander 4.1: The American Dream ... Outlander 4.2: Slavery ...Outlander 4.3: The Silver Filling ... Outlander 4.4: Bears and Worse and the Remedy

And see also Outlander Season 3 Debut: A Tale of Two Times and Places ...Outlander 3.2: Whole Lot of Loving, But ... Outlander 3.3: Free and Sad ... Outlander 3.4: Love Me Tender and Dylan ... Outlander 3.5: The 1960s and the Past ... Outlander 3.6: Reunion ... Outlander 3.7: The Other Wife ... Outlander 3.8: Pirates! ... Outlander 3.9: The Seas ...Outlander 3.10: Typhoid Story ... Outlander 3.11: Claire Crusoe ...Outlander 3.12: Geillis and Benjamin Button ... Outlander 3.13: Triple Ending

And see also Outlander 2.1: Split Hour ... Outlander 2.2: The King and the Forest ... Outlander 2.3: Mother and Dr. Dog ... Outlander 2.5: The Unappreciated Paradox ... Outlander 2.6: The Duel and the Offspring ...Outlander 2.7: Further into the Future ... Outlander 2.8: The Conversation ... Outlander 2.9: Flashbacks of the Future ... Outlander 2.10: One True Prediction and Counting ... Outlander 2.11: London Not Falling ... Outlander 2.12: Stubborn Fate and Scotland On and Off Screen ... Outlander Season 2 Finale: Decades

And see also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

 

It all started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...