22 December 2024: The three latest written interviews of me are here, here and here.

Friday, March 21, 2025

Severance season 2 Finale: Question Mark about Mark's Choice and Aristotle's Causes

So Severance ended its powerful Second Season with even more powerful finale.  And has now become a thin two-season tradition, the finale leaves us more unanswered questions than when this season began.  But Severance is a such a fresh and sharply original narrative, my guess is its tradition be increasingly less thin, as the years with new seasons roll by,

The above is the unspoiler part of my review.  [Here, then, is the warning about spoilers ahead ... ]

The biggest question in this finale is why Mark chooses his budding innie Love Helly instead of his deeper and longer outie love, Gemma.  Actually, we know why Mark made that choice -- his innie is falling in love with Helly -- which I've been entirely in favor of -- instead of the wife that his outie has been yearning for.  We know the proximate cause -- or what Aristotle would the "efficient" cause -- of why that happened:  Mark was his innie at the time he made that choice.

But, wait a minute.  I thought Mark's outie had been undergoing some integration process which would unify his innie and outie.  He was, and we've seen some evidence that this process was working, at least in several episodes that preceded the finale.  And, indeed, the finale took some pains to indicate there was still some separation -- aka, lack of integration -- between Mark's innie and outie.  In one of the best scenes in the series, we have Mark's two beings talking to each via recordings via a device that looks it was last used in maybe the 1980s.  That scene ended in argument and frustration.  Which of course was necessary to set up Mark's innie going his own way at the end.  (By the way, they played "Windmills of Your Mind" at the end, which was an appropriate enough choice, but I would've preferred "You Can Go Your Own Way".) From a narrative point of view, I think the lack of integration should have shown itself in a more predominant fashion prior to this finale.  As it was presented, it seemed like a little bit too much in one short hour, put in the hour to set up and justify the ending.  Or, to stay with Aristotelian philosophy, the efficient cause -- Mark's innie -- was a little too patly set up to justify the final cause, which was Mark's innie of course choosing Helly.

But there were some elements that were especially gratifying to see.  Mr. Drummond was an arch Lumon sadistic monster.  It was good to see him die, and it was a nice touch that we don't know if the killer was Mark's innie or outie, because he shifted from one to another in that notorious elevator, and it's pretty likely that it was the finger on the trigger undergoing the shift and twitching that pulled the trigger.  In other words, the efficient cause in the killing of Drummond is a question mark -- a question mark about which Mark pulled the trigger -- and, come to think about it, a question mark as to Mark, whether he was his innie or his outie -- deliberately pulled the trigger.  Though whereas the innie or outie is a 50/50 proposition, the deliberate or accidental question seems much likely answered as accidental.

The other scene I really liked was that woman with the goat.  She not only saved the goat, she saved Mark.  If there was an Emmy Award for actor who saved both the star of the series and a goat, it would be this woman.  (Ok, the character's name is Lorne, and actor's name is Gwendoline Christie).  And the goat's performance was pretty impressive, too.  It had a name, too -- Emile.  Hey, how about an Emmy for Emile for best non-human actor in a series?

Back to what I thought could have been better: I'd say Milchick could have had a bigger role.  I mean, locked in a bathroom only gives you so much room for exposition, and when he was out of the bathroom he really didn't do that much, either.

But, all in all, Severance established itself in this second season as an exceptionally original and remarkable science fiction series.  I'll be back here with reviews of the third season as soon as it's up on Apple TV+.

See also Severance 2.1: Ultimate Fake News? ... Severance 2.2: MultipleDylans ... Severance 2.3: Innies<->Outies ... Severance 1.4: Innies Out in the Snow ... 2.5: Watermelon Man ... 2.6: Tables ... 2.7: Gemma and the Dentist ... 2.8 Nordic Noir and Charles Babbage



Thursday, March 20, 2025

Law & Order 24.16: The "Luigi Mangione" Case


It's been a while since I reviewed any "Law & Order" shows here*.  It's even been a longer while that, as far as I can recall, that any "Law & Order" shows were "ripped from the headlines" -- what they used to proudly say in their ads back before the telephone was invented (well, not quite that long ago, either -- "Law & Order" debuted in 1990).

*Actually, not that long ago, I gave a rave review of Law & Order: SVU in January 2024.

But tonight's "Law & Order," just on last hour on NBC, more than made up for that, with an ethically scalding tale based on Luigi Mangione's murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in broad daylight in midtown Manhattan back in December.  Of course, like all of "Law & Order" "ripped from the headline" shows, this one differs in many ways from the true story.  If you're interested in what really happened, there are a myriad of factual accounts online.  "Law & Order" was less interested in dramatizing all of those details than in getting at the crux of the life-and-death ethical problem that underlies both the true story and its adaptation on "Law & Order".

Which is: are health insurance companies which deny claims by people in life-threatening conditions guilty in some sense of cold-blooded murder?  Now let me say here that I'm no friend of insurance companies.  They do a great job collecting premiums and spending tons of money on idiotic commercials. But when it comes to paying out money for legitimate claims ... well, let's just say that's where they fall badly down on the job.  And I say this after decades of fighting for justified claims for the cars that I drive and the home in which I live.

But does denial of such claims justify taking someone's life aka murder?  I'd say obviously not.  The ultimate proper course of action regarding those kinds of cases is to take the company to court -- civil court, where the penalty if the insurance company loses the case is money.  But then what about a case in which a health insurance company denies a justified claim which leads to a person's death?

That's the thrust of episode 24.16 of "Law & Order".  The hunt for the killer is obstructed by citizens who have their own, likely good, reasons for disliking the way they and their families have been treated by insurance companies.  That part is fact.  But, of course, the second half of "Law & Order" is the trial in the courtroom, which hasn't happened yet in the Mangione case.

I thought "Law & Order" handled that in a brilliant way.  (And it was great to Benito Martinez, who played David Aceveda on The Shield, back on the screen as the judge in this profoundly important case.) But, my recommendation is ... see it for yourself.


Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Long Bright River: Family Feud, Serial-Killer Style


I binged Long Bright River over the weekend.  It's a police procedural thriller about a serial killer preying on the women on the "Ave" in Philadelphia, and it packs quite a punch.  It's brilliantly acted -- especially by Amanda Seyfried, who first became known in Big Love, and then in Mamma Mia, and is now clearly a world-class, unique actor -- with a supporting case that includes Dash Mihok (one of Ray Donovan's brothers), Nicholas Pinnock (Counterpart), and John Doman (who has starred in everything).

But that's not what I liked most about this short series on Peacock, which had the good sense to put it all up at once, because that's the way it needs to be seen.  [And here I'll say that there are no spoilers ahead, believe or not.]

But what I liked most about this series is the human side of its story.  All serial killer stories -- true or fictitious (which I read is the story on Long Bright River) -- have an inescapable human side, if only in the impact that the killings have on the victims' families.  But Long Bright River really goes into this in-depth, with a brilliant boy on the spectrum (Thomas, superbly played by Callum Vinson), his great-grandfather (John Doman's role), a former nun (played by Harriet Sansom Harris) who makes a simply wonderful babysitter, and all manner of tangled parent-child, and sister relationships.

And the story ain't bad, either.  Why is this current Jack-the-Ripper going after drug-addicted women who work in the sex-trade to pay for their addiction?   Is the killer really a cop, and, if so, which one?  There are no shortage of cop suspects in this narrative.

Now, I actually guessed who the killer was in the very first episode of this eight-episode series.  And I'm still raving about what an excellent series Long Bright River is, powerful on so many levels.  That's an indication in itself of why I say don't miss this series, you'll be glad you watched it.


Sunday, March 16, 2025

Severance 2.9: Bouquet of Penetrating Stories


Well, the penultimate episode of the second season of Severance was powerful indeed, offering us an intoxicating bouquet of interlocking stories.  ("Penultimate" means next-to-last.  I give you this information -- in case you didn't already know it -- because Milchick standing up to Lumon and its ridiculous big-word compulsion is one of these stories ...)

[But I better first warn you about spoilers ... ]

Here are some of my favorite of the stories all percolating in episode 1.9:

  • The opening of this episode was even better than usual.  I mean, as that camera panned out at the end of that beginning, I almost thought for a moment that we were seeing a flying saucer on the scene, and Lumon is part of some interstellar invasion.  Who knows, it may be.
  • Helena and her sicko father was disconcerting to see (which, of course, is what Severance is and is supposed to be).  He wants to see his daughter eat eggs raw -- what is he, some kind of cannibal? (No offence to people who like their eggs raw -- they're probably good for you, as long as they're not carrying bird flu.)
  • Outie Dylan being furious that his wife is cheating on him by passionately kissing his innie is one great piece of Severance story.  Only in Severance could we get such a story.  Only in Severance could it make any sense.  If someone were to ask me to explain Severance in less than a minute -- no easy task -- I would probably tell them about this storyline.  (It also occurred to me, watching this whole Dylan innie and outie and their wife thread, that outies being made into innies is reminiscent of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.) 
  • Milchick standing up to that hateful Lumon overlord was just excellent to see.  And, it's significant that Milchick is not at all totally rebelling against Lumon.  In the rest of this episode, he's his good-bad-old Lumon henchman self.
  • Irv and Burt was good to see, too.  Although Burt insisted that they go their separate ways, I'm hoping anyway that we'll see them back together
Note that I have not said anything about Mark, including what we saw at the end of the episode.  That's because I don't really understand it.  But that's what finales are for, and I'll you here next week with my review.

See also Severance 2.1: Ultimate Fake News? ... Severance 2.2: Multiple Dylans ... Severance 2.3: Innies<->Outies ... Severance 1.4: Innies Out in the Snow ... 2.5: Watermelon Man ... 2.6: Tables ... 2.7: Gemma and the Dentist ... 2.8 Nordic Noir and Charles Babbage


Friday, March 14, 2025

The Way Home, Season Three: Magic and Music



I binged the third season of The Way Home the past few days on Peacock -- it started airing on the Hallmark Channel a couple of months ago, week by week, and I enjoy the series far too much watch it doled out like that.

Here's what I really liked about this third season [yeah, spoilers ahead]:

  • The music was fabulous.  The scene with Kat and Eliot singing Sister Hazel's "All for You" in the first season was one of the highlights of that season, and the third season had lots of music highlights.  But they weren't so much the songs as the top-notch performances.  Young Cole (played by Jordan Doww) has a great voice, whatever he sings, and when he's joined by time-traveling Alice ( Sadie Laflamme-Snow) the resulting harmony is pure magic.
  • There was a lot more time-traveling to various years in the past, and it'll be no surprise that I really enjoyed that, because time travel (and the related alternate history genre) are my favorite kinds of stories to read, watch on a screen, write, and sing about.  (But here I'll also say that the pool as the time travel vehicle is feeling a bit too magical for my taste, just as the stones are for Outlander.)
  • Kat's other love in past. Thomas Coyle (Kris Holden-Reid) has real charm, and I hope we see more of him next season.
  • It was really good to find out so much more about Del's back story, including a lot of focus of young Del (Julia Tomasone) falling in love with young Colton, who pretty quickly is head-over-heels in love with Del.
Here's what I didn't care for, all that much.  Not too many things, because the narrative was pretty tightly woven.  But the villains were a little too much comic-bookish, especially that guy in the past, Cyrus Gordon, who seems ready to kill at the drop of a hat.  Not mention that he's so unpleasant and unpleasant-looking, that it's difficult to imagine why anyone would ever marry him for whatever reason, especially his beautiful wife.

But this third season has real heart, and, notwithstanding what I said about Thomas in the past, I'm really glad Kat and Elliot finally seem to getting together on a more permanent basis.  The series in general always had a certain sweet and beautiful charm -- refreshing in this age of cynicism -- and that seems to be increasing with every new season.  I'll see you back here when the fourth season is up someplace where I stream it to my heart's content.



“Paul Levinson’s It’s Real Life is an incredibly unique and captivating peek behind rock and roll’s mysterious curtain. The idea that the story delves into an alternate world adds to its page-turning intrigue. Highly recommended!” 

-– Steven Manchester, #1 bestselling author, The Menu


"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." 

-- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History



get It's Real Life in paperback, hardcover, or on Kindle here


Saturday, March 8, 2025

Audio Podcast: Paul Levinson interviews Simon Vozick-Levinson about Rolling Stone's Top 100 Protest Songs


Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 409, in which I interview Simon Vozick-Levinson, Deputy Editor of Rolling Stone, about the magazine's list of the 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time.  We talk in particular about Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Sam Cooke, and also discuss the importance of publications like Rolling Stone standing up for democracy in these politically troubling times.

As a special treat, at the end of this interview, I play a song, "Dance with Destiny," from James Harris's new LP, The Moons of Jupiter.  This is consistent with Phil Ochs' view that we needs works of beauty especially in troubled times.

Relevant links:


Check out this episode!

Severance 2.8: Nordic Noir and Charles Babbage

So, Nordic Noir is one of my favorite genres.  It usually takes place either in Scandinavia or Iceland (which I don't think is part of Iceland, but don't quote me on it).  At its best, the genre combines crime with scenery so cold you want to put on an L. L. Bean winter coat indoors -- wait, I think anything (like the latest True Detective) that takes place in Alaska is also a kind of Nordic Noir -- but getting back to this eighth episode of the second season of Severance, which we're told in the creators' epilogue takes place in Newfoundland, it certainly delivers a deep Nordic Noir chill.

As for the story ... [here's the spoilers ahead advisory ...]

Well, as for the story, it pretty much delivers one thing, but that one thing is pretty important: Harmony Cobel is apparently the inventor of the severance process!  I mean, it's not clear if she actually built it, but she came up with the designs for the process, including how to deal with its complications, and that's impressive.  I guess this makes her the Charles Babbage of Severance.  (Babbage came up with the design for our digital computers -- his analytical engine in 1837 -- which Turning liberated from paper into the ancestors of the digital computer more than a hundred years later, and we all have in our laptops and phones today, which my students tell me is in turn now in the process of being transformed again into astronomically-fast quantum computers, even as I'm writing and your reading this).

I doubt that Lumon will have much to do with quantum computing -- though, come to think of it, Cold Harbour could be some kind of code for quantum computing --  but as of now, Lumon seems very much rooted in the 19th century, almost literally so.  On the other hand, in addition to Cold Harbour, since Severance is science fiction, anything that in retrospect is plausible could well be the way this season goes.

See you back here next week.

See also Severance 2.1: Ultimate Fake News? ... Severance 2.2: Multiple Dylans ... Severance 2.3: Innies<->Outies ... Severance 1.4: Innies Out in the Snow ... 2.5: Watermelon Man ... 2.6: Tables ... 2.7: Gemma and the Dentist

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Coming Soon: Complete 3-Hour "Life & Death of a 20th Century Troubadour" 1977 radio tribute to Phil Ochs (5-min Clip in this Post)

 



Joshua Meyrowitz and I did a three-hour special show back in 1977 on WFDU-FM Radio on Phil Ochs (a year after he died). Here’s its listing in The New York Times — Josh has found a tape recording of the entire show. I’ll have it up online soon, after we get it digitized. In the meantime, here's a 5-minute clip from the show (you'll hear my voice first):



Trupa Trupa at the Bowery Electric in New York City



Grzegorz Kwiatkowski is a man of many talents.  He's a holocaust investigator and denouncer of fascism, a poet, and a member of the neo-punk band (don't rely on me for the terminology) Trupa Trupa.  I've seen him talk at New York University (my double alma mater) about his holocaust research and his assessment of current fascism.   I read and was very impressed with Crops, his book of poetry (here's my review).  I've interviewed Grzegorz on my YouTube channel.  I've listened to but had never seen in person his band Trupa Trupa. Until tonight, when Trupa Trupa put on a volcanic performance in the small but packed Bowery Electric venue in New York City -- packed with gyrating fans (including me), who loved every minute.

And performance is the right word for it.  Trupa Trupa not only sings and plays two guitars and a drum -- all of which is done with a keen edge of power and excitement -- but Grzegorz  especially puts on an impressive nonverbal show of facial expressions and panoply of gestures.  Ray Birdwhistell (look him up) would have had a really good time at this concert.  Maybe even Baryshnikov.

And all of this was window dressing for a potent bunch of high octane songs which could wake, if not the dead, likely someone in a coma.  But my favorites were two slow songs -- "Wasteland" and even more so, "Sacrifice" --  and "Uniforms," in a class of its own, which I've been liking a lot as an anti-fascist paen for a few years now.

And as a Beatles fan who can never get enough of them, I was delighted to hear Trupa Trupa work bits of "Magical Mystery Tour," "Blue Jay Way," and of course "All You Need Is Love" into their show.  This song is a tonic for the hate daily spilling out of the White House.  And I heard it on Sirius/XM's Beatles Channel when I was driving home.  That has to be a sign of something hopeful.

So count me in now as a big fan, not only of Grzegorz Kwiatkowski but Trupa Trupa.  Tonight was the last performance of their American tour.   I'll be sure to see them next time they're in town.



selfie of NY Times reporter & family friend Mike Grynbaum, Rolling Stone Deputy Editor Simon Vozick-Levinson, and Yours Truly enjoying the concert earlier tonight

Friday, February 28, 2025

Severance 2.7: Gemma and the Dentist

One of the best things about this season of Severance -- I don't think the first season quite had this -- is that each episode is like a little movie in itself.  There is a progression, of course, from one episode to the next.   But each episode not only has its own story, related to the other episodes, but an ambience, a cinematography, all its own.

[Spoilers, of course, ahead ... ]

In the case of Severance 2.7, we finally get the back story of Mark and Gemma.  Not only is Mark really happy, but the cinematography is really happy, too.  And I was happy to see that, too.  The episode had plenty of unhappiness -- it wouldn't be Severance if it didn't.  But the splashes of normal love and joy were a tonic, especially welcome in the world we're all living in now, offscreen.

Not that this episode made anything very much clear.  The episode, again, couldn't and wouldn't be part of this series, if it did.  That's why I put the the dentist in the title of this review (also because Gemma and dentist almost rhyme).  The dentist -- who likely a little later was also a doctor -- does something to make Gemma's mouth hurt.  This is presumably part of an overall probe of Gemma by Lumon to find out ... what?   We get nothing from the dentist.  Getting information out of him, out of Lumon, out of Severance the series itself is, well, like pulling teeth.  (I'm going to resist the temptation to apologize.  I like puns.  I'll therefore also give in to the urge to point out that sometimes things get so quiet on Severance, you can hear a pun drop.)

Anyway, back to the story:  I see a big conflict looming.  Both Helly and her outie Helena really want Mark.   His outie still deeply loves Gemma, though.  And if and when his innie and outie are integrated enough, Mark's innie, who's very attracted to Helly, will have to choose between her and Gemma/Ms. Casey.  For that matter, Mark's outie isn't exactly averse to Helly/Helena, either.

So we'll likely have some good refracted triangles ahead in Severance.  And I'll be back with my review of the next episode next week.

See also Severance 2.1: Ultimate Fake News? ... Severance 2.2: Multiple Dylans ... Severance 2.3: Innies<->Outies ... Severance 1.4: Innies Out in the Snow ... 2.5: Watermelon Man ... 2.6: Tables

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Video of Unique Dramatic Reading from It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles at Big Red Books

 

This reading took place on 23 February 2025 at Big Red Books in Nyack, NY, and features Anthony Marinelli and Amanda Greer -- real life characters from the novel who voiced what they say in the novel -- as well Denise Reed, Frank LoBuono, and me.

More about the novel here



Anthony Marinelli, Amanda Greer, Paul Levinson, Denise Reed,
Frank LoBuono, and Richie Fulco (owner of Big Red Books)


Saturday, February 22, 2025

Severance 2.6: Tables

Another breathtakingly complex, actually beautiful episode -- 2.6 -- of Severance.  Tables sum it all up for me.  Let me explain.

I thought all the key moments happen at tables.  Here are some examples:

[Yes, there will be spoilers ahead ... ]

1. The empty, now three-person table of our innies on the severance floor.  Empty because innie Dylan was with his outie wife, and they were kissing.  (Apparently, as we learn later, this led to Dylan's innie privileges with his outie wife being suspended, maybe terminated.)  Also not at that table were Mark's innie and Hellie, in a great series of scenes that end with them making love.  As I've said, I'm always rooting for them as a couple.  (Unfortunately, as we see a little later, Mark has a bloody nose.  We might well think at the time that the nose was the result of the lovemaking.  But we learn later that it almost definitely was the result of the more intense treatment he's being given to unite his innie and outie.)

2. There's a very different kind of table, in a Chinese restaurant, where Helena just happens to be seated as Mark (outie) is gobbling down a ton of food.  She comes over to talk to him.  I can't quite figure out what's going on with her -- is she really attracted to Mark (I guess she should be, if her innie is), or is she doing this for Lumon, or maybe both?   I'm pretty sure -- at least at this point -- that Mark the outie has no knowledge of his innie making love with Helena or Helly.  Do I have that right?

3. And third table features Irving, Burt, and Cecil (played by Fringe's John Noble -- great to see him again!) at the dinner table with the ham.  Like everything else in Severance, this dinner is no pleasure -- or maybe there's a bit of pleasure, mixed in with lots of angst, born of Cecil's jealousy over Irving and Burt.  Unless I'm wrong, this is the first dinner we've seen with two outies and someone (Cecil) who's not really an outie, since he (presumably) doesn't have an innie.  That's an obvious but I think important point: one might think everyone in the world -- our world, and in Severance, most people in the world -- are outies. But I think that's not quite correct.  Because I think that in order to be an outie, you have to have an innie.

So I learned lots of things from those tables in Severance 2.6, and I'll see you back here next week with my review of Severance 2.7.

See also Severance 2.1: Ultimate Fake News? ... Severance 2.2: Multiple Dylans ... Severance 2.3: Innies<->Outies ... Severance 1.4: Innies Out in the Snow ... 2.6: Watermelon Man


Zero Day: Thrilling Enough, But Not That Much Like Today



I binged the six-episode Zero Day that went up on Netflix.  Herewith my thoughts, with no major spoilers to warn you about [except in the very last paragraph].

First and foremost, the acting was outstanding.  I mean, with Robert De Niro, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, and Connie Britton in major roles -- not to mention Matthew Modine and Angela Bassett with slightly less screen -- how can you go wrong.   From the point of view of the acting, every scene was a real pleasure to watch.

As to the story ... well, I've heard this limited series touted, in more than one place, as strikingly similar to what we've been seeing and hearing on our cable news stations, laptops, and social media these days.  Of course, any plot about a terrorist attack that kills lots of people, and the government veering towards fascist tactics to find the culprits, and stop this from happening again, resembles our times.  But actually, it resembles what George W. Bush and the Congress did with the Patriot Act after September 11 (mentioned in Zero Day) far more than it resembles today.  And that's because our current swerve towards fascism has nothing to do with a terrorist attack.  It stems from the voters of the United States electing to office a President whose every other pronouncement is out of Joseph  Goebbels's handbook.   So yes, although high-tech digital prowess and at least one billionaire are part of the action in Zero Day, the heart of the story is something else.

And that heart, which we've also seen in other movies and TV series on various screens, is a pretty good narrative, with affairs, difficult family relationships, politics reminiscent of what Jack Bauer had to deal with in 24 and prevalent in House of Cards, all done up nicely with a few real newscasters, a house on the Hudson, and of course the nation's capital.   So, if you're looking for a thriller brought to you by flat-out great acting and a decent-enough storyline, I'd recommend Zero Day.  But don't expect anything searingly relevant to what's actually going on today.  De Niro's character is named Mullen, and he gives a report to Congress in the last scene.  A nod to Mueller and the report he gave to Congress in Trump's first administration, right?  But that was long long time ago, in terms of the speed with we've slid and are still sliding into fascism right now.



Monday, February 17, 2025

Paul Levinson interviews Lance Strate about 'Not A, Not Be &C'


Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 408, and my in-depth interview with Lance Strare about his new book, Not A, Not Be &C.

Relevant links:


Check out this episode!

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Severance 2.5: Watermelon Man

Well, it was a great semi-instrumental by Mongo Santamaria in the late 1950s -- "Watermelon Man" -- and it was the best part of Severance 2.5.  I'm talking about the watermelon carving of Irving's head that was the high-point of his funeral, i.e., at least, a funeral Severance innie style.  I mean, the watermelon head really looked like Irving.  I don't know if somebody really carved it, or it was the product of some kind of AI.  But it was impressive.  Even the creator of the series, Dan Erickson, said in the afterwords about this episode that, as soon as that juicy red head was wheeled in, he knew this episode would work.  (The phrase "juicy red" is mine.)  Even the green rind worked well.  It looked like some kind of yarmulke aka skullcap.




Of course, as Mark (of course) points out, Irv is not really dead.  He's just no longer at work with the innies -- meaning, his innie is gone.  And the other best part of this episode is seeing Burt for more than a split-second shadow that could have been Irving's imagination -- more specifically, Irv's outie's imagination, where Irv is definitely not dead.  Hey, it's always good to hear Christopher Walken talk, the way he talks, but it was especially good to hear him in episode 2.5, given that we haven't heard him for so long.

Helly is also back on the severed floor as herself -- that is, the innie Helly not the outie Helena -- and we also get some clarity on how long it was really her outie we were seeing down there.  But I'm still not clear if it was her innie or her outie who kissed Mark's innie last season? I think it was her outie, given the way her innie is acting now, but I wouldn't bet on it.  (That could be a good tagline for the entire series, "I wouldn't bet on it".)

And speaking of Mark, and definitely last but not least, we seem to have a least of a touch of progress, or something, of Mark moving towards integration.  There's no way that won't be a major thread of this season as it progresses to the end, and I'm looking forward to that.

See also Severance 2.1: Ultimate Fake News? ... Severance 2.2: Multiple Dylans ... Severance 2.3: Innies<->Outies ... Severance 1.4: Innies Out in the Snow


Dexter: Original Sin: Season 1 Finale: Satisfying


A thoroughly satisfying ending to the first season of the blockbuster prequel to Dexter: Dexter Original Sin.

[And there will be spoilers ahead ...]

In a nutshell, one of the two killers who wreaked havoc on Miami got his just deserts in this finale, and the other is still at large and revving up for more slaughter.  And that's the way it had to be.

Spencer wasn't really a serial killer.  He was a police captain crazed by fury over what his wife had done.  And the son that he tried to kill and the boy he did kill to cover his tracks deserved none of his fury, so the captain certainly deserved to die.  And the fact that Dexter delayed giving into his impulses and first saved Nicky, shows that he had reached an ideal level to start his adult life, given his compulsions, as he and Harry realize.

Meanwhile, there was no way this first season finale could end other than with Brian looking at the happy family -- Harry, Dexter, Deb -- on the outside looking in, in a menacing way, menacing just by the very fact that he was there.  Dexter: Original Sin is handcuffed in a way all sequels are, to tell a story that converges with what we know comes after.  To diverge from that reality is possible only in alternate history and time travel stories.  Those are science fiction.   And Dexter in all episodes and now the third series is the antithesis of science fiction (much as I love that genre, as a reader, a viewer, and an author).  Dexter is about reality, with a vengeance.

And since we know the role that Brian plays in our reality, in the original Dexter series on Showtime, there's was no way Brian could be anything other than menacing at the end of the first season of this prequel.

It was also good to see Deb settle on path that would get her to Miami Metro.  But here I'll say that knowing what will happen to some of the characters in Original Sin in later Dexter stories makes me more than a little sad.  But that also is unavoidable in prequels.  They are, again, stories in which the future is already written.

I'm really looking forward to the continuing story of the older Dexter -- Dexter: Resurrection -- set to be on the air this summer.  And I'm more eager than ever to see the next season of Original Sin.  I look forward to seeing you back here, as I continue to review every episode.  Well, I won't actually see you, but you know what I mean.

See also Dexter: Original Sin 1.1: Activation of the Code ... 1.2-1.3: "The Finger Is Missing" ... 1.4: The Role of Luck in Dexter's Profession and Life ... 1.5: Revelations and Relations ... 1.6: On the Strong, Non-Serial-Killer Parts of the Show ... 1.7: First Big Shocker ... 1.8: Dexter's Discovery ... 1.9: Brian's Story




And see also 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 Geller 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



And see also
 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

And see also reviews of Season 3Season'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





Friday, February 14, 2025

The Gorge: Hi-Tech Blast from the Past



Thought I'd take a brief break from reviewing science fiction like Severance, which will break your brain if you watch it too much and try to understand.  The Gorge, though the story takes place in the present, harkens back to Creature from the Black Lagoon and Them -- simple stories with clear-cut heros and monstrous monsters, the pride and joy of the theaters in the boroughs in the 1950s, where in the case of The Allerton Theater on Allerton Avenue in The Bronx, you could get in for a double feature with a quarter.  And if you somehow missed one of these movies and the popcorn and the candy, you had a good chance seeing it a few years later on Million Dollar Movie, I think on Channel 9 in New York City --  where they shoulda been if they weren't there.


the Allerton Theater in the 1950s

The Gorge's story actually goes back just a few years before the 1950s, and the horrors it reveals -- mutants ranging from everything, including human-and-tree combos -- are the result of science gone awry at the end of World War II, with Oppenheimer and the atom-bomb specifically mentioned as a parallel development.

[Ok, here's an advisory about some spoilers ahead ... ]

And The Gorge is also a love story, with a male and a female sharp-shooter on both sides of the gorge.  When they're not fighting off villains of the worst kind, he writes poetry and she loves it.  They start off communicating with pen-on-paper viewed through binoculars across the gorge, and, of course eventually get together and fight the monsters in all kinds of ways.

By the way, when I say villains of the worst kind, I'm referring not only to the monsters who are partially human, but the monsters who are completely human, and try to exterminate our heroes with the latest in drones and weaponry.  Sigourney Weaver makes an appearance as one of the evil people, and Miles Teller (who looks familiar but I can't remember where I saw him) and Anya-Taylor Joy (who looks familiar because she starred in The Queen's Gambit) play our two loving commando heroes.

So, hey, if you're in the mood for a bit of adrenalin and true love in an insane life-and-death pressure cooker of a situation, you can't go wrong with The Gorge.

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