"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

Monday, December 3, 2007

Brotherhood Season 2 Finale

Well, Brotherhood's Season 2 finale was a lot like the entire Season 2: satisfying, very satisfying, but not great. And not as strong, overall or finale-wise, as Season 1.

Still, it was satisfying, as I've said, and that's something, more than something. Brotherhood is unique in its treatment of politics, and its mix of political with family and crime, on television, and certainly deserves to be renewed.

Lots of situations were resolved in this finale. Judd Fitzgerald (so well played by Len Cariou) is put to rest. So is Tommy's relationship with his girlfriend - by Eileen. Declan and his wife may finally be edging back together, and Rose and Colin are establishing a good relationship.

And one relationship is finally being rent asunder. Tommy is understandably furious about Michael - whose public gun play, even though not his fault, cost Tommy a chance to become Speaker. In a telling last scene, Tommy's tells Michael that Tommy knew that Freddie had ordered a hit on Tommy last year - the hit that didn't take place, because Declan intervened with his own cowardly assault.

Michael is shaken - as we've never seen him before, with Tommy.

I'd like to see how that is resolved. Let's hope Showtime gives Brotherhood another season.

And here's an interesting thing: now that I've written this review, I think I like the finale even more. It may not be great, but in its own way is close to it. And the Thanksgiving episode, and the election episode, were flat-out great.

And that's something, too.

See also Checking in Brotherhood Season 2 Episode 6: The Simmering Stu and Episode 9: The Anti-Thanksgiving Gem






The Plot to Save Socrates


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2 comments:

Narrativemedicinewoman said...

Thank you, Paul, for your kind comments about Len's performance. We're really sorry they saw fit to kill Judd off!

With blessings, from Len's wife, Heather.
www.sixtyfiverosesthebook.com

Paul Levinson said...

Truly my pleasure, Heather - Len's Judd added a wonderful, winning gravitas and gritty balance to the show. I hope Brotherhood's renewed, but he'll be irreplaceable.

By the way, I see you have good taste in philosophers as well as husbands. Emerson was one of the first to recognize that technologies are our extensions (an idea beautifully developed by McLuhan) and Emerson's notion of the real divinity in the universe being in and through us and our actions comes closest to my own transcendalism.

I look forward to reading your book.

(To everyone else: what you get here in InfiniteRegress is not just television, but television grounded in the world's philosophy... :)

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