Hightown 2.3: Dinners and Almost Dinners

 

Dinners and almost dinners played major roles in the excellent episode 2.3 of Hightown 2.3 tonight, amidst other good and evil things.

Actually, the only complete dinner was at Ed Murphy's house, but he, his wife, and Jackie and Leslie got in some good conversation.  And it was a pivotal scene, literally, because it captured Jackie between the two worlds she now inhabits: fish cop and cop.

The almost dinner in which Frankie bates Ray, who bunches Frankie, and et cetera et cetera was also pivotal.  Although Renee later professes her love and devotion to Frankie, including that she never felt a thing for Ray, he was just a mark, it's crystal clear that she had and still has feelings for him that run strong and deep.  Although she might have good different reasons for not wanting either Frankie's or Ray's baby, I'd bet money that the baby is Ray's.

And then there's the something to eat that Alan said no to having with Ray.  But that was the same scene in which Alan agreed to let Ray back on the case at hand.  Which would be putting away Frankie again.  This is a crucial step for Ray.

Other things I especially liked: Donna preferring the bar work to Stop and Shop.  (She might of said it last week too, and this was on the "previously on".)  But, yeah, my wife and I have been in that Stop and Shop countless times, and it's quintessential Cape.

And last but not least, Jackie and Leslie, not at Ed's house.

Right, but no need to say more about that.  See you here next week with my review of 2.4.

See also Hightown 2.1: Switching Ups and Downs ... Hightown 2.2: Some of My Favorite Things

And see also Hightown 1.1: Top-Notch Saltwater and Characters ... Hightown 1.2: Sludge and Sun ... Hightown 1.3: Dirty Laundry ... Hightown 1.4: Banging on the Hood ... Hightown 1.5-6: Turning Point and the Real True ... Hightown 1.7: Two Things ... Hightown 1.8: Up and Down and Up

American Rust 1.8: Finally, Some Hope

It was especially good to see the superbly acted, dire American Rust 1.8 tonight because, finally, a ray of hope.

Let's get right to that: Isaac is on his way back to tell truth about what happened to the corrupt former cop: Isaac killed him to save Billy from the cop, who was about to kill Billy.   Bobby "Jesus" had Billy in his grip, after Billy had decked the former cop.  If Isaac can get that truth to the authorities, Billy could get out of prison.

Pretty big "if," of course.  The season finale will have to deal with all kinds of things if the season is to have anything resembling a happy ending:

• Isaac has to get from Nebraska, somewhere close to Wyoming, to western Pennsylvania.  That's a long trip indeed. (Although I suppose the money Isaac took from his benefactor could buy a plane ticket.)
• We left Dell tonight on the verge of going after Bobby to kill him.  Grace certainly won't forget that mission.  So Isaac has to be back in town and talking to the right people before Dell does his worst to Bobby -- who certainly deserves it, but Dell's soul is unlikely to survive such an action, even with Grace's love.
• Billy needs to survive in prison -- a place where who knows which guard is in league with the Nazis.
• And just for good measure: will Dell or Steve realize that Grace set the fire to home?  Why else would she take the pictures with her?  Dell might well forgive and forget that.  But would Steve?

Lots to be resolved next week, and I'll be back here with my take on this finale to one memorable season of a series.

See also American Rust 1.1-2: Pennsylvania Noir ... American Rust 1.3: Highs and Lows of Life at the Same Time ... American Rust 1.4-5: Tightening Noose and Fraying Relationships ... American 1.6: The Debts ... American Rust 1.7: The Dead Can't Buy Drugs

Manhunt Season 1 and Season 2.1-2

So, I saw I somehow missed the British Manhunt (2019, 2021), so I saw the first season and the first two episodes of the second season -- the rest of which will be available in the next two weeks here in America on Prime Video -- and here I am with a review:

Martin Clunes portrays the true story of DCI Colin Sutton, who took on at least two seemingly intractable cases.  The first took place in the early years of the 21th century -- 2004-2006 -- and Manhunt does a fine job depicting what police work was like in London back then.  Cameras that recorded the public were new and not everywhere.  Sutton is delighted to find that a bus was outfitted with some cameras.  Computers were a lot more recent than they are now.  Programming can be suspect.  And DNA, though reliable, was also not amenable to the level of analysis we have today.

I of course don't know what Sutton is really like, but Clunes does a great job in the role.  He's courteous, respectful, but tough as nails in following the evidence and the logic, and sticking to his guns when he knows he's right.   He almost has a touch of Columbo, which is fun to think, given that Sutton is a real DCI.  His relentless and ultimately successful pursuit of a serial killer must be a textbook on how to get that kind of job done.

The second season has Sutton assigned to a case in 2009 that started in 1992.  The crime would have worked perfectly as a case "ripped from the headlines" in Law and Order SVU:  the serial rape of elderly women.  Sutton has to enlist the aid of the mostly dedicated crew that has been pursuing the rapist with no success all these years.  His understanding of human nature once again is sorely needed.

Manhunt is a sophisticated, sensitive true-story police procedural, and I'm down with and up for watching the two episodes which are rest of it.

Invasion 1.4: Three Out of Four

A good fourth episode of Invasion on Apple TV+, with no breakthrough events, but solid developments in three of the four areas of Earth under attack.

My favorite was in the New York area, and not because I live there.  We already knew that Luke -- Aneesha and Ahmed's boy -- has some special connection to the invaders.  We saw last week that he hears sounds and doesn't get nosebleeds when everyone else does, after the invaders arrive on our planet.  This week he wanders off in a forest in upstate New York, and winds up in what seems to be a friendly couple's house in the woods.  There's got to be some connection between Luke, the friendly couple that welcomed him and later his family, and those invaders.

The British school kids Lord of the Flies story was also good.  We knew that Casper would get the better of the bully.  But it was fun to see him climb up those rocks out and inspire those other kids to do the same.  If one of the themes of this series are a few kids having some special connection to the invaders, the kid in England who had that would be Casper, though we've no direct evidence of that as yet.  But his noticing that the debris that made the bus go off the cliff had the name Tokyo on it -- and we know that came from the shuttle that was destroyed -- can't be a coincidence.  And the same for his drawings of beings from outer space.

Meanwhile, over in Tokyo, we don't see any progress in learning about the invaders, but Mitsuki going to see the father of the lover she lost in space is a promising development.  The father is an engineer who used to work for the Japanese Space Agency, and he'll no doubt play a role in helping them figure out what's happening to our planet.

Afghanistan had no connection in this episode to the invaders that I could see, other than Trevante seeing the destruction caused by their attack.  But that's ok.  We can't expect every sector to be firing on all cylinders in every episode.  I'm looking forward to more connections among the four places on Earth that are the loci of this story.

And I'm looking forward to seeing the next episode of Invasion and reporting back to you right here next week.

See also Invasion 1.1-3: Compelling Contender

Podcast Review of Foundation 1.7

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 202, in which I review the seventh episode of Foundation, just up today on Apple TV+

• earlier podcasts about Foundation:  October 22, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.6 ... October 15, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.5 ... October 8, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.4 ... October 1, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.3 ...  September 24, 2021:  Review of Foundation 1.1-2 .... 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 1.7
• postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogy

And, here is where you can listen to Robin Shannon's show on WFUV Radio, Fordham Conversations, and  some of the places you can listen to Laron Cue's (aka QRock 639's) remix of my song "Cloudy Sunday" (lyrics by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan):  Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music

Check out this episode!

Foundation 1.7: Alternate History/Future

I'm going to tell you two things about episode 1.7 of Foundation (which I just saw, riveted to the screen of Apple TV+), before I warn you about the bombshell spoilers that will follow in this review:

1. This episode 1.7 is by far the best episode in the television series, so far, and the first to truly live up to and in some ways exceed where the story was at this point in Isaac Asimov's writing.   I now understand why Isaac's daughter Robin is such a strong supporter of this television series.

2. Yes, the TV narrative differs from the Astounding stories that Asimov wrote in the 1940s, and the way he put them together in the original Foundation trilogy in the early 1950s, and the sequels and prequels he wrote and had published in the 1980s.  Those written works start in a place not too far from the beginning of the TV series, but the TV series proceeds to a place very different from but still related to the written stories and novels, and this different TV path is on the deepest level true to its source.  The TV series is, in effect, an alternate history/future of what Asimov wrote.

[Here's the spoiler warning ....]

3.  We learn tonight (in episode 1.7) why Hari was killed, and what he was doing years later on that ship with Gaal.  Most devotees of the Foundation saga have already guessed why Hari was killed -- it was part of his plan, in effect an early expression of the Seldon Plan.  In episode 1.7 we find out that although Hari's physical body (including his brain) died in that stabbing, his mind/psyche/soul (take your pick or go with all three) was transferred/uploaded/downloaded (same advice: take your pick or take all three) to that ship on which Gaal discovers Hari.  So, Hari's mentality lives.  In a hologram or whatever exactly that was. This likely/no doubt will be the expression of the hologram we've been awaiting from Asimov's writings.

4. The scene with Brother Dawn was even better than last week's, which was excellent.  The clone story continues to be both a keen piece of science fiction on its own, and one which fits in well with the alternate Foundation story that is the television series.  We learn Dawn is more than a little different from Day and Dusk.  With his many mutations/differences, he in effect is really their brother, not their clone.  This has to have importance in the future of the TV story.

5.  Demerzel had her best night, too -- in particular, her conversation with Day in which she explains why she bowed, apparently a profound violation of her programming.  In a way, Demerzel may be the equivalent of Dawn -- for some reason, behaving not the way she is supposed to to behave.

6. The reasons for Dawn's and Demerzel's  divergences will be crucial parts of the ongoing story, either this season or next.

7.  And in some respects, the most momentous for last: What Gaal realizes about herself at the end of the episode, that she can feel the future ahead of her?  Welcome to the Second Foundation.   She's Preem Palver.   I expect will see her next season vis-a-vis ... the Mule.

And I'll be back next week with my review of Foundation 1.8!

See also Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematician, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones ... Foundation 1.3: Clonal Science Fiction, Hari Seldon as V. I. Lenin ... Foundation 1.4: Slow Hand, Long Half-Life, Flipped Coin ... Foundation 1.5: What We Learned in that Final Scene ... Foundation 1.6: Folded Variations ... Foundation 1.8: Divergences and Convergences ... Foundation 1.9: Vindication and Questions ... Foundation Season 1 Finale: Right Up There

CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress

A fun CSI: Vegas 1.4 last night, as Sara and Gil make progress in their effort to exonerate David Hodges, accused of forging of evidence in some 8,000 cases, which if true would make the continuance of CSI in anything resembling its current form plainly impossible.

Their prime adversary is Nora Cross, a tough, articulate, intelligent Internal Affairs Detective.  She's apparently totally convinced that Hodges forged the evidence, and happy to pressure Gil, Sara, and current CSI head Maxine Roby to get their support.   Which doesn't quite make sense because surely Cross realizes that Hodges being guilty could bury CSI, so why would its prime movers Sara and Gil possibly join her in her quest to get Hodges?  Even Roby, who doesn't know Hodges and wasn't there when Hodges allegedly did his nefarious work, is doing what she can to help in his defense and find the person who framed him.

Gil takes a big step forward identifying that framer.  He does that by lying to Nora, and acceding to her request that she join in the persecution/prosecution of Hodges, which raises another question: why does she believe him?   She clearly knows how much damage it would to the history and future of CSI were Hodges guilty.

The truth is that that kind of logic and reasoning was never CSI's strong suit.  Evidence -- Gil's Holy Grail -- was and continues to be the very basis of CSI.  So the good news, the takeaway of episode 1.4, is that Gil on the basis of the files he gets from Nora by lying to her gives Gil what he need to identify the guy who framed Hodges.

That's real progress.  And even if the logic in getting there is little murky, seeing it unfold is still fun.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 3.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets

La Brea 1.5: The Letter and The Resemblance

A good La Brea 1.5 tonight, with the best at the end with the letter.  (Queue up the Box Tops.)

The letter -- from Eve -- traveled from the past to the present the hard way, second by second, in a bottle, which could also be considered the natural way.  And it (of course) arrived at a most propitious time: the tear in the sky (as in rip, but it's emotionally also a teardrop from an eye) is closing.  Dr. Rebecca Aldridge carefully explains to Gavin that this could be his last chance to rescue his family from the past.

By the way, speaking of Rebecca, I noticed a resemblance between her, and the woman leading the band of people (presumably at least some are from our present) who confront our heroes back there/then.  Her name is Paara.  Their pictures are on either side of this paragraph.  The are played by two different actors (Rebecca by Ming-Zhu Hii, Paara by Tonantzin Carmelo), and clearly are not the same person.  But they resemble each other.  Coincidence, or are they related?

La Brea continues to be an intriguing series.  At times it almost seems soap opera-ish.  It has its share of trite stories, like the drug dealer waving his gun around in the past.  But the series has a profundity glinting below the surface, and I'm enjoying the ride.

See also La Brea 1.1: Pros and Cons of Falling Into the Past ... La Brea 1.2: Deepening Horizons ... La Brea 1.3: Descending Into the Maelstrom ... La Brea 1.4: Expanding Horizons

 

Podcast Review of Invasion 1.1-3

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 201, in which I review the first three episodes of Invasion on Apple TV+. Since this is the 201st podcast episode, it also includes congratulations from Cora Buhlert and some other surprises! Written blog post review of Invasion 1.3-3 is here.

Check out this episode!

Baptiste 2.2: The Odd Fellow

My favorite moment in Baptiste 2.2 on PBS last night was when Emma says he's "an odd fellow".  Which Baptiste certainly is.  But he's an odd fellow in large part because he's a genius.  An Emma's a little odd herself.  After what she's been through, the grievous losses she's suffered, few people could be as strong and determined as she apparently is.

As to what exactly is going on in the narrative, that's still somewhat unclear.  And the jumping back and forth between the present with a shaggy long-haired Baptiste and Emma in a wheelchair and 14 months earlier when Emma was walking and Baptiste a little better kempt doesn't exactly help.  We're obliged to put together two parts of a puzzle which not only don't quite fit, but are rather blurry, out of focus, on their own.  But that's part of the challenge and appeal of this series.

We are beginning to see some of the pieces a little more clearly, like Baptiste's terrible discovery of his murdered daughter.  This makes him a colleague in heart-piercing grief with Emma.  And one of the most interesting parts of this story is how the two keep switching places of being all but overwhelmed by sorrow and exhorting the other to snap out of it and get to work on the problem at hand.

That's the life and death problem of saving Emma's surviving son.  Baptiste doesn't always succeed -- he's an odd genius, but only human --  but I'm betting that he does succeed in this wrenching case.  The question then is what will happen to his fractured family?  Will he get back with his wife?  Will he find some peace?

I'm hoping it's yes to the first, but not likely for the second.  Odd fellows rarely do.

See also Baptiste 2.1: Souls on Edge ...  Baptiste 1: Logic, Passion, and Unflappability ... The Missing 1: Worth Finding and The Missing 2: Unforgettable

Curb Your Enthusiasm 11.1: Not Quite Tsuris

Curb Your Enthusiasm was back on HBO for the debut of its 11th season tonight, pretty to very funny, not the funniest of this show which can have you laughing out loud for most of its 30 minutes, but enjoyable and fun to see nonetheless.

As usual, Larry gets caught up in a variety of situations in which his grievances are justified but in apparent defiance or ignorance of social norms, for which Larry gets grief himself, but stubbornly doesn't relent.  Someone with declining mental abilities owes Larry $6000, overdue six months, and Larry thinks it's time to call in the debt.  Everyone else including slight acquaintances and especially Susie think Larry is horribly wrong to ask the guy for the money.

Speaking of Susie, she obviously plops down on a white couch, causing Larry to spill his red wine all over it, and no one wants to support Larry's insistence that it wasn't his fault -- including Jeff, who agrees with Larry privately but won't go against his wife.  Actually that was very funny, I'm beginning to think maybe I was too harsh in the first paragraph.  I hope Larry gets this far if he reads this review.

The two funniest interludes in the episode were (1)  Larry being forced to cast a young woman clearly not right for the part of Marsha in the "Young Larry David" sitcom Larry and Jeff manage to sell to Netflix.  He did this because the young woman's uncle drowned in Larry's pool, unprotected by the fence called for in the local ordinances. (My guess is she'll turn out to do a great job in the part.)  And (2) the pre-funeral, or whatever it's called that Albert Brooks puts together for himself, and gets Larry embroiled in.  Jon Hamm shows up and wants to express that's he's "bashert" about the faux death, or maybe express his condolences that Brooks' family and friends have "bashert", and Larry correctly tells him that "bashert" is not the right word for that, because it means "fate".  Hamm asks what is the right word, then.  And Larry says "tsuris".

Well, not quite.  "Tsuris" means "trouble" or "troubles" in Yiddish, but I'd say it's too weak a word to pertain to the death of a loved one.  What would be the right word then?  I don't know.

But, ok, I was wrong about the episode not being hilarious enough -- in the immortal words of Jerry Orbach's character in Dirty Dancing, "when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong" -- and it's bashert that I'll be back with at least one or two more reviews of this season's episodes.

See also:  Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.1: Reunited! ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.3: Garbage Cans and Apples ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.8: Meets Mad Men ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.9: Science Fiction ... Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 10 Finale: Unjust Desserts

See also: Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.1: Hilarious! ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.2: Wife Swapping ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.3: Benefits ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.4: "Hold You in his Armchair" ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.5: Schmata At Large ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.8: The Unexpected Advocate ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.9: Salmon Discretion ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.10: Outfit Tracker

Hightown 2.2: Some of My Favorite Things

 

A top-notch second episode of the second season Hightown tonight.  Among my favorite parts were:

• The body in Nickerson State Park.  We have a house not too far from there.  Oi!
• Osito reading Lean In. Not quite as good Stringer Bell and The Wealth of Nations in The Wire, but definitely headed in the right direction.
• Jackie's in bed with Leslie, after the latter says she likes "dick".  Another win for Jackie's powers of seduction.  Plus, she's coming up in the world of whom she seduces.
• Ray waking up in a car in the street by Renee's (and Frankie's) house.  A daring albeit black-out drunk move.

Now on that issue, it's still not clear that Renee's baby is Ray's.  But I'd say Hightown is spending far too much time on the pregnancy if Ray's not the father.  Which would be a great development for the story, if not precisely for the characters.  If this series or even season had a happy ending, Frankie would end up in prison for life, his cousin would be gone, and Ray and Renee (hey, their names rhyme) could live happily ever after.

But happy endings are hard to come these days in television series in which most of the characters are drug dependent, burned out, heartbroken, or at least two out of three.  Hightown at least does this with the ever rolling sea in the background, or sometimes in the center of the action, as it is when Frankie and cousin Jorge dispose of the guy who brought the heat down on them by selling the deadly drugs to those college kids.   How long will it take before Frankie has to dispose of Jorge?  He'd definitely do that to his cousin, if the choice was Jorge or Renee -- unless Renee and Ray get together, and Frankie finds out.

See you next week.

See also Hightown 2.1: Switching Ups and Downs

And see also Hightown 1.1: Top-Notch Saltwater and Characters ... Hightown 1.2: Sludge and Sun ... Hightown 1.3: Dirty Laundry ... Hightown 1.4: Banging on the Hood ... Hightown 1.5-6: Turning Point and the Real True ... Hightown 1.7: Two Things ... Hightown 1.8: Up and Down and Up

American Rust 1.7: The Dead Can't Buy Drugs

A disturbing American Rust 1.7 -- which means, good, as far as narrative goes -- with two somewhat bright spots.

Let's start with the disturbing.  Grace tells Del, emotionally wounded and under soul-crushing pressure, that the two of them are a team, and they'll look out for each other.  She tells him this twice, in two different scenes.  The first time I thought, yes, this is a redeeming scene. It's good to see Grace and Del together.  The second time, I don't know, something about the way Grace said it made me think maybe she's just using Del, for whatever help he can give to Billy.  I hope I'm wrong, but if this is true, Del's in for more heartbreak before this story ends,

Billy certainly needs help.  I'm assuming he won't be brought up on charges of assault for being thrust into that fight by the inmates, betting on Billy as the victor.  But now he's failed again to keep out of a fight, to control his punches.   And this time it wasn't the slightest his fault.

So what are the bright spots?  It was good to see that security guard show some decency to Isaac.  Of all the beleaguered people in this story of America, Isaac is the most pathetic.  But his sister, Lee, finally moves up to doing something helpful.  It was good to see her pressure Rachel to let Lee help Rachel in Billy's defense.  The beating scene is just more dire evidence that he needs help.  Lee is right that Billy will do almost anything Lee wants.  Would that include making Isaac a target of the law?  Probably not.  But maybe, before then, Del will be able to get his hands on Jesus the drug dealer.  (Again, I don't get why they're selling drugs that kill their best customers?  To get them addicted, I get.  But dead people can't buy drugs.)

Only two more episodes of this powerful series.  I'll be watching both of them, and I'll back here with a review next week, and another the week after.

See also American Rust 1.1-2: Pennsylvania Noir ... American Rust 1.3: Highs and Lows of Life at the Same Time ... American Rust 1.4-5: Tightening Noose and Fraying Relationships ... American 1.6: The Debts

Invasion 1.1-3: Compelling Contender

This has been a great few days for science fiction on the screen.  An excellent episode of Foundation, an outstanding first half of a new Dune movie and ... I decided to see if I could get a trifecta by watching a brand new science fiction series.  Like Foundation, Invasion is on AppleTV+, which put up the first three episodes of this ambitious series on Friday.  It had a lot to contend with, debuting just as Foundation was getting into really high gear, when Dune was making a justified name for itself the moment it opened.  And ... Invasion succeeded.

Let me say first, though, that I thought the very first episode, in which the largest part was a nearly standalone story of an aging, retiring sheriff in Oklahoma, was by far the weakest of the three opening episodes.  I mean, Sam Neill is a fine actor who was fine in the role, but the story had only the slightest to do with the interstellar invasion of Earth which is the heart of this series.  Fortunately, the second and third episodes were out-of-the-ballpark powerful and enthralling.

The stories that unfold in this slightly into the future tableau include a Japanese shuttle to a space station, attacked  and destroyed by the invaders, leaving behind a lover in Tokyo, who works for the Japanese equivalent of NASA and is determined to find out what happened; a school bus of British kids knocked off the road by an interstellar attack, which results in a Lord of the Flies scenario; and an apparently lone survivor of an American unit in Afghanistan presumably all killed by the invaders.  (Yeah, this part of the narrative obviously was conceived and filmed before the precipitous U. S. withdrawal in our reality -- we just have to assume watching Invasion that the U. S. went back in there for some reason.  This kind of thing reminds me of science fiction stories in the 1980s talking about a Soviet Union in the 21st century -- one of the hazards of writing fiction about the future.)

But Invasion is doing just fine after three episodes, even with this Afghanistan anachronism.  There's a 1950s War of the Worlds feel to it, except the personal lives of the characters are fleshed out better than in those old movies.  The family that figures in the New York part of the story features an Asian Indian couple with two kids and  a Tesla, but their marriage is falling apart even before the buildings, because the husband has fallen madly in love with another woman (a blonde, as his wife points out).  Indeed, all the backstories are notable and interesting, with the exception of the Oklahoma sheriff, but we haven't seen him since the first episode, and, who knows, something significant could yet happen out there.

The second half of Dune won't likely be seen for a year.  But now there's some science fiction on television that I'll be watching every weekend as soon as I finish my sojourn into the fate of the Galactic Empire in Foundation.

Podcast Review of Dune, Part One

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 200, in which I review Dune, Part One.  Yes, it's the 200th episode, and it also includes congratulations from Captain Phil, Andrey Mir, Howard Margolin, Joel McKinnon, Bob Mann, and some other surprises!

Written blog post review of Dune, Part One is here.

 

Check out this episode!

Dune, Part One: Half the Movie, Twice the Power of Most Other Complete Films

The first half of Dune -- over two-and-a-half hours of almost a six hour movie -- came up on HBO Max late yesterday.  It's also in theaters, and an expert critic or two proclaimed that it can't be fully or really appreciated unless you see it on the big screen.  Maybe my mind is prone to see in cinematic vistas, but I liked the movie just fine on my Mac Airbook.

In fact, I thought this first half of a movie was superb, far better than most other complete films, including David Lynch's 1984 brave attempt to do Dune (the only thing I remember about that movie was Sting).  The new 2021 first half of the movie was true in all important respects to the original Frank Herbert novel, very well acted and staged, with desert scenes that made me thirsty.  The sandworm and the Fremen were especially effective, and all the major characters shined (well, I guess you can't say that about the Harkonnen, who were nauseating, but that's exactly what they're supposed to be).

I've told people over the years who are thinking of starting the Dune book series -- I first read the novel in the mid-1970s, about ten years after Frank Herbert's masterpiece was finally published -- that they just need to suspend their judgement for the first third or more of the book, which is dense and often boring, and hold out for the tour-de-force it becomes as the story progresses.  That origin of Dune, that template that director Denis Villeneuve had to work with, makes his accomplishment even more impressive.  And in addition to the movie narrative, the battle scenes and the music are powerful, too.

Jason Momoa was outstanding -- he should talk in his roles in plain English more often.  His character Duncan Idaho has a great future ahead, and Momoa got him off to a good start.  I also liked Jason Bardem as Stilgar, and Zendaya was stirring as Chani the short time she was on the screen.  Oscar Isaac, who was powerful in Scenes of a Marriage, delivered the same as Duke Leto in Dune.

I first saw Rebecca Ferguson in Reminiscence earlier this year, and was struck by her performance.  She was fine in the crucial role of Lady Jessica in Dune.  I thought I saw some cheap shot at Timothée Chalamet in some review I glanced at and didn't read.  He was fine in the even more important, pivotal role of Paul.  I'm looking forward to seeing him with blue eyes.

That will happen in Part Two, when with any luck we'll also meet Alia, (maybe) see what happened to Duncan Idaho, see more of the Bene Gesserit, meet the Emperor, and who knows what else.  And I'll be back here when that movie is released with another review.

See also Dune, Part Two: Not As Good as Part One

Podcast Review of Foundation 1.6

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 199, in which I review the sixth episode of Foundation, just up today on Apple TV+

• earlier podcasts about Foundation:  October 15, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.5 ... October 8, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.4 ... October 1, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.3 ...  September 24, 2021:  Review of Foundation 1.1-2 .... 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 1.6
• postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogy

Check out this episode!

Foundation 1.6: Folded Variations

Well, the three-hour first part of the Dune movie debuted on HBO Max tonight, but of course I watched the latest episode of Foundation on Apple TV+ first.  And I was greeted by something straight out of Dune -- interstellar travel via the folding of space.  In Dune this is done by members of the Space Guild.  In Foundation, the folding is done by Spacers, a nod to Asimov's work, in which people who went to space, in the original robot novels, were Spacers.

Brother Day travels via folded space to a distant world.  The more interesting action, and I expect the more ultimately important, takes place back on Trantor.   Brother Dawn, now a young man, differs from his clonal twins.  He's a better shot than Brother Dusk ever was, and Dawn is color blind.   Color blindness is usually the result of genetics.  If that's the cause of Dawn's inability to see red, that means something went wrong with the oft-used duplication process.  Certain drugs can also cause color blindness.  If that's the cause of Dawn's faulty vision, the big question is who caused it.  A genetic cause would implicate the robot Demerzel.  An environmental cause could be due to anyone in Dawn's vicinity once he came out of the tube.

Dawn also seems in love with the lovely gardener.  Now in Asimov's novel, a gardener kills the Emperor, much to a young Hari Seldon's horror.  But that gardener was a muttering old man, an individual who slipped through the lines of Hari's predictions.* Will the young, lithe gardener do the same to Brother Dawn?  I hope not, they make a nice couple.  But I'm going to keep an eye on her.

*Note added 24 October 2021:  In effect, that gardener presaged the Mule.

And speaking of Hari?  Of course we learned nothing more about what we saw at the end of last week's episode.  But I am used to that.  We do see that Hari planned the stabbing, with a very reluctant Raych.  But everyone and their favorite grandparent guessed that already.

Alright, I'll be watching and reviewing here Dune tomorrow.  If I don't see you then, I'll see you next week with my review of Foundation 1.7.

See also Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematician, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones ... Foundation 1.3: Clonal Science Fiction, Hari Seldon as V. I. Lenin ... Foundation 1.4: Slow Hand, Long Half-Life, Flipped Coin ... Foundation 1.5: What We Learned in that Final Scene ... Foundation 1.7: Alternate History/Future ... Foundation 1.8: Divergences and Convergences ... Foundation 1.9: Vindication and Questions ... Foundation Season 1 Finale: Right Up There

CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets

Another good episode of CSI: Vegas -- 1.3 -- I'm thinking I'm going to review every episode.

Among my favorite segments tonight:

Sara and Gil:  Gil has some kind of land sickness condition -- happens when you spend so much time on a boat, and then switch back to land.  Sara tells Gil she's going nowhere, "you can lean on me".  A really nice statement of her love and commitment to Gil.  And in the coming attractions, we see Gil concerned about something concerning Sara -- I hope the source of that concern is professional not personal health.

David Hodges:  The planted evidence would invalidate multiple thousands of cases David worked on, and a judge helped raised the ante by saying the fate of all of those cases would be decided in one trial.  So if David's found guilty, we can expect a massive crime wave in Las Vegas, and likely across America.  Given the real increase in crime in our off-screen reality due to the pandemic, the last thing any place in America now needs is yet another spike in crime.  One hopeful development: the neighbor's dog that the bad guy killed had enough blood on its teeth to provide (via the new sophisticated 2021 CSI tech) a general ID of the guy: middle age, Hispanic.  So that's helpful.  But so far, finding helpful evidence in the David Hodges case is like pulling teeth (sorry!).  That's good news, though, for the narrative.

The Case of the Week (Maxine, Joshia, and Allie):  Hey, I'm getting to like the new crew, and tonight's case had some excellent elements.  We've all heard about the magic of three-dimensional printing.  I didn't know, though, that it could print up a convincing face mask, so that the person who wore it could pass as someone else.  Actually, I don't know for sure if that can be done in our reality -- which in turn raises the very interesting (to me) question of what part of the science in the new CSI is science fiction?

Well, we have the rest of the season to find out.  I'm looking forward to it.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain

Call for Essays and Science Fiction Stories for Volume 2 of Touching the Face of the Cosmos

It’s been almost six years since we brought out Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion, an anthology of essays and science fiction stories, assembled with the purpose of jumpstarting the human movement into space by connecting it to the sense of wonder, the need to know what we are doing here in the universe, that is the basis of religions and spiritual thinking.

Since 2015 and especially recently space exploration has gained momentum:, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and William Shatner have gone very briefly into space. Elon Musk has sent a ship with people into orbit for three days. The United States has sent robots to Mars, and the Chinese have put a crew in Earth orbit for months.

But we as species have not lifted off this planet in the way that many foresaw when people first walked on the Moon in 1969. We are still in need of a more robust connection to that spiritual sense of wonder to lift us beyond our home planet.

We therefore think the time is right for a second volume of Touching the Face of the Cosmos. As with the first volume, we are looking for both essays and science fiction stories, 500 (five hundred) to 7000 (seven thousand) words in length (but query us if you have something that you think would be perfect for the anthology, but is shorter or longer). We would like original essays and stories, but will consider a very limited number of already-published science fiction stories.

-- Paul Levinson and Michael Waltemathe

Deadline for receipt of submissions is 1 February 2022.

Please send to:

Levinson@Fordham.edu and michael.waltemathe@rub.de

Podcast Review of You seasons 1-3

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 198, in which I review all three seasons of You on Netflix.

Blog post written reviews of You 1, You 2, and You 3.

 

Check out this episode!

La Brea 1.4: Expanding Horizons

Well, I predicted last week that there was more than one sinkhole than just the one in La Brea and Gavin's special vision would show him that Levi was alive after his plane seemed to burn up in the La Brea sinkhole, and I was right.  I was also figuring that La Brea would continue to be a series worth watching, and I was right about that, too.

We indeed learned in La Brea 1.4. that there was more than one sink hole, including one in Mojave.  Sophia's associate, a new character, knows all about it, and she's ready to have her special plane take a trip back 12,000 years, despite Sophia's reservations.  I hope she takes Gavin along -- on the other hand, if Gavin goes, who can tell the people in our present what's happening back then?

Not much in the prehistoric monster catalog in this episode, though some kind of big, underwater snake did do its best to pull Riley under.  Fortunately, Levi dove in and shot the snake, freeing Riley.  Must have been one effective shot, underwater, a feat we alas didn't get to see.

The drug story in the past is trite, and doesn't add much to the narrative.  But the expanding number of sinkholes has real possibilities.  How many of them are there?  How long have they been there?  How long have we known about them?  Who is the "we" -- are the sinkholes just in California, all across America, all across the world?

La Brea clearly has the makings of a rich science fiction series, and I look forward to cashing in as a viewer.

See also La Brea 1.1: Pros and Cons of Falling Into the Past ... La Brea 1.2: Deepening Horizons ... La Brea 1.3: Descending Into the Maelstrom

 

Baptiste 2.1: Souls on the Edge

Baptiste is back for a second season on PBS, starring Tchéky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, the quirky genius of an investigator who has a dogged, uncanny talent in finding missing people, as amply demonstrated in two seasons of the prior series aptly entitled The Missing.

The first Baptiste season saw him applying his talent with a weakened brain, which turned out more than sharp enough to do what was needed.  The new season shows Julien in top shape, beginning to help a woman (Emma Chambers, played by Killing Eve's Fiona Shaw) whose husband and two sons have suddenly and unaccountably gone missing -- and Julien in not such good shape, a year later, when Emma, also not in such good shape, in a wheelchair, comes to see him to plead for his help.  Julien has long hair, which actually looks pretty good, but he's unkempt and almost dissolute.

So, in addition to where are the missing sons -- we learn before the episode concludes that the husband was murdered -- the big questions are how did Emma wind up in that wheelchair and why is Julien in such ragged condition?  The veering back and forth between the present and a year earlier works well, and adds to the harrowing quality of the narrative.

Actually, all of Julien Baptiste's attempts to find the missing have been harrowing, but there's something especially desperate, souls on the edge of the precipice, in this second or fourth season, depending on how you're counting.   This keenness makes me only keener to see what the next five episodes have in store for us.  If I have a chance, I'll try to report back here with a review of each episode.  

See also Baptiste 1: Logic, Passion, and Unflappability ... The Missing 1: Worth Finding and The Missing 2: Unforgettable

CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain

Circling back, maybe stepping up, with a review CSI Vegas 1.2, which is actually a continuation of the original CSI, then and now on CBS.  I'm still liking it.

The modus operandi appears to be one ongoing case involving David Hodges, who stands accused of forging evidence in who knows how many earlier CSI cases, and another case which will likely change each week.  For 1.2, I enjoyed seeing both unfold, but I'll confine my review to the profoundly important (for CSI) David Hodges case.

Sarah and husband Gil disagree strongly on Hodges' guilt.  Sara feels in her bones that Hodges is innocent, framed by some nefarious player.  Gil can't go by feelings, not even by Sara's logic.  He has to wait for evidence, to tell him how he feels. 

[Spoilers ahead ....]

Good news for Gil's reliance on evidence and Hodges' innocence at the end of the episode.  Gil finds that someone was silencing Hodges' neighbor's dog.  Since Hodges has no reason to do that, Gil concludes that Sara's instincts and logic are right:  The person who framed Hodges must have been responsible for the neighbor's dog,

The question still remains of who and why?  I'm half jokingly thinking that a good candidate would Nick Stokes, played by George Eads, who was with CSI from the beginning until almost the end, leaving after he had some kind of altercation with a writer for the show.  He'd have a big grievance against CSI, right?

In any case, it's very good to see Sara and Gil back in action, and I'm liking the new characters, too, so I'll likely be back here with another review or more.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial

Hightown 2.1: Switching Ups and Downs

Last year, Hightown was especially welcome, because, with the lockdown where we live, Hightown was the most we saw of the Cape.  This year, we were back on the Cape a whole bunch of times, and Hightown is off to such a good start it's looking to be more welcome than ever.

Jackie is back and before the episode is over she's working full time for the real police.  Ray remains out of the police, bartending, because some cop from his past testified against Ray at the hearing that could have put him back on the force.  Frankie's out of prison, and Renee may be pregnant (not a hundred percent clear if Frankie is the father -- could be Ray, maybe?)

The most interesting new character is Jorge, Frankie's cousin, played by Luis Guzman (great to see him again).   Osito (Atkins Estimond) is in prison, and always interesting.  And here's the nub of the plot: three kids on Nauset Beach die of an overdose.  The "Great White" drug they took was laced with something that killed them.

By the way, I don't get why these drugs are so often laced with something that kills their consumers.  Don't the people who sell drugs want to keep their sources of money alive?  As the characters in Hightown realize, it's clearly bad for business when the people who buy drugs die.

But it makes for excellent drama.  It's good to see Monica Raymund and James Badge Dale back in their primary roles, and their screen personas in effect switching places.   Jackie's up and Ray is down.  But one of the charms of Hightown is that neither character is ever down and out.  Welcome back Hightown -- see you again next week.

See also Hightown 1.1: Top-Notch Saltwater and Characters ... Hightown 1.2: Sludge and Sun ... Hightown 1.3: Dirty Laundry ... Hightown 1.4: Banging on the Hood ... Hightown 1.5-6: Turning Point and the Real True ... Hightown 1.7: Two Things ... Hightown 1.8: Up and Down and Up