Star Trek: Picard 2.9: Cooperation!

I'll start off this review of Star Trek: Picard 2.9 by saying I thought it easily was the best episode of the season.  Every major character was sharpened, in some cases to the point of having an epiphany, in other cases with the result of being transformed into something very different from what they were all season.

[Spoilers ahead ...]

Agnes and the Borg Queen are now thoroughly integrated.  No surprise there, except -- this turns out to be a good thing!   Not just for the two characters, but for the universe.  Agnes used all of her persuasive powers and intelligence to convince the Borg Queen that being on the side of thriving life was a better way to go than turning everyone into a defacto robot.   Their coming to terms begins with Agnes saying "Bullshit!" in response to something the Borg Queen said and the Borg Queen likewise criticizing Agnes's response, “To share your own crude colloquialism — Bullshit!”  This rapprochement over a word became the Borg Queen agreeing with Agnes that she -- both the Queen and Agnes -- would be more satisfied, feel better, if she got her essential energy from cooperation rather than assimilation.  That's a lesson that's profoundly important on and off the Paramount Plus screen, especially so in our world today, where Russia would do well to learn that lesson.

Seven of course was a beneficiary of this coming together.  She ends up becoming part of the Borg again, but the enlightened, cooperative version, that respects individuals.   Seven, also of course, doesn't feel completely good about this, but she gets that this is the best way of expressing her Borgness, which she had never totally divested before the rapprochement.

Meanwhile, Picard has a life-changing experience, finally realizing and understanding how what he experienced as a boy put a damper on the rest of life.  He feels guilty about his mother's suicide, and has carried that burden throughout his life.  Now that he's free of that, let's hope he finally gets together with Laris, if not in this season then the next.

Speaking of true love, it also was good to see Raffi able to see and interact with Elnor again, even if he was only a hologram.  But his telling her that his last living thought about Raffi was the love he had for her will help her comes to terms with his death and the guilt she's been carrying about that.

And still on the subject of true love, it's not clear if Rios has said a final goodbye to the doc and her son.  Being the optimistic romantic that I am, I'm hoping we see them together again.

Which leaves the ancestor of Data's creator.  With the Borg now stepping into the light, Adam Soong, motivated by Q, has become the biggest villain on the scene.  I'll let you know next week what I think about how all of that works out.

See also Picard 2.8: Borg, Q, Soong, FBI ... Picard 2.7: The Bread Was Tastier than the Meat ...  Picard 2.6: Borg and Soong .. Picard 2.5: Don't Walk Away Renee ... Picard 2.4: 2024 LA ... Picard 2.3: Agnes, Borg, Badge ... Picard 2.2: Q and Borg ...  Star Trek: Picard 2.1: Cameos and Time Travel ...  Star Trek: Picard (Season One): Non-Pareil 

                                                        a little time travel story -- free

 

Captain Phil interviews Paul Levinson about Elon Musk's Purchase of Twitter and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 289, in which Captain Phil on WUSB-FM Radio (Stony Brook, New York) interviews me about Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

mentioned in this interview:

• my brief essay Hitler, Trump, Putin
• alternate Beatles story It's Real Life
• Bob Mann's Hot Media podcast
• Frank Lobuono's Being Frank podcast

Check out this episode!

Podcast Review of The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 288, in which I review the first episode of The Man Who Fell to Earth  on Showtime.

Written blog post review of this episode of The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Check out this episode!

Katia Iakovlenko speaks to Paul Levinson about getting Ukrainian voices out to the world

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 287, in which I interview Ukrainian scholar and writer Katia Iakovlenko about getting Ukrainian voices out to the world via art and writing, in this time of the Russian invasion.

mentioned in the interview: 

• "It's Time for Ukraine to Speak" recent essay by Katia Iakovlenko
• "warнякання" music by Антон Слєпаков / Андрiй Соколов
• Ukrainian artist/painter Horska Alla (1929-1970)
• "Pleasures of the Harbor" LP by Phil Ochs (1967)
• Katia Iakovlenko's Twitter

 

Check out this episode!

The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1: Great Provenance and Excellent Start

The Man Who Fell to Earth, which debuted tonight on Showtime as a ten-episode television series, has a long and distinguished history.  The novel of the same name by Walter Tevis was published in 1963 to critical acclaim.  I didn't read it, because I had switched as a teenager by then from science fiction to rock music as my passion, and didn't go back to science fiction until a few decades years later -- Philip K. Dick's 1962 The Man in the High Castle had made it just under wire.  Meanwhile, The Man Who Fell to Earth was made into 1976 movie starring David Bowie which I saw and loved, and which also received critical acclaim.  A 1987 made-for-television movie followed, which I'm pretty sure I didn't see, and certainly can't remember.  A now this new Showtime series.

I just saw the first episode and really liked it.  In addition to the multiple provenance of the story from the novel, this new series also has echoes of the superb 1984 movie Starman starring Jeff Bridges and the also superb movie, also from 1984, The Brother from Another Planet starring Joe Morton.  So, to be clear, saying that the first episode of this new series is reminiscent of those two great movies is high praise indeed. Both movies have lots of humor, poking fun at the mores of the day, and the new Man Who Fell to Earth looks to have plenty of the same.  Both movies also have some serious punchlines, and it looks like the new series has those, too.  And, like The Brother from Another Planet, this Man Who Fell to Earth is Black, and his initiation into the culture of our planet will be mainly through people of color in the United States.

Like all of these other narratives, this visitor from a distant planet is both very bright and mostly clueless about our customs here on Earth.  We may or may not find out the reason for this cluelessness during the series -- usually, it's some variation of the crisis was so severe on that planet far out into space, that the visitor and/or his people didn't have time to properly research us.  (If the scientists on this other planet had submitted their plan for Earth to an academic journal, it would probably wouldn't have passed peer review.) The new series begins with the visitor addressing an assembled group of dignitaries or whomever, speaking in perfect English, strutting around like some kind of combination of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, with flashbacks to the time he first got here.  I think this kind of flashback approach is overdone in narratives these days, and the story would have been better off if told in real sequence, but that's ok.

I thought Chiwetel Ejiofor was excellent as the man who fell, as was Naomie Harris as the woman who reluctantly helps him but you know that will be much more, and it's too soon to tell about everyone else. But I'll definitely be back here next week and after to tell you what I think of the ensuing episodes.

first spaceship to Alpha Centauri from Mars

Podcast Review of Outer Range 1.3-4

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 286, in which I review episodes 3 and 4 of Outer Range  on Amazon Prime.

Written blog post review of these episodes of Outer Range.

podcast review of Outer Range 1.1-2

Check out this episode!

Outer Range 1.3-4: Twin Peaks Out West

So it occurred to me, as I was watching the enthralling third and fourth episodes of Outer Range, that this new series on Amazon Prime has a lot of Twin Peaks in it.   I mean, an investigation of a murder against a backdrop that has a Philip K. Dickian mind-bending vibe is a rare thing, with a pulsing potential to be memorable if it's done up right.  If Deputy Sheriff Joy, one of my favorite characters  (and being played really well by Tamara Podemski) expresses a joy in cherry pie, I may be on to something.

Outer Range is one strange bird, if I may mix metaphors, and getting stranger by the episode.  In the third and fourth episodes, and linguistically evocative also of Twin Peaks, we have a mountain disappearing.  This gives the time shifting or time traveling or whatever exactly is going on a much longer timeline.  If we're talking about mountains coming and going, we're entering the NBC series La Brea territory, and even further back than that.

Autumn probably has the most knowledge of what's going on at this point, and she's not saying too much, despite her seeming willingness to answer every question.  On the other side of the being informative curve, it's not clear how much of what happened to Royal (good portrayal Josh Brolin), when he spent the better (or worse) part of the dead of night in that waterhole, is something he either doesn't really remember or doesn't want to talk about.  I hope his wife Cecilia keeps pushing him for a briefing, and he does more than looked pained when she walks away, frustrated, because he's not talking.

He does have a lot on his mind.  A dead body is bad news in the most normal of times, and Outer Range is most assuredly not normal.  Wayne (well played by Will Patton) knows a little more than what he's saying, too, and the fact that he's more focused on that west pasture than who killed his son, says a lot, too.

But back to that in-and-out mountain:  You can't beat Burl Ives singing "Big Rock Candy Mountain," and with Juice Newton's "Angel of the Morning" also playing in episode 1.4, we've got some timeless music in this time warping narrative.

See you back here with my review of the next two episodes next week.

See also Outer Range 1.1-2: Elusive Hybrid

 

Podcast Review of Slow Horses 1.5

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 285, in which I review episode  1.5 of Slow Horses  on Apple TV+

Written review of this episode of Slow Horses

Podcast reviews: 1.1-2... 1.3 ... 1.4

Check out this episode!

Interview with Joel McKinnon about Uncanny Similarity of Working for Apple and Working for Lumon

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 284, in which I interview Joel McKinnon about the uncanny similarity he noticed in working for Apple and working for Lumon (as depicted in Severance on Apple TV+).

video of this interview

podcast reviews of Severance: 1.1-1.2... 1.3... 1.4... 1.5 ...1.6... 1.7... 1.8... 1.9

audio podcast interview of Cora Buhlert and Joel McKinnon about first season of Foundation on Apple TV+

Check out this episode!

Slow Horses 1.5: Did You Hear the One about the ...

A most excellent episode 1.5 of Slow Horses on Apple TV+ today.  Here's why:

[Spoilers ahead... ]

No explicit flatulence from Lamb tonight, or even a mention of it from the lead Slow Horse.  But he did manage to come through with a comment about being "bitten in the canal".  I'd give him credit for that for this episode.  He was in the right area -- wasn't talking about his ear canal, right?

And the jokes in the car near the end that Hassan was telling were very good.  I found myself laughing with the three bozos in the car.  I won't list all of them here, though.  My favorite was the note left in the underpants.   In the same area as the canal Lamb was mentioning. 

The action was good, too.  Cartwright was top-notch in the park -- that's a name for MI5 headquarters, right -- there might have also been some action in a real park, which wasn't nearly as good as inside the big building.  The Brits call the areas with grass and benches and trees "parks", don't they?  It gets confusing, because they also call what we in New York say are parking lots "car parks".

I'm still missing Sid.  But I saw or read somewhere that there'll be some big surprise about her in next week's episode.  It can't be that she died, because that wouldn't be much of a surprise.  Not to mention disappointing.  It could be that she suddenly recovers, but I'm not holding my breath for that.  So I'd say the surprise is something about who she really is.  Maybe she's Taverner's daughter?

I'll see you back here next week, and let you know I feel about the discovery about Sid.

See also Slow Horses 1.1-2: Fast-Moving Spy Thriller ... Slow Horses 1.3: The Fine Art of Bumbling ... Slow Horses 1.4: Fine New Song by Mick Jagger

  

Review of Star Trek: Picard 2.8

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 283, in which I review Star Trek: Picard 2.8 on Paramount+

written blog post review of Star Trek: Picard 2.8

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.7

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.6

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.5

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.4

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.3

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.2

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.1

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard season 1

a little time travel story -- free

Check out this episode!

Star Trek: Picard 2.8: Borg, Q, Soong, FBI

Well, all kinds of profound developments in episode 2.8 of this strange season of Star Trek: Picard, with all kinds of plots and subplots milling around.

Let's see, I'll try to present them in descending order of importance, with importance defined as the future both of our characters and the universe at large [Spoilers ahead ... ]

1. The Borg Queen has pretty much taken over Agnes, but there's still some Agnes in there.  We know this because Agnes wouldn't have murdered that guy with the beard, but she stops trying to kill Raffi, and Raffi realizes this means that some element of Agnes is still at work inside the Borg Queen.  But even more important than that, the Borg Queen now has an alliance with Dr. Adam Soong, who seems to be getting more evil by the episode.  He's spurred on by his daughter exercising her freedom -- who gave her that get-out-jail free capsule, by the way, Q? (See the next paragraph.)  He's the likely candidate.  But it's interesting to think about how much the daughter leaving Soong suits the plans that the Borg Queen has for him.

2. Q realizes/says he's dying.  'Nuff said. That's a pretty big deal.  Immortality isn't what it used to be.

3. I said last week that I thought the FBI guy was on the Q Continuum.  Ok, I was wrong.  But we did see Q wearing an FBI shirt, and the FBI guy did have an extraterrestrial connection -- he was visited by a Vulcan couple as a boy.  I'll tell you one thing: Earth in this not too distant future sure has a lot of extraterrestrials here and about, and well before the arrival of Picard and company via time travel.  Let's see ... we have Guinan, the Watcher, and now these two Vulcans.  And a lingering question: why did the mind meld on the boy fail?  Was it because the Vulcan didn't do it right, or was there something special about the boy?  I'm betting on the boy.

4.  Not all that important to the universe, but it was nice, once again, to see Rios with the doc and her son -- and this time, on an interstellar ship.

Just two episodes left this season.  Not enough time to resolve some of the issues -- such as the Borg Queen, now assimilating other people, in addition to what she's done to Agnes.  Well, that's a what season 3 is for.  And I'll see you here next week with my review of the penultimate episode of this season 2.

See also Picard 2.7: The Bread Was Tastier than the Meat ...  Picard 2.6: Borg and Soong .. Picard 2.5: Don't Walk Away Renee ... Picard 2.4: 2024 LA ... Picard 2.3: Agnes, Borg, Badge ... Picard 2.2: Q and Borg ...  Star Trek: Picard 2.1: Cameos and Time Travel ...  Star Trek: Picard (Season One): Non-Pareil 

                                                        a little time travel story -- free

Podcast Review of Bridgerton 2

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 282, in which I review Bridgerton Season 2 on Netflix.

Written blog post review of Season 2 of Bridgerton.

Podcast review of Bridgerton Season 1.

Check out this episode!

The Weekend Away: Evocative Whodunnit

I caught The Weekend Away on Netflix last night, based on the 2020 novel by Sarah Alderson of the same name (which I haven't read).   I'll begin by saying don't expect a sleeper by Hitchcock, but The Weekend Away is nonetheless a pretty good thriller with some nice twists.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The set-up: Beth (well played by Leighton Meester)  shows up on the Croatian coast for a weekend getaway with her best friend Kate.  By the next morning, Beth wakes up not remembering the night before (she suspects she was drugged) and Kate's body is fished out of the sea.  Everyone's a suspect, ranging from Zain (the nice, friendly cab driver) to Sebastian (the creepy landlord).

Creds to The Weekend Away for neither of them being a killer or a rapist, though Sebastian is later discovered by Beth to have spying video cameras in every room.   The police turn out to be a mixed bag, and making the detective Pavic almost the killer is good twist.

Even better is Beth's finding out that Kate was having an affair with her husband Tom (they have a newborn and he hasn't had sex with Beth for a year), and even better than that the unveiling of the true villain in this story: Tom, who accidentally kills Kate in an argument which gets physical and lands Kate on the rocks then the water.

The Weekend Away has a good sense of Beth feeling like her world is falling apart, she can't trust anyone, and her instinct that Zain is a good guy fulfilled.  I'd recommend this movie, but I suppose if you've read this far, you've already seen it, so I hope you agree that it was worth seeing.

 

Bridgerton 2: Even Better than the First

Bridgerton is a little off the beaten track of the science fiction/fantasy and detective/police fiction I usually review here, but as I pointed out in my review of the first season, Bridgerton is a kind of alternate history, and besides, it's superb television anyway.

Indeed, I liked the second season, up on Netflix for nearly a month now, and sitting atop the list of Netflix all-time most popular English-language series (i.e., greatest number of viewers) even more than the first.  There was less explicit sex than in the first season, but the narrative was more profoundly moving, and the secondary stories were handled very well, especially the Whistledown, which is arguably the primary story, the one which will apparently run through every season.

The star crossed lovers who eventually get it right are Anthony and Kate.   I almost always think in these kinds of stories that it takes too long for these true lovers to eventually get together.  In this case, Kate's half-sister Edwina is what gets in the way.  I think it took her far too long to see how deeply Anthony loved and longed for Kate, but Edwina's almost marriage to Anthony was a great scene, and her recovery -- the way Edwina began to set everyone straight, including the Queen herself -- was satisfying and good to see.

Indeed, Edwina's transformation from child-pawn to determiner and controller of events is one of the best elements of this season of Bridgerton, and exemplifies its fundamental tenet of women as the ultimate controllers of the events of men.  The Whistledown narrative brings home this point in another way.  It was good to see that story progress, concluding for now with at least two other people -- Delacroix and Eloise -- knowing Whistledown's true identity, even if Eloise never wants to talk to Penelope (Whistledown) again, which surely won't last.

Eloise and her printer proto-boyfriend could well be the centerpiece of the next season, and will likely have that role in some subsequent season in any case.  Penelope isn't getting much joy from Colin, and it's difficult to say where that will go, in part because Colin's feelings for Penelope are unclear, maybe including even to himself.

The acting, as always, was excellent.  Jonathan Bailey as Anthony and Simone Ashley as Kate were well up to their leading roles, and even Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte upped her game.

See you back here whenever Season 3 is on Netflix.

See also Bridgerton: Alternate Austen

                     free story

Podcast Review of Outer Range 1.1-2

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 281, in which I review the first two episodes of Outer Range  on Amazon Prime.

Written blog post review of these episodes of Outer Range.

Check out this episode!

Outer Range 1.1-2: Elusive Hybrid

The hybrid of science fiction/fantasy with the western (contemporary or historical) genre has long been sought after, touted as a natural, powerful combination for a television series, for as far back as I can remember.  But it's seldom been realized, and off the top of my head, I can't think of a single successful example.  Last year's Invasion on Apple TV+ took a shot with a lead-off episode out West, with no less an actor than Sam Neill in the lead -- but it was the weakest episode segment in an otherwise top-notch series.  My wife suggested Westworld as an example that achieved the elusive goal, and yes, it did, but only partially, because the heart of its narrative was not western.

But I'll never say no to a recipe which seems so logical, so I'll gave Outer Range and its first two episodes which went up on Amazon Prime Video on Friday a shot.  The upshot: I wasn't blown away by the narrative, but I liked it enough to keep watching.

[Spoilers ahead ...]

Here's the story:  On a ranch in Wyoming, Royal Abbott (well played by Josh Brolin) discovers a water hole or pond (I'm not sure what it is, or should be called) that has some strange properties.   It's not clear as yet exactly what those are either, but they may entail bringing back the dead, or some kind of time travel, if the bison that keeps appearing with some arrows in its side is any indication.  Before the two hours are over, Royal throws a dead body (whom one of his sons killed) into the water, and is shoved in the water himself by Autumn (Imogen Poots -- great name), a young woman who shows up with a deep interest in the area.  Royal comes back fine the next day -- with just a wound in his leg -- but the dead body, not as yet.  Autumn clearly has some knowledge of what's going on, but even she doesn't know the whole story -- she's surprised when Royal comes back.  It's also no doubt also significant that Royal's daughter-in-law is missing (did she fall into the water hole and then the hole disappeared, too?).

So clearly, there are a lot of provocative questions in the air, which means a lot of possibilities for this series.  I would have advised Amazon to put up all eight episodes of Outer Range, so it could be properly binged and therefore comprehended and appreciated.  But, as I said, I'm sufficiently intrigued to watch more, and I'll see you back here with my reviews of the next two episodes next week.

  

Podcast Review of Slow Horses 1.4

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 280, in which I review episode  1.4 of Slow Horses  on Apple TV+

Written blog post review of this episode of Slow Horses

Podcast reviews: 1.1-2... 1.3 

Mick Jagger on how he came to write and sing "Strange Game"

Check out this episode!

Slow Horses 1.4: Fine New Song by Mick Jagger

Well, I was glad to see that Slow Horses continued its streak of flatulence by Lamb in episode 1.4, up yesterday on Apple TV+, with Lamb advising that some lamb dish he ate earlier would be making a "reappearance".  Ok, this was not flatulence per se, it was just an allusion to it, but it gets a boost as a mention with someone named Lamb talking about lamb.

But one thing I didn't like in this episode was the continued near absence of Sid.  As I said in an earlier review, she is one of my favorite characters, and I'd like to see her getting more action than just in a coma.

Otherwise, there wasn't all that much that was actually new in this episode.  It's clear now that the true villains are MI5, and I'm glad to see our slow horses in one way or another continuing to get the better of them.  It was good to see Catherine Standish in so many scenes with Lamb -- I think they're a good couple.  She no doubt has an interesting backstory, and it would fun to see more of that.

So that's all I have to say about episode 1.4.  But this might be a good time to say how much I like Mick Jagger's theme song, "Strange Game," written very recently for the series (see here for how this came to be).  Starts off with a great rhyme -- "losers" and "boozers" -- and goes on with a lyric that shows Jagger hasn't lost his chops with words.  He also wrote the music, which is good, too.  The whole song reminds me a little of The Doors' "People Are Strange" and Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man" but, hey, harkening back to the 1960s is fine with me.  In fact, I think the whole idea of asking a rock legend to write and sing a new song for a series is brilliant, and beats choosing a well-known song that everyone already knows as a theme song, which is the way most new series go these days.

Jagger writing and singing "Strange Game" is just one example of the originality of Slow Horses, which I'm glad is here.  See you next week with my next review.

See also Slow Horses 1.1-2: Fast-Moving Spy Thriller ... Slow Horses 1.3: The Fine Art of Bumbling

  

Podcast Review of Star Trek: Picard 2.7

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 279, in which I review Star Trek: Picard 2.7 on Paramount+

written blog post review of Star Trek: Picard 2.7

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.6

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.5

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.4

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.3

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.2

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard 2.1

podcast review of Star Trek: Picard season 1

a little time travel story -- free

Check out this episode!

Star Trek: Picard 2.7: The Bread was Tastier than the Meat

Star Trek: Picard 2.7 was a bit of a turkey, more specifically the Picard in a coma on a couch part, but the rest, including the last scene with Picard with Guinan in her bar, was well worth watching.

Let's start with the psychoanalysis or whatever it was with Renee going inside Picard's head. If I was up for a story like that, I'd watch In Treatment, any season.  It was good to James Callis, aka Baltar of Battlestar Galactica as the shrink, though, and let's just leave it at that.

Among the highlights of the rest [Spoilers ahead]:

• Rios and the doctor and her son -- both their relationship and his beaming them up to the ship -- were all fun and good to see.
• Agnes under the control of the Borg Queen is always good to see -- that is, it's bad, very bad, for all our characters, especially poor Agnes, not to the mention the Universe, but it's great for the narrative.  I say that even though breaking the window to boost her control of Agnes was a little on the weak side to see (especially given the damage that anyone under Borg control can likely do).
• And then there's that last scene in the bar.  First, it was good to see Jay Karnes (The Shield, 12 Monkeys) back in action, even if he does only play an FBI guy (which he did in 12 Monkeys). And, actually, though he may be an FBI agent, I think it's a pretty good guess that he's another member of the Q Continuum.  After all, Guinan was trying to summon Q, and the character who walked down those stairs had a Q-like feel, didn't he?   (By the way, I don't know what Star Trek can do about this, but whenever I hear anything about Q, I think of QAnon in our reality, which I'd really rather not).

Anyway, I'm up for the next episode, and I'll see you here next week with my review.

See also Picard 2.6: Borg and Soong .. Picard 2.5: Don't Walk Away Renee ... Picard 2.4: 2024 LA ... Picard 2.3: Agnes, Borg, Badge ... Picard 2.2: Q and Borg ...  Star Trek: Picard 2.1: Cameos and Time Travel ...  Star Trek: Picard (Season One): Non-Pareil 

                                                        a little time travel story -- free

Review of Stream this Next: The Start of an Indispensable Guide

I've been saying at least since 2015 that streaming -- in particular the capacity it gives viewers to watch as much of a television series as they like, at one time, as if reading book -- constitutes a third golden age of television (the first being what TV broadcast networks began to bring us in the 1950s, the second being the cable revolution which I take as beginning with The Sopranos on HBO in 1999).  Indeed, I watch a huge amount of television -- I find it good for my brain -- and I'd estimate more than 80% of the dramas and comedies are streaming (all the live news I watch is on cable -- mostly MSNBC, with a little CNN, if you'd like to know).

And the streaming world has grown exponentially since 2015, with Apple TV+, Paramount+, HBO Max, Disney+, and (I'm probably leaving some out) joining Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu as big-time streamers.  And  the nature of the streaming has evolved.  For example, several of the newer players -- especially Apple TV+ and Paramount+ -- have made binging possible only after a complete season of a series has been streamed, with each episode becoming available on a weekly basis, much as networks and cable still do, when they put up their new series.

The result is a still expanding avalanche of TV shows to possibly watch, on a growing number of venues with overlapping and different presentation modes.  A handbook or guide to at least some of these shows would be handy to have, and that's just what Liane Bonin Starr's Stream This Next: 1,000 TV Shows to Suit Your Mood is.  There of course are far more than 1000 TV shows now streaming or soon to stream, and this book does miss some of the best, in my view. For example, Star Trek: Discovery on Paramount+ is listed and well described, but there's no mention of Star Trek: Picard (the best of the new Star Treks, in my opinion) or Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, to debut next month, starring Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, in my view one of the best new captains.  It also would be useful to know whether the series streams all at once, i.e., is immediately available for binging, or doled out on a weekly basis for each new season.  Other meta-details, such as Paramount+ lacerating its shows with commercials, even though it requires paid subscriptions, would also be helpful to know.

But such perceived oversights, especially in terms of series that should have been listed, are inevitable -- different strokes for different folks -- and there's plenty of value in the categorization of the shows listed in Stream This Next -- ten categories ranging from comedies, thrillers ... to science fiction -- as well as is the show best watched with a group of family or friends, cuddling with someone as a couple, on your own, etc.  Liane Bonin Starr is listed as the book's editor, and she and her team have done a fine job in assembling this indispensable guide, published last month in hardcover by Universe, especially appealing if you like to put your eyes on the pages of a thick book, once in a while.

In fact, having just thumbed through this book, I realized I really wanted to see a streaming science fiction series I somehow must have missed in the past year. Want to know what it is? Keep reading my reviews ...

Review of a Review -- But, Hey, It's About The Beatles

I don't usually write reviews of reviews -- in fact, I'm pretty sure I never have -- but Joel McKinnon, whose views on science fiction, music, and the world at large I've found invariably worthy, strongly recommended that I read Ian Leslie's lengthy review of Peter Jackson's lengthy masterpiece The Beatles Get Back ("Knowing how much you loved Get Back I think you'll love this beautiful essay about it," Joel told me), so I did, and he was right.

In fact, from the very first line of Leslie's review -- "A friend of mine, a screenwriter in New York, believes Get Back has a catalytic effect on anyone who does creative work" -- I knew that Joel was right.  Because that's exactly what watching Jackson's eight-hour documentary did for me.  I'm always writing reviews, other nonfiction, science fiction, lyrics and music, whatever, but I've been on one thrill of a creative ride since I saw Get Back at the end of November (including writing an alternate reality story about The Beatles and WFUV Radio -- It's Real Life -- which has in turn sparked my writing all kinds of other linked stories).  And that's because Get Back is a paean to, as far I know, the greatest creative work of the words and music of songs in human history, and Leslie's review gets that, too.

Here are two other other points on which Leslie and I manifestly agree:

• Leslie likes McCartney's "toothy, boyish, involuntary grin" which, he notes, even showed up after the British bobbies arrived on the roof.  As I noted in my review of Part 3 of The Beatles: Get Back, McCartney's response to the police on the roof was my favorite moment in the entire documentary, and there were a myriad of contenders (see the next point).
• Leslie cites Ringo's "I would like to go up on the roof" as a pivotal moment in the true narrative that Jackson gives us.  In that same review of  Part 3, I mention that another favorite moment is Ringo making that statement.  I've been thinking on and off about that since the end of November, and I'd say that statement and its result of getting the Beatles up on the roof is sweet proof of the important role that Ringo had in the group, concomitant with his drumming.

Ok, here's a brilliant part of Leslie's review which I don't talk at all about:  Leslie approvingly paraphrases Rick Rubin's observation that "The Beatles are the single best argument for the existence of God".  I really like that -- not surprising, given that I thought Rubin's McCartney: 3,2,1 was a kind of masterpiece, too.

I could go on, but you surely get the picture.  If you love the Beatles, and loved Jackson's documentary, read Leslie's review.   It provides a really attractive fence around the magnificent garden of music that was and is The Beatles, and the astonishingly satisfying lighting that Jackson's movie has shone on it, and that's an insufficient metaphor.

But I'll end this review of a review with offering an answer to one of Leslie's minor questions:  He wonders what John meant when he says to Paul, “We’re altogether, boy".  Leslie also wonders if Paul knew.  I'd say John was referring to Paul's "All Together Now," recorded in 1967 and released in January 1969.  The timing is perfect and of course Paul knew.

Podcast Review of Slow Horses 1.3

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 278, in which I review episode  1.3 of Slow Horses  on Apple TV+

Written blog post review of this episode of Slow Horses

Podcast reviews: 1.1-2

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Podcast Review of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey 6

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 277, in which I review The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, episode 6,  on Apple TV+

Written blog post review of this episode

Podcast reviews: 1-3... 4... 5

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Slow Horses 1.3: The Fine Art of Bumbling

Bumbling played the major role in the third episode of Slow Horses on Apple TV+ -- only appropriate, given the sarcastic subtext and headline of the new series.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

First, Min and Louisa can't seem to find a place to make some decent love.  This in turn culminates with Moody suffering death via falling down stairs, with Min more horrified than happy that he triumphed in their tussle.

Hobden doesn't do too well, either, getting punched in the face when he comes to make his case with the nationalist politician.  In Slow Horses, the bad guys as well as most of the good guys are slow, and it's not even completely clear which side Hobden is on.

Meanwhile, Hassan bungles his attempt to escape, nearly killing himself in the process.  And all of the kidnappers, if I have this right, have names taken from the original Three Stooges (Moe, Curly, Larry).

And I've been saving the worst for last: it looks as if Lamb's flatulence is becoming a staple of every episode.  At least this time it happens outdoors.  What does this have to do with bumbling?  Well, there's a linguistic connection, isn't there, given the meaning of bum in Britspeak.

But I've said more than enough.  I'll be back here next week with my review of the next episode of Slow Horses, grateful that I'm watching this on a screen at home rather than live on stage in a small theater.

See also Slow Horses 1.1-2: Fast-Moving Spy Thriller

 

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey 6: The End

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

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

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

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

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

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

a little time travel story -- free

Podcast Review of Severance 1.9

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 276, in which I review Severance episode 1.9 on Apple TV+.

written blog post review of Severance 1.9

podcast reviews of Severance: 1.1-1.2... 1.3... 1.4... 1.5 ...1.6... 1.7... 1.8

Check out this episode!

Severance Season One Finale: Stunning Revelations

We could see from almost the beginning of the stunning Season One finale of Severance on Apple TV+ that we were going to be in for some utterly game-changing revelations.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Let's start with two that are significant, indeed, but hardly the most powerful that roll out before episode is over.  There seemed to be, I don't know, maybe rockets or spaceships in Irving's outie black guck paintings.  Chances are he didn't come from another planet.  But is his outie a retired astronaut?  The other early revelation worthy of note is Dylan has to continue to keep his hands on those levers, in order for the innies to continue in their outie bodies.  With his arms spread widely apart to keep his hands on the levers, this is no easy job, and Dylan almost looks like he's in a state of crucifixion as he gives life to his innie friends in the outside world.

And then things get really interesting.  Helly's outie is an Eagan -- that is, a member of the family of the Eagans who run Lumon -- and daughter of the Eagan who invented the severing chip.  No wonder Lumon took her attempted suicide so seriously.

And even more incredible: Mark's innie learns that his outie decided to go for the severance procedure because his outie couldn't deal with the death of his beloved wife (we knew that already).  But in a shocker to top all shockers, Mark's innie discovers that she's not dead at all, and in fact she's the shrink or social worker or whatever the title is of the woman who talks to the innies and asks them questions (that seem inane to us outies) in an effort to help them better adjust.  No wonder we saw some sexual energy between them.

Irving has a far less momentous conclusion -- or so it seems -- to his innie's brief inhabiting of his outie's life:  he's furiously knocking on the door of Burt's outie, whom Irving has seen living happily with another man.

But before we find out what happens with Irving -- and with Helly and with Mark -- their innies are severed from their outer bodies.  Milchick, contacted by Harmony (turns out she's still loyal to Lumon, after all), breaks in on Dylan, and ends his literal leveraging of his innie colleagues ...

We'll need to find out what happens next year in the next season, when I'll be back for sure with a review, unless Lumon somehow gets to me, too.

See also Severance 1.1-1.2:  Erving Goffman Meets The Prisoner ... Severance 1.3: The History and the Neighbor ... Severance 1.4: Deadly Ambiguity ... Severance 1.5: Second Lives ... Severance 1.6: Lumon on the Outside ... Severance 1.7: Overtime Contingency ... Severance 1.8: Fired, Kissed, Almost Fired