The Last of Us 1.3: Bill and Frank

A letter-perfect, memorable, beautiful episode 1.3 of The Last of Us, in which see how two people can find deep satisfaction in a lasting relationship that flourishes amidst the fungal ruin.

[Spoilers ahead... ]

Although Joel and Bella play a significant role, and it was good to see Anna Torv's Tess back in a flashback -- as I hoped for/predicted last week -- the heart of this episode was Frank and Bill.  It could easily have been a standalone movie or even series, but as it was, it lit up The Last of Us.

Bill's a conspiracy theorist survivalist who goes way back, before the arrival of the fungus (which we learn probably arrived in cereals -- oi! that could make me lose my taste for oatmeal every morning).  Frank shows up hungry, not having eaten in two days, not long after the pandemic has struck.  Bill is suspicious but cooks Frank a delicious dinner -- rabbit -- washed down by Beaujolais, which gives Frank an opening for a line about who knew how well Beaujolais and rabbit went together.   Bill and Frank certainly go well together (great acting by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett in the roles) and they live out their lives until ... well, I don't want to give everything away.  I will say that I thought the ending was the best way to go, given what the world around the two was like.

The larger lesson of this heartening and heartbreaking story is that who knows how many people really survived the fungal attack.  There could be thousands of couples and families in out of the way places around the world.   And this in turn means that there could be many seasons of this story.

But as to where we are now, Joel and Bella have a car, which plays Linda Ronstadt's "Long, Long Time" as the two drive west, a song played on the piano and sung earlier by Bill and Frank, an incandescent love song, which will now remind me of Bill and Frank for a long, long time.

See also The Last of Us 1.1-1.2: The Fungus Among Us

I talk about The Last of Us, beginning at 40mins 40secs

The Last of Us 1.1-1.2: The Fungus Among Us

So why would I watch yet another post-apocalyptic series -- apocalypse caused by some biological agent?  I mean, aren't Station Eleven, Y, not to mention our real COVID-19 pandemic enough?  And for that matter, the endless Walking Deads, which I stopped watching a while before COVID hit?  Well, yes.  But something moved me to watch the first two episodes of The Last of Us on HBO Max, and here I am reviewing them, and telling you I'm going to watch the rest of the episodes of this inaugural season.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

I mean, this new series, based on a game I've never played, doesn't fool around.  Joel, one of the lead characters, sees his daughter shot to death in the first attempts of our military to stop the spread of the fungus that turns anyone who's bitten in a violent monster.  That was at the beginning of the first episode.  And tonight, at the end of the second episode, we see Anna Torv's character apparently killing herself because she was bitten and needs to stop of hoard of fungus heads.  She's an icon of science fiction, having burst on the scene and distinguished herself in Fringe.  Well, maybe she's not dead, given my principle that if you don't see someone blown to bits they could still be alive.  Or, maybe we'll see more of Torv in flashbacks.

Meanwhile, Joel, portrayed by Pedro Pascal who was so good in Narcos, is alive and kicking, as he and the spunky, wisecracking young Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are maybe heading West.  Ellie at this point looks to be carrying the cure to this fungus, which so far has resisted all medications and vaccines.  She has been bitten and so far has not gotten sick or fungus-head homicidal.  Joel is beginning to appreciate this.

I do have a question about Ella, though. She said she was what, 14?  But the fungus hit some 10 years ago.  So, how did she get what seems to be such good knowledge of history and culture -- which presumably began crumbling pretty quickly after the fungus took hold.  Could a four-year old have been that precocious?

We'll just have to see.  And I'll be back here with more reviews after I see more of this series.

See also  1.3: Bill and Frank ... 1.4: Gun and Pun ... 1.5: Tunnels ... 1.6: Joel ... 1.7: Riley's Wise Advice ... 1.8: Ellie vs. the Resort ... 1.9 The Limits of Utilitarianism 

I talk about The Last of Us, beginning at 40mins 40secs

Mindhunter 2: Riveting Nonfiction vs. Fiction

My wife and I very much enjoyed the first season of Mindhunter, but, whew, the second season was much better - more compelling - in just about every way, except one.

Among the highlights were interviews with the Son of Sam and Charles Manson. Having seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood a few weeks ago, the Manson interview, and a bit later, disciple Tex, one of the actual killers, was especially riveting.   And the long harrowing story of the Atlanta Child Murders, culminating with the arrest and conviction of Wayne Williams for just two out of most of 28+ which he likely committed, was a masterpiece in itself.

The one part I didn't care for was the story of Brian, Bill Tench's son, who witnesses the murder of a little child, tries to revive the child by placing him on a crucifix (at least, that's the best interpretation his parents can make of this), and is profoundly traumatized by all of this.  I guess the creators of Mindhunter thought that putting the senior FBI hunter in this situation - his son may be on the way to becoming a sicko killer - made for a powerful narrative.  I thought it was mostly distracting.

Mindhunter is based on real characters, but is not even docudrama-level true, given that, unlike the serial killers, the main BSU players were not actual people.  This in some ways was a good move, since it allows for intriguing developments of the characters that may or may not have actually happened at the FBI.  Dr. Wendy Carr's (Anna Torv) love life would be an example of this strategy working well.

But the time given to Brian's story, making it almost a counterpoint to the unfolding Atlanta story, was just too much.  Yes, it had the advantage of keeping Tench (brilliantly played by Holt McCallany), away from Atlanta much more than he wanted. but surely some other development could have done the same thing.   The problem with Brian's story is that its emotional intensity was so strong that it sapped energy from the intense Atlanta story.   In effect, what you have is complete fiction (Brian's story) competing with fact-based historical narrative (Atlanta).  Given that the strong suit of Mindhunter its reflection of the reality of the BSU and its revolutionary way of apprehending serial killers, to water that down with a big fictitious story makes not much sense.  (See The Wrap - which liked the Brian story - for research that it is fictitious.)

But ... the rest of Mindhunter was so outstanding that my wife and I will be sure to watch its season 3, which has yet to be announced.   It will be something to see Holden Ford's (Jonathan Groff) astonishing mind bring down the BTK killer and who knows who else.

See also Mindhunter: Best of Its Kind

 

Mindhunter: Best of its Kind

Imagine Criminal Minds - which my wife and I watched a lot of, but stopped, a year or two ago - as you might have wanted it to be: sharper intellectual focus, honest language, real serial killers, deeper character development, nudity when called for but actually no scenes of torture or murder - and you have Mindhunter, a 10-episode season (which I hope is the first) on Netflix.  In other words, a show about the BAU, but at its inception in the late 1970s, and unencumbered by the limitations and ticks of network TV.

Mindhunter is produced by House of Cards producer David Fincher, and unsurprisingly has such deft touches as subtitles when a couple are having a key conversation in a noisy bar, and the first mention I've ever heard (twice in Mindhunter) of Erving Goffman, a pathbreaking sociologist from the 1950s and 1960s who talked about the masks we all wear, and the difference between the front and back regions of our personas, or what we show to the world at large versus what we keep private to our families or closest relationships.

That high intellectual octane animates this whole series, and is brought to life by standout performances by Jonathan Groff as the young FBI agent Holden Ford trying to establish a science of understanding and even predicting psychos and sociopaths, and his older partner Bill Tench, played by Holt McCallany (Lights Out!), who pretty much supports what Holden is trying to do but is not entirely comfortable with his methods.   In this battle to establish a new, more effective, scientifically grounded method of identifying and stopping serial killers, Mindhunter also bears strong resemblances to the recently aired and excellent Manhunt: Unabomber series (and there's a lot of Jim Fitzgerald who in reality broke the Unabomber case in the fictional Holden Ford), and even a little of Masters of Sex, which I was sorry to see cancelled.

As a special treat, Mindhunter has Fringe's Anna Torv as a sociologist who joins the team.  She provides one of the Goffman references, and Holden's girlfriend, well-played by Hannah Gross, doing graduate work in sociology, offers the other.  The serial killers, ranging from Richard Speck to Edmund Kemper, are truly chilling, and we get all this with words, not scenes of their horrific actions.

An old friend, photographer Emon Hassan, strongly recommended this series.  I'm doing to same to all of you.

 

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

Fringe 3.17: Bell, Olivia, Lee, and the Cow

Well, the most exciting part of Fringe 3.17 tonight was likely supposed to be Olivia channeling Bell - and Anna Torv did put in a fine performance (in addition to the excellent portrayals of Olivia and Fauxlivia she's already given us this season) - but my favorite part was seeing Lee (Seth Gabel) at work in our reality.  He's outfitted here with glasses, but his persona came through.   He might even be Lee from the other side - the one we know as leader now of their Fringe division - but my guess is we saw his alternate self here, attracted to our Fringe for the same reason he became a Fringe agent over there.  Nice work, in all cases.

Meanwhile, Bell is inhabiting Olivia, whom Bell assures us is just fine.  But there is a need to get him into a more suitable vessel, and it occurred to me before the characters even said it that it might be the cow (occurred to me because Bell said his new host did not even have to be human).  Finally, a use for that cow, other than as an emblem of Walter's charming nut-cased-ness!   But at the end of tonight's episode, Bell learns that his transfer to another living body may not be easy - it may be that any time a bell rings his soul is summoned somewhere.

Caprica also has a role in tonight's show - at least, Paula Malcomsom played the sympathetic villain tonight - a woman who will do just about anything to join her husband and son, killed in accident, which she was in, too, but for some reason didn't die.

Actually, that reason has something to do with the deterioration of our universe because of Walter's breach, which brings me back to wanting not standalone stories, but more of the riveting central story of Fringe.

See also Fringe 3.1: The Other Olivia ... Fringe 3.2: Bad Olivia and Peter ... Fringe 3.3: Our/Their Olivia on the Other Side ... Fringe 3.5: Back from Hiatus, Back from the Amber ... Fringe 3.7: Two Universes Still Nearing Collision ... Fringe 3.8: Long Voyages Home ... Fringe 3.10: The Return of the Eternal Bald Observers ... Flowers for Fringenon in Fringe 3.11 ... Fringe 3.12: The Wrong Coffee  ... Fringe 3.13: Alternate Fringe ... Fringe 3.14: Amber Here ... Fringe 3.15: Young Peter and Olivia ... Fringe 3.16: Walter and Yoko

See also reviews of Season 2: Top Notch Return of Fringe Second Season ... Fringe 2.2 and The Mole People ... Fringe 2.3 and the Human Body as Bomb ... Fringe 2.4 Unfolds and Takes Wing ... Fringe 2.5: Peter in Alternate Reality and Wi-Fi for the Mind ... A Different Stripe of Fringe in 2.6 ... The Kid Who Changed Minds in Fringe 2.7 ... Fringe 2.8: The Eternal Bald Observers ... Fringe 2.9: Walter's Journey ... Fringe 2.10: Walter's Brain, Harry Potter, and Flowers for Algernon ...  New Fringe on Monday Night: In Alternate Universe? ... Fringe 2.12: Classic Science Fiction Chiante ... Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again" ... Fringe 2.14: Walter's Health, Books, and Father ... Fringe 2.15: I'll Take 'Manhatan' ... Fringe 2.16: Peter's Story ... Fringe 2.17: Will Olivia Tell Peter? ... Fringe 2.18: Strangeness on a Train ... Fringe 2.19: Two Plus Infinity ... Fringe the Noir Musical ... Fringe 2.21: Bring on the Alternates ... Fringe 2.22:  Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming ... Fringe Season 2 Finale: The Switch

See also reviews of Season One Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Times ... 11. A Traitor, a Crimimal, and a Lunatic ... 12, 13, 14: Fringe and Teleportation ... 15: Fringe is Back with Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Men ... 17. Fringe in New York, with Oliva as Her Suspect ... 18. Heroes and Villains across Fringe ... Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe ... Fringe Alternate Reality Finale: Science Fiction At Its Best

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Fringe Begins

J. J. Abrams is back with some of the best of his Alias production team - Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci - with Fringe, the X-Files-like science fiction drama on Fox.

Actually, lead character FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (well played by Anna Torv) does look a little reminiscent of Sydney Bristow, and dropped in on Baghdad in a scene that would have fit right in Alias. And there was Lost all over tonight, from the plane in distress in the teaser, to the brooding, complex music at the end of crucial scenes.

But Fringe does have a charm all its own, from cool floating titles to John Noble, the actor with facial expressions you can't forget. He's sometimes known as John Nogle, played Markov in 24, and in Fringe he's a perfect somewhat cracked beyond-brilliant scientist Dr. Walter Bishop, who has been locked away for years. He, his son Peter (played by Joshua Jackson - Peter reminds me of Jack Shephard), and Olivia are the team, and, hey Lance Reddick (of The Wire as well as Lost) is their superior.

And what are they investigating? Something to do with a multinational megalithic corporation, run by a former classmate of Dr. Bishop, apparently into plying some of the same things in his bizarre area of expertise. Tonight the menu included getting valuable memories from comatose and even dead brains - a old science fiction gem which I explored a little in my 2003 novel, The Pixel Eye - and strange skin-dissolving toxins.

More's promised in the future, and I'm looking forward.



See also Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... Fringe 4: The Eternal Bald Observer

Further reading:

The Night that Alias Reinvented Itself

Lost: Keys to What's Really Going On