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George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.
Chuck Todd interviews me about alternate histories
Showing posts with label Fionnula Flanagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fionnula Flanagan. Show all posts
An oddly paced, fascinating, powerful but unsatisfying episode 5.6 of Lost tonight, that raised more questions that it answered, even though the answers that were given were good.
Answered: How Los Angeles connects to the island, and how our people can get back there. Good neo-Victorian scientific setting, and good explanation by Faraday's mother.
New questions raised:
1. Why did Kate leave Aaron behind?
2. Who beat up Ben?
3. How did Hurley and Sayid know to come to the airport?
4. Who was the woman with Sayid?* (And, for that matter, who was the other Iraqi - I think we saw him last in the excellent "House of Saddam" on HBO - the actor, that is...) *Played by Zuleikha Robinson, of Rome fame - thanks to Mike for mentioning this in the comments.
There were some nice touches - Frank Lapidus as the pilot of the plane (which makes sense - he is somehow one of the ushers to and from the island), and Jack meeting his grandfather.
And other less obvious questions - why, for example, did Faraday's mother, played by the fabulous Fionnula Flanagan, not react more to Desmond's message from her son?
All in all, it was good to see some of our people back on the island - but it may have happened a little too fast. This was one of those episodes that made me wish I had the self-control to DVR this one, and the next few, and watch them all at once, in a more satisfying story arc.
As it is, I'll just have to wait, looking through time for next week's screen...
Lost came back in Season 5 firing on all cylinders tonight - emotional to metaphysical - with every character getting a dynamic, wrenching, heart-tugging workout.
Let's start with the metaphysics. Here's what we probably now know about it: Ben moved the island back in time, and, according to Faraday's account, it's now somewhat unhinged, skipping back and forth at irregular intervals. To be more clear: in this universe, travel to the past and future, back and forth, in any order, is possible, but none of the trips can change anything that happened. Lost thus avoids the grandfather paradox and all the other exquisite twists that happen in time travel stories, ranging from Twelve Monkeys to Asimov's The End of Eternity to Deja Vu with Denzel Washington.
Except ... Desmond is something, someone special in the universe, because he can indeed do things to change the past and therefore the future. He's also Faraday's anchor, which makes sense, given that Desmond is about the only one - other than maybe us, and Ben, and Richard, and probably a few more people associated with the island in one way or another - who understand at some of this. Come to think of it, Ms. Hawking, who makes an appearance with Ben at the end of the two-hour episode tonight, probably understands a lot of this, too (and good to see Brotherhood's Fionnula Flanagan back again).
Meanwhile, back on the island, some time in the past, Faraday gives Desmond an important message, which Desmond in the future (our present) suddenly remembers. This pulls him out of his sweet bed with Penny, and off on a mission to see Faraday's mother in Oxford. (It occurs to me that maybe Faraday's mother is Ms. Hawking? Or, hey, maybe she's related to Stephen Hawking.)
Lots of good stuff with Hurley in L.A., too. Except for the fact that he gets helpful visits from the departed - tonight, it's Ana Lucia - Hurley's not really crazy. He does believe Sayid, though, who tells him to do the opposite of anything Ben tells him, and Hurley follows this advice, which gets in the way of Ben's plan to bring everyone back to the island, which may be a good thing (that is, bringing everyone back to the island)
And, as has been the case every season with Ben, I'm starting to forget all the terrible things he's done, and wondering if he may be trying to help in some way, after all. (Splash some cold water in my face: I've got to snap out of that. I'm pretty sure Ben is irredeemably bad.)
While we're on the subject of trusting, I'm not too sure about Sun any more, either. I have a feeling the death of Jin turned her soul into cold stone, and I don't believe anything she says to anyone, including Kate. All she wants is to kill anyone she thinks was at all responsible for Jin's death - mostly Ben, but who knows exactly who else. On the other hand, I suppose she could at some point have a pang of goodness.
Coincidences: I've written a lot about their role and meaning in Lost. Tonight we have one - Kate pulls up in a car as Hurley with Sayid are pulling away. But there's nothing inexplicable about that - they're all in L.A. at the same time, after all.
We'll just have to see. It's clear that each and every character we've come to know, even in the slightest, will be on stage - in the present off the island, and on the island, three years ago and who knows when else - as Season 5 starts to slowly, smartly, logically, magically, dance some true answers to our swirling questions.
Brotherhood is back for its third season on Showtime, and if the first two episodes are any indication, this will be a faster, sharper, more powerful Brotherhood than what we saw in the first two seasons - less talk, more conflict and payoff, which could make this the best season of Brotherhood so far.
My favorite character has always been "bad" brother Michael Caffee, harrowingly and reassuringly played by Jason Isaacs, probably best as known in his performance Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies. Taking nothing away from Lucius, I find Michael Caffee even more memorable. You can count on him to only be pushed so far, and, then, whatever the consequences, lash out without warning and kill the person who was doing the pushing. Last year it was that horrible hit man. This year, it's the Federal prosecutor. The killings are, as I say, harrowing yet satisfying, because they give just deserts in a world in which people usually get away with all kinds of things.
Michael was nearly beaten to death at the end of the first season, and this figured in the second and now the third season. The second season was weakened, in my view, but making Michael too much the possible basket case from the beating. But it ended with "good" brother Tommy, well played by Jason Clarke, surprisingly revealing to Michael that Tommy knew Michael was about to be attacked, but did nothing to warn him. This year, Michael's not talking to Tommy because of that - refuses to be in the same room with him - but the other reliable thing about Michael is the love he has for his family, so I'm thinking it's just a matter of time until most or all is forgiven.
Tommy has some neat political dealings in the first two episodes of Season 3. One of the real joys of Brotherhood is the backroom political wheelings and dealings we see - in one sense, like The West Wing, but much more gritty and closer to crime because it's taking place on a state and local level.
And, beginning in Season 2, Tommy wasn't the only family Michael needed to live and work with. His cousin Colin - well-played by Brian F. O'Byrne - has become Michael's right-hand man. But it's only a matter of time until Michael finds out that Colin and Kath are falling in love, and the big question about that land mine is whether Michael will view that as an attack on him or a blessing...
Declan (Ethan Embry), Freddie (Kevin Chapman), Eileen (Annabeth Gish), and Mary Rose (Fionnula Flanagan - now of Lost fame) are all back in fine form, and it was good seeing Freddie sell some cars.
The timing is perfect for a show about backroom politics, and I'm thinking this season will be the breakout for Brotherhood.
Time travel is a wonderful, exquisite, exasperating, paradoxical thing. It tugs at the very edges of our understanding. It is shimmering and fragile, and yet somehow embodies the most profoundly imaginable possibilities in the cosmos. It is exceedingly hard to do well - to tell a time travel story that doesn't flinch from the paradoxes, that embraces them, yet still tells us a story we can (mostly) understand. Journeyman on NBC last year rose to the occasion once, in its splendid episode before the finale. Journeyman was a time travel series.
Lost was never really about time travel. But its Desmond story - a man who sees the future - certainly could have been a time travel story. I wrote in my reviews here last year that time travel might well explain what was going on with Desmond, and those he touched.
Tonight, in Episode 5, Lost took that path - or, actually, made good that path which it had already been on its way to building, from the time Desmond unaccountably ran into Jack on the steps of the stadium well before the flight of Oceanic 815, to the little experiment with time pieces we saw Faraday doing on the island a few weeks ago. Actually, Lost did better than make good - it made great, genius, golden television tonight. Great for the episode, great for the series.
Here, for what it's worth, is my take on what we learned in tonight's show. I'm sure there will be other explanations.
Let's think of the Desmond we saw before tonight's episode as Desmond 1 - with one exception which I'll get to, shortly. Desmond 1 breaks up with Penny. He travels around the world, sees Jack on the steps of the stadium (this is the exception to Desmond 1, as I'll explain below), winds up in the hatch on the island. He loves Penny now, and wants to get back to her. The hatch blows, exposing Desmond to intense radiation. He's still Desmond 1, but he begins to have visions of the future.
In one of the flashbacks last year, in Episode 3.8, Desmond has a conversation with Ms. Hawking (played by the always-memorable Fionnula Flanagan, also seen on Brotherhood). She apparently has knowledge of Desmond and his future which he and we did not yet have at the time of that episode. This was likely the second reference to Desmond 2 (and I'll get to the first in a few paragraphs).
Desmond 1 continues on the island, plays the crucial role in getting Charlie to the Looking Glass, etc. The last we see of Desmond 1 is when he is on board the helicopter with Sayid before it goes off course.
We learn tonight that electromagnetic fields do strange things to people's perception of time. The hatch explosion radiation gave Desmond visions of the future. The strange properties of space/time around the island - in part natural, in part the result of some technology - boost Desmond's temporal powers, to the point that his consciousness is able to instantly, uncontrollably travel through time.
This turns him into Desmond 2. This Desmond first emerges and travels from the helicopter off the island to Desmond 1 back in an army camp. But once the temporal connection is made between future Desmond 2 and past Desmond 1, the original Desmond - Desmond 1 - in that training camp becomes Desmond 2.
Desmond 2 in the past, informed by Desmond 2 in his future (our present - what we're seeing on our television screen) goes to see Faraday in Oxford, and Penny in London. The instant he sees them, and gives them any information from the future, they, too, are turned into Faraday 2 and Penny 2.
The heart-warming part of this story is that Penny 2 comes to serve as Desmond 2's "constant," and Desmond 2 comes to serve as Faraday's. This saves their lives. (As we learn from the unfortunate Minkowski, having your mind moving around in time can otherwise be fatal.)
And here's something else: I've long been citing Desmond's running into Jack on the steps, in the first episode of Season 2, as one of the inexplicable coincidences which may hold the keys to what is really going on in Lost. What are the odds of Desmond having run into Jack, before Desmond wound up in the hatch on an island on which Jack crashed?
All but nil.
But now we have a rational explanation. It was not coincidence. Desmond spoke to Jack the way he did on those steps, and went to meet him there in first place, because Desmond 2 needed to talk to Jack - Desmond 2, who of course already knew everything about Jack and the island, because Desmond 2 had lived through it. Just as Desmond 2 was in touch with his earlier self in the army camp, in Oxford, in London, tonight, so Desmond 2 was in touch with his earlier self before that meeting with Jack at the stadium.
And why did Desmond need to meet and speak to Jack?
Because Desmond 2 knew how crucial Jack would be in helping Desmond get off the island, and back in touch with Penny...
Brotherhood returns for its second season on Showtime Sunday night - right after Dexter. From Miami to Providence - a great sweep of the eastern seaboard, and a great sweep for Showtime.
I've seen an advance copy of the first four episodes. No spoilers below, except for what you have to know already: Brotherhood could never let Michael Caffee die.
So Michael's back. But he's not 100%, and the shake-up that his brain received makes for an important element in this year's story. Jason Isaacs gives a great performance - just as he did last year - of a slightly muted Michael. (Isaacs plays Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, in case he looks familiar. Talk about an actor with range.)
Jason Clarke gives a fine performance as brother Tommy Kaffee, too. Brotherhood has good echoes of The Sopranos. But the great strength of the series for me has always been the Providence politics. It's not only Rich Man/Poor Man, brother who made good and brother who didn't. It's a show about getting things done - the hard mobster way as does Michael, and the hard political way, as does Tommy. The first ends in blood more than the second, but otherwise they're no less painful, no less easy as paths to success.
The women are also strong and appealing on Brotherhood. Tommy's wife Eileen played by Annabeth Gish is complex, intense, and, whatever her flaws, you'd want her brown eyes on your side. (Her relationship with Tommy is especially difficult now, because of what she told him at the wedding last year). Fionnula Flanagan as mother Rose Kaffee is a classic (if she looks familiar, you saw her in Desmond's UK flashback on Lost). Michael's girlfriend Kath (played by Tina Benko) has a much larger role, and that's welcome. And The West Wing's Janel Moloney is now on the show, as - well, I promised only one spoiler, above.
But I can say that I think the show is more thoughtful, even deeper than it was last year. Ethan Embry's giving a sterling performance as officer Giggs, and the complexity of his personal and professional life could support a series in itself. Brian F. O’Byrne joins Brotherhood as Caffee cousin Colin - from the other side of the Atlantic - and this adds an additional dimension to the family.
Brotherhood's on its way to making memorable television - among the best of the decade.
