reviewing Black Doves; Citadel; Cross; Dark Matter; Dept. Q; Dexter: Resurrection; Dune: Prophecy; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; Memory of a Killer; MobLand; Outlander; Paradise; Presumed Innocent; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Smoke; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Tehran;The: Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Last of Us, Night Agent; Your Friends & Neighbors +books, films, music, podcasts, politics
George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.
22 December 2024: The three latest written interviews of me are here, here and here.
Not Laura a person, but Laura the superb 1944 movie, which was about Laura Hunt, a murdered beauty who becomes an obsession for Det. Lt. Mark McPherson, who's looking into her death and hunting her killer. Well before he finds the killer - in a brilliant twist that turns on the public's understanding of media at the time - McPherson has fallen in love with Laura, on the basis of her photographs and what he has found out about her life.
Most appropriate for NCIS, Tony is the detective, and the object of his obsession is ZNN (CNN) reporter Dana Hutton. She's missing not murdered - her brother's murder is what draws NCIS to the case - but things get worse. Palmer and Ducky discover that the brother was murdered by ricin, for which there is no antidote. Tony leaves voice mail for Dana, whom no one can find, and she comes in from the cold. She and Tony clearly have some chemistry, but another kind of chemistry will insure that this won't go very far: she's been given the ricin, too. And so Dana becomes Laura for Tony, after all.
Some very good other touches in this episode of NCIS. Ziva is the one who talks about Laura the movie - to Tony, who wouldn't be likely to talk about the movie in this one case, because he's a part of it. Margaret pays a late-night visit to Gibbs - she says she's a close friend of Dana's - and asks why Gibbs always leave his door open. "I wouldn't have a social life" if I didn't, Gibbs replies, in one of the best lines of the episode. And there's something brewing with Abby.
Whew - a primo two hours of 24 Season 8 tonight - 15 and 16 - ranging from Jack shouting "taxi!" on the streets of New York, to a remarkably powerful ending, with lots of good stuff in between.
First, I'm really enjoying the New York placement of this season. Part of tonight's episode took place on 93rd and Amsterdam - hey, I was on 93rd and West End just yesterday. Another part took place on 110th Street - actually, the action sped by there - just 50 blocks north of Fordham University, where I teach, with some great restaurants. After years of reading all about Lost and Hawaii from people on that beautiful set of Pacific islands, it was great seeing 24 take place on my little island, Manhattan.
Saving Manhattan is what Hour 15 was all about. Although Jack rescued President Hassan last week, Hassan can't let saving his own life lead to the deaths of so many in New York. So Hassan escapes, and puts himself in the hands of the terrorists. They keep their word, eventually, and stop the bomb with just seven seconds left on the fuse.
Saving Hassan is what Hour 16 was all about. But first, we had a great scene with President Taylor and her Chief of Staff (who had sided with the general who was attempting to turn Hassan over to the terrorists, contrary to Taylor's orders). She calls him a traitor. He says he saved New York. As I said here last week, I don't like traitors, but it's hard to argue with anyone who wants to save New York, or, for that matter, the lives of so many innocent people.
Dana also has some fine scenes. She almost kills Arlo, almost escapes, and kills at least one guard in the process. Cole is suitably furious. Dana wants to talk to Jack - delivers one of the best lines of the night ("you're the only here who doesn't have his head up his ass") - and cuts a deal with the President: a conditional release, dependent upon her info getting Hassan free.
Which brings us to the "Iranian" President. Jack and his team get to the building, the apartment, where he's being held. The terrorist is on the Internet, telling the world about Hassan's "crimes". He will kill Hassan at the end of the recitation. Jack and Renee hear the terrorist. Jack breaks into the room - only to find that what they were hearing, what was being seen on the Internet, was a recording. Hassan has been killed.
Not only was this an emotionally trenchant moment, it was great to see yet another play on the 1944 movie Laura [SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR MOVIE Laura], which revolved around the killer seeming to have an ironclad alibi, because he was talking on the radio at the time of the murder. In those days, playing recordings of shows, rather than the shows done live, was rare on radio. So the killer fooled just about everyone by murdering Laura at the exact time a recording of his show was playing on the radio.
But it's only fitting that 24 connects to the movies, because that's where it's going after this television season. Which is fine with me as far as the movie part goes - my wife and I will be first in line to see the 24 movie - but I'd like to see the TV part continue, too.
Not Laura a person, but Laura the superb 1944 movie, which was about Laura Hunt, a murdered beauty who becomes an obsession for Det. Lt. Mark McPherson, who's looking into her death and hunting her killer. Well before he finds the killer - in a brilliant twist that turns on the public's understanding of media at the time - McPherson has fallen in love with Laura, on the basis of her photographs and what he has found out about her life.
