The Tunnel: Final Season: Moral Dilemma Par Excellence

I see, to my surprise, that I never got around to reviewing the first two seasons of The Tunnel - the British/French take on the Swedish/Danish Bron/Broen, and the American The Bridge.  Indeed, though I reviewed The Bridge, I thought it was not the best of the three.  That accolade belongs to The Tunnel, though I have yet to see the last two seasons of Bron/Broen, so I conceivably could change that ranking.

Not likely, though, seeing as how good The Tunnel, especially its final season 3, is.   I've admired Stephen Dillane's work since I saw him play Thomas Jefferson in the John Adams mini-series in 2008 (I thought it was longer ago than that).  He plays Karl, the British and non-Asperger's detective.  Clémence Poésy I don't recall having seen before - actually, she was in some Harry Potters and In Bruges, a movie my wife and I loved,  and she does a fine job playing Elise in The Tunnel.  In all three versions, the detective with all the advantages and disadvantages of Asperger's - the focus on logic and details, the lack of social sensitivities - is a woman.

Also in all three version, the team is sooner or later thrust into a severe moral dilemma - whether to save this person or that, when at least one of the likely victims is someone beloved to at least one of the detectives.   This moral choice - whom to throw a rope to when two people, not near each other, are drowning - was given the best presentation, the epitome of this dilemma, I thought, in the final episode of The Tunnel.

I won't say anymore about that, in case you haven't seen it.  I will say that all three versions require a strong stomach, meaning the villains they deal with are as perverse and ethically as ugly as these sort of monsters come.  In fact, the going was so rough in season 3 of The Tunnel that I was close to deciding I didn't like it as much as the other versions and seasons.  Until the ending.

So ... see this.  It's human beings with souls fighting humans who've lost them, a story that typifies a lot of our age, and presented here at its searing best.

 
 

Fear the Walking Dead 1.2: Tobias Leads the Way

Fear the Walking Dead continued its powerful start tonight, with a second episode which was relentlessly strong, pounding, and frightening.   As in The Walking Dead, humans have as much to fear from other humans as from zombies, except at this stage the humans include police, a situation all too familiar and chilling to anyone who watches the non-fictitious news.   The cops kill a homeless man.  He's laying there, dead.  Will he soon stagger to his feet?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Meanwhile, you just knew Art would be a zombie, because, well, he looked like a zombie already, last week, when he was still human.  And he faked us out nicely then, when it turned out he wasn't yet a zombie, but was just hunched over, engrossed in some audio.   So seeing him attain his destiny tonight was chillingly satisfying.

I didn't mention Tobias in my review of episode 1, but I was impressed with him then.  He's the only person we've met and seen so far who knows something of what is really going on, and he carries that burden well.  Tonight, he's only happy because he got back his knife, and I'm hoping he accepts Madison's offer to come live (and no doubt run) with them.  Yeah, there's no way that won't happen.

Nick (played by Frank Dillane, son of Stephen Dillane of Game of Thrones and other notable fame, by the way), put in another fine outing, capped off by apparently pretending to be worse than he really was in his drug withdrawal, as a way of getting his sister Alicia to stay with him.  (I say "apparently," because, although he tells his mother he got his sister to stay, you can never be 100% sure.)  Good job Alycia Debnam-Carey playing Alicia, by the way.

Just about every character we've met at any length is appealing, which raises of the question of who will be the first to go among the beloved or at least appealing characters?  It would be something of a coup if the answer was none of these, for at least a while, but this is still The Walking Dead universe we're dealing with, so that's not very likely.

And I'll be back here next week - or, actually, two weeks from tonight, because next week's Labor Day - with a review of the next episode.

(I find most holidays, by the way, to be annoyances.  Here I am making this very point on a HuffPost Live panel earlier this week.)

See also Fear the Walking Dead 1.1: Great Beginnings

#SFWApro

John Adams on HBO: 6: Flawed President and Flawed Father

People sometimes ask me why I'm so critical of John Adams - the real person in history, not the superb HBO series - and the answer is the damage done to, and near death of, our democracy brought by the Alien and Sedition Acts, signed into law by Adams. This grim episode, and Jefferson's protest that these acts trampled on the Constitution, were vividly portrayed in this 90-minute episode that covered the whole of Adams' Presidency.

But the episode brought to light something equally lamentable about Adams - pertaining to his family not his country. Charles, the reprobate son, is disowned by John Adams. His son-in-law is turned away when in financial need. It's not that our culture was so different then. It's that John Adams could not overcome his stern New England upbringing, and give his son the love and emotional support, his son-in-law the economic support, that they needed. John Adams meted out punishment instead - just as he did to his country by jeopardizing the First Amendment and its protections.

It's a measure of how superb Paul Giamatti's performance is as John Adams, that we feel anything akin to sympathy for the second President and father at all. Giamatti is just perfect for summoning the pain and humanity that one hopes Adams felt for these actions. It convinced me enough that I called them "lamentable," rather than despicable, in the paragraph above.

As I've said in previous reviews of this series, this is history on television on an entirely new, breathtaking plane.

The series concludes with the next episode.

How about a series about Thomas Jefferson, played by the outstanding Stephen Dillane.

See also: John Adams on HBO: Good Founding Father, Bad President ... John Adams 3 and 4: Jefferson and Space Travel of the Soul ... 5. Jousting of Ideas ... John Adams Concludes

Further reading ...

The Flouting of the First Amendment - my 2005 Keynote Address at Fordham University, in which I talk about the vying opinions of John Adams v. Thomas Jefferson...

The Soft Edge: A Natural History and the Future of the Information Revolution - my 1998 book, with more details on this time in history, and the roles of Adams and Jefferson

And ...

John Adams on HBO: 3 and 4: Jefferson and Space Travel of the Soul

A powerful, beautiful Episode 4 of John Adams on HBO tonight - after last week's somewhat lackluster Episode 3, in which the highpoint of the tension was Adams getting sick of and in Europe.

But let's look at Episode 4, bursting with brilliant scenes:

.John and Abigail reuniting Paris - handled with sensitivity and passion, as Abigail forgives John for his years of absence.

.Adams and Jefferson in Paris (1) - Adams chastising Jefferson for the high opinion he has of human nature, at the same time that Jefferson chastises Adams for his low opinion of same. This difference of opinion is crucial, and will set the stage forever more in American history between those who want strong central authority to show the people the best way (Adams) vs. those who want to protect the people, capable of governing themselves, for the tyrannies of government (Jefferson).

.Adams and Jefferson in Paris (2) - at the launch of the first hot-air dirigible. Adams doubts that it will fly; Jefferson (a Renaissance man and inventor) believes it will. Guess who is right ... Another reason I always liked Jefferson - I bet he'd would have been a great advocate of the space program today and in the 20th century... he was always an advocate of space travel of the soul, of human beings breaking beyond their confines. (Obama is not a big fan of space travel, but his vision of the human spirit reminds me of Jefferson.)

.John and Abigail Adams, and Jefferson: Abigail is somewhat taken by Jefferson's charm...

.Adams meeting King George III ... the King is willing to give Adams a chance, for now, because he heard that Adams was not too fond of the French ... England, however, won't really get over losing American until at least the War of 1812.

.Washington takes office as the first President, and Adams as the first VP. Brilliantly acted and perfectly staged. Once again, I had tear in my eye during this vivid American history.

And there was more. But I'll stop here, and just add that the acting was outstanding.

Stephen Dillane is perfect as Jefferson. Paul Giamatti as John and Laura Linney as Abigail are excellent. David Morse looks like he came right off the dollar bill as George Washington. Tom Hollander even puts in a memorable performance as King George III (I say "even," because the time on the screen was short, the rendition understated, and the effect therefore all the more impressive).

I loved the music, too - kudos to Rob Lane and Joseph Vitarelli.

This is the best American history I've ever seen on television.

See also: John Adams on HBO: Good Founding Father, Bad President ... John Adams 5: Jousting of Ideas ... 6. President and Father ... John Adams Concludes ...

Further reading ...

The Flouting of the First Amendment - my 2005 Keynote Address at Fordham University, in which I talk about the vying opinions of John Adams v. Thomas Jefferson on human nature...

The Soft Edge: A Natural History and the Future of the Information Revolution - my 1998 book, with more details on this time in history, and the roles of Adams and Jefferson

And ...

John Adams: Good Founding Father, Bad President Makes Great Television on HBO

The Adams Chronicles mini-series on PBS in 1976 has long been one of my all-time television favorites. And, seeing as how I don't at all like the real John Adams, the second President of the United States, that's saying a lot.

I just saw the first two episodes on HBO's new mini-series, John Adams, and I think I like it better than the Chronicles.

Of course, the first two episodes did not get close to the part of the real life of John Adams that makes him a villain in my book. And that book is: respect for the First Amendment to our Constitution. Adams signed the Sedition Act into law shortly after he became President in 1796 - an Act that so trampled the First Amendment, that Thomas Jefferson was close to urging the South to leave the USA back then.

I'll tell you more about that era when the HBO mini-series gets there.

In the meantime, what I saw is superb, breathtakingly accurate history. David McCullough, author of the book upon which the mini-series is based, is a top-notch historian and a riveting writer. Tonight's two episodes captured perfectly the unique blend of radical and authoritarian that made John Adams what he was - a great Founding Father, and (in my opinion) a poor President. He is a passionate believer in American independence and the primacy of our laws over England's - so much so that he defends British soldiers wrongly accused in the Boston Massacre. He is powerful and convincing to some of our more cautionary Founding Fathers. He is an early appreciator of Washington as a military man, has a great alliance with Ben Franklin, and encourages Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence.

Adams and Jefferson will later fall out over the Sedition Act, but for now, John Adams (the character in the mini-series of the same name) is nothing but a pleasure to see. Paul Giamatti plays him well. Stephen Dillane has a quiet power as Jefferson, David Morse is excellent as George Washington, and Tom Wilkinson is marvelous as the sage Ben Franklin. The 20 or so minutes leading up to the ratification of the Declaration of Independence were pure gold.

I'll be back next week with another report on this history brought to vivid life on television.

See also: John Adams 3 and 4: Jefferson and Space Travel of the Soul ... John Adams 5: Jousting of Ideas ... 6. President and Father ... John Adams Concludes ...

Further reading ...

The Flouting of the First Amendment - my 2005 Keynote Address at Fordham University, in which I talk about John Adams and the Sedition Act...

The Soft Edge: A Natural History and the Future of the Information Revolution - my 1998 book, with more details on this time in history, and the roles of Adams and Jefferson

And ...