12 Monkeys 1.5: The Heart of the Matter

12 Monkeys 1.5 was edgier and more profound than usual - which is saying a lot, seeing as how most of this series so far has been edgy and profound.  But 1.5 starts with in many ways the most profound question of the series: what are Cole, Ramse, Jones, et al doing in the future - why are they there - if Cole is being sent back to the past to stop that future from happening?  Every instant of their existence in the 2040s, in other words, shows that what Cole tried to do in the 2010s failed.  Right? Or doesn't it?

And the episode touches this paradoxical nerve repeatedly, culminating in Cole apparently destroying the deadly plague virus, being unceremoniously yanked back to the future - which is the only way he ever gets back to the future - only to find he's returned to something not quite the place in the future from which he departed.  Does this mean he succeeded? Probably not.  But we're certainly given a little taste of success not being as sweet as Cole and Jones may have imagined it to be, even though they never quite spelled out what that would be, and sweet seems mainly out of the question here.

Jones does give a good defense of why she ripped apart so many bodies to perfect time travel - still not very perfect, though at least it works.   Mozart, great literature, the cream of human culture is what she tells Ramse she's bent on saving.   We also get some good pictures of Jones when she was younger - Cassandra's age - which I suppose means she's not Cassandra, though I'm still thinking on some level she is.

Jennifer Goines has her best episode so far, including her rendition of Bill Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman," which has to be a first for a television science fiction drama, hats off to 12 Monkeys and SyFy.  And Cassandra learns that Cole killed Henri, and handles that pretty well: she's angry and all that, says she doesn't want to continue fighting against the fate of plague, but she rises to the occasion and helps Cole try to snuff it out with flame anyway, before she's kidnapped by the man with the scar played by Tom Noonan.  His identity clearly holds one of the big keys to this puzzle.

And, just for good measure, we get some good insight into Cole in this episode, too, when, sounding like Don Henley in "The Heart of the Matter," Cole says what he wants most is "forgiveness" (even if you don't love me anymore - no, he doesn't say that, but it's strongly implied).

Looking forward to the next episode in what is now clearly the brashest, savviest time travel show ever on television.

See also 12 Monkeys series on SyFy: Paradox Prominent and Excellent ...12 Monkeys 1.2: Your Future, His Past ... 12 Monkeys 1.3:  Paradoxes, Lies, and Near Intersections ... 12 Monkeys 1.4: "Uneasy Math"

podcast review of Predestination and 12 Monkeys



 three time travel novels: the Sierra Waters trilogy


three time travel stories (with more to come)


The Chronology Protection Case movie 

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#SFWApro

12 Monkeys series 1.3: Paradoxes, Lies, and Near Intersections

Well, I broke down and watched the next episode of 12 Monkeys - 1.3, available on SyFy On Demand for just 24 hours from midnight last night.  Hey, why shouldn't I watch a show earlier than it's being aired, it's a show about time travel, right?   But be forewarned - or warned, or whatever the proper usage - to either not read this review until after 10pm Eastern next week, January 30, or get a few soft spoilers here.

First, and this is not a spoiler, I've been meaning to point out the coincidence of 12 Monkeys on television as a series so soon after the Ebola outbreak that dominated much of our news in the real world this past Fall.   This obviously trumps and is much more significant that the fortuitous North Korean coincidence in episode 1.2 last week (or, actually, yesterday).   Indeed, the nearness of Ebola to 12 Monkeys gives the series an urgency and verisimilitude that it wouldn't have had just last year, in January 2014.

And a lot of the action in 1.3 takes place in Haiti, as Cassandra goes there in 2014 to stop a plague that could be THE plague but turns out to be just river fever, whatever exactly that is.   But the real action here is Cassandra (and Jones) telling Cole to keep clear of Cassandra in Haiti - he too is on a mission there - so as not to contaminate i.e., bend the timeline which Cole will need from Cassandra in the future. Back in Haiti, Cole also manages to scar the Tom Noonan creepo character, thereby closing that little loop, as well as kill someone that Cassandra slept with and was beginning to really care about, but Cole doesn't know this (until later, in the future, when he lies to Cassandra about killing Andre).  All of which is testament to the care that this series is taking in following the logical consequences of the paradoxes that time travel engenders - keep the paradoxes ever in mind, and steering clear of them whenever possible - which as I said in my review of the first episode is a hallmark of good time travel science fiction in my book.    I should also say, apropos Cole and Cassandra, that Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull are both doing a really excellent, appealing, and convincing job in those lead roles.

Meanwhile, there's also some important action taking place in the 2040s future of the story - much more than in the movie, by the way.   Ramse (played by Kirk Acevedo of Fringe fame) is a major character in this future, where we learn that the time travel facility may soon be under attack from some kind of human group not sick, as far as we know.

At this point, I'm enjoying the television series about as much as the movie - including the differences, which is saying a lot indeed, because the movie was superb.  But the paradoxes, lies, and near intersections through time are making 12 Monkeys exceptional television.

See also 12 Monkeys series on SyFy: Paradox Prominent and Excellent ... 12 Monkeys 1.2: Your Future, His Past ... 12 Monkeys 1.4: "Uneasy Math"

podcast review of Predestination and 12 Monkeys



 three time travel novels: the Sierra Waters trilogy


three time travel stories (with more to come)


The Chronology Protection Case movie 

~~~ +++ ~~~

#SFWApro

12 Monkeys series 1.2: Your Future, His Past

12 Monkeys continued its story on SyFy tonight, with a phrase that captured the predicament of Cole and every time traveler.   When he asks his boss, Jones, how someone could say Cole was responsible for a scar, but Cole has no memory of even meeting that person, Jones replies that you'll meet him in your future but his past. That's about as neat an explanation of twisted interconnected timelines as you're likely to get in a time travel story.

And we don't even know the name of the guy that Cole will scar.   We know he's played by Tom Noonan, who has a pretty good beat on the weird, creepy, slightly psychotic, having played one very well back in Hell on Wheels - in everyone's past, that is, in the 19th century, unless you haven't seen the fine series as yet, in which case it also will be in your future.

Meanwhile, there are other significant conversations between Cole and Jones.   He doesn't like taking orders from her, but who does (like taking orders).  And although she starts the episode strictly forbidding Cole from interacting with Cassandra - lest he throw off the timeline that resulted in the future first finding out about a possible way to stop the plague - she comes to realize that the mission may need Cassandra, after all.   So Jones, like all good heroes in time travel stories, including the scientists behind the missions, is willing to risk paradox on behalf of the mission's success.   If they weren't, they likely wouldn't have gone into time travel in the first place.

Speaking of missions, this episode of 12 Monkeys had a brief gambit that was positively prescient about what recently happened in our own off-screen timeline less than a month ago.  Cole ends up for a few harrowing moments in North Korea, in, what was it, 2006?   Now these kinds of misfires are common enough in time travel stories - we saw them in Quantum Leap, and, for that matter, in the 12 Monkeys 1995 movie.   But North Korea?  Are you kidding me?  Unbelievable coincidence with our reality - I half expected to see Seth Rogan in the scene with Cole.   It's a good thing the North Koreans didn't hack the SyFy Channel and start making demands, though maybe I shouldn't be joking about this.

But there were lots of interviews in this episode - sorry, I couldn't resist - the best being the one with Cole and Jennifer, who looks like the best kind of nutcase character, or one with some very serious, not crazy, information.

Looking forward to next week, which I may or may not see in the next 24 hours, on SyFy On Demand.

See also 12 Monkeys series on SyFy: Paradox Prominent and Excellent ... 1.3: Paradoxes, Lies, and Near Intersections ... 1.4: "Uneasy Math"


podcast review of Predestination and 12 Monkeys


 three time travel novels: the Sierra Waters trilogy


 three time travel stories (with more to come)


The Chronology Protection Case movie 

~~~ +++ ~~~

#SFWApro

Damages Back with a Vengeance

Damages came back with a third scalding season on FX last night, with all the punishing trimmings, and a cast of new villains and maybe some heroes that rival what you might see in the movies.

The fundamental set-up is the same as last year.   Patty Hewes is once again in maybe mortal danger six months from now, this time from a car that crashes into hers, out of the blue, in a great jolting scene.   Meanwhile, back in the present, Patty is taking on a Bernie Madoff-type character (Louis Tobin, played by Len Cariou, who was just great in Brotherhood, as well as his wife (Lily Tomlin!), son (Campbell Scott), daughter-in-law (Reiko Aylesworth - Michelle on 24, and last year on Lost), and, just for superb measure, Martin Short as the tough, brutal, slightly sleazy Tobin lawyer Leonard Winstone (a staple on Damages).   Ellen's looking great and working in the DA's office.   Tom is getting his name of the door - it will be Hewes and Shayes.  But-

Back in the six months from now, Patty's just shaken up, not really hurt, by the crash, and Huntley (Tom Noonan) is on the case (great character from last season, good to see him back).   His investigation leads to the first shocker of the night - Tom's car is the one that took out Patty's.   And then, a bigger punch in the solar plexus:  Tom's car was apparently stolen.  He's dead.

In the present, there is one other thing to mention.   Keith Carradine, fresh from his role as Agent Frank Lundy on Dexter, is some kind of mysterious architect Julian Decker who's trying to get close to Patty.    With Carradine in the role, it's a certainty that something very major is going to happen between Julian and Patty, with some connection to the car crash.

So Damages is off and running with another searing season, a chess game with daggers, and easily one of the most intelligent shows on television.



5-min podcast review of Damages

See also:  Damages Concludes Season 2 ...  Lying about Damages ... 2.2: A Good World of Hurt ... Damages 1-10

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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