Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing Black Doves; Dark Matter; Dept. Q; Detective Hole; Dexter: Resurrection; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; Memory of a Killer; MobLand; Outlander; Paradise; Presumed Innocent; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Smoke; Star City; 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.

Showing posts with label television. Show all posts

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.7: Mothers and Babies

Probably the most the powerful episode -- 2.7 -- of Raised by Wolves up today on HBO Max. No, I'd say it is the most powerful. And its theme was mothers and babies. Which unfolded in three narratives.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The less apocalyptic story was Tempest and her newborn. Last week, we saw it stolen by one of the acid-sea creatures. This week, we find out why: the sea creature was herself a new mother who had just lost her baby. When Tempest, Hunter, and Father confront the creature in a cave, she's nursing Tempest's baby. Father plans to kill it and take the baby back, but at the last minute Tempest says no. That moment says a lot about the monster/human dichotomy which animates (along with the android/human dichotomy) the entire series. Tempest realizes/senses that the monster is something more (or less or different) than a monster, if she could be nursing her baby. Father gets it, but Hunter doesn't, kills the monster/nursing mother, and takes back the baby -- which Tempest then rejects.

That scene, that story, would have been more than enough to be the centerpiece of this episode. But Raised by Wolves, not content with just one profundity, rolls out another. The flying serpent, which Mother gave birth to and tried to nurture, matures and eats the tree which Sue became or became part of last week. That tree went from a heartbeat to -- after being consumed by the flying serpent -- a Godzilla-level monster. Mother's lethal scream can't stop it -- in part because her maternal instinct likely reduced the strength of the scream, in part because ... who knows, including who knows the ratio of her maternal instant and the power of the mature serpent in accounting for why Mother's scream didn't work.

And there was a third mother/baby story, probably less profound than the other two, but still memorable and endearing. Vrill android, forsaken by her mother, determined to be part of the human community, does her best to help Campion evade the serpent. But, in the end, the girl android dies of wounds she sustains in the fight.

I'm looking forward to the second season finale next week. I know this penultimate episode will stay with me a long time.

Friday, February 11, 2022

Suspicion 1.3: The Fifth

You may recall in my review of the excellent two-episode debut of Suspicion last week, I wondered why, though there were only four masked kidnappers of Leo Newman at the beginning, and only three suspects taken in by London police plus one murdering suspect on the loose (3 + 1 = 4), the description of the series on IMDb, Wikipedia, etc., as well the above publicity photo, say or show five kidnappers not four. Tonight, at the very end of episode 1.3, we find out why: there is indeed a 5th suspect, Eddie Walker, who helped with the getaway but was not in the original hall of the kidnapping. And he's a student at Oxford, where Tara (one of the three London suspects now under surveillance) happily teaches,

Ok, that's a neat development in the plot. But it was spoiled, to some extent, by the telegraphing in the publicity photo and the description of the series that there were five suspects, when all we saw in the first two episodes were four. This is not the fault of the creators of the series. It's the fault of the publicity people, who were really out to lunch on this one.

Anyway, the connection between Natalie and still the only palpable bad guy Sean was interesting, and lays bare one of the best dynamics of this narrative: the three other suspects (Tara, Natalie, and Aadesh) all seem to be so nice, in comparison to Sean, who certainly isn't. (Too soon to tell about Eddie, who was only on the screen the last minute of the episode.) This suggests that at least one of the connective tissues between Sean and the other kidnappers is that the other three were taken advantage of in some way, pulled into something that they had no idea was a kidnapping. But still a little too soon to know how many of the three that happened to, if it happened at all.

And I'll round off this review with a mea culpa: last week I said that Katherine Newman, mother of Leo, was a media mogul. I somehow missed that she's a powerful PR executive -- so powerful that she's being nominated for US Ambassador to the UK.

I'll see you back here next week with my review of 1.4.

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Raised by Wolves 2.3: Marcus and the Android Skeleton

A fascinating and important Raised by Wolves 2.3 today on HBO Max, in which Marcus beats Father in a fight, and Father works on bringing an android skeleton back to life (or tries to).

Other important and fascinating things happened too. But those were the two most important and fascinating.

Marcus beats Father in a fight. Campion later asks Father how that could happen? Father either doesn't know, or doesn't want to discuss this with Campion. Later, we see Father, still not completely recovered from his thrashing by Marcus, rather easily beat a brute of an industrial android. So Father, even hurt, is a pretty formidable opponent in a fight. How, then, did Marcus, a human, prevail over Father?

My best guess, at this point, is that Marcus himself has some sort of android essence. He certainly doesn't look like Father or Mother. But do we really know what's inside him? Did we get any clues to this in Season One? Perhaps Marcus is some sort of what we would today call a bionic human -- a human being invested with some sort of powerful non-organic materials.

Meanwhile, Father later discovers that some of his white fuel -- what serves in effect for him and Mother as blood -- can begin to animate the android skeleton. This now raises what could be a pivotal, crucial question of what that android will be when it comes to "life"? (Surely we'll see that happen, with any luck not too further in the future of this season.)

The title for this excellent episode is "Good Creatures". I assume that name pertains at very least to the flying serpent. At this point, I'd say the serpent being an herbivore is not as important as Marcus vs. Father, or Father and the android skeleton. But the presumably good serpent (after all, it may not be good, even though it is an herbivore) could have further, increased importance as the season progresses, just another reason I'm very much looking forward to the ensuing episodes.

Thursday, January 6, 2022

Station Eleven 1.8-9: Before and After

Station Eleven is such a deep and deeply nuanced story, it's going to be talked about and studied for years, even decades, to come. Just as episodes 1.8 and 1.9 coax us through these times and time spans. If this characterization seems a little more poetic than usual, it's because Station Eleven is itself pure poetry.

[Spoilers ahead, of course ... ]

It's 2040, according to the walls of the airport/museum. Elizabeth has white hair. Earlier, we see Kirsten, probably 20 years after 2040, or maybe longer, also with white hair. Time flies when you're having a good time, and apparently just as much or even more when you're not. That's a lot about the future. And though the Prophet aka Tyler tells Kirsten the past, the Before, does not exist or matter, his knowledge of the airport prompts Kirsten to comment to him, "I guess there is a Before". One of the charms of Kirsten is the time she takes with her rejoinders. That comes with being such an eagle-eyed observer of reality, such as it is. As for the Prophet, he later tells Kirsten that the Before is coming, and vows that he's not going to let that happen. That Before, by the way, is our off-screen world, the world we're living in right now.

When Kirsten gets to see Sarah, she tells Kirsten that "the play's the thing". It's more than that in this meta-Shakespearean post-apocalypse narrative. In Station Eleven, the play is life. Sarah, who may be dying from a heart attack, also tells Kirsten that she has to get better at saying goodbye.

Which brings us to the next episode, 1.9, in which Kirsten says a final goodbye to Jeevan (but we later learn that "goodbyes are better than death"), in a story literally pregnant with profundities, including the very experience of pregnancy. "There's a person inside me. I don't like strangers," one of the pregnant women tells Jeevan. And this episode -- an inspiring paean to life -- concludes with Jeevan having and raising a family with her, in the 20 years later that we've seen in the previous episode 1.8.

Earlier, Terry, a real but de-licensed doctor who runs the department store now a birthing center, says the essence of being a doctor is having "the courage to bear witness to death" -- keen truth, especially relevant in our own age of COVID. She's a font not only of wisdom but winning detail, telling Jeevan, with whom she left an oreo cookie that he ate (it did look good), that it's an example of "five centimeters" -- useful information for a de facto obstetrician, who is better identified by one of the women whose baby he helps deliver, as a healer.

And these episodes, especially, 1.9, are indeed healing. A wondrous and welcome thing to find in a story about the near end of the world.

They're also very satisfyingly connective. Tyler, older than a boy, younger than a man, makes an appearance at the birthing center, and offers another disparagement of the Before. Jeevan gives him a strange look.

So let's get to next week, and the final episode, number Ten, of Station Eleven.

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Dexter: New Blood 1.8: The Hug in the Car

An excellent, satisfying Dexter: New Blood 1.8, even though we knew pretty much exactly how this episode would end.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Meaning, there was no way that Kurt was going to kill Harrison, however close he came to doing that. Harrison is too important a character, in this season, and I hope in seasons that I hope will follow. But Kurt came pretty close. And all I regret about that scene in his cabin with Harrison is that I couldn't have some of that venison, because it sure looked good.

But the single best moment in this episode is Harrison hugging Dexter in the car, after Dexter tells his son about that dark passenger that he and Harrison have within them. That hug in itself will be the basis of everything that comes after, everything we'll ever see between Dexter and Harrison.

And the ball is now in Angela's court. She's beginning to get some evidence to confirm her suspicion that we saw emerging last week, that Dex is the Bay City Butcher. And it's tough to see how this will be resolved, with just two episodes left to this season. I can't quite see Dexter throwing her off track, at this late date. But I can't see Dexter killing her or going to prison, either,

I suppose Dexter might allow himself to get locked up, if that some way safeguarded Harrison. But how could Dexter protect Harrison, if Dexter were behind prison bars? The future is always opaque, especially in these concluding episodes of the season, and that's a good thing for this series.

See you back here next week as we get another glimpse.

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Hightown 2.9: Heroes and More Seasons

A classic next-to-last episode 2.9 of the season tonight of Hightown on Starz, which, if it follows the lead of much current television, may well be better than the season finale in two weeks.

[Spoilers follow ... ]

Hey, the episode had a happy ending: Ray and Renee in each others' arms. In addition: Jackie's hunches and stick-to-it-iveness finally paid off, and even impressed Leslie. And just for good measure, Alan was happy, too.

But that expression on Frankie's face as he saw Renee and Ray hugging shows the two are not out of the woods, or home free, or pick your cliche, just yet. Frankie is a highly intelligent, resourceful bad guy. He'll now do anything in his power to kill Renee and Ray.

How much will he be able to do behind bars? Well, if last season was any indication, he can do plenty. He can call the shots, hire hitmen, the whole enchilada. Of course, he won't have Osito to help him. Osito will likely be out of prison, soon. He may well leave the life of crime to be with his physical therapist. If he stays in crime, it certainly won't be as Frankie's lackey.

The finale should tell us some of this. It's doubtful Ray will get everything he wants -- back with the police, living happily ever after with Renee and Frankie & Renee's son. But I hope he gets at some of this -- with any luck he'll be with Renee when she has his baby,.

But that's getting pretty far ahead of the story, and may await season three. Yeah, no formal announcement has been made, but given the power of season two, and it's inevitably unfinished story. I'd say a third season of Hightown is a likely certainty (how's that for an oxymoronic phrase). In the meantime, I'll see you here with a review after the season two finale.

Dexter: New Blood 1.7: Dexter vs. Kurt

The big question for Dexter in Dexter: New Blood 1.7 was whether Angela and the police would arrest and convict Kurt or would he, in Dexter's inimitable inner voice, end up on Dexter's "killing table".

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

But the episode ends with Dexter being kidnapped by one of Kurt's tools. The significance of this is what has been clear all along: Kurt is a capable opponent of Dexter. He's unflappable under all kinds of questioning. He's fast on his feet, quick to come up with a plausible and savvy explanation for his DNA on the bit of skin on Iris's tooth. Kurt says it's his father's, whose DNA of course would be similar but not identical to Kurt's, but in a deteriorated sample which could lose those differences, or make them unclear, with the result that Kurt could not be successfully prosecuted.

So Dexter has no choice but to go after Kurt, and get Kurt on that killing table, but it won't be easy. Not only is Kurt cunning, but Dexter has to get Kurt on the table under Angela's nose. And though she and Dexter drew closer in this episode, no small feat given that she had discovered Dexter's true identity, Molly who has turned out to be pretty sharp is now getting Angela suspicious of Dexter maybe doing more than just taking on a new identity.

Meanwhile, Dexter has something of a breakthrough with Harrison, actually a big breakthrough in realizing he has to tell Harrison about the serial killings Dexter did in Miami, but it's impossible to know how that will work out. It conceivably could strengthen Harrison's impulse to violence, which is precisely what Dexter doesn't want for his son.

With just three episodes left of this outstanding rebooted series, here's a prediction: Harrison's predilection to cause people bodily harm will help Dexter, maybe even save his life, in Dexter's battle with Kurt.

See you back here next week.

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Dexter: New Blood 1.6: Breaks and Arm Breaks

Well, it really hit the fan in Dexter: New Blood, the sixth episode in what is the best reboot I've ever seen (or at least, easily tied with Battlestar Galactica). All the characters are performing at their peaks.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Dexter is sharper than ever. His explanation to Angela about why he adopted the Jim name and persona was perfect. He told her the truth about everything other than being a serial killer. There was therefore so much truth in what he told her, that the sardonic voice in his head -- his voice, not Deb's -- was silent. I also liked that he intervened and stopped Kurt from killing Molly the podcaster. The thing to remember about Dexter is that, other than his being a serial killer, he's a good guy (and, actually, since he kills bad people, one could argue that the serial killer part of Dexter is good, too).
Harrison hasn't killed anyone yet, as far as we know, but I don't think so. He seems too stunned when he gives into his dark passenger and breaks the wrestler's arm (who had it coming, since he head-butted Harrison). He's pretty clearly a kid struggling with his dark impulses, as his father realizes. The question is whether Dexter will be able to prevent Harrison from going completely over to the lethal side (I'm guessing he won't). And on another Harrison topic: creds to him for spending the night in bed with Audrey. She, by the way, is the only one he's been honest with about wanting to hurt people.
Kurt has now been frustrated in his serial killing three times in a row: 1. Last week, he shot his victim in the eye (not the way he wants to kill his women captives). And this week, 2. The young woman's boyfriend shows up at the wrong time, and 3. Dexter interferes with Kurt's move to kill Molly. There must be a lot of pent-up rage and desire to kill in Kurt at this point.
Angela turning to Dexter, not Jim, for help at the end was good to see. But that may not be entirely good for Dexter. Angela is calling upon Dexter's expertise as a forensic specialist. But when Dexter goes down that route, he's getting much closer to his own killing instincts than when he was Jim. Angela could well sense some of that. On the other hand, since Dexter now knows Kurt is the serial killer who got Iris, Dexter can easily work with Angela to nab Kurt -- which Dexter wants to do anyway, since he doesn't like Kurt's influence on Harrison -- and that could keep Angela too occupied to suspect Dexter of his past .... Nah, thinking about that, it's just a matter of time until Angela begins suspecting him.

See you back here next week!

"challenging fun"
- Entertainment Weekly

e-mail received from a reader:
Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchildren. Thanks! Tom

I of course happily replied...

42 reviews of The Plot to Save Socrates!