Mad Men Season 4 Finale: Don and-

California has always been something strange, special, magical, transcendent for Don.  It was where he could be the most himself, with Anna.   She's gone now, and Don goes out to California, this time with the kids, and-

I didn't want to put her name in the title of this post, to avoid spoilers.  Don goes out to California with the kids, and- Megan.   He needs her to take care of the kids on this trip, thanks to Betty - as cold and heartless as ever - firing Carla (she let that boy say goodbye to Sally).   So Megan is out there in magical California with Don, and he falls in love with her, and asks her to marry him, and she says, "I don't believe this," then "yes!"

It was medium clear from the first time they slept together in the office a few weeks ago that there was something special between them.  It was crystal clear tonight when Don knocks on her door, she invites him in and on the balcony,  and when he looks at Megan in the restaurant the next day, after they've spent the night together.  In any ways the best scene happens right then:  Sally knocks over a milk shake, Don and Bobby are on the verge of being upset, and Megan calms everyone down - it's just a milk shake, she says.  Betty would have gone coldly ballistic, which is what Sally, Bobby, and Don were gearing up for.   But Megan, not beset by Betty's demons, responds in a loving way.  We could see right then and there why Don was falling in love with her.  I realized even before Don proposed that night that the two might well soon get married.

All of this was beautifully acted, not just by Jon Hamm but Jessica Paré as Megan.

And the reactions of everyone back in the office - when Don tells them the news - were perfect, too.  Especially Peggy, who's not happy about this, for a variety of reasons, mostly because she feels once again that this male-dominated world she's a part of moves inexplicably.   There's also a great scene between Peggy and Joan, drawn about as close together as we've ever seen by this news.

Joan has news of her own - which she keeps from everyone in the office.  She's keeping the baby.  She did not have the abortion, after all.  This puts her rejection of Roger in a new light - she didn't want to sleep with him because she can't keep sleeping with the father of the baby she's telling her husband is his, her husband's.   They'll be some powerful stories ahead on this theme next season.

Don also tells Faye, who responds as we might expect - she's furious.   And Don tells Betty.  She almost displays some real emotion about this, at last, and we can almost feel a little sympathy for her - almost, but not quite.  She's still cold as ice.

And the season closes with Megan asleep on Don's chest, in Don's apartment, in bed.   Don's awake, and it's tough to say what's on his mind.  Maybe he's struggling with whether and when to tell Megan his true back story (which he did tell to Faye).

I can tell you what's on my mind: this has been the best season of Mad Men, already a superb show, so far.



See also Mad Men 4.1: Chicken Kiev, Lethal Interview, Ham Fight ... 4.2: "Good Time, Bad Time?" "Yes." ... 4.3: Both Coasts ... 4.4: "The following program contains brief nudity ..."  4.5: Fake Out and Neurosis ... 4.6: Emmys, Clio, Blackout, Flashback  ... 4.7: 'No Credits on Commercials' ... 4.8: A Tale of Two Women ... 4.9: "Business of Sadists and Masochists" ... 4.10: Grim Tidings ... 4.11: "Look at that Punim" ... 4.12: No Smoking!

And from Season 3: Mad Men Back for 3 and 3.2: Carvel, Penn Station, and Diet Soda and 3.3: Gibbon, Blackface, and Eliot and 3.4: Caned Seats and a Multiple Choice about Sal's Patio Furniture and 3.5: Admiral TV, MLK, and a Baby Boy and 3.6: A Saving John Deere and 3.7: Brutal Edges ... August Flights in 3.8 ... Unlucky Strikes and To the Moon Don in 3.9 ... 3.10: The Faintest Ink, The Strongest Television ... Don's Day of Reckoning in Mad Men 3.11 ... Mad Men 3.12: The End of the World in Mad Men ... Mad Men Season 3 Finale: The End of the World

And from Season Two: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons ... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.9: Don and Roger ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12 The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men ... 2.13 Saving the Best for Last on Mad Men

And from Season One: Mad Men Debuts on AMC: Cigarette Companies and Nixon ... Mad Men 2: Smoke and Television ... Mad Men 3: Hot 1960 Kiss ... Mad Men 4 and 5: Double Mad Men ... Mad Men 6: The Medium is the Message! ... Mad Men 7: Revenge of the Mollusk ... Mad Men 8: Weed, Twist, Hobo ... Mad Man 9: Betty Grace Kelly ... Mad men 10: Life, Death, and Politics ... Mad Men 11: Heat! ... Mad Men 12: Admirable Don ... Mad 13: Double-Endings, Lascaux, and Holes

20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through

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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 

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Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah

Well, Bones 6.4 was at least sans Hannah for this episode - I don't think Booth or Bones even mentioned her - which should be seen as a step in the right direction, or at least a brief respite, by Booth and Bones devotees, which I includes me, though I don't mind Hannah too much at all (or, at least, not as much as does my wife).

And there were two other enjoyable characters on the show.   One, the Science Dude - Bones' Bill Nye the Science Guy - wants Bones on his show.  She has no interest, but agrees that if he helps her on the case at hand, if he makes a contribution, she'll go on the show.  Hodgins (a fan since college), Cam, and just about everyone is delighted to have the Dude on hand.   He's a good addition to the rotating assistants, though it's not clear if and when he'll be back.

The other enjoyable character turns out to be the bad guy - in this case, the bad hot chick who killed the bones that Bones and team are investigating.  She's a bounty hunter, determined not to let anything get in her way.  She's fast, but not fast enough to outrun Bones and Booth and the science team.

Sweets also does well for himself tonight, standing up for himself and psychology against Bones' stronger than usual skepticism.   But in the end, Bones puts on a bones suit - that is, a skeleton outfit - shows up on the Science Dude's show and makes everyone in the studio audience, including Booth, Angela, Hodgins, Cam, and the audience at home happy.  Not only the audience at home for the Science Dude's show, but the audience at home for Bones.

But there are storm clouds on the horizon.  Bones won't be back until November.  And here in the New York area, greedy Cablevision and greedy Fox are in another infuriating contract dispute which might take Fox off the television set for who knows how long (given the declining viewership across broadcast and cable television in favor of watching TV on the web, the Cablevision-Fox dispute is like two myopic passengers arguing over a deck chair on the Titanic).

And there was something in the aggregate coming attractions about Hannah.  I'll be back here in November to give you my views.


See also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects ... Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo, and Plymouth Rock

And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ... Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ... Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution

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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

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The Meaning of Michael Ausiello Leaving EW

Michael Ausiello, long time television critic and reporter, announced on October 4, 2010 that he was leaving Entertainment Weekly to launch a new TV website, on Jay Penske's Mail.com Media.  This after Ausiello left TV Guide in May 2008, after six years as a scouping news TV reporter.   I know and admire Ausiello's work, but I don't know him personally.  I did not interview him for this blog post.   Instead, I want to briefly assess what his leaving EW - and TV Guide before it - means for the future of media, of written media about visual media, in particular.

It is no secret that traditional print media, ranging from the New York Times to TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly, have taken big hits in their readership and therefore their advertising revenue.  This is 100% because readers are getting their written words online.  Less discussed is where online readers are getting their words, and via what economic and social structures.

TV Guide is declining as a print venue, and has struggled to have much of an online presence.   Entertainment Weekly has lost paper readers, but has a robust, attractive online operation.   Yet Ausiello left not only TV Guide but EW.   Why?

I would say that the reason, in terms of media evolution, is that EW online is an example of a new media, but not what I call a new new medium.   By that I mean that EW, though online, is still ultimately created by top-down, boss assigning editors.   There's nothing wrong with this, and indeed a lot of superb writing has come from it, but the method is nonetheless fundamentally the same as the gate-keeper approach of traditional paper media.   The online venue of EW is free, and invites extensive commentary by readers - two hallmarks of new new media - but the underlying structures goes back to the Renaissance.

In this context, Ausiello's leaving EW, whatever the specific motives, represents a move from new to new new media.   Whatever money he may make (or not), Ausiello will no doubt have far more control over his content in his new position.  Further, with television itself in the midst of a revolutionary change from a broadcast/cable to an online medium, Ausiello's move is especially appropriate. I'm looking forward to seeing what this yields.

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NCIS 8.4: Gary Cooper not John Wayne

Well, my favorite line on last night's NCIS 8.4 on CBS came from Gibbs, who corrects a Brit (who turns out to be an MI-6 agent) who calls Gibbs "John Wayne," in response to Gibbs' intention to take matters into his own hands, protocol be damned, and not let a Brit ship which may be Gibbs' crime scene leave American waters.  Gibbs quietly corrects the Brit: "Gary Cooper".

I always preferred the type of intelligent courage that Gary Cooper displayed in High Noon to the more shoot-em-up kind of John Wayne, and so, usually, does Gibbs.   Last night finds him relentlessly standing up not only to the Brits, but to his own superiors, and the CIA, too, for good measure.   Gibbs at his best, and I won't to tell you who the villain is, in case you haven't yet scene this episode.

Ok, it's not the Brit, which could be important for future NCIS cases, especially if they veer to the international, where Ziva's father (seen at the end of the first episode this season) will no doubt  be cropping up.   Add to this that Ziva is a little attracted to the Brit, and you have some good recipes for conflict and fun.

We also got some good repartee last night between DiNozzo and the Brit about movies, and I endorse their appreciation of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore over just Dudley Moore in great cinematic roles.  (My favorite, though, not mentioned by DiNozzo, is Bedazzled from 1967 - trust me, you'll love it.)

But back to Coop - High Noon (1952) has to be of the best movies ever made, and the lead role is definitely one Mark Harmon could play if they ever do a remake.  In the meantime, here are two versions of  the Dimitri Tiomkin - Ned Washington song from the movie, to whet your appetite...



Actually, the second version I wanted to put here apparently can't be embedded, but here's the link to its YouTube home. This is the actual opening of the movie...


5-min podcast review of NCIS

See also NCIS Back in Season 8 Action ... NCIS 8.2: Interns! ... NCIS 8.3: Tiff!

And see ee also NCIS  ... NCIS 7.16: Gibbs' Mother-in-Law Dilemma ... NCIS 7.17: Ducky's Ties ... NCIS 7.18: Bogus Treasure and Real Locker ... NCIS 7.21: NCIS Meets Laura ... NCIS Season 7 Finale: Retribution

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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 

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Cheers to Fed Judge for Ruling "Don't Ask Don't Tell" Unconstitutional

Three cheers to Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court in California for ruling the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy unconstitutional today.  Insisting that people keep their mouths shut about their sexual preferences, on threat of being discharged from their military service, has indeed been an unconscionable violation of the First Amendment, which expressly forbids Congress from making any law that abridges anyone's freedom of speech.

Not everyone deserves applause in this important matter.  Certainly not our Justice Department, which opposed the suit that led to the court decision today, and is reported to be gearing up for an appeal.  And let's be clear: the Justice Department does not operate on its own.   It is 100% an expression of the President's views.   Obama thus warrants as severe a criticism on this as his Justice Department.

The Department of Defense has been somewhat better - it is at least moving towards doing away with the policy.  This Department is of course under the President's power as well, so Obama deserves some credit on this score.  But not too much credit - why didn't the Pentagon end this unconstitutional policy without a court order?

Indeed, Obama could have ended it the day he took office.   As a strong supporter of a lot of what he has accomplished, and tried to accomplish, as President, I remain disappointed by his weak, indecisive leadership on this fundamental issue.   He can redeem himself, somewhat, now, by decisively telling his Justice Department to drop any plans for appeal, and acknowledge the First Amendment.

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House 7.4: Mind Games

House and Cuddy continue to develop their relationship in episode 7.4 of House.   When Cuddy tells House that his continuing little games are keeping them from being totally close, he replies that she's still keeping a distance from him - not having him sleep over her home, keeping House a distance from her daughter.  The result at the end is House is having dinner with Cuddy and her daughter, an important step in the right direction for their relationship.

Meanwhile, House's case involves mind games of another kind.  Sometimes, when a patient is having hallucinations, it's because she's schizophrenic, and has gone off of her medications.   This a nice twist on the usual set-up on House, where a strange physical ailment can have mental repercussions.

House figures it out - is pushed in the direction of a mental source of the patient's problem - by a new woman on the team.  House doesn't like her as a replacement for Cameron.  Foreman doesn't like her as a replacement for Thirteen.   Understandable, and, in their opinion, Chase brought her in for the main purpose of "getting laid".  That's understandable, too.

And, in the end, that's just - and all - that Chase gets.  The new woman doc on the block quits the team.  And, since she has a policy of not going out with colleagues, she's now free to indulge her interest in Chase.   He's happy, she's happy, we the viewers are happy.

It's a rare episode of House in which so many people end up happy, but it's been that kind of happier season.

See also House and Cuddy on the Other Side in Season 7 Premiere ... House 7.2: House and Cuddy, Chapter 2 ... House 7.3:  The Author and the White Lie

And see also House Reborn in Season Six? ... 6.2: The Gang is Back and Fractured ... 6.3: The Saving Hitler Quandary ... 6.4: Diagnosis vs. Karma ... 6.5 Getting Better ... 6.6 House Around the Bases ... Four's a Crowd on House 6.7 ... House 6.8 and the Reverse of Flowers for Algernon ... House 6.9: Wilson ... House 6.10: Back in Business ... House 6.11: Making Amends, Mending Fences, and a Psychopath  ... House 6.12: The Progression to Mensch ... House 6.13: Cuddy's Perspective ... House Meets Blogger in 6.14 ... House 6.15: About Taub ... House 6.16: Revealing Couples ... House 6.17: Socrates on Steroids ... House 6.18: Open Marriage

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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

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Mad Men 4.12: No Smoking!

So how can Mad Men manage to surprise in this season in which every week has delivered an unexpected punch?   By Don publicly denouncing smoking in episode 4.12!  Smoke will no longer be getting in SCDP's eyes, at least if Don has his way.

Indeed, Don's act - going for a full-page ad in The New York Times, in which he declares war on smoking, all the damage it's done to the health of Americans, and the health of his company - is roundly attacked by every one of his partners.  Pete's concerned that clients will lose faith in SCDP's loyalty (indeed!), Cooper's furious that Don did not include the partners in the ad (!), Lane's angry that Don did not consult the partners beforehand, and Roger's just angry.  (I thought Roger's best line, though, came when he called a consultant who failed to deliver a promised presentation to a possible client, an "asshole".  Roger has consistently had the best lines for the past few shows.)  The responses of the partners - the reasons for their anger - reflect their inner demons and personalities, what really motivates them.   Cooper, at this stage in his life, is in it for his reputation.  He's so wounded that his name does not appear on this declaration of war that he takes his leave of his partners and the company - apparently, at this point, for good.

Who approved of what Don did?   Megan liked it and tells him so - though for what combination of wanting to curry favor with Don vs. her admiring Don's courage/honesty, whatever, is not clear.  Don tells her it had nothing to do with standing up for what's right - it was the best move for SCDP given its plummeting client list - this at least gets them in the public eye, and turns the vice of Lucky Strike leaving into a virtue.

Peggy, unsurprisingly, approves for the right reasons.   She jokes about Don's chiding her about pulling stunts - because, if we believe what Don says (who knows what he really thinks), his ad in the New York Times was a high-profile, high-principled gimmick - a stunt wrapped in a public ethic.

Ready for next week's season finale?

See also Mad Men 4.1: Chicken Kiev, Lethal Interview, Ham Fight ... 4.2: "Good Time, Bad Time?" "Yes." ... 4.3: Both Coasts ... 4.4: "The following program contains brief nudity ..."  4.5: Fake Out and Neurosis ... 4.6: Emmys, Clio, Blackout, Flashback  ... 4.7: 'No Credits on Commercials' ... 4.8: A Tale of Two Women ... 4.9: "Business of Sadists and Masochists" ... 4.10: Grim Tidings ... 4.11: "Look at that Punim"

And from Season 3: Mad Men Back for 3 and 3.2: Carvel, Penn Station, and Diet Soda and 3.3: Gibbon, Blackface, and Eliot and 3.4: Caned Seats and a Multiple Choice about Sal's Patio Furniture and 3.5: Admiral TV, MLK, and a Baby Boy and 3.6: A Saving John Deere and 3.7: Brutal Edges ... August Flights in 3.8 ... Unlucky Strikes and To the Moon Don in 3.9 ... 3.10: The Faintest Ink, The Strongest Television ... Don's Day of Reckoning in Mad Men 3.11 ... Mad Men 3.12: The End of the World in Mad Men ... Mad Men Season 3 Finale: The End of the World

And from Season Two: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons ... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.9: Don and Roger ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12 The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men ... 2.13 Saving the Best for Last on Mad Men

And from Season One: Mad Men Debuts on AMC: Cigarette Companies and Nixon ... Mad Men 2: Smoke and Television ... Mad Men 3: Hot 1960 Kiss ... Mad Men 4 and 5: Double Mad Men ... Mad Men 6: The Medium is the Message! ... Mad Men 7: Revenge of the Mollusk ... Mad Men 8: Weed, Twist, Hobo ... Mad Man 9: Betty Grace Kelly ... Mad men 10: Life, Death, and Politics ... Mad Men 11: Heat! ... Mad Men 12: Admirable Don ... Mad 13: Double-Endings, Lascaux, and Holes

20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through

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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

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Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, and Travanti

Daniel J. Travanti - best known for his stint as Captain Frank Furillo on Hill Street Blues - put in a memorable, chilling performance on the other side of the street in Criminal Minds 6.3, where Travanti played an aging vicious serial killer (there are no other kind on Criminal Minds), assisted now by his son.

Travanti's "The Butcher" turns out to be an old, unrequited case of Rossi's, who's pulled into this one on vacation, not accomplishing much because he's plagued by writer's block.  Apropos the writer, this episode of Criminal Minds has both quotes by writer's writers, one by Proust at the beginning and one from Mark Twain at the end.   The story here is all about memory - Rossi's and The Butcher's.

For Rossi, the new killings are horrible, but a second chance to finally catch The Butcher.  His files on the Butcher, and his recollections, point the team in the right direction - realizing that the new killings are being done by the old Butcher in some way, not just by a copycat.

For the Butcher, he's killing again because he forgot what scared him off of the killings the first time, years ago.   That would be Rossi, who came this close to nabbing the Butcher back then.   The Alzheimer's that's now afflicting the Butcher also makes him forget each killing that he and his son are doing now.  So he repeats the last killing, from years ago, over and over again.

Television these days seems to often address the serial killer with a difference.  In Dexter's case, we have a serial killer on the side of good, a serial killer with a conscience.  In Travanti's case, we have a serial killer with Alzheimer's.   And it's his memory loss that goads him to keep killing.

The Butcher ends this episode in prison.  I'm glad he wasn't killed.   Not that the monster did not deserve that, but Travanti gave such an indelible, frightening,  performance that I wouldn't mind seeing him again.  It was certain a performance that will be hard to forget.


See also Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving

And Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media

And here's a little song I wrote years ago, about time and memory ...

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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


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House 7.3: The Author and the White Lie

A fine House 7.3 on Fox last Monday, in which House treats Alice Tanner, author of the Jack Cannon: Boy Detective series, a favorite of House's, just as Tom Swift was a favorite of many people in our real world.  The difference is that Victor Appleton, the author of the Tom Swift series, was a pseudonym for more than one author, whereas Alice Tanner in the fictional House is a real woman.  Not only that, she wants not only her series but her life to end.

Since House loves her books, he has a better motivation than usual to save Alice, against all odds.  But the problem this time is not only physical but psychological - Alice has based her boy detective on her own son, who died in a car crash.  She blames herself, with a view now towards joining her son as the only way she can make things right between her and the universe.   If House lets her leave the hospital, she'll soon take her own life, negating whatever cure House had given her.  But he can't keep her in the hospital against her will.

House's solution is to feign autopsy results - of Jack, Alice's real son - which show he had an aneurysm, which would have killed him in a week or two if there had been no car crash.   Alice believes this, is at peace, at last, and no longer wants to kill herself.  She says she's finished writing Jack Cannon books, but at least she's alive, is likely to stay that way for a while, and while there's life there's hope.

So House has once again used a daring, unorthodox treatment to save his patient - give her a white lie, to get her off the hook of guilt which is driving her to suicide.   Was House ethically right to do this?

Hell, yes.   It's worth a lie to save a life.   Or, in these cases, life is more important than telling the truth.

See also House and Cuddy on the Other Side in Season 7 Premiere ... House 7.2: House and Cuddy, Chapter 2

And see also House Reborn in Season Six? ... 6.2: The Gang is Back and Fractured ... 6.3: The Saving Hitler Quandary ... 6.4: Diagnosis vs. Karma ... 6.5 Getting Better ... 6.6 House Around the Bases ... Four's a Crowd on House 6.7 ... House 6.8 and the Reverse of Flowers for Algernon ... House 6.9: Wilson ... House 6.10: Back in Business ... House 6.11: Making Amends, Mending Fences, and a Psychopath  ... House 6.12: The Progression to Mensch ... House 6.13: Cuddy's Perspective ... House Meets Blogger in 6.14 ... House 6.15: About Taub ... House 6.16: Revealing Couples ... House 6.17: Socrates on Steroids ... House 6.18: Open Marriage

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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

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Fringe 3.3: Our/Their Olivia on Their Side

Fringe 3.3 brought us back to the other universe, where our Olivia, who thinks she's their Olivia, is beginning to have misgivings about her true identify.   Fringe seems to be alternating episodes between our universe and theirs this season, which so far in working quite well.

In Fringe 3.1, Olivia started out knowing she was our Olivia, but was disconcerted by instincts and moves she had which were not hers.   That episode ended with our Olivia taken over by their Olivia, or pretty much thinking she was their Olivia.

In Fringe 3.3, this new hybrid, original-mind repressed Olivia begins to get back in touch with her original self.  Indeed, it saves her life, when she runs by an amber alert - respect for which is deeply ingrained on all people on the other side - and avoids being killed by a trap set by an idiot savant who dispatches his real and projected enemies by setting in a motion a series of Rube Goldberg devices which eventually extinguish the target.

What will happen if our Olivia's true personality begins to more prominently poke through?  She's in danger, because if Walternate gets wind of it, he'll kill her.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering who the idiot savant was?   Someone from our side?   Is there an implication that idiot savants are the way they are because they have some connection with the other side?

Fringe continues weaving an exciting, tightly drawn, rigorously reasoned tale of science fiction.

See also Fringe 3.1: The Other Olivia ... Fringe 3.2: Bad Olivia and Peter

See also reviews of Season 2: Top Notch Return of Fringe Second Season ... Fringe 2.2 and The Mole People ... Fringe 2.3 and the Human Body as Bomb ... Fringe 2.4 Unfolds and Takes Wing ... Fringe 2.5: Peter in Alternate Reality and Wi-Fi for the Mind ... A Different Stripe of Fringe in 2.6 ... The Kid Who Changed Minds in Fringe 2.7 ... Fringe 2.8: The Eternal Bald Observers ... Fringe 2.9: Walter's Journey ... Fringe 2.10: Walter's Brain, Harry Potter, and Flowers for Algernon ...  New Fringe on Monday Night: In Alternate Universe? ... Fringe 2.12: Classic Science Fiction Chiante ... Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again" ... Fringe 2.14: Walter's Health, Books, and Father ... Fringe 2.15: I'll Take 'Manhatan' ... Fringe 2.16: Peter's Story ... Fringe 2.17: Will Olivia Tell Peter? ... Fringe 2.18: Strangeness on a Train ... Fringe 2.19: Two Plus Infinity ... Fringe the Noir Musical ... Fringe 2.21: Bring on the Alternates ... Fringe 2.22:  Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming ... Fringe Season 2 Finale: The Switch

See also reviews of Season One Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Times ... 11. A Traitor, a Crimimal, and a Lunatic ... 12, 13, 14: Fringe and Teleportation ... 15: Fringe is Back with Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Men ... 17. Fringe in New York, with Oliva as Her Suspect ... 18. Heroes and Villains across Fringe ... Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe ... Fringe Alternate Reality Finale: Science Fiction At Its Best

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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

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Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo and Plymouth Rock

Funnier than usual Episode 6.3 finds Bones at the Jersey Shore - both the physical reality and the MTV show ambience - with Brennan doing a fine anthropologist blending in with and explaining the language of the natives to Booth and anyone who'll listen.  I can't recall the last time a TV show spoofed another so well and still on the air.   We've come a long way since the 1950s, when television series had an unwritten policy of for some reason never showing people watching television, and the idea of one show goofing on another was unheard of, especially a show currently playing happily on another network.  Kudos to Bones for stretching the expectations so well again.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, we also got another heart-tugging episode of Hannah, Booth, and Bones.  Hannah's moving into Booth's place.  She wants to give Booth a house-warming gift, and Bones is more than happy to give advice - get Booth an old-fashioned working phone.  Bones sees how happy Booth is with the present, but clearly feels something when she leaves Booth and Hannah (and Booth does too).

How long will it take for Hannah to realize that Bones and Booth are more than just very close friends and sympatico colleagues?  How long before Bones and Booth realize this?  This of course has been the enduring, motivating question of the entire series, enhanced now with Bones playing John Alden to Booth's Priscilla, helping Hannah "Standish" get closer to Booth ....

Hey, tonight's show was not only about the Jersey Shore and the Sitch, it was about Plymouth Rock and Wordsworth.  Poetry in motion...


See also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects

And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ... Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ... Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution

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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


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The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl

A superb Good Wife 2.2 on CBS this week, at turns riveting, delightful, and all together captivating.

The legal drama part was about as powerful as you'll find on the best lawyer show.  Will and Alicia represent an accused murderer who is acquitted, mainly because they smartly moved to exclude questionable evidence.  As Will says to Alicia, cases are won on the success of attempted exclusions.  But Cary for the prosecution is furious.  He's sure the client is guilty, and feeds a friend in the military some of the excluded evidence that makes the client look guilty.  What does the military have to do with this?   Turns out the acquitted Randy Simmons was in the military at the time the crime was committed, so they have jurisdiction - and another bite of the apple, because double jeopardy does not apply from civilian to military courts (just as it didn't with OJ from criminal to civil courts).

The military trial was outstanding, as good in its maneuvering as the kind of trial seen in A Few Good Men.   Will and Alicia face a tough judge, but they manage to out-maneuver and win her over in the end.  That was the serious part of the show.

The fun part involved the real Lou Dobbs and the real Joe Trippi as conflicting clients with the firm - conflicting because Trippi is Diane's client, Dobbs is being brought in by Derrick (Mr. Bond), and Trippi and Dobbs have bad political blood between them.   It's great to see real people woven so well into a fictional television show.

But in many ways the most fun part of the evening - with serious bite as well - concerns an Obama Girl-like video made by Florrick's former prostitute, Amber Madison.   I don't who wrote or sang the song, but it sounds exactly like the excellent hilarious work of Leah Kauffman, responsible for the writing and singing in Obama Girl.  And the production is a dead-on perfect satiric take on the original Obama Girl video produced by Ben Relles.   It's also worth noting that Amber Lee Ettinger played the original Obama Girl, and, well, as mentioned above, Florrick's prostitute is named Amber.

In our real world, outside of television, the Obama Girl video helped humanize Obama at a time when he needed to get known by Americans (see New New Media for more on the impact of the Obama Girl video on the Obama campaign).  But along with this serious impact, the Obama Girl video was fun - it was comedic satire.   The Florrick Girl video was delightful for we the viewers to see, but in the context of the show that was little funny about it.   Rather, it was created by Childs as a way of hurting Peter.   It's a Nixonian dirty trick, tailored for our viral video age, and Becca may be trying to retaliate by setting up a bogus Facebook-like page for Childs' son, where he will say bad things about his father.

I can't think of a better mix of real and fictional politics on a television show which breaks new ground with just about every episode.

See also Obama Girl Applauded in my Class at Fordham ... An Interview with Obama Girl Producer Ben Relles ... The Barely Political Revolution

and The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS

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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

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NCIS 8.3: Tiff!

We last saw Abby Brammell in a regular TV-series role as Tiffany, the neglected  but much desired wife of Mack, the stone-cool tough-as-nails second in command on the late lamented  CBS show The Unit.  Brammell's not only back but now part of the armed services herself in episode 8.3 of NCIS, where she plays  tough-as-nails Marine Sgt. Heather Dempsey, who puts three deadly shots in the chest of an in intruder in her home, shortly after she gets out of bed after sleeping with someone else's husband.

She lies to the NCIS team about her bed-mate, which makes first DiNozzo and then the rest of us suspicious.  But she turns out to be innocent - at least, of any wrong-doing in the shooting - and, who knows, I hope we see more of Heather on the series.  She's excellent at defusing bombs.

Lots of good touches in this episode, including a lesson from Ducky on how pineapple juice can be used to make fingers fingerprintless, and the travails of Gibbs and Tobias with "atomic" spicy Indian take-out (something I can relate to).   DiNozzo's up to be the public face of NCIS recruitment, but the powers that be go with Gibbs as more authoritarian (I would've gone with Ziva on the poster, but that's just me).

Seeing Gibbs eating take-out at home with Tobias drove home the point is that Gibbs is still in need of a little better permanent company.   Jenny's of course long gone, the woman colonel a few years ago fizzled out,  there was a little chemistry between Margaret and Gibbs last year - but it didn't get too far and we've seen no sign of her this season.   That leaves ... hey, maybe Heather...

See also NCIS Back in Season 8 Action ... NCIS 8.2: Interns!

And see ee also NCIS  ... NCIS 7.16: Gibbs' Mother-in-Law Dilemma ... NCIS 7.17: Ducky's Ties ... NCIS 7.18: Bogus Treasure and Real Locker ... NCIS 7.21: NCIS Meets Laura ... NCIS Season 7 Finale: Retribution

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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

The Event 1.3: 24 Back in Action

A strong episode 1.3 of The Event on NBC last night, with the series seeming ever more a successor to 24 than to Lost, which I take as a good.

The main plot focused on Sean and FBI Agent Angie Collier.  They're first antagonists, as Collier takes Sean into custody, then allies of sorts, as Sean takes care of her after the car crash that kills Angie's partner, and then allies in full, as Angie helps Sean escape from the "marshals" seeking to take him into custody.

I put the "marshals" in quotes because they're clearly not good guys, and are working either for the aliens aka the detainees (or a branch of them not detained) and/or people in our government.   The whip-fast gun fights, Sean and the evidence convincing Angie just in time are all reminiscent of the action and quick-shifting crucial loyalties that were the appealing stock-in-trade of 24.

Meanwhile, on the alien/detainee front, William is promised freedom in return for revealing secrets about the aliens to our government.  He also wants a rendezvous with his girlfriend, Maya, who surprisingly proceeds to stick a shiv in him to keep him permanently quiet.  She's apparently more loyal to her "people" than her boyfriend.

But before this episode is over, we learn that dead may not really be dead in this story - at least for passengers on the flight spirited from the President's event to the desert of Arizona.   They were shown as dead last week, but they all rose back into life this week.

This is decidedly unlike 24 - with the exception of a character or two shown to be killed but whom we later found out was not -  but may provide some clue as to who or what the aliens really are ...

See also The Event Debuts on NBC ... The Event 1.2: Aliens!

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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

Mad Men 4.11: "Look at that Punim"

"Look at that punim," Faye affectionately says to Don about his face in Mad Men 4.11 - "punim" is Yiddish for face - and that punim has reason to be concerned, given that Lucky Strike's exit from Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce has hit the fan.

A large part of this excellent episode, in what is shaping up to be the best season of Mad Men thus far, is about the impact Lucky Strike's departure has on Don and Faye's relationship.  SCDP goes into emergency mode, which means the gang must do everything to keep their other clients, and draw in new ones.  Don asks Faye to keep him posted on any of her clients - outside of SCDP - who may be unhappy with their ad representation and therefore ripe for SCDP poaching.  Faye balks and stalks out of the office.

Don, who has asked Megan to keep an eye on his drinking, ends up sleeping with her - at her initiation - even though he says it's not "a good idea".   Megan seems more on top of her feelings, in touch with what she wants, than was Allison, so this could have a more of a future.  But -

Don finds Faye at his door when he goes home, with news of a client that Don can approach.  She's thought over their conversation, and decided that her deepest loyalties in everything reside with Don.  Lucky guy.   I do like Faye a lot better than Betty, in any case, especially this season.

The other big fallout from Lucky Strike's leaving is Roger, or, more precisely, Roger and Joan.  Roger wants to sleep with Joan.  She understandably says no - - understandable given the pregnancy that resulted the last time time the two made love.  Roger still has just about everything anyone could want, but he's never seemed more pathetic, hat in hand and dejected.

About the only character with undiluted happiness in last night's episode is Peggy, who sleeps with Abe and really enjoys it.   Even the mishap with lipstick on her teeth at a presentation to a client does little to daunt her.  About time - Peggy's waited a long time for a good relationship.

See also Mad Men 4.1: Chicken Kiev, Lethal Interview, Ham Fight ... 4.2: "Good Time, Bad Time?" "Yes." ... 4.3: Both Coasts ... 4.4: "The following program contains brief nudity ..."  4.5: Fake Out and Neurosis ... 4.6: Emmys, Clio, Blackout, Flashback  ... 4.7: 'No Credits on Commercials' ... 4.8: A Tale of Two Women ... 4.9: "Business of Sadists and Masochists" ... 4.10: Grim Tidings

And from Season 3: Mad Men Back for 3 and 3.2: Carvel, Penn Station, and Diet Soda and 3.3: Gibbon, Blackface, and Eliot and 3.4: Caned Seats and a Multiple Choice about Sal's Patio Furniture and 3.5: Admiral TV, MLK, and a Baby Boy and 3.6: A Saving John Deere and 3.7: Brutal Edges ... August Flights in 3.8 ... Unlucky Strikes and To the Moon Don in 3.9 ... 3.10: The Faintest Ink, The Strongest Television ... Don's Day of Reckoning in Mad Men 3.11 ... Mad Men 3.12: The End of the World in Mad Men ... Mad Men Season 3 Finale: The End of the World

And from Season Two: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons ... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.9: Don and Roger ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12 The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men ... 2.13 Saving the Best for Last on Mad Men

And from Season One: Mad Men Debuts on AMC: Cigarette Companies and Nixon ... Mad Men 2: Smoke and Television ... Mad Men 3: Hot 1960 Kiss ... Mad Men 4 and 5: Double Mad Men ... Mad Men 6: The Medium is the Message! ... Mad Men 7: Revenge of the Mollusk ... Mad Men 8: Weed, Twist, Hobo ... Mad Man 9: Betty Grace Kelly ... Mad men 10: Life, Death, and Politics ... Mad Men 11: Heat! ... Mad Men 12: Admirable Don ... Mad 13: Double-Endings, Lascaux, and Holes

20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through

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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

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Fringe 3.2: Bad Olivia and Peter

Fringe continues to be so good, so sharp in storyline and smooth in execution, that it's almost a different show than it was two years ago, even last season.

My favorite scene in Fringe 3.2 is in Olivia's apartment - now inhabited by bad Olivia, i.e., the hot redhead Olivia who now looks like our Olivia and seems firmly ensconced on our side. Peter comes a calling, just after bad Olivia has killed a loose end guy. She drags the body into the bathroom, and proceeds to distract Peter the good old fashioned way.

Not the best strategy in the world.  Let's say Peter had to go to the bathroom, afterwards? Perhaps Olivia's quick idea was to screw Peter into unconsciousness or at least until he fell asleep. Still not the most reliable way of keeping him from seeing the corpse, whose blood was now seeping out of the bathroom...

Fortunately for bad Olivia, she and Peter get a call to a scene by Broyles. Saved by the Broyles. But it was still a great scene, because it epitomizes what will now be the central issue, at least on our side of the dual universe: How will bad Olivia continue to fool everyone?

Peter would in some way be the easiest to fool, since he comes from the other side himself, and his instincts about who comes from where could be a little jumbled. On the other hand, for the same reason, Peter could be the first to notice something wrong in this Olivia, because he knows the other side, first hand as a boy. One point in bad Olivia's favor, though, on yet another hand, is that good Olivia and Peter were never intimate - which means Peter has no erotic standard against which to judge bad Olivia's lovemaking.

And then there's Olivia's sister - who knows Olivia in a way no one else can. Would she be likely to be fooled very long by bad Olivia? I don't see how. Fortunately for bad Olivia, the sister has been in short supply on Fringe this season - that is, not on at all.

Olivia's niece could also be a problem for bad Olivia - kids have a way of seeing through the pretenses of adults.

And there's Walter. Up until now he's been all but still consumed with grief over what happened with Peter all of those years ago. But Walter has been capable of a blindingly brilliant insight - indeed, that's his stock and trade - and could realize in a heartbeat that the Olivia in front of him is in Walternate's employ.

This set-up is so captivating that the central story - Walternate's plan on manipulating Peter to design the weapon to destroy our universe - almost seems back-burner. But it's proceeding apace, too, as this masterful season of Fringe unfolds.

See also Fringe 3.1: The Other Olivia

See also reviews of Season 2: Top Notch Return of Fringe Second Season ... Fringe 2.2 and The Mole People ... Fringe 2.3 and the Human Body as Bomb ... Fringe 2.4 Unfolds and Takes Wing ... Fringe 2.5: Peter in Alternate Reality and Wi-Fi for the Mind ... A Different Stripe of Fringe in 2.6 ... The Kid Who Changed Minds in Fringe 2.7 ... Fringe 2.8: The Eternal Bald Observers ... Fringe 2.9: Walter's Journey ... Fringe 2.10: Walter's Brain, Harry Potter, and Flowers for Algernon ...  New Fringe on Monday Night: In Alternate Universe? ... Fringe 2.12: Classic Science Fiction Chiante ... Fringe 2.13: "I Can't Let Peter Die Again" ... Fringe 2.14: Walter's Health, Books, and Father ... Fringe 2.15: I'll Take 'Manhatan' ... Fringe 2.16: Peter's Story ... Fringe 2.17: Will Olivia Tell Peter? ... Fringe 2.18: Strangeness on a Train ... Fringe 2.19: Two Plus Infinity ... Fringe the Noir Musical ... Fringe 2.21: Bring on the Alternates ... Fringe 2.22:  Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming ... Fringe Season 2 Finale: The Switch

See also reviews of Season One Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Times ... 11. A Traitor, a Crimimal, and a Lunatic ... 12, 13, 14: Fringe and Teleportation ... 15: Fringe is Back with Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Men ... 17. Fringe in New York, with Oliva as Her Suspect ... 18. Heroes and Villains across Fringe ... Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe ... Fringe Alternate Reality Finale: Science Fiction At Its Best

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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