Bones 10.3 Meets Rush and a Dominatrix

No, not Rush Limbaugh, but the victim in Bones 10.3, found big bottom out, sure resembles the blowhard conservative radio talker.  Hutch is not only portly, but popular, enthralling millions with his Republican rants.

And the kicker is that the motive for his murder is that his SM sex therapy, administered by a dominatrix, had gotten Hutch/Rush to see the light - that is, go for a more moderate less inflammatory political stance.   Devotees of Fox News - as distinct from the  Fox network which broadcasts Bones (the two are ultimately connected but operationally separate) - might object to the political overtones of this fine episode of Bones, but I liked it just fine.

The show also had some good helpings of Bones and Booth, including Bones' revelation that Booth likes to be nibbled - on the ear, at least.  But underlying this banter is a somewhat serious problem that will no doubt be addressed this season: Booth still has not gotten over his imprisonment and his house being shot up, not to mention the loss of Sweets.

That loss also comes to the surface in Booth's attitude towards Aubrey, the new kid on the Bones block. Booth always had a problem accepting new colleagues - or colleagues who are foisted upon him - but Aubrey's obvious resemblance to Sweets, in both appearance and earnestness, makes this all the more difficult for Booth.   Fortunately, Booth is a reliable learner, and the scene in which Aubrey confronts Booth about the mistreatment Aubrey has been receiving is one of the best parts of this episode. Aubrey is right that Booth's dissing Aubrey is like Booth dissing Sweets, and the expression on Booth's face shows he's beginning to get it.

The season is progressing well by doing what it always does so well: depicting real people coming to terms, slowly, with a loss in their lives.

See also Bones 10.1: The Fulcrum Changes ... Bones 10.2: J. Edgar and the DNA Confession

And see also Bones 9.1: The Sweet Misery of Love ... Bones 9.2: Bobcat, Identity Theft, and Sweets ... Bones 9.3 and NCIS 11.2: Sweets and Ziva ... Bones 9.4: Metaphysics of Death in a Television Series ... Bones 9.5: Val and Deep Blue ... Bones 9.6: The Wedding ... Bones 9.7: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ...Bones 9.8: The Bug in the Neck ... Bones 9.9: Friday Night Bones in the Courtroom ... Bones 9.10: Horse Pucky ... Bones 9.11: Angels in Equations ... Bones 9.12: Fingernails ... Bones 9.13: Meets Nashville, and Wendell ... Bones 9.14: "You Cannot Drink Your Glass Away" ... Bones 9.15: Hodgins' Brother and the Ripped Off Toe ... Bones 9.16: Lampreys, Professors, and Insurance Companies ... Bones 9.17: Spartacus in the Kitchen ... Bones 9.18: Meets Day of the Triffids ... Bones 9.19: The Cornucopic Urn ... Bones 9.20: Above the Law ... Bones 9.21: Freezing and Thawing ... Bones 9.22: Promotion ... Bones 9.23: The New Intern ... Bones Season 9 Finale: Upping the Ante

And see also Bones 8.1: Walk Like an Egyptian ... Bones 8.2 of Contention ... Bones 8.3: Not Rotting Behind a Desk  ... Bones 8.4: Slashing Tiger and Donald Trump ... Bones 8.5: Applesauce on Election Eve ... Bones 8.6: Election Day ... Bones 8.7: Dollops in the Sky with Diamonds ...Bones 8.8: The Talking Remains ... Bones 8.9: I Am A Camera ... Bones 8.10-11: Double Bones ...Bones 8.12: Face of Enigmatic Evil ... Bones 8.13: Two for the Price of One ... Bones 8.14: Real Life ... Bones 8.15: The Magic Bullet and the Be-Spontaneous Paradox ... Bones 8.16: Bitter-Sweet Sweets and Honest Finn ... Bones 8.17: "Not Time Share, Time Travel" ... Bones 8.18: Couples ... Bones 8.19: The Head in the Toilet ... Bones 8.20: On Camera ... Bones 8.21: Christine, Hot Sauce, and the Judge ... Bones 8.22: Musical-Chair Parents ... Bones 8.23: The Bluff ... Bones Season 8 Finale: Can't Buy the Last Few Minutes

And see also Bones 7.1: Almost Home Sweet Home ... Bones 7.2: The New Kid and the Fluke ...Bones 7.3: Lance Bond and Prince Charmington ... Bones 7.4: The Tush on the Xerox ... Bones 7.5: Sexy Vehicle ... Bones 7.6: The Reassembler ... Bones 7.7: Baby! ... Bones 7.8: Parents ...Bones 7.9: Tabitha's Salon ... Bones 7.10: Mobile ... Bones 7.11: Truffles and Max ... Bones 7.12: The Corpse is Hanson ... Bones Season 7 Finale: Suspect Bones

And 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 ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7:  Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ...Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ...Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder ... Bones 6.20: This Very Statement is a Lie ... Bones 6.21: Sensitive Bones ... Bones 6.22: Phoenix Love ... Bones Season 6 Finale: Beautiful

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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A different kind of police fiction

The Knick Sneak Preview 1.9: Sacrifice

Continuing with my sneak preview reviews The Knick  - courtesy of an advance screener provided by Cinemax and Starpulse -  herewith a brief review of episode 1.9, certified specific-spoiler free.  As with all preview reviews, I'll discuss generalities, to give you an idea of the episode.  If you prefer not getting even an inkling of the story ahead, you probably should not read any further.

The main theme of this quietly powerful episode is: sacrifice, made and not made, involving the now two prominent couples on the show -

• What would someone be willing to do for a lover - not specifically in bed with the lover - to help the lover's life?   Would the person making that sacrifice tell the lover about it?   What would the lover's happiness about the received benefit lead to in the relationship?  In episode 1.9, the answer to the last question comes at the very end, and to our 21st century eyes is quite shocking, though perfectly logical given the context of the story and the age in which it takes place.
• The time in which the series occurs - the first years of the 20th century - also figures profoundly in the situation in which our other couple find themselves.   Racism was rampant, as we know and have already seen in The Knick.  But other moral issues which still beset us were sharply drawn back then.  Episode 1.9 presents a good tableau of one of those issues, with the position of each party not what you first might have thought - but which also makes sense in retrospect.
• None of these compelling issues are resolved in episode 1.9, which also contains no new gadgets, and no memorable patients treated in the hospital.

The Knick continues to be a breath of air, at once both fresh and fetid, as we got a continuing look at the birth of own age, and with a splash of how little and how much we have changed since then.


See also The Knick: Paean to Scientific Method ... The Knick Sneak Preview Review 1.8: Good Loving, the Fix, and Typhoid Mary

 
deeper history

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The Affair Premiere: Sneak Preview Review

Just saw The Affair's first episode, nearly a week before show time on Showtime, thanks to Showtime On Demand, for everyone who has that.   The following review has spoilers.

The first episode is neatly split into two parts - two, mirror stories - a he-said, she-said, about the beginning of the affair, or how Noah and Alison first met.  This is a good piece of writing, with agreement on all the events, but differences on who initiated conversations and suggestions, such as who suggested that Noah take an outdoor shower - Noah or Alison.

The background is also appealing.  Noah is a grade-school teacher and an author of - so far - just one novel.  As his rich father-in-law obnoxiously tells him, most people have one book in them, and that's it.   Noah, of course, wants more.  He's happily married, with four kids, but life isn't the best it could be for him.  Not only has his first book not been all that successful - good enough to get a contract and advance for the second, but no best-seller - but with four kids he's lucky if he has a chance to make love to his wife.  At least, that's how he sees things.  He's an attractive man, in his story, who is somewhat unappreciated by his wife but wanted by other women.

Alison's story is more profound, certainly more tragic.  She and her husband (or partner) lost their six-year old son.   Her husband is beginning to get over the pain, but not yet Alison.  He wants to sleep with her, but she's not comfortable making love with their son still so much on her mind.   She's attracted - a bit, in her vision - to Noah, but not as much as Noah thinks she's attracted to him in his vision.

Both stories are presented to a police detective, at some future time - years in the future - as Noah and Alison are being separately interviewed.  In this sense, The Affair resonated with True Detective.   At this point, it's not clear what the interviews are about - apparently the death of one of their partners, likely Alison's, which may be a murder.

The acting is excellent.   Dominic West is his customarily superb - and I'm impressed, as always, not only with his acting but his American accent, which I first took note of in my reviews of The Wire. Joshua Jackson is back in his first major series since Fringe, but the character he plays in The Affair - Alison's partner Cole - is so far a lot less likable than Peter on Fringe.   Maura Tierney as Noah's wife is good in this part, as is Ruth Wilson as Alison in hers.

The filming is Long Island seashore evocative, and the mixture of the infidelity with some kind of likely murder makes The Affair an attractive contender off to a strong start.

See also The Affair 1.2: Time Travel! ... The Affair 1.3: The Agent and the Sleepers ... The Affair 1.4: Come Together ... The Affair 1.5: Alison's Episode ... The Affair 1.6: Drugs and Vision  ... The Affair 1.7: True Confessions ...  The Affair 1.8: "I Love You / I Love You, Too" ... The Affair 1.9: Who Else on the Train? ... The Affair Season One Finale: The Arrest and the Rest

 
a different kind of affair and murder

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podcast review of every 1st season episode

Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie's States of Mind

The big question was whether Homeland could sustain the energy and tension it had for the first three seasons, given the killing of Brody at the end of season 3, and given that he was at least half responsible for the energy and tension.  Not just the initiating character - an American war hero under a terrorist's spell - but his subsequent relationship, against all odds, with Carrie.

The answer, based on the first two episodes, is yes - though we are being treated to a very different, somewhat more conventional, CIA story.   But Carrie is the same character, just this side of sanity on the insanity border, and she once against plays a pivotal, wild, unpredictable role (brilliantly performed by Claire Danes, as always).

I mean, she maybe almost drowns her baby girl - who is Brody's baby girl - and the possible reasons for that are as complex as they can be.  Part of her doesn't want to be a mother.  Part of her wants to get back to Islamabad - though maybe part of why she wants so badly to get back to Islamabad is that she doesn't trust herself with her baby.   And part of what must be driving her is that the baby looks just like Brody.   The hair color is exactly right, and even the expression.   In this triumph of casting, we as well as Carrie feel she's looking right down at Brody when she looks at her baby.  So, if she hates that part of herself - or, a part of herself hates that she slept with Brody, and came to love him - he was, after all, the enemy, at least part of the time - then that gives her another motive for almost drowning her baby.

That scene in the bathtub was the most disturbing scene in the first two episodes.  Which is saying a lot, since the killing of the Islamabad CIA chief Sandy, pulled right out of the car with Quinn and Carrie doing their best to stop it, was pretty brutal, too.   And the aftermath is a simmering can of worms, with Carrie sure she and Quinn could have done more to save Sandy, and Quinn sure they did all that they could.

Quinn certainly did.   Carrie didn't do much, because she couldn't find the weapon that Quinn said was in the car.  Assuming it wasn't really there, what more could Carrie have done?  Does she feel guilty because she thinks Quinn was diverting at least a little of his attention to save her?  Maybe, but I don't even know if that's the case.

What is the case is that Homeland is off to a great, harrowing start, and it all revolves around Carrie's states of mind, as it alway has, even though this a very different situation indeed, without Brody.

See also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal

And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality

And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional

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  different kind of espionage

Gracepoint Debuts: Deja Vu with a Vengeance

Gracepoint debuted on Fox this past Thursday - the 10-part remake of the 8-part British series Broadchurch, which was on BBC America last year, and, word has it, was originally supposed to have 10 episodes, too.   Word also has it that the ending has been changed for Gracepoint - meaning, the killer in Broadchurch will not be the killer in Gracepoint - but otherwise the story will be the same.

And it's a powerful, heart-wrenching story indeed, in which there are as many or more prime suspects in the killing of Danny as his age - 11.   Further, these suspects come from everywhere, including Danny's family and the family of one of the two main investigating officers.

In a remarkable move, David Tennant plays the lead investigator in Gracepoint as well as Broadchurch, though with different names.  Anna Gunn of Breaking Bad fame plays his second in command, with the same name, though with a ranking of Detective rather than DS, which was Ellie Miller's rank in Broadchurch for the character memorably played by Olivia Colman.

There's been lots of head-scratching and even complaint about why a series recently shown in America should be re-made with the same lead actor no less.   But I've got to say:  after feeling the same way, I'm now glad that the series has been remade.   Why?   Because the story is so compelling, complex in plot yet fundamentally raw in emotion, that I'm happy to see it again.

I reviewed Broadchurch here last year.  You're welcome to read those reviews, though they will no doubt contain spoilers, if not about the ending then about how our story and characters get there. And to make matters even more interesting on the meta level, there will be a second season of Broadchurch over in the UK.

It's enough to make your head spin - deja vu with a vengeance - but you know what? - I think it's good for television to do crazy things like this.

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A different kind of police fiction

Hell on Wheels 4.10: A Tale of Two Sicko Killers

Most shows have one sicko killer - or, if more than one, two or more working together.  Leave it to Hell on Wheels to have two, totally separate, each on the verge of murdering and sometimes doing just that, and, somehow, managing to survive.   Hell on Wheels 4.10 could have been titled a tale of two sicko killers.

We knew we'd be seeing more of Sidney - why else have him escape the justice of the gatling last week?  We also knew he'd challenge Cullen again, and likely do some killing in process.  We didn't know he'd kill Ezra - not deliberately, but in the depravity of setting fire to a church full of people. That in itself, the death of Ezra, made this episode of Hell on Wheels a tragically memorable episode, in a series of such throughout the seasons, beginning most notably with the murder of Lily by the Swede, aka, I"m Norwegian!"

Ruth's shooting Sidney as Cullen was trying to arrest him - with Sidney's gun drawn on Cullen - was satisfying and motivated.  What I don't get is why didn't she put another bullet into Sidney and rid the world of this high-style sicko?   Or, why not have Sidney die of the two shots he received, right there?   Possibly the story is leaving it to Cullen to ultimately end it for Sidney - by giving him the hanging which introduced him to our story a bunch of episodes ago - but I still find Ruth's not pumping another shot into Sidney surprising, given the anguish she's feeling over the death of Ezra.

Meanwhile, the Swede's still living a charmed life, disobeying Brigham Young at just about every turn, and receiving little more than a slap in the face for it.   The Swede had his hand on his razor, and might have used it against the Mormon leader, but real history couldn't allow this - Brigham Young died of natural causes, cholera and its complications, in a bed in Salt Lake City.  And the Swede looks as if he's set to go back to the railroad, which sets up the rest of this or maybe next season for an ultimate confrontation with Cullen.

I'm hoping it's this season, as the Swede is even more reprehensible than Snow - the Swede is a killer with no sense of humor, driven entirely by his inner demented demons.   You can judge fiction by the power of its villains, and challenge they pose to our heroes.  At this point, Hell on Wheels has two - well, maybe three, if we include Campbell - and I'm looking forward in November to seeing them get their just deserts.

See also Hell on Wheels 4.1-2: Rolling Again ... Hell on Wheels 4.5: New Blood ... Hell on Wheels 4.6: Bear and Sanity ... Hell on Wheels 4.7: Why? ... Hell on Wheels 4.8: Aftermath and Rebound ... Hell on Wheels 4.9: High Noon

And see also Hell on Wheels 3.1-2: Bohannan in Command ... Hell on Wheels 3.3: Talking and Walking ... Hell on Wheels 3.4: Extreme Lacrosse ... Hell on Wheels 3.5: The Glove ... Hell on Wheels 3.6: The Man in Charge ...Hell on Wheels 3.7: Water, Water ... Hell on Wheels 3.8: Canterbury Tales ...Hell on Wheels 3.9: Shoot-Out and Truths ... Hell on Wheels Season 3 finale: Train Calling in the Distance

And see also  Hell on Wheels: Blood, Sweat, and Tears on the Track, and the Telegraph ... Hell on Wheels 1.6: Horse vs. Rail ... Hell on Wheels 1.8: Multiple Tracks ... Hell on Wheels 1.9: Historical Inevitable and Unknown ... Hell on Wheels Season One Finale: Greek Tragedy, Western Style

 
deeper history

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Book Review: The Quiet Pools by Michael P. Kube-McDowell about Fans and Opponents of Humans in Space

Continuing with my reviews from 15-25 years ago of little-known science fiction from that time, here's my 1990 review, published in the Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, of The Quiet Pools by Michael P. Kube-McDowell (Ace, 1990),  not yet available on Kindle but it should be.  It explores a question that has long vexed me:  why are some people, like me, so excited about humans going out into space, while others view our excursions beyond our planet as a waste of time and money?

Michael Kube-McDowell has written a book about the ultimate predicament and opportunity of the human species. In view of the scarcity of serious books on this theme, Kube-McDowell's work would be important whatever the style and craft of its writing. But the book is a pleasure to read. I should also mention that it is a science fiction novel.

The theme of  The Quiet Pools  is the relationship of human beings, our planet Earth, and the universe that beckons beyond - more particularly, why this universe beckons to some of us but not to others - why, indeed, even bare consideration of this beckoning arouses immediate feelings in some of us about the necessity of our destiny in the greater cosmos, and equally powerful urges in others to protect our home planet from diversions of energy and focus on the stars.

Anyone who has been party to this debate for any length of time knows that it is beyond settlement by appeals to economic dividends, military advantage, or even scientific progress expected to result from human involvement in space. This is why the many books and studies that attempt to evaluate the meaning of humans in space from these quantifiable perspectives are unsatisfying. Shortly after the Challenger disaster in 1986, I participated in a small, high-level seminar at M.I.T. on how to keep the public enthusiastic about the space program. Scientists, bankers, and political scientists presented an impressive array of reasons; my own paper, wrapping up the session, was a discussion of missed technological opportunities in history, and how these failures to climb a ladder at hand often led to the slow dissolution of the civilization below.[1]  A reporter from The New York Times, generally friendly to our cause, remarked that these presentations had been logically convincing but emotionally unmoving. She was right. What can we tell the guy in the street to make him really want to spend his tax dollars on space, she asked. Tell him that until we go beyond our planet, we'll never really have a chance of knowing who we are and what we're doing here, I answered. She laughed - that answer sounded right to her, but she doubted it would have much impact on those who were already against the space program. She was right again.

Kube-McDowell offers an hypothesis for this schism in the human community, for the differences between those who aspire to and those who scoff at space, regardless of the evidence they present. His book is significant because it moves our consideration of space to this fundamental level, whatever we may think of the specific hypothesis he lays out. But his hypothesis is worthy of attention: he suggests that the champions and critics of human movement into the cosmos are expressing a genetic difference - the presence of a complex DNA factor in the champions, the absence of this in the critics - which runs back through all humanity and the origins of life on this planet. Wanderlust, Leonardo da Vinci vision, Phoenecian-Viking-Portuguese-Spanish-British sailing to ends of the Earth are all renderings of this trait which - deep in the 21st century in this novel - at last finds its ultimate goal kindled in the possibility of interstellar human diaspora.  But for those who lack this trait, the stellar kindling and inspiration is an affliction that will result in the final depletion and enervation of Earth - the relaxation of the planet into the "quiet pools" inhabited by salmon on their death bed, after they have released their eggs - and therefore must be opposed.

Kube-McDowell gives us much more than a mechanistic sociobiology as a tableau to consider this possibility. The expression of this genetic trait and its variants and absence in a tangle of rivetting social structures is as much the story he tells as the DNA code itself. A hundred years from now, a huge multi-national corporation works feverishly to launch what is hoped to be the second of five city-sized starships to Tau Ceti. The corporation is the successor to today's multinationals -- some of whose destructions of the environment are all too real and wellknown -- but this corporation of the future has somehow become more humanized, and when its director says she is doing the diaspora work not to the Earth but  for the Earth, she is telling the truth. The work is feverish because it has brought into being a "Homeworld" group of eco-terrorists whose leader will do almost anything to stop the diaspora, and the Earth from turning into a quiet pool, and whose followers are gripped by an inchoate, primal rage that boils forth onto the "star-heads" in ways that the leader never intended nor can control.

These, then, are the cheers and jeers, the keen yearnings and hot dismissals, of our own fledgling space travel era writ large and somewhat clarified by the end of the 21st century. This is the proper task of the novelist. In addition, we find in The Quiet Pools a myriad teeming of speculation on electronic publishing, artificial intelligence, three-sided marriages, surrogate motherhood (our hero is born of an ovum harvested from his mother after her death by her own hand - perhaps an attempt to escape this very motherhood), and similar technical and social detail that flesh out the story. But is the fundamental premise of the story, that differences in human response to existence beyond Earth are genetically based, correct?

Is Freud's notion of id, ego, and superego a literally real description of what goes on inside of our heads? Most psychologists think not, yet few deny that Freud's focus created an environment in which understanding of own psyches grew by leaps and bounds over what was known before. Kube-McDowell's book should result not in a mad-scramble search for a space-travel genetic code (it is but a sketch of a theory in a novel, not a full-blown study in any case), but in an awareness that human feelings about the stars and the future of our planet may run far deeper than is usually recognized. Many of us, for reasons we find difficult to explicate even with the best of language and facts, do indeed see our involvement in the universe as a matter of life and death for our species - as a matter far more profound than what most people expect to find in science fiction.

But the discovery of human factors presupposing logic and science has long been the business of philosophy and science fiction, with or without specific genetic backing. Such factors are the stuff of Kant's insistence that cognitive processing must come prior to experience if we are to make any sense of this world (or others); such factors figure in Chomsky's claim that the mechanism of language is elicited rather than learned; and these factors are tackled head on by Russell, Popper, and others who saw that rationality cannot justify its own existence - something else must happen first. Kube-McDowell is not unfamiliar with these complexities -  the hero of this novel recognizes that he has "an unreasonable faith in reason" - and his placement of the pain of the space debate and tomorrow's first migration to the stars in the pre-logical protein of our existence moves our consideration of these issues in the right direction. Which is not to say that we ought not be rational in assessment of our future in the universe - we must be - but that a rational assessment may well show that the roots of this difficult calling are far more ancient than reason.

Note 1. The conference was "Space Agenda: Context and Opportunity," sponsored by the Program in Science and Technology for International Security, M.I.T., convened by Russell Schweickart and Kosta Tsipis, April 3-6, 1986. My paper was "Cosmos Helps Those Who Help Themselves: Historical Patterns of Technological Fulfillment, and their Applicability to the Human Development of Space," later published in _Research in Philosophy and Technology_, vol. 9, ed. C. Mitcham (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1989), pp. 91-100.


"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction,
The Silk Code delivers on its promises." - The New York Times Book Review

The Knick: Sneak Preview Review 1.8: Good Loving, the Fix, and Typhoid Mary

I just saw The Knick 1.8 - courtesy of an advance screener provided by Cinemax and Starpulse - so herewith a brief review, certified specific-spoiler free.  As with all preview reviews, I'll discuss generalities, to give you an idea of the episode.  If you prefer not getting even an inkling of the story ahead, you probably should not read any further.

The main themes of this fine episode - a lot calmer than last week's - include:

• Good loving, for two couples, picking up where the ending of last week's episode left off, and with some explicitness in depiction.  We leave one couple thoroughly happy.  As for the other, well ...  
• Thackery's addiction plays an even more central role than usual, a state which was inevitable given his reliance on drugs and the state of the world - back then, as of now, in a constant series of wars, ever on the verge of disrupting all commerce, and sometimes doing so.  We also see Thackery in the grip of more than one powerful drug.
• We're treated to yet another example of prejudice, in this age in which targeting of groups different from the mainstream was so rampant.
• The Typhoid Mary story moves along, with a memorable denunciation of Mary by NY Health Inspector Speight.   This part of The Knick has taken on a special relevance, I think, given the arrival Ebola in America this week.
• Another medical toy - aka an instrument that could be a big help in surgery - is demonstrated. These Edwardian antique devices, high tech for their day, are one of my favorite parts of this series.

And so The Knick continues as one of most enjoyably played scientific histories to come along a television screen in a long time - actually, maybe the very first.  And I'll be back here next week with another sneak preview review, a day or two before the actual airing of the episode on Cinema.

See also The Knick: Paean to Scientific Method

 
deeper history

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Bones 10.2: J. Edgar and the DNA Confession

A good mystery solved in Bones 10.2, as our friends at the Jeffersonian come to terms with Sweets' death and seek to find his killers.

At the root of the conspiracy which took Sweets' life in the last episode and nearly Bones and Booth at the end of last season is none other than J. Edgar Hoover, last seen in a television series as a young hotshot at the beginning of his career in Boardwalk Empire.  It's actually his files that are the basis of this conspiracy, or an attempt to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands, and instead stay with the self-styled patriots who use the files to blackmail big officials to get their way - much as Hoover apparently did during his long tenure at the FBI.

The solution to the mystery of who specifically is doing this - including who murdered Sweets' murderer to keep the killer beyond questioning - resides in an unusual use of DNA.   The ultimate killer - Durant - murdered someone else, years ago, in his capacity as a doctor, by injected his victim to keep him permanently quiet.   But the doctor was scratched in the fight, and some of his DNA was inadvertently injected into the victim, which resulted in a tumor that the Jeffersonian team was able to analyze. Booth gets some of Durant's DNA - courtesy of a bloody punch in the nose - and when this DNA turns out to be same as the DNA in the tumor, we have our killer nabbed.  A novel, ingenious use of DNA - or, a "DNA confession," as one of our people notes.

Meanwhile, Aubrey, the young, new FBI guy, puts in a good performance. He's a keen shot - "I don't miss" - has a sharp mind, and a good sense of humor.  All of which adds up to a good addition to our cast of characters.

And so, with Sweets' murder solved, our people can say goodbye to him, which they do in a tender, beautiful scene.  Bones shows, once again, that beneath of her cool scientific exterior beats a heart of gold, and a soul as much or more in touch with the deepest things in the universe as the most devout believer.

See also Bones 10.1: The Fulcrum Changes

And see also Bones 9.1: The Sweet Misery of Love ... Bones 9.2: Bobcat, Identity Theft, and Sweets ... Bones 9.3 and NCIS 11.2: Sweets and Ziva ... Bones 9.4: Metaphysics of Death in a Television Series ... Bones 9.5: Val and Deep Blue ... Bones 9.6: The Wedding ... Bones 9.7: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ...Bones 9.8: The Bug in the Neck ... Bones 9.9: Friday Night Bones in the Courtroom ... Bones 9.10: Horse Pucky ... Bones 9.11: Angels in Equations ... Bones 9.12: Fingernails ... Bones 9.13: Meets Nashville, and Wendell ... Bones 9.14: "You Cannot Drink Your Glass Away" ... Bones 9.15: Hodgins' Brother and the Ripped Off Toe ... Bones 9.16: Lampreys, Professors, and Insurance Companies ... Bones 9.17: Spartacus in the Kitchen ... Bones 9.18: Meets Day of the Triffids ... Bones 9.19: The Cornucopic Urn ... Bones 9.20: Above the Law ... Bones 9.21: Freezing and Thawing ... Bones 9.22: Promotion ... Bones 9.23: The New Intern ... Bones Season 9 Finale: Upping the Ante

And see also Bones 8.1: Walk Like an Egyptian ... Bones 8.2 of Contention ... Bones 8.3: Not Rotting Behind a Desk  ... Bones 8.4: Slashing Tiger and Donald Trump ... Bones 8.5: Applesauce on Election Eve ... Bones 8.6: Election Day ... Bones 8.7: Dollops in the Sky with Diamonds ...Bones 8.8: The Talking Remains ... Bones 8.9: I Am A Camera ... Bones 8.10-11: Double Bones ...Bones 8.12: Face of Enigmatic Evil ... Bones 8.13: Two for the Price of One ... Bones 8.14: Real Life ... Bones 8.15: The Magic Bullet and the Be-Spontaneous Paradox ... Bones 8.16: Bitter-Sweet Sweets and Honest Finn ... Bones 8.17: "Not Time Share, Time Travel" ... Bones 8.18: Couples ... Bones 8.19: The Head in the Toilet ... Bones 8.20: On Camera ... Bones 8.21: Christine, Hot Sauce, and the Judge ... Bones 8.22: Musical-Chair Parents ... Bones 8.23: The Bluff ... Bones Season 8 Finale: Can't Buy the Last Few Minutes

And see also Bones 7.1: Almost Home Sweet Home ... Bones 7.2: The New Kid and the Fluke ...Bones 7.3: Lance Bond and Prince Charmington ... Bones 7.4: The Tush on the Xerox ... Bones 7.5: Sexy Vehicle ... Bones 7.6: The Reassembler ... Bones 7.7: Baby! ... Bones 7.8: Parents ...Bones 7.9: Tabitha's Salon ... Bones 7.10: Mobile ... Bones 7.11: Truffles and Max ... Bones 7.12: The Corpse is Hanson ... Bones Season 7 Finale: Suspect Bones

And 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 ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7:  Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ...Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ...Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder ... Bones 6.20: This Very Statement is a Lie ... Bones 6.21: Sensitive Bones ... Bones 6.22: Phoenix Love ... Bones Season 6 Finale: Beautiful

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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