tv review
Reviewing insightful and thought provoking science fiction TV and technology.
Review of Somewhere Between 1.7
So we found out in Somewhere Between 1.7 the other night that Nico is not a killer, just a "black-out" drunk, which we already knew (both attributes), and that Tom is pretty bad after all, though I still can't see him doing anything to hurt let alone kill his daughter.
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
Review of Twin Peaks: The Return 1.15
I guess that was a gas station in Twin Peaks: The Return 1.15 last night—whatever exactly that was in the forest, where bad Cooper arrived in his vehicle. The structure behind it look a little like, I don't know, some kind of room and board, or maybe some kind of lodge, yeah that was more likely it. And someone very familiar offered to unlock the door for him, in that other-dimensionally super-slow distorted voice.
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
Review of Twin Peaks: The Return 1.14
Hey, it's tough to make progress when your adversary is from/in another dimension and an evil one at that, and one with the power to snap up good people and return them with an evil twin. Not to mention that the FBI agent in charge of the case can't speak softly and carry a big stick, because he's hard of hearing (proof—he wears a hearing aid). But the forces of good made a small amount of painstaking, painful progress in Twin Peaks 1.14 nonetheless.
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
Review of Somewhere Between 1.4
So how is it that the killer is killed before he kills Laura's daughter Serena on Somewhere Between 1.4 last night, but there's still a harrowing story to be told? Because the killed killer is not the killer, after all. (Or, as is always the case with time travel, maybe he was but someone changed history so he no longer is.)
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
Review of Twin Peaks: The Return 1.13
Twin Peaks may not always be comprehensible or comprehendible (well, almost never), but it's always good for a laugh, with a variety of visual, acoustic, and linguistic punchlines, and just some good old-fashioned gags (and I don't just mean scenes that make you feel like gagging).
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
Review of Westworld Season 1 Finale
Here's what we learned in the excellent season 1 finale of Westworld, and the possible questions raised: The Man in Black is the new majority owner of Westworld. The Man in Black is William, much older. This is one of the first fine twists -- a sequence of turns and revelations of events that cut deep. What we've been seeing of Dolores during these ten episodes are not just skips and jumps and loops in her mind, but time itself chopped up, that is, earlier and more recent events in her life. Which means, regarding William, that every scene we've seen with him happened in the pretty distant past -- i.e., decades ago. Nice touch. Dolores dying in Teddy's arms by the sea is actually the entree to the new narrative Ford has been promising. I actually realized this a few moments before it was revealed, but it was still memorable to see. Maeve, despite her best efforts, was never going to leave Westworld. I was actually thinking this, too - the essence of Westworld is that, like the Hotel California, you can check in if you're a host (be created), but you can never leave. But the pursuit of her daughter being the reason is an effective touch -- because, after all, not only does love conquer all, but it's an all powerful component of what makes us human. The path towards consciousness is knowing thyself. In the Jaynesian bicameral mind -- at least, as portrayed in Westworld -- this means one half of your brain listening to the other. Two millennia prior to Jaynes, Socrates urged the same thing: know thyself. This makes Westworld not only Jaynesian but Socratic, a very good thing in my book. I never bought that Socrates drank the hemlock, though (and my best-known novel tries to explain what may really have happened back then) -- but, with that in mind, I wasn't happy to see Dolores blow out Ford's brains at the end, just as she had done years earlier with Arnold (even though suffering that real-guilt pain is said to be the only way she can achieve true consciousness).
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
Review of Somewhere Between 1.3
The most significant development in Somewhere Between 1.3 last night was Laura's husband Tom, and his collection of evidence pertinent to the murders — collection apparently out of the legal process, kept at home, and reported by Tom to some unknown person via text message.
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
Review of Twin Peaks: The Return 1.12
A slightly subdued Twin Peaks: The Return 1.12 last night, with no song at the end. I mean, there was a three-piece band on the stage at the end, as the credits eventually rolled, and they were playing something, but it wasn't a song. It could have been the beginning of a song which never actually started (uh oh). It could have been an accompaniment to something. But I don't think it was a song. I don't think it was an instrumental—certainly no "Green Onions" or "Flying."
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in Futurism
