tv review
Reviewing insightful and thought provoking science fiction TV and technology.
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 Levinson9 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 Levinson9 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 Levinson9 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 Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
Review of Westworld 1.8
Much revealed in this excellent episode 1.8 of Westworld. Probably the most important: there are two kinds of programs afoot in Westworld, two kinds of stories (or two kinds of kinds of stories, to be more precise): Ford's and Arnold's. Ford's we pretty much know—though not the new story he keeps talking about—and Arnold's not much or any of it at all.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
Review of Twin Peaks: The Return 1.11
Well, Agent Cooper finally got a piece of cherry pie in Twin Peaks: The Return 1.11 last night -- in fact, two slices! -- as well as his life being spared by Jim Belushi's character and his dream. But, alas, even this double cherry pie is not enough to rouse Cooper out of his stupor. He needs to "wake up!" as that little man from the other dimension told him now some number of episodes ago.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
Review of Twin Peaks: The Return 1.10
Twin Peaks: The Return 1.10 last night ended with a better than usual song, which is saying a lot, since those concluding songs are often the best part of the episode. Last night's song, sung by Rebekah Del Rio—who, I don't know, reminds me a little of Monica Lewinsky—was entitled "No Stars," a nice touch, since the episode has even more stars than usual, but who's counting.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
Review of Westworld 1.1
If you're talking about AI science fiction—robots or androids programmed to convincingly think and act like humans, or almost like humans, or more than humans—you've got to start with Isaac Asimov and his three laws of robotics: (1) a robot can never harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow injury to befall a human, (2) a robot must follow all orders given to it by a human, except if such orders conflict with the first law, and (3) a robot should always act to preserve its own existence, except when following this third law would conflict with the first two. Thus, a robot ordered by a human to dismantle itself must follow that order, unless the robot knows that the human giving such as order was set to commit suicide, a suicide which the robot not dismantled could prevent. (This is not an exact quotation of Asimov's presentation of the three laws, but my own statement of them, with an explanatory example.)
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
Review of Twin Peaks: The Return 1.9
That was the best line in Twin Peaks: The Return 1.9 last night—"I Don't See No Hidden Buttons" (said by the sheriff)—because, of course, he sees no hidden buttons, how could he, if they're hidden, and somehow that deeply obvious statement about what can't be seen is symptomatic of the entire Twin Peaks: The Return story, right?
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
