Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress Blog Posts

• The Affair 3.5: Blocked Love
  on Dec 19, 2016 in Dominic West Ruth Wilson television The Affair
  A classic Alison and Noah episode 3.5 of The Affair tonight, departing from the template in that Noah's story takes place mostly after Alison's, not at the same time. But that makes the hour even stronger, and just about perfect in every way.We final...
• The Man in the High Castle 2.7-2.10: Alternate Reality to the Rescue, Literally
  on Dec 18, 2016 in Alexa Davalos Frank Spotnitz Rufus Sewell television The Man in the High Caste
  Well, I couldn't resist watching the rest - the last four episodes - of The Man in the High Castle, Season 2, and I'm glad I did.  Much as I love a good night's sleep, it isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when there's a series like thi...
• The Man in the High Castle 2.1-2.3: My Heimisch Town
  on Dec 17, 2016 in Donald Trump Paul Anka Philip K. Dick Stephen Root The Man in the High Caste
  It's harder but also more important and on some profound level also more enjoyable and disconcerting, at the same time, if that makes any sense, to review Season 2 of the superb series The Man in the High Castle on Amazon.  The reason is obvious...
• The Man in the High Castle 2.4-2.6: Rails and Realities
  on Dec 17, 2016 in Amtrak Cuban Missile Crisis television The Man in the High Caste time travel
  First, let me say that I what I like most in The Man in the High Castle on Amazon television - and there's a lot to enormously like in this extraordinary series - is the almost casual way it shows the melding of our American history with the way it m...
• Nashville 5.1 on CMT: Country Noir
  on Dec 16, 2016 in Nashville television
  Hey, I know it's not the usual kind of show I review here, but what I can say, the music is great, and so are most of the storylines and all of the acting. And, in its sneak preview of a new season on a new network - CMT - Nashville looks to be as go...
• Rectify Finale: "Cautiously Optimistic"
  on Dec 15, 2016 in Rectify television
  Hard to keep a dry eye at the end of Rectify's finale, in fact, throughout most of this superbly wrought (and wrote) final episode.So many memorable scenes ... Daniel and Kerwin going for an imaginary ride in my home town, where I still spend a lot o...
• Designated Survivor 1.10: Who Was Hit?
  on Dec 15, 2016 in Designated Survivor Kiefer Sutherland television
  A great winter finale for Designated Survivor tonight - with a cliffhanger that exceeded even some of those we saw on 24.Before that ending, we also got a nice twist: we already knew that the VP to be (or not to be) was not part of the conspiracy run...
• Vikings 4.13: Family
  on Dec 15, 2016 in television Vikings
  An excellent Vikings 4.13 last night, with pivotal developments in not two but three different parts of the world, bound together by Ragnar's family ties.The competition among the three narratives was tough, but I guess my favorite, by a nose, was Ra...
• Timeless 1.10: An End in the Middle
  on Dec 13, 2016 in Adolf Hitler Armin Shimerman David Rittenhouse Rudy Giuliani television time travel Timeless
  An excellent Timeless 1.10 tonight - as befits a mid-season finale - which does a bunch of crucial things, but pitches us into another loop, to be pursued when Timeless resumes in early 2017.[Lots of spoilers follow.]First and foremost, David Rittenh...
• The Affair 3.4: The Same Endings in Montauk
  on Dec 12, 2016 in television The Affair
  In a very effective Cole and Alison episode 3.4 of The Affair, the only thing the two stories fully agreed about was Cole and Allison making love together at the ends. Whatever this may mean for the continuing story, that's a nice, narrative touch.Ot...
• Fake News in Real Context
  on Dec 12, 2016 in 2016 Presidential election citizen journalism Donald Trump fake news First Amendment Hillary Clinton Leon Festinger Marshall McLuhan propaganda
  Just published - Fake News in Real ContextThis essay explores the historical and current context of fake news - with comparisons to government propaganda, and professional and citizen journalism - as well as what impact it may have had on the 2016 U.
• Frequency 1.9: The Wife and the Fiancee
  on Dec 10, 2016 in Frequency (TV) television time travel
  A good night for the Sullivans, father and daughter, on Frequency 1.9 on Wednesday night.Both end up in bed with the people they love - Frank with his estranged wife (Raimy's mother), Raimy with her fiancee from the alternate reality in which Frank d...
• Designated Survivor 1.9: Hacked
  on Dec 10, 2016 in Designated Survivor Donald Trump WikiLeaks
  A good Designated Survivor 1.9 this week, even though little progress was made on the most important question - who blew up the  Capitol Building? - until the very end of the episode, when we discovered what we already knew:  some kind of h...
• Vikings 4.12: Two Expeditions
  on Dec 9, 2016 in Alex Høgh Andersen television Vikings
  Another excellent episode of Vikings - 4.12 - on Wednesday night, featuring the launching of two very different expeditions to the world beyond Scandinavia.Bjorn and another one of Ragnar's grown sons are taking Floki's best ships to the Mediterranea...
• Rectify 4.7: Teddy Jr
  on Dec 8, 2016 in Aden Young Clayne Crawford Rectify television
  An unusually memorable next-to-last episode of Rectify last night (4.7) - Rectify is always powerful - but this one had something else, an extraordinary scene not only with Daniel, but an equally indelible, very different scene with Teddy, Jr.Daniel'...
• The Walking Dead 7.7: Negan and the Kids
  on Dec 6, 2016 in television The Walking Dead
  A truly chilling episode 7.7 of The Walking Dead last night.  It contained one viscerally horrendous scene when Negan melts someone's face off with a hot iron, but the real horror was a much quieter and ultimately more effective one.Negan captur...
• Timeless 1.9: The Kiss and the Key
  on Dec 6, 2016 in television time travel Timeless
  A good Timeless 1.9 tonight, as our team goes back to the time of Bonnie and Clyde in the 1930s, to fetch a key of some importance that Bonnie has around her neck.Lucy and Wyatt don't get the key, but they do get to kiss, on behalf of maintaining the...
• The Affair 3.3: Who Attacked Noah?
  on Dec 5, 2016 in television The Affair
  Having solved the mystery of who killed Scotty - and how and why - at the end of the second season, The Affair in episode 3.3 now pitches us fully into a new crime narrative: who attacked Noah, nearly killed him, and why?The question takes form in th...
• The Department Q Trilogy on Netflix: Outstanding!
  on Dec 4, 2016 in A Conspiracy of Faith Department Q Trilogy Fares Fares Jussi Adler-Olsen Netflix Nikolaj Lie Kass Nordic Noir television The Absent One The Bridge The Keeper of Lost Causes The Killing Tyrant
  Continuing our binge watching of superb Scandinavian crime drama (aptly known as Nordic Noir) on Netflix, we caught a trilogy of movies, based on the novels of Jussi Adler-Olsen - The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013), The Absent One (2014) and A Con...
• Westworld Season 1 Finale: Answers and Questions
  on Dec 4, 2016 in Anthony Hopkins Julian Jaynes robots Socrates television Westworld
  Here's what we learned in the excellent season 1 finale of Westworld, and the possible questions raised:1. The Man in Black is the new majority owner of Westworld.2. The Man in Black is William, much older.  This is one of the first fine twists...