Paul Levinson

I just saw Mortal Engines on HBO. It was released here in the US in December 2018, and received almost universal criticism from the usual group of myopic and tone-deaf self-appointed experts. According to Wikipedia, "It was the biggest box-office bomb of 2018 (one of the 10 biggest of all time, as of August 2019)."

My wife and I very much enjoyed the first season of Mindhunter, but, whew, the second season was much better—more compelling—in just about every way, except one.

The Rook Season 1 finale, just on last night, was an excellent, brilliant episode on all kinds of levels, including Gestalt in unified attack action again, and Myfanwy getting the better of the Russian guy who looked like Putin.

I usually review science fiction novels here. But when I came across Pushback, an adrenaline pumping mystery novel by John Stith, who wrote Red Shift Rendezvous, one of my all-time favorite science fiction novels, hey, how could I resist? Besides, the who dunnit of mystery and detective fiction is a close cousin of the what dunnit of science fiction.

A great, almost-all explained penultimate-of-the-season episode 1.7 of The Rook last night, in which we learn how Myfanwy knew she was going to lose her memory, and in turn why she wrote that note and left other information for her future amnesiac self, and how specifically she got into that position with no memory on the bridge, surrounded by a bunch of dead guys.

The Loudest Voice concluded tonight with John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth," played under postscripts that tell us what happened to major characters after the story portrayed in the series ends. In many ways, that combo—Lennon's song and the postscripts—were the most compelling part of the series, which was plenty compelling, already.