tv review
Reviews of politics-centered TV series about White House politicians, cybersecurity, history, controversies and more.
Review of 'The Americans' 6.8
With only two episodes left to go in The Americans, episode 6.8 this week mapped out a profound change in Elizabeth. Till now, in this season and earlier, Elizabeth has been nothing but coldly homicidal regarding anyone identified as an enemy by the Centre and ordered by them to be eliminated. Likewise, any innocent person who jeopardized her continuing work for the Centre. But, after a game-changing conversation to start the episode, in which Philip finally tells Elizabeth what he's been tasked by the Soviet government—in contrast to the Centre—to do, Elizabeth finally begins coming into her own, as, well, a human being.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'Babylon Berlin'
I can't think of a better time -- or maybe worse time -- to watch a 16-episode German series (streaming on Netflix) about the police in the Weimar Republic in 1929, just a few years before the Nazis won a plurality in the Reichstag, Hitler became Chancellor, and by 1934 had seized power, ended democracy, and declared himself Führer. Weimar police detectives are comprised of people who would give their all to save democracy and people bent on destroying it. Police on the street often react with deadly force to protests, unable to distinguish peaceful demonstrators from those with darker motives. Politicians are much the same. The parallels to our age of Trump, who has systematically attacked the press and other bulwarks of democracy, are obvious and chilling -- more than chilling, given that we know how this battle turned out in Germany, and the impact of that result on the rest of the world.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'The Americans' 6.7
Throughout previous seasons of The Americans, I've wondered why Stan, looking at the sketches of Philip and Elizabeth in disguise, didn't recognize them as his nextdoor neighbors. I mean, the disguises are good, but not that good. The sketches of the Soviet-agent suspects sure looked to me like Philip and Elizabeth, and, if anything, Stan knows them much better than I do. I see them just once a week, for an hour or so, for ten or a few more weeks once a year. Stan sees them all the time.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'The Americans' 6.6
In The Americans 6.6, Jackson — a new mark Elizabeth is working on, as a conduit to Senator Sam Nunn (of earlier Watergate fame, in case the name sounds familiar) — anyway, Jackson says Rififi (a 1955 French movie), where Elizabeth first contrives to meet him, is the best heist movie ever made. I agree! I felt that way when I saw it as a kid in the late 1950s at a beat-up old movie theater (I think the Globe, on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx), and the movie has stayed with me to this day. Jackson was not only correct in the 1980s when he said that to Elizabeth, his appraisal is true today. The very word, "Rififi," said sotto voce in the movie, gets me in the mood for any great foreign heist movie. So far, Jackson's role hasn't materialized in The Americans, but I just wanted to make that point about Rififi.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'The Americans' 6.5
The common denominator in last night’s episode 6.5 of The Americans, another perfectly powerful episode, was...sex. It not only was the subject of the delightfully drunken conversation between Claudia, Elizabeth, and Paige. Sex also motivated two major developments in the story. First, Elizabeth sleeps with Philip as prelude to persuading him to set up Kimmy to be jailed in Bulgaria. And then Philip in turn sleeps with Kimmy to convince her to leave Greece to meet him, so that Elizabeth’s plan to get Kimny in a Bulgarian jail as a way of getting leverage on her CIA father can happen.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'The Americans' 6.4
The Americans 6.4 last night was about as stark as this series gets—which is to say dire, for everyone concerned. It's hard not to feel at least a little bad even for Elizabeth—hard because she surely deserves all that befalls her, given all the people she's played and murdered for her cause. But in the bed there with Philip, telling him she's tired all the time—it's hard not feel something for her.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'The Americans' 6.3
For some reason, the scene that most is still playing in my head in The Americans 6.3—a moody episode, which little action until the end—is the one with Stan and Oleg.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'The Americans' 6.2
I thought The Americans 6.2 was rather pro forma, even lackluster, until the very end, which was...brutal. That's the latest chapter in the eduction of Paige. The brains of an American general all over her mother's face. And Paige doesn't know the worst of it. The coming attractions confirm that the general didn't take his own life. Elizabeth pulled the trigger.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampReview of 'The Americans' 6.1
Well, The Americans, never more relevant to the current news than it is today, was back last night with the first episode of its final season. And the story it set in motion was relevant indeed. It's the story of Gorbachev and the perestroika and glasnost he set in motion verses the KGB forces and the older, harder liners who opposed him in what would be the final few years of the Soviet Union. History tells us he won—but not completely. And, eventually, those KGB forces took power again, in the form of Vladimir Putin.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampTV Review: Hulu's 'The Looming Tower'
The Looming Tower is a terrific bit of potboiler television. That it also happens to hue very closely to the historic record prior to and immediately after September 11th makes it all the more compelling. Based on Lawrence Wright’s incredible 2006 bestseller, Hulu’s The Looming Tower is a remarkable achievement that is occasionally slowed by TV conventions but is nevertheless endlessly compelling.
Sean PatrickPublished 6 years ago in The SwampBest History Channel Original Series to Watch Right Now
As interesting as it can be boring, history has its moments. Thanks to the History Channel, a host of these most memorable and historical moments have been reimagined and catalogued in various original series, showing the vast amounts of our past that we often forget. These can include little known facts you've heard about WWII, controversies about the ancients, or mystical mysteries on the Bible still left unanswered.
Donald GrayPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp'Designated Survivor' Losing More Than Just A Senator — And Twitter Is Mourning The Loss
Any fan of ABC political drama Designated Survivor will tell you that Speaker of the House Kimble Hookstraten owned her role as the designated survivor of the Republican party. A formidable opponent for anyone who dared to cross her path, Hookstraten never backed down from a battle. At no time during her tenure could the term "weaker sex" apply.
Rachel CarringtonPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp