Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Let there be snark.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

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Quiet Sunday Afternoon Thread

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Perry Mason Season 2 premiers on March 6.  I thought I had the date wrong, because March 6 is a Monday, but season 2 really does start on Monday, not Sunday.

Also, big thanks to all the people who suggested Line of Duty to me for my next “treadmill” show.  I am now on Season 4.  I watched the first 3 seasons on Freeve (or whatever it’s called) and the ads drove me mad.  Turns out that you can watch ad-free on Acorn, and that’s only 5 or 6 bucks a month, with the first month free, so I signed up for that.

Anyway… Medium Cool tonight will be the start of our every other week 6-part series – with Subaru Diane leading the discussions of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers – so this seems like a good time to just have a random what are we reading and watching thread on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

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190Comments

  1. 1.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I am currently watching France take apart Scotland in the Six Nations. Red cards to each team in the first 10 minutes.

  5. 5.

    jeffreyw

    The right to keep a bear in arms.
    We watched Poker Face,it’s pretty good, and Kaleidoscope, two episodes from the end. It styles itself as a watch in any order but fuck that, I’m going in chronological order. Pretty good so far, with a character that I will enjoy seeing come to a bad, hopefully bloody, end. Make that two such.

  6. 6.

    JoyceH

    I’m watching Veronica Mars on Hulu. (Shut up, I’ve never seen it before.) If you liked Buffy, you’d like Veronica. The only thing missing is the vampires.

    I’m also finding some fun shows on the Roku channel. George Clarke (of Old House, New Home) did a six episode pandemic project, The National Trust Unlocked, touring the various National Trust properties in the UK that were deserted due to the pandemic. Vast manors, lush gardens, quirky rock homes – for the outdoor stuff, he takes along his well-behaved Siberian Husky.

  10. 10.

    S Cerevisiae

    I think we are going to take Bella the GSD out for a walk then maybe to one of the many dog-friendly restaurants around here, certainly can’t do that in Minneapolis right now.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    @jeffreyw: Quick story.

    In my younger days, I was very active with the local Abortion Rights Coalition, running their abortion loan fund, etc, and every year we held and event, part celebration, part fundraiser, on the anniversary of Roe.

    Some rich person’s house, fancy soft cheeses, etc.

    One year, someone held their cracker – with the soft cheese – a bit too low and the owner’s dog peed on it while she held it in her hand.

    That’s pretty much how I feel about soft cheeses, too, and though I quietly pass them by at events, I have never peed on any.

  12. 12.

    Scout211

    Thanks for adding the general purpose version of Medium Cool.  I’m not a cozy mystery fan myself.  And I don’t stream or watch movies or series.  Books are my thing and I just finished reading Women Talking by Miriam Toews (the book that the movie was based on).  Oh my goodness, what a multi-layered book with so many underlying cultural themes spread throughout in the voices of the women talking.

    Here is a review that captures some of the essence of this well-written novel: npr.org

    This is the core of Women Talking. As the novel progresses, the women discard “the male interpretation of the Bible and how that [has been] ‘handed down.'” They replace it with a female interpretation, which they hand down to August Epp. Here, too, August proves his importance. Because he is there to take minutes, the women are able to speak not only to each other, but to the future.

    ‘Women Talking’ is a profoundly intelligent book. It is an indictment of authority and a defense of belief.

    As the novel progresses, the women become increasingly conscious of that future. They begin arguing fiercely over word choice, striving not only for clarity, but for precision. Toews’ emphasis on names and definitions serves to highlight how precise her own writing is, and how smart. The intelligence on display in Women Talking is as ferocious as it is warm.

    Women Talking is a profoundly intelligent book. It is an indictment of authority and a defense of belief. Listening to the women pray, August thinks, “I remember how my father … told me that the twin pillars that guard the entrance to the shrine of religion are storytelling and cruelty.” Toews leaves the first pillar where it is, but there is no cruelty here. In the half-abandoned barn that becomes these women’s shrine, storytelling is a collective act, and religion survives only through generosity. If only more of the world worked the same way.

  13. 13.

    JoyceH

    Could someone explain ‘Medium Cool’ to me? Is it a thread discussion, a Zoom, what? Any specific time? Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers are right down my alley.

  16. 16.

    JoyceH

    @Joy in FL:

    @JoyceH: I love Veronica Mars, and I love Buffy.

    And they’re SO similar, aren’t they? Sometimes Veronica will make some tough-cute-snarky comment, and for a second I’ll think she IS Buffy.

  18. 18.

    MomSense

    I’m watching The Last of Us.  It’s not my usual genre, but I think it’s well done. Pedro Pascal is a terrific actor.

  19. 19.

    JoyceH

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     

    Oh, aha. Thanks. Sounds like fun. Though ‘culture’ tends to feel kinda… ponderous… But Christie and Sayers, I’m there. (Just don’t expect to interest me in the Red Herrings thing, all train schedules and Scottish accents…)

  20. 20.

    MisterDancer

    @JoyceH: I’m watching Veronica Mars on Hulu. (Shut up, I’ve never seen it before.) If you liked Buffy, you’d like Veronica.

    No shame here. I remind people that that First season, although very good, is also dealing with a ton of trauma and intense topics — not Euphoria-level by any means, but a lot for a UPN show in the early 2000s!
    It’s not for everyone and I don’t blame people for saying “no, not for me!”
    I will be curious about your opinion on the end of the 4th season. (Saying more is a certain spoiler, sadly…)​

  24. 24.

    Craig

    @jeffreyw: I didn’t understand that whole ‘watch in any order’ concept’. Kaleidoscope was okay. Suffers from mediocre writing. I can’t imagine that any criminal would work with that Aussie dude. Rufus Sewall is great. Really the whole thing wouldn’t work without Giancarlo Esposito. He’s the best actor of his generation.

    Watching Poker Face. Natasha Lyonne is the best Peter Falk impersonator I’ll ever see. She’s got so many of his physical and vocal ticks down and just makes them her own. Love it.

  25. 25.

    Heidi Mom

    @MomSense: He is indeed, as is Bella Ramsey.  I started watching just to see them, almost quit when I decided it was just another zombie show, decided to keep going when I saw it had been renewed for a second season (so maybe the plot  wasn’t as straightforward as I thought), and how glad I am that I did because Episode 3 was probably the best episode of television I’ve ever seen.

  26. 26.

    JoyceH

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     

    @JoyceH: It’s been criticized for being insufficiently ponderous recently.

    Huh. Well, I don’t much care for the sort of books that get selected for book clubs. Mysteries, F&SF, some (but by no means all) romance, family sagas, etc.

  27. 27.

    Doug R

    Perry Mason season one was fantastic. The best parts are the ones based on true stories, like the preacher and that funicular.

  29. 29.

    Craig

    @MomSense: My friend keeps calling it The Ballard of Lady Mormont and The Mandalorian. I think it’s amazing. Top notch acting and writing. Bella Ramsey continues to just shine on the screen, she’s an effortless actor, which means she probably works hard as shit at acting. Episode 3 is the most unexpectedly beautiful television I’ve seen in a long long time.

  30. 30.

    laura

    Nothing soothes my 2am insomnia like a british murder mystery- and the side streets of Maigret, and Quebec Sourtie in 3 Pines. How anyone remains alive in Midsomer is a mystery to me.

  32. 32.

    Nelle

    @Scout211: i just finished Run Towards Danger, by Sarah Polley, who directed the movie version of Women Talking.  I highly reccomend it.  It’s a set of memoir essays on body/mind/spirit, reflecting on her experiences as a child actor (big in Canada), childbirth, and a long-lasting concussion.  The essay, “A Silent Woman,” explores why she didn’t come forward when she too was a victim in a highly publicized and litigated Canadian Me-Too case.  I understand why she wanted to direct the movie (nominated for Best Picture).

    Miriam Toews’ latest book is Fight Night.  It is excellent.

  33. 33.

    MomSense

    @Heidi Mom:

    That was such an amazing episode.  Without giving anything away, I loved how it became about what is living – not just surviving, but really living.  Seeing the way Bill changed – the whole thing was just so moving and thought provoking.

  34. 34.

    Craig

    @Doug R: I loved it. The chemistry that develops between Della and Perry is so cute and powerful at the same time. Guess I’ll be rewatching that soon.

  35. 35.

    Leslie

    @Craig: We have been rewatching Columbo recently — in reverse order, incidentally, so Peter Falk is getting younger as we go. What strikes me about it, in marked contrast to most cop shows, is how much Columbo operates from a place of deep empathy and decency, even (especially) with people he knows to be villains. I can’t think of another show before or since that does quite the same thing, not even Poker Face, though I agree with you that Lyonne’s character has many Columbo-esque qualities.

  37. 37.

    MomSense

    @Craig:

    And then episode 4 destroyed me. I’ve been watching with my youngest and his SO and every episode leads to intense discussion.

  38. 38.

    JWR

    I’m still binge watching Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. I was 9 or 10 years old when it premiered and didn’t get all the sexual innuendo and double entendres, but I do now! Remember Arte Johnson’s Tyrone F. Horneigh as he shuffle-pursued Ruth Buzzi’s Gladys Ormphby around the bus bench? (Spoiler alert: They finally married!) Or the Farkel family? (All the eventual Farkel kids shared the neighbor’s shocking red hair.) Also, lots of Green Acres level humor there, and plenty of one-liners, like, “remember, people, most people are caused by accidents”, and “Motherhood is the invention of necessity”, but it all goes by so quickly.

    BTW, have I mentioned I’m a fool for cornball? ;)

  40. 40.

    Craig

    @MomSense: there’s a Jimmy Kimmel clip on YT of his interview with Nick Offerman and they show a bunch of tik tok of people’s reaction to episode 3. Off the chain amazing. I think in the future ‘Episode 3’ might become shorthand for excellent fucking cinema.

  41. 41.

    Nelle

    I am watching Recipes for Live and Murder (Acorn).  South African, with the most luscious cooking, plus small town murder.  Not perfection but amusing and light.  Has anyone here watched Brokenwood, a New Zealand series?  Acorn also.  Loved it.

  42. 42.

    Alison Rose

    Looking forward to the Christie chat. I only started reading her stuff about a year ago. I’d always held off because I knew there was, let’s say, a smidgen of racism in many of her books. (I mean, one only need consider the original title of And Then There Were None. And I don’t mean the Indians one.) But thus far it hasn’t been too terrible. Definitely some lines where I was like FUCKING YIKES but I try to just accept it as part of the whole “everyone sucked back then” idea. (Same thing I do when reading, for example, Edith Wharton and remembering, ohhhhh yeah everyone hated Jews.)

    Right now I’m blowing through M Is For Malice, book 13 in the Kinsey Millhone series. The series as a whole thus far has been a bit up and down, but this one is pretty gripping. Gonna go back to it and try to finish before lunch so I can see if any of my guesses are correct, or at least in the ballpark.

    Overall it’s been a pretty good reading year so far. This is book 31 on the year and I’ve had four 5-star reads (in the context of the Goodreads rating system). Not bad.

  44. 44.

    Craig

    @Leslie: well, it is a straight up Columbo love letter. The opening credits are right out of Columbo. I totally agree about Falk, really unlike any cop I can think of.

  45. 45.

    Leslie

    Other stuff we are watching: The Last of Us, Shadow and Bone, Vera, Will Trent (thanks to WG), Carnival Row season 2, For All Mankind season 3, Discovery of Witches season 2, Severance season 2. Waiting on the next installments of Ted Lasso, Perry Mason, Extraordinary, Loki, Alaska Daily.

  49. 49.

    FastEdD

    Watched Poker Face last night and yeah, I agree with you guys, pretty good. This is the first time I’ve watched a new TV show in several years. Strong female lead, but not based on being sexy. Some double plot twists so it isn’t obvious. And I like how the characters use cuss words like we do in real life. “Bullshit” instead of Bull&$$@!

  51. 51.

    TheOtherHank

    I’ve watched the first 7 seasons of Brokenwood Mysteries. It’s a fun show. I’m waiting for my local library to get season 8 on disc.

    And I just have to say, even though she played a Mormont, Bella Ramsey’s actual name is almost a perfect Game of Thrones name. And while on the topic of Bella Ramsey, Catherine Called Birdy is great.

  52. 52.

    Robin Hood

    M Is For Malice, book 13 in the Kinsey Millhone series, is what I’m reading right now. Although the series as a whole has had its ups and downs so far, this one is really compelling. I’m going to return to it and attempt to finish it before lunch so I can see if any of my assumptions were accurate or at least close.

  53. 53.

    MomSense

    @Craig:

    I think we all had a similar WTF I thought I was watching a show about zombies as we were sobbing because the characters moved us so much.

  54. 54.

    zhena gogolia

    Bedtime reading is The Raj Quartet, inspired by recent viewing of The Jewel in the Crown. It is really good.

  56. 56.

    gene108

    @MomSense:

    Or the Island of Sodor.

    Sir Topham Hat ain’t nuthin’ to fuck with. Sir Topham Hat ain’t nuthin’ to fuck with.
    Wu-Tang
    Wu-Tang

  57. 57.

    RaflW

    Thanks to a thread yesterday, I watched the first episode of Extraordinary Attorney Woo last night, with a buddy of mine. We both enjoyed it, though tbh I don’t think I could binge the show. It’s sweet and smart, and I’ll watch more, but it feels like a one-morsel-a-week kind of thing (I’m old enough that my habits are still sort of set by how TV was dolled out in the over-the-air days of my misspent youth).

    Anyway, thanks for the tip. I don’t think Netflix woulda suggested it based on my queue.

  58. 58.

    jackson

    If you like Matthew Rhys as Perry Mason you may also want to watch Death Comes to Pemberley. He stars as Mr. Darcy in this epilogue to Pride and Prejudice adapted from the book by P.D. James. It takes place six years after the end of Austen’s book. He’s brilliant in it and the story is compelling.

    On Masterpiece via Prime.

  60. 60.

    Alison Rose

    @Almost Retired: It’s an interesting mix, since I read a wide variety:

    A Message From Ukraine – Zelenskyy’s collection of speeches they put out last fall, starts with his inaugural address. Impactful reading them all together.

    American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation Of How the Republican Party Went Crazy – by David Corn (of Mother Jones), really meticulous and fascinating look, puts the lie to the “this isn’t your grandpa’s GOP’ shit we hear people say sometimes

    Peach Blossom Spring – by Melissa Fu, historical fiction starting in the late 1930s when Japan invaded China, following a young woman and her son as they try to escape, get to Taiwan, the son makes it to the US, has a daughter – one of the best generational sagas I’ve read

    To Covet a Countess – by Sapna Bhog, and yes, it’s a historical romance. I know some people roll their eyes at the genre, but I love it, and this one is one of the best written I’ve come across. Great characters, strong chemistry, intriguing plot line, lots of fun

  61. 61.

    gene108

    Does anyone else feel overwhelmed with the amount of streaming content out these days?

    There’s so much to watch and keep up with. Part of me just wants to tune it all out. It sometimes feels like work to keep up.

  62. 62.

    lahke

    Not ever a prolific commenter here, but have done totally AWOL lately due to my addiction to Korean TV shows, so I’m recommending some of those. My Mister is my all-time favorite,  but not really good for the treadmill (the sound design on this one is really great and deserves serious attention,  by the way).  So start with Extraordinary Attorney Woo, or Business Proposal or Misaeng.

    And sorry to be so late responding to the Hays Code post, but I do like how remarkably chaste these shows are. It’s not that folks don’t go to bed together, but it is less embarrassing to watch with people you’re not that intimate with.  Korean movies, on the other hand, are straight up porn.

  63. 63.

    Annie

    I’m listening to the Giants-Reds spring training game and looking forward to the Christie/Sayers thread.  Someone on this blog turned me on to Shedunnit, a podcast about Golden Age mysteries, and I’ve been enjoying that too – i listen to it while I work out at the gym.

    It’s not exactly Golden Age, though some of them are set during World War II,  but I really like the mystery series by George Bellairs.  Bellairs has a wonderful knack for portraying a place or a character very briefly, but so well that you can see the person.

    And last weekend I read Exiles, the new book by Jane Harper.  It’s also excellent.

  64. 64.

    WendyBinFL

    Wish I could remember from whom I first learned of Dorothy Dunnett. One of the Jackals, perhaps? Finished all six novels in her Lymond Chronicles, and am now in book seven of eight in House of Niccolo. Phenomenal! She wrote fictional characters into history, interacting with actual people of the time. The Lymond saga, written first, follows the adventures of a brilliant swashbuckler in 15th-century Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. A bit difficult at first, because the hero tosses many quips in Latin and French, opaque to me even though I studied both in school. Decided to skip over them and devour the story. Niccolo is one of Lymond’s forebears, a century earlier. Not as nice a guy — he’s driven by vengeance toward all who have wronged him — but fascinating. Some of the best books I’ve ever read!

  65. 65.

    RaflW

    For books, I most recently finished Boyfriend Material. Yes, it’s a trashy gay romance novel by a pseudonymous pulp author. Sometimes that just hits the spot perfectly! I’d stalled out reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (after really liking her Flight Behavior), so my real life BF handed me Alexis Hall’s book after he’d chuckled his way through it.

    Now reading Flash Fire by TJ Klune. I think I liked the first Extraordinaries book better. I may’ve recommended it before, but my top read of 2022 was Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram.

  67. 67.

    CaseyL

    @gene108: I’ve decided there is no way I can keep up on all the shows on all the streaming services  people recommend.  I subscribe to three streaming services:  if the show is on one of them, fine; if not, sorry.  (Actually, just two services, since I dropped HBO after they cancelled Westworld.)

    OTOH, I wish someone somewhere had a streaming service that was all CatTV.  I’ve been playing YouTube videos-for-cats on my old computer that I set up on Oscar’s “sofa” (a large doggy bed) and he loves to watch them.  He watches them very much like a middle-aged human, eventually falling asleep in front of the screen.

  68. 68.

    Kristine

    Just finished City of Endless Night, a later Agent Pendergast mystery by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. It was okay. It’s a long series with the usual variability. Can’t hit every ball out of the park.

    I am enjoying their new series featuring Nora Kelly, an archeologist who works mainly in the Southwest. History and lore blended with the mystery.

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    @Leslie:

    Severance season 2.

    Wait, what? I’m pretty sure only season one has aired. Did the second season release without my noticing?

    S1 was excellent, and I’d recommend it highly.

  70. 70.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Mr DAW is a Formula One fan, and Drive to Survive is back on Netflix. You know how it is in sports, when you know the players? It’s much more enjoyable. Drive to Survive does that for F1

  73. 73.

    Leslie

    @dmsilev: Oh, I put it on the current list because I thought it was out and we just kept forgetting to watch it. I guess it should be on the eagerly-awaiting list instead.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    Cancel culture ninnies struggle to explain their dumb, poorly thought out theory yet again:

    Conor Friedersdorf@conor64

    The way I’d put it: I was born in 1980. As far back as I remember, what Adams said would’ve been regarded as beyond the pale bc textbook racism was rightly verboten in my circles. & most opponents of “cancel culture” were never objecting to *that* but to expansive new taboos.

    I agree with him!

    “Cancel culture” is whatever these individuals did not experience when they, personally, were in college.
    THEY will set THE TABOOS, people. THEY make these decisions. How dare there be “new taboos” that the Official Discussion Panel has not vetted and approved!

  76. 76.

    thruppence

    Just rewatched Wings of Desire, where Peter Falk has a small but pivotal role. Fantastic, wouldn’t be quite the same movie without him.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    @Leslie: I want to rewatch the first 4 episodes of Alaska Daily, but I don’t know if they are even available anywhere.

    With this long of a break since episode 4, I want to reacquaint myself before episode 5.

  78. 78.

    Steeplejack

    @JoyceH:

    I think St. Mary Mead might be relatively safe. Don’t a lot of Marple’s “cases” happen when she’s visiting friends and distant relatives In other places?

  79. 79.

    Jerry

    I’m watching Veronica Mars on Hulu. (Shut up, I’ve never seen it before.)

    Veronica Mars was such a great show. It kinda got lost in that flood of late ’90s/early aughts shows and movies for the 18-24 year old audience, but this is so much better than that. The original seasons were great and the crowd funded movie was surprisingly good. Sadly, we could not get into the season(s) that was made after the movie. Tried, but failed.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    Thomas Chatterton Williams
    @thomaschattwill

    This is *not* “cancel culture.” If you film yourself going on a stupid and boring racist monologue and upload it to the internet and people notice it and react negatively you just have to play it as it lays.

    Guffaw. The cancel culture ninnies also DEFINE cancel culture, just making random, pulled-out-of-their ass exclusions and exceptions every time their dumb-ass, sloppy theory falls apart (which is constantly).

  81. 81.

    Jerry

    Wait, Perry Mason is actually Philip Jennings! But what’s his angle here? What national secrets will he find by posing as a lawyer?

  82. 82.

    Tony Jay

    Joining in the acclaim for The Last Of Us. Episode 3 was just lovely, but the end of Episode 5 made me ache for the characters. I never played the game, but Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal respectively hit notes of pain in the ass/wicked funny and hard as nails/daddy bear so well that I’m all in.

    Catching up on Andor. Not sure what I was expecting, but having a Star Wars story completely divorced from the high-status pantomime of Jedi vs Sith works just as well as Kenobi’s head-first dive into high-status Jedi vs Sith shenanigans. Better than the movies? Oh yeah, light years better.

    Currently re-reading the original Dracula for a project I’ve been mulling over, and apart from the hints and clues of an understory Stoker just left lying all over the place, what’s struck me hard this time is how much of a godawful snob old Bram was. Really, horribly in your face class warfare in every interaction between his (mostly) upper class heroes and anybody from the English lower classes, all of whom are depicted as either liars, drunks, thieves, or lying thieving drunks.

    That said, very little has changed in the intervening century and a bit. Every one of Stoker’s snobby dumbfucks would fit quite neatly into a Tory cabinet, apart from Quincey, who’d be the money behind the Texas GOP.

    @WendyBinFL:

    Dunnett really did strike fire with her writing, didn’t she? Surely someone out there must have had a crack at turning Game of Kings into a 12 episode HBO epic? It’s got great TV running through it like a stick of rock.

  85. 85.

    Jerry

    Currently re-reading the original Dracula for a project I’ve been mulling over, and apart from the hints and clues of an understory Stoker just left lying all over the place, what’s struck me hard this time is how much of a godawful snob old Bram was. Really, horribly in your face class warfare in every interaction between his (mostly) upper class heroes and anybody from the English lower classes, all of whom are depicted as either liars, drunks, thieves, or lying thieving drunks.

    Nevertheless, his use of color in that novel is outstanding, just amazing. But how many damn times do women have to go through that ordeal before these nincompoops finally recognize what is happening?

  86. 86.

    Anyway

    @JoyceH:

    I’m watching Veronica Mars on Hulu. (Shut up, I’ve never seen it before.) If you liked Buffy, you’d like Veronica. The only thing missing is the vampires.

    I loved Veronica Mars and watched every episode as it aired in the days before streaming. Watched a few Buffy episodes but never really got into it.  IIR I got bored by Buffy physically fighting the vampires …the rest was ok but the fights were so tedious.

  87. 87.

    Tony Jay

    @Jerry:

    He writes description and mood far better than I realised, but yeah, the manly manliness of his heroes almost dooms every single female character to a fate worse than death. Stop ‘protecting’ Mina, you arseholes, she’s the only one who has a clue.

  88. 88.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Has your husband seen Grand Prix (1966)? It was a big budget movie with a score by Maurice Jarre. James Garner plays an American driver who gets dropped from his F1 team after wrecking at Monaco. Toshiro Mifune has an interesting role as the outsider Japanese industrialist who hires Garner for his F1 team. A theme is the dangerous but glamorous life of elite drivers in mid 1960’s Europe.

  89. 89.

    dmsilev

    @Leslie: Makes sense.

    I looked quickly and saw that Season 2 is in production, but no release date has been announced. Definitely looking forward to it, if nothing else S1 ended on one hell of a cliffhanger.

  90. 90.

    Splitting Image

    @Tony Jay:

    Currently re-reading the original Dracula for a project I’ve been mulling over, and apart from the hints and clues of an understory Stoker just left lying all over the place, what’s struck me hard this time is how much of a godawful snob old Bram was. Really, horribly in your face class warfare in every interaction between his (mostly) upper class heroes and anybody from the English lower classes, all of whom are depicted as either liars, drunks, thieves, or lying thieving drunks.

    He was just a tad sexist, too. The entire mythos hinges on the idea that the weak-willed little womenfolk will swoon in the face of Dracula’s manly swagger.

  92. 92.

    Tim

    @laura: my wife is the real Midsomer fan, but have later seasons taken an unusually dark tone? Don’t I recall a genteel country whodunit? Now, that sweet old lady gardening? She’s going to dig up, or bury, a human foot. If the new vicar seems a nice enough chap, do not hesitate, notify Insp. Barnaby at once.

    Do not attend the Renaissance Faire.

  94. 94.

    Craig

    @Tony Jay: Andor really struck me. Tony Gilroy, the creator, I think he understands living in the Star Wars galaxy better than anyone else. Anton Lesser is such a fantastic Imperial secret policeman. Damn, now I’m going to go watch it again.

    I agree with you about the interactions between Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal. They’re so good together. How he goes from treating her as kind of a chore to someone he cherishes. Beautiful performances.

  95. 95.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Geminid: Yes, he saw Grand Prix. Racing is pretty much the only sport he enjoys. When I met him, he was in grad school, but on the weekends, he drove SCCA as an amateur. He quit soon after. It’s an expensive hobby

    ETA: He’s an automotive engineer

  96. 96.

    Nelle

    @WaterGirl: It’s on Hulu.  A good show for us has a small plane (husband is a pilot) and bone china teacups, which all my Canadian aunts collected and passed their love down to me (think The English Patient and Out of Africa). I’m still looking for the teacups in Alaska Daily but he flew float planes when we lived up there, so he’s happy. Also, my husband was an environmental crusader about water quality.  The death threats were a factor, though not the major one, in our moving to the Lower 48.  It’s  all plausible to us.

  97. 97.

    Suzanne

    I am currently watching a kids’ show on Netflix called “Number Blocks”. The only grown-up thing I’ve gotten to watch lately is “Poker Face”, and I am deeply enjoying it.

    I am trying to get Spawn the Youngest potty-trained, and she just will not poop in the potty. And it is becoming a vicious cycle of anxiety and holding-it, and I am frustrated.

    I was in Philly for work last week, and while I was gone, a framed print that SuzMom gave me for my birthday apparently fell off the wall, and the frame broke. So I had to take it to the frame store yesterday and get a new frame ordered. I worked in a picture frame store during high school and college, and I am now a snobby PITA about framing.

  98. 98.

    different-church-lady

    “Dread and Resignation”

    Is that a book? If it isn’t, it ought to be. And I should be reading it.

  99. 99.

    Steeplejack

    @Craig:

    Anton Lesser is such a fantastic Imperial secret policeman.

    LOL. Not too far off from his Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour, at least before he became less of a dick in the later seasons.

  100. 100.

    Betty Cracker

    We’re looking forward to the return of “Perry Mason.” I wish all streaming services would drop the whole season like Netflix does. Stop trying to make “appointment TV” happen, damn it!

    I’ve been watching “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” which is a delight. Finished “The Good Place,” which was fantastic, IMO.

    Today I started reading “Demon Copperhead,” which is Barbara Kingsolver’s Dickensian tale of an unfortunate in Appalachia. It’s intriguing so far. Kingsolver is brilliant, IMO, but not all of her novels land as well with me. “Poisonwood Bible” is my favorite by miles.

  101. 101.

    Kelly

    Woke up to an inch of snow here in the the western Cascade foothills (elevation 650 feet). Rain is washing it away. Overnight snow, daytime rain is our forecast for the next week. The Cascade passes should see a foot or two of new snow.

    We’ve been watching “Altered Carbon” on Netflix. Scifi with a lot of martial arts, shoot’um, up revolt against oligarchs. More my jam than Mrs. Kelly’s but right away she was caught up by the characters and story. The season 1 story lines were more complex and interesting than season 2. Last two episodes tonight.

    Before that we binged our way thru “The Good Place” which was way, way better than we expected. We waited so long to give it a try because the descriptions made it sound cringe. Ended up watching 2~4 episodes a night.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My dad worked at Republic Aviation on Long Island in an early part of his career.  After he retired, he said that in the early-mid ’60s there was this young woman in his group who liked to race and was having some success, and was always spending all her spare time working on her car.

    Her name was Janet Guthrie.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    oatler

    Rewatching “Truth on the Head of a Pin”, the Ivor Cutler doc I mistakenly bought on PAL. Has spots by McCartney, Robert Wyatt, Billy Connolly etc.

  104. 104.

    PaulB

    I’m on a Paramount+ free trial period, so I’m grabbing everything Star Trek related for future binging possibilities. I hadn’t really come to grips with just how many series there are now, and how many hours of content there are in the Star Trek universe. It’s a bit intimidating to think of how much time I’ll be wasting if I watch all of it.

    I also picked up “1923”, with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. Definitely looking forward to seeing what those two can do together.

    I don’t have HBO, but I did manage to snag a copy of Episode 3 of “The Last of Us.” I completely agree with all of the plaudits that episode has earned. Just amazing television, with a couple of brilliant actors at the top of their game. Tears were shed.

  105. 105.

    Tony Jay

    @Splitting Image:

    Half the time it’s so very, very, obviously stupid that I’m almost convinced Stoker was writing it as a tongue-in-cheek take-that to Victorian gender stereotypes. Women are emotionally weak flowers who couldn’t possibly deal with the reality of the supernatural threat talking them, while upper class men are gallant white-knights who make up for their thumping dunderheadedness with pure hearts and clean underpants… except when the women are obviously the tough, clear-eyed realists who only fall prey to the clammy-handed rape-bat because the men won’t tell them WTF is going on.

    He must be taking the piss. Must be.

  107. 107.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kelly: A developer should do a video game about “The Good Place.” Players pick a character and work their way through ethical dilemmas! I think I’d pick Mindy St. Clair as my avatar! 😂

  110. 110.

    Leslie

    @Anyway: I get that, but at the time, it was a big deal for a woman — scratch that, a teenage girl — to be a kickass heroine. All the kickass women who have followed owe that show a debt.

    @dmsilev: It certainly did. I can’t wait to see where they take it.

  114. 114.

    Craig

    @Steeplejack: Bright and Thursday are such great characters. It’s a joy to watch them learn from and teach Morse over the course of a few years. Still never actually seen Inspector Morse, but my mum loves it.

  116. 116.

    Tony Jay

    @Craig:

    Mandalorian and Andor take that ‘stories about the little people who make the big things work’ idea from Rogue One and run with it. Kenobi takes the same aesthetic and applies it to the big-boss level conflict, and that works too. Other than Boba Fett, they’ve all been great TV.

    TLOU is great because it leans right into the very late post-apocalypse world and basically says “fuck all we can do about it but survive and find people to survive it with”. The two main characters need each other, the story is about them realising it, and the writers do it justice.

  119. 119.

    CarolPW

    @Nelle: I am divesting myself of many things, and I have a collection of teacups from my mother. Bone china and not, all 50 years old or more, and would love to send them to you if you are interested. I have sent stuff to others here, and have not yet become an ax murderer.

  120. 120.

    WaterGirl

    @Nelle: That’s really interesting, though I am a bit confused.  I think something might be missing from the second sentence.  Or maybe I just woke up not firing on all cylinders today?

    Whose husband is a pilot?  What about the teacups?  Who flew float planes and is happy?  Your husband?

  123. 123.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulB:

    I’m on a Paramount+ free trial period, so I’m grabbing everything Star Trek related for future binging possibilities.

    What do you mean by that?  Are you downloading episodes that can be watched later after your 7 days are up, because they are already on your device?

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    @Jerry: ​He cut a deal with Elizabeth–she keeps spyin’ and goes off to learn lawyerin’. She also has those stealth secrets stashed somewhere.

    God how I miss that show. Letter-perfect depiction of the Reagan era.

  127. 127.

    Craig

    I watched Babylon on Plex. Holy shit, what a hot mess. Set in Kenneth Anger era Hollywood it’s nuts, so much stuff shoved into 3 hours. I liked it enough but it’s so damned uneven. Crammed full of good actors. I think it’s kind of like a Michael Cimino movie. Talented writer/director who thinks he’s an auteur just keeps writing and shooting. It’s a fabulous disaster. There is great cinema in this thing, it just runs into a ditch a lot. Brad Pitt is great as an aging super star coming to terms with getting older. Jean Smart kind of rolls in and out of the story, until she just about steals the whole damn picture in one scene. This movie takes a lot of patience, but I kinda think it’s worth it. It’s a drunken love letter to cinema.

  128. 128.

    trollhattan

    Have I mentioned “Letterkenny”? It’s Canadian, it’s hilarious, it’s on Hulu. There are MANY seasons to plow through, which is a pun on account of they’re prairie farmers, although little actual farming is seen.

  132. 132.

    trollhattan

    @Craig: ​Need to see that.

    “Babylon Berlin” is the other worthwhile Babylon and I’ve learned season 4 is done shooting, so there are evidently enough survivors of season 3 to press on. WinterNazis are coming.

    The costuming and cinematography are sumptuous, for folks who enjoy such things.

  133. 133.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: A scant few streaming services have a DVR-like ability to save and watch later; can’t recall if Paramount+ is one. Or, maybe some allow downloading directly?

    100 services, 200 sets of rules.

  134. 134.

    Tony Jay

    @Heidi Mom:

    Haven’t read that one in years. Dunnett novels are made for long holidays sitting on a terrace looking out over whatever location she set her epics in. I think I’ll take King Hereafter with me next time we get a cottage on a Scottish island miles away from anywhere.

  135. 135.

    Craig

    @J R in WV: I saw the trailer where Shelby takes Henry Ford II for a ride. Fuck yeah. Carrol Shelby was a childhood hero of mine. I went, ‘damn I can see Matt Damon as Carrol Shelby’. When I learned James Mangold was directing I was hooked. Went on the first day. It was like being 10 years old.

  136. 136.

    Craig

    @trollhattan: that show is insane. So much word play. Such great cliche characters that actually fill out as the seasons go on. I’ve rarely seen a show that uses repetition so effectively. Fun stuff.

  137. 137.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Tony Jay: You might be interested in this (spoiler free) film analysis video about “Why Andor Feels So Real.”

    Among other things, the film makers cleverly inverted the standard way of presenting CGI wide-shots — they always start with closer shots of real locations (or at least sets that are tangibly real, and then cut to a wide shot of a CGI-generated environment (either augmenting a real location or an entirely CGI one).

    Normally, sci-fi films use a broad CGI establishing shot, but your mind knows it’s fake and that feeling of “fake-ness” carries over into subsequent shots of actual locations/sets.

    Plus a great analysis (with spoilers) why Andor is far better than most of the other Star Wars movies/TV series — is not one of the best of them.

  139. 139.

    Anonymous At Work

    Apparently, Biden just dropped the best answers to the issue of his age.  On whether it was something to be concerned about generally, “It’s a legitimate thing,” but when asked if he’s too old, “Watch me.”  Got the stones!

  140. 140.

    JoyceH

    Several commenters upthread enjoyed Death Comes To Pemberly, but I must dissent. To me, the plot was interesting, but whoever those characters were, they sure weren’t Darcy and Elizabeth. Geez, Lizzie was downright MOROSE!

    And utterly loved The Good Place – I’ve seen it twice through and will undoubtedly be watching it again soon.

  142. 142.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Geminid:

    Grand Prix is one of my favourite movies. Love the opening credits! Also love, with a passion, Brian Bedford. GP was the first thing I ever saw him in, and IIRC he was swaddled in gauze for a lot of the film. Didn’t matter ;-)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I assume he also saw Ford vs. Ferrari when it came out a few years ago. What did he think of it? I quite enjoyed it, but I might not go out of my way to watch it again, whereas I would for Grand Prix.

  144. 144.

    Leslie

    @Kelly: We loved Altered Carbon. I keep hoping for another season.

    @Tony Jay: This reminds me that Stoker was an ardent admirer of other men. He wrote a long letter to Walt Whitman, including Stoker’s vital stats (height, weight when naked, etc.) and wishing they could meet in person (which they eventually did, as Stoker made it across the pond to the US a few different times before Whitman’s death).

    Stoker also formed a close friendship with actor Henry Irving. (Side note: Stoker’s wife, who was 17-18 years his junior, might have been a partial inspiration for Mina.) Anyway, given his apparent preference for friendships with artistic, one might say sensitive, men, it doesn’t strike me as farfetched that Stoker might not have personally adhered to all the attitudes displayed by the men in Dracula.

  145. 145.

    Heidi Mom

    @Betty Cracker: Years ago I read that President Obama invited some of his favorite writers to dinner at the White House, and one of them was Barbara Kingsolver.  I started reading The Bean Trees the next day.  Demon Copperhead is the best book I’ve read this year.  Kingsolver is so good at explaining why, even if you’ve got brains and talent and at least one good role model along the way, it’s just so damn hard to make it out of the underclass, but she also leavens Demon’s story with enough sardonic humor that the book isn’t a chore to read. 

  148. 148.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Craig:

    Andor really struck me. Tony Gilroy, the creator, I think he understands living in the Star Wars galaxy better than anyone else. Anton Lesser is such a fantastic Imperial secret policeman. Damn, now I’m going to go watch it again.

    It’s not for nothing that Gilroy brought in the writers from House of Cards.

    BTW for others, Andor doesn’t require any knowledge about any of the other movies, or the Star Wars universe. It is a bit a slow-burn during the first 2-3 episodes, setting up world building, characters and plot elements that payoff later.

  149. 149.

    zhena gogolia

    @Craig: It’s slow by today’s standards, but Thaw and Whately are brilliant.

    And of course James Grout. He doesn’t show up for a while.

  151. 151.

    zhena gogolia

    @JoyceH: Yeah, you have to kind of forget about Jane Austen to enjoy it. But once you do, it’s fine. Can’t go wrong with James Norton. We even read the book. Not one of P. D. James’s best. I think it might have been her last novel?

  152. 152.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: Could it just be he’s putting them on his waitlist? That’s what i do with Prime. But I always forget to look at it.

    We watched About a Boy last night. Brilliant.

  156. 156.

    Tony Jay

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Well that’s my evening’s reading sorted out. Thank you very much.
    You’re right, though. Andor just feels grittily realistic. You can imagine those locations being real, and the way they’re presented has a lot to do with that. You’re already ‘there’ before you see how alien they actually look.

    Plus, quite honestly, you stick Adria Arjona in any scene and it could be an alleyway behind a dive bar in Glasgow for all the attention I pay to the surroundings.

  157. 157.

    arrieve

    @J R in WV: I loved Ford vs Ferrari and I am so not a car person, or much of a Christian Bale fan. But the relationship between his character and Matt Damon’s was great. I loved the scene where they start brawling on the sidewalk and Caitriona Balfe (as Bale’s wife) sets up a lawn chair and starts leafing through a magazine.

  159. 159.

    trollhattan

    @Craig: ​You state why I like it better than I could have. The wordplay is some of the best I’ve ever encountered and the characters each flesh out in their unique way as the seasons pass.

    Is anything funnier than one of their “To be fair” tangents?

  161. 161.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    Try the ABC site. Some of the networks mix in free stuff as a come-on. And I have no idea about Fubo’s deal. Also, I saw on JustWatch (but didn’t include) that it’s also available on DirecTV.

  162. 162.

    Steeplejack

    @Craig:

    Morse is good, but it’s very different from Endeavour. Definitely of its time. It also provides a good set-up for Lewis.

  163. 163.

    FelonyGovt

    @Betty Cracker: I love Kingsolver but when I started reading Demon Copperhead, I was put right off by the folksy Appalachia dialogue. I will try it again when I’m more in the mood.

  164. 164.

    Geminid

    @SiubhanDuinne: I thought that Toshiro Mifune’s character added a lot to Grand Prix. This was at a time when Japan was beginning to be recognized as an economic powerhouse on a par with Western countries, and Mifune played a very confident outsider.

  165. 165.

    Tony Jay

    @Leslie:

    I’ve come across that theory about Stoker being a heavily closeted gay man, and I have to say that the text of Dracula makes a pretty good case for it. He’s very much into the whole ‘beautiful men being lovingly emotional with each other’ thing, and while he doesn’t appear to have much time for the ‘New Woman’, Mina Harker is the undeniable backbone of the war against Dracula, without whose sharp brain his fictional Britain would have been overrun by red-eyed strumpets in a matter of months.

    If he did base Mina on Florence Stoker, that would be a nice subversion. Florence was famous for surrounding herself with a well-bred circle of people wittier and clever than her, while Mina’s misfortune is to be surrounded by well-bred clods who don’t even notice she’s being turned into a wine-press until the supposedly insane guy outright tells them.

  166. 166.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: ​
    Specific to Paramount+ if there’s a way to download content and watch off line, I do not know what it is. My kid does that with Apple and Amazon flicks but she’s not here to tell dumb ol’ dad how (watching movies on a phone, not a fan but if you’re on a plane or waiting for jury duty, then yeah).

  167. 167.

    FelonyGovt

    I just finished a great book called Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez. About a Nuyorican politician and his high achieving wedding planner sister. Gets into the sordid history of US in Puerto Rico, maternal abandonment, extended families, and many other themes. Also an interesting story with fascinating characters. 

  168. 168.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: I think she’s telling an WARNING – TIME SINK: odd couple joke.

    A good show for us has a small plane (husband is a pilot) and bone china teacups, which all my Canadian aunts collected and passed their love down to me (think The English Patient and Out of Africa). I’m still looking for the teacups in Alaska Daily but he flew float planes when we lived up there, so he’s happy.

    Small Planes for Him!

    Bone China Teacups for Her!

    Bring the whole family!!11

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  169. 169.

    Leslie

    @Steeplejack: I couldn’t get into Morse, but I love Endeavour and thoroughly enjoyed Inspector Lewis.

    @Tony Jay: Oscar Wilde was famously upset when Florence married Stoker. She must have had a decent amount of wit herself. And yes, the men around Mina are rather astonishingly dull.

  170. 170.

    Tony Jay

    @Leslie:

    How did one guy put it? Oscar seemed to like being rejected by women because it gave him something else to be wittily unconventional about.

    However, yes, I’m probably being judgemental. Florence may well have been one smart cookie, just like Mina.

  173. 173.

    Nelle

    @WaterGirl: i think all the pollen is blowing northward and addling me.  Yes, I married an Alaskan bush pilot.  By the time I met him in Seattle, he was working on his PhD at UWashington during the academic year and flying like crazy around the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Northern Alaska in summer.  We are contemplating a trip back north in July.  I’m the teacup lover.

  177. 177.

    HinTN

    To whoever suggested many of these ago, The Boy With a Bird in His Chest, I thank you. What a wonderful first novel.

  178. 178.

    Craig

    Awhile back I watched The English on Prime Video. Western in the 1880s plains. Emily Blunt plays an Englishwoman who comes to America for revenge. Tons of great actors, beautiful photography, really effective writing, great title design. It’s very, very good television. I can’t really say anything else about it, cause Jesus, it’s a god damn minefield of spoilers. It’s hypnotic

  179. 179.

    J_A

    @thruppence:

    a “small” role? Peter Falk is almost the reason the story comes along. I guess “pivotal” is supposed to cover that 😀

    And Wings of Desire, and its sequel “Faraway, so close” (where Gorbachev himself has a small role) are amazing movies. Hollywood’s greatest crime was to try to turn two intelligent European movies into one Nicholas Cage led soapy stupid rom com totally devoid of any intelligent content

  180. 180.

    J_A

    @J_A:

    and I wasn’t trying to disparage Nicholas Cage, who is a great actor that got blinded by the idea of making more millions by making more stupid movies.

    which he acknowledges himself he did it, and makes fun of it in “The unbearable weight of massive talent “. Cage at it’s almost best, showing that he has talent, and “Leaving Las Vegas” wasn’t a fluke.

  181. 181.

    PaulB

    @WaterGirl: What do you mean by that?  Are you downloading episodes that can be watched later after your 7 days are up, because they are already on your device?

    Well, 30 days in this case, but yes, that is exactly what I mean. I got tired of some of my favorite shows and movies disappearing from streaming services when the rights expired.

    I have my own media server that I can access from a smart TV, a tablet, a laptop or desktop, or a phone.

    To clarify, this is not something that Paramount supports, but there are multiple tools available that allow you to download videos from most of the major streaming services.

  184. 184.

    Jerry

    @trollhattan: He cut a deal with Elizabeth–she keeps spyin’ and goes off to learn lawyerin’. She also has those stealth secrets stashed somewhere.

    God how I miss that show. Letter-perfect depiction of the Reagan era.

    I love it! And yes, that show is so good. In fact, I rank it as my all time favorite TV show. And my theory that all of the actors in The Americans will always be those characters, no matter what other things those actors are in. See: Honey I Blew Up the Kid. It’s Elizabeth’s very first mission here in the USA; get close to Wayne Szalinski, steal his ideas, and send them back to Moscow. If you’ve never seen that movie, watch it and you’ll see my theory in action.

  185. 185.

    StringOnAStick

    @Betty Cracker: Demon Copperhead is a fantastic book.  Our book club had a 6 week span available so we read that. Usually there are a few people who give the book a C or less but this one for an A or better from everyone.

  186. 186.

    Matt McIrvin

    Belatedly binging For All Mankind, which depicts an alternate timeline in which the US space program was… well, I don’t know if its development was better but it was certainly far more melodramatic.

    I actually wrote a very short piece many years ago describing an alternate history very similar to the one depicted in For All Mankind‘s first season… but this is not a very shocking coincidence since the TV show and I were both riffing on Apollo Applications Program proposals.

    (In mine, the program doesn’t go so well and the narrator laments that we did all this penny-ante stuff instead of building the Space Shuttle, which would have been awesome and perfect. The point being that it’s way easier to imagine tremendous success for the program you didn’t actually have to build.)

  187. 187.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kelly: The skiing at Santiam pass has been fabulous for at least 3 days after each of these storms, and we’re going up again tomorrow.

    Whoever recommended The Good Place, I want to thank; quirky and weird works for us.  Humboldt Blue recommended Crunk in Earth, which is hilarious. She’s a deadpan typical BBC presenter but with whacked ideas and some of the professor s get it, but most don’t.  According to her, the word “volcano” translates into “angry hill” . We live in an area full of volcanic peaks, but they are from now on forever known as Angry Hills in our house.

  188. 188.

    Matt McIrvin

    We’ve also watched the first couple of episodes of Poker Face, which is great so far–basically imagine Natasha Lyonne starring in a cross between Columbo and The Fugitive, or, more precisely, one of those old shows like The Incredible Hulk where they basically did The Fugitive but with some kind of science-fiction/fantasy twist.

    The twist is that Lyonne’s character has the power to infallibly tell when someone is lying. You’d think that would make solving murder mysteries easy… and they also show the viewers who dun it in the opening, Columbo-style. But the drama isn’t the solution to the mystery, or even how she’ll figure it out, so much as how she’ll manage to prove it and eke out some kind of justice before she has to go back to running. It seems to be the kind of thing Rian Johnson is very interested in.

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