Evolution

I started reading Drood last night, the next Dan Simmons novel. It’s historical fiction based on Charles Dickens’ infamous unfinished manuscript, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The story starts late in Dickens’ life and he doesn’t come off as a very sympathetic character at that point, having ejected his wife for a younger woman and being rather full of himself.

I worked on chapter two of the new novel. It’s an interesting process because it brings together two characters I know fairly well but who don’t know each other well at all. One is the protagonist of the novel my (honeymooning) agent currently has on his desk, and the other is from a book that I’m re-inventing to form the core of this one.

Apropos of nothing: Once upon a time there was a comic strip called Robotman. Over the years, the main human character in the strip emerged to become the lead, and eventually it was called Monty. Robotman disappeared from the strip completely, apparently at the request of the syndicate. A while back, a time traveler appeared from the future and became stuck in the present. Just a week ago, he managed to bring along an old companion of his—a little robot who looks like Robotman, Jr.

The final shot of the season finale of Mad Men looked like a stage play set piece. The beleaguered couple sitting at the kitchen table share a moment of discovery and the lights go dark. It’s been an interesting season. We’ve seen Peggy evolve from a mousy minion to a powerbroker of sorts. The way she handled Pete shows how far she’s come. Joan has moved from being the manager of the office to Don’s secretary, which seems like a demotion. My favorite moment from the finale came at the beginning when Ducky told Pete about his plan and how Don was going to have to go along or find a new career because of a non-compete clause in his contract. But he has no contract, I yelled in my mind—and that was the big gotcha at the end, when Ducky’s gambit failed because he didn’t know this one little fact.

So now we know what ADA Miguel’s plans are: to sic Dexter on the ones that got away. While it makes for an interesting plotline, I think it doesn’t bode well for Miguel’s ultimate fate. How long can Dexter allow someone to live who knows his nature? Even with the incriminating shirt in his possession. So, Miguel may not have his own Dark Passenger, but he knows how to make use of someone thus afflicted. The Masuka storyline was priceless in this week’s episode, too. “He’s back!”

As Boston Legal winds down, it seems like they’re stretching to try to tackle issues they haven’t been able to reach before. How do you manage polygamy in Utah? Send Alan and Denny on a dude ranch expedition. I have a suspicion there were some inside jokes in the episode I didn’t get—the reference to the guy’s dialect coach, for one, uttered in almost the same breath as when Alan said the other character was “just an extra” and hence wasn’t allowed to speak. The Betty White story was thin and rushed, I thought. It’s like: cue ’em up and knock ’em down. Angry over pharma kickbacks? Not guilty. Next!