After a few more review passes, I submitted the newest short story to the editor. It was a little bit presumptuous, but just a little. This is for an invitation-only anthology and one of the other contributors asked me to pass the guidelines along to someone else. At the same time, this contributor said that the anthology was far from full and that I was welcome to send something in. So, not a direct invitation, but an indirect one. The concept appealed to me, so I wrote this story over the course of the past few weeks and I’m very pleased with the way it turned out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say. Now it’s time to focus on the essay that’s due in less than a month. My research for it is nearly finished so I can now start to work on the piece itself.
We watched Unstoppable this weekend, the runaway train film starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pine (Star Trek) and Rosario Dawson. Reminded me a bit of the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 without the crime and with more adrenaline. The trailer made more of the children-in-peril angle than is actually the case. The writers spend enough time with the two main characters to give them some depth. Washington’s character has been laid off and Pine’s wife has a restraining order against him, so they’re both in emotional turmoil, but they put their own issues on hold to become the heroes of the story. Inspired by a true story from a decade ago.
This week’s Grey’s Anatomy was one of the best in recent memory, and that was in large part because it returned its focus on two main aspects of the show: Meredith and medicine. She’s taken a back burner for the most part lately, and I think the show has suffered from it. She’s a charming character when given the chance to shine, and the medical components of the episode were interesting and compelling. One of the most fascinating character arcs of all has been the development of Karev into one of the most compassionate and caring (and skilled) doctors of the bunch.
Another strong episode of Fringe. Walter is becoming increasingly afraid that the universe is falling apart and he doesn’t know what to do about it. After considering all the options, the only solution he can come up with on the spot is the one Walternate arrived at: sealing up the ruptures in amber to prevent vortices from forming. It’s making him rethink his attitude toward his counterpart. Last week we saw that Walternate refused to experiment on children, so they both have their strengths and weaknesses. One isn’t better than the other. When he flipped the coin 10 times and came up with the same result, and then postulated that the people had fallen through the balcony, I immediately thought of the infinite improbability concept behind The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That’s impossible! No, it’s just highly unlikely. In quantum mechanics, protons can tunnel through energy barriers instead of going over them. This concept was demonstrated in one book by saying that, in theory, a vehicle could pass through a garage door and materialize on the other side. Highly, highly unlikely but conceptually possible.
All this angst brought out the worst side of Walter. He became grouchy. “I’m sorry if, at this moment, while the universe is collapsing, I forgot the magic word.” A moment later, he recalled being chided for his lack of manners. “Thank you. Please. Hocus pocus. Whatever you want to hear?” And his frustration rang through loud and clear when he snapped, “Is it ‘second guess everything I do’ day? Because I wasn’t informed.”
New developments in the Olivia-Peter relationship. It was pure irony that they had to convince a woman to break her connection with an alternate version of a loved one from the other universe, since Olivia would like nothing more than to have Peter stop thinking about Faux-livia. But she seems to be breaking through her fears. Good for them. And Broyles got his moment when he said he was going to have to run the amber protocol up the ladder. “Not the way you imagined meeting the President,” Peter said. “I already know him. He doesn’t like me. I beat him at golf.”
While we were discussing Justified earlier this week, my friend (and When the Night Comes Down editor) Bill Breedlove mentioned how Olyphant’s character in Deadwood had become overshadowed by Ian McShane’s Al Swearengen and wondered if he had the same concerns about Walter Goggins as the somewhat villainous Boyd Crowder. I didn’t understand the reference. When I told Bill I’d never seen Deadwood, he said that was a situation that needed to be rectified, so he lent me the three seasons on DVD. We watched the first few episodes the other night and it’s quite good so far. I can see how Olyphant’s character might have been overwhelmed. So far, he hasn’t done much to distinguish himself except for hanging the horse thief before leaving Montana and shooting the man involved in the murder of the “square heads” heading back to Minnesota. Keith Carradine makes a fine Wild Bill, and I recognize at least two actors who went on to Sons of Anarchy Dayton Callie, who plays Bill’s right-hand man, Charlie Utter, who is the Charming sheriff on SoA, and Robin Weigert, Calamity Jane, who plays SAMCRO’s lawyer. It took me longer to figure out why I knew the doctor, who played Grima Wormtongue in Lord of the Rings. The score in the first few episodes reminds me greatly of the Firefly score. Looking forward to working our way through all 36 episodes.
