AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review published my short story Matthias Comes Home From the War today. AE is a relatively new pro-paying market and I’m very happy to help the launch their third issue.
Didn’t do much writing this weekend, though I did tidy up a few little side projects that have been lingering in my INBOX for a while. On Saturday I watched the old spy thriller The Fourth Protocol, starring Pierce Brosnan and Michael Caine based on the Frederick Forsythe novel. Brosnan is baby-faced and earnestly serious as a Russian spy in the UK charged with detonating an atomic bomb at an American air base so the Americans will be blamed and kicked out of England, thereby upsetting the NATO alliance. All very Cold War-ish, but it holds up pretty well. Caine is his usual reliable self as the British spy who uncovers the whole scheme but is on the outs with his power-hungry new boss.
Elton John was the host of SNL this week. I never watch the show and I was surprised to discover that I had only heard of two of the regulars: Kristen Wiig and Seth Meyers. EJ played two songs from The Union with Leon Russell and appeared in most of the sketches, which were, by and large, a pretty dismal and dreary lot. He was clearly ill at ease during his opening monologue but still managed to get off a few good ones. The impromptu punk rock song at the end of the Royal Wedding sketch was a bit of a revelation. The only time he seemed to be acting (instead of just reading off cue cards) was in the closing Western segment, where he actually did a voice. They picked two lively songs, so that was worth watching but the rest? Meh.
I dropped The Event after the sixth episode, but a friend convinced me to give it a second chance, especially given what happened in the most recent episode. So, I did a marathon, watching episodes 7 through 15 over a two-day period. The mid-season entries were still a bit on the lackluster side, but it really does pick up and the most recent one was nothing short of dazzling. A real game changer.
One of the things I find most interesting about the show is that there aren’t many characters to solidly root for—at least not without reservation. Once you understand what everyone wants, then it’s easy to see why they’re all at odds and no one is particularly more right than anyone else. I would say that Leila is the most sympathetic character overall, since she wants to find her family and, once that is accomplished, to understand exactly what her family is. Sean Walker is nominally the star, but would be more sympathetic if the actor were a better performer.
The President is presidential, but he hides behind the same buzz words (national security) to justify deeds he doesn’t want to explain, and he’s growing increasingly callous and bloodthirsty. Virginia Madsen’s character, the widow of a former congressman, is put up as kind of a villain, but in the real world she is completely justified in what she’s doing: trying to ferret out a government secret.
We’re supposed to sympathize with Sophia, but she has her own agenda and doesn’t hesitate to make the tough decisions when backed into a corner. As a mother, she’s somewhat emasculating. It’s no wonder Thomas turned out the way he did given how relentlessly unsupportive and critical she is toward him. Blake Sterling is probably the most straightforward of the political cadre. Some of the characters are allowed to redeem themselves in our eyes, especially Vicky, who was once a threat and is now and ally, and who looks pretty good in a blond wig and a fancy gown.
Remains to be seen whether the show will go on after this season, but I’m glad I gave it a second chance. Not terrific, but not totally dismiss-able either.
Now, talking about terrific, the opening two hours of The Killing were fine television. The new AMC series is a remake of a Danish series that was very well received in the UK. The American version, though set in a very rainy Seattle, has the feel of a British crime series. Something like State of Play, for example. The main character is a homicide detective on the verge of giving it all up to move to California to marry. Her paperwork is all filed and she’s ready to go when this last case lands on her desk. She’s a fascinating character. Taciturn but sensitive. She doesn’t analyze crime scenes the way they do on the typical procedural. She accumulates all the facts and lets them percolate. She is experienced enough to have a kind of intuition. Her sidekick isn’t exactly a partner. He’s supposed to be her replacement, but because they are overlapping they act like a team. He’s from narcotics, and is younger, shiftier, edgier.
The story of the murdered girl’s family is extremely well done. We get to see them before they find out there’s anything to be worried about, then during the purgatory of “not knowing” and then the dreaded news arrives and it sinks in gradually. It all feels very real and very true. Fine performances by the parents, and it will be interesting to see how they deal with the loss as time goes on. Then there’s the third storyline about the candidate for mayor whose campaign is implicated in the murder. His PR guy is real so-and-so, which means he probably isn’t the killer though we’d all like him to be.
The story is playing out slowly, over 13 hours I believe, so it’s not a murder-of-the-week situation. I hope viewers get behind it, because it’s good stuff.
