One-Hit Wonder?

The internet seems to have collectively decided that Wonder Woman 1984 was garbage. But are you still interested in what I thought? In a nutshell, I'd say it's a movie with a decaying half life.

In the immediate aftermath of watching it, I knew the sequel wasn't as good as the first Wonder Woman movie... but I really didn't think it was that much worse. Just another example of the internet being extreme and hysterical, right? For perspective, I seemed to be one of the few people who thought that the original Wonder Woman was basically "fine" and not the soaring triumph most everyone else judged it to be. So basically, my reaction to the two movies was kinda-sorta the same as everyone else's, just in a much narrower range.

I do mean in the immediate aftermath of watching the sequel, though. Because about three seconds after the mid-credits scene ended (a scene which decidedly did not "change everything," no matter what the again-histrionic internet claimed), my husband asked of me: "wow, that was terrible, wasn't it?" Terrible? Really? "Yeah, like, worse than Aquaman terrible." Ha! No, it wasn't that bad.

Except... every time I've found myself thinking more about the movie in the days since I watched it, I find myself thinking less of it. I'd somehow managed to mostly turn my brain off and not care about the little things (and some big things) while watching it, but each new moment of reflection after the fact just reveals more flaws.

Without spoiling anything, I can point to general weaknesses. There's a 15-minute prologue that has only a gossamer thematic connection to the rest of the movie, serving mostly as an excuse to bring back a few actors from the previous film. (And yet, action-wise, the prologue might just be the best material in the movie?) There are strange creative choices that seem to be trying to have things both ways without actually making a bold narrative stand. There's expansion into wilder parts of the Wonder Woman mythos that for a "layperson" like me, the first movie was much wiser to just omit.

If I am spoiling things, then the dominoes really start to fall. (Meet me at the next paragraph, if you're avoiding spoilers.) The mechanics of the "monkey's paw" wishing are a completely muddled mess. How does Max Lord know he'll be in control of the "price paid?" Why does Barbara Minerva get two wishes -- even after Max tried earlier in the film to grant someone's wish twice, only to specifically show us that doesn't work? What kind of weak-sauce monkey's paw curse just lets you renounce your wish? What's the point of bringing back Steve Trevor in another guy's body if you're not going to do anything with that, plot-wise ---- if it's magic anyway, just bring him back!

There are a lot of fairly dopey moments surrounding Wonder Woman's superpowers, that sort of remind me of the weird moment in Superman II where he's somehow able to rip an expanding cellophane "S" off of his chest to throw at the bad guys. What we see in this movie may have more actual grounding in the comics than that goofy Supes moment, but I felt it provoked a similar reaction.

Gal Gadot is still just as charismatic in the lead role as she's been before. There's lots of fun scenery chewing by new stars Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal. The music by Hans Zimmer is strong again -- it remains one of his most effective compositional choices since the Inception BWAAAANG! to give Wonder Woman a highly unusual theme in 7/8 time (rather than a typical 4/4 superhero march).

But the thing is, when you think back to Wonder Woman 1984 after watching it, you're simply not going to think about that handful of decent elements. You're going to find another plot hole, decide that one action sequence really wasn't as good as you thought, realize your disbelief wasn't nearly as suspended as you thought, or some such. This thing evaporates like cotton candy.

Right now, in this moment, I find myself thinking the movie is probably about a C-. By this time tomorrow, who knows how low my opinion may have sunk? Or maybe, after having now put down my thoughts, I'll simply stop thinking about it, which just seems better.

Soul Fulfilling

Wonder Woman 1984 seemed to be the more talked-about movie released to a streaming service on Christmas Day... but the movie I was most eager to see was the newest from Pixar, Soul. This was despite not actually knowing too much about what the movie really was. Pixar has only had a couple of true stinkers, so I was ready to sign up for whatever they had in store for me next.

What they had was the story of Joe Gardner, an aspiring musician trying to get back to Earth from the afterlife for his big break. The way to do it runs through "22," a malcontent soul Joe needs to reform in order to secure his route home. The two of them soon become more entwined than either would have wanted.

It's not unusual for a good Pixar movie to have a carefully constructed script that binds character and narrative together in essential ways while expertly pulling on the heartstrings. But to me, there was an extra "degree of difficulty" here for two key reasons. One was the way music is so deeply integrated into the story -- and that being jazz, specifically. Blending this inherently non-narrative music with the story, while making the most of both the visuals and the sound was no easy feat.

Second, and more significant, is that this is Pixar's first film to feature a black lead character. That's been far too long coming -- and perhaps exactly for that reason, there was potential for them to mess it up. My own perspective on those results is clearly not as important as how people finally being represented in a Pixar movie feel. But for what it's worth, I think Soul does a great job showing universal human truths while not shying away from specific cultural touchstones.

Pixar movies are always a visual treat, but Soul is especially great in this regard. I don't just mean the backgrounds, as beautiful and huge in scope as they are; the character designs are particularly impressive. The human characters are delicately expressive, particularly Joe's mother Libba and jazz musician Dorothea Williams (whose resting state of casual disdain is just perfect). The more fantastical characters are clever too, especially "soul counter" Terry, whose odd visual style clashes and blends perfectly all at the same time.

The voice cast is outstanding too, with leads Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey making an unlikely but effective comic team. They're as well paired as Woody and Buzz, Marlin and Dory, Mike and Sully, or any other classic Pixar duo you've loved. But the supporting characters are even better. Phylicia Rashad and Angela Bassett are the voices behind Libba and Dorothea, and their performances are as commanding as their characters' visual design. Meanwhile, Graham Norton is a fun and silly bit of frosting as the quirky Moonwind.

I was also quite taken with the film's music, an unusual blend of jazz arranged by Jon Batiste and stripped-down electronica by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. There are multiple moments in the movie where one style flows into the other quite seamlessly; I've heard a few say that this didn't work for them, but I found it very effective.

If I had one knock on Soul, it's that it is rather predictable -- and I mean that even by Pixar movie standards, movies that are often fairly predictable. Still, I enjoyed every minute of it. I give Soul an A-. The list of 2020 movies I've seen is shorter than usual (a topic I'll get to soon enough), but for the moment at least, Soul sits on top.

Bad for Christmas

It's a time of year that movie fans are catching up on things they missed in earlier months. Two major new releases just arrived on two different streaming services, and I have hot takes to share! (Maybe "hot." You don't know.)

But then also, if you're at all like me, the window on wanting to watch Christmas movies begin to shut -- rapidly -- on the day itself, and has closed altogether by New Year's Eve. So I'm going to sit on my thoughts on Soul and Wonder Woman 1984 for the moment, and instead lead with: I recently watched the holiday-themed sequel to Bad Moms: A Bad Moms Christmas. And if you're looking for a bit of light fluff in the last week of 2020, you could do worse.

I didn't give a glowing review to the original Bad Moms, but one thing it did have going for it was a great comic trio in Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn. The plot was thin and the tone was less raunchy than I'd expected, but when the jokes did come, those three leads made them funny. I was interested to see them return for another go, and my hope was that more accurate expectations for the tone would make a sequel more enjoyable.

I was right about that. Once again, the plot is tissue thin. The sentimental elements aren't folded in very well with the comedic elements. But the jokes do land. The raunchiness is actually dialed up a bit from the first movie. And once again, that core trio of Kunis, Bell, and Hahn is rock solid -- though Bell does feel a bit shunted to the margins this time around.

The gimmick of this story is that the "bad moms" have their own moms coming for Christmas... and that's an opportunity to expand the cast to wonderful effect. This movie brings in Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, and Cheryl Hines, and they really steal the show. Each of the three gets truly funny material, and they all seem here to cut loose and play in a fun way. By the end of the movie, I couldn't help but feel like I was ready to watch the "Bad Grandmas" sequel spin-off starring those three.

For sure, don't set your hopes too high. This movie is no instant holiday classic you're likely to want to watch year after year. But it's better than the original film, has its share of laughs, and is a light and breezy distraction in serious times. I'd say it's worth watching (whether you saw the first Bad Moms or not; it's hardly necessary) -- a pretty solid B.

If it's too late for Christmas movies for you, I get it. Maybe throw it in the queue to come back to next year. Hopefully by then, the idea of company crashing your house for the December holidays won't seem quite so alien and dangerous to us all.

Su'Kal

The latest Star Trek: Discovery finally got around to addressing the mystery of the Burn, a puzzle I had felt the writers deliberately ducking for several weeks.

The Discovery reaches the Kelpian ship sending a distress signal from the origin point of the Burn. There they find a single survivor, raised from birth by holograms, and with little awareness of the outside world. As a team tries to rescue him against a ticking clock of radiation poisoning, the ship (under Tilly's command) has a showdown against Osyraa.

Something was a little off to me in how this week's episode addressed its central mystery, as though the writers believed certain obvious plot elements to in fact be carefully hidden secrets. When Michael Burnham declares at the end of the teaser that "we may have just found the source of the Burn," I actually said aloud, "didn't you know you'd done that three episodes ago?"

It was the first of several reveals that fell flat for me -- not emotionally, but in the way the characters were so very far behind the audience. Of course Su'Kal's mother programmed all these holograms; she was the only one there to have done so. Of course Su'Kal caused the Burn somehow; he's the only one who has been here the whole time! (And it seems we're primed for yet another "shocking revelation" in the coming episodes: some trauma for Su'Kal seems to be the "mysterious" specific cause of the Burn; what could it possibly be other than the death of his mother?) 

There were other strange bumps in the writing, I thought. Saru knew the Kelpian in the distress signal was pregnant, but didn't think to correct misconceptions about that. Discovery has been outfitted with a cloaking device, but no one saw fit to mention that fact until now. Then there was the bizarre justification for the appearance of the Away Team being altered inside the holographic program: this was supposedly for consistency with the rest of the simulation... except that there already were Kelpians in it (removing the need to alter Saru's appearance), and the program seemed fine with having humans around, since it turned Saru into one (thus defeating the need to alter Burnham and Culber's appearance).

Of course, the real reason for the appearance swap was to get Doug Jones out of makeup for a little bit... and this was one of the places where, despite the episode's awkward construction, there were great elements within it. Saru was really having the emotional screws turned on him this week. Giving Jones the opportunity to portray that more subtly, to not have to emote through a thick mask of makeup, was excellent. At the same time, it wasn't necessarily a given that he'd be able to do that well; acting through makeup is a very different skill set, and there was no guarantee that Doug Jones would be as good at one type of performance as he is at the other. I look forward to seeing more of "reasonable call time" Doug Jones in the next episode.

There was a lot more great acting among the guest stars this episode. Bill Irwin is just a solid working actor who has popped up everywhere. He was wonderful as Su'Kal, capturing child-like innocence and working through the makeup effortlessly (or so it seemed). The various actors playing glitchy holograms also did a good job (each with their handful of lines), capturing the sense of error-ridden programs breaking down.

The visuals were also excellent throughout the hologram sequences, really portraying a sense of scope. The bizarre "Escher" room was vast and trippy. The "smoke monster" Kelpian was menacing and felt dangerous. The sweeping shots of a roiling ocean crashing on the rocks, the floating "video game" platforms sliding around in midair. It was all a real feast for the eyes.

And back on the ship, I enjoyed Tilly's first turn in the captain's chair. Sure, the logic getting her there was strained. I also wish that the season had done a better job making Osyraa feel more dangerous before now, so that the capture of the Discovery here seemed more inevitable and less potentially "Tilly's fault." Still, watching Tilly employ clever tactics, jujitsu Osyraa's verbal sparring back in her face, and generally commanding the respect of the bridge crew made for a lot of fun.

Certainly, the cliffhanger ending was effective, leaving multiple characters in a jeopardy I'm eager to come back to resolve next week. Overall, I'd give the episode a B.

DS9 Flashback: Strange Bedfellows

The final story arc of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine continues with "Strange Bedfellows."

Dukat and Kai Winn are growing closer... until a new vision makes clear to Winn just who Dukat is serving. Damar learns how the Dominion treats its old allies as a new one, the Breen, are brought into the fold. And Worf and Ezri try to escape from their prison on Cardassia Prime.

Three episodes into this "final chapter" of Deep Space Nine, the writers have fully embraced the serialized format; no element of this story originates or concludes within the episode itself. The various subplots run through almost like a soap opera. Even the character behaviors take on soap operatic scale, as they switch allegiances and cross points of no return. Still, it all flows smoothly and makes sense as the episode unfolds.

Behind the scenes, however, this episode was apparently one of the trickiest parts of the arc. Plans originally called for Sisko and Kasidy Yates to marry in this episode, but that had been moved earlier, leaving a gap in this episode to fill. (This was done with the scene of Martok describing marriage as a war -- you win some battles, but your spouse wins the war. Sisko then feels that when Kasidy refuses to play any official role as "The Emissary's Wife.") Complicating the writing process even more: Ronald Moore, the staff writer assigned to this script, went on paternity leave when his new baby arrived a month early, causing the rest of the staff to scramble away from their own episodes to help finish this one.

This is a fantastic episode for Damar. (The first of several.) His rapid disillusionment with the Dominion is well presented, and perfectly entangled with his problem drinking. The literal "I don't like who I see in the mirror" shot is a television trope, to be sure, but it's delivered in quite a distinct way here as his disgusting, syrupy kanar oozes down the glass. He delivers many a zinger along the way too, getting his verbal punches in on Weyoun.

It's a good episode for Worf and Ezri, who finally get to the bottom of just what their relationship will be. After first blaming Ezri for "seducing" him, Worf admits that he was trying to force himself to feel the same way about Ezri that he did about Jadzia. I'm less convinced about the "now the path is clear for Julian" of it all -- I don't quite see what's special between him and Ezri. (And the aborted philosophical introspection he tries at Quark's this episode doesn't move the needle for me.) But Ezri and Worf do reach a point that feels something like a divorced couple that can still be friends.

It's a wild ride of an episode for Kai Winn. As in the previous one, I remain a little disappointed that master manipulator Dukat is driving this "villain team-up" so much -- subtly poisoning her thinking to blame Sisko for all her troubles. And yet Winn does have a nice story arc, revealing much of her nature. Although she is initially horrified to learn that her visions come from the Pah-wraiths, and terrified that the true Prophets refuse to speak to her, she ultimately turns away from gods that would ask her to make any personal sacrifice.

The scene with Kira is rather short, but delicious and illuminating. Fearing for her soul, Winn turns to the most pious person she knows for advice. Kira gives it honestly: it's not too late to turn away from the self-serving choices that have led Winn to this point. But "power corrupts" isn't a saying on Bajor, apparently. The Kai's response isn't angry or indignant. She just literally cannot conceive that giving up power would be the solution, or that there's any reality in which what's good for Bajor would be different than what's good for her. It's a fascinating pathology (and a realistic one, with plenty of politicians serving as real world examples).

Other observations:

• Weyoun has some great moments through this episode, from creepily suggesting Ezri and Worf be imprisoned together so they might "comfort" each other, to taunting Ezri too skeevily and getting his neck snapped by Worf. (Goodbye Weyoun 7, hello Weyoun 8.)
  

• A few scenes were reportedly cut for time from this episode that would be quite interesting to see some day, making more of a subplot of the scene with Kasidy Yates. Kira got to give more great spiritual advice by revealing to Kasidy that her own father was not a religious man, but attended services for love of his religious wife. Ultimately, Kasidy decides to participate in the Bajoran ceremony as Sisko asked.
  

I think "Strange Bedfellows" is a compelling continuation of the story elements put into play so far in this final arc. I give it a B+.

Terra Firma, Part 2

Star Trek: Discovery's mid-season two-part episode concluded with its most recent installment, "Terra Firma, Part 2."

Georgiou continues to navigate the Mirror Universe while making different choices -- trying to reform Michael Burnham through mercy, and making an ally of Saru (rather than an appetizer). Her decisions ultimately lead to a reckoning with the mysterious Carl.

There were parts of this episode that did work for me, but also a lot that it didn't. Ultimately, the issue came down to this: the series was saying goodbye to Michelle Yeoh more than it was to Mirror Georgiou.

The Emperor is not a nice person to be around. She's disdainful, unhelpful, rude, and mostly uncaring. Very few characters on the show had a positive relationship with her; many characters had no relationship with her at all. So the idea that anyone outside of Michael Burnham would be sad to see her go rang utterly false to me. Of course, the writers will miss having a character who can toss off a withering barb at any time, and an actress you can always give an exciting fight scene. The audience will no doubt miss those things too. But that's Michelle Yeoh, not Georgiou.

Otherwise, much of what I said about last week's episode applies to this one. This is a weird time in the narrative to pause the ongoing mystery of the Burn (which we're this close to solving!) to indulge in a two-part trip to the Mirror Universe. (Could they not have written this before triangulating the Burn's origin?) It's weirder still to devote so much time to what isn't really the Mirror Universe, but an imagined alternate take on it where actions have even fewer consequences that a normal MU trip.

There were a few creative spices thrown in the meal -- though some of those moments come with unresolved questions of their own. It's a fun bit of fan service to bring back the Guardian of Forever... and yet wasn't part of jumping 900 years into the future supposed to be that Discovery could be less beholden to the original series? It's clever to return Georgiou to the past for her in-development series... but with a means right there to return to their own time, isn't it a little weird that Burnham doesn't try to push hard for the Guardian to send the whole crew back? And surprise: no Lorca! But then why the hell did we talk about him so much? (I understand the real-world answer to why he's not there: they either couldn't get Jason Isaacs back, or didn't want to distract from Georgiou's swan song in that way. But again: why talk Lorca up so much?)

I guess I do excuse some of the indulgences in this episode because it is about saying goodbye to Michelle Yeoh and she has indeed been good for the show. (Though it does seem as though Tig Notaro as Jet Reno can fill some of the same narrative needs.) But I still just wasn't really feeling this particular story at this particular moment in the season. I give "Terra Firma, Part 2" a B-. I'll be eager to get back on track with the next new episode.

Knight Watch

After a break from reading books in The Dresden Files series (and a side trip to a book that felt quite like a Dresden book to me), I found my way back to Summer Knight, the fourth installment in author Jim Butcher's series. And unfortunately, I'm beginning to think maybe this series just isn't for me.

Summer Knight finds Harry Dresden entangled in fairy power struggles. Coerced by one side, opposed by the other (in the personage of a former lover!), and hung out to dry by his fellow wizards, Dresden must turn to the allies he's made in his adventures thus far: police lieutenant Karrin Murphy, a pack of young werewolves led by Billy Borden, and tiny fairy Toot-Toot.

This book started off quite strong for me. I liked the way the plot made use of returning characters from the three prior Dresden books. Where earlier books seemed more like an ad hoc grab bag of supernatural trappings, this one started to feel more coherent and thought through. Actions of the previous book had consequences in this one, characters had grown and changed, and the pages flew by quickly for me.

But as the central mystery of this story took center stage, my momentum through the book slowed considerably. The raft of new fairy characters all felt alike to me, vague and undefined in contrast to the sharp returning characters. Keeping track of everyone's agendas, and even understanding the plot basics, began to feel like a lot of work to me. And as I lost interest in reading new chapters every night, keeping it all straight only grew harder for the gaps between reading.

Even the action began to seem slow to me, somewhere around the halfway point. An encounter in a Walmart store dragged on three chapters, and the final showdown took place in a nebulous otherworldly environment as hard to visualize as its multiple interchangeable characters. It just wasn't clicking for me.

I did ultimately finish the book, but it had felt more like work to me than any of the previous ones. It felt like a C+ to me. On the one hand, maybe it’s time to make a break and forget about the subsequent more-than-a-dozen volumes. On the other... maybe I'm the one missing something? Lots of people I know really like these books, and maybe this was just one of the not-so good ones -- a bad episode of The X-Files or Supernatural that shouldn't be used to judge the series.

Or maybe it's time for me to go read another Iron Druid book. My post on Hounded got more of a response than my typical book-centric blog posts do.

Witness for the Defense

You probably don't have a subscription to Apple TV+ (unless you're took my recommendation to watch For All Mankind, or recently bought a new Apple device and got a year-long free subscription). If you aren't already subscribed, the TV series Defending Jacob is probably not reason enough to change that. If you are subscribed, though, it's something you might want to check out.

Based on a novel by William Landay, Defending Jacob is a 8-part mini-series. District attorney Andy Barber's life is upended when his 14-year-old son Jacob is arrested for the murder of school classmate. He and his wife Laurie try to stand by their son, but face increasing reasons to doubt his innocence.

In a world where everyone is trying to launch and sustain their own streaming service, and looking for the next buzzy television series to anchor it, it feels like a true oddity that Apple TV+ would serve up an eight-episodes-and-done one-off story. Then again, when people are recommending more shows to you than you could possibly watch even if it were your full-time job, a contained story like Defending Jacob might be just the thing.

The story is engaging enough, drawn out perhaps a little longer in places than feels necessary, but centered on the characters in the right way. The real appeal, though, is an outstanding cast. Chris Evans stars as attorney Andy Barber, and if you know him only as stalwart do-gooder Captain America, you'll find this role a refreshing change-up. This is a story of moral compromise, and Evans is called on to display some real acting chops as it unspools.

The titular Jacob is played by Jaeden Martell, in another case of the kids from Stephen King's It proving their talent. Martell isn't often called on for big histrionics here, but the quiet, sometimes creepy tone he does strike is perfect for the central mystery of the story: did Jacob actually do it? Jacob's mother Laurie is played by Michelle Dockery, best known for Downton Abbey. She gets most of the heavy lifting here, as her character slowly breaks down in the face of what she's up against.

The supporting cast is just as strong. Veteran Cherry Jones plays the defense attorney running Jacob's case, and her calm poise is a perfect counterpoint to the family drama. Pablo Schreiber, an actor you've almost certainly seen somewhere (The Wire, Orange Is the New Black, American Gods) is the delightfully smarmy prosecutor on the opposite side of the case. Betty Gabriel injects realism into her role as the lead investigator on the case. And the always-excellent J.K. Simmons pops up halfway into the story in a very important, scenery-chewing role.

Like I said, Defending Jacob is not by itself a reason to sign up for Apple TV+. But if you have it already, or have been slowly accumulating reasons to subscribe, put this on your list. I give the series a B+. It's a tight little drama that doesn't shy away from some dark subjects.

DS9 Flashback: 'Til Death Do Us Part

The second episode of Deep Space Nine's final arc is something of a "where are they going with this?" episode that keeps Ezri and Worf imprisoned for the hour, pairs two long-running villains in a wild way, and plays one last game of "will they, won't they?" between Captain Sisko and Kasidy Yates.

Reeling from his vision from the Prophets, Sisko calls off his wedding to Kasidy Yates. Ezri and Worf's relationship is affected by the latent feelings revealed under Breen interrogation. Damar is whisked away by Weyoun on a secretive mission. And in Bajoran disguise, Dukat arrives to seduce Kai Winn.

This is certainly a great episode in advancing the final story arc, and there are a lot of moments in it I like. But there are little things throughout that trip me up a little. Take the Worf/Ezri storyline. I've long supported the fact that Deep Space Nine doesn't need all its characters to be "likable" in a traditional television sense. Quark is perhaps exhibit A for this, an outright criminal who nevertheless has a key role on the show and is fun to watch. Or, at least, Quark was Exhibit A until the Deep Space Nine writers got their hands on Worf.

Worf, as written on Deep Space Nine, really is the worst. That doesn't mean he can't be put in a dilemma where you feel for him. But he's pretty terrible here, groaning one moment about the meaninglessness of dreams, then tearing into Ezri the next moment for the contents of her dreams (post-torture!). I mean, this is all in service of having Dax move on completely from him, so I guess "well done"? We all want that by the end of this episode.

I wish Kasidy had made Benjamin work a little harder to earn her back after calling off the wedding. I suppose I can respect that the writers didn't make this a protracted, made-for-televiion "manufactured obstacle" to uniting a long-running couple. But what he does to her here really has to hurt, and she's awfully quick to forgive. (It does help that over on the sidelines, Kira is clearly very upset/concerned that Sisko has chosen to defy the Prophets.)

Even though it's only one element of the episode, the hour is fairly dominated by the pairing up of Kai Winn and Gul Dukat. There's something appealing in the idea of uniting the two great villains of Deep Space Nine. But it's a pairing I don't find entirely successful for a few reasons. First, Gul Dukat simply knows too much. He knows exactly what to say, the precise phrases to use, to draw Winn into the trap. One could infer that the Pah-wraiths have coached him in this regard, but that seems like unusually direct communication from these supernatural entities. (I guess they really are nothing like the circumspect Prophets.)

Secondly, some details are glossed over quickly because they just don't make any sense. Winn is the head of the dominant religion for an entire planet. "Just some farmer" can get an audience with her? And while she's understandably vulnerable in the wake of her "Prophet vision," she has no curiosity at all about this man they've sent her? She's such a political animal, wouldn't she want to know everything about the "guide" she will now be linked with? Many details of Dukat's story could be checked -- the location of his farm, the weather in the area -- yet she doesn't even have her clearly suffering attendant do this for her?

Thirdly (and this is kind of an extension of "secondly"), because Gul Dukat is being set up to be the Ultimate Bad for the final episode, he naturally dominates the "team up." Winn is a complete dupe, completely clueless and manipulated at every turn of this episode by both the Pah-wraiths (who manifest to her as Prophets) and Dukat. At least it's being true to her character even if it does diminish her status as a villain. Winn's core trait is her profound neediness, and she knows deep down that she's a fraud. The fact that she's never spoken with the Prophets gnaws at her, leaving her vulnerable to being played in the way she is here.

The story also plays to a deep core in Dukat too: he needs to be loved by Bajorans, in every sense of the word. Of course he turns what could have been a simple con job into a romantic relationship. And he relishes the performance at every moment, taking perverse glee in telling a story that weaves in "Gul Dukat," as though daring Winn in that moment to figure out the truth -- because it will be better for his ego if she still embraces him even knowing who he is.

Other observations:

• I love how there are moments that cut directly from Weyoun and Damar's ship to the Breen ship, daring the audience to figure out before the final scene that the two are heading toward a rendezvous.
  

• It feels momentous that Dax isn't at Sisko's wedding. I wish there had been more comment on this.
  

• The dialogue spoken by Admiral Ross as he performs the wedding ceremony hews close to Picard's words in "Data's Day," which in turn were inspired by Kirk's in the classic episode "Balance of Terror."

• Worf claims that no one has seen what's under a Breen's helmet. But when Kira and Dukat stole the uniforms off of two Breen, surely they did.
  

I may have reservations, but "'Til Death Do Us Part" is nevertheless a very effective "yes and" to the ideas begun in this final story arc. I give it a B.

Have a Ball?

I've played a fair number of "roll and write" games (and off-shoots of those games). Maybe you have too, since they are all the rage right now: games where each player has a personal sheet of paper to track rolls (Yahtzee-style) and chase a better score than their opponents.

I've seen a good variety of themes among these games -- including games that have barely any theme at all. Now that there are getting to be so many of these games, many designers are experimenting more with mechanical twists on the formula. Others are sticking with what's been popular so far. Very much in the latter camp is Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade.

Each player takes a dry erase sheet showing an identical pinball machine (though the game comes with multiple options, for greater replayability). Each round, one player rolls two dice, and then everyone chooses one of the results to move a pinball token around inside their machine to strike various targets and amass points. After everyone has played through three "balls," the player with the highest score wins.

One thing is indisputable: the flavor is strong here, and the game does an excellent job capturing the mechanics of playing a pinball game. You must respect "gravity" and move your ball downward through sections of your sheet on each turn... until you use a limited number of "flippers" at the bottom to fling your token back up into play. You can focus on different parts of the "machine" for different types of scoring schemes, you can trigger bonus balls and control more than token at once, and you can even "tilt" the machine to rig die results (but you risk locking your machine and losing your ball).

But this game also includes a mechanic I've disliked in other roll-and-write games, and dislike again here: at every single stage of the entire game, each player is presented with identical decisions. Each die roll is offered to all players at once, with everyone picking one of the two numbers available. You all start with your first "ball" at the same time, so at every moment, everyone could choose to play it exactly the same, marking the same parts of their individual score pads and gaining the same number of points. You all have exactly the same number of tilts to use throughout the game, and would be at an identical risk for doing so if you trigger yours at the same moment as another player.

Some games like Twice As Clever are smart enough to present different choices to different players. Not Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade. There's never any "making the best of your situation." There's no element of luck that affects one person any differently than the rest. At the end of the game, if every player had only made exactly the same choice as the winning player on every turn (something they did have the opportunity to do), then everyone would be tied for victory. I simply don't find this at all satisfying... though I gather not everyone has the same hang-up about this, as I keep seeing this come up in game after game in this genre.

If flavor does matter to you, then like I said, this game absolutely excels in this area. And as is also often the case with roll-and-write games, the play is pretty fast-paced. That simultaneous decision making means there's very little down time, and the whole thing plays in about 30 minutes. So I probably would play again, if that were my group's choice. It just wouldn't ever be my choice.

I'd probably rate Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade a C+. (But maybe B- would be more fair, in deference to how successfully it captures the flavor of a pinball machine.) It's more approachable than some "and write" games, which might make it a hit for your play group. I personally want a little more strategic meat on the bone.

All the World Is Staged?

If you watched the mini-series Good Omens, you're aware of the marvelous chemistry between David Tennant and Michael Sheen. (Side note: I went to go link to my past review of Good Omens... only to discover I never wrote one! Suffice it to say, it's a joy!) Sheen and Tennant seem to have genuinely enjoyed working together, as they've now done it again in a new project: Staged.

Staged is an unusual half-hour comedy trying to salvage something good from the mess that is 2020. Co-created by writer-director Simon Evans, it's the story of Simon Evans trying to wrangle temperamental actors David Tennant and Michael Sheen into rehearsing for his next theater production. The idea is that when the pandemic is over and theaters reopen, they can be first to mount a new show because they've done their rehearsals online via Zoom in preparation. But really, the whole endeavor ambles along as a curiosity, born of a lack of anything better to do.

There's a bit of a magic trick at work in Staged, in that it's watchable, much less good. I know how I felt to hear the premise -- it sounded "too soon," "too real," "too serious" to me. Do I really want to watch a show about everyone being cloistered in their houses, doing their best to get by? I'm living that! And yet, that great rapport between Tennant and Sheen that made Good Omens so fun is back in full force here.

Also, there seems to be a looseness to the entire show that serves it well. It's either partially improvised around the outline of a script, or so convincingly acted as to feel completely natural and improvisational. Jokes build from episode to episode. Fun guest stars turn up to help the show feel bigger than you'd think, even though we're only seeing a handful of Zoom windows.

The show seems to have struck a chord, as the BBC has recently renewed it for a second run of episodes. (Sadly, the pandemic continued long enough to support more episodes of "everyone is stuck at home.") Alright, sure, the less charitable interpretation would be that it's hard to produce any new original content right now, but they can make this. But this is surprisingly fun, and not too bad under the circumstances.

Is it essential viewing? No, probably not. But if you liked Good Omens, chances are quite high you'll like this. (And if you haven't seen Good Omens? Well, watch that, then watch this.) I'd give Staged a B. Its six breezy 20-minute episodes are not a bad way to pass this time at home.

Seeing Is Believing?

At one point or another, we've all seen an "Invisible Man movie." Maybe it's the black and white classic, or the schlocky Kevin Bacon vehicle Hollow Man. It's all just an excuse to showcase whatever visual effects are cutting edge for the time, right? Hardly essential viewing?

Well that's certainly what I thought about 2020's "The Invisible Man," and why I didn't go out of my way to see it in the theater back in February. (Had I known then I wouldn't be going to the theater for anything for the rest of the year, maybe the calculation would have been different?) But I caught up with the movie recently at home, and was pleasantly (modestly) surprised.

Yes, this new version of The Invisible Man is a showcase for visual effects -- and they are incredibly well done. But what's more interesting is the psychological component to the way this story was put together. This movie revolves around Cecilia, a traumatized woman escaping from an abusive relationship with a mad inventor. The story almost feels only incidentally about whatever scientific breakthroughs her ex Adrian may have invented. It's much more about the emotional damage Cecilia carries with her now. This is part of a top to bottom effort to ground the movie more in reality -- and a modern reality at that. It's a "believe women" take on this tale, and more compelling than just another tale of tinkering with serums.

This wouldn't work as well as it does if they didn't have Elisabeth Moss in the lead role. She is excellent generally, and excellent here as Cecilia. Her trauma feels raw and real... but neither is she a shrinking violet; she is very much in charge of this narrative. It's exceptionally rare for a performer to receive award recognition for a horror movie, but Moss would deserve it here. She gives this movie her all, and it works because of it.

But it's hardly flawless. For one thing, the movie is exceptionally slow to get going. The script almost flirts with the idea that maybe everything really is all in Cecilia's head, to such a degree that I almost wish the movie did even more to make us the audience question that. And if it wasn't going to commit to something that daring, then I wish it had spent time showing us more of the man she's escaping from. (He's "invisible" from the movie even before he's "the invisible man.")

Eventually, though, the story does arrive at the movie it wants to be, and the movies it might have been fall away. There are good moments of tension, good jumps that don't feel too cheap, and solid characterizations along the way. No, it's not the best movie I've seen in a while. Not even the best horror movie. But it's not bad.

I'd give The Invisible Man a B. Maybe that's mostly Elisabeth Moss, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. And if you like thrillers, you'll probably like this one reasonably well.

Terra Firma, Part 1

Star Trek: Discovery's third season has been a compelling reinvention of the show, incorporating more stand-alone stories with a new ongoing mystery. But I was a bit disappointed at the regression that was the latest episode, "Terra Firma, Part 1."

The Discovery crew confirms the origin point of the Burn was within a nebula... where a distress signal from a Kelpian ship seems to be emanating. But before they can investigate, the matter of Georgiou's health becomes dire. On a remote planet, she steps through a doorway that returns her to her own time and universe, there to make different choices that might change her fate.

In my view, the concept of the Mirror Universe is a well that empties quickly. The more Deep Space Nine revisited it, the less compelling it generally was for me. Discovery refreshed the Mirror Universe with a less campy, more serious take... yet so much of the first season revolved around it that I was ready when it was over to leave it all behind. (Emperor Georgiou notwithstanding.) Maybe I'm just cranky because I've become invested in the mystery of the Burn, and resent this two-part interruption now, just when we were getting to the climax of that story.

Still, I think another reason I wasn't thrilled with this episode is my opinion of what the Mirror Universe is good for. I see it a chance for the actors to cut loose and play something different; if we see they're having fun, that's fun for us to watch. And we did get that with "Killy" and the Mirror Universe Michael Burnham. Yet Georgiou is of course behaving as she always does, and the rest of the characters were barely featured and/or barely different. (Did anything about Stamets say "Mirror" to you?)

There's also something rather fantasy-tinged more than sci-fi about the scenario here. (Hmm... this is part of why some people dislike Q so much.) Georgiou finds a random mystic, steps through a magic door, and is now having a spiritual journey. The chances that any of this is actually happening seem vanishingly small. Since it seems this must be a vision, and since they've already told us a new Trek TV series built around Michelle Yeoh is in development, the stakes of all this feel quite deflated.

Still, there were moments where I felt myself able to give in and enjoy the little things. I mentioned the delicious fun of Killy and Burnham -- those performances by Mary Wiseman and Sonequa Martin-Green are everything I want in a Mirror Universe visit. Add to those a fun turn by CSI's Paul Guilfoyle as the mysterious "Carl." I may have questioned the magical conceit there, but at the same time I quite enjoyed the quirky character, perhaps precisely because he felt more appropriate to an episode of The Good Place than Star Trek. I also got a kick of David Cronenberg's Kovich dismissing the Kelvin movie timeline even more casually than those movies dismissed the original Star Trek universe.

Perhaps it would be better to reserve judgment on this episode until I've seen what Part 2 holds? Then again, I sort of feel like I can guess. Georgiou's problem was that she's both out of her time and out of her universe, so this is all a "quest" to prove to whatever power that makes the rules that she's different now, a better fit in our universe than the Mirror. Or something like that. Plus, after saying the name "Lorca" like 47 times, if Jason Isaacs doesn't show up in Part 2, then what the hell are they all thinking?

Barring a stupendous resolution next week that makes me rethink it all, though, "Terra Firma, Part 1" is easily my least favorite episode of the season. I give it a C+.

DS9 Flashback: Penumbra

Over the course of seven seasons, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had introduced so many recurring characters and continuing plot lines that to wrap them all up in a conventional two-hour series finale would be clearly impossible. So the writers and producers settled on devoting the last third of the season -- ten hours in all -- to a fully serialized concluding "final chapter" of the show. It kicked off with "Penumbra."

Worf has gone missing in the Badlands after a skirmish with the Jem'Hadar, and Ezri Dax is determined to find him. Meanwhile, Dukat comes to Damar with an unusual request. And Sisko makes big plans for his future... which the Prophets warn against.

When you start watching this final story arc of the series, it's quite striking how much like modern television it feels -- even though it's over 20 years old. There's no "to be continued" at the end of the episode. There are three running plot lines, yet none of them is really resolved within the space of this hour. Events simmer at a deliberate pace; while plenty of "stuff happens," there's also plenty of time given to marinate in how all the characters are feeling.

When the writers set out to plan it all, they reportedly had all the major character moves in mind -- they knew how they wanted things to end up for Sisko, Odo, Kira, and so forth down the line. They also knew they had to wrap up the Dominion War. But when it came to specific plot points, there was only so much planning they could do before they'd themselves shuffling everything around. Ultimately, they just had to get started and hope to figure it all out along the way.

They chose to kick things off with an Ezri/Worf story, feeling that relationship had to be addressed before Ezri could move on to anyone else. I like the way they went about this, putting the softer Ezri in the more active role. Spurred by memories of Jadzia's past (which we actually get to hear), she sprints off to the rescue. (Why they don't call back to the station once Ezri finds him, I couldn't say. Beyond the plot needs, of course.)

There are a few cliches in this story line I don't love -- faking "mouth static" on a phone call, an attempt to hit someone turning into a passionate kiss -- but I think things work well overall. The episode does a good job highlighting how Ezri is not Jadzia (and yet kind-of-sort-of is), and painting Worf as an "ex" whose once-endearing habits are now nothing but annoyances. There is a lot unsaid between them -- largely because Worf doesn't want to talk about Jadzia -- that is finally said here.

The Sisko story line is quite methodically connecting the dots between the series premiere (when he would rather have been anywhere but Deep Space Nine and Bajor) and the series finale -- both where Sisko thinks he'll end up, and what the writers have actually have planned for him. Kasidy Yates seems so very right for Sisko, completely accepting of his unusual heritage, that the Prophets' demand that he not marry her seems especially cruel. (Of course, we'll see what they mean in the end.)

The writers' room would have benefited from some female perspective generally, but particularly in this marriage proposal subplot. I don't love that Sisko just plans the whole house on Bajor (complete with Bajoran emblem on the door) and then springs it on Kasidy to accept as is. Fortunately, the performances of Avery Brooks and Penny Johnson do make it all come off fairly romantic. Perhaps it helps that by the end of this episode, it seems like neither of them is getting exactly the wedding they want; "the Emissary" getting married is going to be a big deal for all the Bajoran people.

As for Dukat? You can only wonder at this point what he'll be up to disguised as a Bajoran. The episode does a good job of reminding you about where things stand with Weyoun and the Great Link and Damar without it seeming like a simple "exposition dump." There's an interesting relationship at play between Weyoun, Damar, and Dukat that helps keep it all interesting.

Other observations:

• There's supposed to be no money in the Federation, but moments like this make you ask: how does Sisko buy the land on Bajor? You would hope he doesn't just throw his Emissary clout around and get it for free.

• Not that it was on anyone's list of "things we have to touch on before the end," but I like that the transparent-skulled Captain Boday gets a new mention. So do the Son'a, connecting to the then-recent Star Trek: Insurrection. We also see the Badlands, looking badder than ever.

"Penumbra" gets this final story arc kicked off in a compelling way. I give the episode a B+.

The Sanctuary

With just a few episodes left in season three, Star Trek: Discovery is entering "Act III" of the story they've been telling. Last week's episode touched on a number of continuing threads... and yet was still somewhat stand-alone.

Discovery travels to Book's home planet. There the crew must deal with a threat from the leader of the Emerald Chain, Book must deal with a feud involving his brother, and both must face an environmental catastrophe on the planet. Meanwhile, Culber tries to explore Georgiou's mental lapses, Tilly steps into her duties as acting first officer, Adira reveals some personal truths, Detmer overcomes her self-doubt, and a new revelation about the Burn is uncovered.

Star Trek: Discovery has struck a different "serialization vs. episodic" balance in its third season that I've quite enjoyed -- and yet it struck me quite forcefully in this episode just how episodic it's actually become. That's a weird thing to say when so many ongoing plot threads were touched on this week. I think it's that normally, a main plot is used to mirror or highlight something going on personally for one of the characters. Here, the main plot felt largely independent (depending on how much you read Book as a "main character" now), while all the character subplots took place in the margins.

This episode tapped into that classic Star Trek feeling in presenting a huge problem for our heroes to solve in an hour. Book's homeworld has been ravaged for years, but one visit from Discovery is the answer to it all. That sounds possibly disparaging when I don't really mean it that way; this is old school Star Trek storytelling, where not everything comes with an implicit (or explicit) "to be continued." Not all modern TV needs to be dark and serious, and I'm ok with this throwback element. (After all, Discovery is hardly "light" now; they did show us severed limbs as someone was devoured by a monster this week.)

Nevertheless, I did feel like there were some "growing pains" in many of the ways this episode was trying to expand Discovery's format. They're trying to round out Georgiou's character, so she isn't just a means of darkly comic relief (and someone you call upon for great fight choreography). They need to do this for the good of the show. But right now, a more vulnerable Georgiou feels a bit awkward, because it's not the character they've built so far.

We need a Big Bad for the season, but Osyrra didn't make the strongest impression here in her first appearance. Sure, she's ruthless, killing her own nephew for his failure. But she's not very effective -- not yet, at least. Discovery seemed to thwart her fairly easily, and without paying much of a price, which undermines her credibility as a long-term villain. (Or maybe we're trading up to a Bigger Bad at some point?) Ryn's role in this story felt a bit off too; Osyrra wants him solely for a secret he could reveal? How does she know he hadn't revealed it already? (I mean, he hadn't -- but how did she know? And why didn't he?)

I guess Detmer's issues have really been personal after all and not a science-fiction contrivance? To me, that feels like growing pains for the show too. I like the idea that not everything needs a technobabbly explanation, that people can have real problems. But I feel like back at the start of this season, the table for this story was set in a more ominous way that implied something different. Did the writers mean to imply something different, or are they still learning how to tell stories about "just regular problems?"

Something also felt a little rough to me in Adira's assertion of their preferred pronouns. Not the easy matter-of-factness in which Stamets and Culber accepted it; that's exactly what I think the moment ought to have had. But there did seem to be some level of discomfort in Adira revealing this, and no real insight into any personal struggle they had in reaching this point. I also don't believe there were any examples of any non-LGBT characters properly employing Adira's preferred "they/their," so once again the LGBT characters were sort of pinned in a story silo off to the side of everyone else, which feels to me like a bit of "othering" that sightly undermines the well-meaning message I believe the writers intended.

I mean, "growing pains" were even part of the comedy in this episode: Saru's quest for a catch phrase.

Like I said, it probably sounds like I was more down on this episode than I actually was. I do like the story direction overall. And when there are moments that do bump me, the cast here is always good enough to carry me through easily enough. But there was pretty clearly a lot of setup here for the final story push ahead.

Overall, I'd say the episode was a B for me. Perhaps one of the weaker episodes of the season, from one perspective -- but still better than average in a season I've really enjoyed.

Goes Wrong Is So Right

More than a year ago, I wrote in praise of The Play That Goes Wrong -- or at least, the touring version of the Broadway adaptation of the original British show by Mischief Theater Company. A hilarious mix of intentionally bad acting, cleverly designed sets, and smart writing, The Play That Goes Wrong was one of the funnier things I saw that year.

Now, the "Goes Wrong" brand is available in your own living room, as the same creators and original performers have a television series on BBC, The Goes Wrong Show. The six half-hour episodes are available for streaming in the U.S. on Amazon Prime, and I found them every bit as enjoyable as the play.

The Goes Wrong Show features the same actors every episode, ostensibly in a new "play of the week" being performed for an audience and then broadcast. The real actors are playing fictitious actors with consistent behavior and personality quirks, but those actors are one week in a legal drama, the next in a wartime "epic," and so on.

In all cases, everything does as the title promises and "goes wrong." Sets are destroyed, props get scrambled, actors forget lines, and more. It's perhaps bordering on cringe humor, particularly if you've ever participated in live theater, except that (for me, at least) it manages to steer clear by how well-executed the staged collapse always is. The appearance of a production absolutely falling apart is in fact orchestrated down to the smallest detail, and it's as hilarious as it is precise.

I will say, though, that this is one television show you do not want to binge-watch. The plays each episode are different, but the formula is fairly similar. I loved the first episode so much that I wanted to watch another one the next night. That next episode I found to be the weakest -- still good, but not nearly as hilarious. This may not actually have been the case, because once we settled into watching one a week (or sometimes even every two weeks), each remaining episode again became a delight.

The episodes each stand alone and can be watched in any order. (Indeed, the order that Amazon Prime has them is not the original broadcast order.) With that in mind, I write about the series now because the last episode (but actually the first, as BBC One aired them) is a Christmas-themed installment that is probably best watched in December. You might start with it to sample the show -- or you might start with "The Lodge," which I found to be the best episode. (I suppose that's why Amazon Prime arranged it first.)

In any order, though (and at the right pace), I found The Goes Wrong Show to be hilarious. A second batch of episodes has been ordered, and I am both eagerly awaiting them and glad to have a bit of a break so as not to tire of the formula. I give the series overall an A-. It's clever fun.

Prey Tell

As previously discussed on the blog, the movie Suicide Squad was a loaded diaper fire. But also as previously discussed on the blog, the animated TV series Harley Quinn was a flawless jewel. So good was the latter, in fact, that it compelled me to give a chance to the next DC movie to feature the character, the ponderously titled Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). It follows Harley Quinn as she teams up with an all-female squad of not-quite-heroes-not-quite-villains as they stand up to a sadistic crime boss.

I'll say right out of the gate, Birds of Prey is a better movie than Suicide Squad. You might even say it's a far better movie, though that's reflection on how much room there was for improvement on Suicide Squad than a reflection on any true quality here. Indeed, this movie suffers from many of the same flaws as the earlier one. An avalanche of cultivated "needle drops" is once again used to jump start emotion in the scenes that fail to generate any organically. Comic book details seem to weigh on the story like an anchor rather than serving as a springboard to anything exciting.

There are some moments that work, but they generally feel like they do so in spite of some off-putting creative choices. Some of the new characters introduced here are actually rather fun -- though not used nearly enough. Huntress, played to droll perfection by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, is a perfect meta commentary on how the DC movies take themselves too seriously... but she's as underutilized in this movie as Harley Quinn herself was in Suicide Squad. Ewan McGregor goes broad as over-the-top villain Roman Sionis, managing to strike a compelling balance of danger and fun... until he pointlessly dons a "Black Mask" that conceals his theatrics and consumes his personality.

The narrative starts out fairly well. It maybe leans a bit too heavily on Harley Quinn's narration and a purposefully jumbled sequence of events to pull you in, but it's generally engaging and rather effectively sprinkled with moments of genuine comedy. But around the halfway point, the story morphs into pretty standard "diabolical scheme" territory and becomes quite boring. I found myself regularly checking my watch, wondering how the back half of a less-than-two-hour movie could somehow feel at least twice as long as the front half.

All told, Birds of Prey landed in a sort of "not bad by DC standards" but "not good by general standards" neutral zone. I could see this batch of characters (and actors) being interesting under someone else's creative control, but I also don't really care if that's a thing that ever comes to pass. I'd give this movie a C-.

DS9 Flashback: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Crafting a mystery or a story with a twist ending is challenging enough on its own. Writing one that will stand up well to repeat viewings? That's more rare still. Did Star Trek: Deep Space Nine pull that off with "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"?

Section 31 operative Sloan reaches out to Julian Bashir once more, enlisting him to spy on the Romulan government during his upcoming diplomatic conference to their homeworld. Ordered to play along in the hopes of exposing the rogue organization, Bashir soon finds himself in a web of espionage with no one to trust.

I remember being wowed by this episode when it was brand new. Not only was I interested in the "dark underbelly of the Federation" that Section 31 represented, I loved the wheels-within-wheels nature of the plot and its many reversals. On a rewatch now? Well, it's still pretty good, but I wouldn't say great -- for a handful of reasons.

For one, the scheme feels unnecessarily convoluted here. Starfleet already has an embedded op at the highest levels of Romulan intelligence who seems to be under no suspicion, but everyone goes through this elaborate plot to... dig him in deeper, I guess? I mean, the stated reason for all this is to arrange the downfall of Senator Cretak, but surely there would have been a more direct way to do that which didn't involve risking the exposure of Section 31's existence to the Romulans?

Another issue is that Sloan is ridiculously far ahead of the game here. The risk of Bashir using his "mutant brain" to unravel the whole plot seems pretty high; but Sloan (whose brain is not mutant, so far as we know) has just out-thought him at every step. Reportedly, in the planning phases of this episode, Sloan was to be caught in the end, but in writing it, Ronald Moore became convinced that having him escape again was more interesting. (As a result, this plot thread they were meaning to tie up needed to be revisited one more time during the final story arc.)

I do find myself wishing this episode had tested Julian's morals a bit more. But then, I suppose we already have the excellent episode "In the Pale Moonlight," which put Sisko in that role (and which used Garak more effectively than his walk-on appearance here).

But even if parts of this episode seem perhaps farfetched, I still find it quite a lot of fun. The reversal that "Section 31" might just be a fiction concocted by a sad lone wolf bent on revenge is a marvelous red herring. The "badges off" conversation between Ross and Bashir, in which the benefits of a black ops group are debated, is typical of DS9's willingness to explore gray areas. And while Sloan may be an impossibly clever puppet master, I find him an intriguing character: he's glad there are idealists like Bashir in the universe... and they need to be protected from what the universe truly is.

The episode also draws a lot on past Star Trek lore in a fun way... though with some recasting. The character of Senator Cretak was Colonel Kira's frenemy in the season seven premiere, but is more sympathetic here both by circumstance and thanks to a warmer portrayal by Adrienne Barbeau. Romulan Praetor Neral was first introduced as a lowly "proconsul" back in "Unification II"; high office has really aged him. (He was recast with an older actor, presumably for more gravitas.) And though Koval is a new character, actor John Fleck previously played another Romulan schemer on The Next Generation.

Other observations:

• The argument in the opening scene between Cretak and Worf is fun, each poking at the other in a passive-aggressive manner over the tactical proclivities of their people.

• How long does Sloan sit in Bashir's bedroom waiting for him to wake up and observe the dramatic entrances?
  

• There's great, easy production value in this episode by using the sets of Star Trek: Voyager instead of giving us another Defiant-class starship. 

• About that crazy Latin title? Ronald Moore took it from the dust jacket of a book by William Rehnquist he randomly came upon while working on this script, and "took perverse glee" in using the phrase here. Show runner Ira Steven Behr quipped that Moore was just looking to top the flowery "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night" and must have thought, "Latin!"
  

The first time around, I probably would have given this episode an A or A-. Now, I see it more like a B. Maybe a more fair score would be somewhere in between?

Gimme Some Sugar

There are a handful of Steven Spielberg movies I've never seen, but it felt like one of the biggest oversights was his very first one. Not the made-for-TV movie Duel -- I actually have seen that -- but his feature debut, The Sugarland Express. I recently decided to cross it off the list.

This 1974 movie is based on a true story of a woman who busts her husband out of prison to go after the child who has been taken from them and placed in foster care. That prison break soon turns into a police abduction and a caravan of cop cars crossing Texas.

At first blush, this might not sound like Steven Spielberg fare, but it makes sense as you start to dig in. That made-for-TV movie I mentioned, Duel, is the story of road rage coming back to bite a man when he's stalked by a big rig; one can imagine a producer thinking that the man who directed that would be good for this story essentially about a prolonged "car chase." There is a family thread at the core of this that's common to so many of Spielberg's movies. And there's a lightness here just like you'll find in most of Spielberg's work (in the moments when "wonder" is not front and center).

Even though it's his first film, Spielberg is already being quite ambitious. Working with his cinematographer, he loads this movie up with flashy photography: long single takes that sweep the environment around a moving car, big crowd scenes peppered with memorable one-line characters, thoughtful landscape shots to set a scene, and more. And he's already found his life-long collaborator John Williams, who here provides a score that's almost nothing like you'd expect a John Williams score to sound, a smaller affair buoyed by solo harmonica.

The cast is fascinating. Goldie Hawn stars as Lou Jean Poplin, the mastermind who's anything but. It's a subtle shift to turn the blonde ditz she was known to play at the time into this self-deluded wild card, but that subtlety allows the performance to be both comedic and dramatic, and it's quite strong.

Her husband Clovis is played by William Atherton, aka the guy you know as the villain in every 1980s movie that called for someone ten years older than William Zabka. If you grew up not sympathizing with Atherton, like me, this role will knock your cinematic world a little off its axis in a fun way.

The patrolman caught up in their crime spree is played by Michael Sacks, who didn't stick with acting long after this. Sure, you couldn't say at this time that you'd "done a Steven Spielberg movie" (and have that mean anything); still, you'd think an unusual performance like this might have earned him enough later work to keep him in the business.

But I don't mean to praise The Sugarland Express overmuch. It's fun, but it's also quite slight. The script by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins is nothing particularly memorable. There's no truly exciting action. It's "comedy of errors" meets "road trip," which is something of an unusual formula that nevertheless yields a fairly predictable movie. It's an interesting artifact of curiosity in the career of one of the most successful directors living today... but it's hardly essential to understanding his work.

I'd give The Sugarland Express a B-. If you're aiming at becoming a Spielberg completist? Well, then, there are worse movies in his catalog, and you can watch this knowing "it's alright." If you don't ever expect you might watch all his films? You might just as well skip this one, then.

Binge-ness As Usual?

For some time now, I've been intending to post something about the Netflix TV series Atypical, and not really getting around to it. Though very straight-forward in premise, it defies easy description. Though I enjoyed it very much, I've found it a bit challenging to describe exactly why I think it clicks. But I'll give it a try...

Atypical is a show centered on the family of 18-year-old Sam Gardner, a high school student on the autism spectrum. His parents are going through a rough patch in their marriage. His sister gives him endless grief (while fiercely defending him from anyone else who would do the same). His friend and co-worker at his "Best Buy"-style job is constantly plying him with questionable advice on social situations. And while his therapist is helping him navigate the world of the neurotypical, Sam is developing the wrong idea about the possibilities of their relationship.

Series creator Robia Rashid has worked previously on How I Met Your Mother and The Goldbergs. From those experiences, she's developed her own half-hour show that's part sitcom (new school; no audience or laugh tracks) and part relationship drama. Atypical is never "setup-punchline," but it'll have moments that actually make you laugh out loud in almost every episode. It keeps a light tone, but doesn't shy away from topics like marital infidelity or paralyzing self-doubt. It's sort of a serious show that goes down like a fun and fluffy one.

The show's main strength is its cast. Keir Gilchrist stars as Sam, and he skillfully walks the tightrope of representing autism without it coming across like a caricature. (As the series continues over its so-far three seasons, it's better about introducing new characters played by actors who are actually on the autism spectrum.) Jennifer Jason Leigh is given most of the heavy lifting as Sam's mother Elsa; her hyper-controlling character is likeable while often daring to be unlikable, and there's no vanity in Leigh's performance.

Michael Rappaport plays Sam's father Doug, and Brigette Lundy-Paine his sister Casey. Both are given interesting story lines of their own as seasons unspool; before long, the series is not only about Sam, and their characters are used to great effect. Comic relief is delivered regularly by Nik Dodani and Jenna Boyd (though they too are given more serious moments at times). And regularly, guest characters that spark well in the mix are brought back for more in later episodes.

Though Atypical is not what most people would classify as "binge-worthy" TV, I flew through the existing 30 episodes at a truly brisk pace. A fourth and final season is said to be coming in 2021 -- though it will no doubt be delayed in its production by COVID. Whenever the last episodes do drop, I expect I'll breeze through them at the speed Netflix seems to normally demand of their subscribers. It's not flashy, or super-high-concept, but it's very well made and enjoyable. I give Atypical an A-.

Mars Probe

Terraforming Mars is one of the top 5 board games, according to BoardGameGeek. I had played it before -- but quite some time ago, in a flurry with a bunch of other games. I didn't set down any thoughts about it at the time, and then didn't play it again, so it didn't really stick. When I recently revisited it, I resolved to think more carefully about what it is that so many gamers love here.

You can guess from the title what Terraforming Mars is about. Players are collectively trying to bring to the red planet enough oxygen, vegetation, and heat to sustain human life... while playing a corporation that's trying to carve out the biggest and best piece of the new frontier for itself. There are a lot of elements at play here that, if stripped down to their most abstract level, you'll find in lots of other board games: most significantly resource collection and management, territory expansion, and card drafting.

There's a large deck of cards with unique abilities you can tap, upgrades you can play, and more. You get to look at several of these each turn to potentially draw into your hand, but you must pay for each card you want to keep. From a design standpoint, this means the deck can contain cards that only work well early and others that only work well late; they'll all have a place in the game because you simply don't have to buy them for your hand if they're outside their window of impact. From a player perspective, it creates this interesting Goldilocks situation in your hand where "options are good," but "too many options means you overpaid." Managing the right split between your hand of cards and your finances is an important skill to master in the game.

Another interesting "can you time this right?" mechanic involves one of the ways scoring happens at the end of the game. There are five possible categories that can be scored, though only three are selected for any given playthrough. And players actually select those during the game, by paying resources to choose one of the ways they want scoring to go. Make this move too early, and you let your opponents know exactly what they need to focus on to beat you. Make it too late, and the price to select a scoring condition goes way up... assuming a choice is even still available.

These strategic considerations, along with multiple resources to manage and a fistful of cards all competing for your attention does make for a fun puzzle. Plus, there's a lot of interaction with other players, as the spaces they take on the map force you to rethink your plans on the fly. There are also several "take that" cards you can aim at other players to cost them resources; these I could do without, but they aren't so prevalent to truly sour me on the game.

One aspect that does sour me, though, is the method of tracking your resources. In a half-dozen different categories, you have a tiny cube on a personal playmat that's used to track your income each turn, plus a nearby spot on the map where that income is banked from turn to turn until you spend it. The resources themselves are abstract cubes of sizes representing 1s, 5s, and 10s, with shiny metal-looking finishes to fit the game's theme. But this finish makes them slick as can be as they rest on your playmat... or rather, as they slide halfway across your playmat every time someone so much as grazes the table. I'm skeptical that anyone, anywhere has ever completed a game of Terraforming Mars without any player ever having their resources knocked askew at least once. Frankly, if the game weren't otherwise enjoyable, this would almost be a dealbreaker.

I don't have nearly the experience with Terraforming Mars that many gamers do, but I think at this point I'd like to play more. I'd say right now, I'd give it about a B+... but with room to trend up (if that resource thing doesn't just drive me bonkers in subsequent games). If you're a gamer-type reading my blog, the odds are you've played the game yourself. But on the off-chance you haven't: if you like strategic resource management games, you should check this one out.

Right On?

So, most of my audience probably has Disney+ right now to watch The Mandalorian, right? (I'm beginning to grow tired of that show, actually... but that's a topic for another time.) As long as that subscription is active, you might as well be watching other things, right? For me, one of those "other things" was clearly going to be The Right Stuff.

Loosely based on Tom Wolfe's book and the 1983 movie it inspired, The Right Stuff transforms the tale of the early space race into an eight-episode series (with a clear path for future seasons). The focus is still on the first group of U.S. astronauts, the Mercury program, and the drive to be "the first."

This material, this bit of history, is always going to be endlessly fascinating to me. Any take on the early space program, factual or fictionalized, is going to catch my attention. And it isn't really necessary that you "tell me something I don't know" about it, because at this point that would be fairly hard to do. But my hope is that at least the elements are being mixed in some kind of slightly new chemistry. This new incarnation of The Right Stuff doesn't really do that very much.

It does certainly remix The Right Stuff movie -- excising all the Chuck Yeager material and focusing the whole "first season" (assuming it's renewed) on the run-up to Alan Shepard's first space flight. It also heaps on the cliches. Every movie and TV show you've ever seen about egomaniacal flyboys, their college fraternity behavior, their macho posturing, and the suffering-in-silence loved ones in their orbits -- every one of these story beats you've ever seen is stuffed into these eight episodes.

Admittedly, it feels a little odd to call that out as something weak in the show. After all, this is a story about the first astronauts, the very origin of many of these cliches. The title, The Right Stuff, promises an exploration of this very material. and the show at least, more so than the movie (with its more limited overall run time) does get into the character flaws of these men without simply lionizing them.

But the thing is, I feel like you could have it both ways, touching on the cliches while putting a bit of a new spin on them. I feel this because I just saw it happen in the series For All Mankind, which I absolutely loved (and whose second season was just announced to start in February). I suppose For All Mankind is explicitly not constrained by a need to respect history, given its alternative history premise. Yet I feel like that show utilized a lot of the actual, real-world story elements of the Mercury astronauts to better dramatic effect than The Right Stuff.

And yet, I remain a sucker for anything about the early years of the space program. So even as I acknowledge the show's faults, I'm going to find plenty to like about it. The production values are great, perfectly evoking the 50s and 60s in fine detail (and making great use of visual effects, when called for). The cast is pretty good, with the standouts being Patrick J. Adams as John Glenn, James Lafferty as Scott Carpenter, and Jake McDorman as Alan Shepard. If a second season were announced, I'd probably be back to see these guys take on later missions in the Mercury program.

But I also wouldn't be surprised if another season isn't announced. This show can't be cheap to make, and watching it, I'm not sure there's enough here to hook a more general audience that's not inclined to give it a pass as I was. The series is perhaps a B overall, with both better moments and worse throughout its eight episodes. If you've already got Disney+ (for The Mandalorian? to have Disney animated movies at your fingertips?) then you might not be losing much to sample the first episode to see if it's for you.