Five Favorite Episodes of "MANHATTAN" Season Two (2015)

 

Below is a list of my five favorite episodes from Season Two of the WGN series, "MANHATTAN". Created by Sam Shaw, the series starred John Benjamin Hickey:

FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "MANHATTAN" SEASON TWO (2015)

1. (2.07) "Behold the Lord High Executioner" - In this episode, the Los Alamos base's commander, Colonel Emmett Darrow, engages in the hunt for a possible spy after the son of a Native American cleaning woman stumbles across a can filled with equations.

2. (2.10) "Jupiter" - While the countdown to the first nuclear weapon test commences, Dr. Frank Winter races to apprehend a Soviet spy who intends to sabotage the gadget.

3. (2.02) "Fatherland" - Frank endures a brutal interrogation at the hands of the U.S. government at an undisclosed location, before he discovers the real reason behind his imprisonment.

4. (2.06) "33" - When Frank and the other scientists begin to harbor ethical doubts over the construction of the Bomb, they engage in a moral battle with the U.S. Army over how the Bomb will be used.

5. (2.03) "The Threshold" - Worried over Frank's disappearance, his wife Dr. Liza Winter wages a battle against Colonel Darrow to find his whereabouts and facilitate his return to the base. Meanwhile, Rachel Isaacs, the wife of scientist Dr. Charlie Isaacs, stumbles across a secret about Dr. Robert Oppenheimer's private life.

"THE RESIDENCE" (2025) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from the Netflix limited series, "THE RESIDENCE".   Created by Paul Williams Davies and adapted from Kate Andersen Brower's 2015 book, "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House", the eight-part series starred Uzo Aduba:

 "THE RESIDENCE" (2025) Photo Gallery

"ADAM BEDE" (1991) Review

 

"ADAM BEDE" (1991) Review

Recently, I had come across an old BBC production that I have not seen in years. The production was a television movie based upon author George Eliot's first novel, "Adam Bede".

This adaptation of Eliot's 1859 novel told the story of four young people from the rural English community of Hayslope around the end of the 18th century. This "love rectangle" revolved around a local carpenter named Adam Bede; a beautiful, yet self-absorbed milkmaid named Hetty Sorrel; the local squire's charming grandson and heir, Captain Arthur Donnithorne; and Hetty's cousin Dinah Morris, a beautiful Methodist lay preacher who is also attracted to Adam. How did this "rectangle" come about? Although highly regarded by the Hayslope community as an intelligent and talented carpenter, Adam has a weakness . . . namely his passionate and unrequited love for the beautiful Hetty. Unfortunately for Adam, Hetty was deeply in love, lust or simply dazzled by the handsome and charming Arthur. Did Arthur love Hetty? I honestly do not know.

As I had stated earlier, "Adam Bede" was George Eliot's first novel. Eliot's earlier skill as a writer is very apparent in this television adaptation. Do not get me wrong. I rather enjoyed "ADAM BEDE" very much. But it did not strike me as . . . fascinating or complex as other George Eliot adaptations I have seen. If one must be honest, the whole "servant girl get seduced by rich young man" scenario is not particularly new. I suspect that it was not new when Eliot wrote this novel back in the 1850s. I believe that Eliot had used this trope again when she wrote "Silas Marner", which was published two years after this first novel. Both stories featured "fallen women" and both portrayed the latter in a slightly unsympathetic light. Mind you, Eliot did a good job in conveying Hetty's struggles between the discovery of her pregnancy and the verdict during her trial. But I could not help but suspect a slight taint of Victorian morality in Eliot's portrayal of Hetty. I believe screenwriter Maggie Wadey tried her best to overcome that rigid morality, but thanks to the narrative, I do not think she had fully succeeded. Especially when one considers how "ADAM BEDE" ended.

If I have a real problem with "ADAM BEDE", it is the ending. If the production had been a two-part movie, perhaps . . . You know what? I suspect that stretching out the running time would not have solved what I believe was the narrative's main problem. I believe changing the ending would have helped. One problem proved to be Hetty's fate. After being found guilty of infanticide, Hetty was sentenced to execution. Her sentence was commuted to penal transportation to Australia at the last moment, thanks to Arthur Donnithorne. Ye-ee-ea-ah . . . I found this scenario a bit improbable. It seemed as if Eliot had tacked on this last minute fate for Hetty to avoid a truly tragic ending. Another problem I had with the ending proved to be the main protagonist's relationship with the Dinah Morris character. The movie featured a brief scene in which Adam Bede regarded Dinah as an attractive woman. Despite this, he spent most of the production harboring a passionate, almost possessive love for Hetty Sorrel. Once Hetty was sent away for transportation, Adam became romantically interested in Dinah. Rather fast. Too fast, if you want my opinion. I realize that he was urged to consider Dinah as a romantic partner by others, but . . . yeah, I thought the final romance between the pair happened too fast.

However, "ADAM BEDE" had its virtues. One, the production did an excellent job in conveying the mores and traditions of a rural town in Britain at the end of the eighteenth century. I found it amazing how the town's middle and lower classes were judged a bit more harshly than the upper-class residents. I noticed that although Adam is not regarded as morally questionable, many others tend to judge him based upon his moral compass . . . a lot. I also noticed that many seemed to regard Arthur's morals with a wary eye, they seem willing to give him a pass. I doubt they would have been that generous with Adam. But that is always the case, is it not . . . at least for those who are not part of an elite social group.

If middle and lower-class men had it bad, women of all classes had it worse. Dinah Morris is portrayed as a decent and pious woman. Yet, there seemed to be a slight air of disapproval directed toward Dinah, due to her role as a Methodist lay preacher. But no one is judged more harshly than Hetty Sorrel. Even by Eliot. Audiences are expected to harshly judge Hetty for her desire for a life "above her station". But I will give credit to both Eliot and screenwriter Maggie Wadey for injecting a great deal more of ambiguity and sympathy toward Hetty . . . especially after she became pregnant.

I also have to commend the movie's performances. There was not a bad one in the bunch. Susannah Harker made a very serene Dinah Morris, even I did not find the character particularly interesting. James Wilby had a more interesting character to portray, namely the shallow and sensual Arthur Donnithorne. However, I do not think Wadey's screenplay really gave the actor much of a chance to explore Arthur's ambiguity, aside from one or two scenes. "ADAM BEDE" also featured excellent performances from Jean Marsh, Paul Brooke, Robert Stephens, Freddie Jones, Michael Percival and Alan Cox.

Julia McKenzie struck me as particularly memorable as Mrs. Poyser, the aunt of both Dinah and Hetty. Although Eliot had written her as a comic figure, the actress managed to inject a good deal of pathos and emotion into the character, thanks to the screenplay. Patsy Kensit was superb as the flighty, yet hard-luck Hetty Sorrel, who proved to be the most interesting character in this tale. Kensit managed to skillfully rise the character's one-dimensional portrayal in the movie's first half and embrace the ambiguous quagmire that poor Hetty ended up in the second half. Superficially, Adam Bede did not seem as ambiguous as Hetty. Superficially. But underneath the stalwart and industrious carpenter existed a proud and emotional man, whose world centered around a woman who did not love him. And man did the producers select the right man to portray young Adam - namely Iain Glen. I have been aware of the actor for several decades. And I have noticed that whether he was playing a hero, a villain, anti-hero - you name it - Glen has always managed to convey the emotional depths behind his characters on a level that very few actors have managed to achieve . . . whether through his voice or expressions. Or perhaps both. And he utilized the same level of skill in his portrayal of the emotional and lovelorn Adam. No wonder I have been a fan of his for years.

Overall, I would never regard "ADAM BEDE" as one of my favorite George Eliot adaptations. The problem is that the movie reflected too much of the novel's narrative flaws. But not all was lost with Maggie Wadey's adaptation. I still managed to enjoy the movie, thanks to its intriguing plot and first-rate cast led by Iain Glen. In the end, I believe it had more virtues and flaws.

"LOST" Commentary: "Confusion Over Time Travel"

 

"LOST" COMMENTARY:  "CONFUSION OVER TIME TRAVEL"

I did a recent rewatch of the "LOST" Season Five episodes, (5.02) "The Lie" and (5.03) "Jughead".  After viewing it, I had come to a realization about the Oceanic 815 and the S.S. Kahana castaways left behind on the island, following the Oceanic Six and Ben Linus' departures.

The second half of "The Lie" featured the Oceanic castaways, former member of the Others Juliet Burke and the Kahana freighter survivors being under attack by the Others in 1954 with flaming arrows. I can recall seeing many figures attempt fleeing or attempting to into the jungle in order to survive. But now . . . I find myself wondering why did all of the remaining inhabitants at the Oceanic beach camp had skipped through time. Why all of them? And why am I questioning this writing decision?

The season's sixth episode, (5.06) "316", saw the Oceanic Six (sans Aaron Littleton), former Others leader Ben Linus, and pilot Frank Lapidus (who had been part of the Kahana crew three years earlier) return to the island on Ajira Flight 316 during the fall of 2007.  Of this group, only Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes and Sayid Jarrah had disappeared from the plane and traveled back in time to 1977.  Thanks to Frank's piloting skills; he, Sun-Hwa Kwon, Ben, and the rest of the Ajira 316 passengers and crew had landed on Hydra Island, the small island close to the main one.  At least those who had survived.  They did not time traveled back to 1977.  Instead, they had remained in 2007.

Here is another interesting tidbit.  In "The Lie", both James "Sawyer" Ford and Dr. Juliet Burke had noted that the zodiac inflatable boat that Dr. Daniel Faraday had been using to transport Neil Frogurt and other Oceanic 815 castaways from their beach camp to the S.S. Kahana during the Season Four finale, (4.12-4.14) "There's No Place Like Home", had also traveled through time with the castaways.  Even while it was beached.  Juliet had pointed out that it must have traveled along with them because Daniel and the five Oceanic castaways had been traveling toward the freighter when the time traveling began.  

I had also realized that only certain characters had played roles in the incident regarding the Dharma Initiative's drilling into the island and the detonation of the Jughead in 1977.  They included:

*John Locke

*Dr. Daniel Faraday

*Dr. Jack Shephard

*Kate Austen

*Sayid Jarrah

*James "Sawyer" Ford

*Dr. Juliet Burke

*Miles Straume

*Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

*Jin-Soo Kwon

*John Locke

*Dr. Charlotte Lewis
*Rose Nadler

*Bernard Nadler

How did they play a role? 

*Locke, with the help of his fellow castaways, had left on the island, using the Donkey Wheel and electromagnetic energy inside the Orchid Station.  He wanted to contact the Oceanic Six and convince them to return to the island in order to save those left behind.  His death in Los Angeles set in motion the events that led to "the Incident".

*Unlike her fellow time travelers, Charlotte had never ended up in the 1970s and become part of the Dharma Initiative, due to her death from the time jumps.  But her death had led Daniel to join the Dharma Initiative's scientific staff at its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan and consider the possibility of changing the timeline to save her.

*Daniel was the one who became aware of the Dharma Initiative's dangerous drilling into the island's electromagnetic energy in 1977.  He was also the one who tried to warn Dr. Pierre Chang about the dangers of this drilling.  And he was the one who came up with the idea to use an old U.S. Army hydrogen bomb named Jughead to stop the drilling and destroy the island's electromagnetic energy, in order to reset time and prevent the crash of Oceanic 815's crash in 2004 and Charlotte's death from time travel.

*Following Daniel's death at the hands of his mother, former Others leader Eloise Hawking; Jack decided to continue with Daniel's plans by contacting the Others in order to get hold of the Jughead bomb.  Like Daniel, he saw this as an opportunity to destroy the island's electromagnetic energy and prevent Oceanic 815's crash in 2004.

*At first, Kate was willing to help Daniel and Jack acquire the Jughead bomb.  Following Daniel's death, she found his idea implausible and dangerous and sought out Sawyer and Juliet's help to stop Jack's plan to detonate the bomb.  Her appearance aboard the Dharma submarine had convinced Juliet and a very reluctant Sawyer to return to the island.

*Sayid Jarrah, who had been hiding from the Dharma Initiative ever since his attempt to kill the 12 year-old Ben Linus, had appeared to help Kate break away from Jack and the paranoid members of the Others, led by Eloise Hawking.  He was also the one who had dismantled the core from the Jughead bomb and tried to rig it for detonation upon impact.

*Although Rose and Bernard Nadler had experienced the time skips during the first five episodes of Season Five, they had separated from their fellow castaways/time travelers following the Others' attack upon the castaways in 1954.  Kate, Sawyer and Juliet eventually encountered the couple in 1977, where they had established their own cabin near the beach.  A comment by Rose had produced a brief and affectionate glance between Kate and Sawyer, producing jealousy within Juliet.  This led the latter to eventually embrace Daniel and Jack's plans regarding the bomb and convince Sawyer to help Jack.  She had believed a time reset would spare her the possible pain of being rejected by Sawyer, in favor of Kate.

*Sawyer had served as the Dharma Initiative's Head of Security, until the latter discovered he was personally acquainted with the recently arrived members of the Oceanic Six.  He had made a deal for him and Juliet to leave the island by their submarine.  But Kate had convinced the couple to help her prevent Jack from detonating the bomb.  Sawyer led the group that eventually came to Jack's aid at the Swan Station construction site, when the latter found himself trapped by armed Dharma personnel.

*Miles Straume (Dr. Chang's son), Jin-Soo Kwon and "Hurley" Reyes had all joined Sawyer, Juliet and Kate in their defense of Jack at the Swan Station construction site.

*During their three years with the Dharma Initiative, Juliet and Sawyer had fallen in love.  It was not surprising Juliet had developed a fear that Sawyer would renew his romantic interest in Kate.  This fear had finally took complete hold of her when she witnessed Sawyer and Kate's exchange of affectionate smiles at the Nadlers' beach camp.  This fear had driven Juliet to finally participate in Daniel and Jack's plans to use the Jughead bomb to change the timeline.  And this fear also drove Juliet to detonate the bomb, herself, when it had failed to do so after Jack had tossed it into one of the construction site's pits.

What is the point of all of this?  The above people had played a role in the incident regarding the Dharma Initiative's drilling and the Jughead bomb's detonation at the barely constructed Swan Station.  This detonation had finally stopped Dharma's drilling into the island and prevented a world-ending event in 1977.  In other words, the above people had played roles - major or minor - in saving the island and the world during that period.  

This meant Sun, the adult Ben, Lapidus and other passengers aboard Ajira 316 did not play a role in "the Incident" in 1977.  Neither did any of the other Oceanic castaways who had been left behind at their beach camp.  Which leads me to wonder why showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had not allowed Ajira occupants Sun, Ben and Lapidus to travel back in time; but had allowed other nameless Oceanic castaways to time travel with Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Jin, Miles.  I understand why Frogurt and the four other Oceanic castaways had traveled through time.  They had been inside the Zodiac with Daniel, when the time skips began.  And since they had played no role in "the Incident", it was not surprising that Lindelof and Cuse had allowed the Others to kill them off in 1954. 

But what about the rest of the Oceanic castaways who had been left behind on the beach?  Lindelof and Cuse should not have allowed them to experience the time skips at all.  They had played no role in "the Incident".  Nor had they been inside the Zodiac boat with Daniel.  They should have remained behind at the Oceanic beach camp, in December 2004-January 2005.

"SENSE AND SENSIBILITY" (1981) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from "SENSE AND SENSIBILITY", the 1981 television adaptation of Jane Austen's 1811 novel.  Adapted by Alexander Baron and directed by Rodney Bennett, the seven-part miniseries starred Irene Richard and Tracey Childs:

"SENSE AND SENSIBILITY" (1981) Photo Gallery