review of Homeland 4.5 

Homeland continued percolating on all fronts tonight, with especially good action for Carrie and Saul, in two separate but, of course, related stories, because all stories are intertwined in this series.

Carrie\'s seduction of Aayan progresses and expands.   She wisely pulls back the day after their first bedding, when he tells her that sleeping with her goes against his faith and makes him ashamed.  But she knows he wants her, and wants more of her, not only because he slept with her in the first place, but because she catches him looking at her body, under the cover, when she\'s waking up in the morning.  So she confides in him about her baby to win his confidence, draws on her own real pain to make her presentation believable, all with the goal of getting Aayan to take her in his arms and then back to bed, which he in fact does.   He wants to pleasure Carrie - it\'s unclear if he does, but she\'s again able to draw on real emotion to make the moment convincing.

As I\'ve been saying in my reviews this year, I like this new Carrie, much more in control of herself and therefore able to play a better game of spying, much better than the wounded bird of the previous seasons.   I\'ve seen reviews of the show that find her seduction of Aayan disturbing - taking advantage of a boy - but she\'s always done what\'s necessary, and correctly views saving of American lives as more important than other kinds of ethics.    That\'s why she was able to sleep with Brody in the first place.

Quinn, for obvious reasons, is the voice of prudish concern on the show.   Clearly, he loves Carrie, and that\'s what\'s moving him.  Meanwhile, Saul, who loves Carrie in a different way - as a fatherly figure - got into the thick of spying himself tonight.  Except, it turns out that everything he did at the airport, in one of the best sequences of action scenes for Saul, was all a plan from the ISI brunette agent to kidnap him.

As always, Homeland is nearly unpredictable, and I\'ve got to say I\'m enjoying this season a lot more than last year\'s.

See also Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie\'s State of Mind ... Homeland 4.3: Quinn and Carrie ... Homeland 4.4: Carrie\'s Counterpart

And see also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal

And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality

And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional

The Chronology Protection Case movie, with new extended ending

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This blog quoted in New York Times & Los Angeles Times & Boston Globe & The Atlantic!

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

Chronicle of Higher Education puts Paul Levinson in Top 10 (#7) of Academic "High Flyers" on Twitter ... Online University Data puts PL in "Top 50 Online University Professors on Twitter Worth Following"...

Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren\'s fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom

President, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1998-2001

I’m proud to be on the May 8 page of this calendar, with the following quote:

"What begins as a seemingly innocent campaign against indecency … always segues in short order into political censorship."

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The Knick Sneak Preview Review 1.10: Fallibility

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"the only people who have proof of their sanity are those who have been discharged from mental institutions"— Marshall McLuhan

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winner Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction Novel, 2000

"Forensic detective Phil D’Amato is one of my favorite characters" --Connie Willis

"A superb and often amusing account of one of the greatest revolutions in human history" --Arthur C. Clarke

100 rare + unreleased tracks were on sale April 18-21, 2011. All proceeds went to help Japan! Thanks for your generosity! Tracks included Tori Amos, Sara Bareilles, Josh Ritter ... and Paul Levinson singing "Sunshine\'s Mine"!

Twice Upon a Rhyme reviewed in Jan-Feb 2011 Shindig Magazine

Paul Levinson appears on "The O\'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News," "Nightline" (ABC), the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS), "The Dylan Ratigan Show" (MSNBC) and frequently on NPR and all-news radio...