Tidings

These two stories from 2019 and 2021 do a lot to clarify the true nature of Black Lives Matter:
Family of dead robber blames clerk for defending himself.
Family of thug says that Good Samaritan bystander shot him should not have gotten involved.
The police and courts exist in part to protect criminals from mob justice. If there were no police, ad hoc committees of safety would have run those two families out of town, and the robber who survived being shot would have died because nobody would have taken him to a hospital. Better that we have police and courts, but you’ll have a hard time explaining that to lowlifes and leftists.

‘Tis done.

[ Slumps across desk, emotionally spent. ]

BTW, happy Boxing Day to y’all over there.

BTW, happy Boxing Day to y’all over there.
That did confuse me when I was very young.

That did confuse me when I was very young.
I know, right? Though Tate was a huge guy, heavily favored, I was pulling for Weaver. But even I was shocked when Tate went down like felled timber.

In other news, there are just three episodes of The Expanse left and I’m wondering how the story can be wrapped up adequately in the time remaining. I don’t have any particular grumbles about what I’ve seen so far this season, but given the scope of the story, and of the ultimate threat – which is still, as yet, only hinted at with a few missing ships – three episodes doesn’t seem like enough for a satisfying conclusion. Unless of course the thing jolts into a much higher gear in the next episode.

there are just three episodes of The Expanse left
Well, as mentioned previously, still recovering from some slice’n’dice, so much vidscreen viewing of Jeff’s video service, and…
Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and some broad from a Bond flick – all made it safe across the river, found the white tower, and magical stuff happened, all without killing Sean Bean. Meanwhile, in space, no one can hear a plot. Or story. Or whatever.
But hey, I still get next day delivery on most of the ordered stuff, so there’s that.

It’s not that it’s been bad exactly, but it’s meandering along with no apparent end in mind.
I haven’t read the books, which I gather continue well beyond the point the TV series will end. But unless we’re going to end up with major threads going unresolved, especially regarding the ring-builders and the beings that seemingly wiped them out, a lot of stuff has to happen in the final three episodes.

the ring-builders and the beings that seemingly wiped them out
So LOTR ver 2.75?
Frodo Lives!

OK, I’m likely going to bungle my thoughts on this but this is why I have a hard time with the concept of extended serials. When such things do work, like say Indiana Jones or certain X-Files shows or even down to TV series, the carry-over from one episode to the next is generally lightly coupled. You have the general idea of characters and such but they don’t rely heavily on a plot consistency across episodes. Once you start down the path of multi-episode plot lines, unless the entire concept was written and for the most part finalized before the first production starts (think the first two Star Wars…NO NOT I & II, IV & V…OR WHATEVER…dammit) the extended time amongst different people, be they writers, the director, the whiny/bitchy little actors, even the critics and the fans, all start trying to “improve” the story. Each in their own little way but even in the best circumstances the dynamics begin to degenerate the plot exponentially. It is bloody hard to come up with a lie (and all fiction, hell even “non-fiction” history is a lie) that remains consistent. Reality or memory, be that memory accurate or flawed, will degenerate the perception of the story line over sufficient time. And these productions involving hundreds of people*? Even more opportunity for screwups, and then not just with the story. True, they do go back and review and there are people assigned to catch such things which is why any of it succeeds at all (I’m thinking those folks drink a lot), but to catch every flaw? Not gonna happen. The best you can hope for is your story is so exciting, so enthralling that no one but nerds like me notice. And even I try to pretend not to. No, honest, I do. To a point…
*Though one thing that I enjoy about even bad movies, if they are huge productions with costumes and remote locations and hundreds or thousands of extras, is the ability of the director/producers to manage all of that. The people themselves is one thing but you also have the logistics of feeding and possibly, if a sufficiently remote location, even housing all those people. Wife and I were extras in a small movie a few years ago (Trouble With The Curve) and while I was aware of these issues it still was interesting to see how the whole situation, especially with us hundreds (maybe thousand?) of extras was managed IRL.

but of those few I am not aware of any evidence that their creators devoted any thought to how the series would reach final resolution.
I’m reminded of the 2004 Battlestar Galactica series, which hit the ground running and was a real treat, and then… er, got a little confused. The Cylon’s infamous plan, mentioned cryptically and ominously in the opening credits, seemed to change from season to season, insofar as it made any sense at all.

The whole story arc shebang was kicked off by Babylon 5;JMS famously started with 5 years of story, with trapdoors to write each character out without breaking the story. Other people saw the long serial story work, without realising it worked because it started with the story.