"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Saturday, April 11, 2015

12 Monkeys Season 1 Finale: "Time Travel to Create Time Travel"

"Time travel to create time travel," Ramse says, back in 2015, having lived in real time in the past for decades since he arrived in Japan, and that's as good a paradoxical description as any of how time travel works in general and what we've seen in this series.

Significantly, Jones has despaired of time travel in 2043, and its ability to change the past, which she now thinks for an awful moment is inalterable.  But Cassie's arrival from the past will change her mind.   I've been saying from the beginning that there's some connection between Cassie and Jones - maybe they're not the same person, maybe Cassie's not Jones's daughter, but Cassie is now about to play a profound role in Jones' life and work, rekindling her commitment to time travel and what it can do. Good thing there's a next season to see at least part of this out.

Cassie had a great evening tonight, across the board and across time.  Back in 2015, it was a real pleasure to hear her call out Jennifer on her "crazy bullshit," and not let Ramse off the hook, either.   Shooting Ramse in that time and place was the right thing to do.

Killing him would not, though, and it's down to Cole to pull his friend away from death, with Cole's stubborn insistence that nothing is permanent in a world rent by time travel, including death itself. Cole in that moment ratifies and reiterates what I said in a review some episodes back about 12 Monkeys providing substance - and drama - to Shelley's proclamation that Keats was not dead after he died, that it was death that's dead, not he.

Several other points.  For some reason, I've come to like that slightly mad scientist technician in 2043, who not only keeps the time machine in as tip top shape as possible under the circumstances but comes through with the savvy observation at just the right time.   On the other hand, the preponderance of villains in the present and future seem rather wooden, and I hope we can a subtler species of evil doer in the future - that is, in our future, with any luck fatally-virus free next year in 2016, at least on this side of the television or whatever-you're-seeing-this-on screen.

And I'll be back here with  reviews of the second season for your screen next year.

See also this Italian review, w/reference to Hawking and my story, "The Chronology Protection Case"

And see also 12 Monkeys series on SyFy: Paradox Prominent and Excellent ...12 Monkeys 1.2: Your Future, His Past ... 12 Monkeys 1.3:  Paradoxes, Lies, and Near Intersections ... 12 Monkeys 1.4: "Uneasy Math" ... 12 Monkeys 1.5: The Heart of the Matter ... 12 Monkeys 1.6: Can I Get a Witness? ... 12 Monkeys 1.7: Snowden, the Virus, and the Irresistible ... 12 Monkeys 1.8: Intelligent Vaccine vs. Time Travel ... 12 Monkeys 1.9: Shelley, Keats, and Time Travel ... 12 Monkey 1.10: The Last Jump ... 12 Monkeys 1.11: What-Ifs ... 12 Monkeys 1.2: The Plunge

podcast review of Predestination and 12 Monkeys



 three time travel novels: the Sierra Waters trilogy

 photo LateLessons1_zpsogsvk12k.jpg
What if the Soviet Union survived into the 21st century,
and Eddie and the Cruisers were a real band?


The Chronology Protection Case movie 

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#SFWApro

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