“The View From Jackie’s Head #12
I am a big Kyle Chandler fan so when I heard he was doing a series for Netflix I marked it down as a “must watch.” And I did, for two seasons I bingewatched “Bloodline” as soon as it became available. The third and final season of the show was released on Netflix last week and I bingewatched it over the weekend.
It was good, not great. But then how could it be. If ever a show painted its characters into dark corners from which there was no escape it was this show/. The series concerned the Rayburn family who resided in the area of Key West. The plot of the show finally boiled down to the story of siblings John (Chandler), Kevin (Norbert Leo Butz) and Meg (Linda Cardellini). They had all done bad things by the time season three rolled around so how could the show end without killing them all off and having them pay for their sins in that way. (That didn’t happen).
While I was disappointed in the way it all played out, I was not disappointed in the display of Chandler’s immense acting talent. He has always excelled at playing the good guy but this show let him display a dark side too. And he was very good at going dark.
One last point, if you watch the third season do not get confused and think it was all a dream, a la Bobby Ewing in “Dallas.” For a while I thought it was headed that way but happily they did not follow through in that direction.
Now as for books. I had just finished Paula Hawkins’ INTO THE WATER when I started Scott Turow’s latest novel TESTIMONY. I did not have high hopes for Hawkins’ book as I was not a GIRL ON THE TRAIN fan. INTO THE WATER lived up to my low expectations. I did have high hopes for Turow’s novel as PRESUMED INNOCENT is one of my favorite books.
Turow’s TESTIMONOY is not his best novel nor is it his worst. It is maybe his fourth or fifth best. It takes place in Bosnia and is a slow read until you reach the last third of the story. Then it picks up and entertains you thoroughly.
The lead character, Bill Ten Boom, is a lawyer from Kindle County, the setting of other Turow novels. There are some slight references to some of the characters from his previous books. These references are not enough to make you easily warm up to Bill. He comes across as a man in his mid fifties suffering a mid life crisis of sorts. He resigns from his law firm and takes a job as a lawyer with an international court. The case he is assigned involves the supposed murder of 400 Roma citizens. Roma people are the gypsies of the world and do not have a lot of respect ion the international community.
I generally like books about courtroom cases but TESTIMONY stays mainly out of the courtroom and focuses on the investigation of the circumstances. There are a couple of romantic liaisons to perk up the readers’ interest but neither is very involving.
There was never any thought in my mind not to finish the book but I did put it aside a couple of times and let it lie there for a few days. But when I got to the last third I finished it in one sitting. Hoorah for me!
Having finished “Bloodline” I have now started to watch “Stranger Things.” It was between this and “Thirteen Reasons Why” which seems just too depressing to watch during these bright days of summer. I also plan to jump into the current season of “House of Cards” in the near future. Anyway “Stranger Things” has really captured my interest, and I am sure I will be ready for Season two when it arrives.
There is always a movie, a tv show, a book or some other form of entertainment waiting to be enjoyed. So get with it!
Jackie K Cooper
5/30/17
