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Three Pines – A strange little village of death and healing

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For people who love characters in books, discovering a films or a TV series that presents them in the flesh may be welcome or feared—or both. So it was with hope and a bit of anxiety that my wife and I started watching Three Pines, based on the series of books by Louise Penny that features Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and the bucolic (and somewhat dangerous) village of Three Pines.

Alfred Molina as Armand Gamache

Fans of the series will no doubt have their own mental picture of the characters of the books. We have become attached to the quirky people in this strange little village that so often is the scene of a mysterious crime. And we will have noted the evolution of the characters through many years of books. The Amazon Prime Video series now takes us to that mythical (and somewhat mystical) village to meet all these friends in a new way. There are eight episodes in the first season, coming out two each week in December.

The series is based in the novels, but doesn’t exactly follow the stories. After seeing the first few episodes, it appears the approach is to loosely cover a book in two episodes, beginning with the second book of the series. In the first two episodes (“White Out” [cf. the novel A Fatal Grace]) Gamache (Alfred Molina), the head of homicide for the SQ, arrives at the remote village to investigate a mysterious death. He arrives with his team of Inspectors Jean-Guy Beauvoir (Rossif Sutherland) and Isabelle Lacoste (Elle-Máijá Tailfeahters) and a rookie officer Yvette Nichol (Sarah Booth).

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (Alred Molina) and Jean-Guy Beauvoir (Rossif Sutherland) interrupt a meeting of the Three Pines book club.

The villagers, a close-knit group of people, are suspicious of the investigation. Maybe it’s just a distrust of outsiders, or maybe there are secrets they just don’t want uncovered. These are people that those of us who have read the books know well. Bistro and Inn owners Olivier Brulé and Gabri Dubeau (Pierre Simpson and Frédéric-Antoine Guimond), artists Peter and Clara Morrow (Julian Bailey and Anna Tierney), bookstore owner/psychologist Myrna (Tamara Brown), and the aging foul-mouthed poet Ruth Zardo (Clare Coulter) and her fowl-mouthed duck Rosa.

As for the mystery plotting, it follows the basic plotting of other detective series. The Three Pines mysteries are not loved so much because of the mystery solving (although it is always enjoyable), but because of the people we grow to know and love (and at times mourn).

There is a secondary plot in the series that is not from the books. It involves the treatment of indigenous people in Canada’s history and currently. We learn that Inspector Lacoste, although ethically indigenous, has no connection with that community because she was adopted as an infant. We also learn that missing indigenous people often get little attention by the police. Historically, many indigenous people were taken from families and put in residential schools—including one in Three Pines, in a building that plays an important role in these stories. This aspect of the plot reflects some of Canada’s current coming to grips with this dark history (something that is reflected in Pope Francis’s recent visit to Canada).

Arisawe (Georgina Lynn Lightning) and Kara Two-Rivers (Isabel Deroy-Olson) with other protestors at the MMIWG protest.

Because these shows are based on books early in the series, readers of the novels will know more about the characters and their evolution than is shown in the show. For example, in the first episode we see Gamache speaking with his superior, Superintendent Francoeur, which immediately raised my hackles because I know where that relationship goes. Readers also may find themselves looking at these characters and knowing what lies ahead for them, even though it may be some seasons away.  Readers may enjoy this opportunity to remember these people before they become as complex as we know them now.

Armand Gamache is the focus. He is extremely competent as an investigator, but more importantly is compassionate. He believes in second chances (something Beauvoir has trouble with even though he has benefitted from such a chance). He is committed to justice. But through it all, Gamache constantly sees the investigations about people rather than crime. As such he seeks to connect personally with both suspects and others.

And then there is the village itself. Three Pines appears on no maps. It is somewhat enigmatic. The eclectic group of people who live there have all managed to find their way there. As we discover, most people who have found it have been broken in some way, and this village (in spite of its astronomical homicide rate) is a place of healing. Readers will know that this often applies to Chief Inspector Gamache as well. In fact, we know that in time Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie (Marie-France Lambert) will move to the village.

Ruth Zardo (Clare Coulter)

The concept of brokenness and healing is central to the Three Pines novels. As the TV series progresses, we will see if those themes begin to come out as well as viewers get to know these wonderful characters and see lives that are often haunted by the past, but get a second chance. While it will be hard for the series to show us the same intense struggles of the soul that we get in the novels, I am certainly willing to watch old friends play out the stories again.

Photos courtesy of Prime Video.

Under the Banner of Heaven – Faith wrestles doubt

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Faith and doubt struggle within a police detective investigating a brutal murder in Under the Banner of Heaven. The FX/Hulu series is a fictionalized version of a non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer about a 1984 double murder in Utah. It is steeped in the beliefs of the Church of Latter Day Saints (often referred to as Mormons, although the church prefers that term not to be used). The book and the story show parallel histories involving the murders and LDS history.

The focal point of the series is a fictional character, Detective Jeb Pyre (Andrew Garfield), a devote LDS member who is investigating a brutal murder of a woman and her baby. Pyre serves as our guide into the LDS church and practices, as well as the person who must struggle with doubt as secrets become exposed. His partner, Detective Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham), is a Paiute and not a member of the church. He serves as an outsider who (like most viewers) doesn’t understand LDS beliefs and culture.

The series follows Pyre’s investigation that first looks at the victim’s husband, Allen Lafferty (Billy Howle), who has already stepped away from the church. As Pyre talks with him, his own faith begins the process of being challenged by one who has such strong doubts. As the investigation expands, exploring variants of LDS church and teachings and the history of the church (seen in historical flashbacks to the times of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young), Pyre must deal with information that all is not as he has always thought. The whodunit aspect of the series (although well done) is not the real draw of the show, however. More important is the way doubt and faith are woven into the story and the characters.

I am aware that there has been some criticism of the series from people within the LDS church. My knowledge of the church’s history, teachings, and practices is limited, so I won’t be commenting on those things. However, the concepts of faith and doubt that hold a central place in the narrative of the series is something that is common among all people. Watching Pyre try to navigate his own growing doubts while trying to remain faithful to his job, his family, and his church is what makes Under the Banner of Heaven worth watching, because we can see our own struggles in him.

Where do all these doubts come from? There are various sources. The first is the kind of doubt that arises from when religion doesn’t fulfill our expectations. Early on, when Pyre is interviewing Allen, Allen said that when he found the bodies, he prayed. But when Pyre asks why he would pray if he doesn’t believe, Allen responds, “It was my last unanswered prayer.” I found that to be a powerful line to describe the feelings of being abandoned by the God he believed in.

More doubt grows from learning more about the history of the church as Pyre digs into Lafferty’s family. (There are several brothers, some of whom have adopted radical fundamentalist teachings.) In the historical flashbacks we see the early persecution of the LDS and its founder Joseph Smith. We also see the violence done under Brigham Young to non-believers). Pyre knows some of these stories, but there are parts of the history that are often left out. This is something that is not exclusive to the LDS. Many faithful people are shocked to learn about some of the stories in the Bible that are often glossed over in Sunday School. We may also be challenged by the way the church has acted through the centuries, including blatant and violent antisemitism, and the persecution of varieties of Christians we disagree with. (Cf. the way the Puritans in Massachusetts treated Baptists, or Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.)

Still more doubts arise for Pyre when he learns that he must deal with the church hierarchy that is more concerned with image than with the truth. As Pyre looks into the fundamentalist beliefs of the Lafferty brothers, the church wants all these ideas covered up. But the powers in the church are subtle in their intimidation, including using his family against him. There are too many stories in the broader church about churches and denominations that have covered up many kinds of abuses. Often the stated reason is to protect the faithful, but when the truth eventually comes out, the lies of the coverup really do more harm to faith than the abuses themselves.

At the beginning of the series, Detective Pyre has a strong, but simple faith. He has lived in an environment in which that faith is shared by nearly everyone. Questions are rarely brought up. When he must deal with so many issues in this investigation, he must struggle with the doubts that arise. It could be that those doubt have the power to strangle his faith. Or perhaps, in the wrestling his faith will get stronger.

Under the Banner of Heaven streams on Hulu in the US and Disney+ (Star) in Canada.

They Call Me Magic – A magical life

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“He’s still the most popular athlete in Los Angeles, and that’s saying something.”

There is just something about Earvin “Magic” Johnson that make you want to like him. Maybe it’s the smile that lights the whole world. Maybe it’s the way he can either put the ball in the hoop or pass it off (without looking) for a teammate to do it. Maybe it’s the way he has faced adversity. Maybe it’s the way he has become a business success. All of those are shown in the new docuseries They Call Me Magic on Apple TV+.

The series gives us a look into this man who has done so much, not only in his sports achievement, but in what he has done after his playing days were ever (much too soon). The four episodes, for the most part, are a chronological look at his life. The first two episodes are fairly pedestrian sports biography. However, watching Magic do his thing on the court can hardly be called pedestrian. The two later episodes are what really show us what the man has had to deal with and how he has overcome and conquered beyond the sports world.

The series makes the point early on that there are two people here: Earvin Johnson, Jr. and “Magic” Johnson (a name given him by a local sportswriter after his second high school game). Magic is the one who dazzles the world—whether with no-look passes or lavish parties. Earvin is quieter. He is a father and husband (more on that later). He is now a businessman who strives to build community.

While I may sound like I downgrade the first episodes, they do lay a lot of the groundwork for what we see in the later ones. For example, we have to understand his drive for perfection in sports to understand his drive in the business world. We need to see the on-and-off relationship with his (eventual) wife Cookie, to understand his role as a father. We need to see how he lived with fame to understand how he lived with HIV. We need to see how he was nurtured by Lakers owner Jerry Buss to fully understand how he could be come a mentor to those who received scholarships from Johnson’s foundation.

For all the talk of the Earvin/Magic dichotomy, there are many ways that the two sides of the man blend well. That is especially true of how he became a prominent spokesperson for HIV. When he was first diagnosed, he and the team kept it quiet for as long as they could. When the news broke, he became the most famous HIV-positive person in the world. Not only his fame, but his drive and personality led him to become very public about the disease, how he caught it, and what it meant to his family life. This was at a time when being HIV-positive usually meant death.

Likewise, his two demeanors blended well to grow his business enterprises, from movie theaters to Starbucks to now three pro sports teams in L.A., including the Dodgers. The blue collar work ethic he learned from his parents combines with a concern for the Black community (especially following the 1992 civil disturbance) to build not only his wealth, but to make the world a better place because of what he is doing.

Even so many years after he played basketball, everyone still knows and loves Magic Johnson. They Call Me Magic gives us an opportunity to meet and appreciate Earvin Johnson as well.

They Call Me Magic streams on Apple TV+.

Welcome to Earth -Our amazing home

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In Welcome to Earth, from National Geographic and streaming on Disney+, Will Smith tells us of some of the things he’s never done, then goes on to do some of them. Smith is our guide to experience our planet in new ways. The limited series has brought together various explorers (some who are differently-abled) who take us around the world to see, hear, and discover things we may never knew was happening around us.

There are six forty-minute episodes in the series, each with a different focus. There is one about sight, one about sound, and one about scent that focus on the sensory aspects of the world. But are also episodes that focus on the nature of swarm mentality, the things that are too fast or too slow for us to notice, and one about overcoming our fears to discover the world. The episodes are structured around Smith heading off with one of these explorers, then bringing in other examples of the theme from other explorers.

The series takes us under the sea, into a volcano, into deserts, deep into caves, to the Arctic, and the Serengeti. In each location we are encouraged to be amazed at the amazing planet we live on, and the other creatures we share it with.

Among the wonders we encounter are watching sea anemones marching across the seabed, bees shifting their bodies to frighten invaders, sharks and turtles seeking a particular island in the Great Barrier Reef, whales making the loudest noise made by animals, and (perhaps coolest of all) a moonbow.

The discoveries we make along the way may not be mind-blowing, but they are engaging. They are presented in easy-to-understand ways. But the real purpose isn’t really to surprise us; it is to help us shift our perspective to the world around us. It is to encourage us to do our own exploration of all things great and small. And at times, it asks us to explore ourselves and how we relate to this world we are in.

Religions often look at a creator of this world. Often times we may think that speaks to the great power of the creator. We may use the world and nature to tell us about God. We may discover that there is such diversity in the world around us that we will need to expand our notions of God and creation. That is always a good thing.

Photos courtesy of National Geographic and Disney+.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League: Reborn Film Finally Does Justice to the Franchise

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You could forgive me if I doubted.

After years of hearing about the mythological ‘Snyder Cut’, there was simply no way that this film could meet expectations. After all, the original film was such a tepid piece of fodder that there was simply no way that a few tweaks or additional scenes could self-correct a franchise that had fallen so far off the rails. Now, with a refreshed budget and a new home on HBOMax and Blu-ray, Zack Snyder’s Justice League has finally arrived. 

And I admit that I was stunned by the results.

The details of the Snyder Cut’s resurgence has been well-documented. Determined not to copy Marvel’s roadmap to success, DC chartered their own path that rushed the process. By the time that The Avengers came around, standalone films had charted a path that allowed audiences to connect with the characters before they attempted to work together. Falling behind in the box office, the release of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice gave DC the chance to try and regain some traction in the pop culture world. In their attempt to speed up the process, they threw their characters into films without any proper introductions. Whether they were attempting to ‘catch up’ to Marvel or simply afraid of being accused of ‘copying’ Disney’s juggernaut franchise, the result was a middling mess of confusion that left no time to create something special. 

After Joss Whedon’s cut of the Justice League failed to catch on with audiences, WB may have thought they were free of the franchise with a chance to reboot things once again. However, they underestimated their fans. After an unprecedented fan campaign that lasted three years and a hashtag (#ReleaseTheSnyderCut) that simply wouldn’t die, WB found themselves portrayed as the villains of a fiendish plot to suppress a director’s vision. Even so, they held firm to their comment that any other version for the film simply did not exist.

All that changed with the creation of HBOMax. Even if Snyder had been able to complete the film initially, there’s simply no way that the WB would have allowed a four-hour cut to be released in theatres, especially for a franchise that had been viewed as flailing. Although, with the move to streaming, Snyder suddenly had the opportunity to lean in to his longer take on the film. All of a sudden, he had the time (and freedom) to tell the story his way. Given more space in the world of digital media, Snyder’s League feels less like a theatrical release and more like the first chapter of a mega mini-series event. At a time when binge-watching has taken over the ‘theatrical experience’, Zack Snyder’s Justice League leans into our current obsession with long-form storytelling, complete with ‘chapters’ marking breaks within the film. 

Most importantly though, what about the quality of the film itself? 

The truth is that it’s good. Very, very good. 

Shockingly good, really.

In the new cut, Zack Snyder’s Justice League picks up immediately following the events of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. After Superman’s (Henry Cavill) death, the world is left with a need for heroes. As such, Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) begin building a team of super-humans who will stand together against an ancient evil that is preparing to return and exact revenge on humanity. 

Although I have never considered myself a ‘Snyder-apologist’, one can’t help but recognize the quality of his epic saga. The ‘director’s cut’ is far from a new concept in our culture. Even so, the extent of these re-edits usually amounts to a few additional scenes or some updated special effects. In the case of the new League, Snyder offers an almost entirely different story with new subplots and expanded character beats.

In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to suggest that it improves on the original theatrical cut in virtually every way.

While Whedon’s original film attempted to ‘lighten’ the tone with more quips and less exposition, that vision never truly fit with the world that Snyder had already created. Marked by rushed character arcs that never satisfy and a bland villain, the original film rarely works. Nevertheless, with the move to HBOMax, Snyder’s version has the proper time to explore the stories of new characters without betraying the larger superhero story. Though this saga would obviously have benefited from prior stand-alone films, Snyder’s League does its very best to compensate by giving meaningful backstories to its new additions, especially Ray Fisher’s Cyborg. Once a side character with little relevance, Cyborg has suddenly become the film’s emotional core with an arc that has a significant impact on the outcome of the story.

In addition, the most notable change comes through a more fully realized villain in Steppenwolf. Whereas Whedon trimmed the brute’s story down to almost nothing, Snyder’s new footage offers a meaningful role to the character. Instead of a standard ‘big bad’ who’s forgettable (at best), the new League highlights his motivation and relationship to the larger impending force of nature in Darkseid. As a result, not only does Steppenwolf become more interesting to the viewer but his actions simply make more sense. (What’s more, new special effects give the character a much more menacing look, a factor that was lacking in the original cut.) 

Of course, it’s also important to know that the film ends on an enormous cliff-hanger. Originally conceived to be the first of three films, League operates in grand strokes but never fully concludes. (For the record, Snyder has currently stated he has no intention of returning to the world.)

What’s more, despite its overall quality, this League will not likely win any new converts from those who struggle to connect with Snyder’s vision. Although it goes without saying that this a vastly improved version of the film, all the Snyder-isms that will cause derision remain front and centre. Off-putting to some for his showmanship, there’s little question that his visual polish drives his work. Featuring a litany of stylized effects, slow-motion action and dark, gritty story-telling, League is Snyder is at his free-wheeling best yet he will still likely alienate viewers who are looking for something more along the lines of Marvel’s lighter, more humorous tone.

However, these vast differences are all very intentional. Whereas Marvel has taken a much more scientific or ‘human-centred’ approach to their content, Snyder’s vision for the DC Universe has always included viewing these heroes as modern gods. Though Marvel seems to create heroes on par with mankind, Snyder views characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as super beings who have been sent as examples to inspire humanity to greatness. (One need not look further than the giant monument to Superman to see that this is true.) There’s a deep admiration for his characters within Snyder’s work that hints at the spiritual longings of a culture looking for heroes. As such, his vision for the League meets every superhuman act with a grand crescendo. Bursts of electricity, clangs of metal and a bombastic soundtrack give the film an epic scale that highlights his vision. To Snyder, the DC Universe is an example of our modern mythology and, as such, he is unapologetic in his reverence for the material.

With the release of his ambitious superhero opus, Snyder truly does come out as the winner here. With grandiose storytelling and vastly improved character arcs, Zack Snyder’s Justice League shows what the director can do when given the time (and money) to bring his vision to life. As a result, this reborn League certainly feels like the unexpectedly epic conclusion that this chapter of the DCEU (and Snyder himself) needed.

That is, until #RestoreTheSnyderVerse takes effect.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available to stream on HBOMax and on Blu-ray. The special feature included is “Road to Justice League” as Snyder reflects on the three DC films he made for Warner Bros.