Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

Oddly, for a detective/thriller, the first half was better than the second.  Chase scene through SF held up very well.  Plot.  Robert Vaughn is bringing some guy from Chicago to testify against the mob.  The guy is supposed to be protected by Bullitt, but gets killed. Turns out it wasn't the right guy--the "right" guy is trying to beat it out of the country with millions.  Robert Vaughn is evil because . . . not quite sure. Maybe because he doesn't care about justice but only about how justice improves his career. Anyway, B. kills the mob guys after the mob thief, then kills the mob thief, then returns to J. Bisset who implied she might leave him Steve McQueen was a non-actor.  "Cool" is the positive description. Terrible might be the more accurate word.

Escobar becomes more wealthy, more ruthless.  Columbia at a breaking point--will Narcos take over the country?  It's close to happening.  Serial has hit its stride.

Pablo forced into Panama.  Assassinations allow him to return. Columbia as a Narco state.  One honest cop is after Escobar.  The power sure seems to be on Escobar's side.  Exciting episode.

Pablo, chased out of politics and humiliated, is now a target of the DEA.  He has money, so he buys the communist revolutionaries loyalty for a job--they attack the Columbian Supreme Court and (among other things) burn all of the evidence against Pablo.  Pablo pays them millions before executing them. Agents are constantly undercut by informers, but they are funded by the USA and so make life miserable for Escobar, chasing him from home to home, destroying labs.

She gets a late-night gig in the Catskills--the midnight hour when guests are expecting raunchy humor.  She starts to discuss her sex life in comic detail when she sees her father (who has left his camp because he's sick of his in-laws) in the audience at this camp. She panics, but plunges forward, giving a good performance. Dad is furious and drives her home. Suzie wandering through the camp pretending to be a plumber.

Father is mysterious, powerful force.  Grandmother dies.  The two kids meet their aunt . . . not sure what role she will play.  Cathy is convinced that two drowning deaths on the river were murders. Father patrols the river. Christmas Eve and father doesn't appear at lunch. Very unusual.

Uneven, but even when it's bad, entertaining. Miriam "helps" with a friends wedding. All goes well until, at the reception, she climbs on a chair and proceeds to insult--with her stand-up act--the priest, the bridegroom, the bride, the father of the bride.  Not good. Next episode, the Maisels, go to the Catskills for their annual vacation. Miriam is pushed into the arms of a doctor who is uninterested in her. Hubby Joel is about. The whole "Catskills" environment is the real subject matter.

Pablo Escobar taking over the drug trade and running for office.  DEA agents fighting against him, and losing any illusions that they can win the war and keep their honor.  Highlights (?) Cat hung . . . Escobar humiliated in Congress . . . Escobar ordering the execution of the Minister of Justice

Mainly background. How cocaine came to Miami. How Pablo Escobar became a kingpin.  A little boring, but necessary background.

Excellent. Burt Lancaster becomes the gang guy he always pretended to be. He shoots and kills two thugs after Susan Sarandon.  He then runs off with her, but that's hopeless. He's too old and he belongs in Atlantic City.  She sneaks off in the morning (he knows exactly what's happening) and he returns to Atlantic City.  Really held up well.

Holds up well. Lancaster plays a fake "mobster" who, at an advanced age, gets involved in a real cocaine deal.  Sarandon is trying to start a new life, but her ex-husband (drug dealer) and her pregnant sister show up to ruin that for her.  Hubby is stabbed to death by drug dealers angry with him for his theft of their drugs.  Lancaster has the stash--so now what!

Dark ending.  Our corrupt mayoral candidate (Marisol) and her sadistic "surgeon" brother (Gabriel) both succeed.  Tom is mutilated by Gabriel. Danny, who brought Keith Roman to his death, is chased down and jumps off a roof to his death. Billie lives; he confronts Marisol who tells him she never loved him; he is reunited with his daughter.  Brittany also lives.  Patty loses her FBI boyfriend by stealing evidence from him. All in all, not a very satisfying ending to what was a good series.

Billy held hostage in Mexico by Gabriel? Marisol?  He escapes by wiles and violence.  Back in L.A., his partner sleeps with FBI guy and then steals evidence (Roman's burner phone) as she lives. Brittany is with crazy Tom in his recreated bedroom.  Danny gets chased by hook-man to the top floor of a skyscraper . . . and then jumps (after losing his ear.)  Marisol's campaign director is on to her double-life. She's fired, and then hook man breaks her nose in the parking lot.  Denise still believes in Marisol. Billy makes it back to LA by hiding in the trunk of an SUV driven by a stranger. Ends tonight!

Corrupt cop who flipped (Keith Roman?) sets it up so his buddy Danny can kill him and put him out of his misery. Danny can't pull the trigger. Roman returns to where his family is being hidden where he is promptly murdered.  His family is also killed as is the cop guarding them. Billy is taken by Marisol to her brother Gabriel's hacienda.  Hints of incest. Marisol is actually Claudia.  She is running for mayor at corrupt Gabriel (drug dealer/cartel honcho) request/behalf.  while Billy is in the hacienda, Julio is killed in prison just before his release.  Marisol knows this is going to happen.  When Billy finds out, he takes off into the countryside and the show ends.

Julio, friend of mayoral candidate, is now liability for her.  She is having an affair with Billy, but Billy is on to her reluctance to help him help Julio. He smells a rat. He also gets the head of the "real" murderer delivered to him in a box. Corrupt cop has to decide whether to do time or risk being killed by cartel. LA developer and pervert (likes to masturbate watching people with missing limbs .  . . YIKES!) is also in the crosshairs of the cartel. However, the cop's buddy who seems so under control . . . he might be the one to get it. Billy's daughter lives alone in a huge house through all this.  Hello, Billy--the cartel might just go after her! Brittany, the para-pro ex-prostitute is being played by the real estate developer. She betrayed Billy in the last season, she just might do it again. Like it

Drugs, gang killings, mayoral candidate (good liberal) involved.  Billy sleeping with her, not suspecting she might be on the dark side.  She's trying not to be.  Cello playing younger brother is headed to jail for murder he didn't commit if Billy can't save him.

Billy McBride presents an extremely weak case, but wins anyway. William Hurt (Cooperman) has a stroke as he's testifying.  Government involved in some bad doings--acting made this terrific, though the ending wasn't satisfying.