Television, Movies and The Presidency: A New Series - Frost/Nixon (2008)

 

 

Introduction

During most of the 20^th century almost every major artistic medium whether it was Broadway, film or television went out of its way to either never deal with the Presidency or when it did to frame in the so called ‘great man’ theory. None of the leaders of our nation whether they were FDR, Wilson or Lincoln were shown as anything but saints incarnate with no hints of the kind of flawed individuals they were.

This remained a sad truth almost to the end of the 20^th century. Even when it came to such monsters as Richard Nixon, there were a few who tried to show them as human being if not saints. This was sadly the judgment of almost every historical drama that America or Europe would produce: there was almost no nuance and the leaders of the country were always the good guy with no nuance. However when cable channels like HBO and Showtime began to enter the TV movie industry they slowly but surely began to paint more complete pictures of the occupants of the White House. This almost always led to immense pushback from historians and those who were survivors of that period and it has led to controversy on many of those projects but I believe it was the best thing.

During the 21^st century with the rise of Peak TV and the work of a few brave filmmakers and playwrights we began to get more rounded pictures of many of the Presidents that we had long considered either great or even just mediocre. Movies have improved a bit in the last two decades and some filmmakers will attempt the rounded package. Mostly, however, that burden has fallen to cable and streaming to tell the kind of layered complex stories about our chief executives.

Now as anyone who has read my column for the last few years you know all of these three of these things – film, American history and criticism – are all my sweet spots. And for a while I’ve wanted to do a long-term project looking at how film and television have been portrayal the men who have occupied the White House, both on an artistic level and for historical accuracy. The former has always been easy to judge for me; the latter more difficult. But I now feel more than qualified to do both.

This series will deal with the films and limited series that had covered our Presidents. Because many filmmakers cover the same ground I expect multiple entries on the same Presidents. I’m also relatively certain that there will only be a certain number of Presidents who get covered in these columns: it’s not like anyone’s ever done a biopic on Millard Filmore and I suspect no one will do a limited series on the Harrison dynasty any time soon. And because this is going to be a historical series I’m going to follow the same guideline I did when it came to ranking the Presidents last year: I’m stopping at the end of the 20^th century. There is quite a bit of material on W, Obama, Trump and even some on Biden in the cinematic and TV archives but for reasons that should be obvious I’m not going to look at them in this series. (Maybe in ten years, but not now.)

What I hope to illustrate is how these storytellers have used our past to illustrate our present. In the majority of these cases they are objective – more so than I could be, I should mention. In all of them they use some exceptional actors and writing to illuminate historical figures in scenarios we are very familiar with and some we know too little about. Almost none try to use the ‘great man theory’ of politics – though in some cases, I need to be clear they do let the bias show. I hope that readers all along the ideological spectrum will find these films and TV shows and look for them with an unbiased eye. Now more than ever we need to learn from history in  order to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.

 

Frost/Nixon (2008)

Written by Peter Morgan

Directed by Ron Howard

 

“It is not enough for me to win. My opponent must also lose.”

 

This piece deserves a bit more of an introduction then some of the others will get. And like all the pieces in this series I won’t hide my personal opinions on the figures involved.

As my readers might be aware I live in New York, which means that every so often I see a play on Broadway. Sometime in 2007, not long before its limited run was about to end, my family and I went to see Frost/Nixon. At this point I had barely embarked on my writing career and was nowhere near as knowledgeable about Hollywood as I would be when I started writing for medium in 2016. I only knew who Peter Morgan was for his screenplay The Queen, which I had seen and loved the previous year. That was also the first time I had any experience with Michael Sheen who even at that juncture was one of Morgan’s favorite actors and had played Tony Blair for him on HBO quite a few times. I knew who Frank Langella was, mainly from a few movies but not the kind of actor he could be. And  I knew nothing about the David Frost interviews of Nixon or why anyone would consider them worth writing a play about.

The play ran with no intermission and it was absolutely riveting from beginning to end. Langella, who would win the Tony for his work, was extraordinary as Nixon and Sheen, who had played Blair with tact and subtlety, showed a certain edge of the smarminess that I associated with David Frost from what little I knew about him. (Much of that, I should point out, was through that many of the members of Monty Python had worked for him at one point and based on Eric Idle’s portrayals of him, they seemed to hold him in contempt.) It was an extraordinary experience.

Later that year Ron Howard bought the film rights and while several big name actors wanted to play the title roles (I heard that Jack Nicholson and DeNiro had wanted to play Nixon) Howard insisted on having Langella and Sheen recreate their work on the silver screen. Howard cast many great character actors in several key roles. Sam Rockwell took on the role of James Reston, Kevin Bacon played Jack Brennan, Oliver Platt played Bob Zelnick. Most of the rest of the cast was unknown to me in 2008. I had no idea who Matthew MacFayden (John Birt) or Toby Jones (he did a brief role as Swifty Lazar) were and the only reason I’d heard of Rebecca Hall was that she also appeared in Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona that same year. There was Oscar talk almost from the moment the film was announced.

However when it debuted in theaters that November I was reluctant to see it in the theater because I’d seen it on Broadway. I was already fond of filmed versions of plays to be sure but that didn’t include wanting to see one of a play I’d just seen live. I was going to see it but when it ended up on video or cable. I had to be talked into seeing by two friends. And within twenty minutes I was as riveted as I had been watching the same story on stage.

Now I need to make my historical opinion known. In his four star rave for the film Ebert admitted how horrible Nixon was but asked “I would infinitely prefer him in the White House now than its current occupant.” Now I’ll grant you how utterly dreadful W had been during his term (and we had yet to feel the full effects of the financial crisis that happened on his watch) but I never agreed with Ebert on that and I can only justify the usually saintly and foresighted critic of having to deal with Bush fatigue.

Nixon has always struck me as the most dangerous man to ever occupy the Presidency. I don’t deny all of his aspirants to that title ever since for their levels of monstrosity, especially the current occupant of the White House, but in addition to all of his other bad qualities Nixon was cunning in a way that I really don’t think Reagan, Bush 43 and probably not even Trump really were. Nixon wasn’t just evil; he understood the corridors of power because he had already spent the better part of 20 years working them well before he won the White House in 1968. All his successors were underestimated by the media because they were judged as incompetent and intellectually lightweight – “what kind of moron would vote for W?” is the attitude I remember. No one thought Nixon was dumb. The reason they thought no one would ever elect him President was because America had countless opportunities to see how monstrous he was and they believed America would follow the better angels of its nature. Nixon understood better than any politician to that point how to manipulate the worst parts of the body politic and turn into the will of the people.

I also think (and may make it clear in a separate article) that America was extremely lucky that the true nature of Nixon’s evil were laid out in such a way that even his greatest defenders couldn’t refute and that it was clear before every branch of our system that he had no choice but to be forced out. Nixon only became President because so many things happened in the 1960s; he only lost the Presidency because of a similar chain of events. The former he was able to manipulate enough to win the White House in 1968; the latter he could not.

What the opening moments of Frost/Nixon make very clear is that a similar divide is being formed even as Nixon resigns on August 8^th 1974. In it James Reston says that watching Nixon resign rather than feel joy he felt incomplete. “There was no admission of guilt. No apology.” Morgan will show the way the liberal establishment felt about Nixon his entire career but it also illustrates the kind of polarizing opinions that Nixon always inspired – and in a sense has come to illustrate so much of the media ever since when it comes to who they love and who they hate. In that sense, the quote that started this review (attributed to as many sources to Kissinger or Vince Lombardi) could apply to the researchers attitude when it comes to the interviews.

Nixon’s political life is over but for Reston and Zelnick, even more than Frost, is a desire for blood. Reston and Zelnick want America to see the Richard Nixon they have hated all these years. They want to hold him accountable in the eyes of the public for the monster that he was in the White House. At one point Reston says: “I want to give Richard Nixon the trial he never had.” It’s a noble statement but in 1977 America, except for his most die-hard defenders (such as Brennan) already are convinced as to Nixon’s guilt. Howard emphasizes this by having footage shown of America’s hostile reaction to Ford’s pardon of Nixon and the angry letters received by the White House. (“FDR had his New Deal. Truman had his Fair Deal. Ford had his Crooked Deal.”)

It’s worth remembering Ford’s actions were done in order for the country to move past everything Nixon had done and he suffered the political consequences, very likely losing election to the White House in his own right as a result. The reaction of the masses to it was judged hostilely at the time, bravely decades later and in recent years as a historical blunder given our current political situation. The latter opinion, I should add, is held by the same kind of liberal media that always judged Nixon so harshly when he was in office and which men like Reston and Zelnick would be a part of today. I’ve argued in a different article that I don’t believe a fair trial of Nixon would have been possible in 1974 or even years later and that even if it had ended in a guilty verdict (which again, I’m not convinced could have happened) how would our country handle the logistics of putting a former President in prison? Upon discussing this with a historian of the era (who still can’t decide if Nixon should have been tried) he admits even if the verdict was guilty Nixon would almost certainly still have to be pardoned, in which case what would the point of a trial be?

These questions likely never occurred to Morgan (and may not have even been considered at the time) The play is after all about David Frost as much as it is Nixon. To his immense credit Morgan makes it clear that the interviews mean something far different to him than what his researchers and likely the people he represents want. Of course Frost is British and has the benefit of detachment from the situation that America does. He sees the millions of people watching the Senate Subcommittee Hearings and all the people who watched Nixon resign and sees the possibility for a media event.

For him there’s a different context: Frost had an American late night show in the 1970s that like so many during the era couldn’t survive the juggernaut that was Johnny Carson. He’s a success in Britain and has shows in other parts of the world but having had a taste of success in New York, he is hungering for it again. Unlike his researchers -  but critically, like Richard Nixon – he understands the power of the medium and what it represents to America. Like the song says, if he can make it here, he can make it anywhere and he wants to get back.

Frost is in Australia when Nixon resigns and comes to John Birt initially with the idea of the project. Birt is incredulous: “Last night you interviewed the Bee Gees!”  “Weren’t they great?” Frost responds. Initially he fails at his attempt to get Nixon who suffers an attack of phlebitis. Not long afterwards he’s writing his memoirs and has hired Lazar –  arguably the most famous agent in the 20^th century – to try and sell it. He pitches Frost and it’s clear that Lazar may have the best handle on how to manipulate men like him. He calls him in the middle of the night and Frost makes an offer half a million. “Do you think you could get $550,000? Nixon asks. “I got six.” Lazar brags.

While flying to LA Frost meets and picks up Caroline Cushing (Hall) who comes with him to San Clemente for the two’s first meeting. Frost gives him a check for $200,000 which Nixon knows it not only likely out of his own pocket but possibly the only money he’ll get. We see Frost fighting with the networks for airtime and after they all turn him down, he decides to syndicate it himself. He ends up hiring Zelnick (Platt) who is the ABC correspondent for DC and Reston who at this point has already written four books about him. Reston is combative from the start, particularly considering Zelnick went to bat for him, making it clear that he already thinks this project is beneath him. When Frost learns that Mike Wallace has already run a story about the project diminishing him in particular, it clearly stings but he allows Reston to stay.

Morgan goes out of his way to show that in the years leading up to the interview both men are doing things that are far beneath their dignity: we see Frost giving an interview for an escape artist in Australia and Nixon giving a talk to the Houston Society of Orthodontists. Frost has to essentially raise all the money from his friends and we see him battling for sponsorship even up to the initial taping.

What’s striking watching the days leading up to the taping is how little regard even in rehearsal Zelnick and Reston show not only the subject but in a way the man who’s working on the project. Zelnick plays Nixon in the interview segments and it’s very clear in the way he responds to questions that he has no respect for the man. Tellingly both he and Reston mention that Kennedy and LBJ started the Vietnam War and immediately brush past it; we see very clear that they are examples of the liberal media who Brennan talks about on the day of Nixon’s resignation. This is a more than valid historical point, one that generations have basically chosen to ignore in their vilification of ‘their boogeyman’. And they show contempt for Frost right up not only before the taping but as it goes on. It’s clear they do think of him as a talk show host and a performer – someone who is beneath their dignity.

Even more interesting is Reston’s reaction when the interviews begin. He says that this is the first time he’s met him and he’s upset that the former President is not only taller than he expected but not ravaged with guilt. Zelnick asks if he’s going to shake Nixon’s hand and Reston insists he won’t. The moment Nixon offers it, he does so after barely a beat – something Zelnick rags him immediately afterwards. This is likely a subtle commentary by Morgan on how academics live in a separate world from the one they write about: later they attend Frost’s birthday party and are starstruck to see that Neil Diamond is singing.

Also notable is how both sides view the interviews. I find it interesting that Reston views it as a trial and Nixon’s team views it as a battle or duel. This is very much how the far left and far right seem to view politics and much of society in a microcosm: Reston sees this as the rule of law, Brennan as a blood sport. If you ever needed a reason why the Republicans have done so much better in electoral politics to this day, there’s clearly a metaphor as to this.

Both Langella and Sheen do everything that they did in the performance I saw but the camera does help in a way it might not on the stage. Langella gets to play a side of Nixon that had never truly been shown on screen, even by Anthony Hopkins in Oliver Stone’s film. Nixon is trying to find a way to rehabilitate his image and sees the Frost interviews as that possibility. We see a bit of the elder statesman in his behavior when Frost appears, genuine amicability among Brennan who clearly is a die-hard supporter and then a sense of the manipulator in the sessions before the taping starts. He manages to manipulate Frost so subtly in the first sessions the viewer might not be aware of it the first time and then when Frost has been briefed, he waits seconds before the cameras roll to say: “Do any fornicating last night?”  At no point does Langella attempt to do a Nixon impersonation; that would be beneath the skills of his legendary actor. What he tries to give to do is give a portrayal of the public face of Nixon while allowing for a look at what lies beneath with a glance. Small wonder Langella received a Best Actor nomination for his work.

Sheen, as is his lot in life, has a harder job. He has to play someone who has a well-known public persona, who is openly charming and who is not particularly well respected in public life – and do so acting like he knows all of this but is putting up his on-camera persona at all time. And unlike Nixon who has the office of the Presidency which offers some respect David Frost doesn’t even have that among his own team. Only John Birt respects him and will say in private what Frost won’t. It’s only after the third taping when Reston actually calls him a talk show host that Frost comes close not only to snapping but finally shows his misery at how bad things are going for him.

The highlight of the film, as with the play, comes with what almost certainly a fictionalized late-night conversation. A drunk Nixon calls Frost late at night when Frost is at his nadir of despair and Nixon should be at his zenith. He tells him he’s read Frost’s file and talks about their tragedy:

No matter how many awards or column inches are written about you, or how high the elected office is, it’s still not enough. We still feel like the little man. The loser. They told us a hundred times, the smart asses in college, the high-ups, the well-born. The people who’s respect we really wanted. Really craved. And isn’t that why we work so hard now, why we fight for every inch…Isn’t that why we’re here? Now the two of us. Looking for a way back into the sun, into the limelight. Back to the winner’s podium…We were headed both of us for the dirt. The place the snobs always told us we’d end up. Face in the dust, humiliated all the more for having tried. So pitifully hard. Well, to hell with that! We’re not going to let that happen, either of us. We’re going to show those bums; we’re going to make ‘em choke on our continued success.”

When it’s over Frost acknowledges that: “But only one of us can win.”

When this piece played out on stage and Langella hung up, I remember the audience spontaneously bursting into applause, which rarely happens in a traditional play. Langella brings that same power into this monologue as well and it is magnificent. Morgan uses this fictional conversation as Frost’s motivation to double down his work in the leadup to the final taping session which fills up much of the last third of the film. Historical scholars and those who saw the interviews no doubt remember why that was such a critical moment, but it is not my place to reveal it  here.

Morgan goes out of his way to argue this was a victory for David Frost and the power of the medium. It points out that Nixon was never able to publicly rehabilitate his reputation when he was alive. Death and future Republican Presidents have no doubt managed to accomplish that as Ebert’s own review made clear and I suspect future viewers might come away with the same impression.

What may be the most significant moment in Frost/Nixon is one that I doubt was in the play and is almost ignored in the film. One of the members of Nixon’s team is a very young Diane Sawyer. Her character has no real dialogue  but I’m always reminded of when both teams go into different rooms when the taping begins and Zelnick seems to be always looking daggers at Sawyer who just meets his stare evenly. Sawyer of course has gone on to be one of the most respected broadcast journalists in television history but I have little doubt that there have always been those like Zelnick who viewed her with suspicion for ‘working with the enemy’. Sawyer has long been part of that ‘liberal media’ that Nixon famously chastises and I suspect that those who worked for Roger Ailes and the cable news networks that followed never forgave her for betraying her ‘conservative roots’.

Were the Frost interviews of Nixon a stepping stone to the era of polarizing of cable news that we see today? Roger Ailes did cut his teeth interviewing Nixon after all and he famously worked with Lee Atwater in Reagan and George H.W. Bush’s political campaigns in 1984 and 1988. I have no doubt he watched these interviews with great interest and perhaps started thinking of a way that future Republicans could find more comfortable settings where the questions would be more fair and balanced. He certainly understood the power of television as well as David Frost did.

 

Jeopardy Invitational Tournament 2025 Recap, Part 1: The Quarterfinals

 

 

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I’d be writing about the 2025 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament this soon: I’d been told by numerous sources that it had been postponed and I figured they’d wait a few weeks before we saw it. But apparently the producers are believers in giving the fans what they want – and not entirely coincidentally, getting the postseason over  with as quickly possible.

So on Monday the long anticipated 2025 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament began. Since we only learned about the participants last week we haven’t had much time to react. That doesn’t means fans like myself weren’t looking forward to it greatly. So here are the recaps of the quarterfinals. I’ll add two addendums from both the last invitational and the postseason so far: I’ll reveal my response for Final Jeopardy and I’ll let you know who I was rooting for in each quarterfinal.

 

February 17^th

Matt Amodio vs. Hannah Wilson vs Doug Molitor

Interviews: Hannah mentioned that she went to Canada and participated in an escape room with Javeria Zaheer and Mattea Roach – and they lost. Matt said that he was auditioning for James Holzhauer’s title of game show villain – which we all know Matt couldn’t pull off and he didn’t really try in this game.

I wasn’t rooting against Matt, who is one of my favorite players of all time but I was still pulling for Hannah or at least for her or Doug to make Matt earn his win to move forward. I kind of got the best of both worlds and a thrilling game to boot.

From the start it was a back and forth game between Hannah and Matt. Hannah got off to a quicker start in the Jeopardy round and was already in the lead when she found the Daily Double in 2-WORD RHYMES. She wagered the $4000 she already had:

“Magic phrase that’s also a Kurt Vonnegut book title.” She knew it was Hocus Pocus and doubled her score. Matt closed the distance but she was still ahead with $9600 to Matt’s $6800. Doug trailed with $800.

Doug’s best chance came when he found the Daily Double on the first clue in ANCIENT TIMES. He bet the $2000 he was allowed to: “To ancient Greek poli sci, it was rule by the few and not the best few; the Thirty Tyrants of Athens in 403 B.C. are an example.” Doug struggled before guessing: “What is meritocracy?” It was closer to the opposite: an oligarchy. He dropped to -$1200 and never got out of the red.

Hannah held on to her lead for the first half of Double Jeopardy but then Matt got to the other Daily Double in PHILOSOPHY. Keeping with the trend of two year’s of Jeopardy Masters he bet the $13,600 he had:

“Nick Bostrom is known for his argument that we are living in this, run by posthuman intelligence on their machines.” It took him a moment to guess: “What is a simulation?” He jumped into the lead for the first time with $27,200.

Hannah had no intention of going quietly, which left little room for Doug between these two juggernauts. He finished at -$3200 and achieved the dubious distinction of becoming the first player in a Jeopardy Invitational Tournament not to play in Final Jeopardy. Matt had $30,400 to Hannah’s $22,400.

The Final Jeopardy category was a strange blend: LITERATURE & SICKNESS. “Still around today, this strep infection that causes a rash has terrible effects in Little Women & the Little House on the Prairie books.

Hannah’s response was revealed first: What is scarlet fever? That was correct. (I guessed that too, having seen Little Women more than a few times.) She wagered $8001 putting her in front by $1.

It came down to Matt who also knew it was scarlet fever. He wagered quite a bit more than  a dollar: $15,000 in fact. He more than earned his spot in the semi-finals.

 

February 18^th

Skyler Hornbeck vs Margaret Shelton vs Jaskaran Singh

This was the first Jeopardy Invitational game of any kind I had no out-and-out favorite: all three had made an impact. What I wanted was a good game and it was for a while.

Jaskaran took a lead early in the Jeopardy round. Skyler had a chance to cut into when he found the Daily Double in BORDERLINE and indeed could have with $3200 to Jaskaran’s $5600. He cautiously bet $1500:

“Now a tourist attraction, the demilitarized zone separating these two countries was officially demolished in 1976.” Skyler couldn’t come up with it: it was North and South Vietnam. (My guess was North and South Korea.) At the end of the round Jaskaran led with $5600 to Margaret’s $2800 and Skyler’s $2700.

Margaret would briefly take the lead in Double Jeopardy but Jaskaran then went on a tear of six consecutive correct answers and eventually getting 9 out of 11 correct. He had $21,600 when he found the first Daily Double in EARTH SCIENCE. Cautious he just bet $1000. That turned out to be wise:

“As it name suggests, this part of the atmosphere that begins about 50 miles up is rich in electrically charged particles.” Jaskaran struggled and guessed: “What is the…magnetosphere?” It was the ionosphere which made sense to Jaskaran when he heard it.

Not long after that Margaret found the other Daily Double in TRIPLE ‘A’. She had $11,200 to Jaskaran’s $21,000. She wasn’t that reckless and bet $5000:

“From Sanskrit for ‘great’, it’s a person revered for wisdom and selflessness.” She struggled and clearly forgot the category when she said: “What is guru?” It was actually mahatma. She dropped to $6200. The game ended with Jaskaran having a runaway with $21,800 to Skyler’s $7100 and Margaret’s $6200.

The Final Jeopardy category was SUPREME COURT DECISION. I thought this would be a category I’d do well with. I was very wrong. “This landmark case was reported in the New York Times not on the front page but in ‘News of the Railroads’”. The best I could come up with was Sherman Anti-Trust act, which wasn’t close.

Margaret couldn’t write down anything and she lost everything. Skyler was trying to finish: “What is Pullman vs. United States?” and that was wrong. He lost $3500.

But Jaskaran figured it out. Writing down: “What is Plessy v. Ferguson?” I had long forgotten, if indeed I ever knew, that the landmark ‘separate but equal’ originally had to do with railroad car segregation. Jaskaran bet nothing and he didn’t have too as he became an automatic semi-finalist.

I should add this was the first postseason Jeopardy game I’ve seen in a very long time that was ‘old-school’. All three players did a lot of top to bottom method for all categories, searching for Daily Doubles started in the middle of each category and all three were relatively conservative in wagers on Daily Doubles (except Margaret but she had little choice in the matter). Even odder is the fact that two of the contestants are relatively recent to Jeopardy and the third comes from the 2010s. Skyler mentioned his appearance on the show from Kids Week 2013, so naturally Ken embarrassed him with a picture of him at 12. To be fair, it also showed the incredible $66,600 he won that day which no doubt covers up a lot of teasing.

 

 

February 19^th

Emily Sands vs. Rachael Schwartz vs Jonathan Fisher

It was tough trying to figure out who to root for here. I’ve been watching Rachael play Jeopardy on and off for the last thirty years so I had my reasons to root for her. When Matt won I thought it would be great if Jonathan, the man who beat him, got a chance to go up against him. And as someone who thought Emily Sands had to do a lot of work just to get to the Tournament of Champions in the first place, I was inclined to be on her side. The fact that she told us she’d made friendship bracelets for everyone in every tournament she’s been, well, that just made me love her more.

In the Jeopardy round Rachel struck first when she found the Daily Double when she was the only player with money to wager. She bet $1000 in I’M DRAGO TODAY: “This book’s title character is ‘Armansky’s star researcher…a pale anorexic young woman who had hair as short as a fuse.” Rachel knew it was The Girl With Dragon Tattoo and went up to $2200. From that point on it was a close round and when it ended Rachael had the barest of leads with $3200 to Jonathan’s $2800 and Emily’s $2200.

Emily struck first in the Double Jeopardy round. She found the first Daily Double on the second clue in THE ELEMENTS. She bet the $2200 she had:

“The Og of elements is oganesson – though we don’t know for sure it’s a gas, it’s part of group 18, this septet.” Emily knew it was the noble gases and moved into the lead.

The next set of clues were a back and forth and by the time Jonathan got to the other Daily Double in RECEDING HEIR-LINES he was in third with $4400. He wagered $2400:

“This heir, a valuable pawn after his mom and dad got the guillotine in 1793, was determined to have died in prison.” I could see Jonathan counting in his head before he guessed: “Who is Louis XVII?” That was correct. He moved to $6800 and into a tie for the lead with Emily.

Most of the round was dominated by Jonathan and Emily with Rachael only ringing in twice, both times with correct answers. Jonathan gave 19 correct responses but gave six incorrect ones and Emily gave 20 correct answers but four incorrect ones. So by the end of Double Jeopardy it was still incredibly close: Emily had $14,000, Jonathan $12,400 and Rachel was still very much alive with $6000.

The Final Jeopardy category was THE ANCIENTS SPEAK. “He wrote, ‘I must make the founder of lovely & famous Athens the counterpart…to the father of glorious Rome.” Now for the first time in almost a month I actually knew the correct answer and none of the champions did. That’s not entirely their fault as it was a tough one.

Rachael wrote down: “Who is Herodotus?” It cost her $5000, leaving her with $1000. Jonathan guessed Virgil. He bet just $399, leaving him with $12,001. (He was betting to be ahead of Rachael in case he was wrong and she was right and bet everything.)

It came down to Emily. She wrote a tribute to Doug and Dana. The correct response was: Who is Plutarch? Long ago I once had a copy of what is known as Plutarch’s Lives in which he parallels Greek and Roman figures. (I didn’t actually read it, though.)

It came down to wagers. Emily bet nothing. That left her with $14,000. Her gamble had paid off as she  became a semi-finalist.

 

February 20^th

Raymond Goslow vs Troy Meyer vs Jackie Kelly

If I had a preference it was for Troy because he was so magnificent in last year’s Tournament of Champions. But what we got is one of the great games of Season 41, period.

It started out as a back and forth between Troy and Raymond in the Jeopardy round. Raymond got an early but Troy took it back when he found the Daily Double in SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES. He bet the $2800 he had:

“Historians use the term ‘the long 19^th century’ to refer to the 125 year period between the starts of these 2 European cataclysms.” Troy responded: “What are The French Revolution and World War I?” and went into the lead with $5600. However the round ended in a tie with Raymond and Troy at $7400 apiece and Jackie trailing with $1600.

The Double Jeopardy round was perfect: all thirty responses were answered correctly by one player. Troy moved into the lead early in the round but Jackie caught a break when she found the first Daily Double in SURPRISE! SHAKESPEARE! (As Ken pointed out “Not that big of a surprise on Jeopardy.” ) Jackie was at $5600 but she was doing well in the category already so she bet it all:

“The title of this play is fulfilled in Act V, Scene 3 when Helena finally gets her Bertram.” She knew it was ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL and jumped into second place.

One clue later Raymond found the other Daily Double in YOUR CHARITY AWAITS. At that point he was in third with $10,600. He bet $5000:

“Each year this organization founded in 1944 awards scholarships worth more than $65 million as it aids 37 HCBUs” Raymond didn’t sound certain when he said: “What is the United Negro College Fund?” but he was correct and moved into the lead again with $15,600.

As you’d expect when you have a perfect round the scores at the end of Double Jeopardy were incredibly high: $25,200 for Raymond, $19,800 for Troy and $13,200 for Jackie. It came down to Final Jeopardy. The category was THE SOUTHWEST:

“The 4-syllable name of this city is almost identical to its namesake town in Spain, except the Spanish one has an extra ‘R’.

Jackie couldn’t come up with anything. It cost her everything she had. Troy wrote down the correct city: “What is Albuquerque?” (And he even spelled it right which I’m not sure I did at home.) He bet $7601 putting him in the lead with $27,401.

It came down to Raymond. He wrote down Albuquerque as well. He bet $14,401. That gave him $39,601 and made him a semi-finalist with what was the second highest score of Season 41. He definitely earned it.

(Incidentally Troy was involved in one other Jeopardy game with a perfect Double Jeopardy round: his semifinal appearance in the Tournament of Champions which he won. Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.)

 

February 21^st

Maya Wright vs Roger Craig vs John Focht

If you’ve been reading my columns about Jeopardy on and off for the last year, you already know who I was rooting for. I wanted to see Roger Craig, the man who broke Ken Jennings’ one day record and who nearly beat Ken in the Battle of the Decades Finals win. And honestly since the moment the first JIT was announced, every Jeopardy fan wanted this. We wanted to see Roger go head to head with Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio and make it to the Masters. And today we got the first part of our wish fulfilled.

It didn’t look like it early on; Roger spent much of the Jeopardy round in the red and in a distant third. By the time he found the Daily Double late in the round, he was far behind John Focht with $800. He wagered the $1000 he was allowed in ASTROLOGY:

“Think of the 4-letter acronym describing Muhammad Ali & it makes sense this was his sign.” It took a moment before he said: “What is Capricorn?” (for GOAT) and he moved up to $1800. He was still in second at the end of the round with $2600 to John’s $7800 and Maya’s $1200.

For the first half of Double Jeopardy it seemed like John had the edge even as Roger closed the gap. Then he found the first Daily Double in MOVING WORDS. He did what we all knew was coming and bet the $9000:

“12-letter word for the group of people walking down the aisle at the start of the wedding.” He had to count on his fingers before he guessed: “What is processional?” He had done a ‘classic Roger Craig double up’ as Ken himself could appreciate and was not in the lead.

Three clues later, still with $18000 he found the other Daily Double in PROLOGUES. This time he bet $12,000:

“His intro to Nobody Knows my Name: “in America, the color of my skin had stood between myself and me; in Europe, that barrier was down.” He knew it was James Baldwin and went to $30,000. He had not officially locked the game up with that wager but he very quickly did finishing with $36,000 to John’s $13,800 and Maya’s $1400.

Final Jeopardy was an exercise but all three players took it seriously. The category was COMPOSERS: “Yale takes credit for starting a commencement tradition when it gave this composer an honorary doctorate in 1905.” All three players knew it was Elgar, the composer of ‘Pomp and Circumstance’. (So did I.) Ken went out of his way to praise his friend and fellow competitor as he punched his ticket to the semi-finals.

By the way for those of you who might have wondered why Julia Collins wasn’t invited? Apparently in the Jeopardy All-Star Games he and Julia connected and they’re married now! Which officially makes them the most successful Jeopardy spouses in history. Roger hinted that Julia will probably be back next year if things worked out.

 

February 24^th

Avi Gupta Vs. Amy Schneider Vs. Luigi De Guzman

Amy is the only player from the previous year’s Invitational who is playing in this one. In her first quarterfinal match back in 2024 she was up against Austin Rogers and Celeste DiNucci, and she ran away with that game. With respect to Luigi and Avi, I figured Amy would have an easier time with them. Boy I was wrong – and maybe Jeopardy will be better for it.

From the start this was a tight game between Luigi and Amy. Luigi got into the lead early in the Jeopardy round and managed to add to it when he found the Daily Double in a category none of the players wanted to go near 21^st MOVIE QUOTES. He was in the lead with $6800 before cautiously betting $1200:

“Alan Arkin: ‘If I’m doing a fake movie, it’s gonna be a fake hit.” Luigi knew it was Argo and went up to $8000. He finished the round with $9600 to Amy’s $5200 and Avi’s $2600.

Amy got a chance to take the lead back early in Double Jeopardy when she found the first Daily Double in HISTORY TO A ‘T’. She wagered $5000:

“The forces of Leonidas and Xerxes faced off at this 480 B.C. battle.” I don’t know if it was her studies or seeing 300 that helped her know it was Thermopylae but she moved into the lead with $12,200.

Just four clues later Avi found the other Daily Double in FORESTS. He was in a distant third with $4600 so it made sense to go ‘All In.”

“The Bohemian Forest is mainly along Germany’s border with this country to the east.” He used a term I hadn’t heard: “What is Czechia?” but apparently that is an acceptable response for the Czech Republic. He doubled his score and it was much closer.

Luigi pulled ahead a few clues later and would maintain for the rest of the game. He finished with $23,600, an impressive score but not nearly enough for a runaway. Amy was next with $14,200 and Avi was still very much alive at the end of Double Jeopardy with $11,200.

The Final Jeopardy category was AMERICAN AUTHORS. The clue was more complex than I thought: “Enlisting in the Army in 1917, he was sent to Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, where he met the woman who would become his wife.”

Avi’s response was revealed first: “Who is Faulkner?” That was my response and like his it was incorrect. He wagered $7233, dropping him to $4233.

Amy wrote down: “Who is Faulkner?” crossed it out and put in Hemingway. Hemingway was incorrect as well. She lost $10,000 putting her at $4200.

It came down to Luigi. He’d also written down Faulkner. Apparently that was where F. Scott Fitzgerald met the Southern belle Zelda. (I didn’t know it either.) Luigi’s wager was $4801. It left him with $18,799 and he narrowly prevailed to become a semi-finalist.

Another thrilling game – and its result will make it much harder for the producers to justify inviting Amy back to the Masters this year. (After last year’s blowback, they probably only would have if she’d won but you never know.)

 

February 25^th

Ray LaLonde vs Robin Carroll vs. Ryan Long

When you have three of the greatest Jeopardy players in history facing off as we did with the Three R’s (Ken’s words, not mine) it was hard to choose a favorite. But Ray probably sealed the deal for me in his interview segment when he revealed that in his first game he missed a clue about H.M.S. Pinafore and was complaining about to his daughter afterwards. “I could probably sing the whole score of it,” he said. “Dad you have,” she told him. As an eternal Gilbert and Sullivan fan (who had to endure something similar growing up) I was obligated to favor him slightly more than Ryan and Robin.

The Jeopardy round was pretty much dead even all the way through. Robin didn’t move ahead until near the end helped by the Daily Double in TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION. She wagered $1200:

“In 1942 rails in Utah were removed as war scrap & this commemorative item (OK, a replica) was pulled up after 73 years.” Robin knew it was the Golden Spike and moved up to $4800. She finished the round with $5200 to Ryan’s $3600 and Ray’s $2800.

Ray made his move when he found the first Daily Double in FASCISM on the second clue of Double Jeopardy. After the obligatory jokes (Ken: How much does FASCISM appeal to you?) Ray bet the $4000 he had:

“George Soros survived the rule of the Arrow Cross Fascist Party in this Country late in World War II.” Ray knew it was Hungary and went into the lead with $8000. He would maintain it for the remainder of Double Jeopardy though Robin and Ryan were hot on his heels the whole round.

To assure it he found the other Daily Double in GETTING POSSESSIVE. This time he bet $3000:

“Named for a 5^th century Greek philosopher, they’re logical conundrums springing from flawed assumptions about what we know.” Ray figured out they were Xeno’s Paradoxes and went up to $15,400. He would finish Double Jeopardy with an impressive lead of $17,000 but Ryan at $9800 and Robin at $9200 could still take victory from him.

The Final Jeopardy category was an old standard: WORLD GEOGRAPHY. The clue was a nightmare. “Located on an island, in 2016 this world capital began following 2 different time zones.” None of the three players knew this one – and neither did I.

Robin guessed: “What is Paris?” That was wrong. She only lost $601, leaving her with $8599. Next came Ryan. He guessed: “What is Bangkok?” Also wrong. He lost $9700. It was up to Ray. He guessed: “What is Copenhagen?” That was also wrong.

Apparently Cyprus is divided between Turkey and Greece, so it referred to the capital Nicosia. (I had no idea what Cyprus’s capital is and I was in the wrong part of the world. My guess was Jakarta.) Ray’s wager was $2601, which left him with $14,399 and assured that another super-champion will be competing in the semi-final.

 

February 26^th

Ben Chan vs Claire Sattler vs Shane Whitlock

In a field that comprised of the three stages of Jeopardy winner (Shane was a former College Champion; Claire a Teen Tournament Winner and Ben a Tournament of Champions runner-up) my heart may have been more with Shane who I have  a longer history with then the other two. (I’ve written about him in my entry on College Champions.) Claire told the more endearing story as an aspiring stand-up when she made a direct appeal to Colin Jost asking to star on SNL. (Which for the record, she’d be awesome at.)

Ben found the Daily Double on the first clue of the game and it went badly. Shane went into the lead early and maintained it for the rest of the round finishing with $9000 to Ben’s $3200 and Claire’s $800.

Claire went into the red early in Double Jeopardy and never got to the positive side. Ben managed to pull ahead very quickly and he and Shane went back and forth. He was at $19,600 when he found the first Daily Double in ALL ABOUT ANIMALS but was so uncomfortable with the category he bet $5. This was a very wise decision:

“These pointy denizens of the ocean were actually named after an earlier word for hedgehogs.” We saw Ben mentally struggle before guessing: “What are sea anemones?” It was apparently urchins and he went all the way down to $19,595.

Not long after Shane got two clues correct in ALLITERATION and then Ben missed the $1600 one. Shane found the other Daily Double with $17,000 to Ben’s $17,995. He bet $3500 to try and put the lead out of reach of Ben.

“This pair that tests one’s forbearance sounds redundant; the phrase was used about St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans.” Shane struggled but couldn’t come up with trials and tribulations. He dropped to $13,500.

He finished with $14,700 to Ben’s $18,395. Claire had nothing  but Ken said that he hoped Colin saw her audition:

Claire: “I hope he wasn’t deterred by the final score.”

(Laughter)

Ken: “I think he tunes out after the first round. You’re good.

 

For Shane and Ben it came down to Final Jeopardy. The category was PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS. The clue was easy if, like me, you know your American political history. As for Shane and Ben, well:

“The only 2 Democrats to be elected president between James Buchanan in 1856 and FDR in 1932.”

Shane was first. He wrote down: “Who are Cleveland and Wilson?” Those were the two. He bet $6000 putting him in the lead with $20,700.

Ben has been a killer in Final Jeopardy his entire career on the show so I thought he would have this. He got Wilson, started to write down Benjamin Harrison crossed it out and put in Garfield. His wagered was $3694 putting him at $14,701. And as a result Shane won a much deserved slot in the semi-finals.

 

February 27^th

Seth Wilson vs Jackson Jones vs Juveria Zaheer

My favorite for this was Seth because as I’ve mentioned before he is one of the most undervalued super-champions in Jeopardy history. That said, Javeria proved herself to be endearing in her anecdote when she said her daughter now wants to be Ken Jennings and has perfecting saying such lines as “We needed more” and “I’m sorry.” (Ken says her daughter knows how easy his job is.)

Juveria had a chance to strike first in the Jeopardy round when she found the Daily Double in THE 15^TH CENTURY. She bet the $1400 she had: “The structure called this, after the old city of Tokyo, was built; over centuries, it expanded greatly, then contracted.” She said: “What is Edo?” And Ken could not give it to her: They were looking for the structure which was Edo Castle. Juveria dropped to zero and was unable to get out of third place the rest of the round. At the end of the round Jackson led with $5200 to Seth’s $4200 and Juveria’s $2600.

What may have been the critical moment game when Seth found the first Daily Double in TALES OF ADVENTURE. He was in the lead and bet the $5800 he had: “Though a cowardly lech, in India the Hero of Flashman in the Great Game earns this then-highest British Award for gallantry.” Seth guessed: “What is the Order of St. George?” It was in fact the Victoria Cross. He dropped to zero but the next several clues no one was able to gain much of an edge. When Juveria found the other Daily Double in BODY HUMAN she was in second with $6600. Again she gambled and bet everything. This time it paid off:

“Head to the end of the alphabet for this bone that forms an outer wall of the eye socket.” She named a bone I had never heard of: “the zygomatic bone” and went up to $13,200. No one came close to her lead but she finished with victory far from assured: She had $16,000 at the end of Double Jeopardy to Jackson’s $10,800 and Seth’s $6400.

The category for Final Jeopardy was ART & ARTISTS. “Born in Amersfoort in 1872, he helped found an art movement noted for the use of straight lines & primary colors.” For only the second time in the quarterfinals all three players knew the correct response (as did I) “Who is Piet Mondrian?” It came down to wagers.

Seth bet $6399, which put him at $12,799. Jackson bet $5201, which gave him $16,001. Juveria wagered $5601 to give her $21,601 and make her the ninth and last semi-finalist.

This has already been a more thrilling JIT then the first one and I suspect it will have even more potential viewership then last time for at least two reasons:

1.      There’s no possibility of a hint of the producers setting up a Masters type rematch this year because we only have one former Jeopardy Master and we’ve already seen just how hard it was for Matt Amodio to get there.

2.      We’ve already increased the number of upsets in the semi-finals in this year than last year because at least three semi-finalists – Emily, Luigi and Juveria have each already beaten one super-champion who on paper should have been able to destroy them.

There’s obviously more reasons to love this lineup and I’ll be back on Tuesday to discuss what will certainly be a thrilling set of semi-finals.

 

2300TH Article: Dexter Rewatch - Was Harry Dexter's Dark Passenger The Whole Time?

 

So much of the Television of the 21^st Century is summed up as series that were centered on the White Male Antihero trope. While descriptive it omits that by an large you could just as easily add two words: Horrible Father.

Its not like the writers did much to hide that fact with all of these series; I suspect it may have been used as a contrast to the horrible things they did onscreen. Loving husband and father, monstrous human being. But anyone who watched the show knows that in part of the reason they were so horrible was because they were horrible as father figures and husbands.

We started out with Tony Soprano at one end; at the other was Logan Roy and in between we had so many other monsters, from Vic Mackey to Walter White doing horrible things ostensibly for their families (and losing them by the end of the shows); Don Draper’s indifference to his wive (s) and children and Marty Byrde demonstrating that he cared more about money then being a good husband and father even though he was faithful to them.

And that’s without counting how many dramas dealt with characters dealing with the fallout from a bad father. As Michael C. Hall knows all too well, Nathaniel Fisher was apparently such a neglectful father that it wasn’t until he was hit by a car that seems to have started to regularly spend time with his children. Everyone in Westeros was battling with issues with their fathers as much as they were for the Iron Throne. And it seems that perhaps the biggest force that drove everybody to the island in Lost had to as much with a horrible father as it did a mystic figure in white who seemed to be guiding them there. (And not to give anything away in this guide, but it turned out he was the victim of family issues himself.)

It's not that this era was entirely made of bad parents, of course. No matter how bad each day Jack Bauer had was he still did love his daughter. Tim Taylor was one of the best surrogate fathers because he was a great actual father. There were no bad parents in the Braverman clan and that carried out for three generations. And shows like Alias and Fringe were as much about a father trying to make things right with a neglected child as they were saving the world. But by and large bad fathers were the order of the day by the time Dexter debuted in 2006 and in large part it may have been for that reason that when the show was at its peak – the first four seasons – we would see Dexter trying to find a way to be  a good father, first as a surrogate to Astor and Cody, and then to his own child with Rita.

Fans of Dexter won’t argue the most important figure in his life was Harry Morgan (played by James Remar in the original series; Christian Slater in Original Sin). Dexter clearly spent the entire series based as much as Harry’s perception of him as anything else. He was, after all, following Harry’s code and as we saw in the first two seasons Harry was clearly recognized who he was and tried to force his evils into a constructive purpose. That’s why, after Season 2, we saw Harry as the face of Dexter’s moral code: even after he learned the truth about the lies Harry told him, he couldn’t escape Harry’s vision of him.

And I think its critical that Harry spent as much time chastising Dexter about what he couldn’t be as he was guiding him to seek his next target. In Season 3 when Dexter was dealing with Rita’s pregnancy and his friendship with Miguel Prado, Harry kept warning him about the dangers of both. In Season 4 when Dexter was dealing with being a husband and father, Harry repeatedly told him this was a good cover but he shouldn’t give in to the deception. The fact that this was just Dexter talking to himself doesn’t change the fact that it’s Harry saying these words: Dexter clearly knows in his heart that for all Harry did for him he never let him forget that he wasn’t normal.

Perhaps that’s why during the first few seasons Dexter keeps seeking approval from father figures he knows he should avoid. He spends as much time talking with Special Agent Lundy (Keith Carradine) in Season 2 because even though the man is charged to put the ‘Bay Harbor Butcher’ in prison, he admires the man’s way of thinking and there’s a part of him that wants his respect. In Season 3 he forms a relationship with Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) and while the two try  to be friends the fact that Miguel is a bit older than him does show him trying to find a way to bond with him that he and his father never could. Looking at the growth of their relationship, so much of it seems to be him trying to go on these father-son missions that Harry never approved of even as he designed a code. And in what is the greatest foe he ever faced Trinity (John Lithgow in an Emmy winning performance) the main reason he doesn’t kill him when he has the chance is when he learns Arthur Mitchell is ‘a husband…a father. He’s like me.” He wants to learn from Trinity because he thinks he can be the spiritual father he never had – and only when he gets invited to Thanksgiving he learns what a horrible father Arthur really is.

By that point in Dexter we already know that Harry’s paternal skills are, at best, deeply flawed. We know that by focusing all of his energy on his adopted son, Deb has spent her entire life feeling neglected by him and has essentially become a cop to win his approval. By the end of Season 1 we know that Dexter was the victim of a massacre that led to the death of his birth mother Laura Moser and that left him in blood for three days until Harry found him and took Dexter in. He chose to ignore the older brother Brian and eventually he became the Ice Truck Killer and has revealed those evils to him.

In Season 2, we learn even more about the malfeasance of Harry. We learned he’d hidden any record of Laura from Miami Metro and made sure there was no police record of him, something that Camilla went out of her way to bury. Then we learned that Laura Moser was actually one of Harry’s informants on a drug case and that by keeping her off the books, he ended up getting her killed – and that was because he was having an affair with her. Finally we learned that Harry had not died of blocked arteries but had committed suicide when he saw the evidence of who his son was for the first time – and couldn’t live with it. Dexter makes a break with his father in the aftermath of Doakes’s being framed as the Bay Harbor Butcher and from that point on, makes his own code.

None of that is inclined to think very highly of Harry even before Original Sin begins which covers much of the territory of the flashbacks of Season 1 when it comes to Dexter’s first kills. What is different is that the series spends as much time with Harry’s history as it does Dexter’s – and the picture it paints of Harry makes the viewer truly wonder for the first time how much of the blood that was spilled in Dexter is Harry’s fault – not merely for how he raised Dexter, but because we are beginning to wonder if the lies Harry told were not so much to protect himself.

Original Sin spends much of its run showing us Harry’s backstory through flashbacks. And it makes Harry look worse illustrating a man who is willing to manipulate Laura Moser for his own purposes and increasingly chooses to ignore his own wife. Much of this is no doubt out of the guilt he feels because of a story that we were unaware of in the original series. The Morgans had a child and Harry was watching a football game and when he did, his toddler son drowned in their pool.

It is implied that Harry threw himself into his work to escape his guilt and as a result seized upon an attempt to fight the cartels in Miami which led him to meet Laura and her family. While this was going on Doris (basically unseen to this point on the show) learned that it would take a miracle to have a child. As a result Harry chose to get closer to Laura and her family, crossing lines no detective should. This led him to meet both Dexter and Brian for the first time and it’s clear in these scenes Dexter is fond of him.

But by this point Harry is openly having an affair with Laura, even though he knows it’s wrong. Simultaneously he learns that Doris is pregnant with Deb. When he learns about this in episode 5 his reaction is not joy or surprise but a bizarre guilt. Was he thinking of leaving his wife for Laura and Deb was a burden on him made that impossible?

We eventually see that in fact Doris knows about the affair he has been having though not the full details. She will convince him to end it after Deb is born but he continues to see Laura long after it and push her to continue working with Estrada even though it is increasingly dangerous. Eventually he is spotted by Estrada’s men and that leads to their exposure – and everything that happens since

What is already clear is that Harry spends much of the first season refusing to admit who Dexter is and pushing violently back against his sons first kills. This already pushes back hard on what Dexter saw in him in the original series and we’re already seeing him spending much of the series trying very hard to make sure Dexter never learns the truth about where he came from.

This leads to one of the most telling scenes in Original Sin. At the end of Episode 5 Dexter goes to the headstone of his mother and recants a painful memory. He says that he once heard Doris talking about him around age 13, suggesting he get psychological help. At the time he thought Dexter believed she was afraid of him – now he realizes Doris did it because she saw something in him that Harry clearly never did.

This throws everything we know about Dexter into question. Throughout the original series we saw the signs of the caring man he could be but believes is a mask. We also see it in his scenes with Chief Stamper’s son when his parents come into fight over their divorce. It’s one of the first times we see Dexter where he looks completely natural, that’s he almost like a normal person. And combined with the scenes of Dexter as a toddler in the flashbacks – where he clearly seems to be mourning over dead insects and is kindly drawing a picture – we wonder something we haven’t in nearly twenty years – did Dexter become who he was not only because of what happened to him in the shipping container but because of Harry?

We know that Harry took Dexter in out of a sense of responsibility because of Laura’s massacre and pointedly refused to take in Brian. We saw the consequences of that play out in the original series and the implication at the time was that Harry had been able to tame Dexter’s monster and make it serve a purpose. But he also never told any details about Dexter’s childhood while he was growing up and every time Dexter showed signs of darkness, he essentially tried to control his urges by taking him on hunting trips.

We thought that was signs of a caring father. In the context of Original Sin, it’s starting to look like guilt. Harry felt a responsibility to Laura and took Dexter in and has decided to keep Dexter safe. As a result he put all his energy on Dexter as part of that responsibility and as a result Deb was completely neglected. This was clear in the original series and its just as clear in Original Sin, if not more so. Everything he has done, he says, is to keep his kids safe.

But is it? Had Harry been willing to have Dexter undergo counseling, Dexter could have gotten the help he needed. It would have taken work and might have been difficult but given what we know about Dexter as a grown up, not impossible. But if he had done so Dexter might have learned what he did when he went to a therapist in Season 1 (to kill him, of course) and that would have led to questions about who he was and why.

Those questions would have come back to Harry. And even if they hadn’t, eventually Doris might have asked those questions herself. Either way the cost of Dexter being a healthy functioning member of society might very well have cost Harry his badge, his marriage and possibly his family.

And it’s clear in a subplot that is going on during Original Sin that the consequences are deeper than he thinks. Early in the season he and LaGuerta find a case that seems the example of a young serial killer who is slowly moving finding his sweet spot. Harry and LaGuerta end up going on a trip to Tampa and find that their suspect is a child psychiatrist – who was murdered and his files were stolen.

It doesn’t come as much of a shock that one of the patients the doctor is seeing is Brian Moser, Dexter’s brother who will one day become the Ice Truck Killer. The file reveals some of what is canon and more – Brian not only knows about Harry’s relationship to Laura but that the two were having an affair. It also makes it clear that Harry is aware of this connection – and then hides the files from LaGuerta. And by the end it’s clear Harry has far more blood on his hands. He learns the truth about Brian Moser by the season finale when he sees one of the most recent victims was the woman who separated Brian and Dexter – on Harry’s orders. Then he encounters Brian on the top of a roof, who confronts him on what he has done – and he lets him go. Those who will defend Harry will say he’s not a killer except we saw he was more than willing to commit murder before his son interrupted him on far less shaky ground. Now he knows what Brian Moser is capable of and he lets him live. What happens in Season 1 is the consequences of it. He also has another chance to tell Dexter what happened and again he ignores it. The blood of everyone who dies at the hands of Brian and everything that happens to Deb is on his hands as well.

 

Even after we realize all of this makes him very directly responsible for so much about what Deb’s future will be its clear that at the end of the day Harry’s idea of being a good dad is buried in some old form. He’s never been a good father to Deb and he essentially orders Dexter to follow up on Deb, essentially handing parental duties of his birth daughter to his foster son. By this point it’s already clear that Dexter has an awareness of darkness in others that Harry is unwilling to see – and by that point, another massacre has taken place and many more people have died. (I’ll have more on that in a separate article on the end of the series.)

Christian Slater’s Harry shows a man who is increasingly afraid about what his son is becoming. And we see a man who doesn’t like that he’s created a monster. But is it because he has no taste for the kind of blunt justice Dexter dashes out? In Episode 5, after a procedural blunder on Harry’s part in court leads to a serial killer going free, Harry gets drunk and starts stalking that same man, clearly with the intention of killing him. Only Dexter’s intervention (humorously) leads to Harry not executing the man in cold blood.

By this point we don’t even know if Harry even meets the standard of a good cop. In the past he’s had an affair with his informant which got her killed. In the present he’s covering up for a serial killer to ostensibly protect his son but really to protect himself. And he refuses to even acknowledge that a man he’s known for thirty years is capable of doing horrible things – something that Dexter has figured out on his own.

At the halfway point of Original Sin, everything we thought we knew about Harry has been thrown into sharp relief and it is horrifying what we see. We’ve already known Harry wasn’t a perfect husband and he was a neglectful father to his birth child and lied constantly to his adopted son about every part of who he was. Harry has no stomach for the violence Dexter unleashed but we now know that’s basically just the pot calling the kettle black. Now there’s an excellent chance that even the one thing we all thought was the good  he did – training Dexter to follow a code – may have been done entirely to escape any responsibility for his own lies, and solely to protect the image he has among his fellow detectives and his family – including Dexter himself.

The first rule of the code that Harry taught Dexter was: “Don’t get caught.” Original Sin implies that applied to Harry himself as much as Dexter and that everything part of his parenting was designed so that Harry avoided responsibility for his own malfeasance and lies. That Dexter very likely became a monster as a result of this shows the deeper tragedy of the character and makes it clear that Harry, for all his guidance and support, was as bad a father as any we saw during the era of Peak TV. That his behavior was that of omission rather than cruelty does not make him any less a monster than Tony Soprano or Walter White – just another kind.