(Kyle Mills, shown here, wrote Total Power as his sixth book in the Mitch Rapp series created by Vince Flynn).
The first movements of the story within Total Power introduce the political intrigue associated with the cost of infrastructure updates to the power grid in the United States, along with the vulnerability of the network if a knowledgeable actor with evil intent along with the proper knowledge planned to exploit what weaknesses exist in the system. The underlying issue of coordinated attacks of strategic execution could plunge the United States in darkness for well beyond days, weeks or months before an effective government or free market response could be forthcoming.
(Alternative covers for Total Power as written by Kyle Mills. Total Power is the 19th book in the Mitch Rapp series as created by Vince Flynn).
The second movements of the story bring Mitch Rapp, the force of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a US president nearing the end of his presidential leadership to bear on an imminent attack staged at the moment the issue is under attack. The attack, though led by ISIS, actually has a bite beyond the jihadist skill to deploy the attack. Despite an explicit effort led by Rapp and a capable team of counter-terrorists, the attempt to thwart the attack is detected ahead of the CIA trap that had been laid. The attack that both infiltrated ISIS and the United States power grid, plunged the mainland into darkness that would last for weeks or months. Effectively, the United States had been crippled with no effective ability to recover.
(Vince Flynn, shown here, created the Mitch Rapp series of books. Flynn wrote the first thirteen books in the series).
With the skills of Mitch Rapp and his team now tactically eliminated, the investigate, infiltrate and get to the knowledgeable few became the third movement of Total Power. The world of malfunctioning infrastructure, computers and communication systems down, and starvation, death and inevitable rioting with little capacity for countering the chaos became the name of the response. The means for getting to a legitimate solution that addressed the infrastructure, and those who damaged it were the odds that needed to be addressed. Would those odds be overcome? You know it would be.
That the narrative telling of Mitch Rapp moved almost strictly into ways to address a power grid attack where powerlessness to respond was at stake was unique and appreciated. This change worked for me more at a high level, though the bigger issue that I found was that there really was only one plausible way that the solution to the problem of that powerlessness was going to be resolved. That I was in tune with how things worked out earlier in the book than I wanted to know proved disappointing. As for Total Power written by Kyle Mills, I give the book 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Some six-years following the end of the Breaking Bad (2008-2013)television series, series creator Vince Gilligan gave fans of the series something that had been missing from the end of the original show. That something was a clear telling of what happened to character Aaron Paul‘s Jesse Pinkman, the student criminal to aid Bryan Cranston‘s Walter White in the building of the Heisenberg drug syndicate. The Vince Gilligan written and directed movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) puzzles out that story for us.
(From left, Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman and Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
The ability to leave his past, his captors and law enforcement behind is the goal placed in front of Jesse Pinkman from the outset of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Beginning with a flashback to the immediate point that Mike Ehrmantraut and Jesse leave the crystal meth business of Walter White, we see the framing of this movie with the question for where Jesse should flea. Mike, portrayed by Jonathan Banks, advises against making amends for the past with the further suggestion to head for Alaska to make a new beginning.
(From left, Charles Baker as Skinny Pete and Matt Jones as Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
In the present day, we see Jesse fleeing to the Albuquerque, New Mexico home of Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew and Skinny Pete, as respectively portrayed by Matt Jones and Charles Baker. Hiding the ChevroletEl Camino of Todd Alquist that Jesse fled his captors in, Jesse first is given the chance to sleep, shower and recover in the immediate aftermath of his captivity. Devising a plan to make it appear that Jesse would flea in Pete’s FordThunderbird while actually making an escape in Badger’s PontiacFiero, Badger heads south towards Mexico in the Thunderbird while Skinny Pete stays with the LoJacked El Camino. Meanwhile, Jesse makes his way in the Fiero. Jesse Plemons portrayed Todd Alquist.
(From left, Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman and Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
Told largely through flashback, we are at first presented to Todd Alquist’s apartment in an odd twist. Alquist actually springs Jesse from the duty of captivity and crystal meth production to address a uniquely personal situation that grew out of Alquist’s need to stash the money earned in the drug business. Addressing that distasteful business gives Jesse the knowledge that a large quantity of money will be stored at the apartment; knowledge of Alquist’s busybody neighbor Lou Schanzer becomes the secondary important knowledge piece that comes into play later when Jesse comes into contact with Neil Kandy and Casey. Tom Bower portrayed Lou Schanzer.
(From left, Scott MacArthur as Neil Kandy and Scott Shepherd as Casey in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
As the notion that nothing comes easy or with zero cost proved itself useful to the storytelling of Breaking Bad, the intersections of the Neil Kandy and Casey tales in Jesse’s desire to flea is perhaps the most clever and consistent to that style of any story within El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Neil and Casey, portrayed by Scott MacArthur and Scott Shepherd respectively, dovetail into the Ed Galbraith story quite nicely as necessary plot point in Jesse’s fleeing the greater Albuquerque area and Painted Desert, Arizona area. These storylines offer the creative tension and, ultimately, resolution to Jesse’s story that were arguably owed to the viewers of the original Breaking Bad series. Robert Forster portrayed Ed Galbraith.
(Robert Forster as Ed Galbraith in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
Shoutouts to individual characters from the original series, including asides, callouts, imaginings or subtle references to Walter White, Diane Pinkman as portrayed by Tess Harper, Adam Pinkman as portrayed by Michael Bofshever, Jane Margolis as portrayed by Krysten Ritter and Brock Cantillo as portrayed by Ian Posada, were all nice touches. I give Breaking Bad as written and directed by Vince Gilligan 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(From left, Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald and Grace Dove as Roz Friendly in the first season of Alaska Daily).
A central storyline for the opening season of the television series was the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman (MMIW) issue that exists in the United StatesandCanada. Besides being scantly depicted in the media, the issue seems to be unaddressed from a law enforcement perspective. The television series introduces Eileen Fitzgerald, a New York City, New York reporter persuaded to move to Anchorage, Alaska as a reporter on this issue. Fitzgerald, portrayed by Hilary Swank, had been disgraced in an unjustifiable manner by her former newspaper editorial board before being convinced to report from Anchorage by an editor that saw through that original injustice.
(Clockwise from left, Craig Frank as Austin Teague, Pablo Castelblanco as Gabriel Tovar, Meredith Holzman as Claire Muncy, Jeff Perry as Stanley Cornik and Matt Malloy as Bob Young in the first season of Alaska Daily).
The addition of Fitzgerald to Anchorage by executive editor of the fictional Alaska Daily newspaper Stanley Cornik, as portrayed by Jeff Perry, launched a series of interesting dynamics within a newsroom that includes acting editor Bob Young, veteran reporter Claire Muncy, Fitzgerald’s partner Roz Friendly, and relevant supporters Austin Teague, Yuna Park and Gabriel Tovar. Young, Muncy, Friendly, Teague, Park and Tovar were portrayed by Matt Malloy, Meredith Holzman, Grace Dove, Craig Frank, Ami Park and Pablo Castelblanco, respectively. The personal stories of people living their lives in this newsroom, coupled with the notions of a dying newsroom and who will tell these stories if the newsroom dies, are legitimate tropes of this drama that offers the series the humanity making for a solid television series.
(From left, Ami Park as Yuna Park, Irene Bedard as Sylvie Nanmac and Shane McRae as Aaron Pritchard in the first season of Alaska Daily).
Mixing this with lives of native peoples including Gloria Nanmac, her mother Sylvie Nanmac, Toby Crenshaw and reporter Roz Friendly were appreciated. The money and influence of Aaron and Conrad Pritchard tell strong tales. Adding storylines for Jamie, Karla, Concerned Citizen, and people in government and law enforcement added depth that, at least through the first season, added something worthwhile. Mamie Eva Cecilia Pete, Irene Bedard, Brandon Alexis, Shane McRae, John Getz, Joe Tippett, Kourtney Bell and Bill Dawes portrayed Gloria Nanmac, Sylvie Nanmac, Toby Crenshaw, Aaron Pritchard, Conrad Pritchard, Jamie, Karla and Concerned Citizen, respectively. I look forward to seeing what comes next season for Alaska Daily, granting the first season 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.
Kyle Mills continues the Mitch Rapp series of books (book sequence here) created by Vince Flynn with the sixteenth (16th) book in the series, the third written by Mills. With Enemy of the State, we see that the central star of this universe of books might have met his match by way of an ongoing engagement in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia the Middle East and America that have made Mitch Rapp the enemy of the state referenced in the title.
(Kyle Mills succeeded Vince Flynn in writing books with Mitch Rapp as a central character. Mills wrote Enemy of the State).
Kyle Mills speaks of Enemy of the State this way on his website: “A theme in many of Vince Flynn’s books was his distaste for Saudi Arabia—a distaste that I wholeheartedly share. Despite America’s close ties, there’s just no getting around the fact that it’s a medieval dictatorship that supplied the majority of the 9-11 attackers, it continues to spread radical Islam throughout the world, and it withholds even the most basic rights from women. While our alliance with them might be expedient, it’s a deal with the devil.”
(Alternative book covers for Enemy of the State as written by Kyle Mills).
The story more or less picks up from a point in time soon after the end of Order to Kill, as reviewed here. A tacit agreement had been taken between the previous presidential regime and Saudi Arabia‘s King Faisal to cover up the Saudi involvement in the September 11th attacks in exchange for sweetheart prices for oil consumed in the United States. Part of the deal involved Faisal bringing the culpable elements in within his society to justice. American President Alexander doubts this commitment.
(Vince Flynn created the Mitch Rapp series of books, writing the first 13 books in the series).
A rogue wing of the royal family, Faisal’s nephew Prince Talal bin Musaid, has begun funding ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq). The prince’s thinking has been to position himself as the likely successor to leadership in Saudi Arabia when the king, of deteriorating health, eventually dies. The means and ends to getting to this result, with Scott Coleman still struggling to regain his former health alongside core themes of distrust for political motivations, lead to the core storytelling of Enemy of the State.
(Enemy of the State is the third book written by Kyle Mills in the Mitch Rapp series of books).
Most of the twists and turns of the story of this book offer the cliffhanger qualities that one should expect. There were a couple of a pleasantly surprising nature that particularly pleased me, including part of the story that dealt with a character who had been in North Dakota. The novel’s conclusion was a bit on the mundane side for my liking, though where the larger outcome landed was as good as it needed to be. I rate Enemy of the State as written by Kyle Mills 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Just recently I watched the neo-Westerncrime drama television series Breaking Bad (2008-2013). The core story of the series is how underpaid and demoralized chemistry teacher Walter White, diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer to begin the series, teams with former student Jesse Pinkman to sell crystal meth in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Vince Gilligan created and produced the series.
(From left, Bryan Cranston as Walter White, Anna Gunn as Skyler White and RJ Mitte as Walter White, Jr. in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
As the series begins, Walter White lives in the family’s one-story ranch house with Skyler White, his wife, and Walter White, Jr., his son. Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and RJ Mitte portrayed husband, wife and son, respectively, in the series. The initial impetus for entering the drug trade for Walter White was to financially provide for his family in the face of his cancer diagnosis. The process began as a small operation with small batches, made in combination and then distributed with the aid of former student Jesse Pinkman. Aaron Paul portrayed Jesse Pinkman.
(From left, Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman and Krysten Ritter as Jane Margolis in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
Comedic dysfunction ensued in the relationship for Pinkman and his former teacher in getting their business off the ground. Distribution is an initial consideration, with issues in manufacturing and distribution, with the engagement of Krazy-8, as portrayed by Max Arciniega, offering a dramatic sequence of events for the opening season. Jesse Pinkman’s strained relationship with his parents, as portrayed by Michael Bofshever and Tess Harper, added some depth to this storyline. Sharing Walt’s cancer diagnosis to Skyler’s sister Marie Schrader and DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, introduced some of Walter’s extended family. Dean Norris and Betsy Brandt portrayed Hank and Marie, respectively.
(From left, Dean Norris as Hank Schrader and Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
The second season plants the fodder for the larger narrative for where the five seasons of Breaking Bad will go. Introducing Tuco Salamanca, as portrayed by Raymond Cruz, at first introduces an element of realism and risk for what the illegal meth business means. Keeping the notion separate from family, with the introductions of mortal risk alongside a love interest for Jesse with Jane Margolis, demonstrating complexity on the front that is only the tip of the iceberg. Krysten Ritter and John de Lancie portray Jane Margolis and her father, Donald Margolis, respectively. The recreational vehicle and meth lab for Walt and Jesse, in their own ways, bring problems between Jesse and his parents, Hank Schrader and the criminal enterprise, and familial ties that aren’t readily apparent at this of the story. The season really ends with a bang.
(From left, Matt Jones as Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew, Rodney Rush as Christian ‘Combo’ Ortega, Charles Baker as Skinny Pete and Bryan Cranston as Walter White in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
Season three introduces many elements of fallout from the second season, including introductions to relatives of Tuco Salamanca through Saul Goodman. Bob Odenkirk, Mark Margolis, Daniel Moncada and Luis Moncada portrayed Saul Goodman, Hector Salamanca, Marco Salamanca and Leonel Salamanca, respectively. Goodman also brings Mike Ehrmantraut into the relationship of Walter and Skyler White, with an aim to protect the criminal enterprise that Jesse and Walter. Walter White and Jesse Pinkman had brought Goodman into their enterprise in what was to become a growing crystal meth operation. It’s through Ehrmantraut, as portrayed by Jonathan Banks, that we are introduced to chicken manufacturer Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring of Chile and his industrial strength crystal meth manufacturing plant. Giancarlo Esposito portrayed Fring.
(From left, Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut and Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
The backstory of the industrial plant takes the audience into the past crystal meth manufacturing ambitions of Gus Freng. This history shows a longstanding relationship between Fring and Hector Salamanca, culminating in the manufacturing storyline under the laundromat. Dynamic interpersonal dynamics become exceedingly more complex from this past, and with the cook who assembled the plant the parts for the plan in the first place, Gale Boetticher. David Costabile portrayed Boetticher, whose overall story leads to the fulfillment of many storylines for Breaking Bad.
(From left, Mark Margolis as Hector Salamanca and Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
The Salamanca storyline around vengeance for Tuco runs contemporaneous to the laundromat, the introduction to Gus’ ambition, and explaining to outward appearances for the ability to afford Walter White’s cancer treatments. We meet the character Ted Beneke, a creep from Skyler’s past portrayed by Christopher Cousins. Meanwhile, we dynamics with Jesse’s distribution ring leads to troubles for Christian ‘Combo’ Ortega, as portrayed by Rodney Rush. The fallout of this leads to significant issues for Walter and Jesse with Mike Ehrmantraut and Gus Fring, with the relationship that Jesse has cultivated with Andrea Cantillo and her son, Brock Cantillo, on Jesse’s mind. Emily Rios and Ian Posada portrayed Andrea Cantillo and Brock Cantillo, respectively.
(From left, Christopher Cousins as Ted Beneke, David Costabile as Gale Boetticher and Emily Rios as Andrea Cantillo in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
The third and fourth seasons of Breaking Bad were among the best I’ve seen in a television series. The trajectory for so many relationships along with the development of the histories that informed so much of the motivation for characters were tremendous. That we truly began to see the true nature of who series long characters were during this timeframe. The stepping up of ways that DEA agent Hank Schrader continued not knowing that his brother-in-law was in drugs, as prolonged as could be possible with some ingenious interventions, were artfully done. This said, the sharing for how the stories of so many characters worked themselves out by the fourth season, and through some tying of loose ends with the fifth season, made the fifth season feel a bit anti-climactic at points for me. The introduction of Holly White was an interesting touch along the way, which served purposes for the relations between Walter and Skyler White, Hank and Marie Schrader, and between the Schraders and the Whites.
(From left, Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist and Laura Fraser as Lydia Rodarte-Quayle in the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
The storylines for the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad introduced needs to bring resolution to relationships with questions unresolved. Would members of the cast continue with the criminal enterprise? Would folks get caught? Would Hank catch the criminal that he’d been after since the beginning of the series. These questions are answered with clarity and depth, though the true emotional impact for some of these questions rested earlier in the series. The functions of Todd Alquist and Lydia Rodarte-Quayle became necessary, though these characters didn’t get the screen time to resonate as completely as others, including Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew and as Skinny Pete. The discrete closure for specific characters, and how things were left open for our imaginations for some characters, was an interesting choice. That this led the Better Call Saul (2015-2022) television series as well as the El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) movie occurred, due to this, in my opinion. Matt Jones, Charles Baker, Jesse Plemons and Laura Fraser portrayed Mayhew, Skinny Pete, Alquist and Rodarte-Quayle, respectively.
(From left, director Vince Gilligan and actor Aaron Paul preparing for a scene for the Vince Gilligan television series Breaking Bad).
The overall experience of the Breaking Bad television series was entertaining. There are definitely parts of the movie that explored the motivations for who characters were, with the end result being a clear speaking to the full character that was Walter White. I give Breaking Bad as produced by Vince Gilligan 4.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(From left, Hilary Swank as Detective Ellie Burr, Martin Donovan as Detective Hap Eckhart and Al Pacino as Detective Will Dormer in the Christopher Nolan movie Insomnia).
Al Pacino starred as Detective Will Dormer of the Los Angeles Police Department of Los Angeles, California. Detective Hap Eckhart, set to testify against Dormer in an internal affairs concern in Los Angeles, flies with Dormer to the fictional town of Nightmute, Alaska to assist in a murder investigation at the request of Nightmute Police Chief Charlie Nyback, a former colleague of Dormer’s. Paul Dooley portrayed Nyback as Martin Donovan portrayed Eckhart.
(From left, Hilary Swank as Detective Ellie Burr and Al Pacino as Detective Will Dormer in the Christopher Nolan movie Insomnia).
Nightmute, Alaska Detective Ellie Burr, as portrayed by Hilary Swank, picks up the LAPD detectives at the airport. While tension exists between Eckhart and Dormer, Burr greets the pair with a stated admiration for the investigative work that prompted lent support for Nyback in getting Dormer the opportunity to investigate the murder that brought him the LAPD detectives to Alaska in the first place.
(From left, Robin Williams as Walter Finch and Al Pacino as Detective Will Dormer in the Christopher Nolan movie Insomnia).
It was during the long daylight hours of an Alaska summertime that the course of the murder investigation took the detectives into near wilderness habitat in pursuit of the team’s murder suspect, Walter Finch. Robin Williams portrayed Finch, whose gun is left at the scene of a police-involved shooting that leaves one of the pursuing detective’s dead. Knowing how the notion of a shooting death looks, Dormer makes up a story that magnifies what Dormer knows is already a difficult situation back home.
(Maura Tierney as Rachel Clement in the Christopher Nolan movie Insomnia).
Suffering from the near constant daylight of an Alaska summertime, the difficulties back home, the original murder investigation, the police involved shooting and an offer by murder suspect Walter Finch to turn the plot of this psychological thriller into film noir, Detective Dormer confides some of his inner feelings to innkeeper Rachel Clement, as portrayed by Maura Tierney.
(From left, actor Robin Williams and director Christopher Nolan on set of the Christopher Nolan movie Insomnia).
The stage is set well in amplifying the tension within the film functioning from the Hillary Seitz, Nikolaj Frobenius and Erik Skjoldbjærg screenplays. Fundamentally, the centerpiece for this movie to me is the story and cinematic feel more than the performances of the actors, which isn’t meant to diminish the acting performances. The real casting surprise, which works for me as a portrayal against typecast, rests with the role of Walter Finch. Make no mistake in knowing that the film works. I offer Insomnia as directed by Christopher Nolan 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt Lynn Digital 