[7.3/10] “A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time” is essentially an episode-length PSA for the joys of reading. But you know what? I like reading. I like shows waxing rhapsodic about the joys of reading. I like them destigmatizing adult illiteracy and telling viewers that it’s denver too late to discover the joys of the written word. Is it all a little corny? Sure, but I’m a receptive audience.
That said, I couldn’t care less about MacBeth stealing the famed “Scrolls of Merlin”. U suppose the show needs something action-y to happen because ten-year-olds wouldn’t sit still for half an hour just watching Hudson have a conversation with a writer. But it really feels perfunctory -- an excuse to throw in some fireworks in an episode that isn’t really about them. MacBeth still scans as a cipher who’s got something vaguely mysterious about him, but without the show being willing to put enough cards on the table to make him matter.
Still, I like Broadway’s epiphany here, that hearing MacBeth tell him about the legend of Merlin makes it feel like he was there, something that boosts the reading-skeptical Gargoyles to develop a newfound appreciation for what books and stories can do. His little arc, from deriding “marks on a page” to begging Goliath not to destroy the scrolls which contain Merlin’s tale of King Arthur, is a little tidy, but still heartening.
Not as heartening as Hudson’s though. His interlude with Jeffrey Robbins, a blind Vietnam vet and writer who looks after Hudson in a tough spot, is very wholesome. Robbins is the right mix of understanding and challenging with Hudson, and the story of how the two old soldiers inspire and help one another is downright heartwarming. There’s a realness to the way the two of them interact, despite the “Ain't reading grand” message being delivered so forcefully, and it carries the day.
Hudson deciding that if Robbins can learn to read braille, he can learn to read letters, despite their respective ages, is a strong lesson to impart. And while flowery, Robbins paean to the written word at the end of the episode is beautiful and poetic, a fine tribute to the stirring power of prose to spark the mind and soothe the soul. I’ll take it.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-07-02T01:16:54Z
[7.3/10] “A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time” is essentially an episode-length PSA for the joys of reading. But you know what? I like reading. I like shows waxing rhapsodic about the joys of reading. I like them destigmatizing adult illiteracy and telling viewers that it’s denver too late to discover the joys of the written word. Is it all a little corny? Sure, but I’m a receptive audience.
That said, I couldn’t care less about MacBeth stealing the famed “Scrolls of Merlin”. U suppose the show needs something action-y to happen because ten-year-olds wouldn’t sit still for half an hour just watching Hudson have a conversation with a writer. But it really feels perfunctory -- an excuse to throw in some fireworks in an episode that isn’t really about them. MacBeth still scans as a cipher who’s got something vaguely mysterious about him, but without the show being willing to put enough cards on the table to make him matter.
Still, I like Broadway’s epiphany here, that hearing MacBeth tell him about the legend of Merlin makes it feel like he was there, something that boosts the reading-skeptical Gargoyles to develop a newfound appreciation for what books and stories can do. His little arc, from deriding “marks on a page” to begging Goliath not to destroy the scrolls which contain Merlin’s tale of King Arthur, is a little tidy, but still heartening.
Not as heartening as Hudson’s though. His interlude with Jeffrey Robbins, a blind Vietnam vet and writer who looks after Hudson in a tough spot, is very wholesome. Robbins is the right mix of understanding and challenging with Hudson, and the story of how the two old soldiers inspire and help one another is downright heartwarming. There’s a realness to the way the two of them interact, despite the “Ain't reading grand” message being delivered so forcefully, and it carries the day.
Hudson deciding that if Robbins can learn to read braille, he can learn to read letters, despite their respective ages, is a strong lesson to impart. And while flowery, Robbins paean to the written word at the end of the episode is beautiful and poetic, a fine tribute to the stirring power of prose to spark the mind and soothe the soul. I’ll take it.