It’s About Time

To celebrate my fifty-ninth birthday earlier this week, I acquired on this fine Friday the 13th the same (but slightly newer) model watch worn by both Cassie and Cole on 12 Monkeys, which wrapped its final season one week ago. Coherency and consistency makes for compelling character-driven, superb storytelling. The actors were well-chosen for their roles; the dynamic among them is believable and compelling.

Too many series shift suddenly to reboot the narrative, between seasons. Common tactic: Jumping months or years ahead, and in process changing characters’ circumstances while leaving viewers feeling like they missed something—as previous plots are tossed aside. Not 12 Monkeys, which fourth season was in almost all ways the most entertaining of all. Jennifer Goines performing P!NK for Der Furher is sure to achieve cult-meme status, when the program reaches the right threshold of fans.

While the final season aired over a month, I rewatched the previous three—amazed to see how complex story-lines weaved together into a culminating narrative mosaic. I won’t say how, to avoid splashing spoilers in your face. Please watch, and enjoy for yourself.

I took the Featured Image and its companion using Leica Q‘s Macro mode, manually focusing. The first is presented as shot; the second is cropped. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 320, 1/60 sec, 28mm; 5:26 p.m. PDT, today. The other is same except for ISO 250.

The Carrera Calibre 7 Twin-Time replaces my Iconik 3 that took over wrist-space from Apple Watch 3 LTE. I’m pretty much done with smartwatches, their nuisance notices, and tepid batteries. The Carrera is classy and automatic; no charging required. There’s a nifty second-time zone option, which I have set to GMT—from which I can easily reckon a region’s local time. I like. All that said, I prefer the slightly different, older model worn by Dr. Cassandra Railly and James Cole—played by actors Amanda Schull and Aaron Stanford, respectively. The styling is ever-more classic.

The watch played a minor but poignant, ever-present role during the four seasons of 12 Monkeys, What better way to set up a TV show about time travel during our dystopian future? The characters constantly chased time. For me, the new watch reminds that time is running out. I cannot guess how much longer life and vitality will be, as the days tick off to Sixty and the years beyond.

On this lucky day, Friday the 13th, I know this: 12 Monkeys is time well spent viewing.