Season 6 of the terrific spy series based on Mick Herron’s hit novels finds the misfit agents of Slough House in unique peril: Someone is targeting current and former members, killing them one by one. Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb, the MI5 unit’s disheveled boss, orders his charges to hole up in a safe house. Keeping the crew in the dark proves far more challenging.
Wednesday, Sept 16, Apple TV

by Emily Wilson

“You don’t have to be particularly interested in ancient literature to enjoy this book,” said Jennifer Szalai in The New York Times. “By the time you finish it,” though, “you probably will be.” In this collection of “wonderfully spirited” essays about great works of the past, Emily Wilson, a classicist best known for her 2017 translation of The Odyssey, is up-front about how every translation contains an element of betrayal. Each word or phrase chosen requires a departure from the original, and attempts at literal exactness generate stiff language. Wilson believes it’s important to capture the feel of a text— its sound, pacing, and even humor. As she weaves together close readings of classic texts with arguments about the larger issues at stake in those texts, “Wilson’s excitement for her subject is irrepressibly moving.”

When Wilson finds fault with a translator, she’s “tough-minded,” even “scathing,” said Blake Morrison in The Guardian. She calls out poet Robert Browning for indecipherable translations and American classics popularizer Edith Hamilton for racism, and she decries all classicists who snobbishly try to bar entry to their domain. “Gatekeeping isn’t Wilson’s style,” and she’s eager to end her field’s use of Latin and Greek to keep out the plebs. She also loves to point out how much overlap exists between the ancient world and our own, finding parallels that link Aeschylus, Demosthenes, and Aristophanes with the likes of Spike Lee and Erica Jong. And she slams Silicon Valley’s tech lords for embracing a version of stoicism that misses the essentials.

Though Wilson went viral earlier this summer with a biting critique she published about the hit screen adaptation of The Odyssey, said Kate Tuttle in The Boston Globe, she champions nuanced critical writing. In this book, said Harvey Freedenberg in Shelf Awareness, the role of critic affords her a chance to unspool “a stimulating tour of Greek and Roman literature.” An essay on Sappho explores female sexuality; elsewhere, we learn about Roman humor and slavery in the ancient world. “Anyone who’s been exposed to Wilson’s work will learn much from these essays.” They’ll also “hope her journey as a trusted guide through this distant world continues.”

The offbeat English actor who became a cult star

Tim Curry was a patron saint for the kooky. From his breakout starring role in 1975’s cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Curry brought his bulbous eyes and madcap energy to every performance. Intensely private about his personal life, he built a following on the strength of his oddball characters, including the zany butler in 1985’s Clue, the evil clown Pennywise in 1990’s It, and King Arthur—a Tony-nominated turn—in 2005’s Broadway hit Spamalot. In acting roles, “I would choose risky over anything,” Curry said last year. “That’s the best way to be.”

Born in northwest England to a Methodist chaplain, Timothy James Curry was blessed with “a mischief-maker’s good looks, a casual athletic grace, and a supple and resonant voice,” said The New York Times. Acting was his obvious calling, and after graduating from the University of Birmingham, he quickly found parts in regional theater. But it was the “campy sci-fi romp” The Rocky Horror Picture Show that made him a star, said Rolling Stone. Originating the cross-dressing Dr. Frank-N-Furter on the London stage in 1973, Curry reprised his role in the U.S. production in Los Angeles and then in the film. While the movie version “famously bombed” at first, it became “a midnight-movie sensation,” packing cinemas with costumed fans singing along, and it is still regularly screened today.

Curry “spent the rest of his acting career gleefully refusing to be pinned down,” said IndieWire. He schemed with onscreen sister Carol Burnett in 1982’s Annie, embodied the devil in 1985’s Legend, and sailed alongside Kermit and Miss Piggy as Long John Silver in 1996’s Muppet Treasure Island. Though a 2012 stroke left him wheelchair-bound and without the use of one arm, he played the narrator in Fox’s 2016 TV remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and remained active as a voice-over artist until the end of his life, recording the audiobook of his memoir last year. “I have loved and been loved,” he said, “and I hope you have, too.”