#it's - Catalyst: the HBO limited series

[itsclydebitches]

So the story goes like this: I’m in London for the month, popping into every used bookstore I find, and while in one I spot Captains' Logs Supplemental: The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages. Though baggage weight limits won’t let me buy it (I have already bought so many books) I did snap pics of the “Past Prologue,” “Cardassians,” and “The Wire” entires. And then transcribed them. Because I thought the other Garak stans might enjoy this info!

Worth the read imo 💜

Episode #3 “Past Prologue” Original Airdate: 1/11/93 Written by Katharyn Powers Directed by Winrich Kolbe Guest Starring: Jeffrey Nordling (Tahna), Andrew Robinson (Garak), Barbara March (Lursa), Vaughn Armstrong (Gul Dunar), Richard Ryder (Bajoran Deputy), Susan Bay (Admiral), Gwynyth Walsh (B’Etor)

“We didn’t want your typical Cardassian in there,” says director Winrich Kolbe of the creation of one of DS9’s break-out characters, the Cardassian spy Garak. “Obviously it would have been hard to put a real Cardassian soldier in a clothing store. Perhaps it would have been terrific, who knows, but what we felt we had to deal with was somebody abnormal—at least as far as the Cardassians were concerned. It was one of those things where I wasn’t quite sure whether Andy Robinson would be the right guy. I had a different idea as to what type of actor I wanted, but Andy Robinson was available and turned out to be terrific. What I wanted, which shows how far off I was, was Sydney Greenstreet. I have to admire an actor who has to come in at three in the morning and stay in that kind of makeup for the rest of the day and still be able to give a performance.”

Comments Michael Piller, “One of the things about ‘Past Prologue’ that bothered me was that Bashir’s performance was in a very broad range—and this was newness. I believe we have strange aliens, strange makeup, spaceships, explosions and wormholes and costumes that are crazy, so that the people within them have to be entirely credible. If those people get too big in their performances, then you go into opera, and it becomes space opera, foolish and unbelievable. Patrick Stewart really led the way with us in Next Generation, which is to underplay. When you think you’re going to go big, you come down, and it has much more power and credibility. You believe there’s a space station or a spaceship like Enterprise. The biggest problem with the early shows is that some of the performances were too big or too restrained. We had to find the even tone for the ensemble to work together. Our voices weren’t quite right, and the performances were uneven. The first episode hurt the character of Bashir because he was so broad in those scenes with Andy Robinson that he looked like the greenest recruit in the history of the Starfleet, and that hurt him for two or three episodes. If we were shooting it today, his performance would be much more credible, and he wouldn’t have the same reaction from the audience that he has now.”

Klingon renegades Lursa and B’Etor, of course, were introduced in the Next Generation two-parter “Redemption,” and were used as part of an attempt to tie Deep Space Nine into existing Trek continuity. The characters eventually perished in battle against the Enterprise in the feature film Star Trek: Generations.

“The creative synergy allows you incredible opportunities,” remarks Piller. “It’s interesting how we used them. Essentially, we had a story and, in the case of Lursa and B’Etor, we said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a real kind of Casablanca spy story and we need someone to really be doing double dealings and bringing money and doing gun exchanges; why don’t we use the Klingons—and use those characters that we love so much? It works out just fine to use those guys because then there’s a connection and an identification. There’s a backstory, there’s a history, and all of these things make for such a richer series.”

Says Ira Behr, “There’s no doubt that people like [TNG characters like] Lwaxana [Troi] and Q and Vash and a bunch of others. They have a certain life to them as characters and an energy that certainly helped The Next Generation and helps us too. The characters that don’t have to be Starfleet and don’t have those strings we have attached so often. A lot of times you have people performing those characters who take a lot of relish in doing them, so they’re fun to have come back.”

Piller doesn’t feel that in exploiting The Next Generation’s voluminous history Deep Space Nine has an unfair advantage, appealing to those already familiar with Trek lore. “You have to look at the shows themselves,” he insists. “There’s no question in my mind that conceptually, each of these shows would work because they’re about the new characters. In ‘Past Prologue,’ there’s a moral dilemma for Major Kira where she has to confront her loyalty to her past life and what her new life is going to be. It’s really about her. It’s illuminating our new characters. As I’ve always said, the guest stars are catalysts. There have been times when I have not been satisfied, more prior to my arrival, that the shows have been about the guest stars, but ultimately the shows that succeed are when the guest stars are serving as catalysts to illuminate our characters.”

Episode #25 “Cardassians” Original Airdate: 10/25/93 Teleplay by James Crocker Story by Gene Wolander and John Wright Directed by Cliff Bole Guest Starring: Rosalind Chao (Keiko O’Brien), Andrew Robinson (Garak), Robert Mandan (Kotan Pa’Dar), Terrence Evans (Proka), Vidal Peterson (Rugal), Dion Anderson (Zolan), Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat)

“I didn’t have a lot of faith in this show at first,” admits Ira Behr. “It was such an issue-oriented show that I thought we would oversimplify a complicated issue, but what got me into the show was when I realized this was not only a chance to bring back Garak but to do this whole weird little number with what’s going on between him and Dukat. To me, that nailed the character and I knew after that happened we were going to see a lot of Andy Robinson, who’s become quite popular on staff. What did not work for me was the kid and O’Brien. I thought that was very obvious stuff compared to the rest of the episode. Sometimes we have a tendency to overload the stories. Ultimately, who cared about this kid? It was weak compared to the rest of the episode.”

“As an actor, when I got the script, I didn’t realize Dukat was being set up to take the blame,” says Marc Alaimo, who portrays Gul Dukat. “But I played him as a man who was being set up. A man who was taking the dive because he had wanted to remove the children but his orders were to leave them. I never really understood that story. It seemed complicated to me, and I never quite understood how he got blamed for it.”

Episode #42 “The Wire” Original Airdate: 5/9/94 Written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe Directed by Kim Friedman Guest Starring: Andrew Robinson (Garak), Jimmie F. Skaggs (Glinn Boheeka), Ann Gillespie (Nurse Jabara), Paul Dooley (Enabran Tain)

“It just so happens some of the best shows are the least expensive, because we’re forced to be concise,” Ira Behr comments. “Our conceptual thinking of two guys in a room who are struggling for survival, or against each other, frequently makes for very good drama. This episode was an opportunity to show Bashir with a real strength that he hasn’t had before.

“[Story editor] Robert Wolfe talked passionately about doing this show, and we had always talked about the fact that Garak might have been George Smiley back in Cardassia and maybe we should explore that. Then I went to the movies and came back and said, ‘He’s Schindler.’ Why don’t we do Schindler and Smiley, and then Michale [Piller] said do all four stories, every one different. Robert came up with the idea that he tells this story about his best friend and it turns out to be him. Then you meet his mentor and best friend, who says, ‘I hope he dies, but tell him I miss him.’ That’s perfect; it’s all great stuff.”

Admittedly, “The Wire” could be perceived as an attempt to repeat the success of first season’s “Duet,” and the staff was aware of the similarities. “‘Duet’ was Kira’s crisis as much as the guy’s crisis, and this was much more Garak’s show,” offers Behr. “I thought that was a little dangerous, and we knew we were doing it, but let’s face it, the Cardassian monologue is great and Cardassians like to talk. They’re also great fun to write.”

Says David Livingston, “It’s a bottle show. It’s basically Andy Robinson in a room, but it’s very compelling because it’s one man intervening. Kurt Cobain needed Siddig. If he had had Sid he might have pulled through, because Sid knocks some sense into Andy’s head and says, ‘You’ve got to get off this stuff.’”

According to director Kim Friedman, “‘The Wire’ was kind of a challenge because most of the episode was two people in a room, Sid and Andy Robinson. It’s very hard to create pacing and energy for a show that is basically set in a room. But ultimately I was very pleased with the whole episode. I think my favorite moment was the implant withdrawal scene, which results in a fight between Bashir and Garak. It was just a very powerful moment.”

Paul Dooley, who played the menacing Enabran Tain, returned in DS9’s third season two-parter “Improbable Cause” and “The Die is Cast.” He is known for his role as Martin Tupper’s gay father in the HBO sitcom Dream On.

[booksofrobertgreene]

Diversion - The Beauty Delusion

Sorry to interrupt the 33 Strategies of War train of thought. A passing thought on The Art of Seduction.

Some people still come here, wholeheartedly believing that to be a master seducer, you have to look like someone fresh off a HBO series on Sky. Perfect body and face, look good in a suit or dress (and. more importantly, out of the suit or dress ...), can go like a porn star on demand.

As some of you may already know from experience, it doesn’t work like that.

Well ... I rather hope that most of you who follow this blog may know from experience by now. The thought that my little blog may be the catalyst that sparks the careers in seduction of a whole new wave of modern Ninons de l’Enclos, a thousand career seducers, pleases me no end.

Remember this.

There is no minimum height limit, no minimum beauty limit, and no maximum age limit. “You Need To Be This Tall / This Beautiful / This Young To Go On This Ride.”

You came here to learn about what Robert Greene learned from Anna Biller on the art of seduction - what went into his second book. And what he teaches me is this.

You are a seducer when you know you are a seducer in your heart, and your mind and body will follow.

Use The 48 Laws of Power. Law 27 and Law 34 of The 48 Laws of Power apply to you, even if you don’t have any enemies at the moment. Use Law 16 and Law 4. Be the Coquette. Recreate yourself (Law 25), and play the Dandy, the Siren or the Rake. Play the perfect courtier, or courtesan (law 24), and keep your people happy.

Most of all, keep yourself feeling happy, or smart, or hot, or cool. Whatever it takes to keep yourself in the seducer zone. And have fun. Being a seducer should feel like art, or theatre, or music - a pleasure, never a chore.

Carry on, O ye faithful.

[livinginlandmarketing]

Watching cartoons, reading comics, collecting Marvel trading cards and graffiti were all things that Riverside’s Mat Guillen loved while growing up. Although drawing in class would get him into trouble, it just made him want to do more.

“Art was definitely a way for me to escape reality and create a world of my own,” he said.

Guillen went on to take art classes while at La Sierra High School, but as much as he enjoyed it, he never imagined continuing to do it after graduating. After a year at a community college, he decided to attend the Art Institute in Los Angeles. Having come from a traditional artist background where his experience had been limited to drawing on paper or painting on canvas, working with such online programs as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign was challenging.

“Death,” a piece by Riverside artist Mat Guillen. (Photo provided by the artist)

“Once I got the hang of all the technical aspects, the user interface of the programs became a lot easier to comprehend,” he said. “The great part of attending the Art Institute was that it helped speed up the process in order to get my bachelor’s degree in graphic design faster.”

After college, Guillen got his first graphic design job in Venice Beach.

“I got a lot of hands-on industry experience at an early stage in my career and met a lot of great creative people along the way,” he said. “A lot of artists choose to stick to one type of work but I’m lucky that I’ve gotten to work on an incredible variety of projects.”

Guillen has done everything from sketching early concepts to creating final production designs for the entertainment industry. His work has included movie posters, packaging and logo development.

“Some of my greatest accomplishments as an artist have been the ability to work for the entertainment industry and with various studios like Netflix, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Sony, Mattel, HBO Max, the Oprah Winfrey Network and more,” he said.

Guillen said he likes all forms of art and doesn’t want to tie himself to a specific style.

“It’s sort of dependent on my mood,” he said. “I do a little bit of everything. It keeps me growing as an artist and makes every project new and interesting.”

Guillen is the first artist to exhibit in Riverside’s newest gallery, Gramercy Art Studio + Gallery in Riverside’s Brockton Arcade. It was recently opened by Raymond Argumedo, one of Guillen’s best friends since elementary school.

Riverside artist Mat Guillen’s “Escape.” (Photo provided by the artist)

“It isn’t just a traditional gallery,” he said. “It’s a space for creatives to get together and create. It’s really going to bring in some fresh art to inspire the artistic youth within the community. And it’s right next door to my wife’s boutique shop.”

Over the course of the pandemic Guillen began teaching himself 2D frame-by-frame animation and 3D sculpting.

“I also started a side project called ‘Bad Vibes Good Times,’” he said. “It’s a series of drawings focused on a cat with a snarky but positive personality and utilizes pop culture as a catalyst for the artwork. Other than that I continue to work alongside my clients at the major entertainment studios.”

Guillen said that in addition to his work, he loves spending time with his wife and their newborn baby girl, friends, camping and just continuing to learn.

Information: matguillendesigns.com, badvibesgoodtimes.com and @Mat_Guillen on Instagram.

Patrick Brien is executive director of the Riverside Arts Council.

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-on June 23, 2021 at 03:00AM by Patrick Brien

[aion-rsa]

Zack Snyder’s Vicious Wonder Woman Photo Reflects Warner’s Early Internal War

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While the bellwether day-and-date HBO Max release of Wonder Woman 1984 left audiences divided, there can be no question that the sequel’s storyline reinforced writer/director Patty Jenkins’s vision for Gal Gadot’s version of the DC Comics heroine, reflecting ideals of compassion and mercy with pathological nuance. However, shockingly vicious imagery from an early concept photo displayed by the character’s first directorial steward, Zack Snyder, presents a stark contrast to her current ethos of unbridled optimism.

The photo (see the article’s main image,) was prominently showcased by Snyder in the background of a virtual interview with ComicBook Debate, in which the director’s upcoming HBO Max miniseries version of Justice League, a.k.a. the once-mythical “Snyder Cut” of the 2017 film, was the main topic of discussion. Supposedly set during the Crimean War (1853-1856), the photo, which further surfaced on social media, shows Gadot’s Wonder Woman posing stoically at a military encampment among a surreally-diverse group of warriors, notably joined by an arguably-hilarious kicker, a fully-armored Japanese Samurai (don’t ask why). Yet, the catch here, is that she’s holding a trio of severed heads—presumably of Russian soldiers, given her depicted allies, and the war’s historical catalyst being that country’s territorial seizures in the Middle East.

Here is a clear look at the pic shown during Zack’s interview today, it was used as a placeholder in BVS and was taken before Patty was hired and took on Wonder Woman’s origin Story. Thanks boss @ZackSnyder for letting us share this.#UsUnited #ZackSnydersJusticeLeague pic.twitter.com/qeBFCev9MT

— NQ Cole & Nana #UsUnited (@TheNerdQueens) January 4, 2021

So, how and why did the concept of Wonder Woman holding heads—that she presumably severed—exist in the first place? Well, such imagery was the byproduct of studio Warner Bros. and its long-held ambivalence about how to approach a big screen rendition of Wonder Woman, who, despite being an iconic DC character, primarily remained associated by laypeople with the campy, sexified 1970s television series, as played by Lynda Carter. Yet, Jenkins, who had broken big directing Charlize Theron in 2003 crime drama Monster, had been pitching her concepts for a Wonder Woman movie sporadically since 2004, only to be repeatedly countered by intractably dark and violent visions from studio suits. However, the studio ultimately greenlit the film in 2014—contextually, after Gal Gadot had already landed the role for the movie that would become Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—and hired director Michelle MacLaren, a successful small screen helmer from shows such as Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

Unfortunately, the MacLaren era of Wonder Woman saw the studio conspicuously circle as many as 30 scripts, which led to a significant amount of confusion over the general direction of the film and the character herself; a dilemma that Jenkins recently described on podcast WTF with Marc Maron (via The Playlist) as “an internal war on every level about what Wonder Woman should be.” Indeed, the confusion remained ongoing, even after MacLaren’s 2015 departure and Jenkins’s subsequent hiring. “They wanted to hire me like a beard; they wanted me to walk around on set as a woman, but it was their story and their vision,” Jenkins continued, further explaining of the studio’s expectations of an ultraviolent Wonder Woman, “Even when I first joined Wonder Woman it was like, ‘uhh, yeah, ok, but let’s do it this other way.’ But I was like, ‘Women don’t want to see that. Her being harsh and tough and cutting people’s heads off, that’s not what— I’m a ‘Wonder Woman’ fan, that’s not what we’re looking for. Still, I could feel that shaky nervousness [on their part] of my point of view.”

Read more

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Wonder Woman 3 Joins DC’s Reworked Post-2022 Movie Schedule

By Joseph Baxter

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Wonder Woman’s Power of Flight: DCEU Versus DC Comics

By Kayti Burt

By the time Jenkins had finally stepped into the Wonder Woman director’s chair, Gadot’s first performance as the character in Snyder’s Dawn of Justice was already in the can, shaped—albeit in a limited capacity—by his vision. Thus, while Jenkins had finally procured her dream gig, she was dealt the dubious task of crafting a proper introduction for a character that Snyder had depicted in the 2016 film as a sword-and-shield-wielding super-powered femme-fatale; one who, in the fog of war, you could envision being ruthless enough to decapitate villains in order to move things along. Of course, Jenkins’s work on the 2017 solo film brought poignant dimensions to the character, presenting an artful mix of action sequences with comical fish-out-of-water tropes and genuinely heartfelt moments, which yielded tremendous audience acclaim and financial success.  

Nevertheless, Snyder’s wall art—apparently a placeholder for the Easter Egg World War I-era photo we eventually saw in Dawn of Justice foreshadowing Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor and the gang—is a shocking scene for fans. This is especially the case after the sanguine, literally stratospheric note on which Wonder Woman 1984 ended, and the film’s compassionate treatment of antagonists Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Barbara Minerva/Cheetah (Kristen Wiig). Indeed, both of her enemies were given relatable backstories and motivations that defied cinematic definitions of being “villains,” despite the fact that Wonder Woman could have easily mitigated the global threat of the wish-granting Dreamstone by chopping off a couple of heads quick enough to be home in time to watch Miami Vice. Moreover, she no longer even carried her once-trusty sword and shield in the sequel, proving that some 70 years of living in human civilization as Diana Prince made her reluctant to dish out the more brutal aspects of Themysciran justice.  

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Wonder Woman 1984 is still currently available on HBO Max, although you might want to catch the film before its initial streaming window closes on Sunday, January 24.

The post Zack Snyder’s Vicious Wonder Woman Photo Reflects Warner’s Early Internal War appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[spryfilm]

“Delicious” (2017)

TV Series/Documentary

Episodes: Four

Created by: Dan Sefton

Featuring: Dawn French, Emilia Fox, Iain Glen, Sheila Hancock

Dawn French: “This is Cornwall – there are no secrets.”

These days cooking and comedy go together so well that it’s easy to forget when shows about cooking were relegated to Saturday and Sunday afternoons with Julia Childs and Hudson and Hall. Of course now they are an industry unto themselves, so it stands to reason that combining a good story, great actresses as well a touch of cookery would be an obvious thing to do. Introducing the dramedy “Delicious” (2017) featuring Dawn French, Emilia Fox and Iain Glen. “Delicious” follows in the footsteps of other similar shows going back to “Shelly” (1979-1992) where there was a dramatic edge with a comedy heart. Of course “Delicious” skews to the more dramatic elements but with a central talent like Dawn French and support from Sheila Hancock this show was always going to have humour,  it doesn’t seem to want to take itself to seriously.

Sure there are elements of the soap opera genre that are present right from the outset but for me that’s what made it fun, not to be taken too seriously at all – it also had elements from the HBO show “Six Feet Under” (2001 – 2005) but transferred to the location of a high class restaurant instead of an undertakers business. Interestingly the talents behind the scenes, creator Dan Sefton as well as Directors John Hardwick and Clare Kilner, have all had a breadth of television experience in the UK which is a breeding ground for this kind of show – that can be a positive as well as a negative as it can limit the impact of the show as well as being confined to a formula of a sort. This is not a perfect show but it is very good, and is extremely entertaining.

The series is set in Cornwall, England, where celebrity chef Leo is married to the beautiful Sam and has a successful hotel business. However, he is having an affair with his first wife Gina, a talented cook from whom he stole many of his recipes and cheated on for years. After his death things hot up for all the lives he touched.

For me the real strength of this show is the talent that has been assembled onscreen, with Dawn French and Amelia Fox as the duel antagonists/protagonists, with the awesome Sheila Hancock and Iain Glen in meaty supporting roles that show off talents not seen before in other roles. There is no doubt that Dawn French is the star of the show, having really taken a backseat to writing and producing partner Jennifer Saunders for years, it is great to see French in a role she can sink her teeth into over four episodes – something she has never really done dramatically so this is refreshing for an audience. I do admit I was waiting for the other shoe to drop in terms of her performance, that is move into some kind of character shtick, but this never happens. On the other hand Emilia Fox, best know for her work on “Silent Witness” (1996 – present) is a real revelation as she shows her comic timing, matching French scene for scene, line for line. Then there is the always-reliable Iain Glen who is on another level thanks to his role as Jorah Mormont in “Game of Thrones” (2011 – present). What is nice to see is that he has range, which he has shown before but it is here with other experienced actors that he excels, you can see the glint in his eye – he doesn’t have to hold back or be reserved, he can just let loose, a sight to see for sure. Glen has always been that character actor who could be relied upon to show up and do his job, but for all intents and purposes he is the catalyst for this story, which endures after he is long gone.

As with many television shows produced about ‘real’ people the geographic area they inhabit, work and live in becomes vital and important, but instead of representing isolation “Delicious” uses its locations in very different ways. Set and shot in Cornwall it is a holiday destination for families and has a warm climate which is a great setting for a restaurant as well as fine food which a large aspect of this show relies on.

The other interesting aspect is the show has been written with four episodes in mind, which is great from a storytelling point of view. It has a very definite beginning and ending and of anything it leaves you wanting more – which is a good thing as it means it will have a bit more life in the already announced second season coming next year.

This is a really good first season of a show that could have been mundane in different hands or with different onscreen talent. There is a B story involving the children of the two main characters, which is nice. There are also ‘soap’ and drama tropes that have been overused in the past few years, and are on hand here, i can only hope these might be dispensed with on the second season. I think that this is a real new millennium family drama about people who want to fit in but have issues because of one person’s vanity and bad choices. It is a real affirmation that the women in this show are the real heroes that have to not only come to terms with a real loss but also need to start to forge a future for their respective families. This show is defiantly worth owning, it can be rewatch and that is down to the narrative as well as the cast which is top notch.

“Delicious” is out now on DVD.

DVD review: “Delicious” (2017) “Delicious” (2017) TV Series/Documentary Episodes: Four Created by: Dan Sefton Featuring: Dawn French, Emilia Fox, Iain Glen, Sheila Hancock…

[biofunmy]

A Heads-Up Play and Another Unlikely Hero Fuel a Win for the Mets

When Mets third baseman Todd Frazier stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning on Sunday at Citi Field, he took note of the Tigers’ defensive shift.

There was one out, and the Mets, who were trailing, 3-0, had runners at first and third. Three Detroit infielders occupied the left side of the infield. Only a first baseman was on the right.

Frazier decided that he would bunt if the opportunity presented itself. Detroit’s starting pitcher, Spencer Turnbull, threw him a fastball away on his first offering. Frazier pounced with his hands choked up on the bat, pushing a bunt through the hole into right field, driving in Dominic Smith. The ball rolled so far that Wilson Ramos, a catcher whose speed could be measured with dripping molasses, went from first to third.

“Buffalo even made it to third, so I guess it was that good of a bunt,” Frazier said, using Ramos’s affectionate nickname.

Frazier’s effort proved to be a catalyst. Two batters later, second baseman Adeiny Hechavarria homered to right field for his second blast in three days. That was all the Mets needed as they won, 4-3, concluding a homestand with a 6-1 record before heading west for a series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Let’s keep on rolling,” Frazier said.

The Mets are using any means necessary to get by despite injuries to starters like Robinson Cano (quadriceps), Jeff McNeil (hamstring) and Brandon Nimmo (neck). Michael Conforto returned from a concussion on Sunday, and reached base when he was hit by a pitch. The reserves, though, have allowed the Mets to rally.

“Our depth kept things from spiraling out of control,” Mets Manager Mickey Callaway said.

The latest close win meant a return to .500 for the Mets, as well. Now 26-26 with Jacob deGrom, the defending Cy Young Award winner in the National League, set to square with Clayton Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young winner, on Memorial Day, Callaway and his players recognized the need to maintain momentum.

Throughout the week, call-ups from the minor leagues and other recent additions took star turns. Rajai Davis, Carlos Gomez and Hechavarria each hit home runs that kept the Mets in games or won games for them outright.

“I’m not a power hitter, but those happened to go out,” Hechavarria said. “It’s important for us to contribute. I don’t care if it’s hitting or running or making a defensive play coming off the bench, I’m here to help the team.”

Zack Wheeler (4-3) also proved capable of steadying himself after a rocky start early on. In the first inning, he surrendered a home run to Nicholas Castellanos and allowed the Tigers to stitch together three singles for another two runs in the third. Wheeler settled down to collect 13 consecutive outs before being taken out in the eighth inning. He struck out eight and limited the Tigers to five hits.

“When you get down three runs, your job is just to keep on battling, making sure they don’t add anymore,” Callaway said, “and he did that today.”

Callaway noted that Wheeler’s long start was necessary because of the strain on the bullpen in recent days and “all the craziness that’s been going on.”

That craziness has come in a variety of forms. The comedian John Oliver wore a Mets hat as he sat in a front-row seat by the visitors’ on-deck circle on Sunday, and the Mets experienced enough in the last seven days to fill an episode of his HBO show, “Last Week Tonight.”

If it wasn’t the speculation about Callaway’s job status, it was outfielder Yoenis Cespedes fracturing his right ankle at his ranch, only for the team to clarify that he had not fallen off a horse. Two wins came in walk-off fashion and resulted in difference makers being doused with ice buckets.

“If we’re rolling without those guys, it’s going to be that much more fun when they get back in the lineup,” Smith said. “Fun week. Awesome week.”

Success has been fleeting in Queens, though. On Wednesday, Davis, who is in his 19th season, was called up just hours before the Mets took on the Washington Nationals. He arrived during the third inning, hit a three-run homer in the eighth and was designated for assignment on Sunday morning.

Davis proceeded to pack his locker’s contents and embrace teammates in the clubhouse before making his way to a family cookout in Norwich, Conn. He expressed a willingness to report to Class AAA Syracuse if he clears the waiver process in coming days, and Callaway said that the organization hoped that was the case, as well.

The Mets had to move on quickly, though, as they readied for their own long journey after the win. Looking around the clubhouse afterward, Wheeler knew the team needed to take its winning ways west.

“We’ve got to bear down and try to win this road trip,” he said.

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