Feedback: Debating 'Dexter,' Jan. 6, Betty White, 'Cobra Kai'

A man in a gray hoodie leans against concrete steps in Central Park.

Jan. 13, 2022 6 AM PT

The dark passenger’s last ride

Regarding Greg Braxton’s “The Final Cut” [Jan. 10]: Yes, we Dexter fans were extremely troubled by the finale of “Dexter: New Blood.”

While it is understandable that Michael C. Hall may now be relieved by both the show’s new ending and no longer portraying Dexter, we are disheartened.

Despite Dexter’s dark passenger, we loved Dexter, as he became our own personal vigilante, regardless of his psychopathic tendencies.

Dexter may have broken the code with one killing but he still remains within our DNA.

Isadora Johnson
Seal Beach

Looking back in anger

While I agree with Mary McNamara that the insurrection on Jan. 6 was a “sickening sight” [“Capitol Riot: A Look Back,” Jan. 6] , I am disappointed with this understatement: “Although Jan. 6, 2021, did not result in a massive loss of life...”

The fact that there were any lives lost is awful and unthinkable.

Some of those lost were honorable men, fighting for their country, trying to hold off a mad crowd of Trump supporters who were attempting to stop our Congress from doing its duty of certifying the election. The experience was so horrifying to some of the men that they took their own lives afterward; some died from their injuries.

I will be forever thankful that these brave men saved our democracy on that ghastly day. This is what should be remembered.

Diane Giles
Santa Barbara

When Chris Erskine left the paper I actually thought of letting go the subscription. It is due to writers like Mary McNamara that I didn’t. She is a poet.

Laila Luria Suarez
Los Angeles

Is our nation unraveling? Is our country coming apart?

The answers to these queries may seem likely to be yes. It is the dedication of television journalists such as Lisa Desjardins and Judy Woodruff and newspaper writers, as exemplified by Mary McNamara, as well as law enforcement agencies like the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI, who are the frontline observers, enforcers and protectors of our American Republic.

May they continue to uphold our democracy.

Ben Miles
Huntington Beach

Interesting article by Mary McNamara about the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. She begins by listing infamous events and how we all remember where we were when they happened.

One of her examples is the horrific Sandy Hook school shooting. My issue is that she names the gunman. I believe we should never mention these cold-blooded killers, unless we must. Part of their “glory” is the fame and attention they receive upon committing horrendous crimes.

These killers don’t deserve the publicity. They should be: the Sandy Hook killer, the Borderline Bar iiller, Umpqua Oregon College iiller, Parkland High iiller, etc.

Let us erase their names from fame and further publication.

Ellen Chris
West Hills

Yes, it’s true. We will always remember the Challenger, the Oklahoma City bombing and Sandy Hook.

For those of us old enough, we will always remember the assassination of President Kennedy. For those living in Los Angeles and old enough, we will remember the L.A. riots.

But there is only one date our country remembers, and will always remember — Sept. 11.

Candace Carstensen
Los Angeles

The way of the ‘Cobra’

Regarding [“‘Cobra Kai’ Is Emmy-Worthy,” by Lorraine Ali, Jan. 6]: I am 64 years old and a total fan of the “Karate Kid” movies. In “Cobra Kai” Mr. Miyagi is sorely missed, but they found a good way to keep him alive.

I couldn’t be in more agreement about William Zabka deserving any and all accolades for his acting. He is incredibly real and has an almost uncanny presence. He plays the stubborn stuck-in-the-’80s dude with such finesse and an incredible amount of heart — one just wants to go out there and hug the guy.

Ralph Macchio also is way better than I thought possible; so is Martin Kove, in his disgusting mouth-half-open provocative mimicry. But Zabka surpasses them all.

I personally would want him to get every award, to be rich and happy, and most of all to never stop doing more “Cobra Kai” seasons.

Mark Seelig
Kelseyville

I agree that William Zabka is the heart and soul of “Cobra Kai,” and his character has always been my family’s favorite. We love the series, and it’s been a wonderful bonding experience for my daughter and I.

I’ve never met Zabka but I did see him once in Ojai several years ago, just before the series started. He was being extremely kind with an elderly woman selling flowers on the side of the road. He bought them all and was so sweet with her that I found myself hoping I would see him acting again someday. I guess my wish came true.

Billy Criswell
Portland, Ore.

Another Golden Globes misstep

Regarding “What Happened at the Golden Globes” [Jan. 11] by Stacy Perman and Christi Carras: I get it that it was tough to find any celebrities willing to attend or even Zoom into the Golden Globes this year, but the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. decision to include Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been accused by more than 15 women of sexual misconduct, is a mystifying misstep that undermines its claims to be a chastened and changing organization.

As a Valley Girl raised on award show telecasts who finds the habit hard to break, I was hoping the Globes would find their way back to legitimacy. Instead, it seems the show needs to spend more time in nonstreaming purgatory.

What’s hard to understand about keeping distance — both literally and figuratively — from someone whose nickname is “the Gropenator”?

Jill Fields
Los Angeles

Betty White remembered

This sentence from Robert Lloyd’s [“An Appreciation: Larger Than Life on Small Screen,” Jan. 3] perfectly captures what made Betty White so beloved and inspirational for all of us who have reached one summit in life and still have many more mountains to conquer:

“As White grew older — ‘aged’ does not seem at all the right word — she began to represent something additional: a dream of what one’s senior years might look like, a standard bearer not for youth but youthfulness, of continued work and undiminished powers.”

John L. Lipp
Alameda

A movie that felt like home

I was pleased to read Tim Greiving’s piece on the 30th anniversary of the movie “Grand Canyon” [“‘Grand Visions,” Jan. 9]. I watched that film in a small-town theater in southern Indiana 30 years ago, where I was spending the night while driving cross-country.

I realized halfway through “Grand Canyon” that I was probably the only person in the theater who could relate to the completely L.A. story onscreen. I was sure that no rural Midwesterner around me could possibly have understood the Angeleno vibe as I did in that moment.

It made me more homesick for Los Angeles than I’d ever been before, with the movie telling everything good, bad, and totally wonderful about the city where I was born and raised.

Greiving touched on every important facet of the movie and made me want to see it again.

Doug Weiskopf
Burbank

A ‘Macbeth’ that deserves mention

Kenneth Turan’s article [”Joel Coen’s Solo Toil and Trouble,” Jan. 9] rightly mentions Akira Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood.”

However, no discussion of filmed versions of “Macbeth” is complete without the most realistic version, by Roman Polanski. Released in 1971. It was selected as best film of the year by the National Board of Review.

Kim Cox
El Cajon

Mailer balancing act

I began reading Carolyn Kellogg’s Perspective [“Mailer Is Far From Canceled. He’s History,”] fearing I was about to read a hatchet job. I’m happy to report my fears were not borne out.

I found it was well-balanced between the positives and negatives. That is to say, while the sensational aspects of a person’s life are often the emphasized, sometimes the only aspects we are made aware of, I felt you balanced this with the comments about his writings, how he is still being read and how, as you wrote, his life and career are being examined with a critical eye.

My own thought on the matter is we need to be made aware of and encouraged to read and study those whom we are most in disagreement with in order to come to an understanding of what made them the way they were.

Thanks for an insightful look into his life.

John Snyder
Newbury Park