The Good. We stumbled upon a Netflix series that I think is one of the best we have watched over the past few years: The Survivors. I hadn’t seen much publicity about it, but it looked interesting in part because it was filmed in Tasmania, a place I have never been, undoubtedly will never go, and did not have a mental picture of. It turns out that the part of Tasmania where the story is set, on the upper eastern coast, is very attractive, even if the small towns located there seem to have the most plebeian forms of small town architecture and design. The coast is rugged, but with broad beaches, providing very attractive views.

The story is based on events taking place 15 years earlier, when a teenage boy has wandered into off-limit coastal caves that flood at high tide. An unexpected and very strong storm arises, and he is feared lost, but his older brother and a friend venture out in their boat to rescue him. He does, in fact, survive, but the rescuers’ boat capsizes, and the two rescuers are lost. On the same night, in the same storm, a 14 year old girl from the town also disappears; her back pack washes up on shore, but her body is never found.

Fifteen years later, a young female student from “the mainland” comes to spend the summer in Tasmania, just to chill, learns of the tragedy, and also learns that the death of the two young men is remembered, but the death of the young girl ignored, and decides to make it her mission to rectify that, to tell the story of the 14 year old, and to discover, if she can, what happened to her. That is where all the trouble begins.

The Survivors has eight episodes, each between 45 and 55 minutes long. I found the story line interesting, and the acting and cinematography superb. I think you would like it.

The Bad. Pete Hegseth. My assumption is that Hegseth will be out of a job soon. Of course, until that happens, you can’t be sure, because Trump will support him until that happens. But I bet Trump is now having an internal debate: Should I (a) cut him off at the knees, or should I (b) throw him under the bus? Once he decides, we will all find out Pete’s fate. Or perhaps we won’t find out his ultimate fate until 2029, when the Department of Justice comes again into being, and the Department of Injustice is no more.

The Somewhere in the Middle. I really am not sure what to think about the special election held in Tennessee on Tuesday for the vacant House of Representatives seat. The Republican won by 9 points in a District that Trump carried by 22. Both sides claim victory.

I hadn’t paid any attention to the details of this campaign. I know nothing about either of the candidates, except for their party affiliation, so I don’t know how much the results depended on the particular qualities of the candidates, and how much was a referendum on Donald Trump’s second term performance.

But two things are clear. One is that a 9 percent spread is still a healthy spread. The second is that a performance by the Democrats 13 points better than their performance a year ago is quite significant.

We will have to see what happens, but apparently if the Democrats do 13 points better nationwide in 2026 than in 2024, they will flip about 35 House seats.

See you tomorrow. I may know more. And it may be snowing.