through-line

A through-line of the roughly two-hour rally were speakers like Bagheri: former liberals who felt disenfranchised by the Democratic Party and became full-throated Trump supporters.

Joel’s journey from the hardened warrior who agreed to transport Ellie across country in exchange for a car battery to a man who will do anything to protect the surrogate daughter he has come to love has been the emotional through-line of the story.

‘Only Stars Know the Meaning of Space’ alternates between one through-line narrative — the A-Side — and 10 semi-independent stories — the B-Side.

The through-line were sounds that leaned toward the smoldering and idiosyncratic — from his use of achingly passionate songs of heartbreak by Roy Orbison and Chris Isaak to his own shadowy recordings with modern torch singers Julee Cruise and Chrystabell.

But it certainly has an emotional through-line, one composed of equal parts anger, grief and exultation, specifically as these are expressed through Black bodies.