Sunday, April 7, 2013

'The Rings of Akhaten' -- DW 7x08


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Was I the only one who thought that the Queen of Time (and the other people who worked at making sure that Grandfather stayed asleep) looked a whole hell of a lot like the priestesses who were in "The Fires of Pompeii"? It really was mostly the red that they were wearing, and I might not have thought that they looked so very similar if there hadn't been any of that there.

Also, the doctor came off as kind of a creepy stalker in this one. Yes, he wants to figure out what the deal is with Clara, and how it is that he's met her so many times now (in different times), how she's died in two of them, and how she keeps managing to be alive all over the place ... but that doesn't mean that following her around and watching her grow up can't be seen as kind of creepy.

And when the doctor gave himself up to Grandfather ... he came across as a bit suicidal ... at least, that's the way that he looked to me. It almost seemed like he was telling Grandfather to kill him, and he seemed like he was sad enough (probably about everything that has happened recently, and not just Amy and Rory, but probably Donna as well) that he wanted to stop going on.

Amy's glasses ... the glasses that she only wore in "The Angels Take Manhattan" ... I guess that they're a "thing" now. Seems kind of a weird thing for him to focus on (when trying to remember Amy), since she only wore them right there toward the end of her being a companion. You would have thought that he might have done something that was a bit more significant to her time with him, or have something around that she actually used more than once and left in the TARDIS. But maybe the writers were trying to give him something that made him look a bit more like your grandpa? Maybe? But it also makes me sad that he seems to have completely forgotten Rory; it only seems to be Amy's loss that is important to him. It doesn't really surprise me, however, since Rory was pretty much treated like a third wheel for the majority of the time that he was with them (even though he pretty much worked as the conscience of the group).

But I do have to say that I like the new jacket. I really like the fact that it's a bit longer, and only part of that is cuz of the fact that it's something that not everyone would necessarily wear. Hizzah! for being a little bit of an odd duck.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

'One Angry Fuchsbau' -- Grimm 2x17


Warning: Spoiler Alert

More with the memories for Juliette. Good. But the way that things keep being dragged out, and she is only really interacting with Rosalee and Monroe (and only a little bit at that), it is making me wonder (yet again) if she is going to be written off of the show. I still would love to see her become part of the Scoobie gang, and jump into the life of what it is to be a Grimm, since I still think that she would be pretty good at it. But it's really beginning to look like she isn't going to get the chance to do any of it. :( But I guess that I may be in the minority when it comes to wanting Juliette to be on the show, and wanting her to be part of the gang. I saw someone else say how the fandom has pretty much already killed her off in the fanon related stuff, and that they did it a long time ago.

I was rather impressed with the fact that Renard was willing to be so honest with Nick and Hank about what was going on with the dude that he shot, and the backstory of why he was there in the first place. He could have tried to make up something and kept the real story away from them, but maybe he's tired of lying to everyone and wants to be able to tell the real story to someone. It is probably a relief for him to be able to tell the truth to someone, when he's probably had to lie so much to so many people over the years. But also, good on Nick for not completely trusting him right away. After finding out that he had lied for so long, and that he was far more than what he had ever claimed to be to them before finding the key, I would be a bit leery of him as well. I don't know that I would be able to trust him so quickly either after finding that all out ... even if he seems to be telling them the truth, and being pretty open with them about what is going on. I still get a feeling that he might have something else going on that he's not telling them ... some secret agenda ... but that may be cuz I still want him to be a bit of a mystery.

And that whole thing with Eric telling Adalind that she was glowing. I think that the writers were trying to make us think that he was talking about that whole thing where people say pregnant women "glow" when they're pregnant ... but I get the feeling that there was something else going on. I get the feeling that it had everything to do with that hexenbiest that she was talking to a week or two ago, the one who she said that she wanted to get help from. There was probably some kind of spell that was done that gave her some protection, and it's probably that protection spell that is making her "glow" to other people. At least ... that's the turn that I probably would have gone with if I was writing that scene.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Books by David Eddings (no spoilers).


I had checked out The Diamond Throne and The Ruby Knight from the library a few days ago, cuz I was trying to get a bit of a break from the series that I have been reading (not that I'm not enjoying them, but that I don't want to burn myself out on them). But I was only able to get through a few chapters of The Diamond Throne before I stopped and returned them.

I had enjoyed The Belgariad, Belgarath the Sorcerer, and The Rivan Codex ... and to a lesser extent, I liked The Malloreon, but those are really the only books of his that I've been able to make it through. No, I take that back; I also read Regina's Song all the way through.

God, that book was awful. It wasn't just the writing that I had problems with; the story wasn't as strong as it could have been, and it was kind of obvious that Eddings had no real idea of how modern college students spoke. I remember thinking over and over, "That is not how someone who is in college would talk." And the fact that it was so obviously not anything close to sounding natural for someone who was just a little bit younger than me, I kept being pulled out of the story and couldn't really ever get into enough to enjoy it as much as I might have (even despite the rest of the writing that could have been better).

I had also tried The Elder Gods and The Redemption of Athalus, but I couldn't make it that far in either of those (though, I had better success with The Elder Gods than I did with The Redemption of Athalus).

I sometimes wonder if the fact that I liked the series that I do (and that I was able to make my way through them) had something to do with the fact that they were the first of his books that I encountered. If I had encountered the others first, I wonder if I would have been able to make it through any of them at all. But then, that series seems to be well-liked by a good number of people, so maybe it wouldn't have mattered if I had come to them before or after any of the others.

So, yeah, I have another group of books by him that I have been completely unable to make my way through, which kind of disappoints me, since I would love to be able to have some more books that I would enjoy reading (and I would love even more having something that I would be able to re-read). I guess that I'll just have to stick to the books that I have.

'Taxi Driver' -- SPN 8x19


Warning: Spoiler Alert

BOBBY!! BOBBY!! BOBBY!! Oh, Bobby!! It was really nice to see him again, and especially nice to see him kick Sam's ass for not trying to find Dean when he was stuck in Purgatory. Sam completely deserved having Bobby telling him that he was a dumbass, cuz he really should have tried to find his brother (regardless of what the supposed agreement was, cuz that's what they do ... and he had no idea of knowing whether or not Dean was stuck in Hell ... again).

Also, speaking of Bobby, I'm not sure why it is that Dean was so surprised that Bobby was in Hell, just cuz he was one of the "good guys". Regardless of what kind of person he was, did he not remember that year that Bobby spent in a wheelchair ... and the deal he made with Crowley so that he could start using his legs again? It wouldn't matter what kind of person that Bobby was, or if he "deserved" being able to make it into Heaven, cuz of the deal that he made, he would have taken the escalator down. And being someone who was so very important to the Winchesters, Crowley would have been even more unwilling to let him out of his deal. It probably would have made him extra happy to know that he had someone so important to them somewhere where he could torture him.

But now he's in Heaven, and I kind of want to believe that Ash is going to find him, and he's going to be able to hang out at the Roadhouse of Ash's Heaven with Ash and Pamela. That would be fun. And maybe Bobby would even be able to find out if John ever managed to make his way up there after he escaped from Hell at the end of season two.

And Naomi helping Bobby make it into Heaven after Crowley was trying to make sure that he was drug back to Hell ... I really don't trust her, not after what all she was doing to Cas. And of course, she tried to make it look like Cas was completely nuts for thinking that she was trying to make him do something that he wouldn't have done normally. She just can't find out where Cas is, and she thinks that she can find him when/if Cas tries to contact the boys again (which I'm not sure that he will this season. Next season, however, he probably will, since he's supposed to be a series regular again).

I really think that someone needs to be with Kevin more often than any of them are, and they need to be far more worried about him than they are. All of this translating is really doing a number on him, and I don't think that it's going to be much longer until the poor boy burns out. It makes me wonder why the boys don't wonder why Chuck didn't have this same sort of reaction to being a prophet, since they are all supposed to be human, and Kevin is having such a bad reaction to the whole ordeal. I have become convinced that Chuck is Metatron, so there would be a reason for why he didn't go completely bonkers (cuz he was already a spiritual being by the time that the boys met him), but Kevin is still a human kid.

What with Naomi making her way into the boat that he was holed up in, it kind of makes me wonder why the boys didn't take him to their new secret clubhouse. At least then, he would be able to have someone looking after him pretty regularly (since Garth always seems to be away when the boys come to check on Kevin (since the boy who plays Garth is on another show now)) ... and he would be able to have a bit of his own space (since their clubhouse seems to be rather large) ... and he would probably be safe there (since the place would have been ransacked ages ago if there weren't things there to ward off anyone who they wouldn't want to come waltzing in whenever they felt like it.

Oh, and also, Benny!! I am sad to see him go, since there was so much more that they could have done with him, but maybe he did what it was that the writers wanted him to do (in that he changed Dean enough to make him see that not all "monsters" are non-humans, and some humans are monsters). But that doesn't mean that I woulnd't have liked him to keep running around and helping the boys, since that would have been awesome, and he tried so hard to get himself out of Purgatory. But maybe he was getting tired of trying to be good and not eat people. At least he was able to change Sam's mind about him before the end. That's something, right?

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

'The Lives of Others' -- Castle 5x19


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm not altogether sure that I'm happy with Beckett and everyone for tricking Castle with the whole Rear Window thing. I am prone to pulling pranks myself, but there has always been a line that I think that shouldn't be crossed. Like I won't mess with someone's things if it's something that I can't replace (whether cuz of how much it costs, or cuz of the sentimental value), and making someone think that someone has been killed ... that is something that is not cool (and not just cuz the person you are tricking into thinking that someone was killed is going to be disturbed by what happened and worried about everything). And the fact that everyone was in on it and was lying to him about everything for so long when they knew that he was genuinely worried about what was going on across the way ... that just seemed to be something that would have been uncalled for.

I just can't even really think of anything else to say about this episode, cuz I am still annoyed with the characters for lying to Castle and making him think that something was going on (and scaring him that something truly awful had happened to someone, and that something awful was happening to Beckett). There are such better pranks out there that they could have done with resorting to a fake murder that they made him think was real.