Thursday, October 31, 2013

'Get a Clue' -- Castle 6x06



Warning: Spoiler Alert

While I think that Alexis is completely right in putting Castle on blast (since the way that he was treating both her and Pi was completely unacceptable), it still makes me a bit sad that the two of them are in what appears to be a genuine fight. The two of them have always seemed so solid, and it could never be denied that they love each other (not that I think that they don't just cuz they're fighting), but I think that this is the most upset that one has been with the other since the show started. But like I said, Alexis has every right to be upset with him, since his attitude could have made Pi feel like he was unworthy, and make Alexis feel like he doesn't trust her, that he thinks he should be making all of her decisions for her, and that what she wants (even those things that she wants while she's trying to figure out herself) aren't valid.

But the things that she said to Castle when she was putting him on blast made it sound as though she didn't like Beckett, even though she seemed to like her before. But then again, things have changed somewhat (it's different when she was just the woman that her dad a thing for), and that may have changed her feelings somewhat. And to find out over the phone from someone else that he had proposed to Beckett after the fact, that couldn't have been fun (something similar happened to me, and I did not dig it).

It looks like from the preview that the two of them will at least be speaking to each other in the next episode, but that seems like it might be too soon since I'm not sure that he would have learned his lesson (he's kind of thick-headed about stuff sometimes). But if he has, maybe it would be a good thing that the two of them have made up ... provided that he doesn't continue to treat Pi like a bottom feeder, and Alexis doesn't get pissed at him again.

Am I the only one who wishes that The Da Vinci Code would just disappear? It was kind of interesting when it first came out, but too big of a deal has been made of it ... besides the fact that you have all of those people who really believe that Dan Brown researched his book and the things he talk about are real (instead of wild leaps and conjecture mixed in with his fiction ... see what I did there?). It's kind of gotten annoying how much that story has drilled into the public consciousness, but that may be just me.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

'Slumber Party' -- SPN 9x04


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I wasn't overly thrilled with this episode, cuz it felt very much like the writers went off the rails to the point that they are no longer giving a shit about what they're putting into canon. I have come across people who liked this episode, but the fact that they were using a land that came out of a series of books, it felt a little too much like they were tapping into that show "Once Upon a Time" ... which I have issues with as well. In theory, the idea that you would be able to unlock alternate dimensions (and ones that are from fairy tales) is something that you would think would normally attract me to a book or show, but it doesn't in this case (and when it comes to "Once Upon a Time," it's more a case of sloppy writing that I have an issue with). If the show had been set up to where this sort of thing was possible, I don't think that I'd have an issue with Oz being a real place, or Charlie going there. But the way that Show has been set up, it's based in our world, and even if they are able to mess about with time a bit, there is only going back or forward (without going sideways). But to add in the idea that Oz is a real place within this universe, and that there is a possible way for people to go there (and to come back from there), it opens up the possibility that they would be able to put in whatever alternate dimensions that they want where the lands are based on children's books or fairy tales. And really, it strikes me as being kind of a knock off of "Once Upon a Time" that they went this way (and if they're going to do a knock off of another show, wouldn't it make more sense to do it of a show that at least has something in common with Show? Like "Grimm" or "Sleepy Hollow").

What also may make me slightly upset with the whole thing of using the Oz books as a backdrop for this episode is the fact that they didn't get their details straight. Sure, there's going to be a bit of interpretation, but the premise was that Baum used the books as a way to give clues to Dorothy, and one of them was the shoes ... except that in the book, the shoes weren't red (let alone stilettos, since Dorothy was all of like eight in the book). In the book, the shoes were silver, and if Charlie had really read the books (and was as much of a nerd about them as she claimed), she would have known that. And I might have been ok with the writers changing a bit about Baum's life (like that he even had a daughter and the Oz stories were a guide for her), but what is it with show and turning all of the dads into shitty and/or absentee fathers? The heavy handed daddy issues that Show has been running with since day one is something that I could really do without (and would be more than happy to see go).

I have the feeling that everything's going to explode in Dean's face pretty soon. It's not just that Sam heard him call for Zeke when he came into the room, it's also the fact that Sam has started questioning Dean about Cas leaving (which I still think was stupid and makes Zeke look even more shifty, since the bunker is protected against every fucking thing, so they all should have been safe in there even with Cas there and all of the angels in Creation looking for him). Dean's going to have to either think a little more quickly on his feet (since he isn't lying very well when it comes to this), and hope to Hell that no one spills the beans about what is actually going on with certain aspects of the things that he's lying to Sam about (like Sam coming into contact with Cas, and Cas telling him why he actually left).

Also with the keeping people inside the safe zone: if Dean's going to tell Kevin that being in the bunker is the safest place for him to be, maybe getting him outside of the bunker (even if it's to let him clear his head) might not be the wisest plan (since up to now, the bunker is the only place that we have seen that no one has been able to break into, and anyone that's there had to be either brought there, or given "permission" to be there (which is how I see the boys being able to get in, since they were given the key by one of the last Men of Letters)). Knowing that Crowley is so close probably isn't the best thing for Kevin, but with all of the angels running around and wanting mess some shit up, and a Knight of Hell running around wanting to fuck some stuff up ... the bunker is the safest place for the Prophet to be. I did see somewhere where someone suggested that Zeke might have put the idea into Dean's head to "give Kevin a break" somewhere far away from them, which would make Zeke even more shifty (since it would mean that he's slowly trying to isolate the boys from everyone else, but especially from their family and friends (and anyone else who would be able to help them get rid of him, or stop him from whatever shifty plan he has in mind)).

So, Dean's going to have to think of a lie that is a bit more convincing than anything that he's been saying now to explain why Cas and Kevin aren't in the safest place that they could be. And he's going to have to think of some better lies as to why there's an angel in the bunker (when there shouldn't be, to Sam's knowledge), once Sam figures out how to get the angel locater working ... and we all should know by now that he's going to be able to get that fixed in the relatively near future. But, really, I don't see why he isn't already asking about Cas and Kevin, and isn't already suspicious about what's going on there.

Did anyone else think that scene where Sam, Dean, and Charlie finished watching season one of "Game of Thrones" was a bit awkward? Jared's delivery seemed a bit ... off when he was saying that he reads books without pictures. Maybe it was intentional? Maybe we're supposed to be thinking tat Sam isn't as good as we think that he should be with an angel inside of him helping him get on the mend (they've already had Dean give Sam the stink eye when Sam said that he'd never felt better).

Also, speaking of Zeke feeling Sam from the inside ... have I brainfarted when it comes to Angel's taking over human bodies? Cuz I can't remember anyone else having the glowie blue eyes the way that he does, which is making me think that there might be something significant about him. But there also might not be, since they still haven't explained why Crowley has red smoke, when all the other demons have black.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

'The Ungrateful Dead' -- Grimm 3x01



Warning: Spoiler Alert

Ok, normally, I'm on Team Juliette (and of the people that I know who watch "Grimm," I think that I may be one of the few people who is on her side), but she really got on my nerves in this episode. I get the idea that she was worried about Nick, and there were all sorts of bad things happening (to them, to him, to everyone), but it seemed like she was borderline standing around and ringing her hands. I realize that if this had been real life, not everyone is going to be able to cope when something crazy worrisome happens, and they're going to freak out to some extent (especially if they're kind of being thrown into a world that is still new to them), and it's unrealistic to expect every female that shows up in fantasy fiction to be Xena (even to kind of compensate for all of the years of the only women being present where the ones who needed to be saved from everything ... or the ones who were only here for the sexing), but it would still have been nice to have seen her be a little more together about the whole thing.

I will give it to her, however, for being clearheaded enough for at least some of her vet training to come through when it came to how to make the Happy Steamy Medicine to Take Away Your Zombie Crazies ... even if she had (only two seconds before that) been telling Rosalee and Monroe that they should totes rush off to save Nick without bothering to form a plan, or trying to figure out what it was that they might be getting themselves into.

And since Nick's hearing has already been heightened from things that have happened to him since he started beating up on Wesen, and we know that the zombie state (and the antidote for it) are different for him cuz he is a Grimm ... I wonder if the writers are going to use this as an excuse to give him some more super powers. Hopefully not. Hopefully that was a one off with his hearing, and it's just going to be his metabolism that is working through this in a weird way cuz he's not like other humans.

It doesn't look like they're going to keep Nick going in his crazed state for very long, and I'm not sure how I feel like that right now. It would be interesting to see him go all crazy and stay that way for a while, especially since it seems like the writers on shows set up for bad things to happen ... and then, they have the giant amount of damage that they've created fixed within a couple of episodes (when that's far too fast for things to go back to normal ... kind of like on "Castle"). But on the other side, they just had Juliette go through her whole memory thing last season, and that lasted for pretty much the entire season, and doing something along the same lines with Nick in this season seems too much like "let's break the primary and secondary characters in as many seasons back-to-back as possible." If they waited to do something like that, I think that I'd be more inclined to see how that whole thing worked itself out.

I kind of wish that Adalind had been written off the show after she lost her abilities ... even though it would be kind of interesting to find out who the father of her baby really is (since there's bound to be some kind of tension by the very fact that the child exists ... once it's born). But now that she has her abilities back, I can see the writers using her to create all kinds of other mischief in the show. She seems a bit too much like a tertiary character that wishes that she was at least a secondary character, and I'm not entirely sure that she has enough in her favor to be able to bump herself up a tier. But every time that it seems like her mischief has run its course, and she's bound to go off onto other things, she shows back up again. She's kind of like a bad penny that way.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Middle-Earth.

Hello, wish list. I knew there was a reason why I didn't buy the theatrical version of The Hobbit yet (and not just cuz I've been trying to save money). I figured that if history was prologue (so to speak) that PJ would be coming out with an extended version of An Unexpected Journey, so that's why I wasn't in much of a rush to go out and get the theatrical version of the flick.

Also, I'm not sure why Amazon is saying that this binding of LotR isn't coming out until the 29th, when I saw it earlier today when I was over at Barnes & Noble. Someone got some bad information maybe? When I was looking at it there, it seemed pretty nice, and I'm kind of coveting it right now (so, it's ended up on my wish list).

I wish that I could find a walk through of Lego Marvel Super Heroes as it is on the DS, but the only one that I can find is this walkthrough, and it's not for the DS ... and is kind of different in the set up. I have been figuring stuff out on it, but I'd like to be able to get some more of the secret stuff in the walkthrough as they are for the DS, since things don't look exactly the same in this set up. ::slightly frustrated::

'Girl in the Flower Dress' -- SHIELD 1x05


Warning: Spoiler Alert

You know, I wasn't really expecting to find out what Skye's deal was quite so soon, but I suppose that it wasn't something that was really enough to keep drawing out forever. Sure, loosing her parents (and blaming it on SHIELD) would probably be a huge thing for her, but honestly ... the way the writing is on this show (as well as the acting), I don't think that they would have been able to pull it off as being a Huge Reveal, if they had left it alone and let us keep building everything up inside of our heads. If this show had the perfect storm of writers and actors, I think that they probably would have been able to keep building it up (at least until midseason), and the payoff would have been worth it; but since I don't think that they have the perfect storm ... it's probably a good thing that thy went the way that they did.

But by giving us the answers now (by at least giving us the basics of what motivates Skye, and the fact that she really is an idealist, and not the boogeywoman that the writers seemed to be trying to project her as in the first couple of episodes), it seems that we are supposed to be thinking that Skye is going to be one of the White Hats now (or at least that her hat is off white) ... which takes away some of the fun that could have been had with her character before. The thing of it is that there is all sorts of fun that could be had with anti-heroes, or those who are a little bit bendy when it comes to rules and morals. But now that we know that she's an Idealist (and yes, that word has a capital "I" when describing her), the things that could be done with her as a character is somewhat limited ... and it now colors (at least in my mind) everything that we've seen her do before this point with the colors of the toolbox (and just to be clear, yes, I am calling her a tool).

And to be honest, the fact that she is such a tool makes me not really care what happened with her parents. If I liked the character more, things might be different, but since I don't care for her, it's not really important to me to find out what happened with them.

Also, I get that Ward is upset with her after finding out that Skye is a big liar, but not only was he already aware that there was far more going on with her than she was letting on (and that she probably shouldn't be completely trusted), he never seemed to quite get over the fact that he didn't trust her. It's true that he may have started to like her a bit, but starting to like someone somewhat doesn't mean that you trust them (I can speak to that from personal experience). So, when he got all butthurt and refused to go into the office with her to speak with Coulson (which it seems that he should have done if he was going to be professional in regards to being her SO) made him look even more of a douche in my book. Going in didn't mean that he had to go to the wall for her, but he agreed to be her superior, and if SHIELD is somewhat militaristic (and seeing as how homeboy is the most military of the group ... with the exception of May), it seems that he should have been in there (if for protocol, if for nothing else).

The one good thing that I can say about this episode is that there was finally someone with super powers. I know that they're going more of the science route on this (since they're working off of what was established with The Avengers Phase 1), but it was still cool to see someone who could do something cool ... even more so that it was pyrokinesis, since that's something that I've always thought was awesome. Too bad that "Scorch" wasn't someone that they could have kept in more than one episode (while ditching that stupid name).

If this is the same Raina that was in the episode (and not just someone who shared the same name), it's possible that we're looking at more alien interactions from the Avengers/SHIELD mythos. I suspect that that's what is happening there, especially after Ward broke into that place last week and saw what appeared to be some kind of writing (which I still suspect was alien in origin). That feasibly could be kind of interesting, but I'm not completely convinced that the writers of this show are going to be up to the task of making this as awesome as it could be (and it would be really sad if the X-Men cartoon ends up having better writing when dealing with aliens than SHIELD).

But on a side note, I just got the new Marvel Lego game for my 3DS ... and I think I just found a new favorite game. That's always a plus, right?

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

'I'm No Angel' -- SPN 9x03



Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, I guess that Cas is no longer afraid of boobies. Our little boy is growing up!! And one day soon, he'll become a hedonistic hippie who is stoned all of the time (and Chuck will warn Dean that he needs to covet the TP).

This episode has me even more suspicious of Ezekiel than before. We just had an episode where Dean was yelling at Kevin about how the boys and Kevin and Cas are family (and how families stick together and look after each other), and now, Dean is telling Cas that he needs to move it the fuck along. While Ezekiel may have completely innocent reasons for telling Dean that they need to get rid of the angel that is actually part of their little family, it makes me not trust him. Yes, Bartholomew's crew is going to keep looking for Cas, and it may be possible that they might find him (and the bunker, and Ezekiel), that doesn't mean that they are going to be able to get inside of the bunker (even if a rogue reaper managed to find Cas despite his Enochian tat). And yes, it's true that they would have to come up with a really good reason to keep Sam inside of the bunker ... which probably wouldn't work, and they'd probably have to tell him what was actually going on (which wouldn't go well). But it still comes down to the fact that the guy is family now ... and far more vulnerable than he has ever been before.

And what makes it even worse was the look on Cas's face when Dean said that he had to leave. You could tell that he had been more relieved than he had had the words for when he realized that he was safe, he was home, his family was there, and there was food. And to be shoved back out into the cold and the dark, going back on the run and not knowing where his next meal was going to come from or where he was going to sleep (or if one of the angels (or any of the bounty hunters that they would send after him) would find him and kill him while he was sleeping) was not only frightening, but also completely heartbreaking. I can understand why Dean did it ... Sam has always been his priority, and if he thinks that he is doing the right thing to make sure that Sam is safe, he's likely to shank anyone that he has to ... but it still doesn't sit well with me for all of the reasons that I've said. When Sam finds out what's going on (and I'm 100% sure that he's going to find out), I really hope that he kicks Dean's ass, and I'm not even sorry.

What is it with Ezekiel that makes him not want the others to find him? What exactly did he do? Could he have been part of Naomi's group at some point, and he knows that Bartholomew would want to kick his ass for whatever it was that he probably did? Or could there be something more that's going on? I would love to be able to think that there is something more going on here, but I've been Kripke'd so many times with this show that I have a hard time believing that there would be anything awesomely huge that happened behind the scenes (and which would make me go back to loving the show like I did in the beginning). It'll probably end up being something completely pedestrian ... like him being part of Naomi's department and pissing them off so that they will never forgive him.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

'Time Will Tell' -- Castle 6x05


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I really badly want to know that the guys that were supposedly from the future really were from the future. I know that the way that the writers are going to write things on this show, they're not going to do anything where they're going to go completely into the crazy when it comes to speculative fiction, but ... I want it. It would be so much fun if that's really what was going on, and this whole thing was a giant ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. It would make my insides all toasty with the happiness of it. No lie.

Also, love the shout out to "Doctor Who," and the fact that it was Esposito that was watching it (and that he was the one who made the shout out) since he's not the one that you would peg as being the DW fan (that is straight up Castle and Ryan right there).

The thing though with saying that Castle is going to start righting "serious literature" and that Beckett is going to become a Senator (and that they're going to have three kids together) is that it could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since the idea for those things have already been put into their heads, they could start moving toward them as if they were things that they really wanted to do, but in the back of their minds (since they both left the episode with some kind of doubt as to whether or not there was a possibility that either of the dudes were really from the future), they can both have that voice in the back of their minds that tell them that they had little choice in the matter when it came to those things (cuz they were supposed to happen). Temporal paradoxes and all of that. Oh, there's no way that they are going to be able to get away from the fact that if the guys were just crazy, they fully had the choice to do whatever they wanted ... and they still moved right toward what they had been told would happen. This sort of thing makes my brain all happy and cozy, and that is no lie.

Even if Alexis has to liv her own life, and make her own mistakes, I'm really not digging the way things that were left between her and Castle. It felt too much like goodbye forever ... even though it wasn't. Maybe it's just nothing more than the fact that she's in college, and she's wanting (and needing) her own space to grow, but it just seems like she's leaving forever. But part of that may come out of the fact that this episode was all about time and changing things (for better or worse) ... and then, there was the fact that there was a mention of a future family between Castle and Beckett (regardless of whether or not it might happen), and the fact that Beckett even acknowledged the fact that Alexis might be branching out to kind of get away from the both of them (not necessarily as a bad thing, but their relationship can mean that the dynamic of the house changes, even if Castle doesn't stop loving her).

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

'Devil May Care' -- SPN 9x02


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Finally, someone saying something that I've been thinking when it comes to Mama Tran ... we never saw her body, and all we have is Crowley's word from when he was messing with Kevin's mind that she was dead in the first place. Sure, it's Crowley saying that there was something fishy going on originally, and he is more than likely only messing with Kevin's mind again, but that doesn't mean that what he's saying couldn't have a tone of truth to it. Since we have never seen a body, and no one has gone looking for her, we don't know for sure that she isn't alive somewhere. She very well might be, since she might have come looking for Kevin at this point ... but she might have also stayed away cuz she thought that it was the right thing for her to do.

And I don't see how the boys would have thought that something hinky wasn't going to happen when they left Crowley in the bunker with Kevin, and they went off. Sure, they weren't going to help their friends, but they had to realize that it probably wasn't a good idea to leave Kevin alone there with the guy that tortured him. At some point, he was going to want to take some kind of revenge, even if it wasn't necessarily right then.

Also, the fact that Crowley is giving up names now ... there is something fishy about that. Kevin did not hurt him or scare him enough to make him want to give away anything. It may be nothing more than Crowley not wanting to be caught in such a pickle when Abaddon comes calling. She isn't likely to get into the Devil's Trap herself, but she would probably send someone else in there to dispatch him while he's otherwise disposed. It might be another demon, one who would be able to at least move around within the Trap since they wouldn't be handcuffed (even if she would probably leave whoever it was in there once the dead was done); or she could always try to get someone else to do the work for her ... whether it's a human that she is able to trick, or some other kind of monster that won't be effected by the Trap. But I get the feeling that he realizes that she's gunning for him, and the more demons that he gets out of the way, the less likely it is that someone will come for him ... even if he couldn't possibly know for sure who might be coming.

It seemed like we were supposed to think that there was some kind of significance to the fact that the bar was burned when Dean grabbed his duffel ... burned almost the same way that we see the burning that is left behind by the angels. I'm not sure if we're supposed to think that Ezekiel isn't exactly who he claims to be, or if the people that Abaddon isn't using who we might suspect that she would have (at least not in all cases). It seems more likely that we are supposed to think that there is something going on with Ezekiel and be worried about the fact that he's running around in Sam's head (especially after we were supposed to be suspicious about the fact that Sam is happy ... since the default position of the boys is misery and lying about it). I am not entirely convinced at this point that we really have a reason to be suspicious about Ezekiel, but it's very obvious that the writers want us to think that there is a reason. I would really love it if there was all sorts of suspicious bitch!face from Dean when it comes to Ezekiel, but when it comes right down to it, we find out that there was nothing to be afraid of to begin with. I'm not going to be holding my breath on that one, but it's at least something to hope for.

'Eye-Spy' -- SHIELD 1x04


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Soooo ... there's something "wrong" with Coulson, and no one notices it except for Amador. What could have changed so much between the time that she last saw him, and the time that she saw him now that would have made him so very different. The first thought that most people would probably have would be to say that the Battle of New York changed him, but it sounds as though most of the people that are a part of his team knew him before the Battle of New York, and none of them think that there is anything out of the ordinary about him. So, that would mean that if there was a change about him, it would have had to've happened long before that (and there wouldn't be any way that he would have been able to logically use the excuse that NY gave him an excuse to give as many people second chances as he possibly could).

There is a theory that came across when it comes to Coulson that seems to be kind of interesting (and I would love it if this is actually what happens). [Highlight the following to see it] The theory that's going around is that Coulson is actually an android that was built by Howard Stark (Tony's dad) back around the time that the Avenger Initiative was being created (back when Captain America was first "created"). And since he is actually far older than he appears, having been created around the time that Captain America first became popular, that is why he has such an affinity for things from that era and especially for the Cap himself. It would also explain why he was able to survive supposedly being killed; since he is an android, and if they were able to save his memories (whether in whole or partially), they would have been able to download them into a newer model of Coulson. And according to this theory, this is also why he has no muscle memory (and why he can't deal with his gun properly), since androids don't technically have muscles. But also that might be explained away by the fact that if he is a newer version of Coulson, since the last one was destroyed, there has not been enough time for him to be able to create new pathways inside of his brainstuffs (or what passes as that) that would allow him to do things like that easily, and he has to relearn it.

And if this is the case, if Coulson is really a new model of the Coulson android that was brought out of the warehouse when the last model was destroyed by Loki, it would also explain away why Amador thought that he was acting differently. The new model may have enough of the old memories to make him pass as Coulson, and those who have known him recently might be able to overlook some things cuz they knew that something happened to him in NY, but with this new model still trying to get its bearings, its possible that he really is different.

And to be perfectly honest, I would love it if this were the case, since it would bring a fabulous twist to the show. Plus, we know that there's all sorts of amazing technology in the Marvel universe, so it's completely possible that Howard Stark was able to create an android (being the tech genius that he was), the ability to save his memories, and spare bodies so that those memories would be able to be downloaded and Coulson could soldier on.


But as much as I like that theory, I still like my own theory that he was actually in Asgard getting himself all healed up and good. If I had to pick one, however, I don't know that I would be able to, and would still be rather happy if either one of these things happened.

So, we now have some kind of secret organization that that implants false eyes into people and gets them to do all sorts of wickedly bad things for them (and then, kills them when/if they fail). It's nice to know that we now have a creepy big bad out there; it kind of makes me feel all kinds of happy on the inside.

Also, I feel like we have seen the "alien language" that the creepy big bad was trying to get a picture of, but I can't remember where. Did it have something to do with Hydra and the Tesseract? Maybe? Does anyone else remember that can fill my brains back in with the necessarily information?

'Number One Fan' -- Castle 6x04


Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, Beckett is back being an NYPD Homicide Detective ... and it only took one episode from her getting fired from her last job. That seemed kind of fast. Sure, it was bound to happen, and I am sure that everyone knew that it was going to happen eventually, but ... come on. Did it really need to happen in the episode directly after she got fired? If Captain Gates was willing to let her come on as a consultant for this case, I don't see how she wouldn't be willing to let her be a consultant for a while longer. Yeah, I know that I was saying that the show didn't feel right unless it was taking place in NYC and the boys weren't involved, but that just felt like it was moving a little bit too quickly. It wouldn't have hurt to let it go a little bit (for at least a few episodes) and have her be a "consulting detective" (a la Sherlock Holmes). And even if she may not necessarily have wanted to be a PI, that doesn't mean that she wouldn't have been good at that either (and still would have been able to help the boys out with their cases, since she still has all of the training).

Yeah, I'm sure this looks like I can never be happy when it comes to this show, and I wouldn't be able to blame someone for thinking that. It's just that there are some things that kind of irk me ... like how much (and how often) I want to shake the hell out of Beckett, or how sometimes things seem to cycle a little too quickly (and without really exploring what some things may do to the characters emotionally or mentally).

That all being sad ... I am glad that the killer ended up being someone other than the brother that it might have been ... especially since that really would have entirely too easy. It almost seemed as if the brother was put in there so that we would think that it might have been him, and so the writers could go "psych!" A red herring is going to be needed every once in a while in these kind of stories (or sometimes all of the time).

I was also really glad to find out that homegirl wasn't the one who killed her boyfriend. She may have done some things that made it look suspicious, and there were some things out of her control that conspired against her, but that doesn't mean that she was a bad person (or that she would have done anything to her boyfriend, who she really seemed to love). It's sad that there appears to be a bit of bias against people who have some level of mental or emotional illness, but the fact that they suffer doesn't make them bad people (they just sometimes need a little more help than someone who doesn't have those kind of issues).

I wonder what's going to happen to the new guy ... the one that took over for Beckett when she left. He's got to go, that much is clear, but I wonder where they're going to transfer him. Hopefully not somewhere too bad; he may not have fit in yet, but he was trying.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

'John Doe' -- SH 1x06


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I think that I may just have to completely ignore the whole thing that the writers are doing with the Horsemen, for fear that my brain is going to try to claw itself out of my eyes and ears (which is entirely possible that it might) ... and I have the feeling that at some point (if I don't just let it go), I'm going to end up yelling at the screen about how they're getting stuff wrong all over the place, and someone is likely to think that I'm kind of crazy (and not the fun kind where you end up convincing a spunky police detective that you are telling the truth, and you end up helping her solve all sorts of weird cases in the town that you live in).

I am glad that they now have a base of operations (other than the Secret Room of Secrets at the police station). It would be good for the two of them to be able to get away from the police station every once in a while (as well as the other detective ... especially Abbie's creepy ex-boyfriend), and be able to speak about what's really going on. Sure, they have the Secret Room of Secrets, which the captain seems to be the only other person about who knows of the thing's existence, but that doesn't mean that they should making all of their secret plans there (or having all of their secret talks). And it would probably do Ichabod a bit of good to be able to have a place to call home that looks a little more like the kind of place that he came from (even if the place is wired for power and such).

The ex-boyfriend is going to become a problem at some point. Maybe not within this season, but at some point, I have the feeling that Abbie is going to have to deal with him and make sure to explain to him how things really are in the world now. And the way that he keeps coming across as the creepy stalker type, I have a feeling that Morloch is going to be able to use all of that anger and suspicion and creepiness that he has inside of him for evil; at some point, I think that the creepy ex is going to come after either Abbie or Ichabod (maybe both of them), and there's going to be all kinds of badness cuz of it.

Also, is it just me, or does Oxford have the single best tenure program known to man? After 200 years, he's still a tenured professor? I need to get myself a job as a tenured professor at Oxford (maybe I'll find out that Professor Tolkien is still there in one of the subbasements, kind of like the knight from Last Crusade).

I loved the inclusion of the Roanoke legend to the mythos of the show (even if there was no mention of "Croatoan," which I would have loved!), but I have a hard time believing that Abbie knew nothing about Roanoke. Sure, the writers were trying to make sure that they explained stuff for the people who didn't actually know a whole hell of a lot about the legend (and maybe I'm taking for granted the fact that I've done a little bit of digging into it, cuz I think it's kind of fascinating, and they didn't manage to bring up anything that I hadn't come across before), but it seems like the kind of thing where people would know at least a little bit of the legend, if they only managed to know that it was a settlement of people that disappeared.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Thoughts on Stephen King's Doctor Sleep.


Warning: Spoiler Alert for Doctor Sleep.

So, I finished reading the new Stephen King book Doctor Sleep today, and I'm kind of surprised that I was able to go into Barnes & Noble every day for the past week (sometimes twice a day) and sit there for an hour or two and end up reading the entire book without one of the employees noticing what I was doing and telling me to buy the book or piss off. But it worked out for me, and I was able to read it without having to shell out for it (or wait until I was able to get it through the library, which would have taken forever); with me trying to save as much cash as possible (what without having a "real job" right now), you can probably understand how awesome this is.

Ok, real thoughts ...

I have to admit that I liked The Shining a bunch more. This isn't to say that I didn't like Doctor Sleep, because I did, it's just that there was a different vibe about this book than there was with The Shining. With the first, there seemed to be a bit more zeitgeist of fear and horror with everything that was happening within the plot, and that could have come from a few different things. It could have come from the fact that the story was really only about three people, and that those three people were completely isolated from the outside world (and therefore much more vulnerable to what the hotel was trying to do); it could have been that when it was the hotel that was trying to kill the Torrance family, you were able to (and really had to) fill in the most horrible of boogeymen from your childhood nightmares as what it was that was trying to get Danny and gobble him up (but with Doctor Sleep, once you put a face (or group of faces) onto "the enemy," the Evil that is coming to get them doesn't seem quite as scary, cuz then (to a certain extent), it's just another person (even if that person is someone who tortures and kills kids, and who is essentially a psy!vampire ... but without any of the cool); it could have been that when you are not a child torturing murderer, there is only so far that you are going to be able to flesh out such a character, and you aren't necessarily going to make such a character terrifying (since the ones that are truly terrifying are the ones that are real, because you know that they would do such a thing); it could have been the difference between when you are drinking (and writing about someone who is also struggling, but who is losing the battle against the bottle and sanity combined), and being someone who is recovering, and writing about someone who is recovering. Or it could have been a combination of all or part of all of them. I think that what made me like The Shining a bit better was a combination of the family being completely isolated, facing an unquantifiable evil, and having Papa Torrance fighting to keep his sanity at the same as Wendy and Danny where fighting for their lives.

Spoiler about the ending:

I am kind of disappointed that the fight at the end had what felt like a bunch of build up, but not nearly enough punch. Rose was supposed to be this super scary and unbeatable psy!vampire, but in the end, she went out like a punk ... and none of the good guys really got hurt at all. There were a few bumps and bruises, but there really wasn't any damage to speak of. With all of the build up that there was for Rose, I would like to have seen at least one of the good guys die during the fight. And does it make me a horrible person to admit that I actually kind of hoped that it was Danny that died? Probably. But then again, I'm also the same one who wanted virtually every character in The Stand to die. Seriously. When I read it earlier this year, I actually went on record as saying that I wanted every character but one to die ... and the one that I wanted to be the one who survived was one of those that died (shakes fist at Papa King).

There just seemed to be something kind of satisfying to finally have Danny's luck run out, and not only have him not survive something that was supposed to be a huge fight, but have all of the luck from the Overlook and all of the nights drinking and fighting where he should have died finally come and get him. As you can probably tell, I'm not one for happy endings; I want everything to be horrible and have it look like good may have only won by the skin of their teeth (and the black hats are still around, but they're just waiting to regroup and bring an even bigger fight to the white hats later on).

But despite that, like I said, I still did enjoy it. Hell, I kept going back to make sure that I got through it, because I wanted to know what happened; and maybe that should be the selling point for it: I kept coming back to it, because I wanted to know what happened.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

'I Think I'm Going to Like it Here' -- SPN 9x01


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Bobby!! Bobby!! Bobby!! Bobby!! YEAY!! Bobby!!

Bobby only being some dream inside of Sam's coma brain ... boooo, you whore!! Why do they feel the need to get my hopes up that we will actually see Bobby again, and then, yank the rug out from underneath me? Not cool, broheim. Not cool.

I'm not entirely sure how I'm feeling about this episode right now. I'm still a bit on the fence about the whole thing ... but then, I'll admit that I've been rather blah about Show for a few seasons now, so that could really be effecting the lens that I'm looking through while I'm watching it.

I will admit to not trusting Ezekiel pretty much at all. Yes, he is making himself look like he is one of the good guys in all of this, and like he is only out to try to help the boys, but there has to be something more going on with that than he is actually saying. It may not have been all that smart for Dean to send out a prayer to anyone who might have been listening, and it may end up brining them more trouble than it was worth (especially with how many angels there are out there now, and seeing as how at least some of them might blame the boys for their current predicament ... or they may think that by hurting the boys, they might be able to do some damage to Cas in some way). But I am also wondering if Ezekiel thinks that he is going to be able to hide out inside of Sam for an indefinite period of time (at least from the other angels); to his thinking, he may see it as the other angels not thinking that there would be an angel inside of one of them, given their views on possession by angels. In a way, it is kind of the perfect hiding place. So, if he's not exactly who he is pretending that he is, and if there are other angels who are looking around for him for some reason, that might be the perfect place to hide from everybody (who would think to look for a rogue angel inside one of them?). And if he's just trying to hide out from the others (and perhaps gain his strength for something later on), I wouldn't be surprised if he's planning on doing something big later, and maybe he thinks that by hitching a ride with the boys, he'll be able to do whatever it is that he is wanting ...

... what if he's after Cas? Maybe he's pissed off at being booted from Heaven, and we've already seen that there are angels out there who are pissed off with Cas, and blame him entirely for what happened to them. So, maybe that's what he's waiting for. That could end up being rather interesting if Cas and Sam end up in a huge-ass fight with each other, and I would love to see the boys try to forcibly eject him (cuz I have the feeling that I might find it borderline hilarious).

Also, I am thinking that there has to be something with the memory charm that Ezekiel seems so good at performing. There seemed to be far too much significance to the fact that he said that he would be able to wipe Sam's memory of the hospital (and that he did it so easily), and that when we come across the host he was riding with when he met the boys, said host had no idea of who he was. It almost makes me think that he knew that the host would be able to retain some memories of what was going on, and he decided that he couldn't take the chance that his plans would be told to anyone else (especially to the boys). Possible?

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

'The Asset' -- SHIELD 1x03


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm starting to think that we're supposed to not trust Skye, but that it will turn out that we won't have the giant reason as to why she isn't completely trustworthy once we find out exactly what it is that is behind all of her secrecy. I'm starting to feel a bit jerked around when it comes to her. I suppose that I wouldn't like it all that much if the other characters didn't question her motivations, or if there wasn't at least one of them saying that there was something kind of fishy when it comes to her (since she wasn't recruited in the normal fashion ... whatever is normal for SHIELD these days). But the way that things are, I get the feeling that whatever the big mystery there is about her, when it is finally revealed, we're going to find out that it isn't anything as huge as any of us have built up in our minds (and we're going to be left disappointed when all is said and done). Also, I get the feeling that the writers are wanting us to think that she is totes antiestablishment, but really, she's just a damaged little girl who wants to belong somewhere ... and once she feels like there is a genuine connection between her and the rest of the team, she is going to be 100% good guy (and there won't be any of this antihero cool that they are trying to give her). So, yeah, I'm feeling like there is a bit of fail when it comes to her.

Fitz/Simmons continue to be the nerdy awesome that they have been since the beginning, and it makes me love them all the more that they are so clueless sometimes (and yet, that they are so completely smart at the same time). But there has to be some other way to get the explanations that they are giving translated into laymen's terms without someone (and especially Skye) demanding that they translate into "English" for everyone. The thing is that if Skye is as wickedly smart as the writers would like us to believe that she is (even if it's not in Fitz or Simmons' specific fields), I don't see her demanding that they "translate into English". If she is really as wickedly smart as all that, she should be able to catch on pretty quickly (especially if she is so smart that she is able to hack an unhackable system using nothing but her phone). But I'll admit that the use of that phrase does kind of bug me anyway, since it's not as though anyone who is using big words is actually speaking Martian or something.

The thing that I want to know more about, and which the writers have now seemed to dropped now that the show is picking up some steam, is what actually happened to Coulson. He was obviously not in Tahiti, and there was something else going on ... I would really like to know if my theory about what it was pans out. More on this, please!!

I had thought that I was going to love this show a whole hell of a lot ... but I'm not sure that I'm going to. I'm still going to give it at least a few more episodes, but I think that I may end up ditching it after a while, if I don't feel a bit more of a connection with it.

'The Lesser Key of Solomon' -- SH 1x04


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I am loving Corbin more and more as time goes by, and that is no lie. And it isn't just that he is played by the Kurgan Clancy Brown ... it's that he is a crafty mofo, and even the people around him (who should know just how much of a crafty mofo he is) don't know what all he's up to.

So, now we know that he had all manner of files on all of the weird and creepy things that have been going on in Sleepy Hollow, he had Jenny working as a soldier of fortune for him (and in essence, trained her in how to kick ass, since it seems that he was at least partially instrumental in getting her out to places where she would have been able to do some good, and where she would have been able to get some training), he knew that Abbie and Jenny were far more important than either of them ever realized (and made sure that they both were in a good position to do some good in the world ... or at least, he did the best that he could in making sure that they were in that place, and that isn't even counting how he tried to make sure that the two of them made piece with each other), and he knew that something horrible was going to happen to him the day before he died. The man was a pimp. A PIMP, I SAY. It would be awesome to be able to think that the man was one of the people in Katrina's coven, but I really don't think that he was; the notes that he made for himself where the covens were concerned seemed to much like he was creating notes as an outsider so that he would be able to remember what was going on when he went back to it later on. If he was one of them, he wouldn't have needed to make those kind of notes for himself; he would have been steeped enough in the lore that he would have been able to remember it without aid (at least, that's the impression that I get from the few witches that we've seen on the show so far).

I will say that at least the writers are consistent, and are still calling the Headless Horseman "Death," even though he's really "Conquest". That doesn't mean that it isn't still immensely irritating that they haven't gotten it right, but at least there's a little bit of comfort where continuity is concerned.

Also, I like the fact that they've brought back the Hessians and had a group of them in our time, and that the group that we saw were still immensely crazed and all about the cause that they still had. I would love to be able to see some more of them and what they're all about. Sure, Morloch will have to be the on that it is ultimately in charge of their little group, but there has to b a hierarchy that the writers can play with, since there only seems to be certain times that he is able to make it into our world (or at least, there only seem to be certain people that are able to interact with him, and he doesn't seem to be able to make it completely into our plane of existence). But then, there are probably more than just the Hessians when it comes to that ... there's probably also the dark coven of witches to deal with when it comes to his plans, and there has to be a hierarchy there as well. It makes me wonder of the dark coven and the Hessians ever really deal with each other in any aspect. I would think that they would at least somewhat, since they are both working for the same "person".

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

'Need to Know' -- Castle 6x03


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Finally, an episode that was based in NYC, and with all of the gang (instead of only part of the gang). Ok, so, it was only two episodes where there was only part of the gang running around (and only the briefest glimpse of the rest of the gang), but it still seemed like it was much longer than what it actually was ... probably since the writers have gotten us so used to being with the greater part of the gang for the majority of the episode. And oh, how I love it when the boys get territorial (and start pushing Castle around); it makes me want to giggle a while hell of a lot.

I'm sure glad that Beckett did what she thought was right with this whole thing, cuz I really wasn't digging her partner's "Well, fuck it" attitude (the one that she seemed to have gotten after being on the job for such a long time ... or maybe even not that long of a time). Even if it looked like at the end of the last episode that Beckett was having some serious issues with the way that things were being run, that didn't necessarily mean that she was going to do anything about it anytime soon (in that it didn't mean that she was going to leave her fed job and go back home to NYC). It kind of makes me glad that she had a bout of conscious, and they ended up firing her. Even while she annoys the holy living hell out of me (and I spend the majority of the time that she's on screen wanting to shake the hell out of her), she is still a vital part of the show, and the show is very much a NYC one.

Speaking of bugging ... even while Mama Rogers is completely right about Alexis and Pi (and that baby girl is going to need to get dummy out of her system (probably even more so since she's typically so responsible, and she fell so hard over her last serious boyfriend), it would still be nice to have him out of the picture. He's kind of annoying and makes one want to pull his hair. So, while I can see things from Mama Rogers' side ... I can also really see things from Castle's side, too.

Friday, October 4, 2013

'0-8-4' -- SHIELD 1x02


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Why, hello there Nick Fury!! How nice it was to see you!! Yes, I was all kinds of happy about that particular Easter Egg in the episode ... even while I had already gotten what I had considered to be my Easter Egg (in the reference to Mjölnir earlier in the episode).

Sooooo ... Skye can't be trusted. Well, I don't know that there was really all kinds of reason to believe that she could be before the end of this particular episode, but at least know we know for sure that there is something fairly suspicious about homegirl. I'm wondering who it is that she's working for, and I'm hoping that it doesn't turn out to be someone from the Avengers movies; I'd really like it to be someone that is completely independent from them. Yeah, it would still be nice to have it be someone from the general "Avenger's world," but not anything that would specifically mess about with the continuity of the movies (or the show) in general.

I'm going to put it out there right now that whoever it is that sent her that text is someone that is probably manipulating her idealism. Yeah, all I have to go on is that one text message, and there really wasn't anything said in it that would necessarily mean that I should think that ... but I still think it. She strikes me as being someone who would be easily swayed if someone could make her believe that they were down with the cause, and they made her think that she was doing the right thing (even if what they were trying to convince her of doing was something that would ultimately do more harm to people than it would do good). And since she is so smart when it comes to hacking and such (but apparently king of naïve when it comes to people and their motives), I don't think that it's completely outside the realm of possibility that someone would be able to manipulate her like that.

Fitz/Simmons continue to be adorkable together, and I completely love that people assume that they're one person before they meet them ... but that when you really come down to it, they kind of are one person (since they seem to work so well with each other). I love the fact that Fitz got all annoyed with Skye when she tried to put the "dwarves" away incorrectly, since that's exactly the sort of thing that I would do in his place. LEAVE MY STUFFS ALONE, CUZ YOU PUT IT BACK WRONG!! Yeah, I'm kind of OCD like that.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

'Dreamworld' -- Castle 6x02


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Of course Castle survived everything that happened to him, cuz the writers weren't going to be stupid enough to kill off the title character of their money train. That would just be stupid. At a certain point, it just comes off as silly that they would even think that there would be any tension when they put Castle or Beckett in peril, since I don't see how anyone would actually think that they would write either of those characters off the show. That would just be silliness on their part. No lie. The only way that there would be any tension with that sort of thing is if they decided that they wanted to do something with one of the tertiary characters, since those are the only ones that are really in any kind of danger (like when they killed off Montgomery). I would say that the secondary characters might be in a bit of peril as well, but the only one of those that was really in any danger was when they went all Taken with Alexis, and she was actually fine (there was no way that they were going to actually get rid of our favorite ginger pixie).

Again, there was not enough of the boys in this episode, and it was even worse than it was in the last one (since they were really on there for like 30 seconds). But since it seems like Beckett seems to be rethinking her decision to move to DC, it looks like she might be going back to the NYPD pretty soon ... which would make me all kinds of happy. This show is about NYPD Homicide, bitches. It's not about DC or the Feds.

I didn't like the fact that Castle or Beckett lied to everybody about what was wrong with Castle. I know that he didn't want to worry them, and she wanted to back him up ... but they were all genuinely worried about Castle (cuz they care about the big idiot), so it made the lying seem that much more like it was a betrayal of their trust (at least from where I am sitting anyway). It may have only made everyone worry even more than what they already were, but at least they would have been prepared for if something horrible happened, instead of suddenly getting a call to tell them that Castle had died and having it drop out of the air onto their heads without them being able to be ready for it ... but that may come a bit from the fact that my gram (who I was really close to) died really unexpectedly, and I think that I would have preferred being able to at least see it coming (like my mom had cancer, and while it didn't make it not suck when she died, at least we were kind of prepared for the possibility, since we knew it was there).

But so much for giving us a new big bad for the future (since the gang has either taken out everyone that they can, or the one that they can't, they've gotten as close to him as they possibly can). I'd like it if there was an ongoing mystery going on in the background that the gang was trying to deal with, but I'm not sure that we're going to get much on that front anymore. Seems like there's only so much that the writers can do with the ultimate Big Bad that was responsible for Beckett's mom's death without making him seem overplayed and not so mythic.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

'For Triumph of Evil' -- SH 1x03


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Using the folklore of a community of people who aren't Christians ... that's exactly what I originally got into SPN for (and which they threw overboard after the first season).

It was really interesting to see Abbie be take control of the situation and admit to the things that she had done in the past ... the things that she still felt guilty about, but that she hadn't taken responsibility for. Maybe at some point now, she will be able to mend her relationship with her sister. I don't see that happening anytime soon, but at least it might happen eventually, and they can at least start on the first steps toward it now.

I am really hoping that Jenny turns out to be something of a kick-ass character. Yes, Abbie kicks ass, and is willing to go into situations that could feasibly end up getting her killed, but I would love to see Jenny become some kind of assassin-type character (possibly one who is able to be amazing at Parkour). As much as it would be nice to see Abbie and Jenny make peace with each other, it would also be amazing to see the two of them kind of be at odds with each other as they are both fighting toward the same goal; I want them to both be going toward the same thing (of trying to stop the evil that is coming), but it would create a lot of fabulous tension if they didn't see eye-to-eye, and if they had different ideas of what they wanted to do to get the things done. I can completely appreciate that sort of thing from a writing standpoint, and as a viewer (if the writers do it correctly), it can be absolutely delicious.

But all of this is assuming that Jenny is going to have a larger role in the show, and she isn't going to only be something in that is nagging at Abbie in the background of the show.

The captain kind of getting on our Witness's side and letting them know that they had his permission to be able to use the super secret area that they had broken into ... I'm happy that he is on their side, but I want to know why he's on their side now, cuz he seemed like he was someone who needed to have a little more evidence that there was something supernatural (or unusual) going on ... even if some of the evidence was kind of right there in front of his face. I would love to be able to get some kind of backstory when it comes to the captain. I know that it isn't something that is going to happen, but I almost want (in a geeky sort of way) to find out that he's a descendant of Washington Irving, cuz it would be kind of awesome. But I really don't think that something like that is going to happen, so I'm not going to be holding my breath on that; as long as I get some backstory on him, I think that I'll be happy.

And it looks like we might just get some information about Abbie and the ex before long. So far, I'm really not liking him, but I have the feeling that we aren't supposed to like him (whether it's now, or it's sometime later on). We might get a little more information about what happened with their relationship and the ending of it (even though we've already gotten a bit already), but I would actually be perfectly fine if we didn't get anything at all.