Thursday, January 30, 2014

'Sharp Teeth' -- SPN 9x12


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I do appreciate the use of Ragnarök in this episode (especially with it happening on February 22, 2014 ... oh, I have a feeling that I'm going to have a great time on that day), but two things:

1) It's Fenrir ... not Fenris. Sure, Encyclopedia Mythica does show "Fenris" as an alternate spelling, but I have never seen that spelling actually used (whether that's in any of the dorky places that I've gone to do a little bit of academic research, or when actually reading things that have been written by people that currently follow any of the variations of Germanic Neo-Paganism, and yes, there are different "denominations").

2) Where the hell is Mjölnir? We know that the boys were in position of it at one point, and that Sam even used it (even though that would have been completely impossible for him to do without the gloves and belt that are necessary for even Thor to use it). So, where is it? I suppose that we can headcanon that it's inside the bunker somewhere (warded so that angels, demons, and Norse gods can't try to snatch it. And I would have loved to've seen them drive the Impala with it in the trunk, having the tail end of the car dragging as they went, but what with Show's redconning folklore and mythology in such a way that doesn't always look like they did their research, I don't think that would have happened), but for all we know, they just left it where they found it ... which would have been a stupid, rookie move on their part.

But both of those things being said, I do like the idea of Fenrir being a god to werewolves/lycanthropes. Who else would werewolves worship but a wolf? And it makes it even better that he's one of Loki's kids. Never mind that he's not actually a god, but just a super wolf that's the son of two Frost Giants; but the fact that he's supposed to take out Odin (amongst others) does make him rather formidable.

I'm not really getting the change in Dean in this episode. He's kind of gone back to the character that he was in the first couple of seasons (the shoot first guy). But after the whole thing with Benny, he really seemed to have changed, and realized that not all the monsters are really bad. Sure, he thought that something hinky was going on (and the fact that Garth is so gullible probably didn't help), but he went in wanting to kill things before he realized that there as anything going on. Maybe he was feeling protective of Garth? But that wasn't really established. Or maybe he's still kind of reeling from what's happened between him and Sam ... that might be the more likely.

Having Sam reference Ichabod Crane when trying to find Garth, I'm not sure that that would have happened if "Sleepy Hollow" hadn't become so popular (and since the fanbase of that show is probably largely made up of people who also watch SPN ...). But then, the writers on Show have consistently shown that they are at least partially aware of the crazy things that the fanbase is up to, so that was probably a bit of fanservice on their part.

I am glad that Sam saw the Mark of Cain and that Dean was forced to come clean with what had happened. I'm so very tired of there being lies between them all the time, and it would be nice if they were honest with each other for a while. But speaking of the Mark of Cain ... I wonder just how long it's going to take Crowley to find the First Blade. I don't want it to be too quickly, since that would seem unrealistic (which, I realize that this isn't a realistic show, but still), but I also don't want it to be right before they need it in the finale or something. That would just be dumb.

Monday, January 27, 2014

'The Sign of Three' -- Sherlock 3x02


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Yet another episode that makes my headcanon much more sure that Sherlock is actually dead and part of a delusion of John's. I'm handwaving most everything that happened at the wedding as John imagining what Sherlock would have said if he were involved and supporting it by a very healthy series of flashbacks to times when the two of them had actually been together. And I'm also going to kind of headcanon the fact that he left pretty much as soon as the party portion of the reception started. Sure, that can be explained away as him being awkward around people, but I like the idea more that John didn't need him to be there anymore, since he had so much to occupy his mind once the party really started. I can also almost see John and Mary moving into 221B after they get back from the honeymoon ... if she was as understanding as she seems to be, she might understand that he needed a way to say goodbye that may involve him staying there for a while as he cleaned out Sherlock's things. But that's all crazy imaginings of how much I would love for this twist that is totally going on in my head turning out to be completely true per canon.

As far as the wedding ... when Sherlock was talking about how Dean Thomas the guard had almost gotten killed, and he was asking for audience interaction from the wedding guests, I kind of wanted to smack Lestrad and Tom on the back of the head for not getting what Sherlock was going for. I completely understood what Sherlock wanted from them, and I still kind of don't see how they didn't know that he was trying to get them to say that John was freaking awesome, cuz he was such a good person that his only concern in that moment was to try and help someone who could have died. It was also kind of fabulous that Sherlock didn't understand why everyone was crying to the things that he was saying about John and that John wanted Mary to make sure that he didn't hug Sherlock. I was struck with a serious case of "Oh, boys!!"

This episode only cemented my love of Mary. Like I've said before, I don't normally like it when someone who has a RL relationship with an actor/actress on a show makes an appearance on the show that they're on (cuz it feels too much like a cheat and like they were given the role because of their relationship with the person on the show without having to earn it), but the actress (I think her name is Amanda?) is amazing in the role. Plus, it makes me super happy that she gets on so well with Sherlock (made even more awesome by the fact that he is such an important person in John's life and that he isn't easy to get on with). I kind of get the feeling that they kind of have a brother/sister relationship, and this is the sibling relationship that Sherlock should have had, cuz it's the one that is based on love and affection.

It also only makes me love her more that she knows when Sherlock is lying about how he knows something, and she will have none of it. How awesome it was that she saw through him when he tried to pretend how he knew how to fold napkins, and she wouldn't let him pretend that anything other than "I saw it on YouTube" was what had actually happened. But if that scene had been between Sherlock and Mycroft, it would have been completely different, cuz it would have been the two of them trying to one-up each other in the clever department, and there wouldn't have been the inherent affection that is there between Sherlock and Mary (and the feeling that she just wants him to be honest with her, regardless of what the truth is).

And oh, how I loved that she was working them both to try and make sure that they went out and did something together. She could easily have been one of those chicks who gets all weird about her mister going out with his friends, but I think she realizes just how important they are to each other, and just how good they are for each other.

I am kind of surprised how long it took Sherlock to figure out that the chick who came to them with the case about dating a ghost was hinky. I didn't pick up on the fact that she used John's middle name (even though I thought it was kind of weird for her to use it), only cuz I thought that it might have been mentioned at some point (in a newspaper article, or a blog post, or something), but the moment she mentioned the wedding while they were online together, I instantly had a case of "PAY ATTENTION TO HER, STUPID!!" Yeah, Sherlock was thinking about something else at the time, but the fact that she knew about something that she shouldn't have known about should have caught his attention (cuz, really, who knew about the wedding?).

I would really love to have a scene where John tells Sherlock that he wants him to be the baby's godfather, cuz you know that John is going to want that. It would be kind of amazing to see Sherlock kind of go a bit nutty over the fact that he doesn't want to be the baby's godfather, cuz what does he know about kids? The writers may do a scene somewhat close to what they did for John asking him to be the best man, but I don't see them doing something completely the same (since that would be a bit repetitive at this point).

'The Wild Hunt' -- Grimm 3x12


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Now I can understand why Monroe doesn't really have anything to do with his family; he's really nothing like them (at least as far as his view of the world and who he should/shouldn't be involved with (whether that's a friendship or a romantic relationship)). I can't say that I blame him for not wanting to be around them all that much (even if he might love them). I have a feeling that his life might have become far more peaceful since he's branched off and started doing his own thing.

I also notice that along the lines of not saying what Monroe's last name is, they have also not given us the last name of his parents (the writers having Monroe tell Rosalee that she should call his parents by their first names). The only thing that we can say for sure now is that "Monroe" is his first name, since it's unlikely that his parent would call him by their surname. But I'm glad that they still haven't told us what their surname is, cuz I'd like some things about him (such as this) to remain a bit of a mystery.

And yes, it made me all manner of happy for Monroe to propose to Rosalee, and for her to say yes, cuz I want the two of them to have super happy marital bliss together (not that they don't have super awesome love bliss already). The way that he did it made me happy as well, mostly cuz it was super dorky in a way that was totally him

The ending of the episode ... I don't suppose that there was any way that it could have ended any differently once Monroe realized that Nick was the one who was at the door, but I'm not entirely sure why he wouldn't have told Nick that he was busy just then and ask him to come back later. Of course, doing that would mean that we wouldn't have the ZOMG! moment that his xenophobic parents provided when they realized that they were in the presence of a Grimm. Still, Nick would have to realize that he can't just bust in any ol' time, and he probably should have realized that he had come at a bad time when Monroe looked so uncomfortable when he opened the door.

I don't see Monroe's parents being anywhere as cool about Nick being a Grimm, or wanting to be BFFs with him the way that Monroe (or even the way that Rosalee or Bud is). I would imagine that there would be some family tension after this ... but it would probably mean that Monroe wouldn't have to deal with his parents for a while, which I don't think that he'd be all that sorry about.

I have a feeling that we're going to find out that Adalind's baby is Sean's, but that mostly comes from the assumption that the new crown prince (whose name I am completely blanking on) made about how it was Eric's. Like I said before, it would still mean that the baby would have royal blood, but I don't see how the baby wouldn't still be treated like shit by the family (if they didn't try to kill it before it became old enough to defend itself from them), cuz it would be the bastard child of a bastard child. Plus, I can see the writers making Sean the father so that the Scoobs would have to deal with Adalind a bit more (since that would create more tension for them). I can also see Sean trying to protect the baby as much as he possibly could if/when he found out that it was his, and it would probably create an extra layer to his fight against the rest of the royals (which would probably be the only real danger that the rest of the royals would get from the child until s/he grew up). I would love to see more about the tensions and intrigues with the royals, but since this show is called "Grimm," I don't see that we're going to get nearly as much of the intrigue that I would probably like.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

'Limelight' -- Castle 6x13


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm kind of getting to a point where I'm not sure why I'm still watching this show. I've become more and more bored with the entire thing, and it's not helping itself. Part of the problem might be the fact that the writers have taken away the tension between Castle and Beckett by having them get together ... and part of it might also be the fact that they're no longer doing anything about Beckett's mom's death. Sure, we know what happened now, but there's still HRG William Bracken to deal with ... and nothing's been done about him in ... what? ... around a full season now. That was one of the driving mysteries that was going on before now, and it's just been dropped without Beckett trying to take the guy down for what he did (which I can't see her doing, if it really bothered her as much as the writers made it out that it did before this point).

I'm glad that it looks like we're getting rid of Pi, cuz he was more irritating than he was an interesting wrench to be thrown into Alexis and Castle's relationship. Yeah, I get the fact that she needs to branch out a bit and figure herself out some, but the thing with him just wasn't working for me story wise. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I thought that he was a complete idiot and a tool. But even if we are getting rid of him, I'm still on her side with being mad at Castle for being a jerk (and pretty much a complete child about the whole thing).

I kind of feel like the character of Alexis has sort of fizzled out and hasn't lived up to the potential that she could have had. This has nothing to do with Molly Quinn, and everything to do with the writers involved with the storytelling. I think part of it may have to do with not really understanding where they wanted to take her character once she got out of high school and started to grow up a bit. There's nothing wrong with a young person having a bit of growing pains and trying to find themselves, but it shouldn't seem as though the writers are even more confused by what may (or may not) happen with a character than the audience is.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

'First Born' -- SPN 9x11


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Timothy Omundson was amazing. AMAZING!! I completely loved him as Cain (and loved the inclusion of twisty Cain & Abel story). And I was kind of embarrassed by just how long it took me to remember what else I had seen him in before (as in Eli from "Xena," the psychic from Starship Trooper, and a really horrible Disney film that I'm not going to admit to watching), but when I went looking for his IMDB page, and I had a serious case of facepalm, and an "oh, yeah, duh."

I think that this may be the twisty of the religious stories that I may like the best ... mostly it may come from it not completely sucking (like so many other of the twistings that they've done), and just how well Timothy Omundson did with the character. I did rather enjoy the idea of Cain just being tired of everything and not wanting to get involved with everything much more than I like the idea of Metatron hiding out on Earth all this time. In a way, the two of them were doing kind of the same thing (in that they were hiding, cuz they didn't want to have people come looking for them, and they just wanted to be left alone), but the reasons behind what they were doing struck me as being very different (where one was tired of all of the killing and hate and the war, and the other was hiding out cuz he was too afraid to poke his head out).

I even like the twist despite the fact that the writers were very obviously putting in a parallel between the brothers (wherein Cain = Dean and Abel = Sam). I'm not a fan of one-to-one correlations or allegory, and typically this sort of thing would annoy me for the tiredness of what they keep trying to do with the brothers (since it's the same thing that they've been doing for years), but I'll admit again that a big part of the pass that they got on this episode had to do with the acting of the guest star, and the way that he was able to portray just how weary Cain was of the fighting. I probably shouldn't be so sympathetic toward a demon, but I am (after all, he was a complete woobie, and he needed to have a bit of a snuggle).

As far as Dean getting the Mark of Cain (and being able to use the First Blade to be able to kill Abaddon), I suspect that no good is going to come of that, and it strikes me as just one more way in which the Winchester boys are willing to throw themselves into Hell for no reason whatsoever. And the fact that now have it (cuz I'm sure that Crowley is going to be able to grab it out of the bottom of the ocean), it feels like we're getting just one more thing that is a super weapon (like Ruby's knife, the Colt, or the Angel Blades), and the fact that we're getting one more super weapon is getting really old (and feels a whole lot like they're cheating. Don't have a way to kill a super unkillable demon? Invent a new weapon that will do the job).

So, yeah, overall, the episode gets a pass cuz of the guest star, but not for the new weapon.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

'The Indispensable Man'/'Bad Blood' -- SH 1x12/1x13


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Well, I guess I got partially Kripke'd (and partially Joss'd) by the season finale. I figured that Jeremy would be back at some point, since Katrina is so highly magical, and Ichabod is such an important person when it comes to the apocalypse (besides the fact that the way that Jeremy was "disposed" of was at least somewhat reminiscent of what happened to Ichabod). There was no way that we weren't going to see him again. I also really wanted Parish to be related to Ichabod (and figured that we might get that since we've gotten the intertwining of the Crane and Mills family lines, and it had a nice feel to it that someone who seemed to be as important to the Witnesses getting their shit together as the Sin Eater would also be a part of that). I didn't call Parish actually being Jeremy ... I was kind of wanting something more like him being a descendant of Jeremy's, but I think that I can handle him being Jeremy. I'm also wondering just how the big reveal could be that John Noble is Jeremy. I mean, if he was buried when he was in his early 20s, and he's been roaming around for 13 years, shouldn't he be in his early 30s now (instead of his 60s)? Sense.

The thing that I'm not all that thrilled about is the whole thing with him being War. I can handle Bram Bones being the Headless Horseman (that is at least partially canon) ... I can even kind of accept the Headless Horseman being Death (it's as good an explanation as any as to why he could go around without his head), but the details when it comes to the Horsemen are really starting to get under my skin. The fact that the Headless Horseman is supposed to be Death, and yet he rides the white horse (which is supposed to be Conquest/the Anti-Christ's horse) and has the symbol of the bow on his hand (the bow also being attached to Conquest/the Anti-Christ), and now, we're told that War has been roaming the earth for the past 10 years ... bullshit. I have the feeling that we're not supposed to accept that he was "officially" doing anything, since he didn't break the seal until the end of the finale (which would have been him properly starting to "ride") but that's not the way that things were set up. He's been roaming around for the past 10 years, and he's already being doing stuff as War, even if we didn't understand that that was what he was doing at the time; the fact that he's been manipulating the Witnesses this whole time, and getting them separated, and Abbie stuck in Purgatory before he gave Katrina to Death and broke the seal over Ichabod's half-buried body is all part of him working as one of the Horsemen (regardless if the seal was intact or not). So, that would mean that the way the writers are working it ... War came first, then, Death came (in the guise of Conquest) ... and at some point Famine came (who they are tying up with Pestilence ... who he shouldn't be tied with, since if he's typically counted amongst the four, he takes the place of Conquest, so that it becomes Pestilence, War, Famine, Death). The only one that they really haven't done anything with (as far as having him causing his own trouble, even though they've shown all four riding together already) is Conquest. Gah!! I don't know why it is apparently so hard to figure out the timeline of when each one appears, what color of horse each of them ride, or what devises that they known by. It's not as though Revelation is that long, or even the part where the Horsemen appear. And my brain is going to keep wanting to scream at them for not making sense according to canon (especially when it is so easy for them to fact check these things). I'm all for them being able to take a bit of creative license (such as turning Bram and Jeremy into Horsemen), but damn.

Speaking of taking creative license ... I really don't want there to be anymore Horsemen that are people who are/were tied to Ichabod and Katrina. One of them, fine. Two of them, ok, but starting to push it. Three is right out. I understand that Ichabod is one of the Witnesses, which would make him kind of important, and Katrina is a pretty powerful witch (which could make her important as well), but I have a hard time believing that the two of them would have pissed off enough people bad enough that they would have become Horsemen after their deaths (and as far as we know, it takes being pissed at them to make someone eligible for being a Horseman, since the two that we have gotten the backstory on have both been angry enough to burn the whole world down cuz of the two of them).

I don't necessarily want the other two Horsemen to be tied to Abbie (since that would still make the Horsemen somewhat of a tired trope at that point), but I have a feeling that it might be possible that they will be. And if it weren't pretty much impossible for it to happen (since we've already seen that all four of the Horsemen are already roaming around), and if it wouldn't have been extremely tired (since they've already gone the way of turning a family member into one of them), I'd say that they should turn Jenny into one of them ... but that comes more out of a sense that leaving a character looking like they might die at the very end of the season finale is kind of cheap and not at all suspenseful (but I put a lot of the blame for that at SPN's door, what with them killing one of their two leads (and two or three secondary characters) every single season finale ... and sometimes on their mid-season finale, too (and only having it actually stick one or two times).

I'm also having a bit of a problem with the whole thing of trust in this episode ... err, couple of episodes. Ichabod makes such a big deal about the fact that Abbie can trust him, that he isn't going to betray her and give her soul to Moloch, and he tries to prove it by burning the map ... and then, he almost immediately draws another one. D'oh!! She should have been far more pissed about that; not just that he betrayed her by redrawing it, but that now that it is physical again, Moloch can send one of his cronies to try and get it from them. Brilliant. I guess they needed a way to get the reveal that Parish was really Jeremy, get Katrina out of Purgatory, and separate Ichabod and Abbie, but still ...

Monday, January 20, 2014

'The Empty Hearse' -- Sherlock 3x01


This post brought to you by "The Boys are Back" by DKM (much like season three opener of "Spartacus: War of the Damned").

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm going to say right off the bat that I do not trust any of the explanations as to how Sherlock survived (up to and including his own). The first two were ones thought up by people who didn't really understand him, and the one he gave had the feeling of being something that he thought that people might think was somewhat logical ... or at least enough so that they would stop asking him questions and let him get on with his life.

Not only that, I don't think that anything that happened in this episode actually happened. I have the feeling that I'm going to headcanon whatever happens in the series from now on (and really starting with the very end of "The Reichenbach Fall") as being inside of John's mind. In my headcanon, he's so torn up by what happened to Sherlock (the one real connection that he's made since coming back from Afghanistan) that he can't handle it. As a result, he's created this fantasy where Sherlock is really alive (the "miracle" that he asked for), and the two of them are out and about solving cases again. Of course, the whole thing with Sherlock letting Anderson videotape his explanation ... I don't see why he would do that. The two of them never really got along (so, I don't see why they would now, despite Anderson now becoming the president of Sherlock's fan club). If he were really going to lay everything out for someone, it would have been John. I would actually have liked to see Anderson rewind the video so that we could see what was really on it (only to find out that there was nothing). And it seemed somewhat significant that after giving the explanation, Sherlock makes a hasty exit as soon as Anderson's back is turned; making me think even more that that scene (at least) didn't happen (since Anderson seemed like he needed to have something that made sense to him, but if too many questions were asked, he might have realized that the story that was told didn't make as much sense as he thought at first).

I'm glad that this episode was spent mostly in getting the boys to make up, and less in the Guy Fawkes mystery that was going on. And even while there's probably only so many ways that they could have taken the story if they were going to use a Guy Fawkes plot to blow up the government, I couldn't help thinking of V for Vendetta and expecting to see V inside of the subway car.

And speaking of the subway car ... the switch on the bomb ... it felt like a rather cheap and anti-climactic way for them to get out of the situation that they were in. If Sherlock had really called the police before they headed out (since we didn't see him do it after they left 221b), why couldn't he have made sure that the bomb squad was also a part of the detail. He was sure that there was going to be a bomb in the subway, and he's supposed to be clever ... so, why not have the people who know how to stop a bomb at hand in case one is found? It isn't as though Lestrade wouldn't have listened to him if he rang and said, "ZOMG! We totes need the bomb squad! Stat!" It just gave me one more reason to headcanon this all as being part of John's "I need a Sherlock shaped miracle."

I kind of loved the fact that Mary liked Sherlock (another thing that makes me want to headcanon the whole thing, seeing as how people don't take to him that quickly ... and it seems like something that John might imagine: giving himself someone to love, who also happened to be keen on the other most important person in his life), and I do have the feeling that he's going to like her as well (if for only that she loves John so much, but also cuz she seems pretty sharp and willing to jump right in with their investigations when it's needed). Normally I don't care for people associate in RL with the actors in the shows I like getting parts on the shows; it feels a bit too much like cheating and not necessarily the best thing for the show itself (like I'm still rather iffy about Seamus Dever's RL wife playing his character's wife on "Castle"), but I rather liked the interactions between Martin Freeman and his RL partner (who played Mary). There was a comfortability there between the two of them that I think was needed for the characters at that moment in time, what with Mark Gatiss (the writer of the episode) trying to show how much of a struggle it still was for John with what had happened to Sherlock, and him having someone who was truly and unconditionally there for him. And then, when I found out that Benedict Cumberbatch's parents played Sherlock's parents, I got a bit more glee out of that scene with them; mostly at the thought of how much fun it must have been for him to do that scene.

Also with the love? The fact that every time that Sherlock got flippant with him in the beginning of the episode, John ended up trying to beat the hell out of him ... and the fact that they ended up scaling down in the eatery that they were in. Oh, boys. Never change.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

'The Good Soldier' -- Grimm 3x11


In honor of the part of Penelope Garcia's backstory that we found out about in the latest episode of "Criminal Minds," the mood music for this post will be presented to you by Queen (that is seriously one of my favorite songs by them).

Warning: Spoiler Alert

What is it with the past few episodes of this show where we either get a drop-off of Juliette so that there is a bit of focus on Monroe and Rosalee, or we get a drop-off of Rosalee and Monroe to get some focus on Juliette? It's entirely possible for the writers to have them all in the episodes without having one or two of them in there only long enough so it feels like they're only getting the headnod (in case we somehow forget them with the passage of one episode). It just feels a bit like the writers have somehow forgotten how to integrate all of the characters that make up the ensemble into the show ... but that may just be me.

I'm getting a bit bored with the Adalind storyline, and I don't think that I'm the only one who is. I don't venture much into fandom (cuz it tends to be a swirling vortex of pain and darkness), but the passing glances that I've made to the LJ community and the Google+ community that I'm a part of have at least let me know that I'm not the only one who could do without that particular storyline. The intrigue of it could be fun, but the writers don't spend enough time on it to properly flesh that out. But then, I'm really thinking of the intrigue that is involved with the royals and the resistance, and all of them trying to fight over the baby, cuz they think it's magic (ok, so, it is at least partially magic, being hexenbiest from its mother, but that's no the kind of magic that I was thinking of). I am wondering, however, why they would all want to get ahold of the magic!baby if it wouldn't be a legitimate heir to the throne (if it's Renard's, no one is going to care about it except for Renard; if it's Eric's, it's not going to have any place amongst the royals ... they proved that that was the case with the way that they treated Renard).

The fact that the writers brought another Steinalder into the show makes me wonder (yet again), just how singular Nick is with the way that he views the Wesen (as well as his "duties" as a Grimm). Aunt Marie had to've been someone who didn't think that she should go around killing as many Wesen as possible, since she was (at one point) engaged to a Steinalder; and it seems that Nick's attitude can possibly be shown as being partially genetic (since Marie was his aunt), but also to be partially the way that he was raised (since Aunt Marie was really the one who raised him ... I have the feeling that if his mom had stuck around, he would have turned out to be a very different person, indeed). I would adore having some more backstory on Aunt Marie to flesh her out a little bit, so that we can find out just how the Wesen community saw her (at least, those who knew her). We know that at least one Wesen was romantically linked to her, but that doesn't mean that anyone else would have trusted or liked her. But if she had a reputation amongst them for being at least somewhat "cool" in their books, I wonder if it would help him along with those who knew her (if only by reputation) when/if things start to get hairy with the royals.

I'm getting more and more the feeling that the writers are going to turn Juliette into Nick's research assistant (so to speak). It is cool to see her get involved with it all (and to have another nerdy/bookworm character), but I wonder if it's the writers having a Girl Friday character that would pick up the slack from where Monroe and Rosalee should be (since the two of them don't seem to be hanging with the Scooby Gang anymore, and are off doing their own thing). Maybe?

The writers didn't do a really good job of making it seem like Rosalee's mother and sister hated her, and that she should have been afraid to back to see them. It was obvious that her sister was angry with her, but it never came close to full-on hate; and her mother seemed nothing but nice (sure, things were a bit awkward, how could they not have been). I suppose we could always handwave the whole thing with the build up as Rosalee feeling guilty (while knowing that they were upset with her), and she blew everything out of proportion, but it would have been nice if there was the follow-through to all of the build up that we had been getting.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

'Road Trip' -- SPN 9x10



The more that this show goes on, the more that I wish that something would just happen that would make sure that it never comes back again. Never. It still had it's problems in the beginning, but I'm going to stand by my previous assertions that this series was its best in seasons one and two, and it's gotten progressively shittier as time has gone by. That was the only time when Show felt like the writers knew what the hell they were doing, and ever since then, they haven't known what the hell is happening (or have any real idea of where to go with the next season, let alone the next episode).

What makes it even more tired is that there tropes that the writers seem bent on doing every single season as though the whole world depends on it happening (like one of the boys dying and going to Hell (or the Lu's cage) at the end of each season, the two of them not talking about the things that are pissing them off, getting so pissed off with each other that they finally end up having a fight around mid-season (sometimes with their fists, sometimes with their words ... which aren't many, let's be honest), and one of them ends up bailing on the other after the fight). It's getting tired and old ... as though the writers don't care anymore, and that makes me not want to care anymore.

And the idea that could make this all better for me (or at least somewhat better for me), is if I try to headcanon the show and say that one or both of them is dead, and everything that we're seeing in show is them continuing to play out these scenes, believing that they are real. I think either way that I try to headcanon this, it's going to rest on this being the delusion of Dean, but I can see this going one of two ways.

1) He never made it out of Hell between seasons three and four, so he had to come up with something to protect his mind. His answer? An angel (the very kind of being that his mother told him was watching over him when he was a child) pulled him out of the Pit, and he's been doing whatever he can to live up to the quest that his father gave to him when he was four: protect Sammy. Except, since he's still in Hell, a bit of the despair and brimstone creep into his dreams; so, things aren't as good between him and Sam as they were in seasons one and two (and at this point, those are looking like the good ol' days. Anyone remember the prank war? Yeah, me, too), and since he's in the Pit, he isn't able to have any real character growth, and things between him and Sam are in this never ending loop of bitterness, death (of them and the people that they love), and suck. It's that, or this is all part of how the demons have decided that they're going to torture him; make him think that he's managed to escape from them, only to find that his relationship with Sam can never go back to what it was before. That's why it feels like the seasons are repeating themselves.

2) He had a psychotic break sometime after the fire killed Mary, and since then, he's been trying to come to terms with watching the house burn down and knowing that she was inside (something that wasn't helped by John). So, he's been trying to come to terms with the fact that she's gone, and that's why he keeps coming back to his parents when they were young, trying to warn her of what was about to happen so that his life could go back to the way that it should have been, or else living out his life as though she were really alive (like with the first Djinn episode). Maybe the probably came down to the fact that he started the fire, cuz he was four and no one was watching him, and he was playing with a lighter (or matches, or whatever). And he was inside Sam's room when he did it (maybe he had gotten up to get a drink and wandered into his brother's room, cuz Sam made some noise), which led to a mountain of guilt and an imperative that he Must Always Protect Sammy.

That's it. Headcanoned.

It's not going to make me not want to reach through the TV and smack someone (whether the actors or the writers), but it will maybe at least help my brain from becoming a gooey mess on the wall.

'Deep Cover' -- Castle 6x12


Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, we get another episode with Castle's dad. I kind of wish that I could say that I was more interested in these than I actually am, but ... I don't really care all that much. In theory, it should be exciting to have him around, since he's all CIA spy stuffs, but all his appearance really did (at least in this episode anyway) was to throw a wrench in everything. Sure, Martha said that she did get some great things from him (like Castle), and maybe the experience with him this time made Castle and Beckett realize that they shouldn't take their lives for granted (that they should make sure that they make the moments count), but this was after he got Castle lying to Beckett. That I really had a problem with, even if Castle thought that he was doing the right thing by keeping his dad's identity from her. He's supposed to be starting this new life with he, and there was the big deal made about how the two of them are trying to pick the date for their wedding; it just didn't seem that lying about something so huge was a good way to go.

When Dad sent Martha off to get him something to drink, I was almost sure that he was dead when she came back in. Ok, it was more like I was hoping that he was. Again, that was more out of a general sense of blah when it comes to his character. If he was more interesting to me, I might have not been so eager at the idea that he might have snuffed it.

Maybe part of my problem with the episode came not only from a feeling that Castle's dad was a little too late with trying to become part of the family, but also that the writers were trying to create a legit spy for the show to balance out the fact that Castle is kind of a play-spy. Him being a legit spy should make him far more interesting, but ... he's just not. I'm not sure if it's more out of the fact that the writers weren't really able to write him as being interesting (instead of a giant knob), or if he didn't fit in with the overall feel of the show, or the acting wasn't quite what it could of been ... or maybe all of these things put together. I'm leaning toward it being all of those things together.

I also am not sure how it is that Ryan is all happy and awake when he has a newborn at home. Sure, Jenny is probably taking care of the brunt of what's going on with the baby, but damn. How is he not falling over asleep cuz the baby is up every few hours? It's not as though he wouldn't be the active type when it comes to being a father (probably even more so after he very nearly died on the day that she was born). But I'll admit that I was hoping for him being completely frazzled when he came to work, cuz I thought that it would be really funny.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

'The Vessel' -- SH 1x11


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Skinny jeans!!!!!!!! Skinny jeans!!!!!! Skinny jeans!!!!!!!! Oh, how I loved that whole thing with Ichabod trying on clothes and cursing the very idea of skinny jeans (especially when he was completely unable to figure out how to sit down in them). It made me all kinds of amused. It also makes me wonder if the writers were kind of teasing him, since he's tall and skinny ... and he seems to only wear skinny jeans in interviews and stills that I've seen of him (and I swear that I've seen him in a shirt similar to the one that Abbie was holding ... the one that was horizontally striped, and which he refused to even try. See? He does wear horizontal stripes ... cuz he's a fucking hipster, or some such nonsense). But I loved the way he looked all manner of uncomfortable and awkward in the clothes that she had picked out for him. I could almost hear him thinking, "Bother the whole world. Moloch can have everyone if I have to continue wearing these 'skinny' jeans. PINCHING!! THERE'S PINCHING!! THAT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO GO THERE!!"

You know what else I completely loved about this episode (but which had noting really to do with the plot)? The fact that there were so many people of color in the episode (and so many women), and only really one person died. Hizzah! for so many women and POC finishing out the episode!! Also fun? Having the female lead and the secondary female lead talk to each other without talking about ZOMG!boys. SPN, I'm putting you on notice. Pay attention to what the writers of this show are doing with women and POC. You'll benefit from it if you do even a quarter of what this show is doing.

That being said ... how did the Scooby Gang get through so much of the fighting with demons that they've already done and never come across anything about salt? Really? A white belt in Google Fu would have found out about the one thing that should be common knowledge by now (kind of like you need Holy Water, garlic, and crosses for vampires, or silver for werewolves). I would have at least thought that Ichabod would have come across something about that in his research (even if he wasn't altogether fond of using the interwebs); there would have had to've been something in Corbin's research that would have made him think that going down to Sam's Club, looking at the isle with the salt, and asking an associate if that was all the salt they had would have been a smart thing to do.

I'm also wondering how it is that they are only just now trying to figure out what might be in Washington's Bible that might be important (for them to defeat all of the demonic horde, and for which said demonic horde would like to burn the Bible). And if it was really all that easy for Ichabod to figure out which page there was a secret message on after he actually sat down and tried to get the messages, how is it that he's only found it now? Wouldn't he have been able to (at some time before now) think, "You know ... this Bible smells funny. I know!! I'll use some of my salt supply (since I have ALL of the salt that Sam had available), and I'll make invisible ink revealer. Brilliant!!"

Also, I'm wondering if we're being led up to get some kind of Immortal Washington in the mix. That seemed to be what they were leading us toward with the "ZOMG! The date in the bible is four days after Washington died!" There certainly seems to be some sort of significance to the date, even if it doesn't have anything to do with Washington. But it also made me wonder if there was supposed to be some kind of meeting on that date, and he got killed on his way to it (that the demons or evil witches were trying to stop something important happening on that day (maybe the handoff of the Bible to Ichabod?), and they killed him before Washington could have done whatever he planned to do on that day. That seems like it might be a bit more likely, even if it does seem like we're being led to believe that Washington is still alive (if only cuz I think that it's likely that we would have seen or heard about Washington at some point if he were still alive ... from Katrina at the least, or maybe from one of Moloch's cronies).

I was also rather glad to get a bit more backstory on Jenny, and a reason as to why she was in prison and psych wards all the time. If she's really as good as all that, it didn't seem likely that she would have been caught as often as she seemed to have been, but now we know that she was doing it on purpose, cuz she was trying to protect Abbie. Rather interesting as well that she was so intent on protecting Abbie from herself but that she also was so angry (almost hating her) with Abbie for saying that she had never seen Moloch in the woods when they were kids. Rather tormented, no?

And I want to know what they plan on doing with the lantern. Sure, Jenny promised that they would bring it back to the survivalist nuts, but if there is a demon trapped inside of it now (which there seemed to be at the end of the episode), why would they give it to some random people who they can't be sure will do whatever they can to keep the blasted thing safe. It would make more sense for them to find a corner in their Batcave, draw a Devil's Trap, stick the lantern inside of it, and make sure that no one is able to get to it. But that's me.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

'Eyes of the Beholder' -- Grimm 3x10


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Ok, I'm starting to not dig the way that Monroe and Rosalee have been put on the back burner so hard, and how (recently) they are only in the episode long enough for Nick and Hank to come in and ask them some question, and run back out once the question is kind of answered. If this were real life, something like that might happen, cuz everybody's lives have things in them where you can't always be with all of the people that you want to be with all of the time, but ... this is a TV show, damn it, and they're part of the Scooby Gang. The gang should be seeing each other more than that, even if it has to do with something other than with one of Nick's cases (probably more so when it is outside of one of his cases).

I was expecting a little more from the B plot this week. I wasn't expecting that the B plot from last week would have remained the B plot this week, and that the conclusion of it would have waited until the very end of the episode, and would have only lasted around three seconds (ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but still). That being said ... it was so very nice to see Juliette and her friend beat the holy living hell out of friend's abusive husband. I freaking loved that. Loved. For two reasons (and neither of them came from a "let's stick it to the man" type of deal, let's just be clear). 1) It was great to see Friend stand up for herself against someone who had beaten and stalked her (and who was trying to force her to come back into that situation again). The amount of courage that it probably had to take for her to do that (even with the help that she had) had to've been enormous. Good on her. 2) Juliette seeing Dick!Husband full on woge, tell him that she wasn't impressed, and then, continue to stand up for her friend ... awesome! Sure, she knew about Wesen, but she theoretically could have gotten freaked out by seeing him woge and could have decided that she may have made a mistake. I was really glad to see her show signs of what I think she could be (a kick ass member of the Scooby Gang, and someone who could handle being in a relationship with a Grimm ... as well as someone who could probably handle being the mother to more Grimm). I'll also admit to feeling a bit satisfied that even though Nick did try to help (cuz he's a good guy), he wasn't able to come in and save the day ... and that in the end, the girls were able to finish the idiot off themselves.

Also, I was glad that Juliette ran right over and gave her friend a hug as soon as she woged, since it helped solidify the kind of person that she is (for both the audience and for her friend). As much as Nick is getting a reputation amongst the Wesen community, I think that Juliette is going to start getting a reputation amongst them as well as someone that they can trust. And I have a feeling that the more people that realize that both of them can be trusted, the more that are going to be on their side (at least amongst the Wesen community), and that will probably end up being a good thing for them ... especially when/if an all-out war with the royals happens.

As far as the A plot was concerned ... I thought the idea of the Wesen street gangs was a more interesting thing to pursue than Hank bonding with a kid in protective custody, while he macked on the kid's sister. And I was disappointed to find out that the two of them were Wesen, only cuz I suspected that they were the moment that Hank and Nick grabbed him for questioning, and his sister told him to stay calm. It didn't seem like the writers would have made a point of bringing attention to that if they weren't leading us around by the nose a bit.

And while I don't have a problem with Hank getting in a relationship with a Wesen, at this point, I'm wondering just how many Wesen there are in Portland. It seems almost like the Wesen outnumber humans at this point. Could it be that Nick keeps investigating cases that involve Wesen cuz there are so many of them (since there haven't been Grimms to kill them on the order of the royals), or is it cuz we're only seeing the Wesen related cases (and all of the cases he's involved with that deal with humans are taken care of during the holidays and weeks with reruns)? I saw somewhere where someone said that it could have also have been possible that Renard was sending the Wesen cases in Nick's direction on purpose, but I don't think that's what's going on. That would mean that he's got some special knowledge that he doesn't seem to have (since he isn't all knowing, and the "Red Menace" proved that there are some Wesen that other Wesen couldn't recognize when they woged). One more thing that I wish the writers would deal with somewhat, but which I don't think that we're going to get an answer about.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Sometimes I Really Miss RTD.

I am so glad that I saw this review of "The Time of the Doctor." The review managed to deal with quite a few of my problems with Moffat-era "Who" ... especially his dealings with female characters. I still feel that there is a bit of inherent sexism in Moffat's era of "Who" that there wasn't in RDJ's era (and that it's something that colors most (if not all) of the female characters that he creates regardless of the show that he's working on at the time).

This bit really seemed to hammer it home (at least for me):

... these women [Rose, Martha, and Donna] were individuals, full-blooded characters with back-stories, motivations and quirks entirely their own. They were people, whom no one could ever confuse one for the other.

On the other hand, who was Amy Pond?

Er ... she was hot?

And who is Clara Oswald? Well, she's hot, too, but in a more coquettish sort of way. And, er ... that's it.

Take any of the Moffat-era stories, swap Amy for Clara, Clara for Amy, and what changes? Nothing, nothing at all.

Truest of true stories. Amy and Clara are not much more than set dressing, and I've said it before that we don't really know Clara at all (even if 11 might have gotten to know her a bit during adventures that we didn't see).

And also, the Trenzalore paradox ... yes. This. There is no way that any of series 7 can make sense if we take away the fact that he didn't actually die on Trenzalore ... unless the death happens sometime later, but I don't think that it will. I have the feeling that Moffat isn't going to go back to Trenzalore, and is going to try and timey-whimey handwave us into forgetting that Trenzalore happened, and that since there was no way that Clara could have gone into the time stream without there being a time stream there in the first place, she wouldn't have been able to become "The Impossible Girl."

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

'Under Fire' -- Castle 6x11


Warning: Spoiler Alert

The whole scene with Jenny on the phone with Ryan (while he was stuck inside of the doomed fire!building of doom, and she was about to push out the baby) was very sweet, but (you had to know that there would be a but in there) ... my brain kept going to ST 11 (which did that scene much better, even though I really can't stand the actress that played Kirk's mom), and I kept wanting to say that they should name the baby Jim after her father (and Tiberius after his). But I was glad that the gang was there for the birth. In a way that kind of reminded me of when they got engaged (the important people were there for it).

But speaking of names, I was so glad that in the middle of the boys being in what looked like a completely no win situation, Esposito was still busting Ryan's chops (a white Irish kid name Javier, indeed). And you know, as soon as he said that they should name the baby Javier if were a boy, I knew that they were going to have a little girl ... and I think that it's safe to say that homegirl is going to have daddy wrapped around her little finger. He's sunk, no lie. And in spite of all of his worrying (or maybe because of it), I think that Ryan's going to be a really great dad.

And now that she's around, I have a feeling that the writers might use this as an opportunity to mess with Ryan a bit. I can see them having him get all bleary eyed and tired from the lack of sleep that he's bound to have. I'm kind of iffy about the idea of them writing a baby into the show that might show up in a few episodes. It was one thing when they had Cosmo there, and Castle was looking after homeboy, cuz no one knew where he belonged; it seems to be another thing when it's Ryan bringing the baby to work. I can't see Jenny being ok with the baby being put into danger that way ... even if there might be some comedy gold there (Ryan walking around with a Baby Bjorn strapped to him ... Esposito trying to stop the baby from crying, while everyone else insists that he take care of it ... Lanie being the only one of the gang (besides Ryan himself) who is able to get her to calm down). There may be a bunch of stuff that might be amusing to see, but Jenny realizes how dangerous Ryan's job is, and I don't see her wanting her newborn in that situation (especially when you think back to her reaction in "The Wild Rover," when Ryan went undercover).

Sunday, January 5, 2014

'Red Menace' -- Grimm 3x09


Warning: Spoiler Alerts

I really dug the effects that were used for Boris in his woge state on this one; it made him look kind of creepy and death-like when he did it (which I'm sure was the point of the whole thing). But I'm wondering why his blood would have looked green instead of red, and if it suggests that the physiology of the Wesen is really that much different than that of humans. I don't think that the writers have thought it through that far, and they were probably only having his blood and eyes turn that neon green cuz they wanted it to look cool on screen; but this is the place that my brain goes with it. I've already figured that there has to be something different about them ... but that they have to be close enough to humans that human doctors wouldn't get tipped off during an autopsy. I WANT MORE INFORMATION DANG IT!!

I also want some real answers as to how the Wesen know that Nick is a grimm. I'm beginning to think that my cousin may be on to something about them having to look at him when they are in their woge states (since that's when they seem to know what he is), but I still think that there may be a little more to it than that. I still like my idea of grimms being a branch of Wesen themselves (one that mutated so that they can't actually woge the way the other Wesen can, but they can still see it when others woge ... and that they may have a sort of woge state that only Wesen can see). And since Nick has two different Wesen (three if we're counting Renard) right there that could give him the answer, I still don't understand why he doesn't ask somebody. It doesn't make sense ... especially since it's a bit of information that he may end up finding out that he needs later on.

One thing that I do really dig about this show is how they take real life historical figures and interweave them into the mythos of the show. Turning Rasputin into one of the Koschie, giving a reason for the story about how hard it was for him to finally be killed (if you look at any of the accounts of what was done to him, it's kind of crazy how hard it was for the assassins that went after him to finally get rid of him). I also found the little bit of information that we found out about Renard to be kind of interesting. I believe that we are supposed to infer that his mother did the spell for Rasputin ... and we found out that he speaks Russian. Both of these things make me wonder why he didn't want to tell Myshkin that he was half-Zauberbiest. I have the feeling that he might have thought that if he had said something about what he was, Myshkin might have known who he was. I may be reaching a bit with this, but with all of the half-hints that they give us about Renard, it's hard not to try to piece together what is given and speculate about what may be going on.

But speaking about Renard: I was thinking that he was going to stay in Europe a little while longer. No, he wasn't going to be able to stay forever, especially when he left on such short notice, but I was thinking that there was going to be a little more done by him while he was there. But I suppose that he did enough (since he managed to stir the pot quite well, not only with freaking out Adalind, but also with rallying the resistance and making it seem as though he had Nick in his pocket).

The whole thing with Juliette's friend coming to stay with them ... I find it kind of hard to believe that she just happens to have this friend that is a Wesen ... who just happens to come stay with them, cuz she needs help getting away from her boyfriend. It just seems a little bit too convenient to me that what she really needs is help getting herself out of the bad situation that she's gotten herself into, and she just happens to be good friends with the girlfriend of the one Grimm around who has a reputation for being cool when it comes to being good to Wesen (especially those who need help). It feels a little too trite to me, but I realize that may just be my own reading of the situation.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Get Out of My Head, Stephen King!!

So, I've pretty much been downing Hearts in Atlantis since I started it a couple of days ago. Downing it like whoa.

And after reading the first novella in it ("Low Men in Yellow Coats" ... which really could be a novel all by itself), I kind of got a hankering to give The Dark Tower another try, cuz of all of the references to stuff that is going on within that series. But this time, I'm not going to check out the audiobook (since part of the reason why I put it down before was the person reading it ... some readers voices just don't "speak" to you). So, I've put the actual book on reserve, and not just cuz someone else already has it checked out. The couple of times that I've been in there and looked for it, I could not find it, no matter how hard I looked. Seriously, I was standing right in the section where it should have been in, the system said it was checked in, but it was nowhere. Besides, that will give me a bit of time to finish Hearts in Atlantis

I also have a couple of others in hold.

The one that I'll probably be able to read first is Something More Than Night. The plot of the story itself seemed rather interesting, but when I looked into the section that Amazon lets you read, it looked like something that might kind of hook me and make me not want to put it down until I'm done (which probably wouldn't be all that long after I started it, seeing as how it's only about 300 pages). I had gone over to the library the other day, after looking on their online catalog to make sure that they had it, and it said that not only did they have it, but it was also checked in. But by the time that I went over ... someone had already nabbed it. ::shakes fist:: Curses!!

And then, there's Nos4a2, by Papa King's son Joe Hill. I had it on hold before, and apparently, the library called me for a week, leaving messages on the land line (which is the number they had in their system). I didn't get told that they had been leaving me messages until two days after the last one ... after they had already moved on to the next person on the hold list (since they only hold it for you for a week before they figure that you changed your mind). So, I ended up going in the next day and changing my number with them so that the next time that my name comes up for something that I've put a hold on, they'll leave me a message directly on my cell (since I'll actually get it that way). But with the amount of holds that are on that one, it's going to be at least a couple of months before I can read it.

I still want to shake my fist over the fact that there's a trace on The Broken Kingdoms. It's not that the first book in the trilogy was as amazing as I was hoping it would be ... it's that I just kind of have this nagging wondering of what happened to the characters in the second and third books, and I don't want to just skip over the second book. Hell, when I was younger, I had only seen ANH and RotJ, but it was years before I saw ESB, and I was always confused as to who Lando was (and his relationship with the others). So, now, I kind of have the feeling that if I skip the middle section in a trilogy, I'm going to have another one of those instances.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Make Sense, Damn You.

Another thing that struck me while I was half-way watching "The Day of the Doctor" ... if 10 used up a regeneration and kept his old face out of vanity (becoming both 10 and 11), wouldn't that have meant that there should have been 2 David Tennants circling Gallifrey when the doctor was doing his bit of timey-whimey? Never mind the fact that the whole idea of 10 being both 10 and 11 wasn't anything that was even suggested until 11 said something about it at the end of "The Time of the Doctor".

And probably a better question is why do I keep trying to make sense of genre television, even when I know that all I'm going to accomplish is giving myself a headache (especially when the show is timey-whimey)? But damn it, I want stuff to make sense.

If, someday, you guys ever hear that my brain got broken ... you'll know why. Stuff like this made it go boom.