Sunday, March 30, 2014

'A Stronger Loving World' -- Ripper Street 2x06


Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, now we have a backstory for Bella, and why find out why she's been kind of cagey about letting anyone know anything that has happened to her in the past. And to have her past be full of a cult which was trying to cause all kinds of trouble with other people felt again like the writers were trying to touch on things that were happening in the world right now ... but I will admit that I did have a bit of a flash of Charles Manson with the cult that was going on in this episode. It wasn't just the way that the women seemed to be in so awe of him ... it was the fact that he seemed to be trying to create a war between peoples of different faiths. True, the Manson family didn't try to create a war along religious lines, but they did try to do it along racial lines, so there could be at least a bit of a correlation that way. And I'll admit that the dude that was the leader of the cult did kind of remind me of the look that Manson had in the '60s (the long hair and the Ren Faire shirt type of look). I'm not sure that the correlation between the two of them was intentional, but that's where my brain went to.

I'll also admit that I was kind of glad that we found out bad things about Bella, and that she was gotten out of the way. Sure, Drake is wrecked about what happened (even though he loves Rose, and he will always love her (I think), and he loves her more than he probably will love anyone else, he still loved Bella), but I don't think that Drake should have been with Bella in the first place. Dude should always have been with Rose ... and she should always have been with him, even if she didn't always realize it. I have a feeling that the writers are trying to move the two of them toward getting together (which would make me all kinds of happy inside that place where I should have feelings). It will probably take them a bit to finally get together, what with how wrecked Drake is right now, and how much he is feeling like he's cursed, but I do have the feeling that it's going to happen eventually.

But I do find it rather curious that all of the boys who are our main characters are having love problems in the moment. It's almost as though the writers got together and decided that they were going to mess with the boys where their love lives where concerned, cuz they don't have enough problems going on as it is. I want to know if there was some kind of over-riding reason as to why they would have all of the boys going through all of these love problems at the same time, but I'm not sure that there is some over-arching reason (other than it maybe seemed like a good idea to the writers at the time).

I still really want Susan to be able to get out of her contract with dude, so that she can be free and clear with her girls (and not have to have that hanging over her head). I also still want to know what's going on with that other inspector that was all up in Reid's grill at the beginning of the season. The writers made such a big deal of him at the beginning of the season, it seems like something should happen with him later on. There's still two more episodes this season for them to deal with this stuff, and I hope that it makes it in.

'Heartburn' -- Suits 3x14


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I am sad that Luis and his girlfriend broke up, but it seemed like the two of them were bound for failure (despite just how perfect they were for each other). The fact that the two of them being together would have made it that much harder for Mike and everyone to keep Mike's secret from getting out to more people, it felt like the writers weren't going to keep the two of them together (if for nothing more than to make sure that the temptation wasn't there for Luis to start asking questions later on when/if the temptation struck him).

When Rachel started doing the "I'm asking about my friend" thing with Luis, I seriously wanted to shake the two of them. Her for not just coming straight out and tell him exactly what she was talking about, cuz you know he's not the type to pick up on social cues. And him for being so completely oblivious about what's going on right in front of him. He should have been able to tell that something was bothering her. But he's never been one who has picked up on how other people are feeling, even in the best of times (and since he was feeling so good about having survived his heart attack, he was a little bit more self involved than he normally is ... but I don't suppose that I can blame him for that. I can't say that I wouldn't be at least a little bit self involved if something like that happened).

I wonder, however, if the promise of paying for Rachel's school was actually something that Luis was going to do on his own (without the knowledge or consent of Jessica). I wouldn't put it past him to pay for her schooling out of his own pocket, seeing as how he does like and care about her (even if he is a bit oblivious about things that are actually going on). Hell, it was his friendship with her that got him to agree to Mike's demands in the first place when she and Mike where trying to get him to stop with his transcripts (sure, it didn't work out the way that they planned, but she was at least able to get him to do something that Mike would not (and could not) have been able to get him to do).

If she hadn't been so hurt by what Luis had said, I think that Rachel and Luis would have been able to clear everything up right then. I really do think that there is a giant misunderstanding going on between the two of them, and if they could just broach the subject with each other, things would be ok between the two of them again.

Donna was awesome as always. It made me happy that even though she and Luis don't always see eye-to-eye on stuff (and he has a tendency to get on her nerves), she understood that when he said that he didn't want visitors, he wanted her to be there ... and that he really did want her there. I'm glad that she went to see him, cuz I don't think that anyone else would have (well, besides the girlfriend ... who is now the ex-girlfriend), and I think that he needed people to be with him right then (or at least, one or two, so that he understood that he wasn't forgotten). I also really dug the fact that as soon as she saw the ex crying by the elevator, she understood what had happened, went to him, and just sat with him. Sometimes when bad things happen, you just need someone to be quiet with you.

Also, as much shit as they tend to give him (and it's shit that he really does deserve), it made me happy that he understood that he really is family there. I really think that's something that he needs, cuz I'm not sure how much he has in the way of family and friends (and everyone needs a connection with someone else).

I like the way that the preview for this episode tried to make you wonder who it was who had the heat attack (and by that, I mean that the way that the preview was cut was kind of tired, in that it was kind of the same as all of the other previews that try to be sneaky). The way that they put it together, it looked like they were trying to make you wonder if it was actually Harvey who had the attack, but the fact that they were trying to be so sneaky about who it happened to (and were so obvious about not showing Harvey in the preview) made me sure that it wasn't him. I didn't think that it would have been Luis either, but that was more cuz I wasn't really thinking of him during the preview; I was more just sure that it wasn't going to be Harvey.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

'Answers in Blood' -- Vikings 2x05


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I find it rather interesting that no matter what Athelstan does, he just can't win. After being captured by the Vikings, being forced to live amongst them, and then, assimilating with them, he can never stop being known as "Priest." Then, while helping them, he is captured by King Ecbert's people and brought back home (or near to where he had lived before the Vikings had captured him in the first place), and he is known to them as "the Pagan." It doesn't seem to matter where he is since he was first captured at the beginning of season one; wherever he is, he is an outsider and everyone who he is around, he is pushed into the outskirts of society.

But I wonder if the constant making of an outsider of him, combined with causing him to have religious fueled visions is leading up to something; I would really love it if it was leading to something. I would love more than anything if he turned out to be some kind of prophet or seer who was able to help Ragnar kick some serious ass (and that his prophecy seeing ass kicking locks would lead to Ragnar becoming the King of all the North ... and eventually the world). Probably not what the writers are leading us toward (his seeing of things that aren't really there are probably nothing more than an extension of his own inner turmoil over his religious conflict).

Of course, Lagertha couldn't stay without there being all sorts of tension between her, Ragnar, and Aslaug ... the same tension that she was trying to get away from when she left in the first place. But understanding the reason for why she left in the first place, why she came back when she heard that Ragnar was in need of help, and why she left again once Ragnar was able to get his position back ... that doesn't mean that I wanted her to go back to that douche that she's married to now. I want her to continue to be the righteous shield maiden that she has been, and lay the smack down on all sorts of idiots.

Giving her blessing to Bjorn to stay with Ragnar ... I wonder how that's going to change things. Sure, she's giving him what he wants by letting him get away from the douche that is his step-father, letting him be with his own father (who he loves), and letting him become the warrior that he seems to want to be, but that doesn't mean that everything is going to be amazing by letting him stay. I have a feeling that her husband is going to have eight kinds of cows when she returns (since I'm sure that she left without letting him know what she was doing, and without asking his permission, which he probably would have required to give her before she was allowed to leave, cuz he's just that kind of guy), and he'll probably have thirteen more kinds when he finds out that she allowed Bjorn to stay with Ragnar. He struck me as being the type of guy who needs to be in control of everyone who is around him, and he cannot handle it when something happens that he hasn't signed off on in triplicate.

I wanted Ragnar to be able to kill Jarl Borg when they fought, but I don't suppose that that would have happened. Sure, they still have Ecbert to deal with (in addition to Borg), but I don't think that the fight with Ecbert is going to happen this season, so they probably still need someone for Ragnar and the gang to deal with until the end of this season.

'Mother's Little Helper' -- SPN 9x17


Warning: Spoiler Alert

The return of Henry Winchester, and now we find out how exactly Abaddon first possessed Red. I guess that it's interesting that she decided that she would have let herself become possessed by a Knight of Hell cuz of love? I'm not sure that that would have been at all interesting as far as the progression of the mythos of Show if we didn't also take into account the fact that love first turned Cain into a demon (and into the first Knight of Hell, and the trainer of the other Knights). The only thing that really makes it interesting to me is the idea of what could possibly end the Knights. Sure, we have the First Blade, and that's really going to be what it is that kills both Abaddon and Cain, but I think that it would actually be much more interesting if it were love that had been the thing that had killed (or ended) the both of them (since that's what first turned Cain into a demon, and what allowed Josie to become possessed). It would certainly would have made a much more interesting dynamic to the story as a whole.

I kind of wanted Sam to tell the ex-nun that he was Henry's grandson, and I'm not entirely sure why he wouldn't have. I almost got the feeling that he thought that she wouldn't have believed him if he told her the truth, but I don't think that that's what they were really going for (since I don't see why she wouldn't have believed him after what she had seen ... and seeing as how she seemed to understand who he was after the fact).

I want to know what it is that Crowley has going on, since he certainly has something planned (something in which he is trying to manipulate Dean into doing). I really want to believe that it is something more than making sure that Dean kills Abaddon (and doesn't kill him), since that seems too obvious a thing to happen ... since that's what they've been working for already anyway. I want it to be something much more sneaky and underhanded (which may lead into the final season), but I have a feeling that since we're dealing with Show here, we're going to end up getting Kripke'd (even though he hasn't actually been working on Show for three and a half seasons). So, I'm not going to hold my breath that there's going to be anything more important or exciting going on.

Also, how is it that Dean was so tricked by a demon pretending to be a hunter. Wouldn't he have known when someone was pretending to be one of them, instead of actually being one of them? The guy seemed a little bit too obvious about what he was about to do ... and ignored Dean a little too much (for someone who was hanging out with the King of Hell) for him to have not become suspicious about what was going on. I suppose that we are meant to forgive him for that seeing as how he has been so focused on trying to figure out how to find Abaddon, and it has maybe given him brain-fever enough to make him miss things that he may have normally noticed.

So, Abaddon has been trying to create her own army by stealing people's souls. I suppose that's kind of an interesting development. It seems that the boys are going to need to do more than just try to find Abaddon by going over and over the same records that they've been going over for the past month. Seems like they should be getting other hunters in on the job, if for nothing else so that they could try to find the captured souls so that they could be freed ... but I don't see that happening anytime during this season.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

'Threads of Silk and Gold' -- Ripper Street 2x05


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Oh, look at you, "Ripper Street," being all topical and everything. I'm so very proud of you for taking a stand and saying that love is love, regardless of who is involved (provided that the people involved are consenting adults). I also really enjoyed the fact that you made one character part of the LGBT community (even if it's on the DL within the world of the show), the main character accepting of the people that he encountered who where gay, and another major character question his opinions on the LGBT community at large (and have him do it for the better). Good on you.

Is it wrong that I was hoping that the two boys who where doing the blackmailing would be able to get away with what they were doing, and they would be able to get some kind of money out of it (so that they could get at least some of the things that they were dreaming about having)? Blackmailing is bad, blahblah, I know, but I wanted them to have nice things, and to be able to move away from Whitechapel ... maybe into the country (where they could grow vegetables and flowers and everything would be nice).

And when everything went to shit, I was at least glad that the one who survived was able to get his revenge. It won't bring back the one who died, but at least dude won't be able to hurt anyone else anymore (even if it's just hurting them by lying to them about their investments and how much money they're not making with them).

Speaking of investments ... if only that whole thing had worked, and Susan would have been able to get out from under the contract that she has. That would have been fantastic. And even if Jackson thought that the investment that he heard about was a sure thing, I don't know why he would have put in all of their money. I kept thinking that maybe they should put some in to test the waters and find out if they could get anything back from it, but that they should only put in a portion of what they had. That way, they wouldn't lose everything if the whole thing went belly up. But I guess he was wanting to get rich quick, so that Susan would be able to have all the money that she needed to buy her way out of the contract ... which still wouldn't have worked out, since I don't get the feeling that any amount of money is going to be enough to buy her freedom. I get the feeling that Jackson is going to have to get Reid and Drake involved in the whole thing and that the boys are going to have to make up some charges to send Duggan away for a good, long time.

I also am getting the feeling that the relationship between Susan and Jackson is on very shaky ground right now. First, he shot the woman who Susan was trying to talk into giving herself up a couple of episodes ago, and now, he's lost all that money. I get the feeling that the resentment that Susan is feeling for Jackson is going to fester until the two of them aren't going to be able to fix things between them. I don't want things to go that way, since I would like the two of them to work out, but it would make sense if she kicked him out on his ass (the way that the story is going).

Sunday, March 23, 2014

'The Show Must Go On' -- Grimm 3x16


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'll admit that when I saw the whole carnival thing, my first thought was of the last season of "Heroes," since the carnival of people with powers was the whole premise for the last season ... a season which sucked so very, very hard. The thing is that it was something that I theoretically should have liked, since I've done something very similar when it came to a SPN fanfic, and I like the idea of people who are different from the dominant norm sticking together for support and protection; but that season of "Heroes" just didn't pan out correctly, and this particular episode I felt like it kind of teetered on the edge of sucking.

The thing that I thought possibly saved it from going right into full-blown sucking was the fact that the writers introduced the idea of Wesen suffering from a kind of sickness when they woge too much. It did bring up the question (in my mind) of how much is too much, but it is certainly a cool addition to the mythos of the world that the writers are creating. My question is how much is too much? Would it be something that is kind of universal for everyone (where you know how much you can do without causing damage, and are able to kind of tap dance on the line), or does it matter on the kind of Wesen (would a Blutbad be able to last for a little longer than an Eisbiber), or is it more of the constitution of the individual (regardless of what kind of Wesen that they are)? Yeah, these are the kind of things that I wonder about.

And I'm also wondering why it was that the other Wesen who were in the show waited until the very end of the episode to do something about the Löwen who was in charge of the show. If they were really that upset about what happened to their Blutbad friend from having to woge too much, why wouldn't they have done something sooner. Ok, it may have only have been the Fuchsbau chick who was really that upset about what was happening to him, but the way that the actors were playing the scenes where the Löwen was browbeating them, they seemed like they didn't like the way that things were. But they might have only have really have been upset by the fact that the things that he did brought the attentions of a Grimm down upon them (in addition to a couple of cops).

The fact that Rosalee just happened to be chosen to fill in for the show seemed a little too convenient to me. Sure, not having either Rosalee or Monroe involved with the show (and having the one that is the Fuchsbau is a little more likely than the one who was the Blutbad, since there was already a Blutbad in the show) would have meant that the forward action of the show would have been stalled, but that still doesn't mean that it didn't feel overly convenient.

I really don't want Nick to back out of being the best man in Monroe and Rosalee's wedding. The fact is that he is Monroe's bestie, and it only seems right that he is the best man. But I can completely understand his reluctance to go through with the whole thing. If the whole thing with Monroe's parents was any indication of what could happen, it's possible that some sort of thing might happen again. The thing of it is that I can't see their wedding be something that was that large or elaborate. I have a feeling that it's going to be something rather small, and the people that are going to be involved are going to be people who already know that Nick is a Grimm, or people who wouldn't be bothered by the fact that he is. So, when it comes down to it, I have the feeling that all the stress that he's having over it is going to be for nothing.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

'Moot Point' -- Suits 3x13


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I have a feeling that this whole thing with Luis is going to come between Harvey and Scotty, and I'm not sure that I'd be entirely sad if it did. Scotty has kind of grown on me, but I can't see the two of them lasting with each other for very long (despite the fact that they seem to like each other so much). The two of them are both far too much Type A to last all that long with each other. The both of them would probably work at least a little bit better with someone who was a bit more Type B. I still wish that Harvey would end up with Donna, but I know that that isn't something that is going to happen any time soon.

I have a feeling that something may come of Mike having no license. The whole thing with Jessica calling him into her office to want him to take his name completely off of the case so that Harvey could do the interview without having the reporter want to talk to Mike (and then, him saying that things were always going to be like that, and Jessica essentially telling him "duh, smart guy) makes me suspicious that something more is about to happen ... and not just something that they're going to be able to brush under the rug like they've been able to up until this point. But then, you've got to expect that they aren't going to be able to get away with him practicing law (and at least four other people in the office realizing that's what he's doing) without there being consequences. Something is going to have to happen because of that.

And once Luis finds out ... I can't decide whether or not he would be on the gang's side. He certainly has the capacity to be a prick (and to make everything far harder for them then it needs to be), but I can also see him being completely loyal to anyone who might decide to be half-way decent to him (regardless of his history with them ... just take what's been happening with him and Harvey recently. The two of them have hated each other for years, but they've started to become friends recently).

It would actually be kind of fun if someone else found out about the secret. Sure, other people finding out would/could mean the end of the series if it meant that the Man found out about what has been happening, since that would mean that people would be arrested all over the place (including the two people who have their name on the door), but there's only so long that this can be kept under wraps without it being leaked; and the fact is that even if something like this could theoretically be kept under wraps for years in real life, in TV time, that shit isn't going to be kept secret for as long.

Why am I kind of hoping that the Man finds out what's been going on? Or at least that there is an investigation of some sort and someone almost finds out? It would be delicious.

'Eye for an Eye' -- Vikings 2x04


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'll admit to being distracted every time that Jarl Borg comes on screen (and not because his name is "Borg," and if I had been a Trekker or Trekkie, I might have been tempted to make some sort of lame joke about being assimilated), because he reminds me of someone, but I haven't been able to put my finger on who it is exactly. I think that he might remind me of Kevin McKidd (who I kind of adore, and who I completely loved on "Journeyman" ... a show which I wish had lasted longer than half a season, since it was amazing and could have turned into something much more interesting) ... at least a little bit in his coloring and the shape of his face, but there might be someone else who he reminds me of. I just wish that I could think of who else it could be, because it's driving me a bit batty. But I will admit that I get a bit of glee out of the fact that the actor who plays him is named "Thorbjørn," which (if I am remembering correctly) should mean "Thor" and "bear". It probably shouldn't give me as much glee as it does, but in a dorky sort of way, it completely does.

Athelstan!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!! Why must they do awful things to our favorite conflicted former-sometimes priest? Isn't enough that he's completely conflicted about his faith? Do they really need to turn him into some sort of sometimes Pagan Jesus (just because dude kind of looks like what we have to think of what Jesus is supposed to look like ... even though there's really no way that we could know for certain)? And while we're at it ... was it really necessary for him to stop running and hide in that little knob, and then, fall asleep? Stupid. He may have needed to rest for a second, but he should have kept going after he was able to catch his breath. He should have known that it wasn't going to be that easy once they had been attached, and it appeared that they were being attacked from all sides (and that the ninja Saxon warriors weren't going to stop until they had gotten everyone that they thought was a Viking, since the arrows just kept coming and coming and coming). I suppose that it was something that has kind of been built up to that he needs to confront his old faith, so that he can possibly move on to a new one, or can give up on faith all together ... I find it a bit more likely that he find some sort of fusion between Christianity and Heathenism.

And what makes what happened to him a little bit worse is the fact that he thought that he was doing the right thing by staying to help with the negotiations, instead of going back with Ragnar to help get back is lands from Jarl Borg and to save Ragnar's family. The guy just cannot win (and is the show's prettiest damsel in distress). I only hope that once Ragnar is able to lay the beat down on Borg, he's able to go back, and he'll be able to find out what happened to Athelstan (and, perhaps, help him out if he still needs it).

I also want to know what happened to King Horik and the dudes that weren't out with the hunting party. Were they also attacked? Or was only the hunting party attacked, because the Ecbert's men thought that they would be easy pickings? WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE DUDES THAT STAYED IN ENGLAND? YARG!!

I am so very glad that Lagertha and Bjorn have come to help Ragnar (despite what her douche husband thinks). I suspected that the two of them would come to the rescue once they heard what was going on with him, despite how things ended when they last saw each other. I get the feeling that even though Lagertha left for her own self-respect (despite having failed it with the new guy ... a dude that I want to beat to death with a rake), she still has feelings for him. I wish that the two of them could have stayed together, but I suppose that they were needing something to get between them because drama! (and that the real people that the characters are loosely based on really did get divorced, so ... yeah).

I still want to shake the fuck out of Aslaug. In fact, I want to shake her even more than I wanted to shake her when she first showed up all preggers with the first of her kids with Ragnar. I still feel like she's up to something, but I wonder now if part of that feeling comes from the fact that she's a spoiled little rich girl. Perhaps a little.

Friday, March 21, 2014

'Blade Runners' -- SPN 9x16


Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, now we finally have an idea of what happened with Crowley, but I am wondering what it is with this show and it's thing with making blood something that is an addictive drug. It doesn't make any kind of sense to me. The whole thing with Sam being addicted to "demon blood" when demons don't have any blood (since they're nothing more than black smoke, and he was doing nothing more than drinking human blood) made no sense. Crowley being addicted to human blood makes just as much sense as that, since (as a demon and not being in possession of an actual body ... you know what I mean ... he's using someone else's body and doesn't have one of his own) there's no way that blood would be able to effect his system (since it doesn't do anything to the system of the person that he is possessing ... at least not in that manner. The most that it would do would be to make the body that he's using sick in some way, whether it makes him throw up, or it gave him some sort of disease like AIDS). And if Crowley was really addicted to blood as though it were some sort of drug, he seemed to get over his addiction rather quickly ... like within a day or two. It was so fast, it made me wonder if he was really addicted at all, or if it was some kind of elaborate ruse on his part ... but I'm not sure that the writers were thinking of that (since they don't seem to be thinking of that sor to of thing), so I'm left thinking that they really were trying to keep going with the whole "blood is an addictive drug" idiocy. So, I'm struck again with wanting to shake the fuck out of the writers for not thinking these things through.

But at least we now know what happened with the First Blade, although it seems rather convenient that it just happened to make it to someone who had been kicked out of the Men of Letters clubhouse for being extra crazy ... and extra convenient that it made it to him just before the boys had started looking for it. Convenient to the point of being trite and unbelievable. It seemed a little too much like the writers were wanting to add some sort of full episode that involved what happened with Crowley and what happened with the First Blade, but what we got was completely unsatisfactory.

And can we just mention Dean's reaction to holding the First Blade? Jensen's constant, rippling lip curl while it was in his hand looked stupid. I understand what they were going for (trying to insinuate the rage that they want to say that Cain had to have while he was using it), but it didn't look like what I think that they were going for. Besides which, I'm not sure that they would want to go for rage when Dean was using the Blade, because of what they've established with canon. Sure, if they were actually going with canon of the Bible, I can see them having Dean a giant, green rage monster, but the fact that they have twisted the canon of the Bible and made their own (where Cain didn't actually kill Able because he was jealous, but because he loved his brother and wanted to make sure that Lucifer was unable to turn him), I don't think that rage would be the emotion that would be the only the that would be there. It seems to me that there should be something of love that colors the actions of whoever uses the Blade, since love is what sent Cain down the path he ended up going down. Sure, anger would be there as well ... he would have had to've become angry with what Lucifer did and all of the things he had been asked to do, but there had to be a subtle coloring of love in there as well (at least, that's the way it seems to me).

I'm glad that Crowley took the Blade away from the boys. They seem to have acquired a few too many Super Weapons (the Colt, Ruby's knife, an angel blade, all of the junk that they have in the bunker ...), and to give them just one more Super Weapon ... it still seems unlikely to me that they would have gained so many; there have to be other people who have gained Super Weapons. They aren't the only hunters around. And even if they're special (being the "perfect" vessels for Lucifer and Michael), we still don't know exactly what makes them special ... the writers have still not explained what it is that makes certain people capable of being vessels for angels. It has to be something in their DNA, but what it can be ... I would really like to know. I previously thought that it might be because they were descendants of angels, but when Cas killed the one Nephelim, the way they explained things when she was around, it seemed like he would have recognized if the boys were descendants of angels (or if that was something that was a requisite for someone being a vessel). But really, seeing as how angels are really only spiritual beings (and aren't actually physical beings), it doesn't seem possible for there to be Nephelim in the first place (what with them needing to have physical bodies to be able to have sex and pass on DNA, and since they would only be able to possess a human, it would be the human's DNA which would be passed on, not theirs'). Oh, the curse of the INTJ brain that makes me want to make sense of this sort of thing.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

'Dynamite and a Woman' -- Ripper Street 2x04


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I don't know why, but for like half the episode, I was thinking that the setting was Five Points instead of Whitechapel. ::facepalm:: I have no idea why I had a momentary brainfart into thinking that I was watching "Copper," or something. Probably had something to do with the fact that it's a period cop shop, and there were Irish all over the place in this episode (and there was probably a bit of the fact that the shows are kind of similar with the tropes that they use ... and season one had a big deal made of an explosion). Not a great excuse, but that's all I have at the moment.

I'm wondering just how many friends Reid has, if he doesn't understand how people tease each other when they like each other ... or maybe that's maybe more of an American way to go about showing that you like someone? Cuz it seemed obvious to me that Jackson was being affectionate with him.

I was really glad that the Chief Inspector mentioned the fact that the constable died in the last series (and that it might color the way that Reid is looking at putting kids in harms way), since I loved that character, and I didn't like the idea of everyone forgetting about him ... besides the fact that homeboy's death would have to color the way that Reid is looking at things afterwards.

The beginning of the episode with Flight going to the priest and confessing that he had lied ... I think that the writers were trying to go for a bait and switch with that ... making us think that he was talking about something else, but revealing that he was actually talking about what happened in the episode. The thing is that I still don't completely trust Flight; I still think that he's up to something, and that even though we have found out some things about him (like that his mother died when he was small, and his father drank himself to death (and that's why he doesn't want to drink now)), I still don't think that we can completely trust him. I can't shake the feeling that there's something about him that is kind of suspicious, and that he is going to turn out to be someone that is going to fuck everyone's shit up. I may be completely wrong about him, and I will admit that right now; it could very well be that I am feeling suspicious about things that are completely innocent ... but that doesn't stop me from being suspicious of him. And I'll admit that now that we know a little bit of something about him, I am curious to know more about him, and want to know what his deal is.

I was kind of happy by the fact that when Flight was in the pup, they played a trad song that I hadn't heard before. The fact that I listen to so much music from that area of the world, the chances of me knowing the song that is being played when a character walks into an Irish pub is pretty good. (and let's not get how annoyed I got during that episode of "Castle," where Beckett and Castle went into the Irish pub, and they were playing a song by "The Real McKenzies" ... a Scotch-Canadian band. Still Celticly influenced, but splitting hairs over here)

Saturday, March 15, 2014

'Once We Were Gods' -- Grimm 3x15


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Ok, I can understand the bringing in of the mythos that the Egyptian gods were actually Wesen who were observed in their woge states, and people thought that they were something other than just a different kind of people (and I actually kind of like trying to explain part of the real world in that way, since it's kind of consistent with the way that people try to explain things all the time. Don't understand thunder and lightening? It's just Thor using his hammer). What bugs me, however, is the fact that the writer of this episode titled it as though that was going to be the main focus of the episode ... as though it was going to be them exploring the whole idea of how regular humans might have worshiped Wesen at one point (and how there might still be people who do so today). But instead, it was really about introducing a new group of Wesen (something akin to the gang that they introduced a while back), and showing how these people are dangerous enough that the Council wants a Grimm to take one of them out for them (so that they can simultaneously not get their hands dirty, and keep dude occupied enough that they can get someone in to steal a mummy ... and give it a real Viking funeral). It felt a little bit too much like a bait and switch when it came to that, and I feel kind of cheated.

Also ... am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that Monroe seemed to be lamenting the fact that Wesen are no longer revered and worshiped as gods? I really didn't like his comment about how they weren't worshiped anymore, and it made me feel all icky. I got the feeling from it that Monroe wanted someone to worship him the way that the Egyptians used to worship Anubis (what would be the plural form of that? Saying "Anubises" feels clumsy. Anubi, maybe?), and that doesn't feel at all consistent with the person that he has been all this time. He has been presented as someone who is far more down to earth than a lot of other people (Wesen or humans), and who is far more about people getting along with each other than with dominating anyone. That seems much more like something he might have been about before whatever change he went through that turned him from being the dude that went out hunting all the time with his ex (the Blutbad that we met that time ... her name escapes me, and I don't really feel like going to look for it right now), to being the one who does palates and doesn't eat meat or dairy.

I'm really glad that the writers didn't end up writing of Wu, even though it felt like they could have done something like that. It would have really sucked to have lost him. But I do still wish that the gang would let him know what's really going on with the world. I can understand them wanting to limit the number of people who are in on their little secret, but at the same time, those of them who know Wu do seem to trust him enough to know what's going on ... not counting the fact that knowing would probably help with his mental well being (despite having been able to handwave the entire incident that sent him into the psych ward in the first place).

As far as Adalind and the dude getting away from the new prince ... that was a little bit too convenient that Renard just happened to call them right before the hunting party came looking for them. If the baby is really all that important, why would Renard have waited for two days before he called to have them leave? Wouldn't he have assumed the worst after the first day and told them that they should probably hoof it before someone came looking for them? Especially when you consider how little he trusts his cousin, and how much he knows that his cousin is up to no good. If you can't get ahold of your mole, it would seem prudent to assume the worst and get those who you are trying to protect out of harm's way.

'Yesterday's Gone' -- Suits 3x12


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm really glad that Luis ended up letting the whole thing go about Mike's grade in the supposed class that he took. He could have made things really messy for Mike ... and for Harvey, and Jessica, and Donna, and Rachel ... and that would have made everything bad for him in the end as well. Of course, he didn't realize that when he started going after Mike for the fake grade that he got in the class, but that's what would have probably ended up happening in the end (since the two people with their names on the door would have ended up getting their licenses stripped on top of probably getting some jail time for knowing that Mike was practicing law without a license). So, even if their firm survived the fall out that would have created, there would have been a free for all in the aftermath of the arrests.

We hear so little about Harvey's family, but we know that he's super loyal to them ... and the peoples at work seem to know that if he mentions the fam, they need to just let him go (even if they understand that whatever he's saying that he's going to go take care of something with one of them, they just need to let him go). But knowing those things (plus, the one or two other things that we know about them), I really want to know some more about them. We finally got to see Harvey's dad earlier in this season, which I'm glad for, but I am really curious to see his brother as well. The two of them seem to be close ... well, maybe "close" isn't the right word. There is at least some love there (from Harvey toward his brother, but whether his brother loves him back, we wouldn't be able to tell unless we were able to meet his brother), but the fact that we've never encountered his brother makes me wonder if there's more to their story than we've been led to believe. And the fact that his mom is so completely out of the picture makes me wonder what's going on with her. But then, if they brought in his family a bunch, there might be a great deal of disappointment, since Harvey has kind of been built up as being someone who is super cool and aloof (even while he's also presented as being totally loyal to the people that he considers to be part of his circle).

Donna can never not be awesome, not matter what is going on. Sorry, that's just how she roles. I love the fact that she knows what Scotty's middle name is, even while Harvey thinks that he knows what it is. But of course she knows. How could she not? She's fucking Donna, and she knows everything that goes on. Saying that she wouldn't know something like that would be like saying that staring into the sun won't make you go blind. It's just a fact of nature. And even while I want to shake Rachel a lot of the time, I'm glad that Donna saw that stuff was bothering her and went over to try and comfort her (cuz she could have just as easily pretended like she didn't know what was going on).

'Treachery' -- Vikings 2x03


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Oh, Siggy. Trying to be the Shield Maiden that you have obviously never been. You just won a few points with me for that ... even if I still don't completely trust that you aren't up to something.

The way that Floki was side eyeing Athelstan in this episode. No wonder he keeps calling Athelstan "Priest," instead of just letting that go (and accepting that he may no longer believe in the Christian God ... or think that it doesn't really matter whether he does believe or not); he doesn't trust Athelstan's motivations, or what he's up to. It almost seems as though he's so loyal to Ragnar that he is constantly looking for betrayers where there might not be any. Even if Athelstan really hasn't converted to paganism, I don't see how that should really matter (but it might to Floki, or some of the others). Floki might see his not actually converting as one more reason to not trust what he says, and one more reason to think that he might end up betraying them in the end (cuz they don't have the same world view in a religious frame of mind). And I don't know that his compassion for the priests is going to do Athelstan any good, at least in Floki's eyes.

But speaking of compassion, I'm not sure that Floki really knows Ragnar as well as he thinks he does ... no matter how loyal Floki might be to him. I think that he really would have been surprised to find out that Ragnar had made sure that the little ginger went unseen by the others. And he may have questioned Ragnar's sanity at finding something like that out. And knowing that Ragnar is perhaps a bit more compassionate than the others ... I wonder how that's going to play out later on. I have a feeling that something is going to come of him hiding that little ginger, and him taking in the fact that Athelstan ended the priest's suffering. It may not turn out to be anything at all, but I have a feeling like we're being led toward something where that is concerned.

I am already hating Lagertha's new husband, and I can't wait for her knife him while Bjorn watches (oh, the mother/son bonding that would go on with the killing of such a giant douche). And I'm sure that he would think that he's being super awesome and generous in all of his douchery, but he can suck it. And I have no doubt that she's going to end up leaving him to go back and help Ragnar out ... I just hope that she really does knife the bitch before she leaves.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

'Become Man' -- Ripper Street 2x03


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I was expecting there to be a bit more of Inspector Shine in this episode (or for there to be really any of him at all), what with the way that the writers were building him up as being the new big bad in the show ... or at least to be the main antagonist for Reid. But to not have him around (especially when the seasons are so short), it seems like they might loose some of the momentum that they might have been wanting to create where he is concerned. I would also really like for there to be some kind of closer over what happened to Merrick (since I liked him so much), and that may be coloring how I am looking at what's going on.

I really wish that Rose and Drake could have ended up together. It's obvious that the two of them care about each other, even if things didn't end up the way I would have liked. And I get the feeling that she may have regretted turning him down last series (when he offered her the lovebirds), but I'm getting that impression from the way that she was looking the newly minted Mrs. Drake when Drake and the Mrs. were together after they were trying to ID the dude's stuffs. I do think that Drake cares about his Mrs., but I get the impression that he still prefers Rose to anyone else.

The new youngin' detective that they have now ... I really don't want to like him. If he had been around in series one, I think that I might have liked him, but the way that things were written, it feels like he's supposed to be kind of a replacement for Hobbs, and I am not ok with that. I liked Hobbs ... a lot ... and I'm still mad that he was killed off (and they way that he was killed off). Yeah, I suppose that they wanted to have something that was kind of a shocker for the end of the series, but hot damn, why did they have to kill the baby? He was just learning how to be a proper inspector. ::epic frowny face::

This new guy is going to have to do a lot of big time awesome for me to even be ok with him (despite the fact that he seems like he's pretty decent, and stood up for Merrick and all). He'll probably need to take a bullet for someone for me to start to be ok with him; a bit extreme, maybe, but such is my love for Hobbs.

I'd love to see some more of Jane Cobden, especially since the female characters are so scant (at least where it comes to being something other than the Madonna/whore thing), and to be able to have a strong female character who isn't secretly being manipulated by the men in her life ... or who isn't being motivated by revenge ... would be kind of refreshing (especially since they've written off Emily Reid).

Even with the introduction of a female character that I think that I can get behind (at least after first viewing), this episode felt kind of like a throw away (in that it didn't really seem to move the story-arch of this series, and it felt like a move away from the tension that the first couple of episodes were trying to build up). But maybe some of that tension will come back in the next episode, and we can get some more of Shine.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

'Buried Secrets' -- Suits 3x11


Warning: Spoiler Alert

At some point, Harvey is going to have to take it a little more seriously that Luis has started getting suspicious about Mike not going to Harvard. Donna is good at being able to run people around in circles (cuz she's just fucking awesome and ginger that way), but even as amazing as Donna is, you can't take for granted that Luis is a sneak. The fact is that he is so normally suspicious about everything and everyone should make the others more aware of what he might or might not do ... and it isn't as though he hasn't been dancing around the information for a while.

And knowing that he is a giant sneak, Donna and Harvey should have been aware that it was likely that he would have opened up Mike's "transcripts" to find out what was on there (since he would have probably have wanted to gloat over how well he did in the classes, to prove that he was better than Mike at something ... which is exactly what he ended up doing). It's a good thing that Mike was able to get the fake transcripts to begin with, but now we know that the chick that put them together for him didn't know enough about the people and classes that were involved with what she was trying to fake to be able to pull the wool over everyone's eyes.

I have a feeling that at a certain point, Jessica is going to have to get involved with what's going on with this to get Luis to back off before he figures everything out. If not that, I think she's going to have to get involved so that they can get Luis in the fold so that he doesn't end up telling someone else about what is going on.

The whole thing with Mike wanting to get revenge on the lawyer who told his gram about what happened to his parents ... the guy had a point about Mike turning into him with the case that they were both working on. He had gotten so caught up in trying to get revenge on that lawyer for how things went down that he wasn't really thinking about what it was that he was doing to the woman that was involved (and how he might have been hurting her over the memory of her husband). Hopefully the wake up call really did sink in, and he won't go back to that place again. That doesn't mean that he won't get angry about stuff anymore, or he won't still have resentments, but at least now he might be able to think about what he's doing and how it might hurt other people who are in the same situation that he was in at one point.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

'Mommy Dearest' -- Grimm 3x14


Warning: Spoiler Alert

WTH with the build up last week that the Adalind's baby was coming, and that the baby is going to be something truly and horribly terrible (something that was foretold in an Omen sort of way), if they were only going to have Adalind and the baby there long enough to show us that the baby had been born? GD!! I would really love it if the writers would move a little bit away from the MOTW thing that they've got going on (and which they've had going on since the beginning of the series) and move a little more toward what's going on with the world of the Wesen and the Grimms and the royals and the resistance. Sure, I get that this show is also a procedural cop show, but there are plenty of those on the air, and I don't think that any of the fans are going to hold anything against them if the writers decide that they want to move in another direction with the show (in that they show us more of what's going on in the Wesen world), cuz I really think that people are interested in what's going on there (at least, that's the impression that I've gotten when I've ventured into comment sections of episode reviews on io9).

I still want to know why it is that Renard thinks that the baby is his and not his brother's, since we still haven't had any proof as to who the father actually is, and I don't want to just take his word for it. And I also want to know why he seemed so surprised as to the gender of the baby (cuz he kind of did a double-take when he found out that the baby was a girl, as though he was expecting it to be a boy). I feel like there should be something there, but I'm not sure what yet.

I am happy that they have finally addressed whether or not the gang should discuss what's really going on with Wu (especially since he was so very close to finding things out without them telling him anything). I would have liked it if they would have told him about what was going on before he saw something, since he would have had a better idea of what was going on, and wouldn't have thought that he was completely insane (which he ended up doing). And I didn't like he fact that Hank and Nick went to see him, and they still didn't tell him anything of what was really going on; if they learned anything from how things went down with Hank, it would seem like they should have realized that telling him what was happening was the way to go.

But seeing his reaction to what happened, it would look like the fan theory that he's really a Grimm who has been pretending that he doesn't know what's going on with Nick and Hank is right out. I think that would have been a completely fantastic way to go, if the writers had gone that way, since having Wu be a Grimm would have been amazing, but it's now right out.

I'm really hoping that this isn't a way for the writers to get rid of Wu, since he's all manner of fun and awesome, and I would hate to see him go; but I have the feeling that the writers are trying to get rid of him (even if they've finally given him an episode where we've actually gotten some information about him). The feeling surrounding how things went down with him at the end of the episode didn't feel at all like the way things did when Juliette lost her memory, and they could have feasibly have gotten rid of her after that; it feels much more like they're going to leave him straight trippin' inside of the hospital, and they aren't going to go back to him again.

'Invasion' -- Vikings 2x02


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Does it make me a bad person that I wanted to laugh when Ragnar was mackin' on that serving girl right in front of the new and less cool wife? You know ... the one that thought that she would be able to waltz in all preggers and take over (even though he was already married and had a kid)? All I kept thinking was that she got exactly what she deserved for how she played things with Lagertha. Karma's a bitch, isn't she? Yep, and that's why I don't like to get in her way.

It was good to see a bit of Athelstan after not getting any of him during the season premier, but I have to wonder just how long they are going to keep calling him "Priest". He's been with them for four years now, and he's assimilated into their culture; and I don't get the impression that he's doing anything that would get him labeled as a priest by anyone of that faith. It seems likely that he may still have a good deal of Christian guilt (since that shit doesn't leave you very easily, especially if you've been in the faith for a good amount of time), but I get the impression from him that he's moving his way toward being a Heathen (and I use this term both as the way the Christians would have used it at the time, and the way that the Germanic Neo-paganists use it now ... meaning that they follow the Northern tradition).

And as much as I stand by my previous statements about Rollo being a giant cock who needs to be body slammed into some rocks, I think that if karma keeps pwning him directly in his stupid face, he might turn into something other than the waste of space that he has been. He seems to be learning that he can't be a giant doorknob and expect to have everything go his way all of the time. Maybe he'll be willing to earn the things that he wants now (and treat people the way that he should have been treating them the entire time).

And speaking of Rollo ... what the hell was going on with Aslaug calling Siggy into her bedroom and wanting to be friends now? Sure, Siggy is with Rollo, and Rollo has only just been forgiven by Ragnar, but shouldn't Aslaug have been doing something about Siggy before now if she wanted to be able to head things off at the pass? If she was really worried about how Siggy might want to have her old position back, why wait until four years down the line to address the issue and try to make sure that everything's cool? Again I was struck by the feeling that Aslaug is up to something, but I just can't figure out yet what it might be. It may be nothing more than her thinking that since she's a princess, and her parents are famous, she should be able to manipulate people and get whatever she wants ... but I think that there's something more going on with her.

Again, Floki made me all kinds of happy ... especially when they were in the longboats, and GSkrs had that great expression (while he was probably staring at a giant green screen) of ZOMG!Wave!!!!!!! Oh, Floki. Also, his reaction to other people's boats ... ha!! Of course he's going to think that boats made by anyone other than himself are going to be complete crap (cuz they are. No one makes longboats as well as Floki does, and that's a fact).

I'm looking forward to seeing what is going to happen with King Ecbert, since if he pays out even a little bit of what the writers are building him up as being ... this might turn out to be kind of amazing. I also have a feeling that Bjorn and Lagertha are going to be back in Ragnar's life at some time in the near future, and that they are likely to fight alongside him against King Ecbert; Ragnar will probably convince Lagertha that it would behoove her to fight alongside him against Ecbert (and Bjorn will probably go along with Lagertha out of loyalty to her). I sincerely hope that there is all manner of tension there between them after what happened (since it would be completely delicious), and I am looking forward to seeing Bjorn see Floki again (probably making some sort of comment about how he's not as tall as he used to be). As loyal as Floki will probably always be to Ragnar (despite how much of an idiot he can be), I think that Floki has always been fond of Bjorn (and probably Lagertha as well).

'#THINMAN' -- SPN 9x15


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I have to admit that after watching this episode, I've been struck with the desire to use #THINMAN on pretty much everything now ... but especially on things that have nothing to do with anything. This isn't to say that the stuff that happened in the episode wasn't completely tired, cuz it was.

What made the tiredness of this episode kind of worse than what the others have been recently is that not only are we now getting all of the same old stuff from Sam and Dean that we have always been getting, but now we're getting it from the Ghostfacers as well. So, now, the stupidity has grown so large and over-bloated that it has started eating itself. If there was anything that needed to be given to us as in micro, it wouldn't be the boys' inability to let things go.

I was also rather disappointed that this one didn't turn out to be a real ghost. Sure, my brain went right back to the "Hell House" episode (and the Tulpa that was used to create Mordechai Murdoch), and if they had done something similar to #THINMAN as they did with Mordechai, I'm sure that I would have been bitching about that (and how the writers were doing the same thing with this ghost as they did with the one that was there when we first met with the Ghostfacers). The writers of Show just can't win with me, and that's a fact. lol But at least I'm aware of it, right?

There were a couple of things that bothered me about this episode. It kind of bothers me that Harry and Ed are constantly saying each other's names when they're speaking to each other. At some point, wouldn't you stop saying someone's name if you're speaking directly to them, and there's no one else in on the conversation (and really, no one else even around you)? The fact that they keep doing it gets kind of annoying after a while, but maybe the writers have the do it cuz the two of them are overly dramatic and giant douches ... and they have the impression that this is what giant douches do when they're talking to each other? Maybe ... I don't know.

The other thing was the way that #THINMAN moved. When the girl at the beginning of the episode was in her room (I can't remember her name right now, and I don't really feel like going to look for it), she saw #THINMAN standing right behind her; then, she went into the closet (cuz that's what you do when there's a crazy in the house with you ... you don't try to get out of the room, or out of the house, you go into the closet with the flimsy doors that will keep the crazy out), and #THINMAN was standing behind and to the right of her. I call bullshit on that. There's no way that dude that was pretending to be #THINMAN would have been able to get in there and behind her without her noticing that he was there ... not unless she was incredibly stupid. Yes, yes, I realize that this is one of the instances in which Andreth would have been reminding me that this is genre television, and I shouldn't be expecting too much out of it making sense, but hot damn it would be nice to have.

It would also be nice if this was the last episode with the Ghostfacers. I will completely admit to being amused by them via season one, but by their second appearance they were already getting rather tiresome. But perhaps there is hope now that they have become nothing more than a trope of the boys' feelings for each other.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

'Am I Not Monstrous?' -- Ripper Street 2x02


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Hizzah!! It looks like there really will be a series three after all!! I'm so very happy about that, since I did not like the idea that there wouldn't be anything more of it. I so very much like this show.

I didn't like the idea that Merrick was killed, even if I knew from the preview that it was going to happen. I liked the idea that he was going to be added to the show, and not just cuz his character was so very sweet (and made me wanted to snuggle him for being such a good guy). Though, I will completely admit the fact that the scene where he was killed disturbed me more than a character in a show's death has disturbed me before. I can usually separate myself from stuff that happens to characters in movies, shows, or books (even if they're based on real people, cuz what happens to them isn't actually real), but this left me not feeling all that good afterward, and I know exactly what it was; it was having him say "no" to the inspector who ended up killing him, and the pleading tone in his voice ... the kind of pleading tone where you knew that there really was nothing that he could have done to stop it, and he was really begging the person not to hurt him. Yeah, it left me with an icky feeling on the inside.

So, Reid's wife has been written off the show. I'm disappointed that the writers went that way with her, since I would have liked to've seen more of her, as well as more of her working in the women's shelter. It's disappointing to only have Long Susan left from series one to represent the ladies, and it would have been nice to have at least one more of the ladies from series one who looked like she might have become something more than the Madonna or whore (and someone who was doing something good for the community and for the ladies in Whitechapel). Plus, it feels rather cheap to have the things that happened to her happen behind the scenes, instead of on camera (and to just have Reid tell us about it after the fact); cheap and lazy.

But writing her off the show also takes away the possibility that their daughter is going to be found again, and that was part of the dynamic of Reid's character in series one (his hope and faith that their daughter was still alive). Taking it away feels like they are taking something away from Reid and what motivates him as a person, but it also feels like they are just giving up on her after having all of series one filled with his faith that she was out there somewhere. Just cuz she wasn't the little girl that he ended up finding in the finale doesn't mean that she isn't somewhere else; she very really might be dead, but we still don't have the proof that she is (and until there's a body, there is hope that she could be out there somewhere).

Whatever else is going to happen in this series, I think that Reid is going to have a throw down with Abberline ... at least, I really hope that there is one, cuz that would be fantastic (especially after what he did to Merrick).

Monday, March 3, 2014

'Revelation' -- Grimm 3x13


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Sooooo ... all you need to do to get rid of generations worth of racism is to have members of different groups to sniff each other? I call bullshit on that. It seems like there would have to be a lot more to it than that. Monroe's dad seems to be the one who is a little more hardheaded, and I'll admit to that, but his mom fully admitted that she believed in the "old ways". As such, it seems to me that it would take more than just sniffing Rosalee than that.

I found the whole thing with Monroe's dad to be a little more believable. He saw that Nick wasn't going to kill him (and not only helped Monroe, but also helped him), but he still doesn't completely trust Nick to not cut off his head. And speaking of that, I did find the dinner at the end of the episode to be kind of amusing if for nothing more than it was completely awkward.

I was hoping to have the episode have a little more of the Wild Hunt, since it's something that I think that is rather cool (and not just cuz it's a Norse thing), but it was good to get to see some resolution with Monroe's family and them dealing with Nick and Rosalee.

Of course Adalind's baby is going to be the big bad that will come if the Wild Hunt comes around again. We couldn't have the baby just be something that is being used against the royals; it has to be the most significant thing in the entire world ... even though the writers really haven't done much of anything with either her or the baby so far (only giving us little bits and pieces up until now). I am also very curious as to why Sean believes that he is the father of the baby. We haven't been given any proof that should make us think that he is a more likely candidate than Eric, and we only have his suspicions to go on (which isn't really proof). I'd really like to have the writers give us something of what makes Renard think that the baby is his ... but then, I'd also really like to have them deal with the fact that they keep having people say that Eric is dead, but we still haven't seen a body (and as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't mean that he's dead).

Perhaps now we will be getting a bit more of the mythos with the royals and the resistance, and we will find out what is going on with the baby as to why it's supposedly so important. One could only hope, since that stuff has been put on the back burner far too much.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

'Brother's War' -- Vikings 2x01


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Am I the only one who really wanted Ragnar to beat the hell out of Rollo? It's not just that he hurt Floki (who I love), it's the fact that I never liked his character to begin with ... and it annoys me even more that he ended up being a complete traitor (which I'm not cool with in the least bit). I'm glad that he didn't end up fighting Ragnar cuz of his brotherly feels, but I still want horrible things to happen to him. And speaking of Rollo getting away with being a traitor, I wonder what's going to happen to the lawgiver once Ragnar realizes that he was bought off. I think that he's going to have to do something about it, since there's no way that they would be able to trust him to hand out judgments after that. And the question becomes who bought him off. I think that it might be too easy of a guess to say that it was Ragnar (or even Bjorn) cuz of the coin that Ragnar was showing Bjorn. I have a feeling that we're being thrown a red herring with that, and it will turn out to be someone else (maybe Siggy? She seems to have started to genuinely care about him).

And what's with the writers turning Floki into Legolas? Seriously, every time that he started to say something about, "We need to watch out for Rollo, cuz he's a giant douche, and he's bound to try something," Ragnar pretty much said "Shut up, Legolas." "No, really, he's going to betray us." "Shut up, Legolas." "A red sun rises. Blood has been shed this night." "Shut up, Legolas. You big drama queen."

I was about to get pissed when I saw Rollo and Floki start to fight each other, cuz we know that they aren't even in the same class when it comes to fighting. Rollo is totes the berserker who will come straight for you and fuck your shit up; Floki is the one who comes at you from behind and cuts your Achilles' tendon (after he's tasted (and spit out) the communion wine). I didn't think that the writers were going to kill off Floki in the first episode of the second season (seeing as he seems exactly the kind to be a fan favorite ... but since I don't venture into fandom, since it's a dark and scary place full of monsters, I'm guessing based on how much I love him), but that didn't mean that I wasn't completely worried about him. I DON'T WANT BAD THINGS HAPPENING TO FLOKI!! HE'S FAR TOO AWESOME!! But when Ragnar got ahold of him, and Rollo turned his attention to Eye Patch, I don't see why someone didn't go, "Oh, hey, look ... the berserker is otherwise occupied. Let's stab him in the kidneys while he isn't looking." Yeah, I know that he's going to survive until at least the big battle that they showed in the pilot, but that doesn't stop me from wanting horrible things to happen to him.

Poor little Bjorn. I felt so bad for him. He felt like he was stuck in the middle of a really crappy situation, and he thought that he was doing the right thing by staying with Ragnar, but I'm really glad that he ended up deciding that he would do what he actually wanted to do (in going with Lagertha). I didn't like that he wasn't going with his mama, especially since that's actually what he wanted to do.

But I don't feel at all bad for Ragnar when Lagertha and Bjorn left him. I kind of wanted Lagertha to put up a little more of a fight when Ragnar decided to ask her if it was cool that they have a plural marriage, even though he should have known that she would not have been at all cool with that. Sure, they invited Athelstan to have happy fun time with them toward the beginning of season one, but inviting someone to have happy fun time with you doesn't equate to wanting a plural marriage. Yes, he wanted to take care of the baby that's about to be born (and he may have had at least somewhat good intentions in that regard), but he already had a family (including a son who he should have still been concerned with trying to help raise).

And I'm going to say right now that I don't like Princess Aslaug, and I think that she's up to something nefarious ... something more than just wanting to have her baby daddy in her child's life. I think that she intentionally tried to get rid of Lagertha, and that doing so is going to lead to something else. I don't know yet what that might be, but it's the vibe that I'm getting from her.

'Captives' -- SPN 9x14



Warning: Spoiler Alert

On one level, I was glad to get some kind of closure with Kevin (especially considering how the writers went about killing him off), and I was glad to find out that Mama Tran was really alive (like I always thought that she was), and I was glad to have Kevin yell at the boys for being complete idiots, but ... this episode was wrapped up a little too nicely in some ways. Yes, I realize that I complain if they go too far one way, and I complain if they go too far the other way, but the thing of it is that I've just gotten so tired of this show ... and I can't walk away at this point (I've been in too long). In my head, Kevin and his mom have gone off to live a quiet life together, where they will never be bothered again (cuz Kevin is dead and no longer the prophet, and there's no reason for anyone to bother them anymore), and that's just a little too much of the good things happening to them for me. THIS SHOW IS SUPPOSED TO BE ALL ABOUT THE PAINS!!

But I guess the boys have enough of the pains for everyone, right? And I guess that Sam has reason to be butthurt with Dean ... and Dean is the king of trying to pretend like everything is ok, when it's really not. But damn, I would love it if the two of them would just get over their stuff already, cuz it's beyond old at this point.

I don't see why people aren't more curious about where Crowley is (fandom may be, but I don't venture into that place since it's dark and scary in there). It seems like they should be more worried about the fact that he has jumped ship and is probably planning something ... of course, that would be par for the course with him, except for the fact that he's probably found the first blade at this point. Even if he wouldn't be able to use it the way that he would want to, I don't see him not trying to do something with it before he comes to Dean and throws the thing at his feet (probably all bent out of shape over the fact that it wouldn't work for him the way that he wanted it to).

I get the feeling that the writers probably aren't going to bring him back with the first blade until the end of the season, however, and it will probably coincide with Cas meeting up with Metatron and Gadreel. It would probably be too much to hope for that the meetings would happen in the same place and Dean would be able to use the first blade on Metatron (and Sam use it on Gadreel, even if the guy is more of a schmuck than evil). Doing that would at least get rid of Metatron once and for all, and I won't be sad to see him go (especially since he isn't the culmination of awesome that I was hoping that he would be).

And despite the fact that it would probably be more awesome than I would be able to handle, I'm not holding my breath on being able to encounter Cain again. He was far too much awesome for this show to keep coming back to (the writers are far too happy with rehashing the same old sucky drivel that they've been giving to us for years to come back to something that was a gem in mountain of mediocrity).