'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.

'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.

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."

'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).

'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.

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.

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.