Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Almighty Johnsons Season Two, Episode Eight: Man-Flu

The brothers are gathered at Mike's bar and Anders is not pleased that Agnetha is dead and that the goddesses have been cut in on the will.  When they ask him about his secret mission, Anders says that he will tell him when he has overcome the small snag that he has come across. Anders also takes the time to mention that he is not the least bit pleased with Axl's plan to become a man, so that he can become Óðinn and believes Axl should be out sleeping with as many women as possible until he finds Frigg.  When Michelle comes down to grab brandy for a cold, which both she and Axl seem to be suffering from, Anders is not impressed that Mike is "sleeping with the enemy".  Mike responds, "I prefer to think of it as going where you struck out." Anders answers, "well I prefer to think of it as coming to my senses before she trapped me with her evil, insidious snatch." I wonder what an episode of The Almighty Johnsons would be like without the raving misogyny week after week.  Mostly, Anders is not happy to see what has become of his brothers, but Mike is even more upset and punches Anders in the jaw before he can leave the bar.

Axl is lying on the couch loudly complaining that he is sick, but neither Zeb or Gaia have an ounce of sympathy for him.  Zeb does however make the point of telling Axl that he gives "man flu a bad name." At Mike's, Michele is lying in bed complaining about her illness, when Axl calls to blame her for making him sick.  She counters by saying that she is sicker than him. After a small exchange of sicker than thou, Mike says, "you make me ashamed to be a man, harden up."  Okay, so now we have gender policing to add to the sexism.  I wonder if I will end up with a bingo doing the recap of this episode.

Anders is on the phone with Dawn, who is complaining about the loss of clients when he pulls up to an uncleared goods transitional facility. Clearly, what he attempted to bring from Norway got confiscated. Anders tries to use his powers on the agent but strikes out and she tells him that what he brought back is a bio hazard and has been quarantined according to the law.

Ty is working on a new ice sculpture when he realises that his strangely warm hand is actually melting the ice. Ty is standing outside shirtless (thanks for that writers and director) and calls Mike to ask him to pop by. Mike tries to shift to another time, but Ty says that it's too important. Mike goes to leave he discovers that he canot find his car keys. To anyone else, this would be no big deal, but because Mike is Ullr, something is definitely up. When he heads downstairs, Mike finds that Stacey is waiting for him. It turns out that Stacey knows exactly what she wants to do with her share of Agnetha's money - buy the courier company that she currently works for. Mike agrees to this plan and promises to make it happen.

When Mike shows up at Ty's, Ty hands him a bowl of Ingrid's special curry, which immediately puts Mike into a state of shock, because it's so hot.  Ty's beyond excited because it turns out that Ingrid's special curry is the first thing that he has tasted since he turned 21.  Ty believes that he can feel whatever made him Höðr going away.

When Gaia returns home, she finds Axl in bed shivering with looks to be a pretty high fever, murmuring repeatedly, "find Frigg."  Anders and Olaff are talking at Anders place about the fact that whatever he has brought back from Norway has been confiscated.  When Olaff sits on the couch, for the first time he does not look in the least bit like the vital man that we have come to know. We get a flash of Anders in Norway negotiating (read: having sex) with giants, fighting off a dwarf who wanted his hot drink and then finally cutting off a branch from Yggdrasil. Olaff gets upset when he realises that it is not a good idea for Yggdrasil to get fulminated. Anders explains his failure by saying that the women working there clearly hates good looking men.  Yet more misogyny.  Of course the woman there hates men that can be the only reason why she didn't immediately submit. When they head back to the uncleared goods transitional facility, Anders tries to argue that the branch from Yggdrasil is an extremely rare and important Norse artifact and says that he has someone with him, who will attest to the importance of the stick.  When the woman tries to brush him off by saying, "if you and your father," and is then promptly cut off my Anders who replies, "what do you mean my father you dyke?"  When he turns to Olaff, it is clear that he has visibly aged. Okay, first of dyke is a slur and that is exactly how he meant it.  Keep in mind that this is a show in which only one GLBT character appears and thus far she has only had sex with a woman at the behest of a man.  To make matters worse, the person Michele slept with was Axl, when he accidentally temporarily shifted sex for one episode. Anders grabs Olaff and escorts him out.

Olaff says that he feels weird but before they can talk more, Mike calls to talk about the lessening of their powers. Anders says that Olaf looks about fifty and grudgingly admit that he is having trouble with his powers as well.  They agree to meet and Anders' and Mike tells him that Axl won't be there.  Mike then goes to check up on Axl and Gaia tells him that the fever has not abated and that Axl probably has a virus, which he has to ride out.

Ty shows up at Ander's office looking for Dawn. Ty says that he hopes the fact that the police haven't shown up at his door means that she has changed he feelings about him. Dawn replies that she has thought everything through and realised that she have over thought what happened.  Ty asks Dawn to go out and when she asks where, she answers, "anywhere."

When Mike shows up at Anders, he is shocked to see how old Olaff looks.  When Anders asks where Ty is, Mike answers, "what's a curse for Olaff, is a gift for Ty."  Anders sees this as being selfish, particularly because he believes that Olaff is dying. Mike asks Olaff if the fact that they are losing their powers and he is getting old, has anything to do with the fact that Axl is sick.  Olaff answers, "have I taught you people nothing? We are all linked to him by blood, and by spirit. As he rises we rise, as he falls so we fall." When Gaia walks in to check on Axl, she finds him having a seizure and orders Zeb to call an ambulance.


They put Olaff to rest in Anders' bed, though Anders in not at all pleased with the situation.  Mike believes they should go to the hospital to be with Axl but Anders says that someone should be with Olaff.  Mike suggests that Anders is scared to go to the hospital and that he is scared to get sick. Anders wonders if this is some kind of God plague because first Michele got sick and then Axl.  As Mike is leaving, Stacey shows up to talk to Anders about why he is stopping her from getting the money.  When she looks at Olaff she is shocked.

Ty and Dawn are having a picnic and he declares everything he eats to be the best thing ever. He says that he is happy to be alive and suggests that he has changed and become a new person.  When Mike returns to his bar, he finds Michele gone.  Back at Anders', Stacey is making a cup of tea in Anders' kitchen saying that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't seem to stop serving Gods  They again start discussing Stacey's business plan and Anders reminds her that they were Agnetha's children, which means in his mind that the money belongs to the Johnsons.  Stacey says that the will says otherwise and calls him a petty little God. When Stacey takes the tea to Olaff, he is having trouble breathing and says repeatedly, "Yggdrasil."  Stacey leaves the tea and tells Anders that Olaff keeps repeating Yggdrasil.  When Anders asks him why keeps saying Yggdrasil, Olaff says, "tree of life."  Anders tells Stacey that Yggdrasil could very well save the day, but that it is about to be fumigated and has been impounded. Stacey reminds him of her background working as a courier and suggests that they go and get  Yggdrasil.

At the hospital, Mike asks Gaia if they know what's wrong with Axl and she replies, "they're thinking viral infection, they're just waiting for a few blood tests to come back." When she leaves to check the results, Zeb asks Mike, "what if he dies?" Mike tries to assure him that Axl is not going to die, but Zeb reminds Mike that if Axl dies, then the Johnsons all die and disaster is visited on the world.

Dawn and Ty are walking and he says that a cloud has been lifted and suggests that they go to the beach. Dawn says that she needs to get some work done and so Ty asks her out for dinner instead. Mike calls and interrupts the conversation.  Stacey and Anders show up at the uncleared goods transitional facility and Stacey gets him to promise to sign off on her business plan if she helps him.

When Ty stands at the end of Axl's bed and says, "the possible outcomes is that he gets better and I go back to being me, or he dies and then I die," Mike assures him that Axl is not going to die. Ty says that he made a date with Dawn and wonders if he should cancel.  Mike tells him to go because he will either go back to being Höðr, or he will drop dead at dinner. Mike leaves Ty to talk to Michele about Axl. Michele looks at Axl's chart and tells Mike that she was never as sick as he is and that Axl has a virus.  From the doorway Zeb asks, "what if it's a God virus? What if it's some kind of Asgard virus the likes of which has never been seen on earth?" Mike tells him to stop thinking out loud.

Ty is getting dressed and Ingrid makes a point of saying how handsome he is. Ty tells her that whatever happens, he wants her to know that her curry was the best thing he has ever eaten.  When she asks what he means, he tells her how life is a series of events and you have to grab the good ones when you can.  Anders brings the Yggdrasil to Olaff, who tells him to "take it to take it to Óðinn."  When he starts to question whether or not Axl is still infectious, Stacey calls him a wimp and decides to take it to Axl herself.  Olaff tells Anders that he gives Gods a bad name and calls him, "Bragi, God of retrievers," after Anders whines about finding the stick.

At dinner, Dawn is complaining to Ty about Anders and he asks if they can stop talking about Anders.  Ty says that we would rather talk about how much he loves her perfume. Back at the hospital, Zeb says that "if it looks like the worst is coming to the worst, then I'll hit the fire alarm and give everyone a fighting chance of leaving the building. Mind you, if the worst is a volcanic eruption, then running out of the building could be counter productive." Stacey arrives at the hospital with the stick and asks if Axl is still alive and is not impressed to see Zeb, who tells her that he tried to call her a few times.  At this point Zeb is more than aware what he did to Stacey and finding out that he actually called her almost 200 times makes him an even bigger predator. Mike asks what she is holding and Stacey says, "Yggdrasil," which immediately sets Zeb off on a rant on the importance of the tree. Stacey says that this is what Anders brought back and they think that it might save Axl. Zeb suggests that Mike zap Axl because the stick might be like Gandolf's staff. When that doesn't work, they lay the stick across Axl.  When Gaia enters the room she is shocked to see the stick on Axl, and Mike claims that it is an old family heirloom for good luck.

Mike calls Anders to ask if Agnetha gave instructions on how to use the staff.  When Mike suggests asking Olaff, Anders says that Olaff is asleep dipping fluids in his bed. Mike is not impressed when he realises that Anders is drunk.  When he gets off the phone, Stacy says to Mike, "that old man should not be left alone with him." When Michele walks in, she is shocked to see that Axl has the Yggdrasil log on chest and says that this is unhealthy for a man whose life is already at risk. Mike and Stacey leave to take the stick to Olaff.  When Michelle touches Axl's forehead, a light shines right in the center and when she writes Óðinn on his forehead, it also lights up. 

Stacey brings the Yggdrasil to Olaff who says that, "it must not be used; it's a force of life. It gives and takes from those who give life."  He then thanks Stacey for the tea, which shocks Stacey because no one ever thanks her.  Olaff says that it's because people don't understand the strength of duty or the honour selflessness. They share a moment and Olaff asks her to lie with him so that he may "feel the warmth of a woman one last time."

When Ty returns to the hospital, he finds Mike sitting at Axl's bedside.Ty says that his date was the best date of his life and the worst.  We get a flashback to Ty and Dawn walking after dinner and she asks him back to her place, but Ty says that it's not a good idea because what he needs more than anything else in the world is a really good friend. It seems that all of the senses he felt were overwhelming for him. 

Everyone goes to sleep for the night and Michele tests her powers by touching another patient's forehead but nothing happens. Gaia kisses Axl on the head and as she walks away, he grabs her hand and smiles. Zeb rushes in the room and jumps on Axl.  When Olaff wakes up, he and Stacey start to have sex.

At the bar, Axl tells the crew he dreamed about them being in Asgard when suddenly he felt a golden light and everything was okay.  Ingrid makes a snarky comment about handmaidens having sex with Gods old enough to be their grandfather and Olaff reminds her that they were never exclusive. Mike says that it's wonderful that Axl is back and admits that as executor of Agnetha's will he decided to put the money to work in the markets, but without his powers he lost most of the money.  Now that he has his powers back, he says that it's going to take awhile to get the money back but in the meantime he has enough money to finance Stacey.  Anders is not impressed and punches Mike in the jaw.