Ksenia Solo talks Lost Girl

On the drama series Lost Girl, airing Mondays on Syfy, actress Ksenia Solo plays Kenzi, a con artist and thief, who is extremely street-smart and resourceful. She is the only true confidante of Bo (Anna Silk), a Succubus that feeds off the sexual energy of humans, and her wide array of contacts makes her very useful. Regardless of the darkness in her past, Kenzi’s focus is now on protecting Bo from a world that will never understand her as well as she does.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Ksenia Solo talked about what attracted her to this role and series, that she’s always loved fantasy and sci-fi, the cool wardrobe and looks she has as Kenzi, getting to work little bits of herself into the role (like getting to speak Russian and play the drums), how tight the whole cast has gotten, and promises that you can always expect the unexpected with this show. She also talked about how much she enjoys personally interacting with fans, her thoughts on social media, her shock and disappointment that Locke & Key (in which she played the role of Dodge) never got picked up to series, how proud she is of her involvement with Black Swan, and how amazing the Life Unexpected fans still are (even though the show was canceled awhile ago). Check out what she had to say after the jump
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Collider: What initially attracted you to this show and this character?

Ksenia Solo: I think when we all did the pilot, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. What we did know was that this was obviously touching upon a subject that nobody else had touched upon. Everything is about vampires and werewolves, and it’s always the same formula. I think this show is so cool because it has so many different elements. All the best elements of television are put into this one show. To me, it’s very NCIS meets True Blood with a little taste of Secret Diary of a Call Girl. That really attracted me. And for most of my career, I had always played very dramatic roles, so the fact that Kenzi was the comic relief of this show was just really attractive to me because I’d always wanted to do comedy. 

Are you typically a fan of sci-fi and genre stories, or was it the other elements of the story that most appealed to you?

Solo: I’ve always loved fantasy. I’ve always loved sci-fi. It’s not like I can list off my favorite sci-fi shows or movies, but I just love being taken into a different world. I’m a huge fan of Steven Spielberg. I’m a huge fan of George Lucas. I’ve always loved it. For an actor, it’s really fun to be able to be on this show, where you’re surrounded by different creatures, and we get to do all these effects and fight scenes. All of that was definitely part of the attraction.
At what point did you get to bring your Russian heritage to the character?

Solo: I was born in Eastern Europe, in Latvia, and I’m fluent in Russian. I think the people that created this show thought it was really cool that I was fluent in this other language. It definitely was incorporated, once I was cast. I get to show my language skills, every now and again. It’s funny because I’m so used to acting in English that any time I have these moments where I have to speak Russian, it definitely takes a different part of my brain to pull it off, but it’s always nice and fun. 

Does it feel like you’re playing different characters because you get to go through so many different wigs and looks and changes to your appearance?

Solo: Yeah. Kenzi is such a chameleon and she’s always in disguise. It depends on the case, but she always looks like a completely different person, and sometimes acts like a completely different person. For me, in my life and in my career, I really love to play different roles. I never want to play the same role twice. In a way, that’s definitely incorporated in Kenzi, and how she’s just got so many different sides to her. It’s really an actor’s dream to be able to go to work and play. It’s not often, especially in television, that you get to really play. There aren’t boundaries, like there are with other roles. That’s definitely something I love about her. 

Have you had any wigs or looks that you’ve been particularly fond of?

Solo: To be honest with you, I’ve gone through so many different looks, on a daily and weekly basis, that it’s all just one big blur. It’s always fun to have pink hair and purple hair, and crazy hairstyles and clothes. I think my favorite is one of my simpler looks, which we used more in Season 2, where I have a lot of green in my hair. I don’t think I’m cool enough to pull it off, in real life, so I’ll just live vicariously through all Kenzi’s different looks. 

The relationship between Bo and Kenzi is such an interesting part of this show. What was it like to develop that relationship and dynamic between your characters, and how has it been to work with Anna Silk?

Solo: The Bo-Kenzi relationship is really unique. I think every person – me, definitely – wishes that they could have a friendship like this. These are two girls that are bonded together for life. It even goes beyond a sisterhood bond that they have. They both are willing to die for each other, at a moment’s notice, without ever thinking about it. Kenzi, especially, because the way that Bo and Kenzi meet is under a very strange set of circumstances. Kenzi is forever grateful to Bo for saving her life. The fact that these girls would die for each other is just really, truly special.
And, working with Anna [Silk] is a dream. She not only is an extremely talented actress, but she is the sweetest and one of the funniest people I have ever met. We have a great time. We’re gearing up for Season 3 soon, and as the show progresses, our bond progresses as people, and as Bo and Kenzi. We’ve gotten to the point where we just feel like family. Like Anna says, you feel each other’s rhythms, so we already know what the other person is going to say, before they even say it. It’s definitely a dream, especially when you have to spend so many hours with someone. If you guys don’t have that acting chemistry, or that chemistry as people, it makes your job really hard. I definitely feel lucky that it’s her. She always makes it fun. It’s like a marriage. She’s like my husband or wife, in a way. 

Kenzi has some great moments with everyone on the show. Did the relationship between you guys, as an ensemble, really click right away?

Solo: Yeah. Our excitement for the show really brought us together, right away, especially me, Anna [Silk] and Kris [Holden-Ried]. We just really bonded, right off the bat. It just felt like instant family. We all meshed like a perfect puzzle piece, if I can say it so poetically. We’ve spent so much time together. When you work together so much, you really develop this bond. Gearing up for Season 3, we all can feel each other. We can feel each other’s styles and rhythms. It gets easier, as you go. We all just come in and get to have a great time with these people that we really, really love.


Read the rest of the article over here

Review: Fire Baptized by Kenya Wright

Lanore lives in the Santeria compound in Miami. All supernatural beings are forced to live separate from the humans who guard the compounds extremely carefully, ensuring they can never escape into the human population. Inside, all are supernatural of some kind - faerie or vampire, shapeshifter or demon or witch or even stranger creatures, and all marked with a brand on their foreheads that denote their supernatural type.

Lanore wears the cross to mark her as mixed blooded. And as such she is reviled by her fellow supernaturals, a lesser citizen, to be mistrusted and hated and discriminated against. She’s the first mixed blood allowed to attend university (albeit with great difficulty) and she must constantly step warily to try and negotiate a highly prejudiced world.

Which isn’t made any easier by a string of murders, one of which she witnessed and the killer made it clear he is aware of her. Faced with a grossly incompetent (and indifferent) human police force, she is pushed into the role of investigator as people keep dying gruesome deaths and she may be next on the list.

And of course she has 2 men to dodge between. MeShack the were-cheatah, and old ex who she grew up with with his own issues, and Zulu, a fellow mixed-breed leader of the Mixed Breed Rights movement, pushing for equality and justice that is both demanding, requires great political maneuvering and sometimes disturbing allies.

The most amazing part of this book is the world, because wow is it several kinds of shiny. We have a gazillion supernatural creatures, an entire society made up of supernatural creatures, and no humans. We have a history of oppression, we have different laws and cultures and different movements and politics for each of the movements. We have many sided many layered conflicts, a rich and complex society we have so much magic and possibilities. It’s almost impossibly rich and diverse yet at the same time incredibly real and well done that I can envisage this society working this way. I think I’d read this whole series even if it were just a long series of info-dumps.

But it’s not - because not only do we have this wide, wonderful world, we also have it presented appropriately, revealed as and when it becomes relevant without tiresome lecturing or screeds of musings to serve as informing us.

And the story works well within this world. Lanore isn’t a trained investigator and it is a little questionable why she gets herself involved but it’s not entirely unrealistic. And the investigation itself is rather reactive because there’s so little to go on, but though Lanore often seems to be running at the rear of the investigation, it works because she isn't a professional and she engages so well with the world while hurrying to catch up. And, in the end, she does get proactive once she has enough information together. Despite her hurrying to catch up, I wasn’t bored as often happens in murder mysteries when they end up chasing rather than investigating, but the rich world and the way Lanore works with it just runs smoothly and makes the pacing work. There are side plots to keep us going with the main plot of tracking down the murderer including Zulu’s work with the mixed-blood rights movements which I definitely want to see more of.

Unfortunately there is also the romance storyline that I didn’t care for at all. First of all, both Zulu and MeShack cross lines a lot. She is marked as possessed twice against her will. They constantly press her and push past her boundaries and their alpha male posturing over her and against each other is intolerable. MeShack breaks her vibrators to keep her loyal to him and throws out the flowers that Zulu buys her. Zulu virtually starts a war because a vampire is touching her. And while Lanore, as the strong, non-spunky, capable woman that she is turns round and says it’s not ok, she doesn’t make it stick or the men don’t respect her enough to take her objections seriously.

Review: Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn, Book 6 of the Kitty Norville Series

Kitty is back home in Denver – but it seems something has followed her from Vegas. After severely hurting and annoying a cult dedicated to Tiamat, a personification of chaos, she finds the deities name burned into her club. Very soon, it’s clear that some kind of fiery, intangible entity is hunting them.

And how do you fight something intangible? Something intangible that can burn anything it touches? Something intangible you can’t even see yet can burn you from the inside out?

And how do you do that before it kills anyone – or before it kills anyone else? How do you keep everyone safe?

And how can you fight it while at the same time reassuring and protecting a wolf pack, one you’ve only just adopted, one you’ve only just become alpha of?

And, when enmeshed in undead politics, how do you know who you can trust to help and whether you’re just digging yourself in deeper.

And how do you do all that and continue to run a successful and fun radio show?

Of course, tracking down what the monster is takes time and investigation – it’s a mystery. The problem with mysteries is it’s very hard to pace it well, and this is certainly an issue with this book. We spend a long time with Kitty and co basically sat around saying “I don’t know.” They follow up leads and get “I don’t know” back. They ask questions – more I don’t know. It’s kind of frustrating to feel it all going round in circles without actually going anywhere. However, I do accept that party of this is a thematic point. I mean, the characters are frustrated and lost and worried. They don’t know what’s happening, they know people are going to die, they know all their lives are at risk. So, yes, this is a realistic thing to happen

Romance Writers, Ink: Showing their Homophobic Arses

So, Romance Writers, Ink, an Oklahoma-based chapter of the Romance Writers of America was having a writing competition. It’s called More than Magic and is open to all forms of romance. In fact, so eager where they to include all kinds of romance that they said this:

Our judges are all romance readers. Within that group are RWI chapter members and members of other RWA chapters. We recruit judges nationwide and even worldwide (for e-books) and our only requirement is that they are regular romance readers. They tell us which categories and what “heat” level they prefer to read, so our entrants’ books get into the hands of people who might give them the most favorable rating. Our final round judges are chosen for the diversity of their romance reading interests and enjoyment, sense of fair comparison across all categories, and knowledge of the romance genre.[source]

So, let’s be clear - they will raise mountains to ensure that every and all kinds of romance are accepted and find a receptive audience. No matter how steamy, how explicit, what genre or category they fit in - no matter how out there, they will find a judge to look upon it favorably.

Except any romance with a same-sex couple. No, that’s not allowed and not accepted.

This is something we’ve seen before in speculative fiction. We can expect people to deal with elves and magic and dwarfs, we can expect them to deal with vampires and werewolves and witches, we can expect them to deal with space ships and aliens and phasers with 12078 settings (when all you use is the “kill” option) but gods forbid you include 2 people of the same gender who dare to love each other! That is just going far too far!


In fact, nothing I say could beat the excellent words of Courtney Milan:

Apparently, it’s possible for the MTM contest to get entrants’ books in the hands of diverse judges from multiple RWA chapters who are comfortable with all types of romances and heat levels. You can write M/F erotica. You can write M/M/F. You can write about aliens from another planet who have tentacles, or barbed sexual organs. You can write degrading rapes. None of those things are barred from entry in the More than Magic contest, and if you write them, they’ll try to find judges who are predisposed to like your books. But they won’t do that if you write same sex romance–even if it’s a sweet romance with no sexual contact whatsoever. No–when it comes to same sex romance, the fact that they might be able to identify judges in their chapter or outside of it who would be willing to read same sex entries and judge them fairly somehow becomes irrelevant. In that instance, the majority gets to say that those entries don’t belong.[source]

And why is this discrimination here? Because they’re UNCOMFORTABLE with same-sex romance

Really? You pride yourself on being able to find judges who will look favorably on any romance, no matter how out there or how explicit but you couldn’t find one who could endure the presence of those icky gays no matter how sanitized? Really? What does this say about your membership? And can we say again how gross it is that straight discomfort means that gay people have to be removed and hidden? Because the bigots are uncomfortable our lives get erased from the page? Why, again, does GBLT existence take a second seat to prejudiced straight folk’s discomfort?

The Romance Writers of America has released a statement:

RWA members are served by 145 local and special interest chapters, and those chapters are individually incorporated and governed. So long as chapters fulfill their obligations under state law, as well as RWA and chapter bylaws, and their programs and services support the professional interests of career focused romance writers, policy affords them rather broad latitude in determining which programs and services to offer. Absent policy governing chapter-level contests, RWA's board cannot intervene in the decisions of individual chapters. [source]

So they want to make it clear they don’t want to meddle with their local chapters. Really? This is the weak excuse? Because it’s several kinds of pathetic. Welcome to the 21st century and get yourself a non-discrimination policy for crying out loud! Why isn’t THAT included under the RWA bylaws? You are accepting these people as part of your organization, minimum behavioral standards should really be part of the membership process - otherwise your name gets affiliated with, say, homophobic bigots. This is basic PR, this is basic common sense. Are you really going to give your name and endorsement to people without any controls of their behavior? Do you value your name, your brand, that poorly?

Fangs for the Fantasy podcast, episode 51

This week we discuss the latest episodes of Vampire Diaries, Being Human (US), Lost Girl. We also discuss the last episode of True Blood

We also discuss our book of the week, Blood of the Demon by Diana Rowland, who we fanpoodle muchly

Review of Sanctuary Season Four

At this point, I have no idea whether or not Sanctuary is coming back for a fifth season, but if they choose not to, the end of season four actually works quite well for a series finally.  There were no storylines left hanging, and a very strong hint that the Sanctuary would be heading in a very different direction from that which we have become accustomed to.

At the end of season three, Kate left the Sanctuary to work in hollow earth.  Her return did not mean that her character got very much attention this season at all and instead she was little more than a messenger girl, when she wasn't trying to soothe angry abnormals.  I did not expect that the result of this action would mean that she would largely be absent from this season, and I must say that I was gravely disappointed with the result. 

Instead of focusing attention on the awesome Kate, we got far more of Abbey Corrigan, FBI agent and Will's girlfriend.  This for me was a terrible substitution, because Abbey reads as completely Mary Sue.  Could they have written her character to be any more cloyingly sweet and annoying?  When I finally got around to watching Fugue, the horrible musical episode, I could not help but hope that they would simply let the character die off.  Really, what purpose did she serve?  The only good thing to come from Fugue was the tension that developed between Will and Magnus, which would set the stage for what would come later in the episode.

In The Depths, Magnus and Will travel to a cave to prevent the capture of an extremely rare abnormal. When Will consumes ground water, it heals him instantly but causes him to experience a rage.  He tells Magnus some hard truths about how he feels manipulated by her and he figures out the degree to which she has continuously interfered in his life.  Much of his anger is blamed on the side effects of the water and though they do agree to let bygones be bygones, it is clear lasting harm has now been done.  Will has great respect for Magnus and even loves her to some degree, but now there will always be niggling doubts in his mind.  This is then reinforced by Magnus sending him to work with government, and ending his access to the agency is later episodes. She steadfastly tells him to trust her, but she gives him no reason to trust.

Review: Blood of the Demon, by Diana Rowland Book 2 of the Kara Gillian Series

Kara Gillian has a new case - there are more bodies piling up and while they seem to have natural causes (or common murder causes, anyway) there’s something more about the bodies. They’re completely ripped of all their essence, all their life force unnaturally torn away - and its getting worse. She’s again faced with investigating the murders as a police detective, but also using her arcane abilities and somehow passing that under the mortal authorities’ radar.

Worse, she has so few people to turn to, so little sources of information. Her aunt is in a coma and the only one who can tell her what is happening - stop the killer and bring her aunt back - is Lord Rhyzkhal, the sexy and powerful demon lord. Who, in turn, has his own agenda. He wants Kara to be his summoner, to give him a toe-hold in the world. And even a taste of his knowledge gives Kara abilities and knowledge far beyond what she had before.

But even with all these complications it gets harder when other strange demonic creatures push themselves into her reality - and Ryan, her friend, confidant and FBI agent seems to be keeping more secrets than she realised.

To start with something I love about this series - we have more excellent class commentary. While the last book showed us expertly how easily and quickly the poor are neglected and forgotten by law enforcement, here we saw the other side of the coin. The rich expecting kids gloves and gentle treatment. The power of being rich and influential and connected is showed again and again in this book. The power and ease of being a corrupted judge, of looking after one’s own, of protecting your own little clique and circle are repeatedly referenced. At the same time the point is strongly made that the same levels of drug abuse, domestic violence et al all happen in these wealthy subdivisions as in poorer areas, but they’re much better covered up. But, again it is done without lecturing or infodumping.

Kara Gillian is still a fascinating character. She is intelligent, has powerful amounts of common sense. She has a temper but it flares when appropriate and not completely unrealistically and foolishly. She is driven and drives the story, she’s overwhelmed by the sheer amount she has to deal with, but she does deal with it. I don’t think I’ve found many protagonists in this genre who are as human as Kara Gillian. As real - and as lacking in tropes that make me want to throw my e-reader down in disgust. One problem that has creeped in is a continuation of her discomfort over sleeping with Rhyzkhal which is coupled with Ryan’s disgust over her assignation with the demon - and her desperation for his approval. On the one hand I can see why Kara would seek friendship and approval since she has been alone a long time and very few people know about the Arcane - but at the same time her desperation for his approval and his judgment are more than a little skeevy making. Especially when she then decides to get revenge on Ryan’s judgmental attitude - by having sex with Rhyzkhal and feeling bad about it. I also don’t like her condescension and assumption of plastic surgery to most of the attractive women she meets, it’s a little, well, catty and again related to sexual shaming.

To contrast that we have something I’ve hardly ever seen - people referencing a promiscuous woman in neutral tones. Especially in a police drama, the minute a woman, especially a crime victim, is revealed to have sex with lots of different men then you nearly always have people saying “she deserved it” or “she got what’s coming” (or, if you’re reading Aurora Teagarden, everyone doing the “death to the evil hussy!” dance). I actually kept reading waiting for someone to turn round and say something that would make me cringe but they didn’t. The victim had sex with multiple men and while they were relieved that it meant there was a chance that their friend hadn’t killed her, there was no “that terrible hussy, you deserved it” or anything really close to it.

Unfortunately there are problematic elements. Firstly of erasure - there are very few POC and the ones that exist are either very small token parts (a black guard at the courthouse, a Latino law clerk at a funeral) or rather problematic (the undocumented Latina maid with poor English - who seems to love her employer). Both could have been worse but both were far from ideal and this erasure in Louisiana which has a very large POC population. Similarly there are no GBLT characters at all.

Face Off: Hale Vs Bonnie, Battle of the Hollow Tokens

Now, a token black side-kick is vital for any good Urban Fantasy, it’s a great way to get your inclusion cookies going without putting in any effort. And yes, the lack of effort shows and few places more so than Hale in Lost Girl and Bonnie in The Vampire Diaries.

So it is time for a face off. Which token inclusion side-kick is the hollowest? Which is most lacking in history or characterization? Which is the most dragged into situations that do not concern them and they’re not even slightly interested in? Who keeps a pager to hand in case the white folks need something? It’s the battle of the tokens!

Time spent in the plot box

Plot boxes are used to store unnecessary side-kicks when they aren’t serving the protagonist’s needs. For several episodes they will just disappear. Of course we could imagine them living lives and pursuing their own agendas during these disappearances, but that’s just silly since we know they have neither lives nor agendas there’s no way this could be happening.

Hale: Entire episodes of Lost Girl go by without Hale showing up. Maybe we’ll see him lurking over Dyson’s shoulder providing generic backup, but often times he’s not there. When he does show up it’s usually because his siren abilities are needed. But, hey, the crew are flexible, sometimes police powers/contacts are needed and Dyson isn’t available, sometimes someone is needed to cover for Dyson and one time his family connections were needed as well. So he’s not just one trick Siren, there’s plenty of ways he can serve - but he’s only pulled out when he’s needed to serve

Bonnie: Now Bonnie probably spends less time in the plot box than Hale - but that’s because she’s used more. With Elena’s endless incompetence to clean up after as well as Damon and Stefan’s less than brilliant planning, the Swiss Army Witch needs to be called out on a regular basis. Still, it does result in more screen time, but still, even the much needed Bonnie can find entire episodes past with barely a sign of her presence.

We know so much about their family

Hale: Though Hale has been on Lost Girl since episode one, we know virtually nothing about is background.  We do eventually find out that Hale is actually a member of the royal family but only because Bo needs someone to run in the election for the next Ash. This is something that Hale does not want to be and has done much to separate himself from his royal obligations; however, he quickly capitulates to Bo’s need for help, after all what’s a Black sidekick to do when a White woman comes running?   We never actually see any members of Hale’s family, and we only learn that his grandmother is disappointed that he has not achieved more considering his royal heritage.

Grimm, Season 1, Episode 10: Organ Grinder

“We shall see the crumbs of bread… and they shall show us our way home again.”

Yes, it’s time for another Grimm and by that introduction it’s Hansel and Gretel

Well we have gone dark this time – 2 young men fleeing monsters through the woods, one falling into water and then a body in the river having its eyes plucked out by ravens. Definitely going to the dark, as is appropriate given the nature of the original Grimm’s fairy tales before Disney got its fluff and glitter all over them.

And we switch from darkness to angst – Nick is consulting Grimmopedia Eddie about telling Juliette that he’s a Grimm because the monsters have gotten a little too close to home. Eddie doesn’t endorse this silly idea, because he’s awesome and has common sense. And Eddie can’t just show his wolfyness because not all human brains can handle the reality of the supernatural in front of them.

Enough angst, let’s go to a gruesome crime scene where Nick joins Hank and Sergeant Wu in examining the corpse. And it turns out the corpse – 18 year old Stephen, a petty criminal - has lost a lot of blood – and he would have been very weak from loss of blood before landing in the river. Following a trail of unusual necklaces they track him back to a free clinic and a new job he had so they could speak to Dr. Levine who treated him for a spider bite. It looks like his new employers just snatched him off the street

And then they’re called to a car accident driven by monsters transporting human organs. Of course the plates are fake and so is his identity. Very little information – and I do like how Sergeant Wu comes to add to their depression and mock them for it. I really like him whenever he shows up, it’s just a shame that he only shows up for 10 seconds at a time. The driving monster is a Geier, a tree living organ harvester and generally unpleasant creature.

Time to call on the Grimmopedia! Y’know Eddie makes this show. Even as he complains that Nick only talks about monsters – though Eddie fills in the gaps about the Geier’s organ trade; human body parts are used as medicine and enhancement by monsters. Time to get Eddie to do some undercover work buying human gall bladder – yummy! And yes, 2 and 2 is finally put together and the idea of harvesting street kids for organs is raised. I do feel that they were, perhaps, just a little slow coming to this conclusion.

They track down another missing street kid that pretty much confirms the theory. Following their leads they find the processing plant where the organs are being prepared (and for reasons unknown, the Evil!Chief joins them). Points go to Sergeant Wu for the “cannibalism… I think it’s pronounced capitalism” line. See why I want to see more of him? But lo they find evidence that the clinic is involved. Now, personally I’d have suspected the clinic first in organ harvesting since you’ve need some way to verify that the victims are healthy – especially in the homeless population.

Eternal Law, Season 1, Episode 5

And this week we don’t start with a case. We start with Mrs. Sherringham disapproving of Zak’s booze and telling him they should give Tom more responibility (while worrying about him). Mrs. Sherringham watching the endless emotional angst between non-character Hannah and Zak (and worrying about it. In short, we’re set up for some glorious angst. Oh joy, let me fill my glass.

In actual plot, Tom rushes to help a female soldier who has been stabbed in the leg and gets picked up from the military base by Zak who, as is sadly recurring, treats him like a naughty child. Anyway, they end up taking the case to defend Laura (the soldier) from court martial – the allegation that her wound is self-inflicted to prevent her being shipped to Afghanistan. And it’s quickly clear that Zak has issues with soldiers and/or the military – I smells more angst I do. He was a soldier in the first world war – and he’d used his powers to save lives much against Mr. Mountjoy’s wishes. He then was tasked with saving World War 1 soldiers who were accused of cowardice and desertion – and, as any history student knows, the success rate in these cases was very very low and a lot were executed. And there we see Zak’s problem with the military

And for reasons that are completely unfathomable, Zak decides he wants Hannah (Love Interest) to assist him and not Tom. Because they’ve decided that Hannah really needs to get to know a Major who caught his buttons in her hair. Of course, protracted time together is exactly what Zak and Hannah needs. By setting Hannah up with the Major she’ll apparently stop being a distraction and temptation for Zak (because that totally works, right? Seeing the person you love with someone else completely removes them from the picture?) I dislike how this turns the already character-less Hannah into even more of a tool - a chess piece to be moved by Richard and Zak (or Mrs. Sherringham).

Being sidelined and removed from the case, Tom has a rather childish temper tantrum which is treated as such by Zak and Mrs. Sherringham. I’m really getting tired of that dynamic.

But the plot thickens and Sophie, another soldier in the regiment (and, blessedly, a POC who isn’t childlike) tells Tom that the sergeant has been coming on to Laura – and wasn’t taking no for an answer. Confronting the sergeant naturally doesn’t result in a confession but makes it clear he’s a very unpleasant person. At least we get to see a shred of what angels can do when miffed. Unfortunately, Sophie is a coward who won’t come forward to protect her friend.

And while Zak is in court doing the serious business, Tom engages in a rather bemusing bike chase through the army camp. He crashes and then gets himself in trouble laid on an unexploded mortar and needs Zak to rescue him with the help of Sophie to prove how courageous she is and redeeming herself since she was the one who caused Laura to be stabbed.

Creator Robert Kirkman and Producer/Showrunner Glen Mazzara Talk About What’s Coming Up on Season 2 of THE WALKING DEAD

On February 12^th, the hit zombie series The Walking Dead returns to AMC. Picking up just where the last episode and big reveal left off, that huge event rocks all of the characters to their core, leading some of them down surprising paths in the last six episodes of Season 2. While zombies are always a terrifying threat, a new human threat is looming, as the capacity for humans to hurt each other proves infinite.

While at the TCA Winter Press Tour, executive producer/writer/comic book creator Robert Kirkman and executive producer/showrunner Glen Mazzara talked about the slow build-up during the first half of the season, how the second half will accelerate the storytelling, the decision to introduce a new human threat, fan favorite characters from the comics who will likely appear sooner rather than later, the hope to bring Lennie James back at some point, and whether the possible concept ideas that former showrunner Frank Darabont had for Season 2 could ever have happened. Kirkman also talked about where the comic book series is headed, and the types of comic book titles he’s looking to release through his publishing label. Check out what they had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers:


Question: Where does the first episode back pick up?

GLEN MAZZARA: Five seconds later. After the finale, finding Sophia in the barn is just a huge event that rocks our characters and changes everything on the farm. So, I think the stakes are much higher and people are dealing with a lot more. The storytelling becomes denser and just brings everything to a full boil. 

Looking back, do you regret taking several episodes to look for Sophia?


ROBERT KIRKMAN: I think it was important to take the time to get to know our characters. It’s a good thing to lull people into a false sense of security, when the characters are experiencing a false sense of security. I think their time spent on the farm made the Sophia reveal that much bigger of a payoff, but is also going to inform just how the last six episodes are interpreted. I think, if they didn’t have that moment of calm, where we got to know our characters a little bit better and we got a sense that things were looking pretty good for them, this farm would have been a great place for them to be. In the next half of the episodes, we’re going to see that the farm isn’t that great a place. You have to build up what they have, before you can take it away. That’s really what makes the story more interesting. 


MAZZARA: Yeah, I think we have a story that we’re telling over 13 episodes. That first half had a great payoff, and the second half accelerates the storytelling. I don’t know if we’d say that we regret any of the episodes that we did. I’m proud of those episodes and, if some people feel that some of those episodes were slower than others, I could argue that we were spending time with our characters. 

Were you surprised that audiences had a hard time with the slow build?

MAZZARA: Well, I could make the case that that’s true for a certain segment of the audience. People have expectations about the show, and the show is a difficult show to write because, if we have a zombie attack every week, people say it’s the zombie-of-the-week. And, if we don’t have zombies, people say there are no zombies. So, it’s a challenging situation. I think that we’ve looked at making each episode as interesting and as compelling as possible. I think we get better at that, as it goes on. There might be some folks who would love for the show to be more of a video game. I’ll say this: the show is improving. If there were episodes that felt as if they were stalling, or that they weren’t under threat, and that perhaps the farm felt too safe and the threats were outside off the farm, a lot of that changes, in the back part of the season. I think that things pick up. It just becomes more accelerated. The stakes are higher, it’s more action-packed and it’s more interesting. By the end of these six episodes, hopefully those fans will agree that this is a thrill ride because we really do feel there are huge pay-offs, coming up in each episode. You won’t have to wait for just the last episode. Maybe there weren’t pay-offs, along the way.

KIRKMAN: I think that building to that reveal of Sophia was a pay-off that we were working towards, and I think we did a good job of working towards it. I would also like to say that the Sophia reveal is really the beginning of an escalation that takes us all the way through to the end of our season. We started out searching for Sophia, and then things got a little bit heightened, when we found her in the barn. That’s going to lead to a lot of conflict. That’s going to lead to a new threat on the horizon, that you’ll see in our first episode back, which is really going to dovetail into a big series of events that’s going to lead us to our finale. So, having that big escalation would not work as well, we feel, if we didn’t have those episodes. We recognize this criticism, and it is valid, but we are working on a 13-piece puzzle that, as a whole, should be seen in a different light. We’re hoping that, when it’s all put together, people will see that it all came together in a good way. 


MAZZARA: I think people will be satisfied, by the end of this run. You learn how to do a show, as you’re writing it. The story material reveals itself, so if there’s a way to break down that criticism and look at it moving forward, that’s valid. 

Read the rest of the interview here.

The Secret Circle, Season 1, Episode 13: Medallion

So, after completely destroying its canon in the last episode, Secret Circle went on hiatus for a week. Now it’s time to catch up and see if they can put the pieces back together again.

And we begin with teen angst. Adam just can’t believe Cassie dug up her father with Jake. I mean with Jake – how could she! And just when the sad Wed Lettuce eyes were finally starting to take effect, that’s so sad and mean! How could you not have invited Adam to your grave desecration! (Exhumation of her father’s corpse is less important than the fact she did it with Jake.) Adam continues to have a little pout about the big bad Jake.

I could almost, ALMOST, see Adam, the Wet Lettuce, as having a point by saying that she’s going really fast to find out about her power, taking risks, for no good reasons. Except he made common sense all about jealousy because the Wet Lettuce doesn’t want Jake coming between them (because they kissed once and now they’re fiiiiinnnnalllllyy together. One kiss man. One. I know it’s been a while for you since you broke up with Diana, Chief Scooby, but seriously, one kiss. Does that even count as an “us” for Jake to get between?) Never mind that there’s no real reason to be hurried here, never mind that there’s actually. Never mind that the Witch Hunter rituals are about 8,000 times less threatening than a guy just stabbing you with a nice, common knife.

Ok rant over. On with what I will call (with deep reservations) the plot.

Cassie meets Lucy Gibbons, a psychic who was on the boat during the big witch hunter fire. As a younger woman, she saw Cassie’s spectral self visiting Jake’s memory and told Cassie to get out – she’s not tracked Cassie down since her memory of that fire has changed to include meeting Cassie. And she’s here to warn Cassie about the Witch Hunters (the guys who really need to just get a gun). Then she disappears again.

This causes Cassie and Jake to do some unwise experimenting with dark magic, as you do, which ends up with them in awkward, accidental sexy hold while Adam comes and catches them. Angst and jealousy, yay. And Adam is again using Common Sense because they have a whole circle of magic to protect themselves – they should be playing with THAT magic that they don’t understand rather than Cassie’s magic that they don’t understand. What a choice!  

Cassie, naturally, chooses dark magic because Sexy!Evil Jake says so and they go tracking down Lucy who has a ritual to open up the Blacoin amulet to allow more lovely dark magic they can’t control. Sadly, Adam has decided he needs to protect Cassie from herself by stealing her amulet! Go go patriarchal, patronising control! Though Adam does redeem somewhat by giving it back and saying he has no right to make decisions for her. See, this is the problem with Spunky Agency, because while I think Adam is grossly out of line and patronising to try and make this decision for Cassie, Cassie’s own awful decision making makes me think someone has to! Also, again with Adam’s opposition being all about jealousy when there are perfectly sensible reasons to oppose Cassie’s black magic palooza.

The Vampire Diaries Season Three: Episode Thirteen: Bringing Out the Dead

 

When I reached the end of this episode, I kept thinking that the writers probably saw this episode as a real game changer, and then proceeded to laugh my ever lovin' ass off.  I don't even know where to begin talking about it.

Last episode, Damon finally got smart and pulled the dagger from Elijah's body, and sent him back to Klaus, with a note in his pocket informing him that they needed to have a chat.  This is exactly what Elena should have done when she returned the vampire cheerleader known as Rebekah to Klaus.  Elijah comes out of his coffin swinging, but then Klaus promises to tell him everything, and reminds him of his oath of loyalty to him. 

Before going off to meet with Klaus, Damon and Stefan have yet another spat, in which they both agree that they don't trust each other.  This of course has everything to do with Elena, because clearly they have both acted numerous times to protect each other from the threat of other vampires.  Beyond being a beautiful young woman, I simply don't understand the fascination with her.

This week, sheriff Liz got pulled out of the plot box long enough to tell Elena that the dagger they found in the dead man, only has her fingerprints on it.  Suspicion is immediately placed on Meredith, but Elena casts that aside, simply stating that she does not believe that Alaric can have that kind of bad luck with women.  Yeah logic, she has none.

In the meantime, it seems that Bill Forbes was attacked and killed when he was in the hospital, but because Dr. Fell had injected him with vampire blood to cure his wounds, he is now essentially a vampire.  All he needs to do to complete the process is to consume human blood. The ever so noble Bill decides that he would rather die than become a vampire.  Don't you love how self preservation instincts just flew out the window there.  I have never liked Bill and his aversion therapy, but he is the only gay character on the show, and I am disgusted that the writers so easily killed him off.  I am further disgusted that he choose suicide, because  he couldn't live with what he had become, in a culture in which gay teens are committing suicide. Is anyone who isn't a minority ever going to be in threat of dying on The Vampire Diaries?

Caroline decides that she is going to force Bill to drink blood, but Elena intervenes to lecture her about respecting Bill's choices.  Really?  Is this woman for real?  Since when does she support a policy of non interference? This is a woman who has had Jeremy's mind cleared out, and his memories erased on more than one occasion, though she knows that he is specifically against this.  All of a sudden she is advocating for the bodily autonomy of another.  I suppose that because this didn't effect her, and the people that she supposedly loves, allowing them to choose is no big deal. Hypocrisy much? Elena does take care to point out that she knows what Caroline is feeling, because her father is also dead. Funny, I don't remember Elena having to watch as her father chose to die, but yeah, she can empathize with everyone.

Caroline stays with Bill and he comforts her by saying that no parent is supposed to outlive a child, and that this is what it means to be human. Oh Bill, so noble until the very end.  He dies as Caroline holds his hand, and Liz watches with tears in her eyes.

In the meantime, who should show up but Matt.  They really need to give his character his own storyline or get rid of him.  What purpose does he serve?  At Elena's house they walk in and find that Alaric has been attacked and there is blood all over the house. Elena begins to cry and is upset because she can't lose anymore family.  She asks Matt to wait with her for Alaric to wake up. Question, how come the magical ring worked this time, but the last time it failed and Alaric had to have some of Damon's blood to live?  I suppose consistency is not something the writers are big on.  It turns out that the good doctor was in surgery at the time of Alaric's assault, and is now officially cleared of attempting to murder the council members. Ooooh the smell of more mystery and yet another bad guy.

Review of Blood Cross by Faith Hunter: Book 2 of the Jane Yellowrock Series

 

Blood Cross is the second book in the Jane Yellowrock series.  When we last left Jane, though she had saved the day, Leo, the master of the New Orleans was not pleased, believing that she had killed his son, rather than killing the killer of his son.  In Blood Cross, Jane must hunt a dangerous rogue who is creating vampires and killing witches. 

But things are far from that simple - with witch magic and vampire powers coming together to try and overcome the ancient curse of the vampires - the fighting of reveals far more about the history of vampire kind

Beast is still pushing Jane and we learn that any maternal feelings Jane has actually belong to beast who refers to children as kits.  I really like this division as socially it is falsely constructed that all women love children and feel protective and loving around them.  Beast also wants to mate, and Jane is worried that the closer they get to the new moon, the more likely that Beast will choose one from her two suitors.  I love that Beast showed no shame in her sexual desires, though did find it problematic that this suggested mated was meant to be a sort of completion of Jane.

Jane herself is a wonderfully strong character. She's driven, arse kicking, completely lacking in spunky agency, capable of looking after herself but not ridiculously over perfect. She has doubts and concerns but she is never weak with them. She sets her own agenda, and covers it in a lovely lashing of snark and defiance that never drops into ridiculous Keillie Independence. About the only thing I didn't like over much beyond the mated=completion was the age-old trope of the protagonist blaming themselves for things that are not their fault and beyond their control.

In this novel we are introduced to our first gay token however he has no role beyond a 2 second reference. His name is Deon and he is the new cook over at Katies.

On the monitor, I watched Deon, who was slight of form, about five-seven, and gayer than a nineteen fifties chorus-line dancer, as he washed his hands before tackling sushi. (pg 173)

We don't anything about him beyond that fact that he is gay and chef. The rest of the novel is largely spent on heterosexual and cisgender characters; however, there is still plenty of appropriation going on:

Bliss was still in the witch closet (or maybe she didn't know she was a witch?) and any mention of magic use made her uncomfortable. (pg 60-61)

This is but one instance of many in which Hunter uses terms like coming out, or closeted to talk about a supernatural creature revealing its identity publicly.  This language is appropriation and does not consider the harm that the phenomenon of the closet causes to GLBT people.

Hunter also through in some transphobia for fun:

Existence is not Entitlement, Erasure is not Acceptable

As we have often made note of in this space, Urban Fantasy, Dystopian, Horror, and Steampunk is often filled with the erasure of GLBT people (note: a universal erasure applies to trans people) disabled people and people of colour.  The default as with all forms of media is to fall back on the most privileged bodies at all times. And it’s wall to wall - not only will the protagonist always be as privileged as possible, but so will most of the people who surround them as well.

And in the few cases were marginalised characters do exist, all is not rosy. It’s very rare for us to get more than a single token character; in fact, sometimes we’re lucky to get that - often we will see the odd marginalised face in a crowd scene, or someone referred to in passing without any real ‘screen’ time at all. When we do have them, the characters are often hollow. They have no real traits or personalities, no goals, no personhood - they’re just a placeholder for the necessary inclusion cookies. And, were that not problematic enough, usually they exist to serve the privileged protagonists - side-kicks, best friends, entourage, never people in their own right.

Of course, in the few occasions when they do have some traits, they normally fall into ridiculous, stereotyped tropes that are hardly progressive and serve to further “other” them while maintaining the supremacy of privileged people.

As we have mentioned in the past, gatekeepers do effect the ability of writers to include historically marginalized characters; however, they are not solely responsible for the dearth of representation.  Just like everyone else, writers are born into a discourse that privileges certain bodies and unless they have made a conscious effort to decolonize their minds and consider a world which may be outside of their lived experience, the tendency to repeat dominant social narratives becomes normalised. Even with writers who are aware of this phenomenon, they often fall into the trap of hunting for inclusion points by introducing the gay uncle or a wise negro to fulfill what they deem to be a quota rather than investing in these marginalized characters to the same degree that they invest in characters that come from a dominant sub group.

And this erasure costs. Our children grow up forever seeing themselves as not worth talking about, their stories not worth telling. And when they see themselves? They see themselves as less, or they see some caricature that’s supposed to be them but is barely human. This is why even today when Black children are asked to take the “doll test” they routinely invest the White doll with all positive traits and the Black doll with negative traits. Children learn at an early age to internalize the negative images and messages created by media, and this inevitably follows them all the days of their lives.

Review: Dark Side of the Moon by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Book 7 of the Dark Hunter Series

Susan is a journalist. An investigative reporter. Or she was before she lost everything when one story blew up in her face. The scandal of her mistake brought her down and stripped her of everything, her job, her boyfriend, her reputation, her home and everything she owned. Now in Seattle, she’s reduced to writing shock headlines for a dreadful supermarket tabloid – bat boy and Elvis sightings.

And then her whole world is so turned upside down that it makes her paper’s convoluted headlines seem almost sensible. Her best friends are talking about vampires in the police department, she brings home a cat that turns into a gorgeous naked guy – that she’s allergic too. And police are battering down her door and accusing her of murder. 

Ravyn, the former Arcadian Dark Hunter, has his own problems. The Daimons have allied with the mortal authorities in an effort to bring down all of Seattle’s Dark Hunters. Already one of them has fallen, arrested and left in a daylit cell and he himself was captured by animal control in his cat form. Rescued by Susan, he drags her into a world where the Daimons have changed all the rules and the only safety he can find is in his family’s sanctuary – a family that loathes him and blames him for so many of their loved one’s deaths centuries ago.

Now they have to save the city from the Daimons, try to keep the Dark Hunters alive and deal with the added complication of familial angst, were-hunter bonding and Savitar dropping the enraged and troubled Nick Gautier in their laps.

And, of course, Acheron is never around when you need him

Ok I’m going to start with some social justice issues then come back to the plot.

We do have some POC Dark Hunters in what is becoming a habit – whenever you have group scenes of Dark Hunters you will get the odd few who are POC. They show up, we’re given quick introductions showing they’re from Egypt/Japan/Sudan and then, of course, they have to leave because Dark Hunters can’t spend too much time together without draining each other – which is great and has good storylines, but we end up following the Nordic Greeks and other European Dark hunters

And yes, I put in the Nordic there for a reason – I’m no expert and please correct me if I’m wrong, but these extremely tall, pale folks aren’t what I picture when I think of Ancient Greeks and Romans.

We has some GBLT-ish inclusion here. In that Stryker – yes the big big bad guy, the leader of the Daimons, the ultimate evil guy, was in an orgy of men and women, showing what a perverse evil bad guy he was. But the orgy may have just been for blood (Daimons and Apollites must drink each other’s blood).

And we saw Zoe (briefly, for about 10 seconds). The Amazon. The man hating Amazon. The man hating Amazon with a sharp tongue who gives Acheron grief. Guess what? She’s a lesbian! I tell you I am shocked, shocked by this revelation.

Right – y’know erasure was good. Let’s go back to the erasure.

As to Susan, the lead female character – I have to say I love her. She’s prickly, she’s snarky, she’s strong and tough. She has been thrown up to her neck in the supernatural but neither falls apart in a sobbing mess nor does she completely take it in her stride (which would be unrealistic). She can kick arse (albeit a little convolutedly) she’s sensible and she’s generally a character I love. And, unlike previous books, the love is fast but not ultra fast and they have a little time for lust and spending time with each other before the twu luv woo-woo comes down.

Cover Snark: Bring on the Mantitteh!

We have done several cover snarks now that show endless depictions of women in body twisted, leg cramping positions to show their spilling cleavage and asses firmly held in extra-tight leather.

After so many sexualised images of women in these ridiculous poses, we feel the need to balance a little: BRING ON THE MANTITTEH!

 

It may tell you nothing about the book, nothing about the plot and nothing about the characters but ripple, waxed torsos decorate many a cover and sell many a book. And, of course they’re wonderful code for the steamy content within. (Actually, since we’re not the biggest fans of Paranormal Romance compared to Urban Fantasy, we often regard the Mantitteh as a warning sign for a book we won’t enjoy that much - MANTTITEH! Be warned, humping lies within!)

Review Being Human, Season Two, Episode Three: All Out of Blood

 

Things continue to escalate for the worst with the three roommates.  After what can only be deemed a nightmare, a dark shadowy figure seems to be following Sally and she feels that it is out to get her in someway.  She is absolutely desperate for escape and when she learns that nurse Zoe Gonzales helps people to reincarnate into babies that are dying, Sally sees this as her chance not only to escape but to have a new life.  Neither Josh or Aidan are particularly supportive of the idea but do agree to sit down with Zoe to discuss Sally's potential.  Unfortunately for Sally, Zoe determines that she is too angry due to her attempt to kill her ex boyfriend.  In desperation Sally tells her that she is being stalked by a dark creature, but instead of softening Zoe's resolve this hardens it because in the body of a baby Sally would be completely defenseless. 

Taking things into her own hands, Sally enters the nursery when Zoe is not there.  She finds a little boy that is not disturbed by her presence and contemplates entering the child when the dark figure appears behind her, terrifying the child.  Sally screams for the dark figure to leave the child alone and pops out of the nursery.  When Zoe finds her, she is initially upset with Sally because of her initial intentions but agrees to help her because she chose to leave the child alone.

I decided to talk about Sally first mainly because Josh, Aidan and Nora's stories are interlaced to a large degree this week.  Josh rents two storage containers and buys a camera in order to record their change, but Nora is not enthused by the idea at all.  She wants to change with Josh, but he is adamant that this is dangerous. 

At the hospital, Aidan goes to use his key card to get some bagged blood only to discover that he has been locked out.  It seems that  the administration believes that the blood is being taken so that junkies can test clean on their blood tests.  This means that Aidan has lost his blood supply. For someone who is so determined to go clean, how is it that he didn't develop a back up plan? It's ridiculous because he has always known the repercussions of not being able to get blood when needed.

Review: An Artifical Night by Seanan Mcguire, book 3 of the October Daye Series

The Hunt is riding again. His hunt rides forth every 100 years and before it does it gathers new riders and steeds into the fold. But the source for these new recruits are children – fae children to ride, mortal children for horses and the nights before Samhain Michael recruits new steeds and riders from their homes.

And in comes October Daye. Her best friends have lost their children, the Court of Cats have lost children and her friend Quentin has lost his girlfriend to the Hunt and October, as a hero, isn’t going to let that happen. Even if her Fetch has arrived, predicting her imminent demise.

With the help of Luna, the Duchess of the Shadowed Halls and the ancient fae, the Luidaeg, she has to enter the lands of the hunt and retrieve the children. But she is entering a new world with this quest, playing by the rules of children’s games and songs, fighting with rhymes and half remembered rules of fairness in a world that isn’t bound to reality. 

And, of course, even if you manage to save people from the Huntsman, how do you stop him turning his eyes upon you?

I think in this book we had the most powerful feeling of what it means to be fae –not just in the series but perhaps in Urban Fantasy in general. The surreal, malleable world, the shifting reality and the low grade3, unnerving terror was powerful. But more so was the simple use of children’s stories, of fairness and of arcane rules to the games. It added to the surreality and the alienness of the world, even told through the familiarity of children’s rhymes. In a way it adds to the terror of it – because these aren’t creatures that follow the rules and mores of adult society – not even of adult thinking – they are literally creatures of nightmares and as alien and incomprehensible as those nightmares.

This links with the huge richness of the world here to make something which is both epic and wondrous with lots of shinies and lots of surreal terrors.

The plot has an interesting element in that you think it’s solved and then realise – wait, I’m only half way through. And then we’d have a new chapter, a new start, a new twist. And then you think it’s resolved a second time, but again there’s a new chapter, a new twist to the tale. In other books I’ve found that irritating – but largely because there hasn’t been enough coherence between the stages. In this book each section of the tale naturally leads into the next. I also like it because we’re very much reading things through an almost fairy tale lens – and fairy tales end far too neatly with their “happy ever after”. Each “ending” would have been a great fairy tale ending – and then they all lived happily ever after, but what about the consequences? Does the story really end there? Are there no loose ends? So I quite liked it, I felt it was  rejection of the simple, pat ending.