The Magicians: Season 4, Episode 6: A Timeline and a Place

Penny has been kidnapped and locked in a magical cage - as has Marina. They’ve been captured by Daniel - a Horomancer. A rare magical talent based on manipulating time. And he’s captured them both because they’re outside their actual timeline. They don’t belong in timeline 40 and their presence there is making time magic futz. He insists it isn’t personal (and Marina is clear that being locked in a cage is always personal).

He doesn’t listen to counter arguments and he uses his time magic to zap them all to timeline 23… except that this timeline has no magic so the cages fall and Penny punches Daniel unconscious. While he has no wish to release Marina since she is made of evilness and has just one overarching goal (be reunited with her girlfriend now she knows enough about now to actually not screw up. And though I really want to see more same-sex relationships I also kind of think this woman need to run, run for the hills!). But Penny releases her because she claims to know how to use the timeline jumping device

She’s lying. She tells Penny that she really should remember to trust his instincts about her in future. She is a terrible person.

They switch time lines but because she doesn’t know what she’s doing they end up in a time line where magic users are hunted down by law - thankfully we don’t delve into this very very tropey storyline. They decide they need advice on how to use this device and go to find this timeline’s Daniel and seek his advice. He is thrilled to see their more developed time magic and calls his mother, the founder of the Horomancy… who then collapses

Penny and Marina flee with his devices to communicate with the past and his mother’s notes and between the two they patch together some information: one of the core elements that Sonia used to develop time magic is a substance that basically causes time related brain damage - which she counters with watches that use time magic to keep their minds safe. Unfortunately Penny and Marina being outside their timeline is disrupting time magic - hence why Sonia collapsed. Her shield is no longer working

Penny realises that this is why Daniel is so eager to get them out of Timeline 40 - because their presence is killing his mother. Penny is horrified and insists that they cannot return. Marina, of course, doesn’t care. But Penny is the Traveller and the one able to zap away…

...to a white room. A room between life and death where he is pulled into a meeting but… Penny 40. Yes the Penny now working for the Library from the original Timeline - a much less fluffy, happy Penny with a whole lot more hard edges. He has a simple message - it’s vital Penny 23 return to Timeline 40: yes Sonia is going to die, but it’s too late, she’ll die anyway. Penny 40 is totally impatient by Penny 23’s emotional sadness and really really wants him to just get on with things. He insists that there’s something much much much bigger at play than just Sonia and Penny 23 must return

He also insists that this is Penny 23’s storyline now, and dismisses his guilt over taking Penny 40’s space. Again, he has no patience for this emotion - and it is really well done how these characters are very similar but fundamentally different. Often when the same actor plays two characters those characters are extremely different from each other (look at the Acting Superhero, Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black) but it’s a brilliant change to see these characters be very similar but still have fundamental differences. Their morality and outlook is very different but they’re both recognisably the same person

Penny returns to his timeline (with Marina)  and waits for Daniel… he realises Daniel will do anything to get rid of them since his mother is on the line… soe he plants dandelion seeds from timeline 23 into timeline 40. Daniel will never find them all… getting rid of Marina and Penny won’t help him.

The Magicians: Season 4, Episode 4: Marry... Kill

Oh I’m torn

On the one side, everyone has their own storyline and it’s all separate and that always frustrate me

Except all the storylines are awesome. In fact can I say again how utterly amazing Magicians has turned things round

So first up we have Josh, now back from Fillory after the death of Bacchus, yes the Monster brought him home and Penny is rather surprised. And Josh is surprisingly mellow about the death of Bacchus - oh he’s not a fan of the whole killing but that phone call for Quentin was exactly what he feared -his dad is dead so Josh is putting a pin in that.

Elliot monster is also around and Margot is giving him shit because it’s what she does in perfect fashion - stylish, sassy, perfect fashion. She tries to convince the Monster to jump to a new non-Elliot body but he’s not into that and wants to kill more gods - so he’s off to Quentin. More on that later

So Josh has another problem - he’s having horrible bloodthirsty nightmares and when he wakes up there’s a bloody hunk of flesh in his bed. He tries to cover it up but Penny notices. Soooo between the time lines it’s hard to follow but Josh is a kind of werewolf. A sexually transmitted lycanthropy. And he is now going through the Quickening which means he either has to have sex and pass it on or brutally murder someone. He confirms this with Helen, a teacher in Brakebills who infected him and she fills in the blanks. She also makes it clear that locking yourself in a cage will only make you go mad and kill yourself.

She suggests using Tinder and infecting someone - just like she does. But on the plus side being a werewolf is generally harmless except for that once a 30 year quickening thing. Of course Josh refuses because he’s not going to infect an innocent with this.

In despair he tells Margo. Margo doesn’t do despair. Margo refuses the very concept of despair. Margo is absolutely not giving up and decides to find a cure for the curse - while Josh remembers someone else was infected and rushes to warn her. Only to find the dismembered corpse in her bed which doesn’t help her despair (Margo is completely unimpressed and decides since she slept with an uber driver she probably had a death wish. Did I mention how Margo completely rules this show?)

They pursue and Indonesian ritual to cure the curse that uses the heart of a Komodo dragon they steal from Kanye (because… Magicians. Oh and Margo is fine with killing it because it’s only vulnerable not endangered). Which all looks good… except it doesn’t work

In despair, Josh locks himself in a cage to give up and embrace death and Margo is furious and berates him for doing just that - because she’s Margo and Margo never ever gives up. Why if he has to kill someone she knows at least a dozen people who deserve it! Josh says no. And adds that her refusing to give up is just making his sacrifice so much harder

But under that determination is also the deeply sad vulnerability that she doesn’t want to lose another friend (and she has no time for men and their noble sacrifices because she’s Margo and skewering pretentious masculinity is her thing)

She gets in the cage - and removes her underwear. Josh protests but she points out she can’t cure him, doesn’t want him to die, she can’t make him kill someone but she can offer him one thing: consent. And she does like him (which is mutual)

Ok there’s definitely an argument about whether this is consent since Margo is presented with only one way to save her friend - there’s definitely pressure here. But at the same time Margo is an adult and it’s patronising to say that pressure removes her ability to make an informed decision (especially since we know Margo isn’t sexual reserved or reticent and may quite happily see sex as a useful tool in these circumstances). Also, it’s Margo - she’s equally capable of finding someone she doesn’t like and throwing them in the cage to be murdered. Oh yes she would.

They have sex, which saves Josh and they snuggle afterwards (and it’s cute and I think helps with the above semi-conflict in making it clear Margo does like him. Also he’s the one who calls it casual but she makes a semi-joke about it being far from casual since she saved his life). She is infected with the werewolf STD now but she kind of shrugs it off - it’s only communicable through penis-in-the-vagina sex which she doesn’t see as the pinnacle of sex: it’s not even in her top 10. And if she lives 30 years (which she doubts and is likely not wrong) she has people who owes her favours

They also both think that Elliot may be dead

Speaking of - Quentin says goodbye to Julia (and they have an awesome dynamic including Quentin teasing her because this Penny is clearly into her) before he heads off to handle his dad’s estate. There he meets his mother and things are… tense as he makes up various excuses for being away

The Magicians: Season 4, Episode 3: Bad News Bear

The gang is gathered facing the Elliot monster who is merrily deciding how to kill them in a way which will cause the most suffering.

But downstairs, Margo arrives and runs into Marina. Now Marina is running away because her god-detecting wards have done a collective Oh-fuck and since an alternate version of her (time lines are so confusing) got brutally murdered by a god she’d rather flee for the hills. But she does have a trap for a god - ambrosia that will get them super high and distracted - she tells this to Margo

Margo joins her friend, sets up the trap - and doesn’t use it. Instead trading the location of Bacchus and the means to incapacitate him in exchange for all their friend’s lives. The Monster may hate them but he really really really hates the gods so much more

Josh isn’t thrilled with this plan being a good friend of Bacchus - but Margo is nothing if not ruthless. He thinks she should have used the trap on The Monster but Margo isn’t a fool - the last time they used a god killing thing (a bullet) on the Monster, it was immune and they just killed the host. And since his current host is Elliot, Margo is not happy with that.

They’re transported magically to Fillory and Josh’s job is to poison Bacchus. Bacchus lays on ALL THE GUILT on his best friend. Josh can’t do it but he runs straight into Margo who a) nicely flips the sexism of “pussy” and b) shows her extreme ruthlessness and plans to murder the whole party if he doesn’t get on side… he does

Bacchus is poisoned.... And fed to the Beast. We get some nice exposition with the Beast telling us that he came from the same parents as the gods, that he has his “kind” were trapped together and the Beast ate them all. Hence why he’s called a monster. He knows the gods took something from him but doesn’t know what it is… but he wants it back. Bacchus can’t give it back and, while desperately begging for him to pick any other gods… the Monster slices him open and pulls out a glowy magic red heart

A heart that, to Margo’s fairy eyes, glows like the sun

Julia meanwhile meets with Henry who is just such a glorious wreck with his hidden stash of booze, confronting him about both putting a target on her gang and, at the same time, playing too safe when facing the Library and the McAllisters, compromising too easily. And I think she’s not wrong? But after last episode when we brutally saw Henry’s devastating self-doubt and hate it’s clear that Henry maybe doesn’t have the self-confidence to go all in and trust to his abilities - which is kind of what Quentin, Julia etc all did. Especially this episode. This episode pretty much sums up their entire policy of charging in and trusting that they can handle it. And Julia is even more inclined now - the reason she kept coming back to life last episode? She’s a god. Oh she lost her god powers, but there are still perks

So with Margo and Josh away, that leaves the rest to figure out how to survive. So the McAllisters (the former faerie slavers) are credited with bringing magic back - and handing it to the Library. The McAllisters have now put a huge bounty on the gangs’ lives. And, of course, Marina, not being a super nice person, intends to collect on this. Which is why she tried to bring the illusion down in the first place

Quentin steps in an insists on paying her off - with Deweys. Deweys are coins from the Library - magic credit. The Library gives a small amount of background magic to everyone - but if you want to do a bit more then you need to get some more magic from the Library. And the library has a whole set of coinage they dish out for that - the biggest is the Dewey.

The Magicians, Season 4, Episode 2: Lost, Found, Fucked

Marina has gathered most of our cloaked magicians together to try and break the spell on them… which doens’t work, doesn’t work at all

She also gets a magical automated voice mail from Henry Fogg telling her to cease and desist and that trying - or succeeding - in breaking the spell that is shielding them will only cause everyone to die horribly.

Marina being Marina, is not going to listen to any automated warnings. More, she realises that the cloaked people must be Henry’s most favoured students, who else would they be? She begins poking and prodding at Penny until she finds the spell that suppresses his Travelling ability (we’ve seen previously that his Travelling ability is non-human magic so isn’t subject to the limitations of magic rationing) which he uses to buzz around quite merrily.

The rest of the group are torn - and Kady puts it best: their lives are fake. Even when their fake lives are awesome (Josh’s biggest conflict is his penis is too big, Penny has legions of groupies and Kady is like a super-cop bordering on a hero) they’re blatantly comic book. No-one really has lives like this.

Marina uses Penny’s travelling ability to nip into Henry’s office, steal his shiny disguise potion and inject him with it - all witnessed by Todd. Her plan is to convince Henry to reveal the antidote to save himself. He refuses, protecting these students is too important to him. He also questions which of the many many many time lines this Marina is from. Honestly, I’ve lost track. I know one of the Marina’s was Henry’s lover but I’m pretty sure that isn’t this Marina.

It has gotten rather confusing.

Instead Henry embalks on a rather epic goodbye session, having Todd record his memoirs and laying out his deep, abiding pain in a moment that would be almost funny if it weren’t so poignant - from his alocholism, his self-loathing, his gambling and his general self destruction. He finds it cathartic, but it’s super emotional as well. We also remember that he is one of the few who remembers all 50 of the alternate time lines - 50 lifetimes all of them ending in absolute horror and awfulness. With that, even magic is a grand and awful disappointment to him. He almost welcomes losing his identity. Todd watches all of this casual revelations from his suicide plans to all his confessions with a growing sense of horror

Until he meets with Etta, his tailor who seems to know him better than anyone, knowing his clothes are a shield to keep people at bay and, ultimately what a good man he is before he breaks down in tears and tells her everything. Including how he tried to make the best lives he could for his “most annoyingly millennial of students” but Marina has doubtless planned something far worse

Someone else who learns the truth is Julia, still stuck in the identity of Kim, who is worried about him leaving since he’s the only one who believes in her (since she’s so bad at magic)... but Todd is incapable of keeping a secret and has told her everything. She realises she is one of the masked people and asks who she really is.

Of course Henry doesn’t tell her - but he can actually talk about it, since he cast the curse he is quite capable of stopping random things killing him from talking about it. He urges her not to poke this for her own safety. He, again , refuses to reverse the spell

And he goes to Marina to have his identity erased and replaced with a homeless person - and Marina calls him dad. And it’s possible among the whole time line thing I just missed that?

The Magicians, Season 4, Episode 1: A Flock of Lost Birds

So last season a lot happened - including the series changing from being something that made us cringe on a regular basis to something that was truly awesome and even came with some really super super music.

And Margo.

All hail Margo. All of you - you at the back, get with worshipping.

So magic was removed by the gods after our not-quite-heroes killed Ember and the old gods took an exception. They launched an epic quest which came with a really awesome Queen/Bowie cover and eventually restored magic - which in turn all went pear shaped when Alice decided, in her rather confused and broken way because ye gods she went through a lot and eventually decided all magic was bad and had to be destroyed. Julia stepped in and said nu-uh and since she was a god that stuck and Alice was stopped - but Julia was duly de-godded in the process. And then Zelda lead the librarians into the mess, took control of magic which is now rationed

Finish that all off with restoring magic also reducing a great scary powerful thing that could possess people and out not!heroes all having their memories scrubbed

Except Alice. Alice broke a deal with the Library so she’s locked up by them - where we’ll join her. She’s in her cell, making it clear to Zelda who is both evil overlord and kinda has a conscience so feels kinda guilty about the overlording, that she would like her to die in all the fires, preferably yesterday. While Zelda thinks the library is the bestest fascist all controlling super power ever and she totally wants Alice to join. One day. When Alice doesn’t hate the library, magic and pretty much everyone else

Her main concern is that the monster will hunt down her amnesiac friends who, magicless and without even knowing they’re Magicians, will be squished very easily. She hatches a plan which involves sort of faking suicide and capturing a cockroach. Yes your guess is as good as mine, I’m just going to say that it’s Magicians so this will be a) funny b) disgusting, c) horrifying or d) all of the above. But we may get a song

On the same cell block is Nick, the Magician who became obsessed with finding good people then good children who then worked with elves to try and reward good children and yes we have Santa Claus. Magicians is… odd. Very very odd. He has lots of pep talks for Alice

Henry Fogg also hates the Librarians but he’s more subtle and snarky than Alice so is instead using Passive Aggression of epic levels to remind Zelda he would also like her to die in all the fires - but also carefully taking aim at that conscience and reminding her everything is going to go wrong, our Not!heroes are all going to be hurt and it will be All Zelda’s Fault.

Archangel's Prophecy (Guild Hunter #11) by Nalini Singh

The Cascade is rising again, the power swelling and ancient angels starting to influence the world with their ancient prophecies

Prophecies which focus a lot on Elena, the only human born angel in existence. She’s gone through many changes - but will she survive how the magic changes her again?

But while the world is shaken there’s a more mundane, but deeply personal threat as well. Someone is killing vampires - including an attempt on her brother in law. She and the world may be under threat from magic - but her family is under threat from a killer and Elena refuses to let that go

I find myself clinging more and more desperately to Nalini Singh’s epic worlds because we’re seeing so few of these beautiful epic series. More and more are closing and, damn it, I love me a long epic! More epics! More book series with more books than I have digits!

And so we continue to the story of Elena - and I like that we are going back to Elena this book after several books of following more and more of Raphael’s Seven and their relationships, we’re now returning to the original, Elena, the first human born angel and what she means in this changing Cascade world. I like this revisit because we can see so much of how Elena has grown now we’re refocusing on her - another advantage of these long series. Some of this is very personal to Elena which really shows both a lot of her personal growth and journey as well as how she is so very different from other angels. Her relationship with her family, her attitudes towards her brother-in-law, her sister and, above all her father. She has evolved and has some much more mature and nuanced emotions towards her family as she and they have grown. Equally it emphasises she isn’t an Angel - how so many of those angels have no real familial ties of note. But we don’t just see her humanity but also how angelkind has changed her. She looks at angels she thought as cruel and sadistic and now she sees them from a much different perspective - she can see the risks they take with vampires as well as the angel’s cruel response. She’s not as condemnatory even while, at the same time, not quite signing off on it

Throughout the book we see Elena elegantly straddling that line between human and angel - and even her ties with the Guildhunters still putting her both part of the organisation but also apart. I also really like how this is never seen as a bad thing - sure she has lost some commonality over the books with some of her friends, but she still has her ties and in a genre where difference is so often seen as exclusionary or isolating, Elena has a really strong friend network. Which I also appreciate in paranormal romance where so many women seem to live lives with few truly close connections beyond that with their love interest. In fact, huge amounts of this book happen with Elena completely separate from Raphael - I would even say he is a bit character in this book, there more for what he represents than his actual presence. I’m not saying Raphael should be sidelined - but it’s nice to see us revisiting characters in a romance and her having a life that isn’t entirely focused on him

Diamond Fire (Hidden Legacy Novella) by Ilona Andrews

It is time for Nevada’s wedding and, if her little sister Cataline has anything to do with it, Nevada won’t have to worry about anything except her poor taste in bouquet

But with intolerant, demanding extended family with a ridiculous amount of secrets, a jewelry thief. Oh and a poisoner

Most weddings don’t have this much drama

It’s an Ilona Andrews book. I will now run around, chuckling with glee. There is no such thing as an Ilona Andrews book I don’t love - their work is designed to make me lose sleep because putting their books down is impossible.

This story continues the deadly magical and political world of the Primes - with a wedding. Nevada and Rogan’s which, unfortunately, also involves a whole lot of Rogan’s less than stellar relatives who are trying to ruin things in various ways

Our protagonist is not Navada for once, but her little sister Catalina - and it gives me hope that maybe we will be able to see future books with Catalina in the lead because she is such an interesting character

I think it’s an excellent contrast between Catalina and Rogan’s rich, spoiled cousins - contrasting their entitlement with her hard work. But also contrasting how young they are in comparison to her - how inept their plotting is, how basic their plans are and how they clearly wouldn’t have worked. We see how mature and competent Catalina is

And I think that really has to be emphasised. Catalina is competent, she’s extremely capable, experienced and knows a great deal about her work as an investigator. She’s a professional despite her young age and it shows everything about her skill and character - I like her

Supernatural: Season 14, Episode 7: Unhuman Nature

Jack collapsed last episode and his three dads are all panicky about how to help. Castiel tries to use his angelic abilities, but he has no idea what is wrong with Jack or how to fix him

In desperation they take him to a hospital, desperately trying to get through his admissions process when he has no surname, family or officially presence. But medical technology also doesn’t work so well with an ailing Nephilim.

Running out of options, with lots of powerful grief and Dean especially falling apart, they turn to Rowena

I always love a visit from Rowena! She isn’t thrilled about helping a nephilim and especially not the son of Satan - thinking that anything to do with satan is better off dead. But she can’t resist Jack’s innocent charm, even if he does kind of accept she may be right

But even Rowena’s magic doesn’t work. She does diagnose him though - a Nephilim needs grace to live. An Archangel Nephilim needs archangel grace. Which is a problem because all the archangels are dead.

Everyone starts brain storming except Jack - who wants to spend some time living and asks Dean to take him out. Which includes Dean showing him how to drive. Yes, drive his car, his baby; he doesn’t even let Sam do that. I like that a series of 14 seasons can have moments like this that have been so well established - and I like that they didn’t feel the need to make that point in this episode. We have fourteen seasons already we don’t need to make this clear.

They also fish with Jack being all gushy about this because he wants to spend more time with dean while he still has time left

And this whole scene, whole arc, is beautiful - but why Dean? There’s Sam and Castiel saying how hard it is to lose a son, and how this hurts more than their previous losses - but even they are talking about how it hurts Dean especially. I think the habit of Supernatural to focus more on Dean than the others takes something from the show. Especially this where Jack has, if anything, been closer to Sam and even closer to Castiel than Dean.

Castiel thought he had managed to track down Sergei, a shaman, who may be able to help - but only seems to exacerbate the problem. Castiel is duly enraged

But they now have no hope for Jack

The Walking Dead, Season 9, Episode 6: Who Are You Now?

In Defence of Reboots

Paradise Damned (Descent Series #7) by S.M. Reine

Elise is trapped within the Garden of Eden - and it is time for the godslayer to finally comfront God himself. Or at least try to survive his presence...

James has run to the rescue - but he is trapped and lost in endless limbo. While on Earth forces gather, the Union, hunters and even demon/angel hybrids as a cataclysmic event is predicted

This book is an odd book. There is plot but for the most part it doesn’t progress and go anywhere. We follow Elise almost exclusively now she is trapped in The Garden with her long nemesis - Adam, God. The god, the god that she, the godslayer, was always intended to face

But while in that garden she experiences a great deal - but, through sheer powerlessness doesn’t do a great deal or move the plot forward. And I think that works and is very necessary to convey just how very powerless and lost Elise is at this moment - how her just surviving and continuing to go forwards in a realm that is inimical to her very being in the face of a being of literally omnipotent power. Being frustrated, being stuck, seeing no way out but fighting on anyway is the core of this book and Elise herself

And while that happens we have the revelations - oh the revelations and truly fascinating world building and take on the ancient Adam and Eve mythology. The nature of Adam/God, the very different nature of Eve (which definitely flips the power scale before Adam ruined everything) the nature of Lillith, the birth of angels, of demons of humanity, why the whole idea of sacrificing women to the clearly dangerous and broken god keeps working, Metaraon and his motives towards all the events in the series so far, including the shape of this coven - so much is here.

On top of that we have nice moments from Nathaniel (James’s son), Elise’s mother Arianne and James himself all adding new shades to their characters both now and going forwards as well as more flashbacks of Elise’s past which helps understand her a bit more. I especially appreciate, after my previous complaints, that Elise and James have a major confrontation over the information he has been hiding from her - and it’s neither dismissed nor swept up. In fact it’s a nice contrast how she kind of rebuilds a lot of bridges with Anthony after their deeply broken relationship after they were both emotionally reeling - but such a neat resolve is denied James

The book ends with epic. And I think it needed to - after so longer with Elise captured and helpless we needed reminding of her awesome strength, we needed reminding that just because she was so helpless in the face of an impossible force doesn’t make her weak. It worked - and I think it worked even more that we had a sort of mini epilogue to basically say that it isn’t over That despite the whole massive, world changing hugeness that just happened, life still goes on and it goes on in quiet, sad and often mundane ways

One odd side effect of all the epic hugeness this is that Lucas, Malcolm and Anthony, making their way to Oymyakon, seeing the Union getting up to various shenanigans is a very fun romp (and I will always kind of love Malcolm, the quintessential rogue) but also jarringly out of place and bizarrely mundane next to all the epic world building and revelations out there - but at the same time the only part of the story that is actually moving forwards

Box of Frogs (The Fractured Faery #1) by Helen Harper

Madrona woke up on a golf course next to a decapitated body and with absolutely no memory of what just happened, who she is or anything else for that matter

And with three goons apparently trying to kill her, amnesia may be the least of her worries. At least she seems to have super powers to help save the day! And with these powers she can certainly do a lot of good

I mean, she is one of the good guys. Right?

When I read The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Magic series (people say it’s a trilogy, I adamantly refuse to accept that this series is only 3 books long. Refuse refuse refuse. No novellas don’t count) I was joyously surprised as it was one of the funniest, realist, most entertaining book series I’ve read in a long time. I loved it and was determined to read more of this author’s work - especially since I had had another series but this author recommended (not this series… this is what comes of whimsically working from memory)

So I went into this book with immense amounts of glee and joy and so much of it worked.

I loved how Madrona, suffering from amnesia, goes about learning who she is - and what she is. I love her creeping realisation that she’s not actually a nice person, her horror when she thinks something that is… less than charitable and reels back at her own reaction. It also goes really nicely with her generally highly upbeat attitude and positivity and infinite confidence. I also like her snark and sass, her complete lack of shame and her willingness to dive in head first. And while this genre has no end of protagonists who prove they are Strong Female Protagonists but shouting and swearing at the closest authority figure or big guy with a large gun to show their strength. But the difference here is that Madrona is very aware that her mouth is an issue, a character flaw

And there’s also a very real conflict under the fun and snark - as Madrona learns more about her past activities and herself there’s a very real conflict and angst about exactly HOW much of a not-nice-person she was. And this is such a powerful thing - not having any memories of yourself but clearly having done some dubious things - and dubious things without the comfort of the little lies and excuses we tell ourselves. It’s an excellent internal conflict

Z Nation, Season 5, Episode 6: Limbo

We open with an epic and disgusting zombie fight - because Z Nation always brings the icky. Doc, George and Warren are following the markings of the Talker hiding and it leads them to Limbo

Yes, the same place the blends told Murphy they were waiting. It’s a… club. A casino. And general place of debauchery ranging from the standard table dancers and roulette to chainsaw duels and whack-a-mole.

Murphy runs the place now wearing a ridiculous outfit which honestly he kind of makes work and he’s much beloved by his people (there’s also a moment where he says he’s in a bisexual threesome relationship which would be more noteworthy if it wasn’t a single throwaway line for comic relief and to emphasise the debauchery of Limbo rather than actual representation.)

We have lots of scenes of the general ickiness and it’s notable that there are a huge number of Talkers in Limbo. Murphy claims to be apolitical and not involved in Altura’s issues but Warren notes that his is the only settlement in Newmerica which allows Talkers to move around freely. AND Limbo is marked as a safe place for Talkers - so it seems Murphy is not nearly as apolitical as he claims

They do have a gang of Talkers now, but they’re very very hungry and Murphy isn’t THAT kind - most of the Biscuits in Limbo are used for stakes in gambling. Among the Talkers is Marjorie - Dante’s wife.

He insists that the Talkers are just dropped on his doorstep from a truck and he knows nothing. George changes her opinion of Murphy and hits him with the full weight of her super empathy and gives him one of her awesome speeches

Murphy is impressed - but not buying. Even George’s beautiful idealism runs aground on Murphy’s cynicism. Murphy also remembers Estes from Zona - and thinks he was dispatched on a secret mission not that he left as Estes claimed. There’s also a hairy moment when the near zombie Talkers need to be corralled

They’re interrupted by the arrival of the truck Murphy mentioned - and he has a psychic sense of Lucy. He hurries down, thinking his dead daughter has somehow come back and opens the door to find…

ADDIE

Yes it’s Addie! I called it last episode! That spiky mace had to be Addie! She’s back! She’s back. And… perhaps a little broken. She’s deeply sad about Lucy’s death and she, Murphy and Doc drink to her passing, reminiscing and sounding deeply sad (the least said about the booze they’re drinking, the better). She resists the idea that she’s a saviour for the Talkers despite clearly being so - and angrily backs off when they mention Dante. She thinks there’s absolutely no way he’ll get anything resembling a fair trial and she leaves angrily