The Walking Dead: Season 9, Episode 10: Omega

Lydia has been imprisoned in Hilltop and is now locked in a cell opposite Henry the sympathetic who wants to know her life story

She talks a lot about her life just after the apocalypse - and we get a flash back to her, her dad and her mother and them living in a shelter. In her recap, her dad was kind of an arsehole, being harsh and uncaring while her mother tried to comfort her and convince her that the world wasn’t ending while her dad was uncaring and awful and wanting to run off and generally snarling.

Lydia adds her own commentary about how her dad was the worst but her mother was strong and did what she had to - including at one point having to kill a man who was noisily panicking about being surrounded by scary zombies. Something Daryl thinks was necessary and understandable to survive since the apocalypse has you make hard choices. Later her dad ends up killed trying to save her from a zombie

This added to the lessons Lydia learned from her mother - you had to be hard, you had to be strong, and other bizarre ideas like “hunger is a gift”. She’s also convinced that settlements like this cannot possibly last becsause the world belongs to the dead and instead they have to wander around with zombies, catch blood poisoning from all the rotting meat and eat earth worms or anything lese they can just about scavenge without alerting the rotten nastiness around them

This makes perfect sense

Meanwhile Henry, listening to all this, decides it’s a great idea to tell Lydia about his parents and the other settlements in the area - until Daryl intervenes because they’re supposed to be questioning her and how can Henry possibly be this clueless? HOW?! Henry insists Lydia is a nice person and Daryl is a big ol’ mean meaning for not trusting the enemy agent who tried to kill one of them

Henry also sneaks her out in the middle of the night to eat earth worms (because that’s a thing the Whisperers do) and nearly get hit in the head by a hammer before she realises that maaaybe this settlement might actually be here to say

And Daryl confronts her - he recognises the marks on her arms as that she has been beaten - and guesses rightly that it was by her mother. As a man abused as a child himself he can see some parts of her story that don’t make sense - how her father has been cast as the villain but the story is inconsistent.

While I like Daryl examining his own past (and Henry bringing in Carol and how she cut her hair to avoid her abusive husband using it as a way to hurt her and has only grown it out now she feels safe which is a nice touch), I do think that this is somewhat simplistic - I mean “my abuse didn’t look like that” is not a valid way to criticise another’s abuse. Nor is pointing to an abuser’s acts of kindness proof that they weren’t/aren’t an abuser.

With Daryl poking a different story emerges - Lydia’s father was the supportive, caring, protective one and all the bad actions Lydia has ascribed to her dad actually came from her mother. Her mother told her her version of events over and over and over and over so many times that Lydia herself came to believe them (classic gas lighting); from simple things like cutting her hair through to the violence and willingness to leave

And, above all, her dad’s death - not at the hands of a zombie, but at the hands of Lydia when he refused to abandon their friends when they were struggling against the newly raised walker.

Again I’m going with good but simplistic here -on the one hand gaslighting like this is such a common abusive tactic - telling Lydia the beatings make her stronger, how they have to be hard and how weakness is terrible while at the same time stressing that her dad was the bad guy.

What I consider simplistic is that Lydia, after years of believing this, could apparently be turned by a couple of minutes of Daryl’s doubt.

But Lydia now recognises her mother as the big bad - which is awkward, because her mother arrives with a strong of Whispers all within easy mow-down-with-nows range to demand her daughter back

Apocalypse Nyx (Bel Dame Apocrypha) by Kameron Hurley

Nyx was a soldier. Nyx was a government backed assassin and bounty hunter. Now she works for herself with her own rag-tag team making a living in the grim, war-torn land of Nasheen

Life isn’t good, a centuries long war has turned Nasheen pretty apocalyptic and winning is surviving to see the next day - and maybe earning enough money to drink enough not to remember yesterday

This book with all its short stories is gritty with a capital grit. At many points in the story I expected something - I expected Nyx to soften, I expected her to see her crew as more like family, I expected her to see her to melt towards Rhys especially.

But everything about this is gritty, dark and messy. There’s no love, there’s just the release of casual sex. There’s no companionship - there’s just people Nyx works with (and that grudgingly) and every time we feel like we’re getting closer to something more

I say all this not as a criticism of the book, or even as a warning but as a clear depiction of what the book is. And in some ways it’s unique for it. I’ve read a lot of books that bring in the melodramatic grimdark, usually with lots of rape and torture for the sheer gratuitous purpose. But few pull off the gritty, certainly unrelenting gritty, gritty without some bright sparks, gritty without some sense of a happy ending or a happy moment or something. For unrelenting grimdark, this book works and is just perfect for it

This works because this is the world that Nyx lives in, this world far from Earth but clearly colonised but Earth people, this world where two nations have been at war for generations, a brutal horrific war complete with weapons of mass destruction used with such regularity that they have become a normal part of everyone’s day, with a border where the atrocities have piled up so much that mounds of bodies just don’t even feature. We have a state, Nasheen, where large branches of quasi law enforcement are dedicated to little more than hunting down deserters from the devastating wars, where we have people bred expressly for that war and conscription that consumes entire lives

On top of this we have both the grittiness of the war - chemicals, weapons, violence etc, but also the dangerous nature of the world itself with its multiple suns and high cancer rates which translates into some really strong messages on class divide as the poor obviously can’t spend time inside behind filters so they are susceptible to skin lesions and cancer - while the rich have smooth skin that is saved from the touch of the sun

In this we have Nyx, a deeply unlikeable character… which is perfect. Why should she be likeable? She’s a war veteran from a war that has destroyed her country from before she was even born. She’s been destroyed, remade, suffered immense trauma, watched many people around her die, been on an array of missions most of which have not exactly gone well, worked some rather unsavoury professions. She’s led a terribly traumatic, awful life, in a terrible traumatic, awful world: why would she be nice or pleasant or likable? Why would she even care about these things? It would break this whole theme, world and story if she were a woman with hope and positivity or had somehow managed to come through all of this still shiny would completely change the whole tone of the book. Even as Nyx has regrets and moments of guilt she drowns them in alcohol and so many times I think she’s so close to making the kinder choice…

Colony, Season Three, Episodes One: Maquis

Season three pretty much reboots the series, moving our band of survivors from California to Seattle, with one stop along the way.  When last we left the Bowmans, with Snyder's help, they had managed to escape Los Angeles just as a rendition was occurring, with the gauntlet no less.  Given that the entire world has been invaded that doesn't leave them with many options. The Bowmans settle in the woods in a small cabin.  It's a huge change of pace because they aren't actively in the fight anymore, nor are they actively running for their lives. Snyder has been made into the family cook and water fetcher because he has proven to be capable of little else.  The Bowmans fish, read books and play cards. It's a level of domesticity they haven't have since the invasion.

The aliens however are never far from their thoughts and so the area around the cabin has been completely booby trapped in case they have to flea quickly. Each day a drone takes a survey of the area.  The first sign of trouble is when a drone crosses the barrier for the first time. They always knew that this set up would temporary, even if it finally felt normal for the first time in a long time. Bram has been picking up resistance radio communications and wants to reach out but at this point, Will prefers to lay low for as long as possible.

Things come to a head when a ship buzzes overhead before crashing several miles away.  Will knows that they cannot afford to ignore this and tells his family to prepare to get moving while he and Snyder go check out what is going on. Even after six months, Will doesn't trust Snyder but he does believe that Snyder will best able to make sense of whatever they come across.  Snyder and Will head out into the Woods and manage to find an old ski lift. When they get to the top, they see that not only has the shipped crashed, it seems as though it has been shot down. This immediately gets Will's wheels turning.  What if the guests are actually at war with another alien species? Will wonders if it is possible to turn the enemy of an enemy into a friend. 

Back at the cabin, Kate and Bram argue about reaching out to the resistance.  Bram feels that it's no longer safe where they are and that they need to do something soon.  Kate however continues to remain noncommittal, as the two of them dig up the gauntlet from its hiding place.  Bram goes as far as to question who is actually in charge of the family, arguing that if his mother sides with him, then it's two against one. 

Snyder and Will return and barely have enough time to report on what they've found before the arrival of a kill squad.  Snyder is ordered to take Gracie and Charlie to their designated hiding space while Bram, Will and Kate hold down the fort and buy them just enough time to escape.  Will, Kate and Bram fire from the cabin for as long as they can before starting a recording of gun fire and fleeing themselves through the woods.  They kill each soldier they come across and Kate barely manages to avoid death herself.  Sensing that Gracie, Charlie and Snyder might need more time, Will sends Bram to catch up with them and cover their back while they continue to try draw the soldiers away.  Will and Kate find themselves in an open field and drone comes out of nowhere, killing the two soldier who had taken aim at them.  Will immediately jumps in front of Kate blocking the drone from seeing her. Once the drone scans Will, it moves off on its own. Kate is suitably surprised and Will explains that this isn't the first time this has happened. 

The Rise of Io by Wesley Chu

Ella Patel is a con artist, a thief and a young woman who survived and even thrived on the streets of Cratetown, a vast slum that has grown up on the edge of the demilitarised zone in the aftermath of the great Alien War. And one day she found herself witness to a brutal murder, driven to intervene she never imagined she was stepping in the middle of the conflict between the Genjix and the Prophus

Or becoming the new host of the Quasing, Io. A quasing who throughout all of human history has been renowned for… her string of utter failures. This doesn’t make her the best or most useful guide for Ella now pulled into the war between the two big alien factions. A quasing can be a powerful guide - but when that quasing is Io?

In the story of Tao, we saw one of the most powerful and influential Quasing in the history of the Prophus. He has inhabited a series of powerful people who have completely and utterly shaped the world, who have achieved great things, influenced history and been at the forefront of their war against the Genjix. We’ve seen him take some extremely unprepared hosts, like Roan Tan and raise him to greatness, we’ve seen him inhabit Cameron to great effect.

Tao was a superstar, even in the most inept of hosts, Tao was a force to be reckoned with. Tao was terrifying. Tao was powerful. Tao changed the world.

Io is not a superstar. Io is an abject failure. Late to living in a human host, having great difficulty in influencing her hosts and having a long history of leaving them dead in her wake. Io is the excellent depiction of an entirely different kind of Quasing. Not all quasings are skilled world leaders, not all quasings shaped the world, not all quasings made a huge difference to world history - good and bad. And while Tao ended his arc wondering whether Quasings where good or bad for Earth and openly admitting that the Quasings are a dangerous invasive force: Io has pretty much given up on influencing the world at all. Tao is deeply invested in his host, Tao is invested in humans, Tao cares. Io is almost completely done with humanity

Through Io’s eyes we also get some really excellent insights into Quasing society when they were originally on their home planet, how their society worked, how these extremely alien creatures co-existed through the universe and how their hierarchy was structured. And from we see just how different modern Quasing are - they’re so disconnected compared to what they were and their hierarchy has been utterly turned on their head.

Continuum, Season 4 Episode 3: Power Hour

Travis is in prison and Carlos is talking to him – well mocking him about how Liber8 has failed to improve the world. Travis doesn’t see it that way – he rightly points out that they’ve exposed a lot of badness and caused change – even Kiera now agrees with Liber8.

But Liber8 vs Corporations is so several seasons ago and Kiera wants Carlos to hand Travis to her custody. They’ve got super-soldiers from the future running amok so they need their own super soldiers to combat them – Travis fits the bill. Carlos isn’t a fan of this, especially since Kiera is keeping him in the dark and putting all her faith in Brad, her inside man who is doing very little

Even Travis agrees with Carlos on that.

Brad is dealing with the fact not all the super soldiers have accepted him back into the fold, though Marcellus still seems to trust him

At team Geek, Lucas and Julian are both poking Alec’s “breakup angst” and excellently keep Alec from getting above himself as seems to be Julian’s raison d’etre these days. They do have an interesting debate on how, while Kellogg beat Alec, he also saved Alec from his terrible future as corporate overlord while Julian is worried that he’s still detsined to be super-bad guy, which then Lucas objects to because, as a member of Liber8, he sees Julian as the founder of a heroic resistance movement.

See, this is why Continuum has so vastly improved from its early days. We have complexity and nuance and simple pronouncements of “good vs bad” just go all shaky because there’s so many sides and view points and just about everyone is at least a little right in some cases and at last a little wrong.

Lucas is a little in awe seeing Julian write a historic manifesto that will one day inspire him so much – and then horrified when Julian burns it. Julian is trying to erase his own legacy.

Except Lucas finds the whole Theseus manifesto online. Julian is not happy and decides to track this person down, finding a woman who is quite happy to see him – she published his manifesto because Curtis told her to. Because things aren’t complicated enough. Nope, let’s make it more complex – the woman is Mrs. Kagame, the mother of Edward Kagame, head of Liber8. Curtis tries to get him to talk out his legacy – his revolution and how he loses, while at the same time telling him to have courage and don’t assume that the future written. He adds that Julian has a responsibility to lead the movement so it isn’t abused by fanatics. Julian doesn’t seem convinced.

Dominion, Season 2, Episode 10: House of Sacrifice

Michael has fainted and now has been transported to Mallory in local garb. In the church he is greeted by The Prophet. The Prophet talks about order, rules and solitaire (and virtually paints a neon sign saying “hey, I’m god!”. Prophet isn’t all that pleased by Michael derailing his human sacrifice rules – and now wants Michael dead because he did swear to sacrifice himself and all. He has a dagger of empyrean steel for Michael to do the deed

But Michael is more concerned that The Prophet saved Noma in the Wasteland and, more importantly, is interested in Alex. He grabs the Prophet who chides him for being violent “in his father’s house” but Michael objects to the idea that this is God’s house because human sacrifice is too old school, god doesn’t do that any more. He is sure that The Prophet is getting his power from somewhere other than god

Either way, The Prophet has a simple demand – either Michael dies or the Mallory fire goes out and everyone there dies.

Michael decides to play a game for his life – and The Prophet agrees. They play poker while they talk about Alex – the prophecy of which says he can be a healer OR destroyer. Michael, of course, believes healer. The Prophet almost wins and offers Michael the chance to be spared but doom Mallory. But Michael continues to play because he “has faith” he belongs with the Chosen One. He wins the match.

The Prophet pulls some golden light out of Michael – and says it’s not over until Michael brings the Prophet to him.

His body is actually comatose in Vega much to Noma and Alex’s shock (wait… is Michael wearing a fishnet shirt? I do admire an archangel who has a thing for sexy fetishwear).

Claire and her council are all kind of worried because them completely ignoring the civil war last episode has led to David and his rebel minions taking the nuclear reactor. Gates and Alex cross antlers of course because WOMAN. They both demand Claire support their plans – and Claire sides with Gates because his idea (not having a firefight in a nuclear reactor) is better than Alex’s (boomy booomy ooooh shiny!)

Gates sets up a contact with a guy called Ramirez, a V2, ex-Archangel corps and part of David’s rebellion. Him being Archangel corps also gives Alex an excuse to take over negotiations. In the plant an alarm goes off indicating the plant is going to go boom in 2 hours. Alex tries to appeal to Ramirez but he’s quite happy to blow it all up to change the smoking crater that will be left in the aftermath. That means Gates has to go to the reactor to stop them all dying and Alex, of course, decides to take him.

Dominion, Season 2, Episode 8: The Longest Mile Home

Alex and Noma are all ready to face off against 8 Balls when Michael arrives scaring them off. After a brief check to see if Noma is dying (she isn’t) he lays out the situation – Gabriel is alive (which he presents as a good thing) and Julian is about to invade Vega for spare bodies.

They walk off and return to the place where the random guy last episode nuked a lot of 8 balls to save Noma and Alex – Michael remembers it as being a similar affect to what the town of Mallory did to approaching 8 Balls.

Michael does talk to Noma about her epic sacrifice, but it’s only a brief reference towards further helping Alex. She also tells him about the man who could burn 8 Balls who told her to bring Alex east.

Devious David and devious Arika communicate by radio – Arika isn’t happy; though they both want the war to keep going she wanted the negotiations to go ahead without the sniper messing things up. David is happy for the war to keep flaring and they end on a decidedly uncooperative note.

Except seems to catch David talking – and Gates is listening in on the conversation as well.

Falling Skies, Season 5, Episode 6: Respite

Tom wakes up to find he is being tended by a strange woman who is surprisingly well dressed for a dystopia, in a room that looks like the aliens never invaded, with kids playing outside and an older man, similarly well dressed with a gun

The gun is because Tom decided to respond with violence and a knife to medical care. The old man, William, has treated his injuries and, because of that, Tom now can’t go anywhere until he’s healed. He declares his home a safe place where there is no war and no fighting. Which sounds ominous given the dystopia, aliens and all.

It’s all very creepily twee complete with saying grace and no food shortages at all. Faced with the normality of it all, Tom collapses into tears (I can get this is a major emotional moment seeing everything he has lost, but personally I think it would be more appropriate to yell “alien collaborator’s/clones/pod people!”)

Apparently Willie just stocked a whole lot and has a decent farm and has just kept his head down and the whole war has just passed them by. The kids don’t even know the war is happening because YAY DENIAL! That includes the 15 year old. Tom declares it not to be his business right before passive aggressively judging the hell out of them. He calls out Alicia for basically raising her kids to be so sheltered that when the war eventually reaches them they’ll have no chance. Of course she angrily declares that she doesn’t need advice on how to let everyone else do the fighting while she lives in denial land and raises kids to be complete victims because she can’t face reality, of course she does

Which then leads to Tom going snooping (despite hardly being able to walk) and catching the 15 year old Kyle drinking and smoking *gasp* (what they stockpiled booze as well? And cigarettes?) Kyle realises something off is happening

Later Alicia is happy to recruit Tom to teach her kids now-completely-irrelevant history but then Kyle goes missing trying to find out the truth. Tom finds him by the ruin of a mech and, of course, tells hi, all.

Did anyone, for one second, think Tom wasn’t going to tell this kid the truth?

Kyle demands to be a soldier and returns home to pout and tantrum and Alicia, of course, asking Tom’s advice. She agrees to let him take Kyle back to the 2^nd Mass to fight. And she kisses him.

Over to Hal who is still with Isabella and they share stories of their history teacher dads and her dad being a diplomat and how, in war they have to do naughty bad things. And they kiss – so this is how the love triangle will be resolved – a random love interest dropped in! Hey it took Hal, what, 3 days to move on from Maggie?