From Dusk Till Dawn, Season 3, Episode 7: La Llorana

Aiden has discovered a Culebra cult – yes, Culebras worshipping and sacrificing to Itzpa, a demon, who in turn passes on the energy/mojo to Amaru. This happens via scalping with a Xibalban blade and then handing them over when they’re all helpless and alive for Amaru to suck on their souls. Most unpleasant

Over at… well I’m not going to call them Team Good Guy given the givens, but with our protagonists Burt is concerned that Freddie has left the group after Richie used his mojo to force them to reduce their already paltry female representation even further. Freddie has decided to crawl into a bottle with a side order of casual sex and doesn’t want the Geckos near him. Burt, being more sensible, less emotional and generally not willing to lose a soldier to angst, decides he’s going to try and help Freddie through this somehow

Richie himself is rather troubled by the whole possession thing, as one would be, and his doing his research: discovering that when the Lords of the Culebra first arrived probably also possessed. The possession has also left him with issues – and possibly the ability to psychically eavesdrop on Amaru and her minions

Despite being under manned and Richie having issues, the whole gang decides they’re going to raid this cult with a chance of grabbing Amaru. This is a very bad idea

And it works…

The fact it does work should really have been a wake up call to everyone. After all, Amaru herself is super dangerous, Brasa with his sun-hand was nowhere to be seen and the cult of Culebras basically did very little

But they shackle her and manage to get her to Burt’s shop where he has a cage which will hold her – which he’s not amused by them bringing this to his home (he brings Freddie with him)

When they have her they decide to exorcise her – using a rack that Cortez brought other that once belonged to Torquemada. I have a major problem with this

Implying that this rack that Torquemada had actually works to remove possession implies that the Spanish Inquisition is right. Further we have it being brought to the Americas by Cortez, a Conquistador expressly to exorcise the Aztecs and other Indigenous Americans – and, again, it’s implied it works. This is a gross sanitation of two incredible evil events in history

Also, you’re going to haul a rack – especially such a simple rack – across the ocean?

The exorcism is brutal and horrific and does manage to break through to Kate – briefly. But Kate isn’t a fan of Seth – she doesn’t forgive him and with that line pretty much brutally pokes his sorest and most vulnerable spot – guilt over what happened to Kate. She also reveals that, basically and obviously, this was all a trap (hence how easy it was to capture Amaru)

From Dusk Till Dawn, Season 3, Episode 6: Straight Jacket

This episode contained a whole lot of fighting (which From Dusk Till Dawn has previously used as filler because they’re not even super fight scenes) with one important incident – and by important I mean enraging.

Last episode Richie was kidnapped by Amaru and taken to the mental hospital where she was locked up, the bloody words still on the wall. With a flashback we’re shown a new power of Amaru’s – the ability to turn people to their dark side and make them evil and violent: marking them with blood red eyes.

She then uses this power on Richie – turning all three of his eyes (including the eye on his palm) red, raising his shadow self and convincing him to serve her sending all of his fellows to a “better place”

Which basically means killing them and sending them to Xilbalba

So when the gang arrives to save him he starts picking them off one by one and imprisoning them. Yes he’s not killing them because he has a plan which defies even Amaru – he needs to capture them so Seth can join them in Xilbalba (apparently he can only get there by killing the others? I don’t know, Richie logic)

Most of the episode is spent on these battles and cat and mouse games

Look, I like action, I do. And a well choreographed fight scene is a joy to behold (just look at any episode of Into the Badlands, that is awesome and beautiful). But From Dusk Till Dawn has many of the same terrible problems that we’ve seen with Vampire Diaries and Originals when it comes to supernatural power –it varies. A couple of episodes ago Burt took down Richie and Seth like they were small children because he was the eternal hunter and Just That Awesome. This episode Richie takes him down with minimal effort. Seth is human yet seems to manage better against Richie than Burt does. Scott has these amazing sword skills from nowhere. We see this a lot with From Dusk till Dawn, a character’s skill, power etc will change episode to episode at the convenience of the plot.

From Dusk Till Dawn, Season 3 Episode 5: Shady Glen

This episode brings us everyone bickering with everyone else. Endless endless bickering. And I actually like it. I like it because, sadly, this is humanity. This is what we do. We’re petty, we’re silly, we’re all too often utterly incapable of putting our petty nonsense aside because of the bigger picture

So we have Dakota hating the Geckos. We have Freddie and Richie striking up sparkes as Freddie is reminded he hates the Geckos too. We have Burt and Aiden sniping at each other. We have Scott whining about being given orders. There’s lots of bickering

I also like the role that Seth plays in this. Rather than making him a fighter on par with the other supernaturals (though I do appreciate his work out scene, though it should have been shirtless) which was always ridiculous, they make him more of a leader. He is the one who repeatedly steps in and demands everyone focus. He is the one who silences the arguments, who reminds people what they’re facing who gets everyone on track. Seth the combat monster alongside Richie, Ximena, Aiden and Freddie doesn’t work. Seth the tactician and leader who keeps his eyes on the bigger picture and doesn’t let current issues cloud matters? That works. That’s a role he can fill. And to a lesser extent he has for a while – I mean, Richie was reluctant to seek out Santanico but it was Seth who cut through the emotion and pointed out it was necessary. Seth is the pragmatist, possibly because he is the outsider.

So the demon this week is Cipactli, an Azetc primeval monster – and it comes with a swarm of insects as well. It heads into the sewers and pollutes the water (thankfully this town has its own limited isolated water supply) which makes people who drink it into cannibals who insatiably attack their nearest and dearest like they’re made of Baileys Truffles

I would also note now that if something makes my family taste like Baileys truffles they are all dead. And they understand this.

All of this is explained by the research guys: Aiden and Burt (who has seen this before) who both snipe at each other constantly

This is a shift from Amarra’s usual tactics of targeting the Culebras and leaving humans out of it. And that’s one of the reasons they manage to get Dakota onside. Yes, Dakota went to Freddie to tell him that Richie is still alive and survived a shotgun blast and Freddie quickly tried to distract her and get her out of the way. That obviously didn’t work so instead she followed Freddie and found out he’s working with Richie. The man who claims to have been raised by her father is now working with the man who killed her father.

Dakota was not amused

Thankfully a flash of culebra fangs and a small town full of cannibals seemed to be enough to get her to put her antipathy to one side and try and get in with the gang for the time being. Oh she intends to catch up with the murdering later but she’s willing to put it to one side while dealing with a cannibal plague. I respect a character who has priorities like that even if it takes, as I said before, Seth to try and keep them focused.

From Dusk Till Dawn, Season 3, Episode 2: La Reina

We have a brief flashback into Kate and her slaughtering her way through a mental institution, painting the word “Amaru” (an Incan dragon) in blood on the wall before joining Brasa. She declares, most ominously, “today is my awakening” and has a nifty ability to kill with a touch. She’s super duper creepy.

In the present, Freddie the Peacekeeper and Ximena are working together with a few clashes (they are so going to have sex by the end of this season). He is outraged by the Culebras running around killing people and breaking the rules while Ximena has rogue Culebras not even appearing on her priority list since her entire species is being annihilated and the rogues have absolutely no choice, no safety or security now all the leaders are dead.

And now Brasa, the fiery handed demon, has a new target – the faith of the Culebras. The worship of La Diosa, the worship of Santanico. Brasa is raiding any safe house, any culebra place of worship where Santanico is revered is hit and burned down by his fiery magic. Freddie and Ximena follow in his wake as Brasa hones in on the meeting of the Apostles – who we assume are the head priests of Santanico’s religion (a religion, it has to be said, she is not even remotely interested in taking part in).

They don’t arrive in time – and the apostles are massacred leaving Ximena and Freddie to try and get some revenge on Brasa. It doesn’t work well – but at least Freddie saves her. She also has a nice time out moment to call him out on his bitterness and loathing of culebras. It’s a really nice call out – she wants him on side but isn’t willing to put up with the attitude to have him there.

Now to Seth and Richie who are trying to put together a force of Culebras without the lords (Richie playing softly softly while Seth trying to give hard truths). The speeches are good – but ultimately they don’t have the pull to bring the Culebras together. Unlike Santanico…

Teen Wolf, Season 4, Episode 1: The Dark of the Moon

Is it just me, or is this show back on the air awfully quickly? Season 3 only ended at the end of March. Not that I’m complaining, of course.

Stiles and Lydia are in Mexico (I think it’s Mexico – it looks very very stereotypically Mexico) apparently pursuing  a plan Lydia considers suicidal. They go to a party – a very crowded party – that requires a card with a skull on it to get in. They’re given free drinks but Lydia drops a bullet casing with the same skull carving into hers

It gets them into a meeting with Araya, the hunter who lurked around the edges of last season not doing an awful lot. Lydia and stiles think the hunters have kidnapped Derek and they’ve brought $50,000 for his released. She mocks the for coming alone – and out in the party we see Malia and Kira and Scott (Stiles dramatically says they brought and Alpha, personally I think Kira is more intimidating but they all get to do their shiny eye glow). Kira also fails at blending in and fails far far more at dancing. Malia helps by pulling her close which also adds some suggestiveness to their dancing.

It also goes on for way too damn long. C’mon Teen Wolf start of a new season, we need plot, not dancing.

So back to Araya who expositions on the Dark of the Moon being a time for grief and reflection (does this mean something or was it shoe horned in for the sake of a nifty title?), when Scott takes down one of the guard and Stiles removes $10,000 from their offer. Two goons attack Malia and Kira and they’re taken down very quickly. Scott takes out another (leaving an indent in the wall)

The hunters, the Calaveras, respond by gassing the whole place with wolfsbain, rendering Malia and Scott helpless. Araya mocks their inexperience but in the confrontation, Scott realises Araya also doesn’t know where Derek is. She tases him

Flashback! Scott tells Lydia and Stiles about Derek’s disappearance and that he found the Calaveras’ bullet casings in his loft. Using her banshee abilities, Lydia confirms he’s not dead – but she’s not sure if he’s alive. Which is helpful. Zombie wolf? Vampire Derek?

Back to the present to Scott waking up in a bathroom, locked in with Malia, Stiles and Kira and discovering that Araya has taken Lydia. Malia is bemused why they would find Lydia (she’s quite happy to say, as a coyote, she would have no problem leaving the weak or injured for dead – or cannibalism for that matter. Stiles points out this is actually progress with Malia.)

Araya’s all curious about banshee powers, mainly so she can be super duper creepy and then ask questions about Scott. Which means more tasing Scott and chaining him up and lots of electroshock in a rather convoluted fashion to make Scott tell them where Derek is. Yes, he doesn’t know so Araya keeps asking leading questions about shepshifters, people who could have been turned they didn’t know about – maybe not by a bite. The electroshocks trigger memory (Alpha memory?) and Scott remembers Kate Argent asking if she could be turned by a scratch – and yes, she was clawed.

Stiles tries to get Malia to concentrate on listening by staring into his eyes. She kisses him. This is understandable – why Stiles thought staring into his eyes would allow her to focus is beyond me

I have to say this is one of the most inefficient information retrieval systems ever. I mean, if you’d talked him through it and dispensed with the whole electroshock thing you probably would have reached the same answer.

Of course, being Alpha, Scott also breaks his chains before revealing Kate Argent. Quick flash to her where she has imprisoned Derek wrapped in vines.

Araya lets them go – she’d already sent 4 men to where she thought Kate had been seen. Yes, Araya ALREADY FREAKING KNEW ABOUT KATE! We had that whole scene just so Scott could remember for himself? She wants them to go see if they can do better than her missing Calaveras hunters. She adds that she will hunt Scott when he turns someone

She sends a guide with them, Braeden. On the drive, Scott and Stiles do a quick recap and exposition of who Kate Argent is. The Calaveras checked to make sure that Kate wasn’t changing since she died by the Alpha claws and checked the body. Seeing her growing claws they swapped the bodies and took her somewhere so Kate could commit suicide like a good hunter (not bothering to tell Chris Argent, apparently. Because REASONS) since the Calaveras are REALLY inflexible when it comes to the hunters code. Kate decided she wants to live and is happy for lots of Calaveras to die to make that happen. She’s also got glowy green eyes.

Blue is grief, yellow is normal werewolf, red is alpha. What’s green? As they know from the Kanima, just because you’re bitten by a werewolf doesn’t mean you become one. Car trouble means Scott and Braeden have to go off alone (After a reminder that Kira is Scott’s love interest)

The car trouble turns out to be a giant bone claw jammed into the engine.