American Horror Story, Season 5 (Hotel), Episode 8: The Ten Commandment Killer

So, evil little girl Wren just ran into traffic and died – so John charges to the hotel and demands a grieving Liz produce the 10 Commandments Killer. Liz is not impressed, not intimidated and meets John threat for threat

Sally arrives and agrees to take him to where the 10 Commandment killer is hiding – to where there are “answers.” She takes him to James’s old office, throws in a brief history lesson and shows him a hidden room.

Inside which are the trophies from each of the 10 Commandment Killer’s victims – one for each commandment, all of them grisly – including some trophies that must have come from police evidence.

John panics and has a flash-back melt down (with Sally trying to comfort him) as the obvious becomes clearer and clearer – John is the killer.

He goes to the police station to confess to his partner, Detective Andy Hahn. Complete with all his restored memories – and how his killing and first entry into the Hotel Cortez was 2010 though he had since forgotten. Back in 2010 he went to the hotel after a particularly awful case and Donovan took him to James and the Countess’s one night a year thing they have. They’re all very intrigued (and delighted) by the horrible deaths he just saw and how it affected him.

James is so eager to work on his new protégé, he’s willing to cut his Countess night short. They talk auras (John’s is black), elaborate language and police brutality and vigilante “justice.” James is sure that John will be the super-duper perfect serial killer (dismissing the others with added homophobia). To push him over the edge into serial killerness, James encourages the Countess to kidnap Holden.

We also see that he and Alex didn’t exactly have a sunny marriage before Holden’s kidnapping – John’s drinking and disappearance was not all funsies.

John continues to recap how his life fell apart after Holden disappeared and he spent more and more time at the Hotel Cortez with James being recruited into serial killing as he becomes more disillusioned by the system and him being lured into his first kill of a paedophile. He tried to hang himself

Into the Badlands, Season One, Episode Three: White Stork Spreads Wings

This episode begins with the showdown that we all knew was coming, the fight between the Widow and Quinn. Quinn leads an assault on the Widow's region with Sonny riding shotgun.  As Sonny's Colt, M.K. lines up with the other colts.  Though the colts are warned to remain outside, M.K. seizes the opportunity and sneaks into the Widow's fortress and steals a book with the emblem of Azra on it. Heaven forbid M.K. follow an order.  As Quinn and the widow battle it out, M.K. hides as the Widow's daughters escape the fortress using a secret passageway. M.K. calls out to Tilda and she acknowledges him but keeps moving. Quinn moves in for the kill shot on the Widow but stops and grabs his head when he feels a piercing pain. The Widow moves to turn the tables but Quinn is saved by Sonny.  The Widow then uses the opportunity to escape.

While the battle has been raging, Lydia and Jade sit at Ryder's bedside.  Lydia is clearly not pleased to be so near the Baron's next wife and the tension in the room is fierce.  Jade explains that she is there because Ryder is going to be her family soon but Lydia is not buying it in the least.  Jade is clearly playing the long game and does not yet trust Lydia enough to admit that while she is due to marry Quinn, the man she really loves is Ryder.  Lydia makes a point of telling Jade that she is nothing more than a distraction to feed Quinn's ego.  Jade tries to claim that she is not the enemy and points out that since she has been inside the house since she was a girl, she understands more than Lydia realises. Lydia makes it clear that the Baron's house is a battlefield because Quinn loves to fight and asks Jade to leave so that she can be with Ryder in private.

Before Jade can comply, they are informed that Quinn is leading the Clippers back from battle. Outside, M.K. gives Sonny the book and says that he cannot read it.  Sonny is not impressed that M.K. went into the house and orders him to follow.

A bruised and bloodied Quinn enters the house and Lydia does not exactly give him the conquering heroes welcome.  Lydia makes a point of mentioning that the last war brought shortages and death but Quinn is more interested in keeping his reputation in tack.  Lydia then brings up Ryder's health but Quinn isn't interested in seeing his only son and instead takes Jade into the next room for a booty call.  On every level, Quinn is a disgusting power hungry man.

Quinn may not care about Ryder and Lydia may not want her intervention but Jade cares enough about Ryder to go and see Veil and ask for help. This is a tall order given that Veil's parents were just killed by Quinn for daring to inform him that he is dying.  Jade plays upon the fact that she and Veil are life long friends and are both negotiating situations beyond their control. Veil calls Jade out on being in the big house.  Yeah, I'm not like the antebellum slave analogy with this one at all.

Veil makes her way to the big house and wants to alleviate the pressure on Ryder's brain but is initially stopped by Lydia, until Lydia learns that without the procedure, Ryder will be dead by nightfall. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, Quinn then confronts Veil about the fact that she is Sonny's girl.  I guess there isn't much that this man misses.

After treatment, Ryder awakes and reveals that he was set up by a "doll" (read: prostitute) named Angelica at the Tick Tock Clock. Quinn sends Sonny to investigate the incident.  Sonny takes M.K. with him and orders him to wait on the balcony. M.K., always the contrarian, decides to wait on the ground.  Sonny and Angelica start to battle as on the ground, M.K. talks with Tilda about what is going on.  Tilda is convinced that M.K.'s story does not add up.  Angelica falls to her death rather than revealing the Widow's location to Sonny and M.K. tells Tilda to run away quickly.

The Originals: Season 3, Episode 8 The Other Girl in New Orleans

As the title alludes to, this week is really about which woman truly has Klaus's heart, Cami or Aurora. The problem for me is that I don't care given that Klaus is a violent serial killer. Having captured Cami, Aurora takes her to St. Anne's in order to torture her and find out a little bit about her competition. Aurora begins by revealing that she has learned all about Cami's family history from Google, remarking what a wonderful thing the internet is.  Aurora decides to play her own violent version of truth or dare, demanding that Cami answer her questions honestly or face death. Yep, mean girl to the extreme.

At the Mikaelson compound, Freya has Tristan trapped in a circle ready for interrogation.  Freya notes that Elijah is still miffed at her for torturing Aurora, simply because he likes to control how his invited guests are treated - ever the control freak. Hayley shows up to take her part in the torture show with Hope in hand and admits that Jackson is off sulking the Bayou.  Freya gets sent off to babysit Hope, while Hayley has fun biting Tristan repeatedly.  Mary shows up at the apartment so Hayley is forced to vouch for her with Freya.  Elijah happens to overhear the conversation and so Hayley admits that she didn't chase after Jackson because she thought she might be needed.  Clearly despite her marriage vows, Hayley is still very much invested in the Mikaelsons, or at least Elijah. Elijah decides to tell Hayley to take care of her family.

Freya takes a moment to speak to Tristan, who brings up Finn.  Tristan says that he knew Finn well and that Finn was an hounourable man. I thought that the title of the hounourable one was Elijah's title. Tristan suggests that Freya speak to Finn, that is if Finn will agree to a conversation.  Freya grabs the pendant around her neck. Wait, is Finn in her necklace and how did that happen given that he is supposed to be dead?

Klaus and Lucian are busy following the clues Aurora left behind in her latest game.  Lucian is not pleased with what Klaus is doing and sees Cami as a needless mortal distraction.  Lucian takes care to point out that no matter how much Klaus may want to kill Aurora that he cannot because Aurora knows where Rebekah is hidden.

Marcel gets a visit from Aya, who is not impressed that Davina has been taken out of the game. Naturally, Marcel denies his involvement in this.   Are they actually going to do something about the sexual tension between Aya and Marcel? Aya decides to test Marcel's loyalty by giving him a weapon that will take out an Original and tasking him with freeing Tristan.  Aya says that by following orders, Marcel will secure his place with the Stryx and should he refuse, he will die. Aya points out that if Marcel is successful, it will mean that they will have secured two Original vampires.

Back at the compound, Freya has weakened Tristan as much as she can without killing him. Elijah looks into Tristan's head and sees the word, "Cepheus", but has no idea what it means.  Before Elijah can find out more, Marcel shows up and demands that Elijah release Tristan, saying that otherwise, the Stryx will tear the Quarter apart and start a war.  Elijah however is not interested, certain that he can take of himself and family

Hayley is busy packing a bag while she talks with Mary about what happened between her and Jackson.  Mary is quick to explain that Jackson left because he was hurt.  Mary points out that though Hayley is determined to be there for the Mikaelsons, they are the most powerful vampires alive and she is only 25 years old.  Mary asserts that every time Hayley intervenes, she is putting herself at risk and adds that Hayley has Hope to think about. Hayley stops listening when she hears the fight in Mikaelson compound and leaps through a window to help Elijah.

Vampire Diaries, Season 7, Episode 8: Hold me, Thrill me, Kiss me, Kill me

Time for future-vision again – at some point these random points will make sense. Last week Damon was captured because he walked into a trap. His capture is Lily which means, alas, no-one’s going to kill her.

Now to the present and the plotting to kill Julian. Damon agrees with me – just kill Lilly while everyone else wants to keep her alive for Reasons! Because she was very very silly and bound her life to Julian’s (in the bizarre and surprisingly accurate belief that people who hated her gave a damn whether she lived or died because Vampire Diaries doesn’t have to make sense) this means they need to get Julian’s blood and then convince a witch to undo the silliness. For extra bizarreness, rather than going to their usual subservient witch-for-hire (actually that’s wrong, if she were for hire they’d actually pay her) Bonnie, they decide it’s better to convince one of the Heretics to do it (which means Bo, Marie Louise or Nora rather than Valerie, the only witchpire who actually WANTS Julian dead. Because Vampire Diaries).

Instead they decide to use Valerie to convince the other witchpires to help curse Julian’s blood… is everyone on this show drunk or high? Oh, wait, drunk, of course they are

Anyway at chez witchpire, it’s Mary Louise and Nora’s anniversary which means they may actually go for an episode without sniping at each other. Lily completely forgot but Julian covers and of course they’re planning a party.

There’s a party on Vampire Diaries once every three episodes. It’s a rule. Also Enzo and Lily are getting all couply which surprises no-one

Caroline is still mystically pregnant and planning to tell Stefan. Right in the middle of their murder plans. Rude! Ruder? Saying “hi girlfriend, we shall have to talk about the whole pregnancy thing later because I have a party to go to later.”

This party launches with a huge number of compelled guests (that must be the saddest party ever if you have to compel guests). All of them are the people Julian has been capturing and “fattening up” (like that’s actually a relevant thing, but Vampire Diaries) so they can serve as snack food. Lily has brief moral outrage (because vampire Diaries loves random morality) but goes along with it so she doesn’t end up playing mean parent to contrast with Julian’s fun parent.

Z Nation, Season Two, Episode Twelve: Party with the Zeros

The group have finally made it to the Mexican border, only to find a big wall blocking them from crossing.  I cannot believe Z Nation is playing with the whole wall along the border thing.  Warren & co fight off the zombies until they find themselves cornered, only to be saved by the drug kingpin, Escorpian. Well, we all knew that he would show up again because up until this point, his story has been unfinished.

The group is taken to meet La Reina (the leader of the Zeros) and are made an offer they cannot refuse a la the Godfather style.  Warren decides that it's best to bide their time sure that if they wait long enough they will be able to escape with Murphy in tow.  We learn that Zeros haven't just been maintaining their drug dealing empire but actively working towards a cure for the zombie apocalypse. It seems that they have managed to contract the services of Dr. Kurian, who quite like the mad scientist that he is, has been experimenting on humans.  With Murphy now under the control of the Zeros, la Reina plans to have Dr. Kurian make up a vaccine using Murphy's blood.

When we last met Dr. Kurian, he made it clear that he believed that humanity is at an end and that Murphy and any other beings like him would be the ones to inherit the earth.  I suppose he hasn't heard that that job was meant for the meek. Okay, okay I know, but I couldn't help it. After showing Murphy his handy work, Kurian reveals that it's all been one big ruse.  It seems that instead of looking for a cure, Kurian has been torturing his suspects to make it look good for La Reina, which is just what you would expect of a scientist of Kurian's nature.  Kurian is quick to let Murphy in on his scam explaining that he had to keep up appearances so that the Zeros would keep him around; however, now that he has access to Murphy and Murphy's blood, his plan is to replicate Murphy.

Murphy still hasn't picked a side in terms of whether he is human or zombie. Clearly, Murphy's allegiances are going to have to be declared soon.  As this point however, Murphy is enjoying being the center of attention and eating up the tribute of flowers that the Zeros have to offer.  Naturally, Warren calls him on his shit but he is quick to blow her off.

Over the past few weeks, the sexual tension between Warren and Vasquez has been building.  That being said, Warren didn't allow that from stopping her from following Vasquez to find out where he kept sneaking off to.  It was then that we learned that Vasquez, a former DEA agent was looking for the man who killed his wife and child.  When Vasquez sees a tattoo on Escoprion's arm, he realises that he has found the man that he is looking for.  Ever observant, Warren is quick to pick up on what Vasquez wants to do.  Vasquez makes it clear that he needs vengeance for the loss of his wife and child and Warren is just as adamant that they need to stay on mission, after all there is the fate of humanity to think of.  Vasquez however decides that he cannot wait and decides to attack Escorpion and deciding that she has no other choice, Warren steps in to save Escorpion's life.  This is absolutely the right choice to make but it's clear from Warren's expression that this is not how she wanted it to go down.

Supernatural, Season 11, Episode 8: Just My Imagination

We have little girl with an imaginary friend (who may actually be real but invisible – and a kind of unicorn thing) and parents with… interesting parenting skills (boundaries people! Rules!)

And then someone murders the imaginary friend. There’s a psychiatrist out there who would charge soooo much money to analyse that one.

Sam wakes up in the morning kind of like me – (but with less coffee) and a whole lot of sugar and sweets unsurprisingly left there by… an imaginary friend. Yes, Sam has an imaginary friend too, called Sunny. Thankfully we’re spared a huge chunk of this episode with Dean wondering what Sam is smoking and why he isn’t sharing because Sunny has the ability to make himself visible to anyone.

This episode is going to be gimmicky and annoying. At least Dean is willing to get his gun. Sunny wants their help hunting down a killer of imaginary friends. Dean thinks this is rather outside the hunter remit. Even accepting imaginary friends are actually spirits that help and mentor kids (Zana), Dean still thinks saving non-human lives is beyond their remit.

Of course they end up investigating. And we get some poking at childhood issues with the fact Sam, as a lonely child, wanting the imaginary friend and Dean being a little offended that Sam considered himself lonely with some nice flashbacks going along.

Sam and Dean pose as child grief counsellors to interview the child, Maddie – they have no credentials but they do have cardigans. Everyone trusts the cardigan and Dean’s oh-so-trustwrothy-face.

  

The cardigans allow them to speak to the child and even examine her bedroom alone (helped by Sunny to let them see the corpse and blood). Seeing the mother walk around the horrible blood stained room without even seeing the blood she’s smearing about is both awful and kind of funny. Especially since the blood is sparkly.

And we have another Zana murder – this time a mermaid called Nicky and more past insights with Sully and Sam and how Sully wasn’t just a friend but a mentor who generally was great at advising and encouraging Sam.

American Exceptionalism in Speculative Fiction

© 2011 Joe Wolf, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio

Much of the media in this genre is created in the United States, which is hardly surprising given the hegemony of American pop culture.  Because of the pervasiveness of American pop culture it has come to constitute a form of American soft power.  No country ever wants to see itself as anything but the center of the world but American pop culture has exceedingly made a point of this not only in the fantasy genre but in pretty much everything it produces.  In the eighties, it was all about some brave American taking on a Russian threat and ending up victorious; the hero often wrapped in the stars and stripes, delivering a big dose of patriotism with their knock out punch.  In the nineties, with the end of the cold war, we saw a brief time of antagonists coming from different geographic areas but the hero resoundingly remained American.  With the dawn of the 21st century and the rise of the McWorld vs Jihad dilemma, antagonists have overwhelmingly been Middle Eastern, while the hero remained American. The point of all of these stories is to suggest to the reader, viewer and consumer that no matter the situation or the villain, America is always on the side of right and will emerge victorious based solely American exceptionalism.  The bigger the threat, the faster and stronger the American response will be and whether by might or intelligence, some American will have the right answer to the situation.

The very first time I became aware of this phenomenon in speculative fiction was the movie Independence Day.  Yeah, it was great to watch Will Smith, as Captain Steven Hiller, take on the aliens but it’s telling that it was Jeff Goldblum, as David Levinson, who came up with the solution to the alien invasion. Yes, Levinson graduated from MIT and was an environmentalist but am I really supposed to believe that there was no one else outside of an American smart enough to figure out the invasion countdown clock? And what about the fact that the rest of the world seemed to be sitting around waiting for someone else to come up with a solution? Not only did Hiller and Levinson take the war to the aliens on behalf of the rest of the world, the Americans co-ordinated the attack which occurred on July 4th.  Could American exceptionalism be any more obvious?  Even President Thomas J. Whitmore, played by Bill Pullman, joined the fight because he was a former Vietnam vet. If that were not enough, Whitmore declared July 4th the Independence Day for the world. It's not like the independence of any other country from colonial rule could possibly be significant.

“Perhaps it’s fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution -- but from annihilation.
We're fighting for our right to live, to exist.
And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice:
"We will not go quietly into the night!
We will not vanish without a fight!
We're going to live on!
We're going to survive!"
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!”

Considering that the Americans would not have gotten to their Independence Day without the French, one really had to suspend belief to buy into the whole rally the troops moment delivered by the impassioned Pullman, as President Whitmore.  Naturally, the president had to get into the action because like the rest of his people, he was a problem solver and epically brave. Thank goodness this is fiction because despite having the title commander in chief, there has only been one president since Eisenhower to actually serve in an active duty position.

The Walking Dead, Season Six, Episode Eight: Start to Finish

Though this is the eighth episode of this season, very little time has actually passed for the characters.  What we have actually seen is a period of approximately 2 days and what has happened to the characters separately because they were split into groups. We were also treated to an episode dedicated to what happened to Morgan before he managed to join up with the group.   By the end of this episode, the characters had still not reunited but the level of danger and panic continues to be high.

At Alexandria, a section of the wall has come crashing down, just as Maggie receives the signal that she has long waited for - proof that Glenn is alive.  The dust comes pouring into the town and  the residents are forced to flee for cover.  Deanna comes to the aid of Rick but still seems to be shooting wildly.  How many times do Alexandrians need to be told to go for the head?  Rick scoops her up and heads into a house with Carl, Michonne, Jessie and her two kids.   Carol ends up housed with Morgan and in a lower level of the house, are Denise and the Wolf. In the garage of the same house, are Rosita, Tara and Eugene.  Sasha, Abraham and Darryl are still making their way back to Alexandria and Glenn and Enid are stuck outside of the walls, watching in horror as the zombies invade their home.

With all of the zombies entering Alexandria this mid season finale should have been epic but instead it was anything but.  It's been clear for some time that there's tension between Carol and Morgan due in part to the fact that they have opposing views on how to survive a zombie apocalypse.  Carol's mentality is based on doing whatever is necessary for the group to survive.  We have seen this manifest in pretending to be a harmless housewife and in offering no mercy to the invading Wolves. Morgan does not believe in taking life, so much so, that he let five of the attackers leave Alexandria and is keeping one captive.  This is a critical point because it's clear that while zombies remain a threat, the remaining humans can be that much more so.  We have seen this play out with Terminus and the Governor.  Both have valid reasons for their positions but what I don't understand is exactly why with zombies piling into Alexandria and their lives at risk that now is the time for this confrontation.

Carol attacks Morgan despite his repeated call for calm and suggestion that this could be settled later. Yes,the Wolf that he is trying to rehabilitate is a threat to the group but not more so than the horde of zombies pouring through the walls.  I found myself shaking my head repeatedly at this.  The Carol that we have come to know would have known this and acted accordingly.  It seems that the writers were simply determined to force a confrontation whether or not it fit the characters that they have created or not.  Why did this have to happen?  It's almost as though the writers didn't know what to do with the characters once they were separated into smaller groups.

We knew when Rick decided to teach Ron how to defend himself that it would lead to a problem.  At the end of Head Up, we see Ron stalking Carl with a loaded weapon.  It's clear that had the walls not crumbled, Ron would have shot Carl.  As with the confrontation between Morgan and Carol, this fight made little sense.  Are we supposed to believe that Ron really has that little sense of self preservation?  Let's just say that he managed to kill or wound Carl, how was that going to work out for him with Rick in the house, even with Jessie there to plead for him?  Carl being so much more experienced than Ron managed to fight him off but then chose not to tell Rick what happened.  I know that we are meant to see this as a sign of Carl's maturity, especially given that when put in a less dangerous situation outside of the prison, Carl pulled the trigger. The difference however between the incident outside of the prison and what happened with Ron, is that Ron does actually pose a danger, much like his porch dick father did.  Carl's actions however do fall in line with Glenn's choice not to turn in Nicholas.  Despite all of the drama and speculation as to whether this would be the scene in which Carl lost his eye, it all felt really anti-climactic and unnecessary. This is a confrontation that didn't need to happen when it did and end up feeling like filler.