Fangs For The Fantasy

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Merlin Season 5 Review

If I were to watch the last 2 episodes of this season alone, they would both be 5 fangs, no question (depressing ending aside – but I do like the reference to the Once and Future King and that old English myth that, yes, one day Arthur will return when Britain – Albion – is in its darkest hour. And then, presumably, lose his shit when confronted with a car and be thoroughly baffled by an Iphone. Still, it’s an iconic legend). They included so much of what I’d wanted to see for so long and were, in the true fashion of Merlin season finales, extremely epic.

The problem was that the 11 episodes before that contained a lot of foreshadowing of those last 2 episodes (which would have worked far better for a whole new season but seemed a bit over the top for there to be 11 episodes of foundation for 2 of content). And the rest was very much more of the same. Evil Morgana who is still evil and still hates them all (she may have upgraded to a level of suffering as well – but she’s suffering and evil now and the vague attempts to present her as sympathetic are quickly backed away from and more evil is brought in). Arthur and Merlin who have the same fun relationship which, yes, is fun and maybe there’s more trust there but it’s still a well established and plateaued relationship. Same with Merlin and Gaius. Great relationships – but already well established and not going anywhere else.

I’m also tired of Morgana always finding evil kings/mercenaries/whatnot to ally with. How does she even recruit them? “Hey, I’m Morgana, here’s my resume of repeated dismal failures. I have no resources, no money and I promise to treat you like shit under my boot for the entire time we’re together. Let’s be besties!” I don’t believe for a second “I am the unacknowledged illegitimate daughter of Uther” or even “I have nifty powers – and still fail constantly”) is really carrying this much weight. Nor her “I’m the high priestes!” yes hon, but you’re also 100% revenge driven which, from what we’ve seen, most magic users aren’t best pleased about (hence why most of her allies AREN’T sorcerers). I’m actually getting a little tired of Morgana as the big bad because the story isn’t changing and hasn’t changed for 2 seasons. Every episode Morgana throws some magical doohicky at them: it fails, woe. Next week we try again. Is this Heptarchy Pinky and the Brain? It has a lot of interesting moments, but once Morgana evolved to “complete evil monster” almost overnight nothing changed much from there and by season 5 it was getting stale.

I think it would have helped if things had developed or been shaken up a bit. Like Merlin being able to openly use magic around Arthur earlier (Merlin even had an opportunity to demand magic be legalised and he chose to take a stab at letting Mordred die instead), or him embracing his powers more or Morgana being developed beyond “I hate you all and you will all suffer, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” And we had hints – Merlin standing up to entire bands of men confident in his power, staring down the Dochraid. We had Mordred introduced and a whole load of questions raised with it. Camelot has had peace and stability and Arthur openly challenges and rejects his father’s methods of ruling. There was a lot that could have been developed but instead only got some time in the last 2 episodes, some of which felt either woefully rushed or like a terribly wasted opportunity. Seriously, you’re going to give us 1 episode, 1, of post-magic revelation Arthur and Merlin interaction? The big bad secret that has lasted 5 epic seasons and this is all we get? Gah. And more which wasn’t even developed just kind of waved then disappeared – the 3 priestesses of the old religion, the white dragon Aithusa, the Diamair.

It’s frustrating because all through the season there’s lots of foreshadowing of things changing. Of a new enemy, a new storyline, of Merlin revealing his magic etc etc – but this is the last season. Season 6, with all this behind it (and, perhaps, not so many storylines ended in the last 2 episodes) would have been incredible. But it’s not happening

Now let’s hit the big problem – Gwen.

Review: Jack Templar Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus.Book 1 of the Templar Chronicles

Jack was a normal 13 year old boy looking forward to his upcoming 14^th birthday. Until he starts going through some changes – greater strength, greater speed, greater fighting skills, it’s like a super hero’s origin story. Though becoming a hero isn’t nearly as fun as he expected it to be, not when people are frightened of the new, different you.

Far less appealing are the monsters, the Creach. Disguised among humanity, they’re watching him and beginning to show themselves to prepare for his 14^th birthday. They time when he comes of age in the monster world – and becomes fair game to hunt.

Suddenly he’s on the run, backed up by hunters he knows nothing about, learning new, shocking things about his family history, finding out the family he does know are completely different from what he imagined and discovering that so many of the people around him were secretly monsters, watching him, waiting for their chance.

This book has a rather unique writing style – and I think it’s going to be a “love it or hate it” moment. It’s written as if the protagonist were remembering his story. It’s also written as if he is presenting a warning/guide to other hunters: Jack is warning the reader against reading the book, giving hints and tips on how to kill various monsters, little mini-lectures as if an experienced hunter were recounting an experience to a new hunter. It’s something that is maintained even on the author’s website (with a password found in the book to allow real hunters in without the “creach”) It’s an interesting and certainly unique style and has a very strong spoken word feel to it as well. You’re either going to love its unique feel, or you’re going to find it frustrating.

The plot itself is very action orientated – and the action is done well. We have monsters hunting the newly of-age monster hunter just as his physical abilities kick in

I can’t say I like how the story came together – I think the big bad was defeated too easily and rather anti-climactically, I think Jack had a massive about-face of personality and character pretty close to the end. I’ve seen a lot more extreme a 180 character turns and it had some justification, but this felt very abrupt. It almost felt like the author wanted to hurry the story along or was afraid of losung momentum. I also found the villains a little cartoony – not necessarily in a bad way; it had a cheesy style that was fun in its own right.

I think this book is setting up a series. There’s a lot about the world, the hunters, why jack’s so special, that all needs explaining. A lot about origins, a lot of questions unanswered, a lot of hints without back up. It was well paced in terms of keeping the action moving, but I think a lot was leaped over in the process – but all of that can be easily addressed in a second book in the series. There was definitely enough world building to keep this story moving. I think we needed some pauses though, not just for the world building but to absorb the impact of the losses - of the sacrifice. Especially since the rather awesome, powerful and poignant slogan of the hunters is "Do your duty, come what may." With the hunters willing to die - not even hesitating - when needed to save Jack, I think that would have had far more impact if they'd had more chance to reflect on the loss and relate it to that saying. There's a powerful theme there and it's done well - but far more could have been done with it and with these really good scenes.

There are several physically capable female characters in the book – his aunt and the two other hunters. I find his aunt the most intriguing and would have liked to have heard more of her story – her conversion was a powerful one. I do think all 3 could have used further development (and do think that Eva may be developed far more in later books and I’m intrigued that Master Aquinas is a woman who leads the hunters and that they don’t feel the need to differentiate titles based on gender) but at the moment they’re pretty much “women who fight”. But, then, this book is very much focused on action after action after action with little in the way of character development for anyone.

With the complete exposure of Morgana as a villain and the early loss of Uther and Morgause, the game changes very quickly. Arthur is now king and Morgana is even more driven and furious, determined to bring him down with the help of new dropped-out-of-nowhere-to-annoy-me character, Agravaine. Arthur’s uncle and most trusted advisor (for some reason) who joins Morgana in trying to bring the kingdom down no matter what. Arthur’s relationship with Gwen develops to its conclusion and we have lots of fun with the Knights of the Round Table. And yes, with Gwaine around, sometimes Camelot is a silly place.

I think this season was Arthur’s season. We’ve seen him grow a lot in the previous 3 seasons and this was seeing what he has become as he gains the throne. He’s not perfect and he can be easily lead astray by Agravaine-who-shouldn’t-even-be-there, but he has come a long way. His willingness to sacrifice himself several times, from the very first episode, is palpable. His refusal to give into fear (which is wonderfully contrasted with Merlin’s obvious terror upon meeting something his magic won’t work on), his loyalty to Merlin and his knights, his nobility in episode 5 when admitting his mistakes, his determination to be fair in episode 11 to ensure peace with a neighbouring kingdom. He’s the same Arthur, but he has grown a lot.

I really liked Morgana’s prophecy about Emrys and her subsequent fear - it showed Merlin’s power and potential far more than any flashy acts on his part. Here is Morgana, with all the power we’ve seen her use, openly fearful of the power she knows Emrys/Merlin has. This is doubly and wonderfully revealed in episode 7 when Gaius gives up Merlin’s identity to his interrogator, working for Morgana who then turns on her because of the life Merlin is prophesied to lead. This may have been Arthur’s season but we’ve also had some hefty hints about Merlin’s power and part in Arthur’s story.

I also really liked episode 4 with the Dragon egg and find myself in the rare position of disagreeing with Gaius. I can’t see what else Merlin could have done, as a Dragonlord and as a friend of the Dragon after the Dragon has done so much for him - Merlin owed it to him to find that egg.

As before, the season finale? Epic. Merlin puts Agravaine down with magic, calls the Dragon against Morgana’s army and generally kicks arse most awesomely. He picks up Arthur through all his doubts, sets up an awesome Sword in the Stone moment and general crowns the season. I think season has mainly been about Arthur, but the finale was Merlin shining through (also, enchanted Arthur was hilarious).

Aidan

The gang is all together cooking dinner – which only Josh eats of course. Yet that doesn’t stop Sally and Aidan doubting the Jewish werewolf with inept knife skills ability to prepare it appropriately. They also have a fun snarky conversation about terrible ways to die, Aidan and Josh listing something that happened to them that was the other’s fault and poking fun at Sally’s balance of the universe killing people thing. And Aidan gets more and more serious insists that they don’t have to die and they’re not going to die.

And Aidan wakes up from his little odd hallucination underground where Mother buried him. He isn’t looking good and has clearly been buried for some time, going by the raging facial hair.

He is dug up (while he babbles apologies to Mother) by someone who claims to be a friend (and carries a stake, so not that friendly. Or maybe just sensibly cautious). His name is Micky and he puts some kind of metal contraption over Aidan’s head.

When he wakes, it seems the contraption is some kind of prop from Saw or Silence of the Lambs that covers his jaw and stops him nibbling on people. He’s in a nasty dank basement with blood bags and blood stained rags and other unpleasant things you really don’t want to wake up to. The man tells Aidan that he’s one of the few left that “they’re all dead” (I assume the other vampires) and those left want his blood because he’s “pure” and they believe it will cure them. And Micky is going to sell that blood.

Of course, dealing with vampires isn’t the most sensible option and when his customer arrives – Atlee (one of the Amish vampires who are part of the Dutch we have seen before) and stakes him with his own stake, unable to pay Micky’s prices. He rescues Aidan, empties the fridge of blood and helps Aidan leaves – but Atlee stops him feeding on Micky, telling him the blood can kill him.

They drive off and Atlee explains the situation. Mother’s dead, they’re all dead or disappeared searching for untainted blood. Apparently the latest flu epidemic left human blood tainted and any vampire who feeds on it gets sick – including Atlee who already has lesions around his face. Atlee thinks Aidan may be the answer. Which is when Aidan’s hallucinations kick in again, with Hallucination!Sally pointing out he’s about to be eaten by a pack of rabid, virus stricken, Amish vampires (which sounds ridiculous no matter how you phrase it). In fact can we keep them around? Hallucination!Sally and Hallucination!Josh are waaay more fun than their reality counterparts. They’re joined by Hallucination!Bishop and after some hilarious banter (I love these, we gotta keep them) they encourages Aidan to fight – he attacks Atlee but in his weakened state the other vampire wins and bites him, hoping Aidan’s blood will save him (Hallucination!Bishop apologises).

Having drunk from Aidan, Atlee is shocked to realise that his blood isn’t the cure – and crumbles to death in the driver’s seat, causing the van to crash.

Aidan lies by the side of the road, not looking well, while Hallucination!Josh and Hallucination!Sally watch him and get angry over him dying. Aidan insists he’s not going to die, gasping and fighting and willing to live.

Sally

Sally is in limbo, which has a nifty fuzzy black and white ghosty effect, running with 2 companions, Nick and Stevie (old shredded ghosts – actually ghosts Sally shredded, he who constantly drowned in the Dr. Who scarf and the kid she went to school with). They’re trying to get back to the living world and it isn’t going well. After her failed attempt to get through the door of the house, Stevie and Nick disappear.

She goes and finds them – Nick in a lake, drowning again, and Stevie (who committed suicide, albeit with pills) hanging from a tree, watching his family go on without him; their personal limbos. They return to the house, the door doesn’t open, again, and her companions disappear, again. Looks like this is Sally’s personal limbo. Nick and Stevie try to talk her out of continually trying again and again.

Review: Zombie Whisperer by Jesse Petersen, Book 4 of the Living With Zombies Series

Sarah and Dave have managed to find a safe place – inasmuch as anything is safe after a zombie apocalypse. They’re hold up, isolated, capable of defending themselves and well stocked up to face the coming year. They’ve even come to terms with Dave’s half-zombie nature and use it to their full advantage. The only problem is Sarah’s growing restlessness. After months of constant fighting for survival, the quietness of their lives is wearing on her.

That, and the fact she is pregnant. And, with Dave the father, who knows how much of the baby is human and how much of it is zombie?

But visitors arrive with that rarest of commodity, hope. A chance, maybe to cure the zombie plagues, a chance to put the zombies down, a chance to restore the world to what it was. A chance that rests on Sarah and Dave – but it’s a chance that requires them to trust these people. And if there’s one thing the zombie apocalypse has been very clear on, it’s that there are very very few people out there you can trust.

One thing I’ve always loved about this series is that it’s fun. It’s funny, it has a lot of lightness about it, it has a lot of snark about it. Yet it manages to balance that level of snark and fun with a full sense of the dystopia and fear that comes with it. Yes, the parties are getting a little more blasé about the whole zombie killing thing given how long they’ve been doing this, but there’s still always that edge of fear and worry. We have the dystopia, we have the end of the world feeling even while keeping that lightness and that fun about it. In this book it’s less due to the horrors of the zombies and far more down to the horrors of seeing their home, Seattle, in ruins and seeing what the zombie apocalypse has done to it. We have the wonderful combination of the heavy, dark emotion, the painful realisations that come with dystopia, the light and snarky fun and humour and the character growth with their loving, but not always smooth interactions and development as a couple. All three together in a wonderful combination. We even had a nod to the tragedy of what the zombies were – not just walking, empty monsters, but people, reanimated cruelly and driven by hunger and rage and pain.

I was also impressed by Sarah and Dave’s interaction with the army guys. They are suspicious with good reason – one of the staples of this series and dystopians in general is that when law and order breaks down, people can become even more dangerous than the zombies. But that suspicion never completely overpowered common sense. It was well maintained, their trust is not easily for sale, but they could also be reached. It was, again, well balanced and very relatable.

Vex and Kenzi are at an underground performance with Kenzi's friend Aussie. When a human jumps out at Vex, he tries to use his powers to push him away but when his powers don't work, Vex pushes him into a wall and holds a knife to his throat. Kenzi is forced to tell him that it's all make believe and that he needs to back off.

Bo and Lauren are having sex and Lauren pauses to say that they need to start stocking the fridge with sports drinks. Obviously, keeping with Bo is exhausting for her. She then comments, "I must be the only woman in history who has to pretend to be a ditz to repel sexual attraction." They are interrupted when Bo gets a message from Trick asking her to come to the bar.

At the performance that Vex and Kenzi are attending, they suddenly see creatures moving quickly. The lights go out and the man dressed as a sewer alligator on stage is dead. The crowd quickly starts to disperse, as Kenzi yells for her friend Aussie.

Bo wakes up from a dream about her stealing essence from someone outside of the Dahl, which we saw at the end of last week. Lauren asks if she is okay and Bo says that she is fine. Lauren points out that for the last two nights that she has slept over that Bo has woken up screaming and so she asks if committing to her is scary. Bo reassures Lauren and tells her to go back to sleep.

Kenzi and Vex rush in and tell Bo what happened. Vex says that he believes that the attack was fae related. Kenzi says that they have to go now but when they ask Vex to join them, he declines saying that there is a "Real Houswives" marathon on. When Kenzi moves to attack, Bo tells her that it is not worth the effort and threatens Vex if he goes near her girlfriend.

At a gym, Dyson is boxing and a woman walks in and says, "20 bucks if you kill the white boy." It turns out that the woman is Dyson's new partner Tamsin. Dyson says that he has not heard anything about a new partner and she hands him a folder about a fae which is causing trouble. In even more shocking news, it turns out that Tamsin reports to the Morrigan and their team is part of a peace project between the Light and Dark fae.

Kenzi and Bo use a storm drain to enter the area of the festival. When Bo asks how Kenzi knew about this, Kenzi admits that after running away from home, she used to live there. Bo says that she has never had to live below ground and Kenzi replies that her life was easier because of her abilities as a succubus. Bo gets a call from Trick, who has contacted a weaver to help her with her night terrors. Trick says that the weaver is specialising in annoying him and wants to know when Bo will be there. Bo tells Trick about Kenzi's friend, so Trick suggests that Eunice has other places to be and things to do, but Eunice grabs his hand and replies that she would love to stay. Trick begs Bo to hurry after Eunice makes a pretty blatant pass.

Bo and Kenzi come across someone wearing a blindfold. He moves away from them when he hears a rat and then promptly eats it. They follow the man and see more people just like him. Bo says that they are fae and that they live like animals. On the ground, Kenzi sees a dead man with his leg sliced off. When they try to leave, the exit is blocked off and they are accused of trespassing. They are interrupted by a man who is also blind and Bo tells him that ripping a man to death is barbaric.

At the festival, Dyson and Tamsin are examining the body of the man who was pretending to be the sewer alligator. Tamsin feels that Dyson is holding back information and Dyson replies, "orders or no orders, I've been around long enough to know that I would be a fool to trust someone from your team." Tamsin asks if Dyson means, "dark fae or women."

Bo stands in front of Kenzi to protect her but Atticus says that he used to live up ground and had wife in child who were quarantined because their poor quality of life had lead to a disease. Atticus says that the disease was most likely a means to an end place them out of sight The rat eater says that his coveted home did have an ocean view. In frustration, Kenzi strikes him demanding that he return Aussie. The eater leaves locking Bo and Kenzi in the room and gas starts to rise from the ground.

When Bo and Kenzi wake up, they're back at home with Vex watching over them eating. Vex asks, "how was it to finally consummate your marriage?" Bo asks how they got there and Vex replies, "I don't know but if I had to guess, years of latent sexual tension." Bo and Kenzi start to beat Vex with pillows when they are interrupted by Dyson and Tamsin.

Bo heads to the precinct and it's clearly awkward between her and Dyson. Dyson says that last night they were investigating the old subway tunnels and he smelled her perfume. Bo admits that they went in to get Kenzi's friend Aussie. Dyson says that city workers have gone missing and that they have been ordered to exterminate them. Tamsin shows Bo a picture of the man she fed off of dead in an alley. When Bo says that it looks like her feed, Dyson tells her to stop talking because apparently this crime is punishable by death. Tamsin asks what she should tell the Morrigan and Bo is not at all pleased when she realises that Dyson's new partner is a dark fae. When Tamsin asks where Bo was at the time of the murder, Dyson covers for her and says that she was with him getting out of prison.

Fairyland Past

In a tavern, Belle listens to a group of men rallying support to kill a fearsome beast, the yaoguai. And Grumpy – back in his Dreamy days – pulls up a chair and talks to her about his plans to run away with his fairy love. He advises her to go on an adventure and go face the beast as she dreams of doing, but she’s reluctant since she’s aware that only adventures in books have happy endings and her last run in with a “Beast” didn’t end well. He pushes and, excited, she goes accepting his gift of fairy dust for the road.

She sets off on the wagon and her reading is regarded with contempt by her fellows, when asked what use her book is, she reveals that the yaoguai lives by the lake – and they kick her off the wagon and drive on, leaving her behind. Of course, she’s lying and the nocturnal yaoguai is actually in the mountains, where she goes alone. Armed with a dagger and a hard backed book. Uh-huh, c’mon Belle, you’re supposed to be the smart one. Predictably, the yaoguai leaps out of the cave (it’s like a wolf with a mane of fire) and nearly eats her until it is shot with an arrow and driven off.

Who is Belle’s rescuer? Mulan! Who is less than happy about Belle ruining her hunt. Belle points out she found the yaoguai faster than Mulan – but Mulan leaves. Belle goes to the local settlement to get water from the well and the men she lied to grab her and hold her over it, threatening to drop her in for lying to them. Mulan makes another appearance to save Belle and easily defeat the men holding her. Mulan comments on how she hated dealing with men who dismissed her because she was a woman and agrees to have Belle join her for her superior tracking skills

Unfortunately, Mulan took a cut to the leg protecting Belle which is steadily getting worse as they travelled. When they reach the yaoguai’s lair, Mulan is too weak to fight and kill it so Belle has to. Belle protests she can’t (then why were you tracking it in the first place?!) but Mulan insists she can, everyone doubted her originally but she showed them she had a warrior’s spirit – all you need to do is find something worth fighting for.

Belle attracts the yaoguai’s attention and leads it to a water tower, when it gets close she douses it in water, extinguishing its fiery mane. It falls to the floor, weak – and writes with its claw in Chinese characters “save me.” Belle instantly sheaves her sword (good thing no enemy lies, right?) and pours the fairy dust Dreamy gave him over the creature – and he turns into Prince Phillip. He was cursed by Malificent.

Belle takes Phillip back to Mulan so he can help her to a doctor, while Belle wanders off on her own to go back to Rumplestiltskin. And runs into Regina who has her locked in a tower while she rants that she’ll never stop fighting for him.

Storybrooke Present

Rumplestiltskin hasn’t forgotten Smee, the man who tried to take Belle over the boundaries of the town which would have robbed her of her memory. Rumple uses him as a guinea pig to test his potion to see if it will protect him against the memory loss. It works, he remembers who he is – and who Rumplestiltskin is.

Storybrooke turns out in force to Archie/Jiminy Cricket’s funeral, to say goodbye and make touching tributes. Meanwhile, the very much alive Archie is not enjoying Hook’s hospitality. Hook wants to know Rumplestiltskin’s weaknesses.

After Archie’s funeral, at the wake a new debate arises brought by Grumpy for Emma and Snow– when are they going to return to fairyland, the Enchanted Forest? Snow and Emma are surprised, they didn’t’ think anyone wanted to go back, but Grumpy points out that, with Archie’s death, they’re not as safe as they thought. And even aside from that, there’s a whole world full of people who don’t know they exist – what will they do if they pay Storybrooke a visit? And, beside from that, the Enchanted Forest is their home and they want to go back there.