Once Upon a Time: Season 4, Episode 11: Shattered Sight

Flash back opening – 1982, Boston and Ingrid’s first arrival. And visiting a psychic to find Emma and is not amused that she’s a fraud. She storms off vowing to find Emma.

And then we move to Storybrooke, now, with the mirror shattered and chaos descending. In the police station Mary Margaret and Charming are snarling at each other (which is so wonderful to see) and Kristoff is saying mean things to Anna – Anna, Elsa and Emma are all immune. And Emma reassures them she’s the Saviour – I love Anna’s line “is that like a real job here?” Clearly she doesn’t realise how often this town needs saving. But Anna does remember what the legend says would stop the mirror’s magic – killing Ingrid. Sounds good – make with the stabbing! Of course everyone’s too wet to plan a murder, so instead Emma and Elsa head out to find another way, leaving Anna behind (because she’s useless in just about every way possible). That leaves Anna to convince the Charmings not to hate each other despite them being much more fun this way.

Elsa and Emma go to confront Ingrid – but the ribbons they’re wearing stop their magic hurting Ingrid. And she’s sure that Elsa and Emma will totally love her soon. They try to take them off but they can’t – but Emma believes that to counter the love-ribbons they need to find some super hatred. Emma thinks the best source for some magically enhance hatred of her is Regina.

This calls for a flashback to when Emma was fostered by Ingrid and Ingrid was a kind of awesome foster mother. Which eventually develops into Ingrid planning to adopt Emma. Everything is going wonderful until Ingrid decides to tell Emma she’s magical and drag her in front of a moving car to prove it. Emma is not amused and pretty devastated that the woman willing to adopt her seems to be so disconnected from reality to a dangerous degree.

Later, in 2001 when the first curse hit, Ingrid uses the scroll she got from the Sorcerer to get into Storybrooke. In  2011 Emma is in town and visits the ice cream parlour – and sees Ingrid. But this is Emma pre-revelation and Ingrid babbling away about apprentice, magic et al and is pretty hostile. Ingrid takes her memories.

To the present - and evil!Regina is stuck in her own vault and decides this is all Emma’s fault. Evil Regina also has a much more awesome wardrobe.

Emma and Elsa approach her vault to initiated Operation Suicide By Evil Queen. Emma uses her magic to bring down Regina’s barrier. Now Emma just has to antagonise Regina (“how do you walk in that thing?” “with the poise and composure of a queen”. Ah Regina). Emma tells Regina she deliberately brought Marianne back to break Regina’s heart AND she’s happy with Hook so she can flaunt it in front of Regina – yep, that’ll get the hatred flowing. Regina’s spell burns away the ribbons. Emma throws Regina back against the wall then she and Elsa run. Very very fast.

They run and Regina goes to the police station where she finds the Charmings, Anna and Kristoff. She quickly spells Anna away (something everyone who has ever met her wants to do) and she challenges Snow White to a sword fight (David worries about the computers)

Fangs for the Fantasy Podcast: 2014, Episode 25

It's time for this week's episode of Fangs for the Fantasy podcast

You can join us here and you can listen live on our youtube channel, here, or in our sidebar. All will also carry a recording after the show is finished. As ever all our previous podcasts can be found in the archive

The podcast begins at 7:00pm EST (technology willing)

17th November - 24th November: Loki’s Wolves by K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr

24th November - 1st December: The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

1st December - 8th December : Death’s Mistress by Karen Chance

8th December - 15th December: Staked by J.F. Lewis

15th December -  22nd December: Odin Ravens by  K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr

22nd December - 5th January: Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews

 
Since we missed last week's podcast we will try to discuss the last 2 books of the week as well as the current one

Z Nation, Season One, Episode Thirteen: Doctor of the Dead

This episode begins with a flashback to before the zombie apocalypse in New York city.  Dr.Kurian meets up with Johnny on a street corner and they head to a flop house, where Bill lies passed out on the ground due to drugs.  Dr. Kurian pays off Johnny and Kurian asks Bill when his last meal was, if he has an increased sensitivity light, numbness in his extremities, and if he is cold.  Bill says yes to all of these things and Kurian injects him with what appears to be blood and Bill starts to convulse.  Kurian then places a large syringe up Bills nose and takes a sample before leaving.  Kurian walks past Johnny, who is now lying on the floor outside of the room.

In present day, somewhere west of the Rockies, Warren tells Citizen Z that she is not sure how long they can hold it together and that Cassandra is not looking good. Citizen Z asks about Murphy and is told that he is acting weirder than usual.  Citizen Z says that he has picked up a message from Dr. Merch, the same woman who injected Murphy and their new destination is Fort Collins.  Citizen Z adds that Colorado, is the new California.

10K comforts Cassandra, who is puking her brains out by the road side as Murphy watches.  Doc informs Warren that not only are they low on gas, they are low on ammo as well.  Murphy finds the keys to the van and hops in the drivers seat but before he can drive off, Warren knocks on the window and informs Murphy that Dr. Merch is waiting for him. Murphy is extremely angry with Dr.Merch and Warren points out that Merch is the reason Murphy is still alive. 

The group drives off together with Doc behind the wheel.  Doc tells Murphy that he is going to miss him and after all of the miles they have traveled together, it's starting to feel like a real family.  Murphy tells Doc that he almost considers him a friend.  Doc however tells Murphy that he does not envy him because once he is dropped off, he is going to have tons of needles stuck in him. When Murphy tries to deny this, Doc again asserts that Murphy is going to have a tube in every orifice. Warren stops the conversation by asking how much further they have to go.  10K says that after this is over he might head north because the Z's don't like the cold.  Warren says that her plans are to head to west because she has never been to California. Doc plans on buying a boat and sailing around the world.

They make it to the location and Warren puts handcuffs on Murphy, saying that they are looking for a group of civilians transporting a prisoner and she does not want Murphy being confused as a zombie.  Murphy calls bullshit, saying that Warren does not trust him.  Murphy heads straight to the door which is surrounded by zombies, forcing the team to hop back into their van.  10K reports that he has two bullets and Doc only has one.  Roberta calls out to Murphy and he snarks about the group needing his help.  Murphy opens the van door and tells the group to follow him.  They each wrap themselves around Murphy and the zombies surround them but do not attack.

Death's Mistress (Dorina Basarab #2) by Karen Chance

Dorina is doing more and more missions for her father, Mircea, senator for the North American vampire council. Of course, being a vampire, her father, and extremely ancient he keeps far too many secrets – including the true nature of her latest task and the powerful artefact at the heart of it

A task that also drags in Louis-Cesare, who has his own political machinations caught between two senates

And then there’s Dorina’s best friend Claire – bringing a whole lot of lethal fae politics and her fae child with her.

This world has so much happening in it and it all comes into play in this book. The mages, the fae and the vampires all play varying role (focusing on the vampires but there’s a huge fae involvement). We have lots of political machinations from the world that has been completely upset by a huge ongoing war. I really like that each of the supernatural beings presented has a sense of culture – and not just a sense of culture but a sense of multiple cultures and factions rather than them just being homogenous groups.

I also love the sense that there is a lot going on beyond what Dorina is aware of – that great feeling that the world continues without her and doesn’t focus on her just because she is the protagonist. A lot of worlds seem to disappear when the protagonist is not involved, but not here.

The war makes for an excellent backdrop for the series because it gives such a perfect motivation for Dorina to be involved. The consumption of resources and attention by the war – coupled with the disruption by it – gives us a perfect reason why Dorina needs to be involved in things she’d normally be kept from. It also makes for an excellent world building exposition without making Dorina ignorant – she’s clearly capable and skilled (and, excellently, has some tricks that even the ancient master vampires don’t have), but the new situation means things need to be explained to her (and us). Similarly, explaining how the war has changed things also elegantly explains to us how the status quo normally operates. It works, it works really well considering just how much there is to grasp.

My complaint with all of this is that there is just so much going on. This rune is so valuable that half of the supernatural world want it which means there are a lot of players, a lot of possibles, a lot of factions that is all kind of overwhelming. Some I can see as important foreshadowing for the future and world building like Ming-de and the Chinese delegation, but Ganimus felt like a step too far and I’m not sure if the mage involvement and their event was particularly necessary either. I’m not saying any one of these elements was badly done or boring – certainly not – but there’s just so much going on not just in this book, but in this huge, varied and multi-layered world there needs to be triage, especially for readers who haven’t read other series set in the same world. Sometimes I felt like I should have been taking notes or keeping a flowchart or something.

Fangs for the Fantasy book of the week

The next episode of our podcast will be starting tonight at 7:00pm EST (12:00am GMT). You will be able to listen to us on our youtube channel, or by the link in the sidebar or by the post here that will be posted. We hope to see you there

Like all  the Fangs for the Fantasy podcasts (archives here) we read a book and discuss it on the show. 

To give people a chance to read along with us we include a list of our planned books of the week for the next few shows, so people can get the books, read them and join in the conversation.

17th November - 24th November: Loki’s Wolves by K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr

24th November - 1st December: The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

1st December - 8th December : Death’s Mistress by Karen Chance

8th December - 15th December: Staked by J.F. Lewis

15th December -  22nd December: Odin Ravens by  K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr

22nd December - 5th January: Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews

Since we missed last week's podcast we will try to discuss the last 2 books of the week.

Atlantis, Season 2, Episode 4: A Marriage of True Minds

Just in case we hadn’t guessed that Telamon was evil, we begin this episode with Medea and Pasiphae casting a spell on him and anointing him with chicken blood. They’re plotting to kill Ariadne and then Medea will shower riches on Telamon – who is estranged from his father (for reasons we don’t know – last episodes reasons were lies). Medea has her doubts but Pasiphae is sure that Telamon, a desperate exile, will kill Ariadne.

Meanwhile Dion, Telamon and Ariadne are planning to go to Telamon’s father’s territory; Dion would much rather Ariadne stay in Atlantis but Telamon has decided he must have his father’s blessing so they can reconcile. Naturally such an emotional appeal means Ariadne agrees – and Telamon helpfully has advice for the route they should take. Dion says he’ll consider it in a tone that tells Telamon where he can shove his travel guide. Dion will know the route, no-one else, in the name of safety.

Jason & co are at least all suspicious, but Jason is still Jason so has no good ideas – he does have a bad one though, run up to Ariadne and say “your betrothed is evil!” Pythagoras and Hercules warn him he just looks like a desperate, jealous, stalker ex. Jason goes and does it anyway and, unsurprisingly, sounds like a desperate, jealous, stalker ex. Jason gets the consolation prize of going along as bodyguard so they can continue to look longingly and tragically at each other. This also volunteers Pythagoras and Hercules.

Time for the journey and Ariadne is in her fanciest frock and Jason has his mopiest face. When they stop for the night we have more moping and Telamon being all lovey dovey with Ariadne and, for reasons unknown, Dion tells Telamon the next day’s travel plans. The gang have a little back and forth about finding Jason another love interest and Hercules references Medusa. Oh Medusa, I miss you.

When they leave for the day, Telamon leaves a message behind to tell Pasiphae where they’re going

The route they’ve chosen is very dangerous with an easy ambush point – but it’s also a very unexpected route. Probably because there are lots of Colchean enemies nearby. Personally, I’ve come to expect people to pick the suicidally foolish choice.

To the surprise of absolutely no-one, they’re ambushed by archers. Many die (including Ariadne’s maid), everyone scrambles for cover. While everyone is distracted, Telamon runs to Ariadne, sword drawn ready to stab her, she realises that bad guy is bad - but he can’t bring himself to do it. With a quick “forgive me” he runs to his horse and rides off. Jason gets Ariadne to safety among a storm of dead extras. More people die and Jason and Ariadne hug it out.

Telamon goes to Pasiphae to say he didn’t kill Ariadne and he gets himself a non-fatal stabbing and abandoned with just one water bottle. She won’t kill him outright because he is technically royalty and they fear the gods might get miffed when you kill blue bloods (the gods are apparently totally ok with the regular attempts to slice and dice Ariadne). Medea also decides to puncture his water bottle just for extra funsies. Telamon is not a happy bunny.

Haven, Season 5, Episode 13: Chosen

Charlotte is Audrey/Mara’s mother! Dwight is shocked that Charlotte has been lying and doesn’t understand since Charlotte is way too young (ignoring the fact that Mara has been around for centuries); she reveals she’s about 1100 years old while Mara is 600. She says the proof of this is the ring which everyone in the family (including Mara) has (because “immortals” is definitely an explanation that is more reasonable than “mass produced crap made in China”). She adds that she’s from a different world, far away, that is separated from theirs – and it should stay that way. Dwight is super huffy and refuses to speak to Charlotte, summoning a guard instead.

Charlotte’s plan is to take Mara away and try to undo the damage she has done. She explains that the “void” between their world and our world is where Mara and William got the Aethur. Charlotte intervened and set up the Barn to teach Mara the error of her ways – Audrey isn’t best impressed by Charlotte stealing personalities so she can teach her daughter a life lesson. Charlotte also hopes it made things better because she hasn’t figured out yet how to fix Mara’s damage. Nathan finds this all very boring since it’s not about Audrey he doesn’t really care – but Charlotte thinks that 2 Maras can’t exist in the same place so, in theory, if Mara goes home Audrey will be fine. But she needs Mara – so Nathan plans to bring her to him

That damage segues us to Duke at the Gull who is getting tetchy and throwing out Troubles at an annoying customer who shatters several things including another person. Which is really messy.

Reports of this reach the police who arm up and are ready to head to the Gull, except a random Trouble seals them in the armoury, much to the confusion of Rebecca and Dwight.

Nathan and Audrey plan to head over but Nathan goes to get coffee (Audrey is having a cold spell) and Mara gets in the car with a gun. Unsurprisingly, she refuses to see her mother instead she sends a message – either Charlotte opens a Thinny so she can leave (alone) otherwise Duke will explode and cover Haven in a whole new batch of super-terrible Troubles. She then hits Audrey (just so we’re clear she’s super, and rather gloriously shamelessly evil) and leaves.

In the hospital Gloria is causing a scene, possibly to cause a distraction to allow Duke to visit Charlotte and possibly just because she’s ornery. Duke explains his problem and when he takes off his shirt we see he is covered in black handprints.

Audrey returns to speak to Charlotte to try and figure out her identity crisis and deliver Mara’s message. Duke overhears their conversation including the fact he’s a Trouble bomb – Duke decides to leave. Because that’s completely sensible; regardless, Charlotte won’t let Mara through alone and she can’t stop Duke exploding.

Next Trouble – a group of school kids are trapped on a boat completely encased in animate rigging, ropes and net – and seemingly crushing the boat. Everyone gathers there to try and help remove all the ropes and keep the boat afloat and Dwight guesses it’s the same locking Trouble as the police station. Audrey and Charlotte also arrive and they have a plan to stop Mara – Mara’s personality has been pasted over so many times that Charlotte thinks that if they’re recombined the goodness in Audrey, that has come from Mara(ish) will reform Mara and she will choose to stop.

Constantine, Season 1, Episode 7: Blessed are the Damned

We have a church revival (I’m not even sure what that is so I may end up calling it “Jesus camp”) and a man, Zach with a box containing rattle snakes. His sister, Sarah, thinks he might want to use some of the other poisonous snakes they have that have had their venom milked but Zach wants to follow in his daddy’s footsteps (and possibly into his daddy’s grave) use actual deadly snakes in his sermon.

Zach’s worried about declining church numbers and is sure a bit of venomous reptile handling is just what the preacher ordered. I think handling venomous reptiles could, possibly, be a reason for the declining numbers.

At the actual sermon another reason may be Zach’s terrible performance as a preacher. After watching that, I can now understand why seeing the pastor bitten by a rattlesnake may be the highlight of the whole day. He gets bitten and collapses – and everyone seems quite shocked and upset by this. But while Sarah performs CPR he suddenly sits up – and there’s a glowing shard in his hand, he pockets it before praising Jesus. Everyone gets excited and a man with one leg hurries forward and pastor Zach touches him and regrows his leg. I have to say that’s more convincing than your average faith healer.

Over to Zed, who’s in this episode, at her art class which she disrupts by screaming when she has a vision of snakes crawling around her ankles, alas vision calling means she can’t flirt with the sexy life model though she does set up a date.

She rushes to John to tell him all about it and he’s a bit of a bastard because he’s John and it’s what he does. But he hears her and tells her about the resurrecting snake bit preacher. John packs his bag of tricks, including a scythe from the Grimm Reaper and a whole lot of condoms. And this time Chas can’t come – what does John have to ration his sidekicks?

They watch Zach heal and Zed is convinced he’s a conman preying on the now very expanded flock. Zed also has some hope when it comes to faith – John, not so much. They also see Zach heal some very obvious burn scars which proves genuine power. John is more concerned when Zachary begins babbling in Enochian, the language of the angels. He also thinks that this kind of healing will have a downside.

Time for that downside, once-one-legged man Nate is being checked out by his stunned doctor before complaining of it being hot, his eyes flaring red, the lights flickering and him brutally murdering his doctor. He wanders off and walks down the road and kills a cop – the murder caught on the dashcam.

John and Zed join the big queue to see Pastor Zach, when she touches him she has a vision (that seems to involve wings) that leaves her stunned. John tries to question Pastor Zach about his Enochian but it’s pretty clear he doesn’t know. Afterwards Zed tells John that Zach is unwavering in his faith, has good intentions and believe he felt an angel when he came near death. Zed keeps raising Zach’s good intentions which John kind of concedes but also puts in the irrelevant column – Zed has a scry-map vision which means evil and healing magic must come from somewhere.