Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain #2) by Amanda Carlson

 

One shall walk again, above all others she is born;
Within her the beast shall lie, well hidden in True Form;
And from this day forth, the Children of the Night shall pay;
By her supreme rule, her righteous hand will slay,
Justice to all, as none are her equal;
The True Lycan will vanquish all evil.

Not only is Jessica the only female werewolf, it has been prophesied that she will dispense justice amongst the supernaturals.  First however, Jessica must find her mate who has been kidnapped.  The journey will test her new skills more than she could ever imagine. 

There really isn't much character development in this second installment of the Jessica McClain series.  We do however get introduced to two new vampires, as well as learn some of the abilities and limitations of vampirism.  The world is also enlarged by whole slew of new supes.

That being said, I don't feel like the story really progressed at all.  Hot Blooded is essentially one large fight scene which if you like that sort of thing, will be right up your ally.  Jessica and her small pack challenge various supernatural creatures; however, this lacked any kind of real suspense from the beginning because it was clear that while the situations themselves were dangerous, no one was really in any kind of mortal danger.  It quickly became rote that whenever Jessica faced a new monster, she would pull out some super special Lycan power to defeat it.

As part of her role as protagonist of this series, Jessica also served as the moral center.  Because her supernatural ability is extremely new, Jessica very much affirmed the importance of life, making her unwilling to kill because of convenience.  It will be interesting to see if she can hold onto that as the challenges she faces get tougher and tougher.

Once Upon a Time, Season 4, Episode 17: Best Laid Plans

Opening flashback to their sogginesses, before they were quite so drippy. They’re hunting a unicorn to fondle its horn (ok, they were still very drippy) to see Emma’s future and see if she’s going to turn evil or not. (I would have loved to see them run with the unicorn trying to impale them, but alas, not). David seems an innocent baby while Emma sees a teenager who rips out her heart

They angst about this for some time before a passing peddler helpfully provides some distraction – Draconic Maleficent has laid an egg. He advises them to go around and go to a cottage and get directions instead. This sounds sensible so it’s quite shocking when the Charmings follow his advice.

The cottage is owned by the Sorcerer’s apprentice who feels quite within his right to comment on their upcoming birth. He explains why the visions conflict and how the future can actually change – the only way to ensure Emma is all good and pure is to put all her potential for evil in another blank slate (another child). Effectively a child sacrifice.

Mary Margaret decides that Maleficent egg is ideal. Because a super evil DRAGON SORCERER is such a good idea. Fetching the egg involves knocking our Ursula and Cruella who have, bemusingly, decided to bodyguard Maleficent’s cave. They manage to stop Maleficent turning them to ash (alas) by threatening her baby- much to Maleficent’s utter horror (“what kind of people are you to threaten a child?”) Maleficent begs for her child but the Charmings refuse to listen

They take the egg to the sorcerer’s apprentice who transfers the evil – and banishes the egg to another dimension. After all, he’s not fool enough to want a super powerful evil dragon baby hanging around, to be that foolish you’d have to be a Charming. Mary Margaret, in all her sogginess, protests they only wanted to put an evil dark curse on the new born, not exile it! (this counts as moral justification in her world) but it’s too late and he banishes the egg (which starts hatching into a baby) through a portal. Cruella and Ursula are randomly dragged through as well. But their baby is now “pure of intent” and up to the Charmings to guide. Wait, wasn’t that what a blank slate meant anyway?!

Mary Margaret describes their acts of kidnapping, cursing and exiling a child a “mistake.” She is a terrible terrible person.

Back at the castle Mary Margret mopes over her guilt and how it’s with her all the time (except the last 3 seasons. Maybe she thought being married to David was punishment enough). She acknowledges they weren’t kind, they were selfish and they are no longer heroes. David decides the way to save this is to fix themselves (not Maleficent), but just making sure they’re good and pure so they can get over it and not give their child issues. REDEMPTION!

The Walking Dead, Season Five, Episode Sixteen: Conquer

Morgan wakes up in the back seat of a car and smiles at the rabbit's foot hanging off the rear view mirror.  He heads outside and makes himself a cup of soup.  A man sneaks up on Morgan holding a gun and introduces himself.  The man has a W carved into his forehead, which apparently represents wolves ,which were hunted by the first settlers of the area and the Indigenous community. The W symbolizes that wolves are back now.  Apparently, the man is part of a larger group who sometimes traps people.   When Morgan tries to take a sip of his cup of soup, he is told to put it down.  Morgan asks to keep a little bit of his supplies and is told that he will lose it all, including his life. Morgan informs the man that he can have everything but will not allow himself to be taken away.  The stranger tells Morgan to be still and his partner sneaks up from behind.  The fight is on and all Morgan has is a stick to defend himself.  Morgan warns the men that they should go but when they refuse, he proceeds to kick some serious ass before knocking them out and placing them in the car he slept in the night before. Morgan then pockets the rabbit's foot. When Morgan picks up the gun which as pointed at him, he discovers that it had no bullets.

Darryl is driving down the road on his motorcycle with Aaron hot on his heels.  They pull off to the side of the road.

Back at Alexandria, Rick slowly wakes up to find Michonne watching him.  Michonne reports that Deanna wanted him isolated to calm things down and Rosita took care of his bandages.  Michonne reports that Pete was placed in another home.  Michonne asks Rick what he is doing and Rick says that things moved fast and that he couldn't tell her what he was doing. Rick then actually taunts Michonne about wanting to get off the road.  Did this fool forget that they had no food or water and were reduced to praying for rain while eating dog?  Michonne is emphatic that they had to stop being out there.

Glenn, Abraham, and Carol, come in and Carol accuses Rick of stealing the gun from armoury calling it stupid. Gotta love how even in front of her own group, Carol refuses to show her hand. Rick plays dumb as Carol intended.  Glenn announces that Deanna is planning a meeting for tonight.  They discuss a tactic and it's Carol who suggests that Rick tell the community a story they want to hear just like she has been doing since she got there.  Yeah that was a subtle point to Rick that he really should have flown under the radar. Carol declares the Alexandrians are like children, adding that knives are all they need against the people.  Rick lays out a plan to over power the residents of Alexandria if necessary, including a threat to slit people's throats to get to the armoury.  Rick admits that he screwed up and put them in this mess. Well I suppose that's a first for Rick but excuse me if I'm still not impressed.   Rick then decides that he is going to sleep some more more and lies down.

Gabriel takes his jacket off the line, as Maggie watches from Deanna's porch. Yep, Gabriel needs to become walker food.  Maggie is joined by Reg and she questions if the meeting is about evicting Rick. Maggie makes it clear that evicting Rick is not an option and that it's not fair to put the decision on the residents who don't have the whole story. Deanna says that the situation is hers to decide (right no conflict of interest if she is the one who decides). Maggie talks about Rick's frustration at the things he has seen and lost.  Deanna immediately jumps on this because of course, she just lost her son but Maggie argues back rightly actually that they have lost so much more. Deanna points out that Rick pointed a gun at people but Maggie argues back that Rick didn't pull the trigger. Deanna however sees this as a poor sign. Reg steps up to remind Deanna that Michonne stopped Rick.  Maggie walks off the porch in frustration and Reg quickly follows to say that civilization starts when people stop running and live together.  This apparently is going to be his advice to Deanna and the people of Alexandria.

Sasha is outside of the walls and she grabs a dead zombie (yes, I know it's an oxymoron).  She drags the zombie to a pit filled with a few zombies.  Sasha stumbles and falls into the pit and instead of climbing out, she lies down in the pit with the zombies. Sasha has a weird fixation it seems and cannot decide between killing the zombies and wanting to just die herself. Other than Rick, I think this is the longest any character has been allowed to actively mourn a loss. And no, I haven't forgotten she who took her bed.

Darryl and Aaron are tracking a man through the woods and Aaron makes it clear that they have to make sure the person they are tracking is good.  Aaron then talks about the three people he was forced to send away.  Because Aaron brought them to Alexandria the responsibility of escorting them out became his.  The ousted people were driven away from Alexandria and left with a days worth of food and water and no guns.  Aaron is adamant that he will not make that kind of mistake again. Essentially, those people were given a death sentence.

Carol has gone back to see Rick alone, saying that what happened last night was good.  Carol hands Rick another gun and he asks why Carol didn't want the rest of the group to know they had more guns. Carol says that Michonne stopped Rick and that she didn't tell them just in case. Rick makes it clear that everyone is with them and that he doesn't want to lie anymore.  Carol points out that Rick said that he didn't want to lie and he didn't want to take Alexandria. Carol snarks to Rick that he cannot have it both way.  YES, I LOVE ME SOME CAROL.

Darryl and Aaron are tracking the man who is wearing a bright red poncho.  Darryl is impressed that the man knows how to keep mosquitoes off of him. 

Rick heads outside and walks through a group of men, saying hello to an armed Tobin.  Rick walks past Deanna's house and neither of the two say a word.

Nicholas glares at Glenn.  Maggie approaches Glenn and she promises to try and solve this.  Glenn simply tells Maggie that he loves her.  Maggie and Glenn agree to get together at the meeting. When Glenn turns his head, he sees Nicholas climbing over a wall and decides to follow.

Gabriel heads outside of Alexandria, turning down a gun saying the world of God is the only protection he needs.

Rick has returned home and is greeted by Carl.  Rick makes it clear that Carl is not to come to the meeting.  Carl says that the Alexandrians will die without them and Rick warns Carl that he might have to threaten, or kill one of them.  Carl suggests that Rick tell the truth in a way that they can hear; however, Rick thinks that they might not be able to.  Carl again asserts that Rick has to tell them. When did Carl get so much wiser than his father?

Aaron and Darryl look through a chain link fence in defeat after loosing the man with the red poncho.  They are looking at a warehouse filled with food and Darryl is worried that this means they are giving up.  Aaron points out that they need more people but they will need to be able to feed the people once they find them.  Darryl taps his knife on the fence to draw the attention of the walkers and when the zombies approach, Aaron and Darryl make short work of them.  The two men head into the facility.  Aaron pauses to get a license plate from Alaska, saying that if they come back with a trailer full of cans, then they've had a good trip.  When Darryl opens one of the trailers, it causes several others to open and zombies come pouring out.   Aaron and Darryl start running, killing zombies as they are able.  They slide under one of the trailers only to be followed by the zombies, so they are forced to roll out the other side.  Finally, in desperation, they climb inside a car, which quickly gets surrounded by walkers. 

Waistcoats & Weaponry (Finishing School #3) by Gail Carriger

Sidhaeg, one of Sophronia’s best friends, is shaken to the core by devastating news of her werewolf pack back in Scotland. She is convinced that she has to go home to help – which means a crafty absence from the school and a train journey across country

Of course, Sophronia is willing to help her friend, despite doubting the wisdom of her decision. Picking up many friends ad companions they make the journey to Scotland

But along the way they stumble across the latest scheme between the supernatural-hating Picklemen and the vampires and they cannot help getting involved. But a brief distraction quickly becomes deadly – and with possibly devastating consequences for the whole country.

I love this series. I love the very concept of it – the whole idea of these very proper Victorian ladies learning all the very proper Victorian etiquette and wearing all the very proper Victorian clothes and all the very proper Victorian modes of behaviour – and turning them into weapons and tools for espionage. I love the subversion of that, I love the whole idea of these women being extremely competent and dangerous not DESPITE the trappings and restrictions of their gender in this era – but using them to their advantage. I love their lessons, I love their training, I love the whole concept. And I love that we have a predominantly female cast who are good friends (no “super special female protagonist” here) and are all competent. Sure, Sophonia is super-duper competent and the leader, but she’s happy to acknowledge when her friends are better at something and has every faith in their abilities (including Agatha and Dimity who are often seen as behind the others); certainly more so than she has with untrained men. She respects other students of the school, even Monique. She has been trained. She is dangerous.

This excellent world setting and fun concept is backed up by Gail Carriger’s writing which has always been that excellent balance between proper Victorian language and screaming hilarity. It’s fun, it manages to be both a parody and serious and it always manages to be extremely funny, well paced and a general joy to read.

Since this is the prequel series to the Parasol Protectorate it’s also interesting to see the beginnings of some of the characters and events from that series – including the beginning of Lord Maccon’s story and the drama that overtook the Kingair Pack and how Sidhaeg became the woman she did. It’s nice to see it from this end

And it also introduces another excellent theme of this book – growing up. An inevitable part of any school story, Sophronia and her friends are coming of age and things and people are changing quickly. People are leaving Sophronia’s live, people are finding their paths and people are having to grow up – which adds to some sadness for Sophronia but also concerns about where she goes next; who does she seek out as a partron or a husband

Which also links (and I’m going to have an aside here to praise how well all the elements of this book link together and feed off each other) to Sophonia’s opinion of the politics of the day. She doesn’t favour any faction, she rather thinks any faction gaining complete control would be a bad thing and disapproves of the whole “with us or against us” mentality of both the vampires and the picklemen. She is a big believer in balance but that, in turn, makes her unwilling to seek a supporter on any side, even with Lord Akeldama courting her

Bitten, Season 2, Episode 8: Dark Arts

4 years ago, we see bad witch Clara cursing men to death for money. This is a no-no and Ruth disapproves. Ruth rips off Clara’s amulet and reduces it to dust (apparently stripping her of magic) before she and Bridget leaves

Alistair, at this point, is a performing street magician (already with his little symbol), Clara finds him to get her revenge. And that’s how Alistair becomes a bad guy

In the present, Alistair, possessing Clay, wraps up his body before joining Jeremy and Nick pretending to have lost Eduardo. Back at Stonehaven Ruth is fretting about Savannah magically bleeding people to death and they’re planning her initiation ritual in which she will get her talisman which lets her focus her powers

Aliclay wants them to do the ritual in Stonehaven; they agree to get it done asap.

Meanwhile Alistair and Clay have a little confrontation inside Clay’s head which also involves images of child!Clay and Malcolm.

In the real world Savannah is all kind and reassuring with Savannah before she goes down to her initiation. She picks cards to guide her through it – initiating through fire, having rats as a familiar (she doesn’t like rats but Paige is quick to sing the praises of rats). Savannah begs to have Elena with her and Ruth agrees.

While Savannah is asking for Elena, AliClay is trying to convince Elena to stay away from her. He kisses her which is so silly, everyone knows how this trope goes; a lover can always tell their true love by their special unique kissing skills. She is now all suspicious.

While Paige is preparing for the ritual, Nick drops in for some flirting and sex because he has no sense of appropriate timing.

Afterwards the go to where Ruth and Aliclay are building a little hut but they’re building it in a different place from where Jeremy said to – due to Aliclay wanting Savannah more split from the rest of them. Nick tries to move it and Aliclay stops them – and crudely attacks Nick and Paige for having sex, calling Paige a whore. Nick demands Clay apologise and he and Aliclay fight – and Nick wins until Paige makes them stop.

Elena confronts AliClay later over losing his ever loving mind and he both blames the witches and tries to force a kiss on her – and then trying to rape her. She punches him in the head. Jeremy goes to Clay to ask him what the hell is happening between him and Nick (I dearly hope this is because he doesn’t know about Elena and Aliclay) And Aliclay tries to undermine Elena by talking about what happened at the compound – including being forced to change in front of Rachel. Jeremy says what a terrible violation it is to be forced to change in front of others and somehow between them they come to the conclusion that spending time with Savannah is making it harder for Elena to deal with her issues.

Elena and Savannah are all nice together again before Elena has a quiet word with Paige asking just how out of control Savannah’s magic can get. Since Alistair messed with her mind, she’s worried that an out of control Savannah may be messing with Clay. Paige points out how easy it is to blame magic whenever something weird happens but, really, if something is wrong with Clay then you need to talk to Clay

Instead, Elena does some more reading about Alistair and his rituals while Aliclay prepares one of those rituals which ominously involves a noose.

Elena finds information about dark witches possessing people and shows it to Jeremy along with how weird Clay is acting. Jeremy starts to ignore her and talk about her being forced to change in front of others but Elena points out she didn’t actually tell Clay that – only Elena, Rachel and Alistair knew that. They go to the storage shed where they found Clay that morning

12 Monkeys, Season 1, Episode 10: Divine Move

2043

Ramse burns everything –all the plans, all the research and takes Jones injections of stuff (which I think are to do with time travel).

2015

Aaron and Cassie are back to being all couply – and Cole interrupts their couply time. Oh, Cole, Aaron wasn’t a big fan of you before now you’re making it worse! Aaron gasps that it’s not over – yes it looked like it was over Aaron but 12 Monkeys got renewed.

Of course Cassie has just seen Cole die and Cole has just seen Cassie die so they’re super happy to see each other alive.

But the virus was still out there, Chechnya wasn’t the only release point nor was Leland Goins nor was the Night Room. There’s another source: they focus on Oliver Peters, a guy who was at the CIA and who actually made the virus. Aaron loses his temper, saving the world can’t happen because it puts Cassie at risk and they don’t know what they’re doing!

Since, without their intervention, Cassie dies in 2017, I think his arguments are somewhat lacking. He does point out that Cole has no idea how to stop the plague which… yes? I mean isn’t that kind of acknowledged?

As Cassie and Cole drive off they acknowledge that it all feels a little more hopeless. This also feeds into Cole’s worry about Ramse. They break into a lab to find a dead man covered in flowers – something they’ve seen before which the Tall Man does. The dead man is not Oliver Peters, it’s his husband (yes, LGBT inclusion via a rotting corpse!) and Cassie is bitter that they’ve failed to make any difference. Cole has one of his broken glass of milk flashbacks/nosebleeds that he has from time to time which one day may be relevant but this is 12 Monkeys so don’t get your hopes up.

They do find Peter’s journal though including lots of plague references. One of which leads to Tokyo and the 12 Monkeys. Cassie is even more bitter. And drinking. And really bitter. She’s also noticed that Cole is killing himself. For another foreshadowing element, when Cole splinters a nearby plant has its leaves turn red. Related to the “red forest”?

She goes researching for animal test subjects that Peters must be using to develop the plagues. She also has to argue with Aaron who is worried about Cassie getting hurt (again, ignoring the inevitable death of most of the population including her if they don’t do something). She appeals to their inevitable death and asks him to stick with her

He joins her in going to a container yard where she thinks the virus may have been developed or supplies passed through – and she brings a gun with her. There she finds Peters locked in a container. He has finished the virus, creating it because the 12 Monkeys said they’d kill his husband if they didn’t. When he realises his husband is dead he asks Cassie to kill him so he can’t make the virus again. She considers it but, ultimately, tells him to run, find a hole and disappear into it

While she’s doing this, Aaron runs into the Striking Woman who knows his name. She talks about Cassie being important and keeping her live which sounds very menacing and threatening. No doubt Aaron will now do something monumentally foolish

12 Monkeys, Season 1, Episode 9: Tomorrow

2017

A battered Cole limps through plague ravaged Chechnya. He sees a broadcast from the American CDC (listing US casualties at 33 million) made by Cassie. She’s asking for the Immune to go to Baltimore (the new site of the CDC) to help with their research. She also talks about quarantine zones the CDC has set up.

Cole sees one of these zones and a desperate crowd trying to force themselves in – when a woman manages to push past the soldiers they shoot her. Cole, as one of the immune, is allowed in. Well, dragged in by guards. The Russian soldiers take him to where a soldier from the US army tells him they’re taking him to the airport – and she knows Cole by name.

In the US, mobs rage in the street as panic has taken over. In the crowd, Jennifer Goins rants away – it’s possible she’s gaining a following.

The soldier escorting Cole is one of the immune and leads him to Cassie. Hugging and Cassie’s broken recitation of trying to cure the plague while knowing Cole told her it was impossible. She knew where he was because she’s seen him since then (and he will splinter back to see her). Cassie is also sick and passes out

As she comes round, she asks Cole if he’s found the “Red Forest.” Of course, he doesn’t know what that means yet. She can’t tell him anything about it – or anything else – without “changing the path he’s on.” She gives him a piece of paper with an address on it – telling him his life depends on it. She then dies tragically in his arms.

As he splinters back to the future, the scratched watch from the first episode is re-sealed.

2043

After her foray to Colonel Foster’s enclave (Spearhead) last week, Jones is now on rumour control as it’s been spreading that the colonel has found a cure – he hasn’t. Col Foster is basing his research on the original plague despite the fact it has mutated twice since then. She says the colonel is only lying to give his people hope (which maaaaay be what others would think of Jones) and they must get Spearhead’s core to power the time machine.

Ramse tries to convince Elena to leave Foster’s “cult”. She doesn’t buy it and wants to show him how awesome Foster is – but Ramse can’t hang around for that while Cole is lost.

2041

Time for a flashback on what good friends Cole and Ramse are. Wandering around in the freezing forest after leaving Deacon’s band, sharing gloves to try and ward off frost bite and low on supplies. They resort to trying to ambush a group of 6 men for the deer they’ve taken

They get captured by Whitley. It wasn’t a good plan. Whitley beats them to try and get some answers – but Jones intervenes when she hears Cole’s name. She plays him a recording of Cassie’s voice that mentions Cole by name (along with talking about the architects of the plague and Leland Frost). Cole does ask the pertinent question how Jones knows Cassie’s talking about this particular Cole but Jones just says “I know” which is a very weak response. She makes her time travel pitch

Which Cole didn’t buy – and he tries to escape with Ramse – but it’s Ramse who convinces Cole to stay. Because Jones may be telling the truth, maybe she can fix the world – and maybe she can erase the terrible things they’ve done to survive. Cole doesn’t buy it and tries to run and Ramse sabotages their escape, saying he is “saving Cole’s soul.”

2043

While Ramse tries to convince Elena – and she, in turn, tries to convince him. During the convincing battle they’re found doing something they shouldn’t by Foster. Whitley approaches his father with the hard truth of Foster’s failure and lies. It’s difficult because of the 10 year rift between the two (caused by Whitley’s father killing people for Foster)

Jones tries to convince Foster about her machine but he calls it blasphemy – his rejection of Jones’s plan is more religious than scientific. He also has a moving attempt tom convince her that all what she thinks is lost – culture, art, civilisation – isn’t because they still remember it. These losses have often been pointed out as meaning as much to Jones as the people. Then she flips that script by saying that she was a mother – and shooting Foster. “Goodbye Jonathon. For now.”

Whitley has convinced is father and they bring down several guards and let in Jones’s men (and have big manly shoulder grasping of reconciliation). They invade Spearhead, guns blazing and people dying. These scenes are brutal and there’s blood everywhere and Whitley’s dad dies in the fighting along with one of Jones’s chief minions.

Surrounded by the dead, Jones gets her core. Whitley and Jones talk about his dad’s death and he now has a desperate need to cling to her vision as well. Ramse, Elena and Sam escape during the fighting and Elena is horrified by what Jones did, destroying her family. She still believes that Foster cured the plague and she overtly says what is already clear – Jones is as driven and ruthless as Foster was and maybe she was the one who lied and Foster had found the cure

To emphasise this we see Foster burning papers that seem to show that Foster had cured the 2033 mutation

She brings Cole back and he tells her what happened

Ramse returns to Cole and tells him about Jones murdering half of Spearhead and it seems Elena has convinced him – they did have a cure. But Cole is now invested in the mission (because that will bring Cassie back), even though Ramse tells him about Elena and wants him to stop, Cole just saw the world die in 2017, watched Cassie die. Ramse calls Cole blind and selfish, because Elena and Sam will be erased if Cole changes the world. Cole says Sam is already dead and Ramse hits him – but Cole stick to it “there is no future.”

I think this episode we saw a lot more of Jones, the woman who killed people to test her machine. And it’s not a woman who is an unfeeling scientist who will do anything to pursue her goal – she’s a woman trying to get her daughter back and that seems, ultimately, to outweigh everything else. There’s also a terrifying element to her faith in her machine working and resetting time: she doesn’t care what happens now. It doesn’t matter who she kills, who dies, who suffers because if she succeeds none of it will have happened, it’s the big reset switch. This makes Jones a thoroughly terrifying person.

I think this episode did a very good job of showing that. The take over of Spearhead wasn’t shown as sanitised or clean – we saw the bodies and the blood spatter and Jones walking among it face set. There was no suggestion that this was a good, neat or simple thing – all emphasised by Jones’s voice over that they would sacrifice this time to get their old time back. And it is a sacrifice

Ultimately, Foster was presented as a cult leader who killed innocents to force his own vision – and in this episode Jones is almost presented as the leader of a rival cult. The only difference is that her promise of salvation may be true. But then, that is because we see things from her group’s viewpoint – she calls Foster a liar, but his cure wouldn’t have brought her daughter back. Maybe he did find the cure – but it wasn’t her cure, wasn’t her salvation. But then, how many are invested in her salvation? Not just curing the plague but erasing it from history – erasing all the things they’ve done or been turned into by the plague. Her salvation is as much about personal redemption, a conscience reset as it is saving mankind. It is, as Ramse says, a very selfish salvation

Of course, even with the cure there is the flip side that this virus does keep mutating and Foster’s cure may have only been temporary

I’m disappointed that Whitley’s father died and not just because it was another sacrificed POC. Whitley is, generally, a very underused character, lurking in the background being all menacing. His father gave him a storyline to pursue beyond that and now he doesn’t have it

The repairing watch – what what what is this? Does this imply that the events of the first episode haven’t happened? And if so, why haven’t they?

Helix, Season 2, Episode 11: Plan B

Time for a whole new setting – the National Primate Research Centre in Maryland. A doctor reveals their new invention – a horrific, agonising poison gas that kills all life. She has a vast warehouse full of the stuff and a military guy decides to take them all

This can never ever be a good thing

Day 11

Peter and Anne are all broody over the baby they took after murdering the mother last episode – and Anne is already fantasising about Peter being their new cult leader. But first they need to deal with the “sceptics”, basically kill everyone who is not part of Cult Peter. Peter sides with killing Alan because waaaah issues. He accepts that no-one can be allowed to leave

Julia talks to Amy about how they’re going to implant Sarah’s baby while staring at the window at Alan’s return with the soldiers and bound, sick, Kyle.

Alan still wants to stay on the island to distil the sap even though Winger wants to leave. Because processing the sap on the island with primitive technology is definitely the best way to do this. We also have a reminder of Soren’s immunity to Mycosis which may be the key. He sees Julia and stops arguing with Winger, just giving her an order instead. For reasons that escape me, she obeys.

Julia and Alan meet and there’s a brief moment where he tells hr how he’s been slaughtering all her immortal friends to find her and she counters that “find me” does not mean “bloody murderous rampage”. Then they focus on Narvik about to be release. He does not agree with the “slow death of the human race” for forced sterility and accuses her of sounding like Hitake’s daughter. She isn’t moved by that, she is Hitake’s daughter and sterility is better than Narvik.

“what happened to the woman I fell in love with?”

“She became immortal”

Nice come back.

Julia goes to see Sarah, being guarded by a sympathetic Olivia, and tries to make nice. Sarah isn’t buying it but seems to be convinced when Julia points out it was the only way to save the baby from Amy – and that maybe the baby could actually age and grow in a mortal body.

Alan takes the new of Narvik to Winger and demands they contact the main land to warn everyone – but her phone isn’t working. They go to see the ship – and find it surrounded by others. Winger says “they’re going to kill everything”. After the Narvik outbreak they developed a two part strategy – containment (which has failed since Mycosis reached the ships) with a plan b of eradication with that nasty gas we saw in the opening scene. Which is also why Winger was pushing so much to leave. Alan prepares for evacuation to which she tries to get him to listen – communication is down to stop ANYONE being rescued, killing everyone is part of the plan. There is no evacuation. No rescue. No escape. Everyone is assumed to be exposed. Everyone will die. Do not pass Go. Do not take £200.

Alan is sure he can make a cure out of Soren (or using Soren). And… what? You can’t exactly communicate the fact you have a cure. Assuming a cure can be made in 6 hours

Peter decides to check in on Kyle and tell him that all the bad things that have happened are all Alan’s fault. He winds Kyle up to focus on Alan then lets him go before brutally and frenziedly murdering he guard who was watching Kyle. He leaves he body hanging by its feet with its intestines hanging down for Winger and Alan to find. Alan realises that this is far too involved and complex for a Mycotic; he naturally thinks of his brother because that’s the state of their familial relationship. Winger refuses to take more chances with her men and orders Kyle or Peter shot on sight