Supernatural, Season 11, Episode 22: We Happy Few

The end is getting closer, I can almost hear the Wayward Son…

But first, having rescued Lucifer, they now have to convince him to side with Chuck

Y’know I should find Castifer playing the role of stompy, bad tempered teenaged son ridiculous. I should. Yet whether it’s the acting or just the silliness of it, I do kind of love this scene. Yes even the ludicrousness of Lucifer shutting himself in his room playing loud music.

He wants an apology. And Chuck is kind of an arsehole about it. Really. As we saw with Metatron, Chuck has issues with getting personal and emotional, and continues to push the “practical” idea of what he, god, had to do with his broken tool, Lucifer (having Lucifer carry the Mark after they sealed Amarra sent him over the deep end). While Lucifer wants more of an acknowledgement that his dad betrayed him – not god/creation but father/son

Eventually they get their emotional break through and it’s time for a plan. See, to weaken Amarra to seal her before took 4 Archangels – and Michael’s MIA, Raphael and Gabriel are both dead and resurrecting Archangels is time consuming. So they need some other force to rally to match the archangels

Force 1: The witches. Recruiting Rowena who is currently pursuing a plan to go back in time several centuries so avoid the apocalypse. She is convinced to get on side by a godly enhanced Sam and her friend Clea. Clea could be an awesome character. Clea also makes an excellent point the time periods Rowena is choosing since Clea, a Black woman, is very aware of how crap history can be. Clea could have been many things but she’ll never be those things because this is Supernatural and awesome characters who are not cis, straight, white, men die. It is known. And lo, to my utter lack of shock, so does Clea

Force 2 is the demons – led by Crowley, recruited by Dean, who is trying and failing to get his crown back. Crowley apparently doesn’t die. Are we shocked by this?

Race on The 100 #2

We have previously written a post about Race on The 100, but like many shows that last for more than one season, the extra time gave them more chance to double down on their awfulness and our old post badly need updating

So we have to look again at the treatment of POC on The 100, especially in light of Lincoln’s death among so much other awfulness

We already spoke about the problems with Lincoln’s early depiction in our previous post about Race on The 100  - almost instantly willing to abandon and turn on his people for the sake of a White female love interest, spending episode after episode being brutally tortured. Then spending more time as a brutal, animalistic medical experiment. Honestly, it’s almost astonishing that they could do more to Lincoln to exacerbate this given how utterly terrible it was.

Well, they do - partly by not doing anything to him. Lincoln, the man who is both a Grounder and Skaikru affiliated, straddles both worlds in a way only matched by Octavia and maybe Clarke, a man who could bring so much knowledge and insight to Skaikru and should be in every scene providing information, seemed to pretty much fade into the background. Not only did this waste his potential, it quite literally made very little sense to bench him at all. It was almost plot sabotaging to not have him be more prominent. Of course, being nigh invisible is followed up by the inevitable - death.

Lincoln’s death joins other notorious deaths for how utterly unnecessary it was. Lincoln could have escaped - just as Kane did. The whole idea that he would come back and give himself up for the sake of other Grounders taken prisoners is based on the idea he’d trust Pike not to kill the other prisoners anyway (and why would he trust that? Seriously has Pike done anything to suggest he wouldn’t just kill anyone he considered Grounderish?). We have to note that Kane certainly isn’t willing to get down on his knees and pointlessly sacrifice himself for a group of extras (again, Pike threatened to kill said imprisoned extras unless they gave themselves up - they assumed Pike would be happy with only one of them? This all involves a whole lot of trust of the paranoid, violent, genocidal tyrant, guys!). Aside from the imagery of Lincoln being forced to kneel in the mud and be murdered being repellent , this death is repellent for making no sense.

I know that someone is going to hove in with the old excuse that the actor who plays Lincoln, Ricky Whittle, wants to leave the show. It’s the same excuse that was made about Abbie leaving Sleepy Hollow and, again, it’s equally ridiculous and inexcusable. The actor has not only been sidelined all season but he has been treated pretty abominable by showrunner Jason Rothenberg. You can’t drive someone off then turn round and act like their absence is inevitable!

But let’s assume that, yes, the showrunners are completely blameless in Ricky Whittle’s choice to leave - ok… but he still didn’t have to die. In fact the whole reason why he’s still hanging around with Skaikru at this point seems dubious - even Octavia, the woman he pretty much threw all his old loyalties away for has lost all faith in Skaikru. If they had to get rid of Lincoln then have him and Octavia ride off together. Yes, the actor wanted to leave - which, again, we have to make the point is unsurprising given how he was treated both on the show and off it (and is hardly a defence against racism on this show), but there were very easy ways to achieve this without killing him off, especially given that he has very few real reasons to be loyal to Skaikru (which, y’know, could have been developed in all that time where he was pushed so far into the background).

There was no need for Lincoln’s death - and in the end it reduced this character to nothing more than a source of angst and suffering - a cause of the rift between Octavia and Bellamy. His death wasn’t even about him.

This complete lack of real characterisation has hit other POC characters pretty terribly as well - because it leaves them with no storyline or characterisation to add more depth to what little we see of them. So we end up with characters like Monty the Eternal Suffering. Of course, lots of characters on this show suffer; the show loves this suffering. But Monty has lurked in the background for most of the show, being an extra or sidekick to various other characters (and a witness to Jasper’s eternal epic Manpain) and the only storylines left to him have been ones of suffering. He spent half the season being deeply conflicted about his mother, Hannah’s, loyalty to Pike and killing all the Grounders - this depressing angst could have been interesting if we’d focused on either of them or if either of them were actually a major element in either faction. Of course she took the Allie Pill and not only had to die… but Monty had to kill her.

Crimes Against Magic (Hellequin Chronicles #1) by Steve McHugh

Nathan Garrett has had his memory taken from him and has therefore spent the last ten years knowing nothing about himself but his first and last name.  He's spent the intermittent years working as a thief, using magic when necessary to get by.  When a chance meeting leads little droplets of memory returning, Nathan has no idea just how complicated the life he left behind was.  If that were not enough, an old enemy has surfaced and is determined to take make the people Nathan cares about pay to bring about and end to their centuries old feud.

Crimes Against Magic floats between 15th century France and the present day. I normally don't have a problem with flashbacks if they add something significant to the story but found that they kept pulling me away from the exciting action that was happening in the present.  Furthermore, any tension in 15 century France was impossible to maintain for the simple fact that we know that hundreds of years later, Nathan would be facing the antagonist once again.   If anything, the time in the 15th century was used for a blatant info dump about who Nathan is. It certainly didn't add anything to the current days meta.

In what should have been an interesting twist, McHugh created an extremely magically diverse world.  Picture a world in which werewolves, vampires, King Arthur and his court, Mordred, gargoyles, The Fates and Achilles are real and have a role to play. It should have been epic but at times it really just felt like supernatural name dropping. For instance, what is the point of invoking a wizard as powerful as Merlin but then not utilizing him as a character whatsoever? Even Achilles was a fake.

There are several familiar themes running through Crimes Against Magic.  It's best described as Harry Dresden meets Jason Bourne  meets James Bond.   I must admit to being excited by the premise; however, it quickly became clear that Nathan Garrett is little more than an epic Gary Stu. Nathan is so perfect that women either want to play the damsel for him, sacrifice themselves for him, or fuck his brains out.  What they all have in common is that they are all gorgeous.  This means that none of the female characters, even those who are powerful, really get the development that they deserve. Instead, we got the pleasure of having a woman beaten near to death for Nathan's pain. Sure Nathan feels bad but once he figures out who he really is, he's got better things to do than stick around.

12 Monkeys, Season Two, Episode Five: Bodies of Water

It's obvious the threat that the red forest poses in 2044.  Jones is completely at a loss of how to deal with this but not to worry, Eckland is full of snark for her morose behaviour.  While the scenes between these two are brief, it's clear that their unconventional romance works for the both of them and more importantly keeps her on track, even if Jones continues to be in denial about their connection.  I very much love the fact that Eckland seems to enjoy shocking Jones.

With the threat of the end of time looming, it's time to go and visit everyone's favourite disturbed woman, Jennifer Goines. Jennifer is willing to see Cole but instructs Jones to wait outside. This is the first meeting for Cole and Jennifer in 2044 and he's clearly shocked by her advanced age. Even though Cole travels through time, his life is lived in a series of days and so for him, it's only been a few days since seeing the young Jennifer while for Jennifer, it's been years. Cole naturally wants to know about the Primes but Jennifer says that she doesn't see things the way that she used to and so to get the information they need, Jennifer says that they must go back to 2016.

Back at the compound Cole relays Jennifer's message and then drops the hammer saying that Jennifer said that Cassie is the one who has to go back.  There's been a lot of bad blood between Ramse and Cassie but the one thing they can agree upon is their mutual dislike of Jennifer. It's actually hilarious to watch as they both team up against Cole regarding their feelings about Jennifer.

So, Cassie heads to the splitter machine and as she is waiting to shift, there's some competitive juvenile tension between Deacon and Cole as they say goodbye to Cassie.  I know that this was meant to seem cute but I found it seriously irritating.

So, back to 2016 where Jennifer is now doing well in therapy, taking her meds and doing it all to an updated version of the Mary Tyler Moore theme. Yeah, I actually loved the music choice here and it so suited Jennifer's journey to get real treatment for her mental health issues now that she is free of her father's controlling behaviour. I like this version of Jennifer a lot.  When Cassie catches up with Jennifer however, she has no respect for what Jennifer is trying to accomplish and instead sets about attempting to trigger Jennifer to get the information she wants on a primary.  This is part the new cold Cassie persona and I simply cannot stand it. A Doctor's first vow is to do no harm and Cassie is so removed from this vow that she is willing to sacrifice Jennifer's new hard won stability for her end game.

Back in 2044, only one man from a five man scout crew returns.  Deacon is immediately suspicious and believes that he has been sold out.  When in frustration the guilty party blames Deacon for the situation that the 7 find themselves in, Deacon responds by shooting him in the head, much to the horror of Ramse.

Ramse is back in the role of playing the moral guide but he doesn't wear it as well this time around given his role in releasing the virus to save his son and Deacon never tires of letting him know this. Both Cole and Ramse are certain that Deacon is more trouble than he is worth and worry about how vulnerable he actually makes them.  After not being able to get Katrina completely onside, Cole and Ramse decide to take Deacon on a road trip which ends with them handing Deacon over to his enemy the Foreman.

Back in 2016, we learn a lot about Jennifer's haunted past.  Her mother tried to drown her and was also mentally ill but not a Primary.  Jennifer constantly sees visions of her mother.  In her childhood room, Jennifer shows Cassie the multiple drawings that she has made.  It all goes a long way to humanising Jennifer, not only for the audience but for Cassie as well.  It shouldn't have taken the revelation of Jennifer's darkest secrets for this to have happened though.  The casualness with which Cassie sought to trigger Jennifer was absolutely appalling.

The relationship between Cassie and Jennifer gets another boost when Cassie is taken hostage by the 12 Monkeys and placed in the tub of travel by Olivia.  It's worth noting that Olivia is starting to have some doubts because of the uncharted territory they are in but that doesn't stop her from getting to work on Cassie.  Cassie is sent walking to the red field towards the Witness and the broken down house.  What the hell is up with the house? It was featured three times and so obviously has some sort of significance. I love the fact that the Witness answers questions by having them appear on the walls of the house, ratcheting up the creep factor.

Containment, Season 1, Episode 5: Like a Sheep Among Wolves

Containment continues to be a mix of powerful, emotional, personal moments and a whole lot of maddeningly ridiculous moments.

On the personal side, we see powerful moments like Jake and the Orphan, Jake burning the bodies, Jake watching his fellow police

In fact, against all of my expectations, Jake is surprisingly becoming the most compelling character here. Overwhelmed, sad, desperate and slowly hurting and falling apart in the face of the utter horrors he has to deal with. And more than anyone else, he is the one on the front lines of this horror. He is facing profiteers (in the form of a highly dubious Black gang of profiteers. This is one time when I’d actually have prefer they didn’t replace the white rednecks who now seem to be there more to say “look we don’t have a racist gang!”), food shortage and the general breakdown of order with a completely inadequately tiny police force. Yes, Jake has attracted my attention.

Xander is also an interesting character who is clearly in way above his head. I’m interested in him.

Jenna has my attention because she and Suzy are excellent and them trying to hold it together sensibly while bonding is wonderful. A shame they’re also locked up with two guys who are trying to compete for the title of The Worst (don’t even try. Katie has that locked).

I’d like to see a bit more of Dr. Cannert because he should also be on the front line and in all kinds of stress.

Unfortunately he is designated villain in the face of Katie who is managing to maximise how utterly insufferable she is. And she was already really insufferable. See she has decided Dr. Cannert’s medical knowledge is all bullshit and, damn it, people who caught the disease first must have caught it first! Never mind that she doesn’t even need to assume greater knowledge than the doctor (which is already ridiculous), she just has to use the knowledge she’s supposed to have as a damn teacher.

Soldier (Talon Saga #3) by Julie Kagawa

Ember is recovering from the horrors she’s had to partake in in a very short period of time – but she has little time to recover or get her bearing. Riley has a new mission, a traitor in his ranks and a possible lead where female dragons are tortured and enslaved to produce young: he cannot let tjhis lead go.

At the same time Garrett uncovers a plot within the Order of St John which similarly demands their urgent attention – and for Garret to rejoin the team.

I mentioned this in my review of the previous book in this series but I really need to reiterate it now because it’s so sad to me – this book series does an incredible job of taking a really interesting, potentially fascinating concept and making it Utterly Bland Paint-by-the-numbers-Paranormal-YA.

It’s frustrating. There’s so much here that could be interesting and different and generally unique and it’s all ignored in favour of telling a story that is so utterly generic and forgettable that it’s genuinely hard to write a review afterwards.

Take the supernatural – we have dragons here. Actual dragons. Not weredragons or vampires or witches or some other magically-enhanced human. No, this is a completely alien species. Think of how we could explore how their minds work, think of the conflict this would cause over them interacting with humans. Think of how their culture would be so vastly different, how completely alien everything about them would be. But I get no sense of Ember and Riley being anything but human. Or even Ember’s brother Dante still working with Talon. Or even the guys he’s working with. No dragon in this series has shown themselves to have anything but a human mind set. Which is especially frustrating because part of the attempted conflict of this book is Ember and Riley wondering about whether or not they are becoming too human or not human enough: but they’re not inhuman! We also continue to have the weird “my dragon thinks/does/act” statements which makes no real sense. Again, it’s like someone copying a generic “wereanimal” storyline and not trying to actually adapt it to the original world building of this world.

This is especially frustrating with the romance. I mean, how would a romance even happen when the love interest is a huge lizard? “Let us press our squishy mouth parts together, small warm blooded hairy monkey creature.” Why does Ember even look at Garrett or Riley in human disguise and think of them in a sexual way? I’m not saying don’t have this romance – I’m saying develop this. Work with them AS alien beings finding love rather than just ignoring it and pulling out a storyline that could easily sit in any werewolf book out there.

Penny Dreadful, Season 3, Episode 3: Good and Evil Braided Be

Ethan and Hecate continue their wandering through the old west which is all full of deserts and death as we’re reminded frequently. No really, everyone has to tell us how deadly the landscape is probably because we’re not seeing a lot of said deadliness.

Except Hecate. She totally wants to follow Ethan to his dad’s and kill lots of people so they can all be super dark and evil rulers of… everything? It’s an ambitious albeit vague plan. Ethan is against this and her murdering people to get their horses (though he still takes the horses and supplies. That’s a convenient evil companion to have around – don’t want to do anything morally questionable? Let your evil companion do it, judge them and then enjoy the result).

Hecate isn’t exactly on side with his judgement, or moral grey areas. She doesn’t particularly see a whole lot of moral room between her choosing to kill people and Ethan losing control and killing people – the bodies are still on the ground. Obviously there are flaws in her reasoning but it also begs the question of how much Ethan must restrain himself before the murders he causes are intentional. Especially when they are convenient – like escaping his captives.

They’re being followed by Inspector Rusk who continues to have a lot of class and coolness. He tries to introduce Marshall Franklin Ostow to the concept of the occult.

They’re also being followed by Kaetenay, the endlessly cryptic and Malcolm. Kaetenay predicts all kinds of spooky bad things happening if they can’t keep Ethan on the side of goodness. His prediction sounds almost apocalyptic… albeit vague. It isn’t helped when he discusses Hecate’s presence with Michael and they find the bodies she left behind

Malcolm also champions Kaetenay against some nasty racists… there really feels like a kind of forced redemption narrative with Malcolm this season. Taking the imperialist explorer with the characterless Black servant and now making points about how imperialism is wrong and racist segregation is terrible? I mean, obviously they are wrong and terrible, but it feels more like an attempt to make it clear Malcolm isn’t like Those Imperialists more than anything else.

Mage Catalyst by Christopher George

Devon is, in so many ways, a normal Australian teenager, like so many other teens

Until he runs into Renee in a nightclub and learns something awesome – and terrifying – about himself

He is a mage: a being of incredible potential power. But there are few things more corrupting than power.

The core of this book is that Devon is, ultimately, an ordinary person. He’s an ordinary teenager who discovers something surprising has happened to him. That’s the defining feature of how this book is laid out, starting from its very ominous beginning where we clearly expect something very unordinary and pretty horrifying to happen. This book is the origin story. This is where the vaguely mentioned ominous things find their beginning

This is where we have the ordinary man begin to become something so much more

So the very ordinariness of the book is the point. Devon is a teenager, an 18 year old with very 18 year old problems.

He has friends who aren’t always good people but who he cares about. He has romantic issues with Tina and lots of fumbling awkwardness. He’s not academically gifted and school is both a struggle and a trial. He has clashes with teachers but, unlike so many other narratives, it’s quickly clear that his teachers do actually care and aren’t just terribad awful people he has to navigate around. He has some concerns about the future but is largely ignoring it even as other people try to get him to take it more seriously. It’s a very normal reaction – he’s a kid trying to avoid hard questions he has no answers to.

He has a lot of very real world problems and it is excellently portrayed.

The problem is… I don’t really care.