Fear the Walking Dead, Season Two, Episode Seven: Shiva

Yes, we're already at the midseason finale and what better way to end it than with fire.  Everything is absolutely falling apart as our little crew of survivors begins to break under the pressure of living in a zombie apocalypse, though it all came to a head a lot sooner than I expected. This is the first lesson the survivors have learned about investing in a safe haven.

Salzar, is haunted by all of the murders that the has committed in his life.  His problems begin when he dreams that Ofelia has turned.  In a desperate bid to get his daughter off the compound, Salazaar injures one of Celia's men, causing her to order that he be locked up because he has become a danger to himself and others.  This is actually the first and only sensible decision that Celia makes for the entire episode.  While he is in lock down, Salazar start to hallucinate and he sees his wife. Griselda talks to Daniel about the fact that while she was alive, she served as his confessor and yet he didn't take the time to bury her.  Daniel flashes back and forth between Griselda reminding him of his obligations and memories of the first man he killed.  It's clear that all of that blood weighs heavily on his conscience but Griselda makes a point of saying that he is also a victim.  The first time Daniel killed, it was his father who put the gun in his hand.

Things are going well for Chris either.  Having been caught red handed standing near the sleeping Madison and Alicia with a knife, he decides to take off.  Travis tracks his son, only to find Chris holding a gun to the head of child.  Travis does his best to talk Chris down.  Chris throws down his weapon and heads outside, only to be tackled by his father. Chris actually uses a knife to attack his father and Travis quickly gets the upper hand.  Travis is wracked by guilt over what has become of his son. Chris makes it clear that he cannot head back to the compound because of how people look at him. Yeah, people tend to give you the side eye when you kill without cause and then threaten the people who are supposed to be your family with violence.  Of all of the pain on Fear the Walking Dead, Chris's irritates me the most.  Yes, he lost his mother but at this point, people are starting to lose those they love without heading to the dark place that Chris has.

For quite some time, I have had problems with Nick's character. He's far too competent for someone who just got clean.  In this episode, it seems that Nick has dealt with his problems with addiction by substituting worship of Celia.  In Sicut Cervus, Nick had his first meeting with Celia and he admitted that he was sick of the killing.  Celia offers comfort by saying that the dead aren't really monsters and are just changed from the way that they know them.  Celia firmly believes that taking out a walker is murder.  Yeah, it's all shades of Herschel and feels extremely recycled. Madison is all too aware of the unhealthy influence which Celia has over Nick but she is powerless to stop it.

Celia is a true cult leader and people clearly agree with her position on the walkers.  This is why she cannot let go of the fact that instead of killing himself to join Thomas, Strand instead gave Thomas mercy.  For Celia, this is an act of betrayal and murder and she orders Strand off the property. Surprisingly, it's Madison who steps up to the plate to defend Victor, calling him her friend.  Celia offers a compromise and allows Strand to stay long enough bury his lover. While Madison has not always approved of Strand's methods, it seems that everything they have been through together has built a bond. This however does not mean that the pragmatic Strand is down with being described as a friend.

It's Nick who further diffuses the situation by covering himself in zombie blood and tracking down Celia's walker son Luis. Celia is grateful to have her zombie son back and decides to allow Nick's family to stay with the understanding that he will be responsible for the things that they do. Madison is upset that once again Nick went out wearing zombie blood, but Nick is confidant that his actions will not cause him to die. It very much seems like Nick has developed a false sense of superiority. Has walking around covered in Walker blood gotten to his mind?

Rogue (Shifters #2) by Rachel Vincent

There’s another serial killer targeting women. And this one isn’t focused on tabbies – but is completely focused on Faythe. She is paying a hard price for her limited freedom.

This book is pretty bad – but what makes it far worse is the epic awful misogyny of the first book that is carried on, brushed over and justified. It’s that last part which especially annoys me.

They constantly downplay how Faythe is treated (also can I say now that every time I have to type the abysmally spelled name “Fayth” I lose some more brain cells. This keeps up and I might even enjoy the last book. If that happens dear readers, please hunt me down and kill me for my own good). There’s no acknowledgement that the whole reason Faythe is there is because her father is blackmailing and threatening her. There is no acknowledgement that Marc once nearly beat a fellow werecat and friend to death because he presumed to be interested in Faythe. Not even by the werecat he nearly murdered (but what nods there are to it seem to blame Faythe for not being obedient property) There’s no acknowledgement of the fact that Faythe’s renewed relationship with Marc is down to him finding her when she was drunk and vulnerable. There’s no acknowledgement that her love interest There’s no acknowledgement that the whole foundation of this relationship is because Faythe’s parents have basically groomed her into this since she was a small child. They make little jokey side references to the weeks when her father literally locked her in a cage, forcing her to use a coffee can as a toilet because she dared to try and live her own life.

All of this is lightly, even jokingly referenced. The sheer horrendous abuse her family is inflicting on her is never ever acknowledged by anyone. Not even Faythe.

But worse is, as I said, the justification. There’s no women on the leadership council because they totally don’t want to be part of the leadership. Woman don’t want power all women, every last one of them, want to stay home and be full time mothers and wives. And yes, some women do want that – some men want that – but this is used to excuse a complete lack of female leadership. This book tries to make lots of little references to how secretly awesome Faythe’s mother is – but none of that is ever shown, it’s clear she’s turned her back on all of that and her motherhood has actually damaged the pride. Even the moment where she steps up and is presented as awesome feels very lacking. She turns into a cat to take down someone who is still in human form… and fails. If Faythe hadn’t stepped in she’d be dead: in previous books we’ve pretty much seen a werecat in cat form easily taking down one in human form. Her moment of awesome is played up as awesome – but when looked at without the spin we see a really low expectation for her capabilities. We’re even told that she hardly ever shapeshifts – everything about her being a werecat is downplayed

This is just a prelude to the worst – the antagonist in this book is directly caused by Faythe daring to have sex with a guy other than the man her parents have chosen and deemed appropriate. Even while she outright tries to call her brothers out on how they sleep with a gazillion human women each but they all judge her – but her sex life is the one that has literal serial killer consequences. She is the one who is presented as WRONG for having sex.

This is what is the utter worst about this book – both of these books – and the treatment of misogyny. We’re presented with a deeply, disgustingly and inexcusably misogynist society. Faythe speaks out against it. AND THEN SHE IS PROVEN WRONG. This isn’t just the depiction of a misogynist society that is then challenged. It is a depiction of a misogynist society that is challenged and then the challenger is put in her place and the OBJECTIVE REALITY of that world backs up that society and puts Faythe back in her place.

Grimm, Season Five Finale: The Beginning of the End: Part 1 and 2

"It is better to die on your feet

than to live on your knees."

I really feel as though the finale was a long time in coming.  One of my ongoing complaints with Grimm, is that it too often forgets the meta to focus on Wesen of the week stories.  This week however, Grimm was all in and it brought, death, action, creepiness and mega plot advancement. Just freaking wow.  It almost makes up for how slowly this season moved at times.

With Renard now officially the mayor of Portland, Black Claw is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The big plan is to get Wesen into low level seats of power and then have them advance. Black Claw's dream is for Wesen to live openly.  I know I am supposed to be team Nick; however, the writers of Grimm simply didn't give me enough reason to see Black Claw as bad.  Yes, Black Claw kills people and they go after Nick and everyone he cares about but to me, it read like an uprising of an oppressed group. All of the Grimm tales that we have been introduced to into the books tend to talk about the Grimm hunting down Wesen and killing them on sight whether or not they've done something wrong and this in fact is what makes Nick so unique.  Nick follows the law, doesn't play judge jury and executioner and is simply content to allow Wesen to go about their lives as long as they stay within the law. Given that Grimm have even killed Wesen children without cause, why exactly is it that I am supposed to hate Black Claw?  The writers really didn't do a good job with this at all. There is no such thing as a bloodless revolution and if anything, the actions of Black Claw are measured in comparison to what they've been put through over the centuries.

You name the Wesen and we saw it these last two episodes.  The most impressive was obviously the Zauberbiest Bonaparte (couldn't the writers have chosen a less cliche name?) Up until this point, I had believed that Hexenbiest were the most powerful Wesen but it seems that there's always a bigger dog.  I suppose Bonaparte found that out in the end thanks to Diana.  Bonaparte's death was pretty much foreshadowed throughout both episodes.  What I want to know is how a Wesen smart enough to orchestrate the various things that he did, didn't see Diana as a threat, particularly after Diana killed Renard's lover?

Speaking of Renard, thanks for the shirtless Renard Grimm.   I have very much been disappointed with the treatment of Renard this season.  He seemed to just be so easily manipulated by Black Claw which felt very contrary to the relationships he's built up over five seasons, particularly with Nick, Hank and Wu.  Even when Bonaparte threatened Meisner, the best that Renard could come up with was to kill Meisner quickly so he didn't suffer.  Even this wasn't enough for Renard to reconsider his decision and he actually had the nerve to be upset that Nick would want Kelly and Adalind back. By the end of The Beginning of the End Part 2, I didn't even recognize Renard. Would he have just stood by and allowed Bonaparte to kill Nick?  Renard defended his actions as pragmatism and suggested that he wasn't really taking a side but I really don't think that this is the case at all. Renard was pretty much onside even before Diana became involved, so he doesn't even have the same excuse as Adalind.

The Originals, Season Three, Episode Twenty-Two: The Bloody Crown

I had to describe this season finale in two words they would be: convoluted angst. Rather than being something to inspire the viewing of season four, The Bloody Crown is quite literally The Originals at its worst. The writing was bad and the acting simply over the top. Someone really needs to teach Daniel Gillies how to cry on command.  I found myself anxiously awaiting the end of this absolutely torturous last hour.

Much of season three has revolved around a prophesy which was set about to bring about the end of the Mikaelsons: one by family, one by friend and one by foe.  Throughout the season, the Mikaelsons have fought the Stryx and their powerful witches, Aurora and her brother and finally Lucien. Being an Original vampire is a powerful thing and as we know, only wood from a specific tree can kill them and furthermore; until recently they all had the added protection of knowing that if they die, so does their entire sire line.  It's a great bonus because anyone attempting to kill their sire would end up dead themselves.

The Mikaelson family motto is: Family first. Always and Forever.  None of the Mikaelsons take this vow lightly even if they have had their spats over the the millennium.   The Makaelsons are willing to do anything in service of the family, even if it means heinous murderous acts.  Marcel had long believed that he fell under that banner until Elijah ripped out his heart in Give 'Em Hell Kid. Marcel's rage is as much about the death of Davina Claire, as it is about learning that while the Mikaelsons seem to care for him, he will never really be family to them.

Marcel's outsider status is confirmed when in their grief, Hayley and Elijah choose to have sex.  Poor Elijah, he's just so broken up he has to knock boots with the woman he loves. If anything, Elijah seems more upset about the fact that Klaus hasn't forgiven him for killing the man he viewed as a son, than the act of murder itself.  Klaus however is another matter altogether.  Klaus holds Hope and acknowledges that whenever he gets close to someone, something bad always happens.  Klaus promises his "littlest wolf" that he will always do right by her.

It's time to get the show on the road.  Marcel meets with Vincent at the graveyard and compliments him on severing the link to the ancestors.  Vincent wonders if Marcel is going to follow through on his half of the plan and Marcel confirms that since Elijah killed him, he no longer has any doubts. Oh Vincent, you just made a deal with the devil dude.

Freya decides to do some spell work after not sleeping the night before. She is uneasy about how things stand.  It's not long before Freya realises that all of Klaus's enemies are converging on NOLA.

Oh oh. The Mikaelsons prepare for battle, confidant that at least they are protected in the compound because it's in Freya's name.  That comfort doesn't last long because Marcel has the compound foreclosed upon and Freya poisoned.  The vengeful vampires make their appearance.  Fortunately for Freya, Hayley shows up and sneaks both her and Hope out of the compound. While Freya and Hayley are busy getting gone, Kol confronts Marcel about his actions saying that this is not what Davina would have wanted. Yeah, Kol has never been the brightest Mikaelson and this is not an argument he should have made, considering that he fed on Davina until she died.  Marcel is quick to take his revenge upon Kol by biting him.  When Elijah joins the fight, he's bitten for his trouble.  Klaus's eyes go all wolf at the sight of his wounded brothers but before he can attack, Rebekah shows up and she's all, I got this, "Marcel won't hurt me." This buys enough time for the Mikaelson boys to sneak out of the compound licking their wounds.

The 100, Season Three, Episode Sixteen: Perverse Instantiation: Part Two

 
Well, after all of this build up, season three went out with whimper and tons of angst as far as I am concerned.  I called it right from the beginning that at least some point, Clarke would end up with the flame in her head, cause you know, Clarke's a total one woman saving the world machine with her extra special specialness.

This episode essentially was about free will and living with regret.  As we know, Clarke's got a pretty big death count and is very much haunted by the deaths of the mountain people.  There's also the fact that Lexa, the woman she loves died because of a bullet which was meant for her.  Life on the ground has been hard. Bellamy who is back on team good guy, regrets his part in the slaughter of Indra's army; however, even after all he's seen, Pike is still very much playing the us versus them card, though he is willing to work together for now to stop A.L.I.E.  This however doesn't mean that Octavia is willing to play the same game.

The first opportunity Octavia gets, she slices Pike's leg leaving him wounded to fight off the chipped. She stands back like she's eating popcorn and watching some sort of festival.  Bellamy appears and is shocked by Octavia's decision.  They manage to withdraw and Bellamy tells Octavia to get her head on right. Sure, there's such a thing as time and place but Bellamy is no position to be lecturing anyone right now.

The battle to protect Clarke occurs.  As a last line of defense, Abbie stands next to her daughter willing to shoot anyone who gets to close.  Everyone puts up a good fight but there are just too many chipped people.  Kane is choking the life out of Bellamy and Octavia is down on her back fighting for her life.  Pike sees what's going on and throws off his attacker in time to save Octavia. Octavia is clearly surprised by Pike's decision but this doesn't make them equal.

Inside the city of light, Clarke is starting to struggle because the rate of the blood transfusion has started to slow down. The people in the city have started to take notice of her. Luckily for Clarke, Lexa makes an appearance and takes out the people trying to hurt her. I was glad to see Lexa again especially given how she died.  It's all bittersweet for Clarke but Lexa says that she knew her spirit would choose wisely.  They make their way to the kill area which becomes visible thanks to the work of Raven. I suppose this at least partially redeems Raven for screwing up last week.  Lexa sends Clarke on ahead and promises to keep the chipped people out.  I love this moment even though it's very much a retcon of Lexa's death. I love the idea that Lexa got the warriors ending that she so richly deserved.

Wynonna Earp, Season 1, Episode 8: Two Faced Jack

Last week, Wynonna and Officer Hawt were captured by the last member of the seven and while Hawt is quickly kicked out to a hospital to vanish, Wynonna is still imprisoned

But a brutal, serial killing doctor (a human) who is working for an even more brutal, serial killing Jack, Revenant who enjoys cutting human women up and messing with their organs. Which is what happens to Bethany who we thought died last episode but has been kept around for one more episode before being disposed (and ye gods that was horrendous to see).

Wynonna is tough as a boiled owl (Doc’s words) and not one to be imprisoned often or to believe the lies of the “doctor” (yes it’s the fun pathologist from last episode) trying to convince her that she has been paralysed (and shows her extreme toughness by not reacting even when he tries to cut off her toe). Toughness we expect from Wynonna, intelligence, cunning and restraint not so much, it’s nice to see that.

Wynonna tries several times to escape and is pretty awesome while doing it even if she doesn’t succeed. She needs rescuing

Which falls to Doc and Dolls who follow several clues provided by Waverley’s ever awesome research, including one that leads them to an underground fight club. Yes that old trope. While I appreciate Doc skewering the silliness of “no-one talks about the fight club”, I also am tired of this whole trope because we know that Dolls and Doc are going to end up in that ring

And yes, they do. Of course they do. Only to make it real, the fight club organiser shows Doc a file he got from Bobo. A file on Doc which Dolls sent to his superiors to make them keep them happy. As I pointed out last episode it had to be him of Wynonna. So the powers that be are very interested in an unaging immortal and are very eager to have Doc in a facility to be poked and prodded and experimented on. For the greater good

Zoo, Season 1, Episode 11: Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Most of the gang arrives in Zambia, looking for the mutated leopard that hasn’t been mother-celled yet. While the mutated leopards are looking for them… and well, everyone. As we’ve seen in the media slowly as the show develops, the animal pandemic is escalating. Zambia is in chaos.

The leopards quickly finish off Ray – because that’s one excess character we didn’t need – and we continue with many tense scenes to navigate leopards as huge numbers of civilians are displaced.

They do find a leopard cub – the best mutated animal to carry around that won’t eat them. Though it is immensely cute. They also find some militia which is a somewhat shallow view of Zambia (and, after Argentina and the general lack of global presence of this show, is frown worthy) but they also find an apparent state of the art hospital which excellently pulls back from that. Especially since last episode they seemed to think finding medical equipment in Africa would be difficult.

Even with leopards and crocodiles and bats, oh my, they do manage to make it to the hospital and Mitch makes a cure from Adorable Leopard Cub’s tooth. With Abe catching a dog to test it on (because testing the cure on a wild animal is difficult: how do you know if a wild leopard trying to eat you is a mutant or just a wild animal trying to eat you?)

Of course, not everything goes that smoothly. The hospital is overwhelmed by leopards, Jackson is shot (but a doctor puts him back together again) and everything is shaky. Abe continues to be awesome – gently but firmly chiding Jackson for his endlessly reckless leadership and how he has pretty much assumed leadership by not giving anyone else a chance to lead or offer ideas (to be fair, there’s no indication that any of them have had ideas to offer). He also leads Mitch through his initial set backs, also awesomely

Abe is my favourite character on this show – but his excellent insight and advice and support does tend to express itself through the other characters. He is, perhaps, the heart of the group, the backbone, the one who keeps all the brilliant but slightly uneven characters around him steady. This is an excellent role and definitely not a useless or weak one: but the role of advisor/supporter is one POC often occupy.

Orphan Black, Season Four, Episode Six: The Scandal of Altruism

I am absolutely freaking the hell out.  Just wow. When Orphan Black decides to bring it, it's out of this world.  Did the writers just sit around and think how can we rip out the hearts of our fans and leave them gutted on the floor? Yeah, they must have because the last few minutes of The Scandal of Altruism, left me staring at the television with my mouth gaping open in awe and pain. Damn Orphan Black.

Last week, Cosima met with mommy dearest and a deal was proposed regarding trading the source material in order to attempt a cure for Leda and removing the mouth maggot from Sarah.  The downside of this is that it would give mommy dearest the genetic information needed to create another line of clones.  Given what is at stake, Cosima was partial to the idea and so floated it by Sarah who also agreed.  It's not all is smooth sailing because of course, Siobhan wouldn't be down with anything which might endanger her mother. Together they decide to approach Kendall without telling Siobhan. Once things are set in motion, Sarah drops the news on a very unhappy Siobhan, defending her decision by pointing out that this is about their lives and therefore this is their decision to make.

There are several ways in which this could wrong and chief among them as far as Cosima is concerned is giving Mommy Dearest the genome to work on Castor. When Castor clones have sex with women, it results in the infertility of their lovers. The unfortunate by product of Kendall's leukemia means that they can separate Leda genetic information from Castor. It's not the ideal situation for Mommy Dearest but she agrees to it and promises Ira that they will figure out something to save his life as well. I guess this puts a crimp in their little incestuous romance (yeah I'm still ewww about this). Mommy Dearest's only caveat is that she be there when the blood sample is withdrawn from Kendall.

Cosima is saddened by handing over her research but Scott says that if they had had enough time, they could have cracked this.  It's a great reminder of how much these two have come to mean to each other.  It's been decided that Cosima will go with Sarah to Brightborn, and then stay behind after the removal of the mouth maggot until Mommy Dearest gets the genetic information she needs from Kendall.  What could go wrong right?

There is one little glitch.  Art comes across Krystal, who is busy trying to report to the police that she needs protective custody because Dyad and Brightborn are out to get her. The sergeant at the desk clearly thinks that Krystal is off her medication. Krystal is completely in the dark about who and what she is and fortunately for her, Art runs interference for her which means Duko walks right past her. Art then takes control of the situation and brings Krsytal back to his place.  With everything going on, no one really has the time to deal with Krystal, so Siobhan enlists Felix.  Yep, he's always there to serve.  Siobhan however does throw Felix a bone and says that when this is all over, she wants him to bring his sister back because she is part of the family.

Felix shows up at Art's dressed in the most ridiculous Sherlock Holmes costume I've ever seen. When Krystal recognizes Felix, Art is quick to claim that Felix is from Scotland Yard.  Felix sits down and tells Krystal that she is right about the cosmetic companies genetic testing and she responds by pepper spraying Felix.  It's all played for comic relief but I couldn't help but think that Felix always seems to get the shaft one way or another.  Attempting to control the situation, Felix warns Krystal to leave everything for now because they are investigating.  When Krystal brings up a French doctor, Felix realises that Krystal is talking about Delphine.  Krystal reveals that the she was there when Delphine was shot.

Sarah gets the mouth maggot removed with Cosima assisting in the procedure.  Sarah asks about the purpose of the mouth maggot and Evie explains that it didn't work because Sarah is still alive. Damn that shit is cold as ice. Cosima, with clear regret hands over her research.  Sarah heads back to Felix's place and she finds Kendall's smokes on the ground in a pool of blood.  That's right, as soon Kendall left, Duko grabbed her up. Realising that something is wrong, Sarah rushes into Felix's place and destroys the samples that Scott was creating.  Mommy Dearest is appalled and is quick to deny that she is behind whatever is going on.  They head out and then find that Ira has overdosed.

As soon as Evie gets word that Mommy Dearest is out of communication, she grabs up Cosima, stopping her from getting in touch with Sarah.  Cosima is taken to a field where Kendall is sitting in a van and Duko is guarding her.  Cosima begs Evie not to do this but Evie feels that 100 years from now she will be lauded as a revolutionary and that clones are about as progressive as Betamax.  Evie gives Cosima a few precious seconds to say goodbye but Duko stops the women from embracing.  Kendall, strong until the end, advises Cosima not to cry because their captors aren't worth salt. Kendall then advises Cosima to turn her back. Duko then shoots Kendall in the head and sets the van her body is lying in on fire, thus destroying any trace of the genome.