Wayward Pines, Season Two, Episode One: Enemy Lines

It's the year 4032, and the last of humanity is residing in Wayward Pines Idaho.  At the end of season one, Ethan had sacrificed himself to kill the aberrations allowed past the fence by the visionary but equally evil Pilcher.  Despite all that Ethan accomplished, the fascist First Generation lead by Jason, who murdered Harold Ballinger at the end of season one is in control of Wayward Pines. It's an odd combination of Lord of the Flies and the Hitler Youth.

Season two begins with Theo on vacation, going for a swim in the ocean.  Depending on your perspective, Theo unfortunately runs into Sheriff Pope. Things aren't going well in Theo's marriage and so when Pope, who plays the role of interesting stranger offers to buy him a drink it's easy to accept.  It's not long before Pope gets Ethan drunk and the two men walk off with each other. I guess this resolves the issue of whether or not he and his wife should procreate.

When Theo awakens, he finds himself in Wayward Pines, and is told that he is part of a government experiment involving volunteers.  He is told that his services as a doctor are needed because of a gunshot wound.  As Theo is driven through the streets of Wayward Pines, it's clear that something is desperately off with this town.  At the hospital, we see that his patient is Kate, who is a member of the resistance. #TEAMBEN

Can someone please explain to me how it is that Ben became a resistance leader? It's not like has tons of qualifications particularly given that he is a teenage kid.  I know that Kate has been captured but given that she is a former secret service agent, wouldn't she be better placed to be the face of the resistance? Yeah, I know, straight, cisgender, white dudes gotta save the world and there's nothing like nepotism to help them get there.

Much like Ethan in season one, Theo is clearly a man outside of time.  He knows from observation that something is truly wrong but he has no idea what year it is, or about the aberrations. At this point all he really wants is to find his wife and leave.

Jason seems at least somewhat conflicted by what he is doing.  He prefaces each decision by claiming that this is what Pilcher would want.  Having grown up in Wayward Pines, Jason grew up with this fascist concept of how a society should work.  The very idea of the very freedoms we take for granted are an absolute anathema to him. Jason desperately believes that what he is doing is for the good of the people and though he claims each person is important, he is not afraid to commit murder to service that end.

Containment, Season 1, Episode 6: He Stilled the Rising Tumult

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

Sorry, was there a point to this episode? Because stuff just seems to happen and I’m rapidly running out of inclination to care about anyone.

Let’s start with my least favourite: Katie learns that the parents of one of the kids she let leave is dead so decides to go with Jake out looking. Because she is the worst guardian of children ever, her insufferable son also goes and he gets lost when they run into random guys on quad bikes who are doing random things for random reasons

Yes, this side plot was so worth my time.

Quentin doesn’t die or get infected. They do find the kid, Thomas, giving drinks to infected with the claim assurance of not being sick. He may actually be immune

And to what I will call the plot. Alex has decided, based on very little, that the big bad powers that be are big and bad so he wants to find the truth. Which means turning to Leo the arsehole blogger because this show is trying to figure out how to annoy me the most. It’s succeeding. So they go to find the truth and… haha, no. We get random squatter interlude. Do you know it’s sad that friends and loved ones are caught in the Cordon? What, you knew that? You mean this being literally every other character’s storyline already told you this? So this whole side plot was about as useful as a UKIP diversity seminar?

Eventually Alex does get a flash drive of revelatory data but it’s all corrupted so he plans to send it to Jana since data recovery is her thing. And his boss continues to be creepy.

12 Monkeys, Season Two, Episode Six: Immortal

This episode really could have been called a couple of buddies.  We had Cassie and Jennifer in 2015 and Cole and Ramse together in 1975.  Yes, they had to deal with the issues regarding the Messengers and their bid to stop time but it was also about understanding each other and finding a way to work with each other.

Cole is very much a leap first ask questions later type of person whereas; Ramse is only willing to take calculated risks.  Ramse very much fears that Cole's impulsive behaviour will one day kill them. Jones sends Ramse and Cole back to 1975 to find a former Vietnam Vet and Primary, who just happens to be a serial killer.  They know exactly where the Primary is going to be based on where his last victim was found.  Jones gives Ramse and Cole strict instructions to stop the paradox but not to stop the murder.  It's Ramse who intellectualizes that situation by pointing out that according to their time line, the woman is already dead and they are only witnessing it. The Primary begins to beat the woman and Cole cannot take it anymore and attacks.

When they get the woman back to their room, she instantly reaches for her coke and Ramse is not impressed. He tells her that she has to stop because she is a mother.  This comes across as condescending as it sounds.  I really was not pleased with the policing of Victoria at all.  Let's not forget that Ramse was willing to allow millions to die for his son to live and so he is no position to get on his moral high horse.  No kid needs a junkie for a mother but at the same time, Ramse doesn't know the first thing about Victoria.

Ramse and Cole use the cops to track down the Primary.  When the Primary is arrested, Cole decides to chase after the cops and force them into another car at gunpoint.  Cole's reasoning for this is that the Primary tells him that he knows exactly where the Witness is.  This is too much temptation for Cole, despite Ramse's pleading that he is not thinking and is going to get killed. Ramse points out that the Primary is violently mentally ill and therefore should not be trusted. For much of this episode Ramse actually sounded like the old man that he actually is. It's also worth noting that violently mentally ill person is an ableist trope that 12 Monkeys has played with far too much.

When Cole returns to the Primary with his lair, the Primary pulls out his bones which were dug up to create a paradox.  The Primary is convinced that he has the Witness because he is super special and therefore the witness would want to kill him himself. As it turns out, the Primary has only managed to trap a Messenger.  The Primary is not pleased with Cole's reluctance to kill and claims that Cole isn't living up to his destiny.  It's Ramse to the rescue.  Cole ends up shooting the Primary in the head saying that his job was to stop the paradox, not to save the Primary's life.

Back in 2016, Cassie is actually tending to Jennifer and trying to get her to relax so that she can get some sleep and heal.  Cassie gets a visit from none other than Witness, who takes on the face of Aaron, thus fooling Cassie for a time.  The Witness wants to stop time and to end death altogether.  It's only when the Witness goes a little glitchy that Cassie realises that she is not in fact talking to Aaron.

Hard as a Rock (Gargoyles #3) by Christine Warren

Wynn Powe comes from a long line of witches.  As a child, Wynn thought that she would grow up to be a member of the Guild and maybe even have her own Guardian to watch over.  Because of the extreme sexism of the Guild, Wynn gave up her childhood dream and watched as her brother fulfilled the role she had once dreamed of. When Wynn finally does get her wish, it's nothing like her childlike fantasy and the Guardian she had once dreamed of, may just want more from her than she is prepared to give.

Hard as a Rock is book three in the Gargoyles series and at least as far as the romance portion of this series, the story has gotten pretty formulaic.  A woman with magical powers wakes a Guardian - a gargoyles who can shift into human form and bound to protect humanity from evil.  Said Guardian is initially amazed by his feelings for the woman but quickly comes to realise that the woman in question is his mate. The female love interest is quickly aware of her attraction but struggles against the idea of a fated mated but by the end of the book comes around. Were the Gargoyle series just about getting to the HEA, I don't think I would be willing to continue.

Warren does seem intent to use one book to wake each Guardian which very much makes the meta feel at times as though it is being dragged out unnecessarily. It's worth noting however that this is a case of mileage may vary.  Though the Gargoyles series is paranormal romance, as evidenced by the Man Titteh on the cover, it also has a very interesting meta which has the characters actively investigating dark magic. It is the latter element that has drawn my attention to the series; however, if you are reading this series especially for the paranormal aspects, you many not mind the slow down in the meta which happened in this book.

Though it is part of the formula to have the female love interest deny her feelings for her Guardian, I really like that Wynn's dissent is based in the idea that if she succumbed to her lust that she would be giving up her free will.  That being said, the importance of agency ends up of course being mute when Wynn gives in and agrees to become Knox's mate. The fact that Knox and Wynn are set up as a couple means that they never address the fact that he is slow to accept her limits and borders on abusive.

"Get off me,” she growled, matching him bared teeth for bared teeth. In another moment, he might have found her attempts at ferocity amusing. Now they just confused him. She wanted him, the beast insisted, wanted him almost as badly as he wanted her, so why was she pushing him away?  

 “I said. Get! Off!”  

This time, he felt a jolt of energy behind her shoves. She still lacked the power to physically move him—he was easily twice her size—but the force broke through the urgent lust clouding his mind, and he eased back a few precious inches.

"That was a really bad idea,” she stated, her voice eerily calm and filled with tangled undertones of anger, fear, desire, and frustration. “I think it would be best if we each got some space and took a little while to cool off. I’m going to go into my bedroom, and I’m going to lock the door.” (pg 84)

Because Knox is certain that Wynn is attracted to him, he doesn't comply immediately when she tells him to stop.  Warren uses woo woo to explain Knox's supposed confusion at an explicit request to stop sexual activity.  Wynn has to actively attack Knox to get him to back off and then tell him that though the he is capable of breaking down her locked door, she expects him to respect her space. None of this should have happened, nor should Knox have had to be told that he couldn't just claim a woman for woo woo reasons.

Penny Dreadful, Season 3, Episode 4: A Blade of Grass

I have been rather dreading this episode. So far this season we have been seeing a very previous thing – Vanessa being happy. Vanessa getting help. Vanessa being healed. After two seasons of horrendous suffering, we needed this

And now we have her hypnotism based memories of her time in the asylum, complete with all the horrendous torture she endured this

We really don’t need to see more of this. And seeing that John Smith was her orderly and potentially involved in this abuse when we have already seen these two characters have connected. I don’t want that connection to be based on abuse neither of them remember

It wasn’t that bad. While we had Vanessa being horrendously agonised and tormented. Yes the acting is incredible yet again, the stares amazingly intense and her utter collapse are painfully poignant to see. While she suffers there is Dr. Seward trying to help her out of her fugue state and it’s also awesome and powerful and touching and beautiful

And we’ve done this. Yes it’s all so incredibly well done, it’s amazing, it’s emotional and I want to applaud the skill, the direction and the utterly perfect acting. No-one can fault the immense skill, emotional power and general impressive power of this scene. But enough of Vanessa’s suffering. Enough. Please.

Beside her suffering, at least Orderly John Smith develops a very touching relationship. He cares for her. He worries for her. It’s heartbreaking how he genuinely tries to reach her, how her tries to beg her to be well. His faith in his superiors and the institution he is part of crumbles more and more as he comes to agree with her that she is being tortured. It’s beautiful and well developed as they grow closer together and he sees the asylum for what it is. At the same time it’s clear that he is just a cog in the wheel of the institution, too poor to quit and too lowly to break the regulations

On the Edge, (The Edge Series #1) by Ilona Andrews

Living on the Edge, Rose lives very much between worlds, desperately trying to scrabble an existence while living between worlds and with scant resources.

Even her magic did little but make life more difficult – drawing her to far too much negative attention. The latest of which is Declan, magical aristocrat who has his own agenda and is definitely going to draft Rose into it.

While Declan is a problem, the beasts also moving into the Edge are a far more lethal threat demanding attention.

Another Ilona Andrews series, so much glee! Given some of the books I’ve been reading lately, I think I deserve this. Of course, I risked disappointment – but I’ve never read a book by Ilona Andrews I didn’t love. And this is no different

I love the world building of this. The whole concept of the three worlds – Earth (Broken), the magical world (the Weird), rich in magic and, clinging between the two, able to travel to each but not part of either, The Edge

The people of the Edge have magic, but rarely anything like enough magic to compare with The Weird. They eke a living on the edge of both realms, trading with both, working in the Broken without the resources that could access as full members of the society. They live on a tiny sliver of land with very little resources, desperately trying to scratch a living. And with magic – which is not always benevolent as curses and odd creatures can abound. For people on the very edge of their resources, the extra randomness that magic can bring just makes life even harder

This is really well shown with Rose’s siblings – George has the awesome power of reincarnation: except the cost of it and his compassion is killing him. It’s a terrible conflict – how do you tell a child not to care? While, a shapeshifter, doesn’t quite think like a human which Rose has to gently work round (which awesomely contrasts with yet more in depth and complicated world building from how The Weird treats their shapeshifters).

As ever with an Iona Andrews novel, we have a lot of detail – into how magic works, into the world building of both The Weird (I love their concept of how aristocracy as an almost meritocracy – it’s such an original little concept), into the politics and into the daily lives of the people of The Edge. There’s so much detail so well conveyed but none of it delivered via clumsy info dumping. We have so much here but none of it is delivered awkwardly or in a way that feels unnatural. It works, like it.

Rose’s story is also an excellent one. Her struggles raising her brothers. Her relationship with her grandmother. Her difficult childhood and parents (yes, she’s a semi-orphan and yes that’s a tired trope. I also don’t like how her mother was portrayed – it was sympathetic and surprisingly non-judgemental given her mother’s mental illness contributed to her sleeping with other women’s husbands, but it also served to really create Rose’s story of burden and sorrow rather than actually flesh her out into a character or person in her own right).

Preacher, Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot

Well… that was… absolutely out of its every loving mind. It’s also brutal, violent and pulls not one tiny punch ever. Every violent encounter of which there are more than a few does not even try to And it actually packs a whole lot in in a very very small space.

Take the introduction of Jesse. In the first few minutes we see him we see he is scarred, hard drinking, hungover and tormented with both daddy issues (and a dead dad) and a very dark, violent past. We get all of that in about 5 minutes. Full backstory all covered

 He also runs a little church in Texas which is deathly boring and has a very very unengaged congregation. And those who are engaged are very very very petty. Or very sad – like the boy with the abusive father who hurts his mother – which kind of acknowledges that everyone thinks Preacher Jesse can bring some nasty violence if he needs to while also showing how afraid he is to do so.

We also get a nice summation of the town he’s in. And it’s not pleasant. In addition to the wife beater, we have the sheriff who doesn’t give a shit (and doesn’t bat an eye over Jesse sat in a car about to drive off drinking a bottle of whiskey) and full blown brawl because people replaced their offensive Native American mascot with one that wasn’t terrible.

Jesse sums it up with “wife beating squirrel murdering redneck vote”. As well as the fact he’d pray if he thought there was anyone to listen. Well, that’s grim. (And yes, I laughed at the church sign. I’m a bad person).

Jesse does care, though, even without the violence: trying to help the abused wife. Except it turns out to be a BDSM relationship. Well, Preacher, you almost approached an actual issue with complexity and either made it EVEN MORE complex or turned it into a one off joke…

Badly disfigured man has to drink through a straw, sheriff’s son, kept kind of isolated away from everyone. Looking for own redemption which apparently dances all on Jesse’s issues and fear he isn’t forgiven.

Jesse does snap when said possible wife beater and his gang of confederate civil war re-enactors (because this show seems to specialise in bizarre visuals) threatens to beat a child. Jesse not only puts them all down with minimal effort and a small smile on his face, but then deliberately breaks the arm of the helpless man. A nasty compound fracture at that. Oooouch. It does get him arrested.

Introduce second character – Tulip O’Hare and my gods I LOVE HER. Chased through a corn field brutally fighting and killing 2 men (and it is brutal, I say again, no fight scene in this show pulls punches) before teaching kids how to make a bazooka out of cans and moonshine. After which she brings down a helicopter and a small army. Because she is already vying for the title of Most Awesome. Her opinion on love is also slightly terrifying since she’s apparently going to hunt down a lover who left her and eat him alive

That lover may be Jesse. Though she’s a bit kinder than implied even as he refuses her job offer. Lots of history there.

Game of Thrones, Season 6, Episode 5: The Door

This episode is the episode of the Stark children – so let’s cover the others first:

Over in Meeren, Tyrion is quite happy that his newly brokered peace actually seems to be holding – being a consummate politician he decides to double down and follow up with a PR coup. They need  a powerful, well respected and incorruptible body to spread the wonders of Daenerys far and wide.

He reaches out to the Red Priests. Who quite like Daenerys because the whole rising from fire thing really resonates with supporters of R’hollor. There are two downsides though which Tyrion may not have considered and could come back to bite them all:

1) The Red priests are fanatics and not into religious tolerance. Daenerys’s empire is cosmopolitan and she intends to stretch it to the Seven Kingdoms as well – having people on side who like to burn the sinners and unbelievers is going to be damn hard to handle

2) The Red Priests also have terrifying woo-woo as we’ve seen before and as the priestess demonstrates again with Varys. Varys loathes her with the super fiery passion of a thousand suns.

This may backfire on Tyrion.

At the Iron isles we have Theon, sort of son of the Starks, pledging his full support to Yara at the kingsmoot to choose the new ruler. He rejects any chance to make him king (though some tried) and gives an epic speech for Yara. Yara also has an epic yet brutally honest speech about the Iron Born – great sailors but not up to taking the soldiers of the mainland. They raid until they become too annoying then they get squished (as has been recently seen). They need a new tactic and a new vision. Her vision includes a gazillion ships

Unfortunately in comes uncle Euron to claim the throne. I curse him because I want Yara to be queen but his plan: to ally with Daenerys (who badly needs a fleet) actually makes more sense. Ultimately Yara and him could both see the problem but only Euron really has a solution – her plan of a thousand ships was basically more raiding and destruction. Euron has a solution and Euron was also the one who ended the disastrous war by killing the last, useless king. I can see why he’s convincing.