Lucifer, Season Two,Episode Thirteen: A Good Day to Die

A Good Day to Die is absolutely Lucifer at its best.  Far too often, Lucifer gets bogged down with the case of the week but A Good day to Die, marks the finale of a three episode arc that showcases what is best about this show - the emotional drama. 

When we last saw Lucifer, he had just arrived at Chloe's after  learning from Charlotte that Chloe's birth was ordered by God.  Before Lucifer can even really come to terms with Chloe's divine conception, Lucifer learns that Chloe has been infected by the super poison.  Given that there's no known cure this, its absolutely a problem.  Lucifer's first course of action is to rush Chloe to the hospital but she stops him because everyone who went to the hospital died and therefore feels that the best course of action is to so some investigating to find out if a cure survived the death of Professor Carlisle. 

Lucifer and Chloe arrive at the police station and are greeted by Ella who reports that Carlisle destroyed the last of the antidote before he died. Ella then goes on to list exactly how horrible death by this super poison will be because she doesn't know that Chloe has been infected.  They agree to go over the remnants of the professor's lab and Lucifer excuses himself to go talk to Amenadiel, who has shown up at the precinct.

Lucifer quickly confronts his brother about Chloe's divine birth.  Amenadiel is quick to say that they are both puppets who have been manipulated. It seems that Amenadiel is resentful about his role in Chloe's conception but argues that they are all on the same side.  Lucifer is not remotely sympathetic and goes on to ask if their father is also behind Chloe's poisoning. Amenadiel is shocked  and Lucifer realises that this means Amenadiel cannot help Chloe.  They are interrupted by Chloe, who has tracked down a clue.  Burt has been released from prison on bail and so they decide to head to his place.

Burt has decided to celebrate his release by throwing a massive party.  Chloe makes nice with Burt, and he leads her towards his bedroom.  At the bedroom door, Burt suggests that they hook up another night because Chloe's nose has started to bleed. Chloe responds by turning on the sexy, opening the bedroom door and tossing Burt in.  Unfortunately for Burt, Lucifer is waiting for him.  You know damn well that Lucifer went full on devil and scared the living shit out of Burt. Burt however does provide Lucifer with a lead to the professors middle man Dave.  Before Lucifer and Chloe can check it out, Chloe collapses unconscious on the ground.

When Chloe wakes, she's not pleased to find herself in a hospital bed surrounded by Dan and Lucifer. Dan volunteers to help Lucifer with the rest of the investigation in Chloe's staid.  When they head to Dave's, Dan informs Lucifer that Dave sells his art as a cover for his illegal products because you can charge anything you want for art.  Dave is quick to hit a sour note with Dan, when he suggests that Dan should allow Chloe to die because Chloe is his ex.  Dan responds by punching Dave which leads to both he and Lucifer being handcuffed in a back room.  Lucifer watches as Dan gets beat up. It's only when Dan admits that he screwed up by getting them handcuffed that Lucifer frees himself and takes out Dave's thugs. Lucifer does his mind mojo thing on Dave, and learns that all that Dave wants is for people to buy his crappy paintings and appreciate them.  Dave hands over the list of ingredients needed to make the antidote but he doesn't have access to the formula.  This is when they learn that the only person who knows the formula is the professor, who as we know is dead. 

Lucifer is back at the hospital and who should arrive but Charlotte. In her desire to comfort Lucifer, Charlotte points out that the professor is in hell.  This turns into a light bulb moment and Lucifer makes the decision to head to hell.  

It's time for a supernatural planning session.  Charlotte, Amenadiel, Maze and Linda get together to plan what to do.  Charlotte points out that Lucifer was the lord of hell but isn't anymore and therefore he cannot be certain that his plan will work.  When Linda stands up to speak, Amenadiel is not pleased that Linda knows all about celestial beings. It turns out that Amenadiel is the only one who didn't know this. Linda is worried about Lucifer dying but he believes that there's no other way. Charlotte decides that she's not going to be a part of Lucifer going back to hell and marches out but Amenadiel decides to stay and help. 

The crew head back to the hospital where Lucifer tells Dan that he's about to get the formula and therefore Dan has to get the ingredients.  Lucifer stops at the door to Chloe's room.  Linda and Maze make their way to the room directly below Chloe's while upstairs Lucifer charges Amenadiel to stand watch over Chloe no matter what happens.  

Ella and Dan work together and they have all the ingredients except for one.  Ella says that all of her legal contacts are out of the ingredients but that's not the case with her illegal ones.  Ella suggests they check a chop shop she knows but since they don't have time for a warrant, this means they will have to break in.

Lucifer's in bed and the big plan is to shock him with a defibrillator to stop his heart. Linda is really conflicted about killing Lucifer but he reminds her that this is all about Chloe.  Maze picks up the defibrillator but cannot bring herself to shock Lucifer. In frustration, Lucifer grabs the defibrillator and shocks himself. 

Shadowed Souls Anthology: Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Tanya Huff, Anton Strout, Kat Richardson, Kevin J Anderson, Lucy A Snyder, Jim C Hines, Erik Scott De Bie, Kathryn Rusch, Rob Thurman

This anthology has a theme – and it’s generally a theme it’s handled quite well. Shadowed Souls are people who do not stand neatly in black and white morality and definitely straddle that uncomfortable grey shadow zone (ooooh title reference).

Firstly we have Cold Case by Jim Butcher with a story from the Dresden Files series. And if anything this is the story that defines the meaning of the book.

I like the exploration of Molly, now one of the younger Winter Queens with all the power and moral ambiguity of the Winter Court. The Winter Court has always been savage and dangerous and vicious – by design. It’s the bulwark against terrible outsider evil, it’s a court that has been built to fight an eternal, brutal war against monsters. The Winter Court is the very essence of dubious morality; of using monsters to fight monsters

I also like the how we go some way to explaining the rather bizarre horniness of the Winter Court. After all, Winter =/= generally mean sexytimes (except in Canada when hockey is cancelled). The bleak idea that Winter fae are super horny because of the war – because of the need to constantly breed because the war inflicts atrocious attrition on them is horrifying, bleak and very much in line with the theme of the court and the book.

So we have Molly, a character we know is a good and ethical and moral now with a whole lot more power and urges she has to learn to control – and having to do some really terrible things and make some really terrible choices for The Greater Good. Which is all the harder because Molly is a child of one of the Knights of the Cross, a man so good he gave literal demons multiple chances to repent. That’s a hard path to follow. We see both the good – upholding her duty to her people – and the terrible, her having to enforce the rules and sacrifices of the Winter court. And it is brutal. I love it

I am less thrilled with HOW Molly’s sexualness is portrayed here. So, yes, the Winter Court is horny, we know this – but in Molly this is interpreted by lots and lots of flirting. Which is fine, flirtiatious and sexually charged female characters are not a problem: but when Harry had the Winter Mantle he wasn’t sexually flirting – his thoughts were creepy and outright pushing for rape. It’s a stark contrast between male and female sexuality – especially when Molly also comes with a celibacy contract. And, yes, the story of sacrifice and suffering inherent to the Winter Court is powerful – but the backstory sets it in dubious light.

We do have a latino mage and several Native American supernaturals who play a decent role in the book

Sleepover by Seanan McGuire

While the opening story defines the theme of the book, I don’t see this book as fitting into the theme. The protagonist is a succubus but not inherently or unduly evil nor forced to make evil choices. She is coerced into a mission – but the mission is to rescue a child. That’s not morally ambiguous. And while we have a definite misunderstanding about why that child went missing, again there’s no real grey area so much as just a complete misunderstanding on the part of the humans as to how these beings work

I do love the whole concept of the world created – so much so that I think this book would be an absolutely awesome lead in to a new series so we could look at the Lilim and the Bogeymen and the culture and societies that are there that people have completely gotten wrong. If this is an excerpt of a longer series, count me in because the introduction of the main character and the world building definitely has me hooked

Also, lesbian protagonist who nods at LGBT cultural milestones without being defined by them – definitely here for this.

Sleepy Hollow, Season 4, Episode 4: The People v Ichabod Crane

Diana is still firmly on the side of “these supernatural people need to keep far far away from my daughter” and Jenny doesn’t do a great job of convincing her otherwise – especially since Ichabod was supposed to be there

Instead he has been captured by a spider demon, cocooned and forced to go on trial for various guilt things. Like the death of Abbie. And inflicting Cranewreck on us. And the terrible storyline of us deciding his son, the horseman of freaking war, needed handingly softly softly. And the treatment of Frank. And the introduction of Hawley

Oh wait, that’s my trial for the writers of Sleepy Hollow.

So this means the death of Abbie, the death of his son and the fact he spent a hot minute grieving for Abbie before moving on to a new team who will probably die as well. A

Ichabod argues eloquently in his defence (because Abbi made a choice! By Abbie we, of course, mean the shitty shitty writers who we will never ever forgive) before succumbing to the Sadness and preparing his own suicide – which is this demon’s whole mojo. It will then use its sadness powers to spill out everywhere.

So to the gang. They go investigating where Ichabod got to and Jenny heads off to the cave of sadness where he is being held (after some nifty research) – she goes alone because she doesn’t think Alex and Jake are up to it. They follow her because there’s a limit to what one woman can face alone

We also have a really nice biplay between Alex and Jake about their new lives: Jake was planning on quitting before this. He realised he was doing nothing and the archive was full of cool ideas but none of it was real or meaningful. He was ready to move on to do something – and now Ichabod came into their lives with all the supernaturalness and everything is cool and awesome and he loves it so much because it’s exciting and interesting and making a difference and real.

Alex, however, perhaps more reality based – asks if it’s a good thing that all this terrifying dangerous stuff is actually real

When Jenny is captured trying to sneak into a military base Jake and Alex do the sensible thing and… call Diana. Yes, no hotdogging, no silly rescue attempts, a very sensible decision

The Unnaturals (Unnaturals #1) by Jessica Meigs

Riley is an agent for a shadowy government agency – and she’s very good at her job. Lethal, dangerous and with a very high success rate. Except her most recent failure led to the death of her partner – from then on Riley has decided she will work alone

So she’s less than happy when the agency pairs her up with Scott, just off leave. And he’s not entirely thrilled, especially since he’s also expected to investigate her over a spate of agent deaths

And then they learn that vampires are real, there’s a major conspiracy in the agency and they have to find a magical weapon…

There’s a lot about this book that interests me. We have two capable main characters who, eventually, grow to respect each other. They are equals despite some pushing and we have two very different ways of working of which neither

I think the best thing to sum up this book is it has enormous potential

I like the main characters and want to see more of them – their interactions, working together an with the greater world is excellent

I love the side characters, that each has the beginnings of their own stories and goals, I love that they act without the main characters being directly involved. I love that they have their own agendas and priorities and that that isn’t a bad thing

The beginnings we’ve seen of this world is rich and interesting with a huge potential – I think I’ve often seen the concept of a shadowy government agency hunting the supernatural, but never actually from that shadowy government agency’s actual point of view.

The writing is fast paced and contains a lot of really well written action, lots of excitement and a constant sense of movement and urgency to go with the panicked feel of the events.

My main quibble with this book is one I tend to have with a lot of first books in a series is that it was just a bit fast for me.

We have this ominously named agency but only a really vague idea of what it does, why, what its remit is or what powers it has. We had a lot of characters introduced but I didn’t feel super connected to all of them. There was the head of the agency, the assistant head, Riley’s handler, Scott’s handler Henry, his secretary Vanessa. Zachariah and Ashton head of the Unnaturals and a couple of agents there. I feel we plunged into the action of the story extremely quickly without getting a great feeling for these characters or the organisation they’re part of.

The same applies to the world as well. We have an introduction to vampires, different kinds of vampires, different supernaturals, the ongoing battle between the Unnaturals and the supernatural under their purview.

The Vampire Diaries, Season 8, Episode 10: Nostalgia's a Bitch

This episode is everything that is wrong with The Vampie Diaries (well not EVERYTHING because there’s so very very very very very very much wrong with this show).

See, Damon is all catatonic are Caroline’s mansion (everyone lives in mansions now) when Bonnie drops by (she was going to talk about Enzo and humanity cures but her issues have been shelved again). They delve into his head and find Damon is suffering endless fiery torment. She and Caroline discuss this with Sybil locked in the basement who explains that during their last show down she dipped into Damon’s head and flipped his humanity switch on. The overwhelming guilt became too much for Damon to handle and he went catatonic and suffering imaginary hellfire because he thinks he deserves it.

And everyone went home because Damon’s right he does deserve it and Sybil can rot in the basement as well.

Hah, no. They agree to let Sybil out AND get her the siren-killy bell if she will save Damon and remove their only weapon against the siren’s in the process. They agree to this.

They call Matt for him to hand over the bell. His reaction mirrors mine

The Vampire Diaries stop making me agree with Matt. It’s unpleasant. He also calls out Caroline for caring so much about Damon and Stefan’s pain but not sparing a
thought for their many many many many many many many innocent victims (he’s currently looking at Stefan’s latest murder pile)

Grimm, Season Six, Episode Four: El Cuegle

"Foretold our fate, by the gods'

decree, all heard and none

believed the prophecy" 

Oh Grimm, I should have known that you couldn't stick to a season which focused on the meta even if this is your last season ever.  Here I was praising the fact that there's finally some momentum to stories the writers have been hinting at for six years and what do they do? Why, they return to the Wesen of the Week story that nobody wants to see right now. I suppose the question of would you eat a baby if you knew that they would grow up to be evil is somewhat relevant given what's going on in the world today; however, it feels like a waste of the precious little time we have left with Grimm. 

So, at the end of the last episode, Renard returned home only to find Meisner waiting for him. Renard has begun to doubt his senses while Meisner talks shit about Sean being on the wrong side of the war. Renard's little argument with the apparition gets put on hold when he gets a call from Black Claw to read him the riot act for refusing to take the office of mayor.  It seems that they are not pleased given all of the resources they invested in Renard. 

At the spice shop, now that Nick has turned back to himself, it's time to talk Diana down before she reverts to creepy demon eyes and takes Nick out. Adalind tells Diana that they are going to stay with Nick because it's Kelly's turn to live with his daddy. Invoking her younger brother was a smart play by Adalind. Diana then turns her attention to Rosealee and Monroe and announces that Rosealee is carrying more than one child though she cannot say how many. This of course is accompanied by what is now one of Diana's creepy ass looks, which is enough to freak Monroe the fuck out. 

And now Grimm takes a turn to the Wesen of the week. Isidoro Malpica is sweating like he ran a 5K, as he struggles to deal with a migraine from hell, looking through the birth announcements in the paper. Isidoro checks out a map to locate the Maler family.

The Malers are going through a new parent tradition of taking a photo of every breathing moment of their child's existence and posting it online. Haley is completely into this while Paul clearly is simply tolerating his wife's enthusiasm.  They finally put the child down for the night but Paul notices the baby is running a slight temperature. Later that night when the child cries, it's Hayley who goes to check on the baby, only to find Isidoro looming over the crib in a full on woge. Isidoro quickly knocks Hayley into the dresser before fleeing with the child. 

Salem, Season 3, Episode 10: Black Sunday

After last episode everything fell apart because oppressed people with important messages are evil tools of the devil and all women but Mary are terrible.

So how do things change with the season finale? Oh we have some twists, some definite twists.

Firstly catching up on the least relevant characters. John is trying to find and stop the bomb that will destroy the city. While Sebastian is catching up with John to tell him how very much he hates him because Mary loves him because it’s just unfair and he loooooooves her. He decides to kill John and fails to do so despite having lots of evil demon magic, because he just can’t get on with the killing and instead keeps gloating and mocking John and how he totally had sex with the woman John loves until John stabs him in the neck

This fails to actually stop the bomb so it’s time to turn to others to get things done.

So to the Sibley mansion where everything is going down. Baby devil is back and he is prepared to end the world. But first he sends Anne to fetch her husband, unleash her endless bitterness on him by offering him a choice

As we saw when Baby Devil was killed, the magic of sacrifice is majorly powerful. So Baby Devil offers Cotton a deal: he can willingly enter hell, willingly sacrificing his soul which would give baby devil enough power to unleash his evil future without having to annihilate the entire town

Personally I kind of think the world is ending anyway so giving the people of Salem a few days extra before they all ended isn’t that useful.

But Cotton will do it for the sake of good people and for Glorianna and for the chance to forgive Mary and give one last searing put down to Anne. He’s also relieved – his evil dad had repeatedly told him he was going to hell and he was worried that this meant he was going to commit some terrible crime. Knowing he is going to hell because he chooses so means he’s still a good man – this matters to him.

And would be a fascinating insight of a genuinely good man if it weren’t for all the women he had murdered as witches. Or there was the woman he got pregnant and then pretty much aided and abetted her banishment. Or there was him serving his evil father in his murder spree. Let’s face it, there’s a few sins here that even a relatively benevolent god is probably going to at least tut or wag a finger or something

Anyway, Cotton goes to hell and Baby Devil becomes Adult Devil who is a lot sexier but also played by the same guy who played the angelic televangelist on The Messengers which is absolutely hilarious to me

This is also why John et al aren’t burned by the bomb going off – Baby Devil got a new option.

Emerald City, Season One, Episode Five: Everybody Lies

We are now at the halfway point of this season.  Everybody Lies had to end on a cliffhanger because it is the most boring senseless episode to date.  For the first time while watching Emerald City, I found myself looking at the time, waiting for it to come to an end.  

In this episode we see a convergence on Emerald City. Dorothy is handed over to West by Ojo in exchange for the release of his wife from the Prison of the Abject.  Tip is now working as a servant for West in the hopes of learning magic. Jack travels to Emerald City in the company of King Ev and Lady Ev to see the Wizard about making an alliance. When the King asks why Jack is along for the ride,  Lady Ev refers to Jack as her slave because she believes that Jack owes her debt for his metal. Lucas and Sylvie are brought to Emerald City by Eammon, for the express purpose of clearing Lucas's name.  All of the pieces are lining up in Emerald City, and as we have repeatedly been told, the Beast Forever is also on the way. It's amazing that for all of the moving parts in this episode that it still managed to be boring.

West begins by trying to find out how Dorothy managed to kill her sister.  When West discovers the gun in Dorothy's bag she attempts to shoot Dorothy in the head, unaware that she dropped the clip because of  her unfamiliarity with guns. Dorothy escapes being shot to death only to be pistol whipped for her trouble.  Tip, whose sole job it seems is to bring West Tea which is probably some kind of drug, recognises Dorothy right away but remains silent.  A frustrated West reaches out to Glinda to inform her that she's found their sister's killer. Glinda advises West to wait for her but it's clear that West is determined to do her own thing.

The Wizard presides over a lavish welcoming ceremony for King Ev and Lady Ev.  The Wizard suggests that together they can defeat the Beast Forever.  Lady Ev is quick to note that not only does the Wizard have a lot of advisers, his advisers don't seem to be able to agree. When the Wizard finally gets a moment alone with King, the Wizard offers him anything he wants for his cooperation to fight the Beast Forever.  The King brings up his dog who died a few years ago and asks the Wizard to return the dog to him. It becomes clear to the Wizard that the King is not firing on all cylinders. The Wizard then turns his attention to Lady Ev, offering anything she wants for her cooperation.  This is when Lady Ev drops the bomb. It seems that when the Beast Forever came, the Wizard only managed to save Emerald City, leaving Lady Ev's kingdom to fend for themselves. Lady Ev's kingdom is more technologically advanced than Emerald City because they were forced to rebuild after the attack. Lady Ev doesn't want an alliance because she will only be happy when Emerald City is burned to the ground. 

As aforementioned, Eammon brought Lucas and Sylvie to Emerald City to clear Lucas's name. Before Eammon can really get into with Lucas, he passes out from the bullet.  Lucas calls for help as Eammon gets treatment. 

West is back to questioning Dorothy and this time she uses magic to do so. It's all rather dramatic but all West actually learns from the exchange is that Dorothy wasn't close to her mother growing up. For West, this is proof that there's something broken about Dorothy.

Having dropped the hammer on the Wizard, Lady Ev turns her attention to Jack.  After being ridiculed and treated like property Jack is not particularly in the mood to have anything to do with Lady Ev. Jack is particularly perplexed when Lady Ev explains that she sees Jack as a friend and has always wanted a friend. A frustrated Jack has to explain to Lady Ev how friends are made and how friends treat each other.  This scene really does speak to the relative social isolation of Lady Ev because she doesn't seem to understand basic social skills. In order to rectify her appalling treatment of Jack, Lady Ev suggests that they go to the festival together. 

Lucas is taking a nap when Sylvie wakes him by kicking him. It seems that Sylvie has figured out that Dorothy is in the city.  Jack and Sylvie grab their shit and the two of them take off to find Dorothy. When Jack is almost recognised by a soldier, Jack grabs a mask to hide his face.

Tip is sent to check on Dorothy who immediately pleads for help.  It becomes clear to Tip that Dorothy does not recognise hir.  When Tip explains who ze is, Dorothy suggests that since she helped Tip, it's Tip's turn to help her. Tip however is still reeling from having her gender changed and angrily yells that Dorothy helping her escape was one of the worst things that ever happened to her. It's clear that Tip blames Dorothy for hir present predicament. Dorothy continues to beg but Tip is having none of it and slams the door and walks away.  

Jack and Lady Ev make their way through the festival until they are accosted by a group of men. When one of the men reaches for Lady Ev's mask, Jack pushes his hand away.  Jack at first is pretty ineffectual in defending Lady Ev, prompting her to attempt to order the ruffians away.  Jack's new metal body however comes in handy and after gathering his stride, Jack is able to defeat the group. Lady Ev rewards Jack with a kiss, prompting him to point out that friends don't do that.  Lady Ev responds that perhaps they shouldn't be just friends. 

West has decided on a new approach for Dorothy. West pretends to have Tip throw her in the same cell as Dorothy and this time she's disguised as Dorothy's mother.  West pretends to be desperate and begs Dorothy to remember what East wanted West to know so that West will send them home. Dorothy starts to think and West sees in Dorothy's memories that East brought up Glinda.  West assumes her own form and slaps Dorothy.  Having witnessed this is enough for Tip to decide that it's time to help Dorothy escape because she doesn't want anymore blood on her hands. Tip returns later alone but before Dorothy can escape, West's loyal servant whom Tip had replaced shows up and decides that if she kills Dorothy, West will reward her.

Lucas and Sylvie make their way through the city and find themselves surrounded by soldiers.  Lucas pushes Sylvie away and tells her to run while he fights off the soldiers. Lucas holds his own really well and when he is down to one soldier, Lucas finally asks why they are all looking for him.  The soldier explains that Lucas was driving a wagon and when they tried to look inside it, he killed ten of them.  That's enough for Lucas to decide that he needs to deal with the consequences of his actions. Lucas makes Sylvie promise that she won't use any magic and then he puts down his sword and surrenders.

Eammon is getting treatment for his injuries and the Wizard asks how one girl could have taken out his best warrior. The healer hands the Wizard the bullet he pulled out of Eammon.  The Wizard then takes the bullet to Anna and explains that he has found a weapon which will kill the Beast Forever. 

West heads back to confront Dorothy one more time only to discover that Dorothy is gone. Her loyal servant is trapped in the sewer gate and accuses Tip of collusion. Tip of course claims innocence and surprisingly, West believes hor and uses magic to shove her servant into the sewer. With Dorothy gone, West access more memories and learns that East had a meeting with Glinda. When Glinda arrives, she claims that she hadn't seen East in years.  It looks like it's about to go down between the sisters. 

Dorothy has made her escape through the sewer system and moments later the servant who tried to stop her is flushed out after rightfully accusing Tip of collusion and being ignored by West. Dorothy makes her way through the streets as lamps float in the air and in the background Pink Floyd plays.  

Lucas finds himself right back where he started off in the company of Eammon. Luckily for Sylvie she's no longer alone when she manages to find Toto.

With her gun drawn, Dorothy enters the Wizard's private area.  She pauses long enough to turn off the walkman (yeah the Wizard is into old technology) and walk forward slowly. When Dorothy finally meets the Wizard and asks about her mother, the Wizard calls her by name and welcomes her home. How the hell does the Wizard know Dorothy and is he her father? 

Okay, let's break down this boring episode.  Let's start with Jack because he's the one who pissed me off the most. He sat there in the carriage and listened as Lady Ev described him as a slave to her father. She claimed that he owed her a debt for his metal body and what did he do, happily go for a walk with her, defend her and then kiss her.  I know that Jack hasn't been a slave for long but come the hell on. This isn't an endearing relationship and yet the kiss was framed as something sweet and innocent. Jack has Stockholm Syndrom and there's nothing cute about it.

Let's talk Lady Ev for a moment. She's powerful enough to tell the Wizard where to go in short order and effectively rules her land but couldn't find a set of guards to escort her down the street?  All the power she displayed telling off the Wizard was completely undermined so that Jack could have his White knight moment defending her. 

Alright, so Lucas decides to take to the streets to find Dorothy. I'm with him up to the point where he decides to abandon Sylvie in Emerald City and admonish her not to use magic. He abandoned a child in the middle of the street, in a city that is hostile to magic users, where she knows NO ONE. NO ONE. 

Dorothy was saved once again; this time by Tip and what does she do? She pulls out the gun that got her into trouble in the first damn place.  At this point I believe that Dorothy has the sense of a concussed penguin. Are we ever going to have an episode where someone isn't actively saving her?

Finally, Tip, West and of course Glinda.  You know damn well that Tip is going to play these two off against each other again.  I was pissed at West basically telling Tip to get over hir gender issues like it's no big deal.  I do however like that Emerald City has not stopped talking about Tip's discomfort with hir body and hope that this continues.  As for Glinda, there's more going than meets the eye. I hope that West and Glinda get their shit together soon though and steal power from the Wizard. Two powerful women being ruled by a man doesn't sit well with me even if the character is being played by the always awesome Vincent D'Onofrio.