The Trinity's Dream by Sherif Mekdam

I have an issue with the main three characters who are put forward to be the Trinity. They’re all supposed to be deeply flawed people:

We have an arrogant, rapist atheist who raped his best friend while she slept and who spends most of his life debating Christians (and apparently this gets him a huge fan club of women to sleep with him. Because university campuses are full of women who get so turned on by anti-theological debate).

We have the Muslim who is a wanna-be terrorist.

And we have the Christian who is so self-sacrificing and dedicating his life to trying to find a miracle cure for his sick nephew.

Uh-huh. Rapist arrogant atheist, hateful, misogynist Muslim - and saintly selfless Christian? This does not look good when put next to each other.

Beyond that I think the main issue with this book is fundamentally structural - it’s short. Really short and really full - we have 6 significant characters - both the Trinity above who will save the world and the three characters who actually discovered the world was ending have to have their characters, their back story, their expertise, their families, and their experience shoe horned into a really really small book. That means we have a lot of info dumping, a lot of really clumsy, awkward attempt at development which didn’t even make these brief characters particularly notable or distinctive. Nothing really develops or distinguishes itself - certainly not the characters - so we get really shoe-horned, overly full, quite convoluted characterisation to try and create a full character in very very limited space.

That limited development also made so much of this book flawed - like examining the rapist and not making it just a throw away reference, the misogyny of the terrorist-wanna-be: I mean all of it is pretty much undeveloped but this becomes much more of a problem when covering these fraught topics.

Several of these characters are POC which is something

The Strain, Season 4, Episode 4: New Horizons

Hey it’s another episode of everything is awful and vampires are evil. Which, ok, fine… but we kind of need to go somewhere with most of these storylines. Or any of them.

Instead another go round of most of the cast reminding us that evil land ruled by evil people who are evil is evil is starting to smell a little stale.

Take Sanjay Desai who is living a wonderful luxurious life being a stooge to the Strigoi with Eichorst dropping in on him to remind him he has to do terrible evil things or he will be horribly tortured to death in horrible ways. You get to live a life of luxury only if you continue be evil (turning women into baby factories, forcing pregnancy as often as possible and c-section at 6 months - with no safety consideration for the mother).

I mean ok, it’s terrifying and awful but didn’t we already do that with the pregnancy farm anyway? Didn’t we know this?

So to that pregnancy farm and Dutch in a terrible situation. Sanjay Desai wants Dutch to play nice collaborator and reassure Sophie who is giving birth by c-section. Dutch keeps her calm and co-operative through the whole procedure so they can steal the baby with minimum fuss. If she doesn’t then she goes to a terribad place. And, as one fellow inmate points out, Dutch refusing to actually co-operate doesn’t actually stop the baby being taken. The alternative is another inmate who calls her a terrible evil collaborator.

Didn’t we do the whole collaborator storyline… every episode?

Dutch does the evil collaborator stuff, but when the doctors won’t even let Sophie hold her own baby, Dutch snaps. She holds a blade to Desai’s throat, kidnaps him and uses his keycard to follow the baby - to find a terrible holding factory. There people are impaled on hooks and have all their blood drained

Ok… horrifying? I guess? I mean… strigoi are vampires who kill people and drink blood? The addition of meat hooks may make for terrifying abattoir imagery. Maybe it’s because I read the books so knew this was coming. But I am not entirely sold that this is entirely more horrifying than, say, nuclear winter?

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 4: The Spoils of War

Well, that happened: the inevitable awesome burning action happened and we knew it was coming but it was still very awesome

But first let us join a much quieter but still very awesome and poignant moment in Winterfell

Three of the Stark sibling have now been reunited - Bran, Sansa and Arya. And I think this whole episode really powerfully shows us how much the siblings have changed. Bran has become almost robotic - completely emotionless even as Meera, a woman who has fought desperately to keep him alive, has carried him literally, watched Hodor die for him, watched her brother die for him, says goodbye. He shows no emotion even as she is devastated by this.

When he sees Arya and Sansa he is equally dispassionate with added levels of creepy and spooky. Sansa has heard about his visions and clearly didn’t believe them - until his talking about Arya’s list and journey makes it clear he isn’t just seeing things.

Another person taken aback by Bran’s spookiness is Littlefinger who tries to schmooze Bran with pretty words and the shiny knife that started this whole chaos - the knife that near murdered him, a murder and a knife which cause Catelyn Stark to imprison Tyrion and start the whole war going in an utter disaster

Bran is indifferent (he gives the knife to Arya) but he does mention “Chaos is a ladder” which is pretty much Petyr’s watchword. This freaks Petyr out severely (the Stark kids are rattling him good) while also suggesting that, yes, Littlefinger was the one behind all of this.

We’ve seen Sansa mature and become the incredibly strong, cunning woman she is today and now realising her young siblings have grown in the same time period. Especially poignant is her and Arya reflecting on their mutual difficult, painful stories- but Arya’s determined “this isn’t the end of their story” and it is beautiful to see Arya actually hope now.

Sansa originally laughs over Arya’s list only to have Bran’s visions confirm it - and then see Arya match Brienne (who towers over her) in a sparring match.

And I feel for Brienne - seeing the Stark children reunited as she promised Catelyn she would while acknowledging she did pretty much nothing to make it happen. The Starks are doing it for themselves.

To Dragonstone where Daenerys and Jon Snow are beginning to show more chemistry before their inevitable marriage (and Davos definitely noticing) and Jon showing Daenerys the shiny cave of dragonglass he found complete with cave paintings from the Children of the Forest showing their alliance with the First Men to face off against the super creepy white Walkers.

This is his not so subtle message that they should stand together and Daenerys throws back that she’ll support him if he bends the knee. Yup, she’s broken record. He points out that his people will rebel. She says nope, he’s their king, he doesn’t say “lady, you have not met Lyanna Mormont” but he really should have.

He does speak to Missendei who tells some of her history for some nice characterisation but is really much much more about how totally awesome Daenerys is. And, y’know, it’s nice to confirm that everyone who follows Daenerys does it because they respect and love her and what she’s done and absolutely none of them give a shit about who her daddy was or what noble lineage she has. Which is good because it removes her entitlement to rule just because of her noble name which is a hard sell and full of (very historical accurate) entitlement

The bad side is basically the fact she’s selling herself as the Greatest of White Saviours. The whole Mhysa storyline was a hot hot mess and this being her selling point is just cringeworthy

Also no mention of dragons. I mean “we love her. Also she has burny lizards that kill people. And a legion of angry horsewarriors who think she’s a fire goddess and kill people. Oh and an army of people who’ve been slaves since birth and may not even know they’re free because did anyone actually check? Seriously most of the time Daenerys doesn’t even speak in a language most of them don’t understand, shouldn’t we do a survey or something?”

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Nine: One Fettered Slave

One Unfettered Slave, is the penultimate episode of Orphan Black. As the series finale draws near, I find myself nowhere close to being ready to give up my sestras.  The writers are finishing up the story line, hopefully leading to freedom for the sestras but it's come at a cost. This episode opens up with Siobahn's funeral and it's gut wrenching.  The sestras and Felix are all orphans now and so the question quickly becomes who is going to pick up the mantle left behind by S. Sarah and Felix don't have long to contemplate their lost because at S's funeral, they are informed that Helena has been taken. 

Helena

Helena is the clone I hated when she was introduced and has quickly moved to my favourite.  All of the clones have had an episode which featured their backstory and One Fettered Slave is Helena's turn. Given that Helena was raised by religious zealots who twisted her to kill sestras, there's no way that it was going to be anything but abusive. Helena is hazy from the drugs and so she flashes back to her time at a Catholic school. Helena sneaks into a nun's office to help herself to some hidden chocolate. When the nun enters the office, Helena is forced to hide. Thinking herself alone, the nun starts furiously masturbating. A fascinated Helena approaches the nun and is punished for her sinful spying. Helena's head is dunked into a bucket containing bleach and hydrogen peroxide, turning her from a brunette into the familiar blonde that we all know. It also explains why the skin under Helena's eyes is always red. Even though Helena protests that she hasn't seen anything, she's locked in a closet and told to spy in there.  A defiant Helena stuffs her stolen chocolate in her mouth. 

Helena finds what she thinks is reprieve from the closet when Tomas shows up. Tomas assures Helena that she is a very special girl and that he's looked for her for a long time. Tomas, being a Prolethean zealot, teaches Helena during her formative years about copies and originals, as well as the evils of science. 

When Helena awakens, she's in the back of a van being examined by Virginia, on her way to a lab. Mark asks about Gracie and Virginia lies, claiming that they'll be reunited after the twins are born. Helena is taken to what appears to be an operating room to start the produce of inducing labour. 

P.T. is looking a little worse for wear given all of the trials he's had recently. PT's given a shot to give him a bit of a boost so that he will have the energy to make it through Helena's labour. A re-invigorated PT pulls off his nasty wig, now past the point of pretending that he is long lived. Rachel may have exposed PT for the fraud that he is but he's not down and out yet.  PT orders Frontenac to find Hashem Al-Khatib and neutralize him. As part of cleaning up after Rachel's defection, PT is having people murdered. In full control of his facilities, PT heads to the delivery room and orders Virginia to put a rush on Helena's delivery so that he can harvest the twins fetal stem cells in order to create a treatment. PT is so impatient, he wants the babies cut right out of Helena but Virginia argues that a vaginal birth would be a better alternative. 

With the plans for the twins well under way, the next order of business as far as PT is concerned is the elimination of Mark. PT reminds Virginia that it's always been the two of them against the world.  Virginia points out that Mark is the last Castor clone left alive. PT however is not to be dissuaded and he leaves Virginia yelling, "the future is female!"  If there's was any hope of Virginia being even somewhat redeemed, it ends here. Tricking Mark into believing that he's getting an injection of the cure, Virginia actually poisons him to death.  A tired Mark lies down, takes Virginia hand and his dying words are, "good night mother."  

The petocin has done it's work and Helena is starting to have contractions. The pain causes Helena to have another flashback and this time it's to Tomas declaring that Helena is ready to go out into the world and begin her mission. Helena follows a clone into a church and stabs her viciously in the back, only to be surprised when she sees that her victim has the same face as hers.  Back with Tomas, a very upset Helena takes to her bed and bemoans her belief that she to is a copy.  Tomas then informs Helena that the others are the copies and that she is the original, reminding Helena of her uniqueness. In a bid to create some difference between herself and the clones, Helena carves wings into her back. 

In the present, Helena begs Virginia to spare her and her babies believing that Virginia might have some sympathy for her because PT took away Virginia's babies. Helena says that her babies need their mother. Virginia being the cold fish that she is, reminds Helena that she was abandoned at birth and that she killed her fellow clones, thus in Virginia's opinion, making Helena unfit to be a mother. 

Wynonna Earp, Season 2, Episode 9: Forever Mine Never Mind

One thing Wynonna Earp has done an amazing job of is making it clear that just because Wynonna is pregnant doesn’t mean she has to be bed ridden or helpless. Wynonna is still kick arse, sparring and being dangerous even when heavily pregnant.

As we see with her sparring with Waverley and big sticks - and this is even more powerful when we remember the actress herself is pregnant. Yup, that’s not stuffing, that stomach’s all her.

Wynonna is always clear that just because she’s pregnant doesn’t mean she has to take a back seat or that the curse or the mission is any less her’s.

They recap everything nicely and there’s definitely a new level of flirting between Dolls and Wynonna. There’s also a body - which they identify as Tucker’s (the guy who is the worst who was shot and jumped through a window which didn’t kill him apparently. I thought we were done with this character?) despite being horrendously burned. This is confirmed by his Evil Widow sister (wait, didn’t Wynonna already peg Mercedes and Beth Gardener as the Wiws?) who also confirms he was the utter utter worst. She also sort-of-flirts with Waverley which continues to plunge a big wedge between her and Nicole, especially since Nicole is… fraught. I get Nicole’s input and expression of opinion and disagreement with Waverley here but I also get why Waverley - already pissed and touchy - may interpret Nicole’s disagreement as instruction, insisting Waverley is wrong or telling her what she may think or feel.

Note a good point here is when this body arises and Dolls asks if it’s Black Badge’s

Dolls is also striking up a decent rapport with Rosita as she comes up with better and better treatments for Dolls’ demon-dragon thing. He buys her a ticket to a spa as a thank you. Which is… nice… I guess? Maybe? I’m bemused, I think a wad of actual money would be better. Anyway, go spa. Whatever.

Still we are seeing Rosita work really well with the group - that scene with Dolls and later with Wynonna (despite Wynonna planning a private dinner between her and Doc which is… slightly awkward). And then she’s there to comfort Waverley in her need-to-get-her-drink-on after arguing with Nicole again. Waverley is very very frustrated and wishes she could get away from everything for a while - thankfully Rosita has some spa tickets

Of course at the spa Waverley feels super guilty for not being available, but Rosita is there encouraging the theft of towels and the drinking of champagne and giving Waverley someone to talk to about messing up everything by looking at the DNA papers and giving pep talks about how things don’t have to be perfect and imperfections are good - everyone needs a friend like Rosita

We also learn that Rosita has 3 PHDs, no family and is super super super smart.

And Waverley kisses her. And Rosita kisses her back. And I’m YAY MORE BISEXUAL CHARACTERS while also NOOOOOOOOOOO NICOLE AND WAVERLEY! YOU GET BETWEEN THEM AND I KILL YOU WITH ARMADILLOS!

They split up because SUPER AWKWARD and Waverley goes to Rosita to apologise - and finds her dead…

...wait NO I didn’t want this! The armadillo thing wasn’t serious! I take it back, take it back, take it back!

She has been killed by Tucker who is not dead though he has a nasty case of frostbite. I don’t even know how that came about, presumably walking around in the snowy woods (it’s like eternal winter in Purgatory. Is this place Canada?)

He is still obsessed with Waverly in a deeply terrifying, stalkerish, rapey way. He talks about how happy they’ll be together while she tries to humour his terrifyingness. Until Rosita knocks him out with a big bottle of champagne.

Killjoys, Season 3, Episode 6: Necropolis

Everything last week did not go as planned, which results in a very sad Dutch. With the death of the awesome Banyon at her hands, the death of three RACs not at her hands but still as part of her war she’s feeling super sad and is getting super drunk

D’avin is there to provide a pep talk and she moves in to kiss him. And he backs off.

AWKWARD

As Johnny puts it, walking in on them having sex would be less awkward than this. Dutch responds to this by giving D’avin the silent treatment.

The gang has to go to the Scarback monk’s necropolis to have the funeral for all the RAC agents which is awkward because Turin bows out to deal with the refugees from the other RACs and Dutch is both torn by guilt and grief and giving D’avin the silent treatment all making it even more awkward. D’avin ends up having to give the speech before the religious ceremony because Dutch just can’t, she’s too torn by it.

They also have an ulterior motive - they want the 9 to support their war against the Hullen, especially with their very very very big bank accounts

Johnny thinks they have an in with Luella, Pawter’s dead sister and head of a 9 family, but Luella is pissed over Pawter’s death still. And the rest of the 9 aren’t exactly on board anyway, especially Kala, who seems to be the most influential, who would rather stick his head in the sand and blame Dutch & co, even when Dutch points out it was the ancestors of the 9 who got them in this mess in the first place with their deal with the Hullen

Of course it wasn’t going to be easy

Then we have technical difficulties with Dutch and D’avin stuck in a space lift with 8 of the 9 while Johnny and the angry Luella are outside trying to get it moving again. Everyone is paranoid and then one member of the 9 dies.

This does not increase everyone’s trust. Particularly of Alvis since he’s actually carrying a weapon and had a beef with the dead woman shortly before they died. Dutch didn’t think he did it though because of the awesome line of the episode:

“I could never accuse you of murder because you’re an attention whore activist who would scream it from the rooftops before I ever had a chance”

Alvis concedes it’s accurate. I want to raise the question of the complex religio-political dynamic that has Alvis be considered on the most fierce anti-company (and anti-9) activist in the Quad, up to the point they were willing to arrest him as a terrorist while at the same time him having the respect and kudos to be the one performing hippy-vegan communion. Because that must be a doozy of a complicated relationship.

The argument between Alvis and the dead woman is that she wanted to buy a “tolerance” (basically an indulgence) from Alvis for the whole 9. He doesn’t know the details because he gave them a resounding hell no, not being in favour of people buying off their sins.

Zoo, Season 3, Episode 6: Oz is Oz

A significant portion of this episode is spent with Abigail’s backstory as she heals in one of their big water tanks after the Razorbacks took her to them for help

She has always known about Jackson (though pretty much loathed him as a useless, drunken safari guard) and worshipped her dad. She’s also brilliant, apparently as brilliant as Mitch (apparently Mitch is brilliant) She continued to work on her dad’s pet project - Blue Diaspora, the creation of the hybrids, even after the Council forbade her father to pursue it, even after he himself abandoned it and focused more on Mitch’s cure for the animals. She’s convinced that since the animals are still subject to the Mother Cell, it’s only a matter of time before animals turn evil again: the hybrids are the answer. But mainly I think he wants to please her dad.

Hence the creation of the first hybrid, Abendigos: the giant ape thing.

And then Jackson returned with his dad and Daddy Oz is now all focused on saving Jackson and curing the animals. And when Jackson is sick, daddy Oz sacrifices himself to save him.

Abigail is Not Amused by this. She hates Jackson and passes on that hatred to Abendigos. She’s also the one who saved Mitch and put him in a tank.

Also there’s this guy who is clearly into Abigail.

On to Clem and the present and people are trying to sell her - except Mitch arrives with a gun which isn’t exactly a coherent plant. But Clem points the gun to her oh-so-precious womb and she manages to leave. But we’re reminded that Clem is now going to be the most hunted woman on the planet

Mitch plans to do lots of testing - which Clem, child of lots of medical testing due to her childhood illness, is not a fan of because it’s a wretched life. She also wants Mitch to be less scientist and more father. Mitch is pretty good here both declaring his fatherly devotion in a very touching way but also pragmatically pointing out the kid can actually stop humanity’s extinction so realistically a little Science is going to have to happen.

Also Mitch is not ready to be called a grandfather. They head to the plane - there Mitch confronts Dariela who is just everyone’s punching bag, but Clem forgives her because MOTHERHOOD

Tessa and Jackson have a lot of action with lions and guns and giant ape hybrids, Oh My. Tessa realises that Jackson is controlling animals with his mind but they’ll discuss that later because war zone. They decide they absolutely must have Abendigos and take him with them to the plane.

Should there be a Dark Angel Revival?

After the recent reboot of Twin Peaks, which only ran for two seasons before being cancelled in 1991, and remakes of popular film franchises from yesteryear such as Ghostbusters by Paul Feig and The Mummy by Alex Kurtzman, there is a real possibility that other series could face a similar makeover. The David Lynch-directed drama set in a desolate region on the outskirts of Washington gained a cult following, and viewers had long petitioned for its resurrection. The fact that the returning show has been awarded a whopping score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes is another indicator that others could follow suit. Dark Angel eventually had an underwhelming release on DVD, which is still available on Amazon, but is now the perfect time for a Dark Angel Revival?

Would a Dark Angel Comeback be Welcomed?

David Lynch isn’t the only well-respected director to have had a foray into the realms of television production. Oscar-winner James Cameron, who is responsible for Avatar and Titanic, the two highest-grossing films of all time with worldwide box office revenue of $2.7 billion and $2.2 billion respectively, is the brains behind Dark Angel. Working in collaboration with Charles H. Eglee who more recently has been involved with the adaptation of The Walking Dead, the two creators came up with a highly original cyberpunk TV series about a genetically enhanced super soldier who escapes a covert military facility as a child. The show which aired on Fox was watched by an average of 10 million people per episode in its first season, and also won numerous awards including the People’s Choice Award for Favourite New Drama. The second season, however, suffered a severe ratings drop and was ultimately cancelled.

It was criticised by fans for having too many filler episodes in which the writers would focus on a “monster of the week” rather than spend time developing the overarching plot. However, many fans also believed the story to have potential and were hugely disappointed when the series was cut short. There is frustration around the fact that the final episode ended on a cliffhanger, where there was a standoff between cops and transgenics and it seemed unlikely that all of the main protagonists would make it out alive. This ending certainly leaves the series wide open for a comeback if the creators wished to do so.

Could Jessica Alba Reprise her Breakthrough Role?

Jessica Alba began her acting career at a very young age with roles in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack which aired on Nickelodeon in 1994. But it wasn’t until she took on the part of leading protagonist Max Guevara in Dark Angel that she was finally recognised as a potential Hollywood star. Alba was the leading lady in 42 episodes of the sci-fi series, and Guevera is arguably the California-born actresses’ most intriguing character to date. Max is a transgenic super-soldier with an extremely advanced skillset which includes having a photographic memory, being able to see in the dark and zoom in on distant objects, and being strong, agile, and athletic. In addition to that, she is able to live without sleep, make predictions about the future, and speak numerous different languages.

In the show, the heroine uses these powers for some pretty unusual and interesting things, and this helped make the character so unique and likeable. For instance, in episode four of the first season, Guevara uses her skills of prediction to guess roulette numbers when she goes on an undercover mission to catch a mobster at a casino. This is a good example of what made Dark Angel different: instead of Alba’s character having to incorporate sophisticated roulette strategies such as block betting, (making a series of bets which cover a block of numbers on the roulette betting board), her highly advanced supernatural abilities allowed her to merely look into the future to know where to place her chips. Another distinctive trait of Max’s genetic build is the fact that she has some cat DNA. This caused her to go into heat twice in the first season and led to some pretty steamy encounters. Although Dark Angel led to starring roles in blockbusters such as the $158.8 million box office hit Sin City and Fantastic Four, Alba has also continued to appear in TV shows including The Spoils of Babylon and Barely Famous since hitting the big time. This suggests that she could be open to returning to the character that her success stemmed from.

Which Other Shows Deserve a Reboot?

Dark Angel is one of only a handful of popular TV shows that have featured a female central protagonist. But as Game of Thrones, which averages 23 million viewers per episode, has shown with its multitude of powerful female characters including Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, and Cersei Lannister, audiences are more than willing to watch the fairer sex lead the way. This suggests that a Dark Angel reboot could be very well received, as could other female-led shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joss Whedon’s epic vampire series is another show which had a cult following and that many fans would love to see return. The show has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but after its seventh season concluded in 2003, pretty much all loose ends were tied up and Whedon, who now directs the Marvel Avengers films, ended on a high. It did end with Buffy Summers no longer being the only slayer in existence, though, as Willow’s magical spell turned all the other potentials into fully-fledged vampire hunters. If the series was to make a return, it could be in the form of a spinoff following one of these other characters. This would make some fans happy who thought that Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy was actually one of the least likeable characters in the original.

Twin Peaks: The Return has proved that even if a show was axed by a network in the past there is potential for a reboot to attract past fans and younger audiences. If other shows are going to follow suit, Dark Angel has to be a strong contender to earn a second chance. With so many big names involved, it seems a shame that it ended so abruptly.