True Blood Season Five, Episode Five: Let's Boot and Rally

 

Last week, many were upset when Sookie and Alcide started to make out because of her inebriated state, but it seems that they need not have worried, because it was quickly brought to an end by Sookie puking all over Alcide's feet.   This, along with Bill and Eric's presence quickly brought an end to any potential naughty times.  The men quickly started to bicker, which caused Sookie to laugh.  It seems that she sees them sort of like the mob - every time she tries to get out, they drag her back in. They head off to find Russell Edgington, with Sookie reading the mind of an associate of Alcide's, whom Russell compelled to help him.

In the meantime, Eric and Bill have run out of time.  The authority has decided to give them until sunrise before they activate their I-Stakes.  In the back of the truck, Bill and Eric are starting to bicker about who is responsible for alerting the authority about  Russell. When they arrive at what looks like an abandoned mental institution, they try to tell Sookie to stay outside but she won't hear of it.  Apparently, she believes that her little fairy power and the sunlight are all that hurts Russell and claims that it will be her protecting them. I couldn't help but wonder why they bothered to argue with her.  If they get lucky, maybe Russell will eat her.

At Fangtasia, Tara made an appearance in a purple bustier which she borrowed from Pam.  I gotta say that she looked hot. What wasn't so hot was her comment suggesting that if she wanted to look like a drag queen that she would borrow something from Lafayette's closet.  Really? So if a man is gay, he's suddenly a drag queen now?  The thing is, after everything True Blood has pulled, I cannot say that I am in the least bit surprised. I also didn't like Tara's slave reference to Pam, given the fact that True Blood has a history of playing fast and loose with African-American history.

It was however interesting to watch Tara and Jessica compare notes on being a vampire.  Though she may be upset about how it happened, it seems that Tara is coming to terms with it. Hoyt then showed up outside of Fangtasia in all of his fang banger regalia.  He offered himself to Tara who told him to go home to his mama and Hoyt got all upset stating, "What, my blood isn't good enough for you?"  We get it, Hoyt is having an identity crises, but why should we care?  In the bathroom, Tara is feeding on him but when he says no, Jessica bursts in and they start to fight.  If this ends up bringing Jessica and Hoyt back together or even into a friendship, I am going to be pissed.  As it is, the whole thing read like a White man helpless at the hands of a wild Black woman. Do they even think about the situations they put Tara in and what it means in the context of race and gender?

Dark Angel, Season 1, Episode 2: Heat

Max is still working with Logan for Eyes Only, this time stealing a large sum of money from some crooks and watching them shoot each other – a gang of people who were taking money to take people across the US border to Canada and then killing them. Logan has a new physiotherapist, Blaine, who is trying to help him get the use of his legs back.

But Max has another problem (I do like Original Cindy’s advice – “you got an itch? Go scratch” this is because Original Cindy is awesome), because of Mantecore splicing her DNA with all manner of creatures (specifically cats) to make her a super wonderful soldier, it also has some side effects. Specifically, she goes into Heat. Three times a year she becomes extremely sexually driven, or, as she puts it “climbing the walls looking for some action”. Max spends the episode fantasising about Logan, worrying about doing something she’ll regret – and taking a pretty average guy, Eric, home (to the bemusement of Kendra and Cindy), doing some gratuitous body stroking – and coming out to find the guy passed out from the booze. Which provides Kendra with plenty of mockable material.

Work continues as usual, with Herbal not being happy delivering porn with poor Normal exasperated as ever – and Eric giving Max fancy presents of motor oil (dystopian world – it’s more impressive than it looks). But Logan has something to offer Max – he has found Mantecore, or how it appeared, including the elusive Hannah who helped Max escape. Logan urges patience – Max isn’t a patient person and is determined to see Hannah.

Of course that means leaving the city – which you can’t do without a pass. But Eric, who is now creeping after Max constantly, claims to have an uncle who is connected to the Sector Police and, in the commonplace corruption of the city, can easily move him around the city. Unfortunately when it comes to actually leaving the city dragging Eric along, it turns out to be a hollow boast and his uncle is a janitor – but it’s not like the sector police can keep Max in anyway.

On to the island where Hannah lives; to find some back ground knowledge of Mantecore and the X5 group (Max’s group) among the prototypes, information about the poor, often young women who were used for in vitro fertilisation. It’s also some nice history of how just being in a house was so different for Max.

Of course, Lydecker, head of Mantecore has got to Hannah (Unfortunately Vogulsin, Max’s happy private detective with his own Laundromat, isn’t doing so well, mainly because of Lydecker who is torturing him for information). Hannah has called Lydecker and told him, she’s there – and Max knows but assures Hannah it’s ok, that she had no choice – but Lydecker will kill her unless they both run. Time for some action, hide and seek with Lydecker’s soldiers. With a lot of running, action and Logan hacking into the soldier’s radio, they manage to get free. Much to Lydecker’s irritation.

In the aftermath Eric breaks up with her – far too much chaos and danger for his tastes (Max is bemused since she’s been looking to drop him for a while). And Logan gets Hannah out of the country using the Eyes Only network and asks questions about Eric to establish the whole sexual tension between them.

And Hannah tells Max that Max’s mother fought tooth and nail to try and keep her baby, but Mantecore gave her no choice.

Hex, Season 2, Episode 2: Death Takes the Mother

Cassie and Ella are not-at-all suspiciously spying on Azazeal, Jo and little baby Malachi at the playground and plotting to have Cassie gain their trust and kidnap the baby so Ella can murder him. But Cassie is worrying about him in a ridiculously maternal fashion.

Thelma has her own suspicions – both about Cassie going near Azazeal and Ella and her motives – Thelma asks all those question you really wish protagonists would ask, rather than being so very trusting all the time. This is because Thelma is awesome.

Cassie goes anyway and shows her super powerful Natural Mother skills that Malachi can sense (despite her being a complete and utter stranger) able to make him stop crying despite Azazeal fretting over him all morning. Much flirting follows (between Cassie and Azazeal, not the baby. And Azazeal saying how betrayed he feels because she befriended Ella – at least she objects to his arrogance (but not his rape, violating her choice for an abortion or his stalking or his murdering of Thelma?). But no, they end up kissing, of course and then on to sex

While Azazeal is asleep though, she does run with the child.

Ella’s legal guardian (I suppose you do need one if you are an immortal teenager) arrives to pay her school fees and deliver a very ominous looking box (all the while Ella remains completely mute for some bizarre reason). Inside are many shiny items: a huge boo, a rod that blasts things and a bottle of red liquid. We know this because a very nosy Thelma (did I mention she’s awesome?) pokes around much to Ella’s frustration. Oh and a knife that she stabs Thelma with – which is scary, but Thelma’s been there and turns it into flirting and innuendo because she’s awesome (and she has to flirt with the straight women who give her mixed signals back. It seems to be a rule of Hex).

Thelma and Ella bond more (and they do have MUCH better witty repartee than Thelma and Cassie ever had) as Ella goes to church to steal some holy water and nearly kills a vicar (teacher Jez). And she draws a magical Hexagram on Cassie’s floor, where she and the baby can hide, safe from Azazeal (all the while bantering with Thelma). Thelma also talks about her worry of disappearing, before more banter and pointing out not all demons are scaly and ugly and frightening – and how she was late because she was seduced by a beautiful demon (to which Thelma responds that she wants a beautiful lesbian demon to lead her astray).

Review: Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, Book 2 of the Wicked Lovely Series

Leslie is a girl with a very hard life. She has an abusive home that drives her to work as much to get out of her home as much as she needs the money to try and keep paying the bills while her father falls into alcoholism and her brother is consumed by drug addiction – and abusive friends he is willing sell her to his dealer for drugs.

Her life is further complicated since she is a good friend of Aislinn, the new Summer Queen of the Summer Court of the Fae. Her association brings her to the attention of Niall – the Summer Kings advisor who fears he will addict her to him due to his fae nature. And worse, ultimately coming to the attention of the Shadow King.

Irial, the Shadow King has a problem, the new peace between the Summer and Winter fae have left his people without the chaos and pain they need to thrive. His perceived way out is to find a way to feed on mortals – by binding a Shadow Girl to the court and to him. Through her they will be able to feed and even feast – and he will be able to placate his court that is pushing for a self-destructive war they cannot win against the other courts for the chaos it will bring.

But in linking to Leslie, he finds a humanity coming back the other way, leaving the already reluctant king ever more uncomfortable with being ruler of the Dark Court

I said in the first book that I love this world and that hasn’t changed – the courts, the way the different fae interact, the politics of it is immense fun to read. And the complexity of the many different kinds of fae, drawn from a dozen fae legends all interacting together. There is a vast variety in these stories and I love to see them brought together – with the added bonus of the invisible world, all of this existing completely undetected by humanity.

The story was deep and well paced – it wasn’t action packed, it was a story of experience and development rather than action and events. As Leslie is pulled more into the world, as the different fae are torn more over how to deal with her and how to manoeuvre their courts, as friendship and love and need all clash, it become an extremely involved book. It was a story based more on character interaction than event progression and it was handled excellently, never leaving me bored and lacking any excessive tangents. The characters from Wicked Lovely are present, giving continuation to the story, but they’re not dominant, ensuring they do not eclipse Leslie’s story.

There is a lot of complexity in this book that I also hope to see expanded in later books given the very nature of the Dark Court. It’s easy to create a court of faeries – especially the Dark Court – that exists to torture people for fun. In fact, in the Wicked Lovely, we often saw these fae torment mortals and other fae, it was sadistic and often gratuitous and seemed to be just because the court was evil. This book, looking much more closely at the Dark Fae, brings a different slant which needs so much thinking about. With the Dark Court literally feeding on negative emotions – on fear and pain and anger and blood shed in battle, then this becomes much more complex. Without their torments, these fae grow weak, they starve and they become vulnerable.

Bedlam, Season 2, Episode 5: Dare

 

We have a man breaking and entering a long disused chapel -  he seems less than pleased and lobs a cross across the room, lights a ciggie and then realises… he’s being watched. Cue Bedlam spookiness – even in broad daylight. The ratchet it up a notch by having the cross he threw reappear on the altar. The man isn’t frightened though – he shouts a challenge instead.

Now to Bedlam, Max and Ellie are doing the friendy thing and finally Ellie tells Max that she had an abortion last week, she chose to go alone. Max is supportive, she’s apologetic for not telling him, but he’s very clear it’s her choice and she’s very clear she did the right thing with the position she is in life.

And 2 more people are breaking into the same chapel, meeting up with their friend – and Ellie gets a vision of a vicar running from something and grabbing the cross – the one that tidies itself up after being disturbed. Quick summons to Max, a check to see a church local to bedlam (where inmates may have gone) and it’s time for a little trip.

This involves awkward scenes as they visit local churches and pose as an engaged couple, which is awkward but not quite so much as Ellie’s way out (which I had to admire). At least Max learns that the Bedlam inmates never went to the church – they went to their own chapel (which makes more sense and they really should have thought of it).

Max and Ellie do more jokey flirting – Max amused at the idea of Ellie as a bride, saying he’d always stand by her unlike her fiancé (who she defends), but Ellie assures him he can have a big fancy wedding so long as she gets to be bridesmaid. Ouch, Max, not-so-subtle hint there

In the spooky chapel, 1 of them (Liam) wants to film evil/ghosts/demons/lack of common sense whatever and put it on the internet. He’s poking the ghosts, it seems, because of his religious father and something apparently unpleasant that happened. Liam’s dislike of the church seems to be provoking the ghost, though.

Women in Teen Wolf - The Menfolk Say it's a Matriarchy

 
Teen Wolf is far removed from the original Teen Wolf movie starring Michael J Fox.  We have gone from camp to a story involving menacing werewolves, and werewolf hunters.  Since the show is still largely aimed at a young audience, we are subjected to copious amounts of angst and the usual social justice fails.  We have decided to focus on gender this time because after a season a half, the women of Teen Wolf are treated quite differently than the males.

When we were first introduced to Erica she was a young teen suffering from epilepsy.  She was sweet and kind but, because she never knew when she was going to have an attack, Erica was quite removed from her contemporaries. When she meets Derek and is turned into a werewolf everything changes for Erica. Suddenly she is turned into a complete sex vixen who draws the attention of others the minute she walks into the room. Erica suddenly goes from weak and forgettable to powerful and desirable; however, her power is limited because as a beta, she spends most of her time doing Derek’s bidding. Erica has the distinction of being the only female werewolf and most of her power is based in her ability to beguile whereas Derek intimidates and did so from the time he was a beta.

Teen Wolf could reasonably get away with having Erica do Derek’s bidding because she is his beta but the fact that they have turned her into a vapid, jealous, angry person is incredibly sexist. Other than doing Derek’s bidding her only other purpose is to drive a wedge between Allison and Scott. This of course serves the purpose of giving the characterless Allison something to fight for. Erica’s sudden obsession with Scott is never explained.

Then we have Lydia, who is actually very smart, but pretends not to be intelligent in the hopes of keeping Jackson’s interest. In fact, Lydia does not show her intelligence until she is asked to translate ancient Latin after Jackson has left her for greener pastures.  Much of Lydia’s life involves putting on a show in the hopes of either achieving or maintaining the acceptance of others. Though she is supposedly best friends with Allison, Lydia is often left to her own devices to deal with her issues and only draws the attention of the group when she is need of saving. Stiles has had a long obsession with her and see her as a prospect for a girlfriend but beyond being physically attracted to her, he makes no real effort to get to know he as a person. In Abomination, (season 2, episode 4)  Lydia clearly needs to talk but Stiles says he will be right back and leaves her sitting in the car for a night. For all of the ridiculous antics that antis Stiles pulls to get her attention, when she really needs him, he is nowhere to be found.

Review: Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost, Book 1 of the Night Prince Series

In the same world asthe Night Huntress series we’ve moved the focus away from Bones and Cat to Vlad. Vlad Dracul, or, as he hates to be called, Dracula. He lives with the myth that has grown around his name, based on a core of truth but heavily embellished by his enemies, he ultimately has one aim as a vampire – to keep his people safe, no matter who he has to hurt and what he has to do (including impaling) to make that happen.

And someone is trying to kill him and to do that they’re using our protagonist, Leila. Since being struck by lightning, Leila has the ability to see people’s history (reading their past and their sins on their skin) connect to their present and even see their future. Used properly she can see where someone is, where they’re going to be – and when they’ll be alone and vulnerable. Abilities that are certainly a threat to Vlad, but also an asset to him in finding who wishes to kidnap Leila and kill him.

It’s a solid truce, but Leila is confronted with the brutal reality of Vlad’s ruthlessness, she’s willing to work with him, but what would he have done to her, to her family, if she had not been? And how does he treat those who cross him and can she live with that? Especially with her growing attraction to him, compounded by the fact he is immune to the lethal electric shocks her body produces, making him one of the few men she can touch. Unfortunately, he’s also one of the most arrogant men she has ever met – and has a nasty habit of reading her mind and intruding on even her most private thoughts.

This is the same world as the Night Huntress series, which I always loved, following Bones and Cats adventures as we saw an ever growing larger and more impressive world. Even when focusing on just the vampires, (though there are far more than just vampires there) the politics and the intricacies of that world were always great fun to read.

We don’t see a lot of this world in this book, since it is very much stand alone and reading the other series isn’t required, but we do get hints of it coming through, connections and guest appearances that mean if you have read the other series, you can feel the continuation and the stretching of the canon which I really enjoyed. We do follow Vlad, who was an intriguing character from the previous series, but, I have to say, not one I enjoyed very much then or now.

The story itself isn’t original – she has a special power that makes her valuable and the people after her need to be stopped and she kept safe. But it had enough twists to keep it interesting; Vlad’s uneasy relationship with his past, his history and the myths that have built up around his name was a nice twist. Her relationship with her family, her dealing with his ruthless and extreme nature, the way her powers interacted in the mix especially when met with mind reading as well – the core story wasn’t original but the embellishments were. And sometimes I don’t think a story has to be original to be told well so long as the world and the characters can carry it.

The pacing was good, I was never tempted to put the book down, the descriptions were appropriate, even the musings and the internal monologues were appropriate and in context; even the sex scenes fit both the pace and theme of the book. It was nicely put together.

I like Leila as a character. She has an interesting power that makes her valuable and sought after – as well as giving her the ability to defend herself when needed, but it doesn’t make her super-woman and has limits that prevent any kind of “awesome chosen one” level. She can channel electricity (shocking people she touches, even accidentally) and she can read people’s “sins” in their skin – seeing their worst actions and reliving them. She has endured a great deal (and has a tragic childhood and a dead mother, of course) and through that has become jaded and cynical – but not in a bitter, withdrawn manner. She doesn’t trust easily, she doesn’t expect much and, in many ways, she is inured to pain and suffering in many cases because the power of her touch means she has already lived through the worst deaths imaginable. I like how that is done to not take away the horror of torment and torture, while at the same time making the commonness of it something that Leila can endure and move past. If I have a problem with her power, it’s that she didn’t develop it, Vlad had to show her how to use it and it has some dependence on vampire blood – it feels like it couldn’t just be her power, Vlad had to be behind it somehow.

She is kidnapped and suffers terribly for it – but she also rescues herself and ruthlessly deals with her tormentors in an extremely satisfying manner. She has a tragic past and it does mark her with guilt and worry, but she doesn’t spend a lot of time angsting over it, we don’t have long internal monologues nor do we have wailing. Unfortunately, she does have guilt – which is rather misdirected. She reconciles with her family, it’s touching but it’s also a little contrived, like too many major issues are forgiven and covered too quickly and too easily.

Unfortunately, while I do like a lot of things about these characters, they have elements that bother me – and it’s these elements that largely throw a spoke in the wheel of an otherwise great book. Pretty much everything else in the books I like, I’ve always liked the world, I like the majority of the characterisation, the story is pretty good – but the characters have elements to them that I don’t like which, in turn, brings the book down.

Blood Ties Season 2, Episode 1: D.O.A

Vicki starts the new season with a new client. Paul Deeds, an undercover cop who wants her help in a murder investigation since she has a reputation for handling odd cases. Whose murder? Why that would be his – he says as he walks through the door.

I love how the interact within 5 seconds – he’s a ghost but she’s mocking him for his marital problems. Rarely do actors have that kind of instant chemistry. I also love how they poke fun at that classic ghost depiction – how can he not pick things up but he can still sit down?

Back to investigating, Deeds doesn’t know how he died nor does he know where his body is, but he does know that he was undercover in a bike gang and his supervisor was Fry – but for some reason he can’t remember the last time he check in with him. Coreen, alas, cannot see him – but is excited about the whole thing (of course she is) and not skeeved about the fact the ghost proves his existence by spotting her red thong and passing the info onto Vicki (I was skeeved, thank you).

Vicki has 2 methods of dealing with a mystery – ask Henry for help or ask Celluci for help (and yes, I am tired of that) and this time it’s Celluci’s turn, to go ask the nice undercover police people to spill all their information to someone not involved in their case. Because that’s going to go down well. She tells Celluci all she knows (he has his obligatory sceptic moment, but at least it only lasts a couple of seconds); makes it clear he didn’t like Paul “dirty” Deeds since he has a reputation of securing his convictions “no matter what” (that sounds ominous. Even worse on a detective programme, since most TV detectives wouldn’t know proper law and procedure if you beat them about the face with a legal ethics book). But he agrees to speak to the undercover guys who are sure to be forthcoming.

Next step in the investigation is to talk to Henry (yes, really. This hereby concludes Vicki’s investigative skills) learning not much except that Henry is suspicious and also can’t see Deeds. But Deeds does remember the biker bar he was last in before he died, one of Henry’s hunting grounds. Henry and Coreen do some research but we largely see Henry’s worry – sure it looks like Deed’s ghost, but there are plenty of creatures