The Vampire Diaries, Season Four, Episode Twenty-Three: Graduation

The football field is all set for graduation, but instead of the expected ceremony, Kol is giving a speech to the resurrected. He says that it was their deaths which allowed this day to pass, thanks to the slaughter of innocents by the so-called protectors of Mystic Falls.  He then adds that they are going to unleash hell on earth.

Stefan is blasting Bon Jovi and Lexi is dancing when Damon enters the room.  Stefan quips that Damon should help him celebrate his 17th highschool graduation and reintroduces Damon to Lexi. When Damon snarks about Lexi being back from the dead, she moves across the room, quickly slamming Damon against a wall and calls him a buzz kill. Damon asks Stefan if he is just going to let Lexi get away with this but Stefan replies, "you reap what you sow." Lexi informs Damon that whatever time she has left on this plane will not be spent with him, before releasing him.  Damon says that if Lexi, Rick, and Jeremy, are all real and flesh like that something must have gone horribly wrong when Bonnie tired to put the veil back up and questions the fact that they are partying it up.  Stefan snarks that it is selfish of him to be relaxing with his formerly dead best friend and adds that he should be sacrificing himself for the good of others, as well as upstairs grooming his hero hair. Damon asks him if he is drunk and Stefan replies, "I don't know mom am I?"  Damon replies that this is one way to deal with things and asks Stefan if he has any idea of what went wrong.

Bonnie calls Caroline, who is handing out yearbooks to say that she has hit a snag.  Caroline replies that what has happened is not a snag but a tsunami and asks where she is. Bonnie simply says that she ran into some trouble and that she is going to have to wait for the full moon tonight in order to put the veil back up. Caroline however, is worried that they are going to have to graduate in the middle of a ghost filled expression triangle. Bonnie turns and looks at her body and at Sheila and suggests cancelling graduation. Caroline says that they can't cancel because graduation is the most important ceremony of their lives (well they ever reduce the angst on this damn show?) Caroline makes Bonnie promise to make a fun day and Sheila tells Bonnie to go and that she will make sure no one finds her body.  Bonnie says that she knows that she needs to tell everyone but she just can't because they have been through too much already.  Sheila tells Bonnie to make sure she says her goodbyes.

Elena, Alaric and Jeremy are drinking and eating in a cemetery while joking around. Alaric says that he wasn't sure he was going to see Elena smile and she tears up.  Jeremy tells her that if Caroline was right, they only have until tonight and his plan is to institute a no crying rule. Elena says that crying is good because it means that she is finally feeling something and right now she feels happy. Elena's phone rings and it's Connor.

Alexander is at Connor's old trailer with Matt and Rebekah and he comments on all of the modern weapons he has come across. Rebekah begs Alexander to let them go but he tells her that he is not holding them there, though he has managed to strap an explosive to Matt's feet.  Okay pause, how the hell did Rebekah let that happen in the first place?  Yes, I know that when we last saw her, she was surrounded by three hunters but being an original, they should have been no threat to her period. Matt instructs Rebecca to leave, saying that he will be fine but Rebecca tells Matt that she is not leaving him. Alexander then finds a bottle of werewolf venom.  Rebecca asks Alexander what he wants from them and Alexander replies that he wants to fulfill his destiny. The brotherhood of hunters was created for one reason alone.

When Damon opens the front door, he is shot by Galen Vaughn, who says that he has a message straight from Ketsia.  On the phone, Conner tells Elena that they want Silas and the cure but she replies that she doesn't know where they are and cannot help him. Connor warns Elena that her grandparents and the rest of the relatives in Mystic Falls for the graduation are in danger, unless she gives them what they want. Vaughn and Damon are now inside the house, and Damon pulls the wood bullet out of his shoulder. Damon tells Vaughn that he didn't kill him but Vaughn is not pacified because Damon left him in a well on the island, where he starved to death and more importantly, Ketsia reminded him of his supernatural destiny to kill Silas.  Stefan sneaks up on Vaughn and rips his heart out from behind.  On the phone, Elena begs Connor not to kill anyone and promises to find Silas and the cure.  When Connor hangs up the phone and turns around, Alaric is there waiting for him. Alaric tells Connor that he is responsible for the 18 year old he just threatened but Connor replies that Elena snapped his neck with her bare hands. Alaric says that he showed her how to do that.  Connor is still not impressed and tells Alaric that he must not know a damn thing about fighting, if he is trying to intimidate a dead guy as he unzips his jacket and reveals the bomb he has strapped to his body.  Alaric tells him that this is his bar and that no one is going to blow it up and drags Connor out of the Grill, just as the bomb starts to go off.

Back at the trailer, Alexander tells Rebekah to use her vampire powers to whisk Matt away and quips that she will be able to survive the blast of the six cars exploding but Matt won't. Matt instructs Rebekah to ignore Alexander and starts to talk about her plans for after graduation.  Matt says that just because he is never going to get to leave this town that this doesn't mean Rebekah won't. Rebekah looks down at the bomb and tells him that she is going to show him life as he only dreamed of it and brings up the church where she was supposed to marry Alexander. Matt agrees that it's a date and Rebekah replies that they will see it all when this is over because they are alive and are not going to be ghosts stuck in misery on the other side. This angers, Alexander so he throws a knife at Matt pushing him off balance and activating the bomb but Rebekah manages to catch the knife and straighten Matt out before the bomb can go off. I have got to say that I like the chemistry between Matt and Rebekah in this scene.

Katherine and Bonnie are making their way through the halls of the high school and Katherine says that she is there to collect on the immortality that Bonnie promised her. Bonnie says that she is not going to get it because Ketsia is the only witch who can do that spell and she was a no show. Katherine responds that Elena has been getting all of her luck and that if she doesn't get the immortality that she will get rid of Elena altogether.  Bonnie threatens Katherine saying that she can crush her skull without even blinking but Katherine calls her on her threat and tells her to take her best shot. Bonnie does not act however because humans start to walk towards them.

Elena shows up at the Salvatore's and says that there are things they need to talk about. Damon tells her that he has something for her first and hands her the cure, but Elena replies that she can't take it. Damon jokes that it might be cherry flavoured and Elena says that there is only one cure and the hunters have made it clear that they are willing to kill everyone in Mystic Falls until they get it. Damon puts the cure in her hand and tells her that he wants her to take it but Elena hands it back and says that she can't. Damon responds that this answers the question of the sire bond. Jeremy enters the room and he tells her that he loves her, no matter what she chooses.

Beauty and the Beast, Season 1, Episode 22: Never Turn Back

Vincent and Catherine are being all cutsey getting out of the city for a day to visit a small town, including candy floss (and no, that nasty stuff isn’t edible). It’s all so cute and saccharine. They also fit in a recap about his happy death pills. Mopey time

But back at home JT has a major revelation – the pill works VERY differently with Vincent than it did with Gabe. It’s attacking his animal DNA constantly, even long after the time limit Gabe has, and if it continues to destroy Vincent’s animal DNA he could be fully cured of being a manimal.

Of course the bad news is Gabe is still plotting to kill Vincent to get his shiny cure. And he’s clearly troubled at the decision. Tyler reminds him that he’ll die – if he doesn’t get the lethal medical stuff from Vincent he will become BeastiGabe permanently. They plan to wait until his pills wear off to confront Vincent. But JT is following them – being the most unsubtle stalker ever.

Catherine receives the good news from Vincent and launches into a massive leap forwards – getting fake IDs for Vincent and planning to move them to a small town in Colorado so they can not only cure Vincent but can live without Muirfield. Oh and it has good schools. This is the normal life she’s always wanted and she could never dream of a future before!

Uh-huh… that’s a pretty huge step. And doesn’t Catherine have friends? A family? A career?

But as an added plot twist. Catherine gets an urgent call from her father to meet him. She goes to see him on the street and someone behind him pushes him out onto the road in front of a speeding car.

To the hospital, Catherine donates blood and her father is unconscious in a hospital bed. Heather arrives and they discuss his injuries – he’s expected to recover. Catherine is convinced it isn’t an accident and Heather is annoyed at her for seeing conspiracies everywhere and always being a police detective rather than a sister and daughter.

Runes (Runes #1) By Ednah Walters

 

Raine has a lot to prepare for going back to school, particularly her place on the swim team, keeping up with friends and finally getting Eirik to see her as more than a friend. But under it all is her nagging worry and grief of her father’s disappearance that sets a pall on everything. Add in the possibility that Eirik may be leaving and things look bleak

And into that arrives Torin, new super-sexy neighbour who is extremely interested in Raine. More, he can do things, things that make no sense; he and his friends who arrive with him. They paint runes on things that cause literal magic to happen and they talk of gods Raine knows nothing about. Much to their surprise, Raine isn’t as blinkered as the rest of the school and she can see them when they hide and the powers they possess.

This could be a problem for their mission at the best of times – but it’s far more complicated when Torin becomes more and more drawn to her and she becomes more determined to find out exactly what they are.

The problem I have is that while this book has a seemingly fascinating concept and definitely an interesting world, too little has been explained. We have hints of the world, of its background of the whys and wherefores of the magic and the characters – but only hints. In fact, if it weren’t for my own research into Norse mythology, it would be even more frustrating (though it also meant I was saying “he’s a {redacted for spoiler}” over and over again since I twigged it long before the protagonist. The ignorance of the protagonist, everyone else’s insistence that she be kept in the dark because of the rules and her own inability to figure anything out make the book immensely frustrating.

What annoyed me more, especially with my early (accurate) guess is that she was still confused even long after she should have figured it out. She was given enough clues and was actively researching – at that point mere access to Wikipedia should have let her put 2 and 2 together.

Supernatural Season 8, Episode 23: Sacrifice

Carry on my Wayward son!

There’ll be peace when you are done.

Lay your weary head to rest

Don’t you cry no more.

After watching 7 seasons of Supernatural back to back to recap them, this song produces an almost Pavlovian reflex in me. Something Epic This Way Comes.

And wow that opening prequel made season 8 seem monumentally more epic than it actually has been. The season may have been poor but kudos to the recappers, they made that look shiny.

So, to the actual action:

Jody is in a restaurant all dressed up – yes, Sheriff Jody, she who liked Bobby, that Jody. She’s waiting on a blind date, a man she knows as “Roger.” It’s Crowley. Of course he’s extremely charming and can even bring up a bonding moment over her dead son and husband. While she drops in the bathroom to consider Crowley’s merits (he’s hot), Crowley pulls out a little pack of spell components and her picture. He begins casting and she begins coughing up blood.

Dean Calls him on the phone to make him stop (oh dear gods, Crowley’s ring tone is Sir Mix-a-Lot), Crowley warns them they have a minute before Jody dies. Dean agrees to deal, he will give Crowley the demon tablet if Crowley gives them the angel tablet. And Dean has to say “I surrender.”

Ouch.

They Winchesters go with Kevin to where he hid the tablet – and they rejoin the two pieces together. They take the tablet and send Kevin to the Winchester Cave.

Meanwhile Castiel and Metatron discuss god (“Larger than life, gruff, bit of a sexist. But fair”). Metatron tries to reassure Castiel that the Nephilim was a monster. The next trial is Dwight Charles who is next in line to be hit by cupid’s arrow, apparently. Useful because Trial #2 is to retrieve cupid’s bow

Wow, either Cupid is overworked or there’s not a lot of love out there. Given the 6 billion people on the planet you’d think there’d be a lot less of a delay between people falling in love.

In Sioux Falls, The Winchesters meet Crowley for the exchange and he produces an enormous contract (of course he does). It’s pretty clear that Dean isn’t all that thrilled by signing and this is Sam’s push. Dean insists on reading the whole contract and Crowley mocks him for moving his lips while reading and further mocks them for putting emotion ahead of common sense.

In Heaven, one of Naomi’s minions reports that one of their “freelancers” has found Castiel – with Metatron. She doesn’t look happy about that.

As Sam moves forwards to sign the contract, Dean handcuffs Crowley to him. Crowley thinks this is very funny and tries to blink out – but the handcuffs are warded. Crowley decides fair enough and hits Dean – which hurts but not as much as when Dean hits back. Looks like the cuffs come with some severe power draining. And yes, they intend to redeem Crowley. He’s the third trial. He’s the demon they’re going to save.

Crowley?! Is he even redeemable? He wasn’t a nice man when he was alive. And, more importantly, will he be as wonderfully sarcastic if he’s nice?

To Castiel (normally I’d be disappointed leaving such an excellent scene – but it’s Castiel). And Castiel wants to hurry up the trial so has decided to help Dwight find love through personal ads. Yes, it is exactly as cringe worthy as you imagine. Metatron comments on Castiels lack of subtlety and Noami and co show up to kill Cas. Dwight shoots an angel but doesn’t achieve much and Naomi and her gang escape with Metatron after Metatron begs Castiel not to attack her and make it worse.

The Winchesters take Crowley to an abandoned church (and Dean let’s Sam drive! That tells you it’s important) and they chain him up very effectively in a demon trap. Much better secured than they did Abaddon.  Of course they need to inject Crowley with purified blood – blood of someone who has been shriven in confession. And Sam needs some tips on how to go about confession since it’s not exactly a habit. Don’t worry – Dean can help. He has a freaking LAUNDRY LIST of shit Sam’s pulled going back to season 1.

I actually love this bit. He’s not been cruel with it but it’s clear Dean has some Unresolved Resentment here – and rightly so.

The International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, a day dedicated to combating these toxic forces of bigotry around the world.

This is something we’re extremely dedicated to and we believe that one of the prime methods of challenging homophobia and transphobia - or any prejudice - has to be through the media. No matter how many laws we pass, if our media continues to spread messages of hate and stereotyping, we will never be integrated into society. Media shapes our culture, media shapes our prejudices, media perpetuates the bigotries of our societies. We cannot talk about acceptance and respect if the books we read and the television we watch continues to push the same contempt, erasure and stereotyping. We cannot talk about GBLT people as valued, equal members of society if we continually decide their stories are not worth telling, if we continue to put their characters in the same limited roles and if we continue to spread hatred and derision through the media we consume every day.

Recognising the impact media has on our opinions of marginalised people and how they are portrayed in the media means we are forced to criticise how GBLT people are represented - in those few instances when they are. This is something we have done frequently on Fangs and will continue to do so in the future.

GBLT Characters on our shows: What do you expect us to Watch?

GBLT Hollow Characters: Lesbian Shark, Gay Uncle, Gay Maris

Romance Writers, Ink: Showing their Homophobic Arses

GBLT characters on Supernatural

GBLT Characters in the Parasol Protectorate

Teen Wolf: Bromance is easier than Inclusion

GBLT Characters in the Anita Blake Series

GBLT representations in Lost Girl and True Blood

Lost Girl: not as Gay Friendly as it Seems.

Lafayette and Jesus continue to depress me

Chelsea Lately, Nelson Ellis and a Whole Lot of Problems

The Walking Dead and GBLT Erasure - Two Awful Choices

Cassandra Clare proves that all Inclusion isn't Good

GBLT people and themes in the Black Dagger Brotherhood

The International Day Againt Homophobia and Transphobia isn't a Marketing Tool

Other very relevant posts:

Death of Marginalised Characters

Marginalised Characters Do Not Define The Story

Steampunk and the Nostalgic Blinkers of Victorian London

What Will You Do In A Dystopian?

Portraying Bigotry

Invisible Inclusion: Google the Minorities

Reverse Oppression, a Fad that Needs to End

Magically Diverse, Humanly Erased

Appropriation in Urban Fantasy Should Not be a Plot Point

Paranormal Steampunk and Dystopian Erasure - the Unpleasant Implications

Straightwashing GBLT Characters

Well, there are certain genres of media that automatically assume that GBLT people couldn’t possibly have existed, especially if it’s set in the future (especially in dystopians. I tell you guys, us GBLT folks are super freaking tasty – the zombies and aliens go right for us!) and especially if it’s set in the past. Because we all arrived in 1960, don’tchaknow.

This erasure annoys me, it truly does. But do you know what annoys me even more?

When they remove already existing gay characters to sanitise a work for television. To have those few tiny crumbs we’ve actually managed to achieve removed lest it hurt the delicate fee-fees of the poor straight world.

So when Tanya Huff’s Blood Ties series of books became a TV show, bisexual Henry became straight and gay man Tony was replaced by a straight woman. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a big fan for the portrayal in the books – but that doesn’t excuse cutting them out entirely.

Or did you know that in the Walking Dead comics, there were actually gay characters in the prison? Again, I actually hated how they were portrayed because they were a mess of homophobic tropes – but they were there. TV show? 3 seasons now and not one damn GBLT character.

Even Troy crosses the line with a very straight retelling of the Illiad.

Now we’re getting Da Vinci’s Demons, that would be Leonardo Da Vinci, he was repeatedly accused of sodomy, never married, was never connected to a female lover, but repeatedly with men, drew erotic pictures of them and left his most valuable painting in his will to one of his live-in “apprentices” Da Vinci. It’s an act of wilful ignorance to not realise Da Vinci played for our team. In fact, if you don’t want to include us icky gay people then you probably need to stay away from Renaissance painters – especially Florentine Renaissance painters! But Da Vinci’s Demons?

Well, the first scene we see him in, pretty much, involves him with a bare breasted woman who he “rescued” from a nunnery and it’s repeatedly made clear that he is having regular sex with. His main love interest - his overwhelming obsession - is Lucrezia Donati. A substantial amount of his time is spent obsessing over her - and her over him; and we get several explicit sex scenes between them. So do we have any indication that Leonardo Da Vinci, actual gay man, was actually even slightly interested in men? Well, in the Tower he is accused of sodomy (Florence is apparently full of “sodomites” - shame we never saw any of them, ever) and on trial. It’s almost comic if it weren’t so insulting - firstly when he makes an ambiguous speech that amounts to “mind your own business” Vanessa speaks up quickly to remind us that he’s totally slept with her.

Autumn Trailers

So, it looks like we've got all kinds of shinies coming up this Autumn, here's a few we have our eye on.













Have we missed any?

Bone Magic (Otherworld #7) by Yasmine Galenorn

As the war against Shadowwing continues, Camille and her sisters find more and more on their plates. Stacia Bonecrusher, the demon lieutenant is Shadowwing is still at large and plotting to get her hands on the spirit seals. But it’s difficult to focus on her when the undead are running amok, the portals to the Netherworld are open and ghosts and zombies need to be returned to their rest – as if rampaging fae and demons weren’t enough.

But there’s more complexities with Smokey’s family ferociously disapproving of his marriage to Camille – and Camille earning the enmity of Smokey’s father, a dangerous White Dragon. And Trillian returns – which means balancing her 3 lovers.

Then there’s further plotting the spirit seals – it seems Queen Astaria is not content to just hold on to them and there’s growing tension between the Otherworld Fae and the Triple Threat – the three newly re-established queens of the fae. Camille finds her in the middle of demands from both the courts of the fae, and summoned to Otherworld to see the plan hatched with her father despite her misgivings.

Then there’s the Moon Mother, Camille’s goddess, who has her own plans that may force Camille’s path.

In many ways Bone Magic was a much tighter book than previous books in the series, There was much less unnecessary description, the fight scenes were quicker and smoother without the huge pre-amble that used to precede them. We have their daily life, but without it being bloated with unnecessary detail dragging down the whole plot. It was tighter, it moved more smoothly and there were less distractions. It wasn’t perfect – there was still an unnecessary need to describe what everyone was wearing at all time and some really massive geography info-dumps that weren’t needed or that helpful - though I’m impressed at the sheer amount of planning and work that has gone into creating this world. Yasmine Galenorn almost certainly has drawn maps and it wouldn’t surprise me if she had a stack her own height of world building notes.

But we also have recaps. Now, the recaps, as far as recaps go, are pretty good, they’re concise, they carry a whole lot of information in the smallest possible space. But this is book 7 in a series – book 7 in a series that has a lot going on, a lot of side plots and a lot of different factions and powers and a vastly huge world. There is no way a recap can be short and not be an info-dump.