Gods Among Us - Episode Two

This time Zeb is exploring if the Johnsons as Gods feel a responsibility towards humanity. Unfortunately, Olaf is the one answering this question and we end up with the mother of all tangents.

The Almighty Johnsons, Season 3, Episode 13: The End of the World As We Know It

To the beach, in a rain storm with Ingrid and Olaf trying to justify their mistake over what happens after the Gar. It seems they interpreted it as “get their powers and rule on Earth” rather than “get their powers and rule over Earth”.

What does that mean? Well as Colin, pouring drinks to a very depressed Anders, elaborates – they will become gods in Asgard. Not Earth. Anders doesn’t want to leave Earth. He certainly doesn’t fancy being the god of poetry surrounded by gods like Colin (he describes it as being the “effeminate kid at an all-boys boarding school” which is both offensive and a woeful interpretation of Norse sagas).

But Ty puts a whole new spin on it to Dawn – when Odin and Frigg reunite, Hodr will go to Asgard and Ty is left on Earth – suggesting the mortal bodies they occupy will continue without their godliness. Dawn doesn’t see why this isn’t good news… but the last time Ty lost his godliness, Dawn forgot him.

To Axl and Zeb to add that Odin in Asgard will also be needed to end Ragnorak. Odin needs to ascend and leave Axl behind in order to save the world.

Mike and Hanna have sex again. And Heimdall freaks out – and there’s an Earthquake (probably not Martin’s doing since it hits everyone – and ruins Anders’ nifty fish tank). Jormungandr is stirring.

Later we see a newspaper about the “Earth’s day of disasters” making it clear that the Earthquake wasn’t the only effect of Jormungandr waking up. And Michele is still alive despite being hit in the head with a hammer. At Ander’s flat the news continues to show more and more chaos around the world (and it seems Colin thinks he will ascend since, if he’s elected mayor, he expects to disappear) and Michele joins them – and rather oddly eats bacon despite being a vegetarian. Colin doesn’t notice anything wrong, more interested in Michele “changing brothers”. She goes to bed and waits for Anders which is a wonderful way of kicking Colin out quickly. Once Colin is out of the picture they fall into bed incredibly quickly.

With more and more bad news being reported everywhere, Olaf checks in with Axl and asks if he’s handling it – Axl say he is (much to Zeb’s surprise) – and goes to Mike’s.  Guess who doesn’t believe it? That would be Mike – I mean massive disasters all over the world don’t mean Jorumgandr’s stirring (despite, y’know, the god who SEES EVERYTHING IN ALL THE 9 REALMS saying he is). After a whole lot of arguing back and forth they decide to go see Hanna.

There they find the house empty – with Mike being all kind of stubborn. Until they find Mike’s hammer. His blood and hair stained hammer that Martin smacked Michele with. Mike uses his Ullr powers and realises the hair is Michele’s (tracking her I guess?)

He tracks her and finds her at Ander’s curled in a ball, talking about the things she was going to do in the “time she had left” but just ended up curling up and feeling pathetic. She doesn’t quite remember what happened or seems not to – she says they were talking and had tea then everything went black. Mike points out she’s awfully alive for someone who is dead – it turns out bringing back the dead is one of Frigg’s powers. The downside is that she is being powered by Frigg; when Frigg returns to Asgard, Sjofn will go with her and Michele will die.

Brief interlude to Ty and Dawn having sex and recording it, apparently. Ok then.

And a god meeting at the bar where Ingrid and Stacey rush to comfort Michele (Mike, setting the weeping goddesses on her is just cruel) but, despite her objection to hugging, she does take comfort from Ingrid. Mike makes the connection that Martin must have been the one to take the hammer and hit Michele but this is all so he can stick his head in the sand, ignore Jormugandr, the Gar et al. The goddesses leave but not before Michele drops the bombshell that she slept with Anders (yes, she gets her revenge in even facing death – this is why I like Michele). While everyone expects Anders to feel guilty he does make the point that Mike had moved on to Frigg here. Meanwhile Michele realises her best chance for a life is Frigg dying old and unmarried

Axl does find Hanna – at Martin’s room which he has now decorated with a big picture of Jormungandr. Hanna joins him and doesn’t seem entirely amused by the description of Martin as a murdering freak (it was defence of Hanna after all). Martin shows up and doesn’t pay much attention to anyone but plays a DVD of some bluesy horn playing. Yes, Heimdall just blew his horn, the herald of Ragnarok, using a CD player. Hanna confirms that this is Regnarok coming sign and Axl pushes for her to choose and she kicks him out.

Gods Among Us - Episode One

In the wake of the potential cancellation of The Almighty Johnsons, I really needed something to soothe the pain. I found the following documentary by Zeb on Youtube and thought that they might be good to share.

Fading Amber (Cambion Chronicles #3) by Jaime Reed

Sam wakes up at home to find her Cambion, Lillith, freaking out and a massive gap in her memories and a note from Lillith asking her to not poke at the gap and just accept the missing time.

Lillith really should know Sam better than that.

Still Sam has a lot on her mind – there’s her continued complicated relationship with Caleb, the investigation by the Santiago family of Cambions that could see Caleb dead (and their investigator entering a relationship with her mother), her best friend is still on the outs with her and Angie, another Cambion family head, is coming to visit from Poland.

And there’s Tobias – the incubus has just disappeared since her memory lapse and they have to wonder when he’s coming back and what actually happened to him

This concludes, neatly, the Cambion story – it’s always good to see a series ending that actually addresses all points and closes all doors, especially one that does it as well as this.

There were a few elements that I generally find irritating with teenaged protagonists – like Sam and Caleb running off on their own to solve their Tobias problem despite everything at stake and Sam’s mother deciding if she puts her foot down she can make everything go away. But on the former case we actually have a very good reason for their secrecy – since the Cambion families are quite happy to accept some collateral damage that is personally unacceptable to Sam. And, in the latter case, Sam’s mother can be talked round and made to see sense (kind of) beyond her initial panicked reaction.

The story itself was decently well paced. The whole memory lapse lead me to be a little confused at the beginning – but it all flowed well from there. There was a constant quest to figure out what had actually happened in that gap in Sam’s memories – as well as trying to fend off attack from the Santiago family, as well as exploring her relationship with Caleb and what she actually wants to do with that and further meeting Angie and getting on with life. We have a lot happening there but it’s all balanced – I like the way that no one event completely consumes Sam’s life, that she can’t put everything on hold and focus on one element. In fact, better than that, Sam refuses to put everything on hold and focus on one element. She has other things to do, other worries, other concerns.

I love Sam and Caleb’s relationship because Sam is so sensible about it. She doesn’t let emotions or hormones overwhelm her common sense. She finds Caleb extremely attractive (more so with their Cambions fighting to get closer) but doesn’t let that overrule all logic. There’s a wonderful line where she’s trying to lecture Caleb on him feeding too much and putting them all at risk and he has a tangent about how he hurts everyone and woe is him to which she responds:

Revolution, Season Two, Episode One: Born in the U.S.A.

Bombs are in the air and Aaron is desperately trying to stop them.  The scene then shifts to the Plain Nation six months later.  Charlie is having a drink in a bar and Jeff the bartender is talking about what it was like during the power serge. Charlie takes Jeff in the backroom and the two start to make out. 

In Willoughby Texas, a very rundown and bloodied Miles stares as a wooden cabin starts to burn. He the heads into a bar in a factory, where he walk right past Aaron.  Rachel is in a makeshift hospital giving medical care. Her patient is a man who was thirty miles from Atlanta when the bomb dropped. Rachel asks Gibson what it's like back east and he tells her that Atlanta and Philadelphia are gone.  He tells her to be glad that she is where she is.

In Savannah refugee camp, Neville walks around with a picture of Julia asking if people have seen her.  Jason joins him and the two continue the search together.

Back in Texas, Miles gets his injured hand taken care of.  Jean tells Miles that he should have seen Rachel when she was a kid, with a finely tuned compass for the wrong guy.  He adds that when when Rachel met Ben, he was relieved until at the wedding, he noticed the way that Rachel glanced at Miles. Miles assures Jean that there is nothing going on between him and Rachel.  Jean makes a point of reminding Miles that Rachel was married to his brother and adds that he owes him for bringing Rachel home, reiterating that the last thing Rachel needs is the wrong guy.

The morning after, Charlie is getting dressed, and when Jeff asks her if she has any family to go back to, Charlie says that she doesn't have any family.  Jeff takes note of Charlie's tattoo and says that they are brothers in arms because he was briefly conscripted.  Jeff then says that he saw Monroe a few weeks ago and that he looked like cold hell warmed over.  Charlie asks which way Monroe went.

Rachel keeps having flashbacks to the night that they turned on the power. Jean asks if meeting with the Georgian soldier upset her and asks her to put away her work.  Rachel wonders what Randall was doing and Jean tells her to stop, because though the last few months haven't been easy, she needs to avoid looking for a relapse.  Rachel wonders if Randall was following orders and Jean asks from who.

At the White House a big military project is underway.

Miles is packed and getting ready to leave and Rachel thanks him for looking after her but wants to know why he has to leave.  Miles flashes back to the burning cabin and says that the town just isn't his speed.  Miles and Rachel embrace and she asks him to stay just a little longer.  Miles answers that bad things happen when they are together

In  a flashback to six months ago, we see Charlie meeting Jean.  Jean wants to know what they are doing there and Miles admits that he had nowhere else to go.  Rachel sits in a jeep in an almost catatonic state. She tells Jean that the bombs are all her fault and that she broke everything.

Miles is sitting on a horse when he sees men attacking and runs into a cornfield in pursuit. A fight quickly ensues.

Charlie approaches New Vegas at night and a barker announces Dave Swimmer, "the last surviving friend." I have to admit that I chuckled at this.  Charlie walks into a tent where Monroe is bare knuckle boxing. She stays hidden while he wins the fight.

Aaron is a alone and stares at a pendulum.  Aaron is obsessing over the fact that a student in his class was just diagnoses with polio.  The woman says that things will get better and reminds him that if the power can turn on once, it can turn on again.  Aaron says that this is not going to happen but refuses to go into more detail. Aaron heads outside where he sees a large gathering of  neon green fireflies and is almost mystified. In town next day with Rachel, Aaron says that what he saw was not just fireflies.  Aaron asks Rachel if she can explain the insane things that have happened and Rachel responds that Randall dropped the bombs

Miles is talking to Mason the local sheriff about the bandits that he stopped.  He says that they probably wandered down from the plains nation and will eventually come in for the kill and everyone will be slaughtered. Miles starts asking about security and Jean tells Mason that he needs to listen to Miles.

Jason walks into a tent to find Neville with a gun in his hand in despair.  Neville says that Julia would never have left Atlanta because she would have waited for him to return.  Jason asks him for the gun and questions if Neville is going to "check out now like a little bitch."  Jason tells Neville he won't let him but Neville believes it will be like Christmas morning for Jason if he dies.  The struggle between father and son is interrupted by a ship coming into harbor.  Jason says that the men aren't rebels.

Another flashback, and this time to four months ago in Texas with Charlie and Miles.  Miles is trying to get Charlie to stay but Charlie says that she cannot be with Rachel because too much has happened. Charlie is shocked that Miles is not trying to stop her.  Miles instructs her to try and keep her stupid to a minimum.  That's a tall order because Charlie just loves her spunky.The two embrace, and Charlie walks off with Rachel looking at her through a window.  Back in present day, Charlie is watching Monroe from a distance.  Monroe is now going by the name Jimmy King and has apparently been in New Vegas a couple of months.

Why The Recent Upsurge of Zombies?

In the fantasy genre, supernatural creatures fall in and out of fashion. In recent years, we have seen the revival of the zombie with movies like World War Z, television shows like The Walking Dead and books like White Trash Zombie.  What is it about the zombie that has re-captured the public imagination? They are after all rotting, disease ridden and dead.  Surprisingly this is exactly why people are now fascinated with zombies. They represent our near universal fear of death - in particular what happens to our remains. Unlike vampires who become undead and retain their intellect and beauty and gain superhuman powers, zombies reveal in the starkest manner possible that the sweet phrases we parrot to bring comfort only hide the ugliness and dehumanisation of death.

With zombies come a dystopian world. In almost each instance in which zombies appear currently, the society in which they inhabit has broken down. In fact, we have seen a large resurgence of dystopian world recently. This likely has to do with the ongoing depression and the general sense of social malaise which has become the norm. With no sense of anomie or real hope for change, people have become almost anesthetised.  Each day is struggle to pay the mortgage, or hold onto a job that pays below subsistence wages. In a sense, the economic downturn is the equivalent to many of the dystopians we read about or watch on screen. The zombie then becomes the person who shuffles along, powerless to create change - a cog stumbling with no vision and no hope.

For some, these fictional dystopian worlds are meant to show us that life, no matter how bad it is today, can always be worse. We may be struggling to attain the basics like food, shelter and clothing, but at least we are not being chased by zombies desperate to eat our brains.It represents the constant refrain of it could be worse, which is said to lower classes as a way to pacify them. Yes, things could always be worse but if we have reached the point where we are reaching for zombies to soothe, perhaps things are bad enough. At very least, a zombie dystopian world is so different from our world as to be a far greater level of escapism than we often find in Urban Fantasy

One element of zombie stories that differs from other modern monster stories is that there is very little attempt to “redeem” them into sympathetic or romantic characters. We’ve seen this with virtually every other creature - especially vampires (who have almost lost their status as monsters and are often more tragic - or sparkly -  than horrifying). Vampires, werewolves (or were-anything for that matter), faeries, gods and an entire Greek legend of weird and wonderful creatures; they’ve all started featuring more as romantic heroes, soulful protagonists and bare chested, turgid love interests as often as monsters.

Walking in the Midst of Fire (Remy Chandler #6) by Thomas E. Sniegoski

Remy Chandler has a new case – an Angelic General has been murdered. Apart from anything else, killing a powerful angel isn’t exactly an easy task. But more worrisome, if he doesn’t find out who did it, Heaven’s not going to look they’re just going to point fingers at the newly released Lucifer.

Which will mean war. And it doesn’t matter who wins a war between Heaven or Hell, Earth will be reduced to cinders in the process.

But in searching for the real murderer, Remy is involved in the convoluted plotting of an ancient figure from his past and has to make some very hard moral decisions. Especially since the angels and the fallen are not all that different from each other

I love how this book is written. In every scene we have some excellent description – but not too much. We havbe action that flows perfectly with blood-fizzing excitement without glossing over what’s actually happening. We have an amazing sense of epic – and this series needs the epic. The protagonist is a seraphim who is frequently fighting to save the world from the indifferent forces of Heaven and Hell – it needs epic. It needs lots and lots of epic. And it delivers – it’s one of those books that can very much be on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading.

Beyond the epic, this book also has some really impactful emotional scenes. It has some utterly tragic scenes, some really painful scenes and a whole lot of enraging scenes as well. I think it’s a mark of excellent writing and character development if you can well and truly loathe one of the characters (that is, if the character is written to be loathesome, anyway. I’ve read a few books where I’ve loathed the protagonist and I’m pretty sure that was unintended) because it means you’re so emotionally invested in the characters and the story that you can feel rage for the wrongs perpetuated.

This has that in spades – Remy is such a real character, such a human character (ironic, because he’s an angel) that he’s easy to connect to. His compassion, his honour, his emotion and his goodness are really powerful forces throughout the book which, along with the heavy amount of epicness in the story, makes me really want to get behind him. At the same time he’s very practical, he knows what compromises to make and what people to tolerate – even while, at the same time, having firm lines he will not cross under any circumstances. It’s an excellent balance of practicality with hard moral limits.

He also has some excellent interactions with other characters to really flesh them out and humanise them even if they don’t have much time on the page. His still apparent grief over his ex-wife, his fun relationship with Linda with both his doubts and the excellent bond and banter between them. His friendship with Mulvehill, his contact with Francis – it’s all very real

And they’re developed in their own right – seeing Mulvehill come to terms with the supernatural world is a powerful storyline of self-growth, discovery and determination. Seeing Francis, Mentagin, Squire and Heath together made for some awesome comic relief while still developing these relatively unpleasant characters – while still have the strength of Francis’s journey and underlying development – the fallen angel who isn’t sure what is right or what he should do.

There’s some wonderful development of the already incredible world building but – again – it’s so well written that we get all this new information without infodumping or it being awkward or convoluted – it works. If anything I will say it’s a little sparse in explaining the whole concept of the guardian of light magic and the guardian of dark magic – we needed more explanation as to what they actually were and how they came about. I did like that the white magic guardian was the actual aggressor. We also got some excellent development of the demons – both their origin and their actual legitimate grievance even if it doesn’t make them any less evil. It makes them evil for a reason – an understandable reason – rather than just “rawr, demons.”

The Walking Dead Volume 18: What Comes After

This volume we saw a lot more of Negan and how he runs the Saviours. We saw how he is almost a cult-like figure, demanding obeisence from his followers. In many ways we saw how he was different from Governor - or perhaps how he is the next step the Governor would have to take. The Governor was brutal and dominating - but he didn’t need a cult of personality and elaborate speeches about how he was a saviour, nor did he need a harem. But then, the Governor didn’t need to control and intimidate nearly as many people as Negan did.

In some ways a lot of this volume was padding in the same way the Governor’s rape of Michonne was an unnecessary insert. We had numerous scenes that existed to just prove to us that Negan was a bad guy - something that had already been made abundantly clear. We didn’t need him to threaten the women of Alexandria with rape, when we’d already seen him with his harem - or with him torturing men (and, by extension, his harem) with a red hot iron. Negan was a bad guy. Negan is a bad guy who likes the sound of his own voice. It is clear, we don’t need to belabor the point.

One thing that did stand out though was the vulnerability of women. While we think female victimhood is an overplayed trope in just about every media out there, at the same time it is worth noting that in a dystopian - or any situation where order breaks down - women are likely to be among the most vulnerable and that needs to be shown as well in a way that isn’t gratuitous.

As ever when we have a big bad, it’s natural to draw comparisons with other leaders - particularly Rick. What struck me was that, even though Rick is maintaining a sense of being submissive to Negan (insofar as he can manage to do so), but if anything he becomes more dictatorial. He openly threatens to kick people out of Alexandria to compel obedience. Perhaps that can be seen as understandable given the threat they faced, but Rick also made this entire plan on his own. He included Jesus because he had to. He included Andrea because she was going to walk out on him. Again, there is some excuse for him keeping most of the community in the dark - but Andrea and Michonne? Surely they deserved to be included in the plan.

Perhaps the most interesting character is Carl. Carl’s childhood has been left behind almost completely, Rick barely treats his son as a child and when he does it seems almost to be naive and silly on Rick’s part, rather than the natural way you would treat a 12 year old. Andrea doesn’t seem to include him in her chewing out Rick for failing to protect the children and Michonne even takes him beyond the wall to fight Walkers on what looks like an ordinary patrol. The group has started treating Carl like an adult.