Haven, Season 5, Episode 8: Exposure

Mara is still being held prisoner by Duke and they keep haggling over her co-operation. They need her to talk to Nathan, especially now he’s told her about his fellow “ghost” being killed and the threatening note that was left. In exchange for her help, she wants to know more about duke’s mother which Duke has always been very very close mouthed about. That doesn’t change – Duke refuses.

Instead he and Audrey discuss different ways to talk to Nathan – and Duke calls a paranormal investigator, Seth, who we’ve seen before. He does have a device that detects EM fields – which does find Nathan. But it doesn’t really help them communicate. Seth tells Audrey how wonderful she is while Duke goes back to talk mummy issues with Mara (at Audrey’s urging). Turns out Duke’s mother was neglectful and took over looking after Duke when his father died just for welfare cheques – and Duke learned to steal to get by. He pretty much never saw his mother after that except once when she tried to buy drugs off him when she didn’t know who he was.

Audrey gets a breakthrough looking at the shadow Reggie left – the shadow was stood up, but she had Reggie on his knees with his hands behind his head when he vanished. The shadow is in the same pose it was in Amy’s photographs – the woman whose camera Audrey took at the farmer’s market. She’s also Morgan’s (the ghost who has been a ghost the longest) fiancée.

In ghostland, Nathan speaks to fellow ghost Morgan and they agree they can only touch whatever it was that came over with them (their “residual self-image”) – so someone’s self-image includes a big knife. After talking to other ghosts, it seems like the killer knife-wielding ghost is the recently zapped Reggie who is not a fan of Nathan. So they go hunting for Reggie and end up fighting him.

Audrey and Seth go to visit Amy where they find she has taken a photograph of Nathan and printed it. Time for the Troubles talk. They also discover the photographs change to match the ghosts – so her photo of Nathan gains a slash on his arm when Reggie cuts him in the fight. They also find the guy with knife wounds who was killed last week. Audrey realises Nathan is in trouble so grabs some objects and has Amy take her picture. Except it doesn’t work – not everyone she photographs disappears

Which is all kind of unnecessary because Morgan shoots Reggie in the back with Nathan’s gun anyway. They go to Audrey’s desk and find a note she’s left for Nathan identifying Amy, Morgan’s fiancée, as the Troubled person

Over to Duke and Mara and she pays up her side of the agreement – she gave a Trouble to an artist who would make people he painted disappear when he finished his portraits. Which leads them to the PAINFULLY obvious conclusion – the photograph has to be printed to finish.

The info is passed on and Nathan and Morgan go to Audrey, Seth and Amy – and, snag, Nathan sees the photo that sent Morgan to ghost land. It shows him holding a ridiculously huge knife to cut his birthday cake. Just as Audrey has her picture printed, taking Seth’s ghost communicator with her. Right into Morgan holding them both at gun point.

Grimm, Season Four, Episode Two: Octopus Head

Renard is coding when Elizabeth barges into the room, and uses some sort of power to stun the doctors, causing them to freeze. A snake red snake appears, which connects Elizabeth to Renard.  After a few moments, the snake crumbles to the ground like dust, Renard vogues, returns to human and Elizabeth passes out.  The doctors come out of their daze to see Elizabeth on the ground and Renard with a beating heart.

Back in Vienna, Victor is told that the only connection between himself and Renard are courier payments, however; the courier has no idea that the cash came from Victor.  You would think given how much Victor has invested in harming Renard in the past, he would have thought about how to cover up Renard potentially dying before now.  He is then informed that Adalind is at the gate waiting to see him.

Victor heads to the gate and Adalind says that she has Nick's power but Victor asks for confirmation, given that Stuart was found  decapitated inside Nick's house.  Adalind begs to be let in to see her baby and Victor orders the gate opened, adding that Adalind is going to be with them for quite some time.

Trubel is keeping a watchful eye on Lawrence, who is checking into a new hotel.

Hank and Nick get together and Nick explains that Juliet is trying not to blame him for what happened. It's so generous of Juliet to try not to blame Nick for being raped. (Yes, that's hella snark). Hank advises Nick that he shouldn't blame himself  (yep, that's how you respond to a rape victim).  They are interrupted by Trubel, who calls to update Nick and Hank on  Lawrence's activities.

Victor leads Adalind into the castle, as she asks rapid fire questions regarding her daughter.  Of course, Victor has to lie because he is not actually in possession of the baby. Victor changes the topic,  questioning again how Adalind managed to steal Nick's powers, asking if it was fun. Victor even snarks about Nick shagging a hexinbeast, then brings up Renard's hospitalization.  Adalind is shocked by this and asks how Renard is, so Victor explains that Renard is hanging on by a thread, before tossing Adalind into a cell.  Now that Adalind is securely in a cell,  Victor reveals to Adalind that her baby was taken from him by the resistance. Adalind vogues but Victor tells her that she can huff and puff all she wants but she will be unable to blow this house down, before walking away, as Adalind screams. 

Trubel continues to watch Lawrence, who has checked in and is now on his way to his room.  Trubel makes a mad dash to the stairs, as Lawrence takes the elevator.  Trubel then waits in the hall as Lawrence heads into his room.  Lawrence heads straight to the bathroom with a bottle of hair dye.

Kent tries to call Henry but gets a voice message

Trubel heads outside just as Nick and Hank pull up.  Trubel tells them Lawrence's hotel room number and Nick says that they now need background information to find out how Lawrence is connected to the victims.  Trubel wants to barge into the room and take Lawrence out now but Nick points out that they don't have any evidence attaching Lawrence to the crime.  Hank asks Trubel to keep an eye on Lawrence and Nick makes it clear that she is to do nothing more.  Trubel asks for money for lunch and Hank hands it over, telling Trubel to make it last. Hank even asks for a receipt as Trubel walks away. Umm isn't Trubel doing their job?

Constantine, Season 1, Episode 2: The Darkness Beneath

We open to a mine in Pennsylvania and a miner returning home and being a drunken, abusive arsehole to his wife. Something shadowy and probably evil flashes behind his back when he gets in the shower –and the water goes black far more than mere mine dirt could account for. It then fills the shower cubicle with flames. Now that’s a bad plumbing problem. The camera focuses on a sooty handprint so it must be relevant

To John Constantine and Chas – with Chas following John’s magic to make money gambling. John has heard about the burning in Pennsylvania and, more importantly, the map that Liv left last week has a wet blood spot over the town. Alas, Chas can’t go because of a little train derailment.

We cut to a woman drawing lots of pictures of John and angrily asking “who are you”. Her room has pictures not just of him, but several demonic pictures as well. She leave and runs into John who is watching the funeral. She’s stunned to see him (much to his bemusement) and says she’s dreamt about him and he sees she has a picture of him. He assumes she’s conning him (or pretends to) and tries to leave but she begs him to explain – he distracts her and disappears. But he’s not as quick as he thinks he is, she has stolen his wallet and pulls out his driving license.

John goes to the pub and makes a remark on the town symbol being a dragon (that’s the Welsh flag. So, a town with Welsh heritage?). He very unsubtly questions the people in the pub about the death where he learns that the latest victim is just one of 9 deaths – albeit not all of them from fiery showers. The miner reports them hearing knocking down in the mine – which means something to John

He sneaks down to the mine, followed by something burrowing under the gravel. In the dark tunnels he knocks on the wall – and something knocks back, followed by lots of rumbling – he runs quickly

Wake time, everyone bringing food (John brought a ready meal) and naturally sneaks into the family only section of the bun-fight (can’t say I’ve ever seen one of those signs at a wake before), there he finds the sooty handprint and the much sootier shower. He takes a sample of the black goop in the shower head. He has a brief interview with the widow who dodges the question of hearing anything knocking in the mines but does offer a story of a Romani girl marrying a “captain of industry”, that industry being coal. John ignores this surprisingly odd hint and tries to leave, especially when the widow starts playing with his tie and suggesting she’s free to… talk.

She chases him out and has the crowd catch him for being a reporter, but the big guy in charge seems more suspicious, though possibly for the Environmental Protection Agency. After a brief fight, John confronts him about an “unnatural disaster” in the mine (though is confused as to why it got out) and the boss is worried about scaring his miners; he refuses to answer when John talks about the knocking.

The Vampire Diaries, Season 6, Episode 5: The World Has Turned and Left Me Here

Opening with Stefan, in bed, in a vest. Y’know, if he’s going to be boring and mopey he could at least be shirtless, boring and mopey. I’m just saying.

Stefan is learning that handing over a vampire to a vampire hunter to torture for information is a really really really bad idea. Most people probably would have realised this a bit sooner, but no-one on Vampire Diaries is particularly well known for their reasoning skills. Surprisingly Enzo is being quite close lipped. But he did reveal there are vampires in Savannah (which is where Stefan is hiding)

He’s also babysitting new vamp Ivy who has a bad case of melodrama and ate Stefan’s boss. Oh, Ivy, call us when you’ve hit your 10^th kill, then someone may care (just kidding. You could munch on an entire school bus and no-one would care). She’s really really hungry and Stefan is really not all that supportive. She’s outraged and horrified about being a killer and doomed to kill again (no, really, Ivy no-one on this show cares about murder). Stefan decides to help her deal with this by breaking her neck and looking really put out.

To Alaric’s class where they talk about a party they’re having at a corn maze (with a theme of some civil war soldier who killed his brother for sleeping with his wife which led to a white clad blood stained ghost lady. Just once I want a ghost story about a woman in yellow) – their college is just like their school! No classes and endless parties! During which we get Liv and Tyler not!flirting (she said no, Tyler, stop) and Elena asking Alaric to come to the party because Reasons. She also invites pointless new love interest Liam because Elena does this every time there’s a party. There are militaries that are less gung ho about recruitment than Elena when there’s a party to attend.

Back to Ivy and Stefan -  while she’s dead he rams her body in a trunk and delivers her to Caroline. Caroline and Stefan argue about whose mess Ivy is while she’s right there in the room (because they’re terrible people). Stefan also whines about him Ivy needs to learn control because Trip is a super vampire hunter (hey, maybe you could have let Enzo kill him? Maybe? Aaaargh these people!)

For more fun, Ivy decides that all these terrible revelations about being a vampire take second place to poking Caroline’s denial about clearly having a thing for Stefan and she really really wants to go to the party. She’s gone from “I killed someone! I’m a killer!” to “cool, party!” in like 3 hours. She quickly caught up with the Vampire Diaries spirit of things. And she breaks Caroline’s neck while she’s distracted so she can go out. This leads to Caroline calling Stefan and making snarky comments about the upcoming murders.

Oh party time – and Elena has also invited the Dr. Jo Laughlin she technically volunteers for (seriously, it’s like a compulsion with her. There’s a party, she invites the whole state. And why is she inviting people anyway, it’s not like she organised it) to try and set her up with Alaric. Because setting up two of your teachers isn’t weird

The 100, Season Two, Episode Two: Inclement Weather

The new camp Jaha is made up of the remains of the arc.  Cain heads to see Bellamy, who he has incarcerated until he perceives that Bellamy is no longer a threat to others. Cain wants information on the grounders, such as their numbers and what made them attack The 100.  Bellamy is interested in saving The 100, who have been captured but Cain is adamant that Bellamy is not trained and reminds Bellamy that they are his people as well.  They are interrupted when Murphy is brought in and Cain orders them to be Bellamy and Murphy to be tied up next to each other.

Outside, the guards watching the Camp Jaha, fire off a round when they think they see something.  Cain is quick to take away the weapon from one of the arc survivors demanding that weapons only be given to guards, ordering that unauthorized use of weapons be punishable as a felony. Well, it seems that crash landing on earth has done nothing to reduce Cain's totalitarian view of life. Abby demands that Marcus search the woods for the kids and the guards move out.

Back at Mount Weather, Miller has been released into gen pop (yes, I am intentionally using prison terms), where he snarks about Clarke fitting right in.  Maya and Jasper continue to make eyes at each other as a distrustful Clarke watches.  An alarm goes off and Maya rushes off, asking Jasper to save her seat. Clark intercepts Maya and learns that the alarm means that the search team is back and someone needs medical attention.  Clarke moves to follow, saying that if their people (read: The 100) are hurt, they have a right to know and even though Jasper tries to stop Clarke, she heads toward quarantine.

Clark arrives at quarantine to hear that the group was attacked and once again, Clarke grabs a pass and forces her way into the treatment area.  Once again Jasper tries to stop Clarke but after finding a bullet wound on one of Mount Weather people, Clarke declares that they are being lied to because Grounders don't use guns. Clarke says that it means their people are alive.  The medical staff arrives, bringing with them one of the Mount Weather soldiers who is covered in lesions and burns from being exposed to radiation. 

Back on the Arc, Jaha searches for the crying baby.  The cries continue to echo through the arc, until he finally finds the baby locked away in a dresser.  I would bet money that this baby is now going to be Jaha's raison d'être .

Abby heads to see Raven to find Finn watching over her.  Abby explains that the bullet is shifting and that this is why Raven is in pain.  Abby adds that because the bullet is putting pressing on Raven's spine, and if they leave it in, Raven will live but the surgery to remove it could kill her. It is further complicated by the fact that Abby has no equipment and no anesthesia.  Raven is determined to have the surgery, pointing out that at zero gravity, she didn't need her legs but on earth, they are a necessity.

Octavia awakes to find herself facing a Grounder. The Grounder tries to offer Octavia a liquid but she resists, demanding to know where Lincoln is.  Finally, the grounder demands that Octavia drink the liquid or die.

Fallen Eyes (Salt Lake City After Dark #4) by J.K. Walker

Jazz is overwhelmed with the number of jobs and duties she now has to hold together and is really looking forward to a simple break with Logan – let everyone else handle the chaos for a while.

But people are dying again, there’s a deeply terrifyingly personal enemy that she thought had long since been defeated lurking around. The werewolf pack is chafing under the leadership of a wereleopard. The police and the press both are watching her after the dramatic revelation on television. There’s far too much work for a much deserved holiday

And then one of her best friends is possessed and they find an ancient and truly terrifying evil has moved to town…

At the end of the last book I said there was too much packed into the space, too many plot lines left untouched and in need of development (especially since they were so awesome and I was very interested in learning what happened next). This book did an excellent job of unpacking a lot of that narrative, expanding it and going into the full consequences of several of the major elements that were only briefly covered before.

One of the main ones was Jazz becoming the new Alpha of the werewolf pack – it seemed like a huge shift and one that happened far too easily given her newness as a shapeshifter and the fact she wasn’t a werewolf. Naturally there are consequences to that and that takes up a hefty chunk of the book as she has to deal with the fallout from that.

Then there’s the whole revelation of the supernatural world to humanity at large – and Jazz being the centre of that and the difficulties and fall out that cases; from both the fearful and the curious.

Less deep but still in need of addressing was how, in the last book, she basically called out the alpha of the werecats and challenged his authority. Again, it was an action that had consequences that had to be followed up, even to a small degree. Then there was Logan becoming a vampire and even Jazz’s actual friendship with Victoria.

I even like how Jazz is having some ongoing health issues from previous injuries. Often Urban Fantasy characters can be mangled beyond all measure but next book, except (maybe) some easily hidden and non-mobility related scars, are completely fine.

I haven’t mentioned the main plot much because I think it’s secondary to the themes that were explored while the plot continued – and the development of Jazz and her friends. Not only did it give us time to look at all these issues that were left hanging but it was also a chance to re-analyse Jazz and the way she lives.

Jazz handles everything in town. Everything – and it’s too much. I’ve said before that the books really present how frazzled  Jazz is having to handle everything. In addition she has a really great relationship with her frineds – she respects them, she loves them, she has a lot of friends and they’re capable and have skills and powers of their own. This is a nice break from a lot of Urban fantasy protagonists who either a) have friends who only exist to serve them or b) have friends who exist only to be imperilled on a semi-regular basis. It’s because of this that Jazz can be confronted with not having to defend her friends all the time, that she doesn’t have to handle everything, her friends can help or handle their own problems. She isn’t alone and doesn’t have to play lone ranger. It also nicely challenges the whole meme of “I can’t stand to see my friends in danger” – well, all those friends have to see you in danger on a semi-regular basis so deal with it.

American Horror Story, Season 4, Episode 4: Edward Moredrake Part 2

Edward Mordrake continues to interview the show members to find his corrupted sinful “freak” to add to his party – interviewing Paul and Suzi (he passes over Pepper and her fellow because they’re too innocent and full of joy to know shame), learning their history of them being cast out and shunned. Paul becoming tattooed to try and scare the people who rejected him – but not his face, because he’s handsome and everyone would see he was handsome if they didn’t see his short arms. And Suzi once, in desperate rage and jealousy, stabbed a man in the leg which killed him.

He goes on to see Elsa who is sure he is there to develop her talent and make her a star, while she lavishes contempt on the other members of the troupe – and Edwards calls her on it most gloriously. When his ghostly troupe grabs her, she insists she’s “not one of them” and they take away her prosthetics, revealing her legs are missing below the knee. Edward throws in more scorn

So it’s time for Elsa’s story, in 1932 Berlin with lots and lots of “sexual deviancy”. She was a dominatrix – a reluctant one, she talks about “trading away her humanity.” At one trick she was drugged, filmed – and they cut her legs off with a chainsaw and then left her to die. A soldier who had fallen in love with her and was stalking her saved her (something Elsa never forgave). The film was distributed.

Edward’s second face declares that she is the one – and Elsa begs him to take her, that she has nothing left to live for. He is ready to stab her – when he hears music

Outside of town, Jimmy is driving Esmeralda back to the show when his bike cuts out – he tells her they need to make their way back through the woods because they can’t be seen during the curfew. She is duly suspicious and dubious about walking through the woods, at night, with a man she doesn’t know – and doesn’t take “you’re not my type” as much of a reassurance.

At Twisty’s little prison, the young woman reassures the new captive and is still determined to escape. When Twisty comes back, she manages to make a run for it. She runs to the road before Twisty tackles her – Esmeralda and Jimmy hear her screaming and hide. They watch as Twisty carries her away and Jimmy follows to see if he can help. He tries to make Esmeralda stay behind but she adamantly refuses. Jimmy realises the clown is the serial killer – and Dandy appears behind them, knocking them both out.

When they wake up, Dandy and Twisty perform for their captive audience – starting to cut the captured woman (does she have a name?) in half with a saw; Jimmy gets free and punches Dandy, saving her. They look at Twisty to see if he will attack – and he applauds them. Ooookay. Jimmy tells everyone to run. Everyone does – but Twisty captures Jimmy.

Dandy chases the others – Esmeralda sends the three captives to the road while she lures Dandy away. Dandy has one of his tantrums.

It was Twisty’s music Edward heard and he appears as the clown holds a pair of shears over Jimmy’s body. Edwards demands Twisty remove his mask (despite only his eyes showing, Twisty looks like a scolded school boy. It’s very very creepy). He does, revealing his disfigured mouth – and Twisty tells his story.

The Women of Resurrection

Unlike many shows on television, Resurrection actually has a pretty large selection of female characters.  Before you clap your hands for inclusion though, it’s worth looking at exactly what kind of characters we have been given. Though we have gotten to know all of the women in the season and a half that Resurrection has been on the air, they have never been allowed to move beyond very specific tropes: self sacrificing, victim, slut and or course control freak. They are essentially cardboard cut outs rather than full fleshed out characters like the men. Men are allowed to go on an emotional journey whereas the women are expected to perform their gender in a very specific manner and shamed if they dare step outside of it momentarily.

The most glaring example of this is Barbara. Barbara drowned on the same day that Jacob did. The difference is that Jacob slipped trying to save Barbara’s life and Barbara was down at the river because she was having an affair with Sam. From the very beginning, it’s clear that though Fred has mourned the loss of Barbara these past thirty years, he was anything but a good husband to her. Barbara was lonely and out of her depth and Fred was controlling and cruel.

Almost from the moment of Barbara’s return, she has been slut shamed. How dare she cheat on Fred! No one bothered to realise that marriage is difficult in the best of circumstances and that outside of the people involved, no one really knows what happens inside a marriage. It quickly became far easier for Maggie, Lucille, Margaret and even Fred himself to shame Barbara for her decisions, while neglecting to examine the various ways in which Fred let Barbara down.

During the now infamous dinner from hell, Lucille not only actively blames Barbara for Jacob’s death but unequivocally states that Jacob is dead because Barbara wanted to “screw Sam” and had Barbara stopped the affair when she was advised to do so, Jacob would have lived. Margaret has not minced words when it comes to her descriptions of Barbara either. When Margaret sees Barbara dressed in shorts and a pullover, Barbara actually describes this outfit as “next to nothing”, to emphasise to Maggie that her mother is a no good whore. For her part, Maggie blames Barbara for her not having the perfect family reunion because Barbara chose to return to Sam, who was neither neglectful or emotionally abusive like Fred.

Barbara is shamed for making her own sexual choices and made to look like the Scarlet Woman. I am in fact shocked that they didn’t demand she walk around with the letter A sewn to her clothing, while she is followed by a child banging a drum so that the passerbies know they are in the presence of a slut. In the end not only is Barbara attacked everywhere she goes, she is convinced to give up her life by Margaret.  Margaret cites Barbara's poor decisions as the primary reason that Barbara should give up on life. Instead of fighting, Barbara, who by that point is so full of shame, simply gives in and disappears.  

What crime did Barbara commit that she didn’t deserve to live? Why the evil of adultery of course and having the temerity to reduce Margaret’s control on Fred. Margaret made it absolutely clear that had always had a tumultuous relationship with Fred but when Barbara arrived on the scene she lost all semblance of control over her son. As much as Margaret didn’t want to see Fred get hurt again, Barbara’s biggest crime was the potential influence she could have had over Fred again. It’s almost incestuous the way that Barbara seeks control of who her son is dating. Barbara was Margaret’s competition and Margaret simply could not handle that.

Another family in conflict due to the Returned is the Hale family. Pastor Tom is caught in a difficult situation between his wife, Janine and his Returned pregnant ex-girlfriend Rachel. We see a lot of Tom’s conflict over this, we see his struggle with both them and with his church and even with his childhood friend Jacob. Tom is in a difficult situation and we see a lot of that developed and on screen