Grimm Season Four, Episode Thirteen: Trial by Fire

"And glory like the phoenix

midst her fires,

Exhales her odours. blazes,

and expires"

Mason and Joan are taking inventory in an outdoors store, when Barstow, who is a Excandesco, woges and sets the store on fire. The store busts into flames which quickly multiply when in an attempt to get out, Mason throws a chair throw a window.

Juliet has a flashback to woging and killing the Wesen who attacked her.  Juliet and Nick talk about what he did with the body and what Adalind might do once she discovers that Nick is a Grimm again. 

The next morning Nick and Hank arrive at the store and the details from Wu.  Nick and Hank go over the scene and shown that the fire inexplicable turned.  They head outside to speak to the owner and his son  John and Andy Harrison briefly.  Back in the car, they question what explains a fire with a mind of its own and wonder if this is an insurance scam.  Back at the station, Hank gets off the phone with the insurance and of course Harrison & Sons had a five million dollar policy on the store and had just filed for bankruptcy. Nick and Hank decide to talk to the lawyer who filed the bankruptcy and ask for a list of the debtors and the company's financial records.

At the station, Sam reports that Kelly sold the truck she left Portland in.  Renard decides to check a listing of all vehicles sold, sure in the knowledge that Kelly is going to need a car.

Now back at the station, Nick asks Wu to run a background check on Charles Laney, the lawyer handling the bankruptcy for  Harrison & Sons.   Wu mentions that an officer in arson says that the fire pattern matches one his former partner was obsessed with.  Hank and Nick want to talk to the cop but find out that Orson may not be receptive because they arrested for murder.

At the prison, Orson who is a Bauerschwein, woges when he hears that Hank and Nick want to see him, saying "hell no."  While waiting for Orson, Nick explains that he didn't really know what was going on back then because he was just coming into his Grimm powers.  Orson makes his way in and they tell him about the fire and he snarks about doing Nick's job.  Nick shows Orson the pictures of the victims, adding that no accelerant was used and that Grady suggested Orson might know who they are looking for. Orson says that he would have caught the arsonists but then Nick arrested him, adding that if he saw him again, he could identify him. 

When next we see Orson, he is in the police station with an ankle monitor on and is escorted into Renard's office.  Renard explains to Orson that he has two days to assist the detectives and if Orson messes up, he will never get parole.  Orson starts to become vague about the arsonist and so Nick asks if the arsonist is a Wesen and Hank reveals that he knows that Orson is a Bauerschwein and that Nick is a Grimm.  Orson is shocked, then reveals that the arsonists likes to light a fire and then stick around and watch. Nick tells Hank and Orson to look through the files while he does some research.

At the Grimm trailer, Wu and Nick find out that the wesen they are looking for is a Excandesco.  The story that Nick reads is the Roman fire which was on blamed on Christians. Yes, more historical appropriation from Grimm but at least because it's ancient history, it's not as horrifying as their recent acts of appropriation.  Unfortunately, the Grimm wiki has no information on how to stop a Excandesco.

Charles Laney meets with Barstow and reveals that there were two kids inside the Harrison building and that two homicide cops came to see him.  Barstow argues that this is not his fault but is told that he has to clean house get rid of everyone who can identify him.  Barstow takes Laney at his word, grabs Laney's throat and sets him on fire.

Orson and Hank are talking, when Nick enters to ask if Orson has ever heard of an Excandesco.  They wonder if the arsonist is the accelerant himself.  Orson explains that the arsonists could essentially be a human match.  Nick and Hank talk about how to arrest the arsonist, if they cannot get close to him. Orson suggests that he can make something to protect the Nick and Hank.  Hank suggests that the spice shop might have the things they need.  Nick decides that he should call first because of the history between Orson and Monroe.  When Nick gets a hold of Rosalie and learns that Monroe is going to be gone for several hours, he decides to head over.

Vampire Diaries, Season 6, Episode 14: Stay

Oooh a flashback to when Liz was more actively sheriff and kind of awesome. I’m definitely up for an episode all about Liz… except this flashback was then about Elena’s parents dying so I suspect the exposition of Liz is going to fall into the big gravity well that is Elena.

Yes, in the present while packing up her things she is drawn to pull out the Gilbert file of Jeremy and Elena’s parents’ death again

Or maybe it’ll be about Jeremy – because we see Damon compel some actual qualifications for Jeremy out of his teacher and Alaric and Matt drinking with Jeremy to say goodbye (hilariously, Vampire Diaries pretends for a second that Alaric might, might, possibly object to underage drinking. Like every kid on this show hasn’t been hitting the hard liquor since they were 14. Not that I blame them given the storylines and Elena’s constant presence). The going away party is interrupted because the eternally obsessed and unnecessary Enzo has arranged for Sarah Salvatore to drop in and be escorted around by the equally unnecessary Matt.

Damon and Elena don’t even try to pretend they didn’t compel Jeremy’s graduation out of his teacher (and Damon is delightfuly snarky about Jeremy’s complete lack of any academic achievement. He also makes a joke about killing Jeremy. Again. Which I have to admit is funny and I have to almost appreciate Vampire Diaries completely mocking their own morality. Someone on the writing team knows EXACTLY what awful material they’re working with).

Elena and Jeremy try to have a sibling bonding moment. They don’t sell it to me – they’ve been largely separate for far too long. The happy smiling and eating chips could, possibly, have redeemed it but Elena has a pity party in the middle, completely ruining the whole moment.

Alas, Elena is called off and Enzo makes an appearance to menace Jeremy and force Matt to co-operate further in his inane plan. Enzo has Mat lure Sarah to a spooky deserted tunnel – then runs Matt over in a hit and run. Enzo then arrives to save Matt with his vampire blood – in front of Sarah.

Caroline and Stefan are moving all of Liz’s stuff to an isolated cabin so she can die in peace surrounded by lots of stuff she loves (and, apparently, the Gilbert parent case because everything must revolve around Elena somehow). They flirt some and Caroline has the idea that Stefan is only there because Liz asked him to be because she is just that bad at reading signals. They also break out the booze as they continue to bond over Stefan comforting Caroline over her mother’s impending death and they finally kiss.

On to Damon and Liz who manage to put more feeling and emotion in a few short words than most of the cast pull off with epic melt downs. Liz doesn’t want to leave her job with so many open cases and unfinished business. Damon helps, awesomely opening files and announcing “this one was me” over and over again.

These tiny side issues aside we turn to the REALLY IMPORTANT CASE Elena’s parents’ ACCIDENTAL death. Because ELENA! Damon swears earnestly that he wasn’t involved (because all the other murders are totally ok, but being involved in killing Elena’s family – except Jeremy – would just be devastating). Ah but there’s a reason for this – Liz has been sitting on a taped phone call from Miranda, Elena’s mother, for the last SIX SEASONS in which Miranda says she needs to talk to Liz urgently. This being Mystic Falls they reach for the booze and make more snarky comments about Damon’s many many many murders.

The 100, Season Two, Episode Twelve: Rubicon

Emerson rushes through the woods, desperate to make his way back to Mt. Weather because Clarke only gave him 6 hours of air to make an 8 hour trip.  Emerson makes it to just outside of perimeter and collapses with his air running out fast. Cage shows up and gives Emerson a new tank of air.  Emerson is shocked to see Cage so far away from the doorway but he is told to just relax.  Clearly, Cage has taken his sample of marrow from one of the 47.

In the bunker, Jasper and Monty discuss the fact that Jasper saw Bellamy.  The conversation is short because Dr. Tsing bursts in surrounded by guards.  The guards originally grab Harper but Tsing orders someone else to be taken instead.  Jasper asks them to stop and reveals that Dante said that they could go.  Tsing then informs the 47 that Dante had to step down for health concerns and adds that they are all special to them, before turning on her heel and leaving.

At Camp Jaha, Clarke goes to questions Raven as to whether or not Bellamy has checked in.  Raven is not pleased to see Ryder standing guard over Clarke but she says that it's Lexa's orders.  Clarke notices that Raven is focusing on the damn and Raven argues that for now, there's only so much they can do.  When Raven reports that she has only built two high frequency tone generators, Clarke again loses her shit, forcing Raven to point out that they are scrounging for parts. Clarke says that she is about to meet with Lexa and the 12 leaders of the clan and is upset because they are not ready to go yet.  Bellamy finally contacts them to report that he has not found the source of the acid fog but that it will have to wait because the 47 are being taken to a classified level every few hours.

Clarke then approaches Cain to say that she is staying at Camp Jaha because their people at Mt. Weather are in trouble, ordering Cain to go to the meeting instead of her.  When Clarke turns on her heel to leave, Cain grabs her arm, causing Ryder to reach for his knife.  The Grounders are not playing around about protecting Clarke.  Clarke has to shoot Ryder a look to get him to back off.  Cain makes it clear that being a leader means choosing which battles to fight.  Clarke again asks Cain to go to the meeting and this time he agrees.  Clarke starts to leave, and when Abby arrives, Clarke tries to blow her off, saying that Cain will explain.    Cain and Abby talk for awhile about the fact that Clarke is in charge and then Abby hands over a note from Jaha, explaining his mission to the city of light.  Neither are impressed that Jaha took 12 people and 12 guns

Jaha makes his way through the desert with his little convoy of people.  It's Murphy who seems to be his cheerleader when people express doubt.  Emori jumps up out of a cart claiming that she and her brother were attacked on the their way to the city of life and her brother was killed.  Jaha orders Emori be given water and Murphy is quick to comply, though one of the group members complains that they barely have enough water for themselves.  Jaha announces that he is on his way to the city of light and Emori replies that everyone is looking for it and almost no one finds it.  Emori agrees to act as a guide for Jaha and crew, if they pull her cart. 

Bellamy is crawling through the air vents and watches as Tsing extracts bone marrow from one of the 47. Tsing gives it to Emerson, saying that this is the last treatment he will ever need. Cage asks about Clarke's secret army.  Emerson apologises for failing, adding that Clarke said that if the 47 are released that she would allow the Mt. Weather people to leave.  Cage is not concerned because he knows about the war council meeting and plans to aim a missile.  Okay, why isn't anyone wondering how the Mt. Weather people know about the meeting?  Obviously, they must have some kind of mole.

Raven says that they have to warn the people and Clarke says that if she leaves now, she can get to the meeting in time.  Clarke adds that when she gets back, she wants the acid fog to be down and their friends safe.  Bellamy then asks about his sister and Clarke lies about Octavia being at the meeting.

The Accidental Vampire (Argeneau #7) by Lynsay Sands

After being turned into a vampire on a trip to Mexico, Elvi Stone returned to her home in small town Ontario.  The residents, feeling guilty for encouraging Elvi to go on the trip, after the loss of her daughter and husband, decide to protect Elvi because she is one of their own.  Not having met her sire, Elvi has no real understanding of what it is to be an immortal and is forced to turn to movies, books, and folklore, to muddle through.  With her friends entering the senior stages of their life and the realization that when they do finally die, Elvi well be alone, they decide to hunt down a boyfriend for Elvi by visiting clubs in Toronto, looking for a vampire boyfriend and when that finally fails, placing an advertisement in the singles pages of all things.  What they don't realise is that vampires are supposed to keep their existence secret from mortals and through their attempts to find Evli a love match, they have brought her to the attention of the council and the powerful Argeneau family.  When Victor arrives, ready to deal with what he believes to be a rogue vampire, what he does not expect is to find that he cannot read Elvi's mind, or control her in anyway.

The Accidental Vampire is a typical paranormal romance - boy meets girl, they fall in love, a misunderstanding occurs, they work through it and declare undying love for each other.  It's formulaic at best and filled with essentialist gender stereotyping.  That being said, it's what I have come to expect from Lynsay Sands, after reading seven of her books. I know going in not to expect a literary masterpiece and settle in for light fluff and the occasional laugh.  Sands has a talent for infusing her romance stories with a touch of humor, which doesn't always make me laugh but at least puts a smile on my face.

Believing all of the vampire lore to be true, Elvi has not touched a drop of food in five years.  When suddenly, Elvi learns that she can eat, it becomes a cheesecake emergency, leading her to rush to the local A&P for the essentials of cheesecake and chocolate.  I must admit that not being able to eat for five years, I would have considered it an emergency myself and chocolate would be high on my list. Essentialist or not, chocolate and women go together.

As a protagonist , Elvi is a touch naive.  Some of it I am sure is from the fact that she is from a small town; however, a woman of her advanced age (read: 62), really should be more aware than she is.  I do however like the fact that she refuses to be controlled and is always ready to stand toe to toe with Victor.  However, when pushed, Elvi does not fear to use Victor as a threat, when she promises to have Victor retrieve a young man, if he refuses to step forward on his own.

The Use of Atrocities in Fantasy

© 2012 Tim Sheerman-Chase, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

We live in a world that has been - and continues to be - blighted by horrific atrocities. From brutal, widescale violence, to vast natural disasters, to horrendous wars to unthinkable abuse and cruelty inflicted over and over again, our world and our history has some terrible scars.

It is only natural that some of those scars will be reflected in the media - indeed, many of our shows and books are set in worlds and settings ravaged by war, evil and atrocity on a grand scale. But there is a difference between depicting a generic, fictional atrocity - and depicting, drawing on or, all too often, appropriating an actual real life atrocity.

When drawing on an actual atrocity, our first question must be “why?” Why is this being depicted? And there are certainly good reasons - many people have lived through these devastating atrocities and it can be insulting and erasing to remove this from their history. Similarly, there are places and times when/where these events happens - to not include them is to disrespectfully edit history, often at the demands of nostalgia.

There are other reasons to depict these atrocities - because they shouldn’t be forgotten, they should be part of our social consciousness, they should be there for us to remember, be affected by, understand and, I naively hope, learn from.

So, yes, we can see, accept and even praise some depictions of these atrocities - and we have done so. Like on Forever we see how Abe, as a Holocaust survivor, has been shaped by that terrible atrocity and how that also touched on Henry and Abigail’s story - but without having to have Henry heroically tackle Goebbels or imply that secret immortals were behind events or anything equally ludicrous.

The Originals had Marcel fight in the First World War, both showing the horrors of war and, specifically, how racism exacerbated the plight of Black American soldiers who were sent over to be little more than cannon fodder. Again, there was no dismissing the importance, the horror or the wrongness of the events, nor any attempt to ascribe them all to supernatural cause. The atrocity was invoked respectfully and with reason.

Even True Blood, for all this genre’s love of romanticising the antebellum south and civil war, had Bill Crompton harshly describe the abject horrors of conflict to an audience of people who were invested in sugar coating the past.

But what singles these examples out for praise is how they have used the atrocities they referenced. They have a reason to be there, they are integral parts of the plot or characterisation and they are treated as respect. They’re not used for entertainment or shock value or dramatic influence or, perhaps most disrespectfully of all, one off references to be discarded at will. Nor is there any attempt to edit history to make woo-woo a driving force or major element of these atrocities. It doesn’t take woo-woo to make an atrocity, alas, quite mundane humanity is more than capable.

Alas, there are many shows that don’t have close to that level of respect

In episode nine, of this season’s Walking Dead, the genocide in Rwanda was invoked. We were told that no matter how ugly the news was, Tyreese never turned off because someone had to bear witness.  The following radio report was read by Andrew Lincoln:

“At least 68 citizens of the republic have been killed in four deadly attacks along the main coastal district. The group has continued their campaign of random violence, moving across the countryside unfettered with the republic’s military forces in disarray … There have been troubling reports of cannibalism having broken out in refugee camps along the republic’s transportation corridor. And despite the string of victories by rebel forces, there are disturbing reports of increasing the brutality of their tactics including the wholesale destruction of villages, burning down local prisons, targeting of civilians, and even the widespread mutilation of children and young mothers.”

Over a period of 4 months in 1994, 70% of the Tutsi population was killed in Rwanada.  Between 500,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were killed.  This world event had long lasting consequences, not only for Rwanda but for surrounding countries.  To be clear, The Walking Dead is pure fiction and while the story is at times horrifying as it portrays human depravity, desperation and death on a mass scale, it’s still fiction.  To invoke something as serious as the Rwandan genocide and then juxtapose that to a fake zombie apocalypse is the height of disrespect for this terrible time in human history.

On Constantine, a man possessed by a hunger demon is linked to a famine in Sudan, not some generic famine or mentioning that this demon caused starvation; but actually a specific atrocity (or series of devastating acts, sadly, since Sudan is still at risk of famine). The 1998 famine in Sudan, alone, caused the death of over 70,000 people and the displacement of many more. Yet this devastating loss of life is used as nothing more than a prologue for this week’s demon; worse, this human-exacerbated disaster is implied to be of supernatural origin.

Third Grave Dead Ahead (Charley Davidson #3) by Darynda Jones

Charley isn’t sleeping – and because she’s a Grim Reaper, she’s managed to get by without sleep for 15 days, all an attempt to avoid Reyes in her dreams. Of course, a sleep deprived Charley isn’t exactly  healthy or reasonably Charley – and no amount of sleep deprivation will stop Reyes escaping and approaching her in real life. He’s broken out of prison to find his step-father – the man he was thrown in prison for murdering. He’s alive, he’s out there and Reyes intends to clear his name

Of course Charley has a busy life and in addition to tackling Reyes and his handy-knife-wielding, she has a missing doctor’s wife (and a suspicious doctor) and an animal loving motorcycle gang to deal with. Also, her dad wants her to quit her job.

A lot of the elements I love about this series are very much present in this book. Charley is fun, immensely, incredibly fun. She’s ridiculously silly, she will wisecrack about anything and for some reason it doesn’t annoy me. I’d theorised in the last book that her super-healing combined with her lack of fear of death was part of the reason why she was so irreverent and reckless – but I recognise I may be stretching to try and justify an unrealistic element of a book I just find so fun. So, yes, it may not make sense, but it’s excellent. Almost as excellent as the way she bounces of Cookie – the Banter between these two best friends is hilarious and I could honestly read an entire book that just involves her and Cookie going about their day, solving a case without any supernatural elements at all.

Yes, it does get ridiculous at times – like when she is literally being threatened with death and even tortured (though through that we do get a much darker feel so the comedy doesn’t continue forever) and her comedic sleep deprivation and driving was off the mark – with zero sense of the risk that poses to others.

I liked each of the storylines – and we had three separate ones in this book. Charley looking for her client’s missing wife (which also had excellent portrayals of the different forms an abusive, controlling relationship can take), clearing Reyes’s name (which was probably the weakest investigation because it, ultimately, relied on the perpetrator trying to kill Charley which is always a rather weak investigative tool) and a brief, but fun interaction with Charley and the biker gang and the acquisition of her new guardian. I liked all of these stories individually – but collectively the story was left a little distracted – too many things going on which is then mixed with Charley’s book-long sleep deprivation means the book often loses focus and there’s a few times when I forgot an actual plot line was ongoing.

A far greater problem for me is Reyes. The oh-so-very-very-very sexy love interest. And I don’t care – I don’t care how sexy he is or if he has a body beyond all concept of beauty, he has crossed so many lines now that I cringe every time he appears. In this book he takes Charley hostage at knife point, he threatens her family, her hurts her, kidnaps her and is generally irredeemable. And Charley doesn’t see it – she continues to make excuses for him and mentally justify his actions and seems to think that “he’s ruthless and will do whatever he needs” is some kind of excuse rather than a great big warning flag that he needs to be dropped yesterday. Worse, his endless sexiness (and the fact that Charley can’t even sleep because of the lure of his sexy sexy body) becomes more cringeworthy because it feels like Charley is tolerating this completely intolerable abuser not because of fear or even a moral drive for justice even if he’s evil – but because he’s just that hot.

Forever, Season 1, Episode 15: The King of Columbus Circle

There’s a busy line in an embassy (Ukesh? Urkesh? I’m fairly certain it’s a fictional country) with people applying for visas – all seems normal until, when asked his reason for visiting, one man (Armen Aronov – and they seem quite focused on his name) says he is there to die. Which is rather derailing. She runs to her boss stunned by who is applying for a travel visa.

Armen then goes to feed the pigeons and has a heart attack – so his travel plans are, we assume, curtailed.

And breakfast at Henry’s house (Henry and Abe breakfast with the excellent synchronicity of people who have eaten together thousands of times) and Abe is looking up people who share his newly discovered surname, looking for relatives. Abe is really excited about finding his family (which Henry respects) but takes a step back to assure Henry that there’s no doubt in his mind who his father is. this wonderful family moment is, if anything, ruined by Henry’s voice over about family trees.

Anyway, Henry is called in to Armen’s death but Hanson and Jo point out it’s not actually a murder and a rookie cop called it in by mistake – Armen had lung cancer. But Henry sees an odd operation scar and decides he wants analyse it anyway.

This lead to some flashbacks of Henry and his wife Abigail, going on a holiday by train back in the past after World War 2, briefly discussing having a baby (Henry is opposed) and a boy with appendicitis who Henry has to operate on in very amateurish conditions. The implication is the boy is a young Armen with ominous foreign agents threatening him with dire consequences if Armen doesn’t live because he is the son of the king and heir to the throne of Ukesh.

Back to the present and the morgue and a woman barging in claiming Armen as her husband and confirms that Armen is the king of Ukesh. Henry talks to her in Russian, of course (Jo says, very on point, that a person would have to live 10 lives to pick up what he has. Oh Forever don’t get cute about not telling Jo the big secret).

This talk of heirs and kings lead to Henry going back to the shop, sneaking out some objects and asking if Abe never wanted children or a legacy – Henry reflects but decides that being part of Henry’s immortal life ensures some level of legacy anyway. The ring Henry picked up is the Urkesh royal ring he wants to return. He goes to see Armen’s wife and, in the course of the conversation, he learns that Armen wasn’t been treated for cancer. Which is a lead because Henry recognised the signs of radiation exposure – and assumed radiation therapy – on the body.

Jo, Hanson and Lt Reece (I missed her!) exposition this fictional country – the king was deposed, his family slaughtered and he was living in exile. Reece would like to have the whole death be declared the natural causes it seems to be (and so definitely won’t be) and have it all settled before an international incident makes everything unpleasantly dramatic.

Which means no-one is thrilled when Henry dramatically calls the death an assassination.

Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 13: Halt & Catch Fire

Time for this week’s fodder, teenagers driving at night on a deserted road in a truck that becomes spookily cold. They also have a GPS phone that talks to them – really to them. The girl, Janet, is told to get out of the truck which she wisely does while the boy, Billy, is driven off a bridge.

To the Winchester cave and this week Dean is tired of trying to find a cure for the Mark since they’re not getting anywhere. Instead he wants to go on the case of the haunted truck.

On to the university where Janet attends and Dean creeping creepily over all the college women. The do the fake FBI skit (while Dean continues to creep on the college women). Other than basically recapping the haunting, Dean learns how very very dated he is. They also learn that Billy’s brother Joey died in Afghanistan, didn’t get on with Billy and that the truck was his first.

They find the truck confirm it’s a ghost and posit the theory that ghost Joey killed his little brother for driving his truck (a motive Dean agrees with). Time for salting and burning and we know this isn’t the answer because it’s waaay too early in the episode.

Julie, another college student who receives a creepy chat message from someone saying “810” “I know” which apparently frightens her – enough that she seems to forget that block buttons exist. Time for cold, telekinesis, lots of “810” messages – and being strangled with a computer wire (also screaming at a USB wire which is just… not courageous it has to be said).

Sam and Dean pull their FBI shtick to get all the info on the latest death and questioning her friend reveals nothing. Burrowing through her social media reveals nothing. The cafeteria is Dean’s idea of heaven though. But the searching does reveal to Dean that his internet browsing doesn’t disappear just because he deleted it (no we don’t need to know) and they do find the chat message.

They track down the chat account and see a woman throwing floral tributes left by a lamp post into a bin liner. They learn that her husband died shortly after they were married and she hates the fact the flowers remind her of the death. They do learn about the college student sending the floral tributes.

Some research turns up the details of the dead man, Andrew, who was cremated so unlikely to be the ghost either. Also noteworthy is his body being completely burned beyond recognition

On to some more students – Delilah (she who sent the floral tributes) and Kyle. She wants to come clean about something and is all nervous while Kyle is more sinister and threatening and in favour of silence in a the-ghost-will-totally-kill-me-next kind of way. Which then happens – courtesy of some ridiculously huge speakers and more 810 clues

To Dean and Sam finally questioning Delilah who reveals the four of them caused Andrew’s death by accidentally driving him off the road while they were all far too interested in their mobile phones and then fleeing the scene and Billy refusing to call the police because his license was suspended. Of course, Delilah is the nice one who wants the rest to go to the police but is convinced not to.