The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 12: Remember

To the walled community of Alexandria – and Daryl shoots a possum. He brought dinner.

It looks like the Alexandrians are not a fan of possum

Inside the walls they’re asked to disarm. Rick objects – and has Sasha snipe a zombie just to remind everyone how dangerous they are.

The leader of the community is Deana Monroe, ex-congresswoman who films interviews with several of Rick’s group. Alexandria was an eco-friendly gated community for the rich before the outbreak and Deana, along with several others, sheltered there pretty much from the beginning. It’s sustainable so it has electricity and running water. She wants Rick and his group to help their community survive – touching on how he has killed people to save his people, his family and how she wants that protection. He advises her to close the gates and not let people in – because people will use her.

Rick makes a decision to stay – though there’s a nice moment when Deana opens the possibility it isn’t his choice

Which means they give up their vast arsenal (albeit Carol getting a nod from Rick) to Olivia, the stores lady before being shown to two houses they can live in (Rick is amazed by the space). The house is like going back in time to back before the walkers – it even has running water

Rick has a shower, fully amazed by it, and shaves off the epic Beard. Newly shorn and shirtless he greets neighbour Jesse who is super happy to help cut Rick’s hair, completing the transformation. Rick is stunned and slightly horrified by how much she trusts him. She also mentions her sons she wants to introduce to Carl.

Trust doesn’t go both ways and Carol and Rick decide, despite having two houses, they’ll all stay in one so they’re not split up. Carl’s still on high alert, drawing a knife when he hears something in one of the rooms. Michonne and Rick have a cute moment (after she spends 20 minutes brushing her teeth) because she’s never seen Rick clean shaven before; she understands the caution but is still optimistic about Alexandria. Deana also drops round to marvel at how close knit Rick’s group is despite their very diverse backgrounds. She’s also handing out everyone jobs.

Michonne’s interview reflects her optimism while Glenn’s shows his almost desperate need to make Alexandria a home and fear of what the road is doing to them.

Daryl fits in far less – still carrying around the dead possum to the video interview. While everyone else cleans up, he skins and guts it. He lurks in corners and tries to avoid the Alexandrians. He refuses to clean up even when Carol scolds him (which is hilarious).

Rick goes to explore and nearly panics looking for Carl running through the streets and crashing into Jesse’s art work before she reassures him that Carl and Judith are visiting an elderly couple who lost their kids and grandchildren.

The 100, Season Two, Episode Fifteen: Blood Must Have Blood: Part 1

 
Bellamy has crawled through the tunnels to the containment area and starts releasing the prisoners, informing them that the joint forces are marching on Mt. Weather right now.  When the Grounders start to become agitated and loud, it's Echo's who silences them.  Bellamy starts to explain his plan, when he is interrupted by Cage, who decides to make an announcement to the populace about the ability of Mt. Weather people being able to leave the compound.  Cage even reveals the bone marrow cure which causes Bellamy to rush off in awareness that Cage is trying to get the Mt. Weather people to turn against the sky kids.  Cage makes it clear to the populace that the kids are keeping them from their dream, adding that the kids are responsible for the death of 15 members of the compound.  Cage then offers amnesty to the people who are hiding the sky kids, if they are turned in within an hour; however, he then threatens to turn the non compliant into enemies of the state.

In the war room, Cage watches the monitors and learns that without the fog they have no defenses. He is advised to allow the ground troops to engage but Cage is adamant that as long as they are behind the locked doors of Mt. Weather they are untouchable.  Cage instead gives the order for the sky kids to be rounded up.

Soldiers arrive at the home where Maya and Jasper are hiding.  When the soldiers threaten to kill the residents protecting Maya and Jasper, they come out of hiding begging the soldiers not to shoot.  Jasper and Maya are apprehended and the people who were protecting them are shot anyway.  At this point, how did Jasper not think that those people were not going to end up dead anyway?  He has seen time and time again that the people under Cage are ruthless.

At the compound, Lexa does the whole rally the groups speech.  Clarke clarifies and says that they are on a rescue mission and brings up the people inside the mountain who have helped them along with the defenseless children.  Clarke's plan is to free their people and kill the soldiers and leadership. Clarke then lays out her plan which includes splitting up into four teams, adding that inside the mountain, the Grounder forces are being freed.  Clarke's plan is to have Raven's team take out the damn to temporarily remove electricity to Mt. Weather, in order to be able to force the door open. The catch is that after the power goes out, the combined forces will only have 1 minute to get inside Mt.  Weather. The secondary part is for Indra's people to escort their people outside through the reaper tunnels while Clarke and Lexa distract the Mt. Weather people.  Lexa goes back to her rally the troops thing and finishes with the standard "Blood must have blood."

Outside the entrance to Mt. Weather, the forces gather and chant, "blood must have blood."  Inside Mt. Weather, Maya and Jasper are being escorted by soldiers, when Vincent, Maya's father, stands in front of the envoy to block them.  Maya begs for her father to stop but Vincent makes it clear that they will have to get through him to take his daughter away.  Paul draws his weapon prepared to fire but Bellamy and Miller save the day.  Bellamy instructs Jasper and the rest of the group to head to the harvest chamber.  When Bellamy moves to go after Monty, who is on level three, Jasper is insistent that he come as well, having promised to protect Monty.  Maya decides to accompany Jasper.

Following Lincoln's map, Octavia and Indra make their way through the tunnels.  When Octavia brings up that Lincoln should be here and that it meant a lot that Indra forgave him, Indra simply replies that Lincoln was not ready to re-enter the tunnels and that he earned his forgiveness. Indra makes it clear however that if Lincoln ever chooses sides against the clan again then his bravery won't save him.  Reapers make their appearance and Octavia has to stop the Grounders from killing them in a panic and instead uses the sound distrupter.  Indra stops over the comatose body of someone who was clearly close to her and Octavia assures Indra that the person will be okay.

Outside Mt. Weather, they have begun to drill through the door.  David Miller's hands shake as he inserts a bomb into the hole and it's Lincoln who calms him down. 

At the damn, Wick and Raven continue to work on blowing up the turbines.  This of course is the perfect time to talk about the fact that they had sex.  What's a war and violence when there is angst to talk about? Wick is suddenly attacked by one of the Mt. people, who manages to send off a message  before Wick can disable him.  Wick questions what happens if they only manage to blow up four turbines and is told by Raven that the door will remain closed and everyone they care about will die.

Cage goes to see Dante to talk about what is going on.  Dante makes it clear that their people are in a tenuous position and that it is all Cage's fault.  Cage admits to underestimating the commander but Dante corrects Cage and says that it was Clarke.  Dante lays the blame heavily at Cage's feet and so Cage asks his father how to stop what is going on.  When Dante does not answer, Cage makes it clear to Dante that his people need his help.  Cage moves to leave the holding area but is stopped by Dante.

The Blushing Bounder (Iron Seas #0.4) by Meljean Brook

Constable Edward Newberry has been a character in the series before – this is the story of how he first came to England, and the conflict between him and his new wife, Temperance.

I love so much about this short story and it’s amazing ability to pack so much into such a short space. And that includes the world setting which, as I have rhapsodised about before at great length and with fawning praise, is amazing and wonderful and wide and rich and complex.

Ok, I do think it helps that I know this world setting so, perhaps, I can read a lot more into the hints and suggestions than someone completely unfamiliar with the series. But still, I think you could read it cold - and it’s worth reading many of the books in the series anyway

In a short space this book covers a lot – the cultural differences between the Bounders (British aristocracy who fled England ahead of the Horde invasion now returning after the liberation) with their Victorian prudishness and ideas of propriety (and excessively over the top sense of the horrors that they left in their wake) and the people of Britain who remained under the horde – and in doing lost a lot of their inhibitions but, with it, a lot of their emotional control as they’re finally free from the Horde’s mind control

We see Mina being the awesome detective she is, brilliant and demanding brilliance from others, refusing to waste her precious time on foolishness and constantly testing those around her to make sure they reach her lofty standards. But at the same time having to deal – with weary resignation – with the prejudice and hatred of most of the populace who see her Asian face and assume she is a member of the Horde.

We have Edward and Teperance our main characters dealing with the culture shock of their new surroundings even as they have to re-examine their own relationship.

On top of that we have some wonderful little world building gems that makes this book essential reading for anyone reading the series – like the nature (or lack) of sickness (and doctors) in Britain or the class and economic pressures on people to force them to give themselves cybernetic enhancements.

It’s impressive just how much is here. unfortunately, there’s a downside to all this awesome

The underlying problem to this story I can’t get past, even with the wonderfulness that is Mina and the evident power of the love between Edward and Temperance is the complete lack of respect for Temperance‘s agency and an ending that just doubles down on that by upholding him as having made the right choice.

Regardless of Edward‘s motives for his actions, regardless of how well meaning they were and how much he loves her. In fact, I would go further and say that it would be more forgivable for him to claim he kissed Temperance without consent because he was in love, not thinking and generally being a fool. Not that that would be a good thing by any stretch. Instead we are presented with a scenario where he planned everything – kissing her, marrying her, moving her to a different continent all without her consent. Yes it’s for her “own good” but that’s irrelevant – in fact, it exacerbates things because it presents her as someone who needs looking after and decisions made for her. It’s sad because this unforgiveable scar on this short story really ruins something that is otherwise wonderful and sweet

Manpain!

© 2008 Lisa Brewster, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

In walks the manly, testosterone swelling, mighty male protagonist. Able to take down entire legions of enemies, possibly with only his chest hair (or, as is more often now, the glaring reflection from his waxed pectorals). His firm jaw and clenched teeth (naturally adorned with a light dusting of stubble – and yes, he doesn’t have time to shave but can still keep those pectorals gleaming) show a man with a grim purpose, surely nothing could crack his granite visage?

But he stops, looks down at the savaged remains of his wife/child/side-kick/pet marmot and that stony façade cracks. A single Mantear trickles down his rugged cheek and the music swells dramatically as everyone falls silent as the great hero is brought down by his greatest foe; Manpain.

 

Manpain is not a new phenomenon, but it seems to be growing more common. The manly-male heroes of yore who would never dream of shedding a tear or reacting with more than an angry eye squint in the face of the worst provocation are rapidly becoming extinct. Now, you cannot possibly be a hero without the ability to force out that Mantear and stare in agonised grief at the camera or possibly raising despairing fists to an uncaring sky. Even the most emotionless, removed and untouchable of heroes has to suggest some deep, painful currents running beneath his stoic façade.

There’s certainly some benefit to this – too often men are taught that the only acceptable emotions to express are lust or rage (or, more horrendously, lust and rage) and anything else is deemed a sign of weakness to be mocked and reviled. Allowing men to have a richer emotional palette, to present even the roughest, toughest, hardiest of manly-men to be able to express grief and sorrow and pain, to need help and support, to hurt and need healing are certainly useful things to add to our societal consciousness and media culture

Alas, as in so many things, the execution comes with its own set of problems.

At its most benign, Manpain replaces any real characterisation - and often results in some truly hilarious melodrama. A really good example of this is Will, from Lee Carroll and Carol Goodman’s Black Swan Rising Series. Will is so overcome with the thought of losing Garret he reacts by falling to his knees on the sandy beach, ripping his shirt open and instantly composing the most horrendously bad poetry I have read in a long time. It’s absolutely epic in its overly dramatic Manpain that it becomes hard to choose between rolling one's eyes and laughing out loud.

But not all are so benign (or hilarious). The most obvious we often see is, of course, Fridging. Fridging is a horrendously overused trope whereby a side-character (usually female and usually a love interest) is killed off for the sake of the main character’s story or character development. That (usually female) character is reduced to nothing more than a plot point in the main character’s story which is inherently dehumanising to her while centring his importance

In our quest for Manpain, we’ve filled a whole lot of fridges. Supernatural, perhaps the supreme master of Manpain, has filled an entire frozen food aisle full of fridges so Dean can hone his so-tortured look (Jensen Ackles must be worried his face is going to freeze like that one of these days).

Rick’s epic Manpain on The Walking Dead all relates back to the death of his wife Lori, a character largely lacking in much in the way of development except to be a millstone around Rick’s neck. The whole point of her existence was Rick’s development and Rick’s angst

Even when the women are allowed to live, a large number of these character’s Manpain can be traced back to a female “cause” (not all, certainly, the whole “I have a destiny I don’t want because being special is soooo hard” raises fairly regularly as well – as we see with Alex on Dominion and the massively melodramatic tortured past is a mainstay in paranormal romance series like Black Dagger Brotherhood and the Dark Hunter Series) – as we see on the Leftovers and Justin with his Guilty Remnant wife or Helix’s Alan Farragut stomping and moping around about Julia. These women are not dead, but one of the main roles they serve is as a source of angst and pain - at least in the first season.

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson #4) by Darynda Jones

Charley, the zany, reckless grim reaper is hurting. After being kidnapped and tortured last book, she is not doing well and the trauma has prevented her leaving her apartment in weeks. She has ongoing conflicts with both Reyes and her father for the terrible way they’ve both treated her – she’s at one of her lowest points

She still has good friends to help and support her but what really drags her out of her secure home is a new case; a young woman has been stalked and tormented for years and Charley cannot sit back and let it continue, forcing her to confront her own issues in the process

And issues inevitably lead to Reyes, the son of Satan whose plots led to Charley being tortured in the first place.

In the last book, Charley was badly traumatised after being captured and tortured. One of the things that had characterised Charlie until this point is that she’s pretty much fearless to the point of reckless. She plunges her way into any situation with the merry confidence that she will get out the other side unscathed (which makes sense given her Reaper nature) all the while making witticisms and snark.

And now that little bubble is gone. She isn’t fearless any more. She has night terrors, she has agoraphobia, she panics easily and she is hording things, filling her apartment with things she’s buying trying to reassert control. She covers the stain caused by her torture with boxes and cannot stand to have it touched. It’s a really good depiction and also contrasts well with another character also suffering PTSD as part of the case Charley is investigating. What I really like there is that their symptoms are quite different which really shows how two people with the same condition can manifest them in very different ways

It is difficult to have a character deal with something as severe as Charley did and still respectfully deal with the aftermath of that while at the same time maintain the hallmark lightness and fun that really makes this series a joy to read. And I have to say it does actually manage it without clashing. We have a lot of light and fun depictions of the underlying pain in Charley’s life. So Cookie will snark about all of the ridiculous things Charley has bought and it will be hilarious, but underneath she and Charlie’s sister will recognise there’s a problem and Charley’s hurting. Or Charley will be unable to sleep because of a horrifying nightmare and do one of her classic dropping in at 3:00am visits to poor Garrett. It mixes together surprisingly well though at times it does feel like Charley can turn off her symptoms when they’re in the way.

Forever, Season 1, Episode 17: Social Engineering

Theme setting – lots of people using mobile phones before we move to a news interview of a man, Lawrence Creef who is both CEO of a major company and a candidate for undersecretary of defence which sounds absolutely awful. The interview is hacked by someone who agrees with me exposing some of his corruption

Henry brings up this theme of the week – new modes of communication and how lies, wars and murders still happen. Before breakfast with Abraham who basically explains the concept of the Faceless (basically, Anonymous) to Henry along with Hactivism. Henry snarks at the idea of crusaders for the truth wearing masks which is ridiculously naïve for a man of his age and we get hints of Abraham’s own activist past (and mocking Henry’s technological ineptitude)

Anyway, murder time – the victim is Eric Shaw, dead from asphyxiation (which Henry annoyedly points out to Lucas who missed it – harsh Henry, or high expectations Henry?), Henry smells gas – and when the man’s alarm comes on not only does it turn on every electronic in the flat, but also the gas.

Personally I think this would be a bad way to commit murder – you turn on the gas just as he wakes up in time to smell it and do something about it?

The thermostat can be activated remotely so it’s possible that was just hacked and it wasn’t the worst trap ever. They also find a Faceless mask. Lucas is terrified and tries to leave, rather not having all his secrets leaked to the world.

Back at the station, two police from cybercrimes division get involved (and call Faceless “cyberterrorists”) and they’re super condescending towards Jo and Hanson and want the two to leave the investigation to them.

Jo isn’t impressed. But when she goes to see Henry he doesn’t have much to add (beyond Eric’s last meal) but they decide to experiment with gas for fun and while waiting for that they discuss worst way to die. A subject that Henry is an expert in which is a little disturbing of course. Jo wants to know why Henry is so obsessed with death – and he gives the answer that he likes solving puzzles which is plausible. She asks if he wants to live forever.

They do find that there is no way that the gas would have killed him in the time frame discovered.

Back to the morgue where Henry shaves Eric – where it looks like someone held a hand over his mouth (marks hidden by the beard).

At the same time Hanson lurks around the computer experts find the computer that released the gas and arrest Lawrence Creef. Of course, being with a remote computer is actually an alibi since it proves he wasn’t on hand to suffocate Eric.

Cover Review: 23rd February to 27th February

Dead Heat (Alpha & Omega #4) by Patricia Briggs

One thing I’ve always liked about Anna, and, in some ways, why I prefer this series to the Mercy Thompson Series, is that she’s a character whose woo-woo is almost the anti-woo-woo. She’s the least werewolf-y werewolf there is; and that defines her. She’s not constantly worried about control or anger, she’s not always stalking around dominance games or hierarchy or hatred of witches or any such supernatural issues. She’s often effective simply because she comes in and dumps very-human normality over everything and forces her fellows wolves to do the same

Which is why I can’t even begin to agree with a cover which makes her look all feral and ominous. Charles, yes - walking slab of angsty sexy wolfy muscle, certainly. But I feel this cover kind of misses the entire point of who and what Anna is.

Also, a leather bustier? Really? Really really?

Change Anna’s clothes and her facial expression and I think it would work - the wolf, the lack of white-washing Charles, it would have been a lot better

Armageddon Rules (Grimm Agency #2) by J.C. Nelson

Ok… what… is happening here? Is it just me, or is that her butt and BACK below the breasts and then her chest above? Because that exposed “stomach” looks like a back. Her hips definite have her arse facing us. But she’s definitely facing us from the chest upwards. Is this the most extreme spine twist we’ve ever seen? Was the artist drunk? Is it an attempt to snark at spine twisty covers? Am I just hallucinating? Perhaps I am drunk? Perhaps I should be?

Night Shift Anthology

Secrets at Midnight by Nalini Singh

This is a classic romance from the Psy/Changeling world of Nalini Singh. Which has both good and bad points. On the good side we have a lot of racial diversity, the fascinating world playing a backdrop, some pretty awesome side characters and a romance that was generally very sweet

On the minus side, it was so classic that it was faintly predictable. Bastien meets Kirby and ZOMG SHE SMELLS OF WIFEY! And lo, the romance is now written in stone as soon as he human brain catches up with Bastien’s relationship planning wereleopard nose. To be fair to the story, while Bastien is very eager to be with Kirby (because of the WIFEY SMELL!) he is also very careful not to pressure her – even refusing to have sex with her when she instigates it because he recognises what vast changes have suddenly rocked her life and he’s very conscious about not taking advantage of her. He is very respectful of her agency and, if you must have the “I smell true love with this complete stranger we are destined to be together” storyline then this is one of the best you will read out there. I’m still not a fan, but this was one of the best I’d read. Especially since, while Bastien had all the classic “MAH WIFEY!” possessiveness, he also kept that to the internal monologue.

There’s also some clear story beyond the “I SMELL WIFEY TWU LUB!” storyline with nice appearances from Bastien’s family and Kirby’s past.

Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews

It’s Jim and Dali’s story! For a long time fan of this world, this is perfect and I couldn’t wait. But beyond my love of these two characters, this story is awesome as well because of how Dali grows in it. Jim has always been confident, powerful and a leader of his people; he’s the chief enforcer and security head of the Pack, he’s the head of Clan Cat, made up of some of the most dangerous and powerful and independent of the shapeshifters. He has always, from the very beginning of the book, been an immense power and worthy of respect. Dali, on the other hand, has always been plagued by insecurities which is clear here – she considers herself scrawny, she has very poor eyesight, she’s a vegetarian, she’s not dangerous and generally considers herself inept – and has no idea why Jim wants to be with her. Her lack of self-worth is painful to see

But through this book Dali really shows off her own strength – and not through Jim holding her hand and convincing her she’s special (though he is instrumental in pointing out that it doesn’t matter how limited her vision or averse to blood she is, she’s still a massive White Tiger and the biggest werecat in the city not to mention absolutely awe inspiring in appearance), but through her going through her life as someone who defeats evil magic in her Indonesian community. We see a side to her life we’ve never seen before – which Jim has never seen before – in which she is casually competent and incredibly, awesomely powerful – and Jim is willing to support her in that, play second to her and let her guide the action because this is her territory and her expertise. We get to see Dali in all her amazing glory and the immensely powerful Jim continues to show his strength AND isn’t lessened by allowing Dali to take point.

Throw in Dali being Indonesian, Jim being Black and a whole lot of racially diverse side cast and this was awesome all through. There’s also a wonderful sense of Indonesian culture – I can’t say I’m an expert but there was some clear research involved from cuisine, to mythology. There’s also some definite sharp commentary on the habit of fetishising Asian women. And Dali’s family is hilarious.

Lucky Charms by Lisa Shearin

I don’t know if it’s because I am not familiar with this world – but this felt like a lot was packed into a small space. On the plus side, that lot was wonderfully zany and excellent whacky fun and I’d definitely want to pick up the whole series attached to it – but it definitely felt like a small part of a whole rather than a story that could stand on its own. But, then, since it left me wanting to find the rest of that whole, then I think that’s a definite result.

The world is incredibly diverse with a lot of interesting political machinations between the different mystical factions which just makes me want to delve through it all. I also like the snarky mundanity brought in – like the supernatural loving our world because of indoor plumbing. Makenna is an interesting character – she has a useful ability without being superwoman, she seems pretty alert and fun and capable and generally will be a decent protagonist to follow around and definitely one I’d like to see more of – she also has a sense of needing employment, but not seeming to be drowning in devotional loyalty to an employer because of that – which will be interesting to see develop. There is a budding romance but thankfully they resist the urge to pursue it. Some of the humour about the male leprechauns shifting into female strippers to humiliate male agents borders on the transphobic and homophobic, though

The Beast of Blackmoor by Milla Vane

Why is this story even here? There’s a Grimdark High Fantasy story clinging to the end of an Urban Fantasy anthology? It feels so very out of place compared to the other three stories in the book

And why, when going for a Grimdark setting, do we really need to have wall-to-wall rape? A tyrannical dictator enslaving his populace who are starving because of demonic tainted water is already pretty grim, we don’t need the man who was raped in the stocks and the hero who was gang raped as a teenager and the king who wants to enslave him for more rape in the future to extra grimmify everything. Nor do we really need all the angry sex between Kavik and Mala, the woman he thinks is going to enslave him and return him to a life of being raped. I equally dislike that Kavik and Mala saw each other and it’s twu lub forever, each of them willing to sacrifice everything for the other. Which sounds kind of romantic – until you remember that they’re both heirs to separate thrones on which much of the hope of their people’s rest.

Once we move past the rape and the fastforward romance, we actually have a great story and world here. The pantheon seems rich and researched, the world is so well described you can almost see the landscape. The politics has layers and has clearly been well put together and I’m sure all of these lands have a lot of research in the author’s notes and head. The action scenes are gloriously written and I can see the chainmail and the flying blood. The story has all the epic fantasy elements and if I were ever to get back into high fantasy I would have considered this author and this series because it ticks a lot of boxes – but not the pointless grimdark rape or the falling in love while still reeking of the entrails of the monsters they just slew.

It’s an anthology with a lot more ups than down, a lot of excellent stories, some brilliant characters and, in at least 2 of the stories, some good racial diversity and development. The first two stories are the strongest but all of them have strong elements in their favour.