Between, Season 1, Episode 1: School's Out

Day 10

Death toll_pretty lake

3,412

A young man in a night shrouded wood tries to head to some large metal gates – as soon as he gets near alarms sound and soldiers point guns at him.

Now we’re going to start the story, going back to Day 1. Death toll 0. Did I ever mention how I hate the trope of having a flash from the middle/end of the episode at the beginning?

We’re in the rural town of Pretty Lake and in a highschool where Wiley, a pregnant teenaged mother and student declines her friend Adam’s offer of skipping class (a neat moment explaining that Adam is smart and has already been accepted to MIT and drawing attention to Wiley’s pregnancy. Nicely done). She refers to herself as the “minister’s fallen daughter” with lots and lots of sarcasm to deal with Adam’s concern. She’s also keeping the dad a secret.

Wiley’s rather jokey sarcasm takes on a much harsher tone when talking to her sister, Melissa later at her dad’s church (and she clearly feels judged by the Jesus windows) when Melissa finds their dad, on the floor with blood on his mouth.

Adam is really looking forward to going to MIT since he’s not a fan of living in a small town – and he’s supported and congratulated by his 21 year old teacher, Ms Symmonds currently doing her masters she seems kind of sad that Adam isn’t more receptive (budding teacher romance?)

Some other quick introductions: rich guy in a big fancy car who drives like a fool. Ronnie, small time drug dealer, and his much despairing plumber’s apprentice relative (who are nearly killed by arsehole rich kid). The relative (we need naaaaames!) goes to confront rich kid’s rich parents. The rich kid, Chuck, lies and says that it was him who hit Chuck’s car and he’s managed to rustle up a couple of people to lie for him. The confrontation is derailed when rich mother starts bleeding from the mouth – and dies.

And there’s some guy in a prison who doesn’t get along with a fellow inmate

Then there’s a guy who just joined the army and his awesome little sister who skewers his decision in a perfect slap down that means I want everyone else on the show to step away so we can focus on her. He apparently works on a farm owned by his father (with the implication that his dad is close to bankruptcy) with his grandfather looking on as he delivers a calf. Grandfather becomes the newest victim of the plague

Day 4

Death toll: 47

Panic begins to grip the town, passed around by social media and texting (which is a really nifty scene) as scared people share news and worry.

Interlude with drug dealer guy going to by guns

Olympus, Season 1, Episode 7: Love and Time

After a brief reprieve last week, Olympus is back – clearly we have not suffered enough.

Hero is being all blooded and tortured by Medea for funsies (and the Lexicon) and then they face a far more terrible fate – awful special effects. Seriously, is this show funded by the change the producer found down the back of his sofa? The vision has the beast complaining about him being weak and with a clean heart and his future self being free and something about a mortal god dying and rising again.

He wakes up with an unpleasant wound on his chest and a curious Medea – she’s got all sorts from his vision including that the Guardian of the Lexicon is Kronos! God of Time. Putting together more elements she declares he has to defeat Aphrodite – killing love.

Y’know, killing love sounds like a bad idea. I’m just saying

After a bit of a woo-woo, Medea finds Aphrodite and sets off with Hero – though Hero questions why Athena would give up Aphrodite knowing, as Medea puts it, nothing of sisters nor the war between reason and passion

In Minos’s camp, Minos insists that Daedelus have his siege engine ready by the end of the day or he be disembowelled, cooked and eaten. And yet, I sill kind of love Minos. I have no idea why. Daedellus is, thankfully (or regretfully, depending on whose side you’re on) a genius

Part of the prebattle ritual involves Minos having to eat a sacrificed ox heart – he amuses me immensely. He decides if he has to suffer, so does Daedalus and sends him the brains.

Oracle –who-doesn’t-have-a-name goes wandering and finds some random cannibals attacking a boy. Her cold-reading ability fails to intimidate them – but Chalciope drops in and her actually-killing-them tactic is much more effective. Then she kills the boy, in case we forgot she’s the bad guy. She wants Oracle to tell her where Hero is and they have a bit of snarking about comparative religion.

Medea leads Her to a cave where Aphrodite is supposed to appear – he goes in and finds Oracle praying. There are 8 levels of misunderstandings between intercepted notes and visions and plans involving Kimon’s note, Chalciope using Oracle as bait and a lack of an army. And Hero realising Chalciope is the woman who killed his mother

Oh and there’s a different interpretation of Hero apparently finding love in this cave/temple and instead finding Oracle. Or is it instead? Oracle is quick to all but yell “me me, I’m your love, me, pick me!” Hero explains the whole god murdering thing and Oracle is not impressed with his shallow theological knowledge – instead pointing out the gods are abstracts and “kill Aphrodite” means killing the love he has for a person not actually beheading a woman on a clamshell. Oh and that person you love is totally Oracle. Honest.

Satan's Sword (Imp #2) by Debra Dunbar

Samantha is an imp who has been bound by an angel.  The upside of this is that it will allow her to stay on the earthly plane; however, the downside is now she is forced to follow Gregory's tough rules.  Imps and rules do not go together.  If that were not enough, Samantha's brother Dar, is in huge trouble and is absolutely desperate for Sam to pick up a magical artifact for him.  Somehow, Sam has to help Dar out, avoid angering anyone in hell, and follow all of Gregory's rules.

This is the second book in the Imp series and I am absolutely in love with it.  It's the kind of book that you stay up late reading, promising that you'll go to bed after just one more chapter and then end up pushing forward until the end.  As a protagonist, Samantha is absolutely great.  She's an imp and kills without any kind of regret, gets excited by serial killers and is not adverse to eating body parts, even if they belong to her. Being an imp, Sam loves her mischief and is not beyond cursing people to crave hot wings.  The entire book is filled with Sam's little antics which had me roaring with laughter.  I tend to agree with Sam that eating copious amounts of cheesecake falls under the sin of gluttony but it's so worth it. Sam has a tattoo on her arm which connects her to the angel Gregory.  A smart person would leave that alone but Sam cannot stop herself from masturbating with it because it produces orgasmic feelings.  The bonus for Sam is that every time she touches it, Gregory becomes aroused as well.

Satan's Sword greatly progressed Sam's character.  Not only did Sam get an increase in power, she began to get in touch with her feelings for her boyfriend Wyatt, Gregory the angel and even her female friends.  Sam initially scoffed at the idea of love, relegating it something angels and humans experience, yet she was more than willing to kill the woman who beat Wyatt at his favorite video game.  It takes time but Sam finally does come to the truth of her feelings.  The same applies to her female friends whose skill she respects.  It isn't until she thinks that they might have been killed by another demon that Sam acknowledges that she cares. Sam is still a demon but her time on earth has helped her to evolve into something more. Straddling being a demon and having a relationship with humans is something Sam is continuing to work on.

Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 23: Brother's Keeper

Wayward son! (Albeit a little altered). I swear I wait a whole season for this moment and end up playing the intro 3 times over before getting to the actual episode.

Sam and Castiel are trying – and failing – to find Dean and dealing with the big question of what to do when they find him. The only “cure” for the Mark of Cain is death – or maybe Rowena and the evil book of evil. The problem is, as Castiel points out, using the evil book of evil causes evil stuff to happen. This is not stopping Sam – absolutely no-one can tell him what these consequences are except for a vaguely worded ominous maybe and he’s not going to let Dean die for that.

So it’s back to Rowena, they need her spell and intimidating her isn’t working. Another problem is Sam can’t actually deliver his side of the deal and kill Crowley – so it’s time for what she’ll “settle” for – freedom and the Evil Book of Evil. Castiel thinks this is a bad idea. Sam doesn’t care.

The ingredients for the uncursing are pretty harsh – the fruit from the Garden of Eden, the Golden Calf (with Castiel – or “feathers” as Rowena calls him) there to confirm that all of these things exist and are a pain in the arse to get. And, hardest of all, the sacrifice of something Rowena loves. Not that she cares too much about that- she’s happy to kill anything – but she doesn’t actually love anything. Castiel calls shenanigans and uses his angel mojo to find what Rowena loves: a Polish boy called Oskar she knew 300 years ago.

Dean wakes in a motel and looks several kinds of rough.

And then goes to investigate a woman’s murder posing as FBI (with still scarred muscles). Only Dean crosses lines even for him, mentioning the girl “looked like a whore” and earning a strong objection from the Sheriff who not only opposes him referring to the girl that way but also wants it to be clear that even if she WERE a sex worker (or the whore of Babylon) she still gets treated like a person. Why, Supernatural you do try at times.

He’s also joined by fellow hunter Rudy who called Dean in (and seems to think the kill is a vampire kill) and dean insults him and tries to drive him off. Upset Rudy calls Sam to let him know where Dean is and that he’s not playing well with others. Sam leaves Castiel to do magic with Rowena while he goes to intervention his brother

Alas, Dean is also allowed to interview the parents of a missing friend of the victim (Crystal). It’s terrible and awful and killing Dean as an option is looking increasingly like a decent option.

When did the Mark of Cain, of murder and rage, become the Mark of Slut Shaming?

He does get a lead from Crystal’s brother and it’s off to a cabin full of vampires and hostages (Crystal and Rudy). The vampires die – but so does Rudy, largely because Dean doesn’t even try to really save him. Crystal lives but is duly horrified that Dean didn’t even try to save Rudy.

Grimm: Oh Hell No

If you have been following Fangs for the Fantasy for some time, you will know that when a season finale comes around we often write a Friday Discussion about particular issues that have stood out to us over the course of a season.

So we come to the fourth season of Grimm and a terrible dilemma - there’s just so much wrong here that touching on any one issue wouldn’t give the full depth of a season that left us yelling “oh hell no” at the screen every episode.

It is the collective fail of this season that makes all of it so much worse. So let us line up some of the issues of this broken season.

Wesenrein

Our first Oh Hell No has to be yelled at the top of our lungs for some of the most appropriative awfulness we’ve ever seen - and that includes  the season in which Grimm made Hitler into a Wesen.

This season, Mornoe and Rosalie are attacked by a group that disapproves of inter-wessen relationships (he’s a blutbad, she’s a fuchsbau). The whole storyline is directly ripped off from the racist bigoted violence against people in interracial relationships. We can’t say it’s “inspired by” or that it even “draws upon” this terrible bigotry and terrible time in history - this is a direct rip off.

The Wesenrein even put burning cross-like symbols in Monroe and Rosalie’s lawn. Burning crosses in their lawn, there was no other way they could convey hatred without stealing this terrible moment from history? And then they have a trial with lots of Wesenrein people in KKK-style robes - all they need is some bleach and it could be a historical photograph.

This is appropriation. This was a direct theft of a horrendous atrocity in history. This was claiming the experiences of a marginalised group and turning it into entertainment all while nearly completely removing actual POC from the plot line. I reiterate - Oh Hell No.

Random POC Appropriation

We need another Oh Hell No here - Grimm is not good with their POC actors, despite having two prominent characters of colour in the main cast, neither Hank nor Wu really get deeply absorbed in the plot. Like so many POC on so many shows, they’re often on screen - but as sidekicks, comic reliefs and shadows for the main characters. When we do  get plot lines that actually do involve POC on Grimm in a particularly meaty manner, it inevitably means Grimm is raiding cultures of colour for woo-woo. POC and POC issues or culture will never be raised for episode after episode - then suddenly Kali! Bring on the Hindu snake people. Chupacabra, dredge up latinos everywhere! Native Americans added a third such episode this season

These characters/cultures/people only appear when Grimm wants to fill its pockets with some non-European monsters and once the show has finished play with its new toys, they’re put back in the box to be neglected again.

Rogue (Talon #2) by Julie Kagawa

Ember and Riley have escaped from the Talon and are now Rogue dragons on the run. In theory they should go into hiding, especially since Riley’s network of freed dragons is under threat and needs his attention

But Garret is still imprisoned, the former St George soldier faces execution if they do not save him – and he did save their lives. But are they really going to risk everything to save someone who once slaughtered their kind?

Dante, Ember’s brother, is also desperately hunting them. If he finds Ember, bring her home maybe he can still save her – and maybe his own position in the Talon won’t be irretrievably damaged. But how far will he go against his sister for the sake of his position?

I think this book is better than the first one as it has made an attempt to get some motivations in order beyond “hot person is hot so I will happily throw away my loyalties and beliefs even though I’ve only known them for a couple of days.”

So Ember is focused a little more on how the Talon was demanding she kill, including killing her own kind since, as a Viper, she would be required to hunt down rogues. There’s a lot of her reflection that she can’t bring herself to do that, doesn’t want to become that and, even as she fights for her own survival, is afraid of becoming someone who can kill without remorse. She’s afraid that her own fight for survival will turn her into the creature that Talon always wanted her to become. It’s a level of depth to her supremely shallow story that works far better than her deciding Talon was evil before she had any evidence, or deciding to be a rebel without any good reason or trust a stranger with even less. If you forget the first book, Ember now makes something approaching sense.

Similarly Riley/Cobalt had a wonderful back story that explored a lot of his reasons for going Rogue in the first place. His motivations are excellently explored and his history really does display perfectly why he could no longer work for the Talon and why he was driven to start working against them. Through his past we see a full reasoning for him trying to get Ember and the other hatchlings out of Talon’s control and a really strong reason for why he either wants to bring them down (along with Wes who we can see has his own real motivations). This was excellently done

Which then crashes and burns with the huge chunk of this book where Riley decides to risk himself and his entire network to rescue Garrett for Ember. We spend so much of this book exploring his past, really bringing out why he has such a beef against Talon and how important his work is – but he’s willing to jeopardise all of that for Ember? Similarly, Ember is willing to risk her life and freedom (which she just fought so hard for), Riley’s life and his network (which she knows is so important) for the sake of Garrett who she still doesn’t know all that well? This book is trying to get away from the generic and dubious romance that clumsily dominated the first book but still badly undermines that progress.

The same applies to Garrett – now Garrett realising that Ember and other dragons are actually beings with feelings rather than monsters and demons should have been an excellent character moment. And I liked that he made this point before his tribunal rather than call on his love for Ember. His realisation that it is wrong to kill dragon-kind simply for being dragons should have been a powerful one and a character defining moment. It also should have been a moment of soul-shattering revelation and a whole lot of introspection because he has been hunting and slaughtering dragons for so long and so successfully his fellow hunters called him the “Perfect Soldier”. But we don’t get that – most of his storyline far more focuses on his attraction and love for Ember than the revelation that he has been involved in an unjust genocide – it doesn’t even make the character feel evil because it’s just so badly executed. Again, there’s an attempt to move on, but the romance that started this series is dragged out even when it’s grossly inappropriate.

iZombie, Season 1, Episode 10: Me Berserk

Lowell, noooooooooooooooooo, noooooooooooooo, nooooooooooo….

This has been pretty much me since last week. Of course this week they will make it all better and bring him back from the dead. Right?

Liv is being interviewed about Lowell’s death (nooooo) with the cop obviously suspicious about her being on scene so quickly. Clive has to tell Ravi that Liv is a suspect. But Ravi can’t hold Liv’s hand because Clive needs him to go talk to Major after last week he reported killing a man with an apparently disappearing body (not knowing about zombies).

The devastated Liv gets a reprieve from Lieutenant Suzuki instead, covering up for Blaine he insists Lowell’s death was a text book suicide and shuts down the questioning.

That doesn’t save Major from Ravi questioning him and not being too thrilled about Major buying guns off the street. Major rambles on about how nothing makes sense while Ravi keeps looking disapproving before telling him what happened with Liv

And to work the next day where Liv is still devastated. It’s looking increasingly like a resurrected Lowell isn’t going to happen. Apart from anything sleep, she needs to eat, she needs a brain without PTSD because the last thing she needs is to keep re-living Lowell’s death. Ravi confirms that Suzuki is covering up Lowell’s death, revealing Blaine’s power but Liv is unwilling to exposition because she can’t deal right now. She wants to work. And eat

Bring on Rebecca Hinson, today’s corpse, alcoholic, reported – and the woman who was working with Major and had a slight chance of possibly, just possibly, being an actual female character beyond Liv on this show. Alas she has been downgraded to lunch. Liv isn’t particularly worried about getting drunk at this stage – which may be a plus – and she finds this death waaaay too convenient.

But there’s some hard truth – Ravi wants to go along with the cover up and call Lowell’s death a suicide. Anyone going after Blaine will be in danger because they can’t warn the police what Blaine is – and if Blaine does end up in prison without brains that’s a whole other problem, to say nothing of exposure. And the potential contagious biohazard represented by Lowell’s zombie body – poor Liv looks so broken over this.

She looks for a drink – and has a flashback of Rebecca’s death and her killer apparently taking her fingerprint to unlock her phone. She comes out of the vision to find Clive admiring her brainy meal – she tells Clive she wants in on the case when he asks and recounts her first vision.

Wickedly Magical (Baba Yaga 0.5) by Deborah Blake

Barbara Yager is one of three Baba Yagas living in the United States.  Having been a baba yaga for so long, Barbara no longer considers herself to be human. When not fulfilling her duties, Barbara lives with Chudo-Yudo a dragon who has become a dog, to make himself more palatable to the human population.

 Ivan has been stalking Barbara for three days, trying to work up the courage to speak to her but tired of waiting, Barbara takes the bull by the horns and approaches him.  It seems that the Baba Yaga before her gave Ivan's family a magical promise of aid due to his grandmother's bravery and love.  With his children taken from his custody and justice system wrongly convinced that he abuses his children, Ivan is forced to turn to the Baba Yaga for help.  It seems that a human named Johnathon Billingwood has developed the ability to influence people and has not only stolen Ivan's wife away but blocked Ivan's access to his children.  Considering the circumstances, Barbara feels she must absolutely become involved.

Wickedly Magical is a prequel of the Baba Yaga series and coming in at 67 pages, it's a short story absolutely designed to interest the reader in the series.  As an introduction to the Baba Yaga series, Wickedly Magical  more than does it's job.  I finished Wickedly Magical very quickly and am absolutely anxious to see where this story is going to go.  Blake took great care to update some of the folklore associated with the Baba Yaga to make it fit within modern times.  All of the Baba Yagas still live very secluded lives but they no longer fly around in a mortar with a pestle. Barbara's mortar and pestle now takes the form of a motorcycle. Their homes are all still made from the original chicken leg hut but have been changed to things like jet streams.  Baba Yagas can still change their appearance at will and though Barbara very much presents as an average woman, she still has a bit of a long nose.

Each Baba Yaga is trained by the previous one.  It seems that because the Baba Yagas are so removed from their humanity by the time they train their successor, this incarnation of Baba Yagas have some unresolved issues. Though the Baba Yagas are not blood related and have been selected to the current roles due to innate magic, they have a very strong sisterly bond and enjoy spending time together.  I love that they lean on each other and get a strong sense of family from them. These women however remain isolated because of who they are and don't form relationships with human men.