Dominion, Season 2, Episode 9: The Seed of Evil

David is all confused because Claire has sent in the full army to crush the resistance, they’ve lost the armoury, they’ve lost the agri towers. In desperation, David calls on them to rise up and use the one advantage they have left – overwhelming numbers. The V1s are a huge underclass compared to the V6s and can overwhelm their attackers with numbers. He’s also trying to escape because Arika give shim up because he knows she most certainly will do so. Because he would as well

Am I the only one who thinks David and Arika working together would be a) awesome and b) terrifying?

David tries to rally as many soldiers as he can – and it’s clear he’s not that popular among all the V1s either. He tries to find some civilians to hide among as human shields. A building full of people – all listening to the newly returned William Wheele sermonising about being the chosen one. This confuses David for a moment who thinks his hallucinations are acting up

He pushes to the front and reconcile with his son who has a full blown Jesus complex. Literally. While David is just stunned and grateful and apologetic.

Back to Michael Alex and Noma still travelling, endlessly, towards Vega. They’re being attacked by 8 ball suicide bombers from Julian’s army – Noma and Michael speculate they’ve been offered angel bodies to come back in (which Noma considers impossible but an easy lie). They find that Julian’s huge army of 8 Balls is already preparing around Vega. Most of them are in stasis, but Alex’s clumsiness wakes them up – they fight clear but now Michael suddenly collapses and they have to carry him as all the 8 Balls wake up

In Vega, Arika does just that, telling Claire she knows where David is. They talk about Zoe who Claire shot last episode – who Arika says is just like Claire, an idealist, and both of them should have killed David long ago. She tells them that it was David who arranged the sniper who shot Claire (Did I miss something? Didn’t they figure this out 2 episodes ago? Have they just realised none of this makes sense if Claire realises David was the one behind the sniper so retconned in some ignorance?). Of course this makes Claire all sad and guilty

She also asks why Arika betrayed her and her answer is simple – for Helena. And she’s not impressed that Claire is just far too sympathetic and nice unlike her and Riesen: they’re “fierce pragmatists”. This also compares to Arika’s father who was, apparently, also all sympathetic.

Under the Dome, Season 3, Episode 12: Incandescence

Under the Dome has had considerable luck this season – at any other time it would be the worst show I’ve been watching, except Falling Skies has also been inflicted on us.

Now Falling Skies has been cancelled, Under the Dome can claim the title of Worst Ever.

So we begin after last episode when everyone used not one scrap of intelligence and practically doomed the whole of humanity, with Junior escaping from inept capture. While Barbie and Julia argue over baby evil queen who Barbie has fully accepted as his daughter and deeply regrets not dying trying to bring the demon child with him

I regret him not killing the demon child with fire. And Julia.

Barbie decides he has to go back and find the baby – while Barbie continues to deny that his alien progeny is evil. Julia desperately tries to talk sense into him (and when Julia is the one talking sense we’re reached a terrible terrible state of affairs). Julia declares that their next move has to be smart

They’re doomed.

Julia manages to convince Barbie to wait to try the cure – since neither of them know the cure doesn’t actually work.

At team resistance, Lily talks to Jim about his mass murderer solution – and she tries to talk Jim out of it by appealing to his better nature. This is the lady who worked surveillance on the dome but still thinks Jim has a better nature. She wants him to convince Hector to be all good. He agrees – but only to get her co-operation. He wants her to erase the spy footage of him since it shows him doing all kinds of murdering.

Barbie and Julia return to the group and Hector gets to meet Barbie who promptly turns all his daddy issues on Hector (he thought the head of the evil company Acteon was his dad when Hector was really in command). Hector decides to apologise since being apologetic and guilty seems to be his thing (and is totally setting him up for inevitable death possibly involving self-sacrifice)

Which is when they tell Barbie that the cure fails – but a bonus possibility is that the umbilical call of evil demon baby may have stem cells that can help make the cure. While they’re hopeful, Hector would rather mass poison all the infected – but Jim tells Hector about the calcification so they need the aliens to free them. His excuse for not worrying about the aliens escaping (hey, someone finally cares about this!) is that there’s an armed perimeter around the Dome. They’re also pinning their

Hector pours away his poison. Alas, another good idea is banished.

Julia and Barbie go looking for alien baby – and find Eva’s body, to Barbie’s grief and confusion. They realise Eva was murdered because Christine only keeps people who are useful (and has been made abundantly clear, Eva only served one purpose to the writers Christine). Barbie still wants to save his evil demon baby – but they do get the umbilical cord

 Over to the Kinship and an ailing Christine is draining more energy from the Dome – speeding the Calcification – in order to power up Demon Baby. But the whole Dome is now starting to calcify far far far too fast. Everyone will die.

Remember this is a bad thing. Apparently.

They go back to base and Junior tells them all about the attempted cure. They recap each other and Junior is now all jealous of Sam while Christine is still aging.

And people are starting to suffer oxygen deprivation. But only some of them for REASONS. Anyway the Dome needs to come down as soon as possible. So she wants an answer from Joe right now because, yes, again, Joe is the one who absolutely must save them all: though Joe remembers the death threats Christine has happily dished out in the past.

Junior comes up with the idea of killing off the elderly – getting Sam and Junior to do it with the promise that the new Queen may pick one of them to be her “Alpha.” She continues to leave ominous messages for the new Queen to face “the others.”

Sam and Junior take a line of old people and have them march into the lake.

Norrie checks with Joe and he tries to get her to leave as soon as the Dome comes down but Norrie, having something similar to common sense, doesn’t trust Christine not to just kill Joe.

She passes the knowledge to the Resistance who get the umbilical cord to Jim – who throws it away. Because he’s Jim. And this is Under the Dome and no-one has a brain. Barbie and Julia head to the cement factory because they can see lots of activity there

Christine is with the newly cocooned queen evil demon baby transferring the last of her life into the new queen. She’s joined by Barbie and Julia (there’s only one guard, of course there is) who interrupts, breaking open the cocoon – and a blurred form rushes out of it. Barbie runs after his evil demon daughter, leaving Julia with a weeping Christine. For a brief second, Barbie even looks like he’s going to shoot his demon daughter before he loses her and returns to Christine and Julia. He doesn’t quite grasp that the blurring thing probably was his daughter because he still thinks she’s human despite immense evidence to the contrary.

Barbie gets all angry at Christine but Julia goes all wet and fluffy and protests at evil alien abuse. Christine weeps and apologises. She’s apparently cured, she’s human so she doesn’t get murdered. Also she transferred all her knowledge to the new Queen so she doesn’t even know much about the master plans… but she does belatedly remember the lake and the massacre she ordered there.

At the lake all of the old people have already been killed – and Junior has decided on stage 2, kill the children as well. Without the Queen he’s decided he’s in charge. Thankfully, Barbie, Julia and de-aliend Christine arrive and Christine plays queen again to tell them that murdering children is not a good plan. They manage to save the children, but Junior notices that Christine is no longer alien

He tries to kill her but, sadly, Barbie decides to attack – only Junior is now all super-aliened and not easily beaten and Barbie has to be saved by Julia. Oh the shame Barbie, the shame. More shame. Can they at least hit Junior a few more times to see if he’s dead?

Back at the Resistance, Hector’s assistant Dava is not all that thrilled by Hector’s plan of mass poisoning and he pulls a gun on her to stop her telling Julia. See, Julia is the source of all the world’s problems! Lily finds Dava’s body with Hector stood over her. That pretty much destroys any chance of a cure. Lily is outraged and thinks when the Dome is down all these poor sick people will be quarantined. Hector doesn’t think a gentle quarantine is in the future of people infected by an alien invader. She then sees Hector’s plan – not kill the town, kill Joe, stop the Dome coming down and save the world from the aliens.

While Hector ties Lily up she manages to tell Hunter and Norrie Hector’s plan – who in turn tells Jim who is busy packing lots of money to run away.  Jim is quite annoyed by the whole thing and decides to go save Joe so they can actually get out.

Hector and his forces attack the burned down radio station where Joe is setting up his Dome breaker but before the soldier can kill Joe, Norrie shoots the soldier repeatedly. They turn to run and run into a gun wielding Hector. And he is shot by Big Jim. He protests that he’s saving the world and Jim shoots him in the head.

The Resistance all gathers – and Barbie and Julia bring back Christine because it’s not like an alien has pretended to be human to gain information and their location before, right Sam? They also realise with Dava’s dead then they’re utterly screwed. But hey they have Christine, I guess.

They leave Barbie and Julia to angst and Barbie to blame himself because he doesn’t want to blame Christine – he’s decided it was all his fault for being infected and now his poor poor evil demon child is suffering for it. But then he blinks and realises she’s a monster

About damn time! Kill it with fire!!!!!

And Christine is captured – by the new queen! She plasters Christine to the Dome and reduces her to sparklies. Apparently the old queen has to die.

Shall I all shenanigans at the whole idea of everyone running out of oxygen? The Dome has been there for FOUR WEEKS – it says right there in the opening. It’s also HUGE covering a vast area and a huge amount of air – and it has only been calficying for a few days (and only to the point of it being notable for 2 or 3 days at most). There is no way they’re going to run out of oxygen that quickly. I can see them easily having months of air in that space – certainly they’re not going to run out mere hours after Christine calcifies the Dome

I think Hector may be the most compelling character on this show. Hi desperate guilt and torment, his need to make it right because of his assumed responsibility.  His story could be immensely more interesting than Julia’s. Or Jim’s. Or Barbie’s.

But no, he dies. Something I have been predicting ever since he appeared because this is Under the Dome and Black people die under this dome, it is known. Julia (who has made so many bad decisions by now that she should die from her brain melting if nothing else).

The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris

We know the story of the Eddas, the stories of North Mythology from the creation of the Nine Worlds from a cow and a giant right through to Ragnarok when it call falls apart again.

But this is, as Loki points out, told from the point of view of the Old Man himself, Odin. Who is not entirely a reliable narrator. It’s time for the villain of the piece to tell his side of the story.

This book is a retelling of many of the stories of the Eddas only from a different point of view – this is told from the point of view of Loki.

I have read many of the stories of the Eddas. I like mythology, I like Norse mythology – a book containing mythology of any kind will generally find one of us running to get our hands on it. This book came the closest of any I’ve read to taking so much Norse mythology and so many of their stories and gods and really revelling in it. And, as a fan of those stories anyway, I loved it

I don’t know if I would have loved it more or less if I didn’t know all the stories inside already. In some ways, knowing what was going to happen made it more enjoyable because I could remember the original and see it through this angle the author has considered – seeing things from a different light and turning Loki into a realised and interesting and complex (and certainly not perfect) character just added new appreciation from me for these stories. Of course, if you recognise the stories you’re probably also a mythology fan so would appreciate this book anyway.

The flip side is if you weren’t familiar with Norse Mythology then this book wouldn’t be entirely spoiled for you. At no point in the book did I really not know what was going to happen next – I’ve read these stories, a new angle doesn’t change the progress, the story or the end result. There’s no suspense there and, consequently, there are times when I felt I could have skipped ahead or skimmed, like a book you’ve read several times over

But I don’t think this book can stand alone without the mythology geek’s glee. It relies too much on past knowledge to paint the world, the characters and make this new angle meaningful. The Gospel According to Loki simply won’t be appreciated to the same extent, even after being read, by someone who isn’t already aware of Loki (beyond Marvel adaptations) because that back story is needed.

But even though the story is thoroughly spoiled to me, I still enjoyed it. Loki’s character is fun, complex, deeply imperfect, slightly alien but also very very human and fun. His motives, always kind of put down to being Loki, the chaotic Trickster of extra chaoticness, who does shit because he’s LOKI and he does whatever the hell he wants to. Now we see him, the betrayals, the resentment, his eternal outsider status, how his good deeds are rarely remembered, how he thinks he’s achieved acceptance and then one trick later and everyone turns round and he’s, again, forced into the fringes. His battle between wanting to be accepted by the Aesir and Vanis, thinking he’s achieved it, and the bitterness and rage when he realises, again, how much they all hate him (especially Heimdall). It’s really excellent character development as we see him constantly swap between seethingly seeking vengeance and occasionally backing down as he almost, almost achieves acceptance only to have that hatred return threefold. Of course this leads to him both saving the gods and sabotaging them in equal measure. It also begs the question whether he would ever actually have been accepted if he didn’t sabotage himself repeatedly – or was he constantly being exploited? I like that it’s very clear that, yes, poor Loki is often abused and poorly treated – while it’s equally clear he deserves what he gets quite regularly. He’s not perfect, he gets away with a lot, but he also gets treated poorly when he doesn’t deserve it – it’s not a retelling of the Eddas to make him a saint, but nor to make him a demon – just the chaotic Trickster who turned form Odin’s blood-brother to the bitter enemy at Ragnarok.

The Problematic Portrayal of Race on Defiance

One of the hardest parts of reviewing and recapping at Fangs is that you have to be critical even when you want to jump up and down and cheer and wave great big “Team Stahma” banners. Alas, we have to remember that even on shows and in books we love and fanpoodle, there are problems

And when it comes to Defiance and race, we have a very severe problem that has not improved over the last 3 seasons.

The most obvious initial problem is the relative lack of POC - yes we can have several different alien species but POC are relatively few and far between. This is especially troublesome when we consider that Defiance is St. Louis - a city that is only 43% non-hispanic White and 47% Black - yes, this cast of predominantly White (or alien) people is happening in a city where White people are a minority. It looks like we have another dystopian future where marginalised people die in the first wave.

It is not just a lack of numbers, but also screen presence - many of the POC we have seen have not played large roles. This is another prevalent problem we’ve seen on many of our shows where, going by simple numbers, there are several POC but when you look at actual screen time and meaningful presence we find them to be grossly neglected. Certainly the largest roles - Amanda, Nolan, Irisa, the Tarrs and Yewl are held by White humans or aliens (pale aliens at that). Rafe McCawley was the most prominent (and his portrayal came with its own set of problems) - and after him it’s a long drop to the rest of his family, Tommy, Samir and briefly appearing guest roles. All of these have had severe problems

Tommy was one of the most cringeworthy. From the very beginning Tommy’s primary role has been to be wrong. He is nearly constantly in conflict with Nolan, a conflict he is never intended to win. From the very beginning when he was passed over for Lawkeeper in favour of the apparently more experienced Nolan (despite his lack of any kind of law enforcement experience and that pesky slaughtering of Votans past) to Tommy supporting the E-Rep as opposed to Nolan opposition, Tommy has existed to be wrong to contrast with Nolan’s right. He is less a character and more a character tool for Nolan’s development and even his relationships with Irisa and Berlin seemed to be part of that (Irisa to generate more conflict with her father and Berlin as part of him siding with E-Rep over independence). It was sadly unsurprising when Tommy died but even then his death was less about him and more to develop Irisa and her terrible guilt.

With Tommy dead, the writers clearly felt the need for another tool to make Nolan shine in the spot light - enter Samir. Rescued by Nolan he disappeared into the plot box, only occasionally allowed out to provide a convenient target for Yewl’s excellent snark before disappearing… until the end of the season when he got to be rescued by Nolan. Again. All the while holding up Nolan almost as some kind of super hero. What are the character notes for this man “Nolan worshipping vet?” That’s pretty much the sum total of his character.

And we have the McCawleys at which point we have to bring up the obvious - death. So much death. Tommy is dead (for Irisa’s development and she and Berlin are really the only ones who remember). The entire McCawley family (including Pilar) were slaughtered largely to define Rahm as a bad guy and to set up Alak and Stahma’s conflict. The rest of the cast could hardly remember their deaths for more than an episodes. Rafe was one of the most important men in the town - only Amanda and Datak managed to compete with him for influence and he was the town’s main employer but he disappears with hardly a mention.

There have been other POC actors playing regular roles on Defiance but this is also less than ideal. Alak is played by Jesse Rath whose mother is Indian - but he is playing a Castithan and wearing so much white make up that we only know this by googling.

T’evgin and Kindzi are played by Black people and they are not covered in White make up - Omec are definitely dark skinned and every Omec we’ve seen has been played by a Black person. However, here we have to remember what the Omec are - savage, animalistic, predatory cannibals (in the sense of eating sentient creatures), slavers and rapists preying on others. In particular, they prey on the Castithan - the oh-so-elaborately-civilised, super-duper pale people; with Stahma being a prime target/asset. Savage Black raping cannibals hunting down super pale people? This goes beyond unfortunate implications and you have to wonder if the writers intended this obvious comparison - and if so, what in the name of Yewl’s snark were they thinking?!

Doctor Who: Touched By An Angel (Doctor Who: New Series Adventures #46) by Jonathan Morris

Mark is still very much in mourning after the loss of his wife Rebecca.  He buries himself in work, has few friends, doesn't date and doesn't really socialize.  What he doesn't know is that this is all about to change.  Mark receives a letter in his own hand writing with a list of instructions about what to do when he finds himself sent 17 years into his own past.  Like anyone else, Mark is tempted to go back to make changes.  Who after all doesn't have some regrets?  Unfortunately, time cannot be changed without consequences and this is where The Doctor (#11), Rory and Amy come in.

Touched by an Angel very much reminds me of Blink (season 3 episode 10) during David Tennant's tenure as the Doctor. Luckily, Mark's story is compelling enough to stand on its own and the Doctor's small role didn't decrease my enjoyment of the story. Touched by an Angel is about more than killer statues and wibbily wobbly timey wimey bits, it's about love and loss.  I think anyone who has ever lost someone they cared deeply about will closely connect with this story. It was interesting to watch the relationship develop between Mark and Rebecca, even as the story inevitably led to Rebecca's death and the terrible choice Mark had to make.  I couldn't help but myself in Mark's shoes and think about what I would do if I had the chance to save someone I love. 

Morris takes care to include a ton of 90's references to give us a sense that Mark has indeed traveled back to the 90's. We follow the journey and watch Mark mature from a young man full of hope, to a middle age man dealing with loss and desperation.  Similarly, Mark's relationship with Rebecca evolves from one of friendship to an established romantic relationship with all of the pitfalls that this includes.  Like any other couple, they make plans but life gets in the way.   It's a strong reminder to make the people we care about a priority because we never know when our last day will be.

The angels have long been one of my favourite aliens in the Whoverse.  Morris has a tough act to follow given that in New Who, the weeping angels were brilliantly written by Moffat.  The angels in this case are looking to feed off of a paradox, something we saw in The Angels Take Manhattan (series seven, episode five) Every time the Doctor, Amy, Rory and Mark found themselves challenged or surrounded by the angels, I found myself struggling not to blink, completely caught up in the story.  The angels translated very well in Touched By and Angel and are just as horrific as I have seen them on television.

Sense8, Season One, Episode Three: Smart Money's on the Skinny Bitch

A doctor is cutting into a woman's brain and Will as a child is watching.  A little girl whispers to him, "don't look at him" (read: the doctor) warning that this is how she was caught.  An adult Will watches terrified before waking up suddenly in a hospital bed.  Will is informed that he was in an accident and is lucky to be alive, though he managed to catch a terrorist.  Will gets out of bed and is told that he shouldn't leave because he probably has a concussion and his MRI is showing some abnormal activity.  Will simply keeps moving.

In Mexico, Lito and Fernando are watching an episode of the tellanovella that Lito stars in and Fernando is mouthing the words.  The two laugh and then kiss but are interrupted by Daniela.  When Daniela leaves the room with her espresso, Fernando encourages Lito to talk to her about last night. Yeah think? The woman jumped into bed with them with great glee I might add.

Riley is walking through some sort of tunnel and in the background, classical piano music is playing. We get a flashback to Riley as a child, drawing on the floor as her father plays the piano.  Riley approaches a blind busker who is playing an electric piano and places all of the drug money in a case the pianist has laid out at his feet.  Riley then dumps the drugs into the garbage and walks away swiftly.

Capheus is having a meal with his bff Jela, talking about how as a child he wanted to be a zebra.  In a flashback we learn that zebras are appealing to Capheus because when a zebra is hungry, all it has to do is eat the grass.  Capheus is walking with his very pregnant mother and she tells him not to worry because as long as they are together, something good is going to happen. In the present, Jela jokes that Capheus must never have seen a zebra after a lion attack.  Jela tells Capheus that as long as you work hard, you can be anything you want to be.  Jela jokes that he wanted to be the son of a rich man.

Daniela has made herself quite at home and though she admits its quite a cliche, she congratulates Fernando and Lito on the way that they have decorated their home.  When Lito brings up last night, Daniela apologises for over stepping, adding that she loves gay porn. Oh dear.  Daniela  has no idea what the word boundary means and she's clearly a creepy creepy fetishist. Lito chokes on his coffee in response. Lito starts to stumble in his explanation and it's Fernando who interrupts to suggest that they might not need a live-in beard.  Daniela however points out that as long as she didn't know the truth, Lito was fine with using her and making her feel that he cared about her.  Damn, Daniela can just twist shit can't she? It seems that Fernando concurs with Daniela's assessment and adds that he has said the same thing to Lito. Lito however calls his home his sacred space because he gets to be who he really is there. Given that he leads a closeted life, I can see why his home is so important to him. Daniela, for her part, is excited about getting to know the "real Lito".  Daniela finally explains that she wants to be Lito's beard because Joaquin has got it into his head that he is going to marry her and apparently, Joaquin is not someone that you say no to.  Daniela adds that she slept with Joaquin's best friend and needs things to cool down between her and Joaquin.

Will arrives back at the police station and is hailed as a hero by agent Styles.  Will wastes no time with small talk and immediately asks to speak to Jonas, only to be shut down. It seems that Homeland Security has already picked up Jonas.  Will is told to enjoy his five minutes of fame and to stop trying to make it six.

Noni is sitting up in a chair when a nurse walks in escorted by several orderlies.  Noni asks how this can be legal and is astounded that this is happening to her in the 21st century.  Nomi is informed that she has to take medication and force will be used if she does not cooperate.

Daniela and Lito are having dinner and she says that she will stay with him and Fernando until things cool down.  Daniela explains that the man she slept with had words with Joaquin and is now in San Diego.  Lito questions the connection to Joaquin and learns that Joaquin worked with Damiela's father for a long time.  Daniela simply explains that her father is in the import/export business.  Yep, there's some sort of shady background going on here.  Is Daniela a mafia princess?  Lito then asks about how serious Daniela's relationship was with Joaquin and she explains that at first it was casual and then got serious.  Daniela turns the table and questions how she was picked to be a beard.  Lito explains that his agent showed him her head shot and that Hernando thought she had kind eyes. Their conversation is interrupted when the paparazzi show up, so they pose for pictures.  Daniela calls her role as Lito's beard the best part she has ever had.

Sun is in her office and the phone is ringing but she simply stares at it.  Sun then heads to her safe and in the U.S., we see Will opening up a safe.  Will and Sun both pull out red folders. Both sit at their desks and ponder their individual folders.  When Will opens his, we see old clippings about a missing girl.  Sun is looking through some financial reports at her desk. Both look through their individual folders with intense concentration.

We get a flashback to Sun as a little girl, listening as her mother begs her to take care of her brother. In the present, we learn that the missing girl whom the clippings are about was named Sara Patrell. We get a flash to Will, as a little boy with Sara who whispering for help.  Sun closes her file as her secretary enters to inform her that Mr. Jeong, from Seoul Citibank is on the line and is very upset. The secretary warns that Mr. Jeong says that if Sun doesn't answer her phone, his next call will be to the authorities.

Sun heads to her father's office and asks to speak with him. Sun is told that her father is out of the office and has not left any information about his whereabouts.  When Sun is asked if she would like to leave another message, Sun slams her fist into the desk impressively damaging it, before turning and walking away.

Riley is walking down the street where she runs into Shug and Bambi.  Riley asks for some help and Shug suggests that Riley could use a pint.  Riley walks off with Shug and Bambi.

Kala arrives late at work and sits next to Devi.  Devi comments that if she were marrying Rajan, she would let Rajan lobotomize her. Rajan makes eye contact with Kala and sends her a text message.

Capheus and Jela are walking through the streets talking about how best to get AIDS drugs for Capheus's mother.  Jela hands over 800 bob and Jela is not impressed with the amount.  Jela and Capheus approach Mr. Fuck Off, who is convinced that what he is selling neither Jela and Capheus can afford.  Jela fakes a phone call saying that he mistook this place with JoJo's. Mr. Fuck Off is not impressed, saying that he sells the cleanest drugs.  Capheus explains that his mother has AIDS and that the medicine she is taking is making her sick. Mr. Fuck Off informs Capheus that AIDS medication does not make anyone sick and that what his mother has been taking is counterfeit, adding that the medication needed is expensive. When Mr. Fuck Off suggests that it would be cheaper to let Capheus's mother die, Capheus moves to attack, only to be held back by Jela.  The negotiation begins and Jela manages to get the drugs for the 800 bob Capheus has.

Riley, Shug and Bambie are now having a beer.  Bambie advises Riley to superglue the toilet like she did to her ex, which sent him to the emergency with half a toilet stuck to his ass.  Shug tells Riley not to bother with Bambie and suggests that Bambie has Asperger's, only to have Bambie add that she is Australian and does not have Asperger's. Bambie questions whose side Shug is on considering that Riley was thrown out on the street. Shug commiserates calling Jacko a "dickhead".

Back in Mexico, Lito is in the middle of a scene.  Naturally, he is playing the hero and is forced to say the most ridiculous cheesy line. When the director calls cut, Lito asks for a retake, saying that his character can feel his upcoming betrayal.  Riley begins to channel Lito as she heads to Shug's place. The director takes Lito to meet Joaquin.  It seems that Joaquin is a really good friend of Moreno, the producer of the movie that Lito is working on.  Lito is informed that Joaquin who is a big fan who wants to take Lito out to lunch.  Joaquin calls Lito a hero, saying that he has watched one of Lito's movies many times.

Angel of Chaos (Imp #6) by Debra Dunbar

First, Sam was the little imp who could and then she became the Iblis after the magical sword chose her and now, in yet another stunning transformation, she has become the first angel of chaos since the separation between demons and angels. The angels might be fascinated with her new wings but that doesn't mean that they are going to give Sam a pass at anything.  When an angel arrives at Sam's door promising three favours if she agrees to give shelter to a woman, naturally, being an imp, Sam doesn't pause to consider the old adage, if something seems to good to be true, it probably is. Sam finds herself protecting a pregnant woman who is carrying a nephilim.  Sam may be the Iblis but the angles don't take kindly at all to nephilim.  Sam quickly finds herself battling the angles to protect the woman and child she swore to protect and once again shaking up things in Aaru.

Angel of Chaos feels very much like the Imp series returning to its roots.  Sam may be an Angel of Chaos but she still manages to find herself up shits creek without a paddle pretty quickly.  Sam may now feel morally responsible for the people she has decided are hers but that doesn't stop her hilarious internal monologue.  When Sam is attacked by three angels, Gregory naturally assumes that she has been leaving fake vomit in the sixth circle or infesting the first circle with bird lice once again.  Gregory knows all to well that Sam cannot resist her impish impulses for too long.  Sam may be a cockroach but she's his cockroach and though it means risking his vibration level and opening himself up to new experiences like vodka, chicken wings, chocolate and physical sex, Gregory has decided to strap himself in for the wild ride.

Sam and Gregory started off with a very uneasy alliance and it has grown so much.  Unfortunately, it means that Wyatt, Sam's human toy has pretty much been put out to pasture. This essentially comes down to Gregory accepting at least some of Sam's impish ways whereas; Wyatt is determined to change her.  Gregory may be the archangel Michael but Sam is now clearly his partner and his equal, even if he does enjoy punishing her in Aaru. I love every single scene they share together and am excited that in the next book, Gregory will be spending far less time in Aaru.

Okay, I know I've done a lot of gushing but I love this series.  I love the fact that Angels have hangovers and the growing relationships.  These characters feel so very real to me.  I really don't want to be critical but even our favourite books have their problems.

In Angel of Chaos we meet Jaq a Nephilim and Kelly who are a couple.  Kelly is fiercely protective over Jaq and it's nice to see but we never seem them in a moment of real intimacy.  It will be interesting to see if Dunbar expands their role in the series.

Sam and Leithu are definitely bisexual, there is no doubt about that with both of them repeatedly expressing their interest in other women. This book is very good at making that clear

But after so many books now it’s a little odd that these women never actually have sex with women. Especially since this book is so sexually charged; they have sex a lot. They enjoy sex and neither has any desire to be monogamous. We see them have relationships and we see them have a lot of casual sex (including a stream of pizza delivery guys) but always always with men. Wouldn’t these bisexual women, often expressing their lust for other women, very actively pursuing their sex lives at least occasionally have sex with a woman? At least once?

Sometimes it seems almost inevitable – but when we get close another story reason arises (or, rather, is manufactured) why they can’t actually go through with it. And it feels manufactured because these reasons aren’t maintained – like Leithu is too delicate for Sam to have sex with – but not for Sam’s brother? Leithu may enthral Sam if they have sex… but that’s not a concern for Sam’s brother? Even when Leithu is about to have sex with a woman, she shapeshifts into a man to do it, despite preparing a female form.

Again, in no way can I say these women are not bisexual, that is made very clear wonderfully on multiple occasions, but why this reticence to have them have sex with women in a series that is so sexual?

Harper was dropped off at Sam's door and Sam was tricked into offering her protection. It seems that Harper is about to give birth to a nephlim and angels we have been told see them as abominations. Harper is a Native American or mixed Spanish woman.  She is fierce and is not afraid to defend herself against the magnificent odds that is set against.  Unfortunately this is where the good race inclusion ends.  Sam refers to the father of Harper's baby as racist for his treatment of nephlim who fo the record are part angel spawn and have no relationship whatsoever to people of colour.  Then we have Jaq invoking Harper's Ferry and John Brown in relationship to the big showdown.  Why couldn't we just have some good racial inclusion?  Harper may be proactive but Angel of Chaos is far too white.

I really love this series, don't let the critiques fool you.  Dunbar keeps me giggling with Sam's antics and cheer with Sam's absolute refusal never to give up no matter what she's up against.  Sam however remains and Imp and that means that even when she is trying to be good, bad things happen like her putting hallucinogenic drugs into the soup at a soup kitchen. I never know what she is going to get into next.  I love the way her relationship with Gregory is moving and I love that Dunbar is widening the world by explaining how vampires, werewolves, angels and demons are related to each other. Simply put, I cannot get enough and cannot wait until the next book in this series comes out.

The Strain, Season 2, Episode 8: Intruders

Kelly is continuing to become one of the Master’s more intelligent vampire minions with her own personality – Eichorst teaches her how to look more human, the skills she must learn and how her body will change. All so she can reach Zach and, through him, Ephraim

  

At base Ephraim and Vasiliy plan how to kill Palmer – and Ephraim wants a rifle to snipe at Palmer, relying on Vasiliy’s contacts to get him one.

While Nora would quite like to know what happened to Barnes, their old boss, and how he fell out of a train – the same train Ephraim was on. Oopsie! What a coincidence! He acts all ignorant and adamantly refuses to talk about what happened in DC

Ephraim takes Zach with him to buy weapons (because he’s father of the year like that) and pauses along the way to remind Zach his mother is totally dead and now a raving monster (as I said, father of the year). But the gun dealer Ephraim knows has had a disagreement with a client and is now all injured and bleeding.

Time for Ephraim to play doctor and have his son play surgical nurse. Father of the Year.

Having patched the man up they get a gun easily but co-operation between father and son ends because Zach is still sure Ephraim can save his evil mother.

At team evil, Palmer wakes up in bed with Coco. But evil mastermind business calls Palmer away – particularly he has to meet the Cardinal about his evil book. He also has to see Eichorst who Coco hates because of all the evil – and because he smells of fish. She wants to know about him and isn’t a big fan of Palmer trying to keep her in the dark. Makes me wonder if she has an ulterior motive.

Palmer meets up with the Cardinal selling the evil book – who spends a lot of time dickering over the price without closing the deal. He has another bidder – Abraham – and wants to see what he will pay. They’re interrupted by Eichorst who wants to know what Palmer is so eager to buy – and again Palmer completely fails to realise he is not the power in this relationship and throws lots of outrage at the vampire nazi. While he may not have the power and Eichorst may be dishing out the orders, Plamer still manages to twist the knife about the Master choosing Bolivar to be his vessel rather than Eichorst.