The 100, Season Three, Episode Five: Hakeldama

So much happened this episode, I hardly know where to begin.  Last week, Pike's first move as Chancellor was to pardon himself and prepare to go to war with the Indra's forces.  It was clearly a decision born of the attacks his people suffered at the hands of the Ice Nation, but was short sighted in that he didn't for a moment consider that there are different nations for a reason.  This week we watched him go off to war with Bellamy in tow and when his forces returned, they had slaughtered the entirety of the army save Indra whose life Bellamy begged for.  Bellamy suggested that Indra remain a live in order for her to be able to tell her people that Skaikru was claiming the land for themselves and promised death to any Grounder who violated their new territory. Pike didn't suffer a single loss because of the fact that they had guns and the Grounders did not.

I think in many ways, The 100, have constructed Skaikru to be European conquerors and  the Grounders to be Indigenous people.  This is a troubling juxtapostion in that Grounders are always presented as backward and Skaikru as forward thinking.  I think making this story about colonization is great but for this to really work they need to make the Grounders far more sympathetic. We need to learn more about the culture and their language.  The 100 needs to make sure that the audience sees the Grounders as people who in their own way are being wronged.  This is particularly true with Pike declaring war.

Pike at this point is really a despicable character and though I can understand that he is acting out of fear and anger, it doesn't even come close to justifying his actions.  It's  particularly appalling given that on the station, Pike was a teacher, meaning that he better than most should have had some idea about colonialism which is what the theft of the grounder land is. Furthermore imprisoning people is beyond problematic.  Pike pulled people out of sickbay claiming that they didn't have enough medical supplies to share.  Lincoln was thrown in with the Grounders when he was deemed disruptive.  As a teacher, Pike must have learned about minorities being locked up, he must have known about internment camps and he still went ahead and threw them in prison.  For the life me, I don't understand why beyond, Abby, Marcus, Octavia and Clarke that no one else can see the harm which will come of this.  In earth's history, might is right has always lead to war and oppression. Having the person responsible for the atrocities be a man of colour also flies in the face of exactly who in earth's history has been responsible for things like slavery, internment camps, genocide etc,.

Marcus continues to show us how much he has changed.  He's not willing to openly challenge Pike, because Pike won the election fairly.  Well, plenty of harmful dictators were originally elected with a mandate that turned out to be destructive. It's a testament to how far his character has grown that I find myself rooting for Marcus of all people.

From the moment Bellamy decided to side with Pike, I very much felt that this decision was out of character for him.  As much as Bellamy has been actively involved in the decision making for Skaikru since receiving his pardon, he has very much been in a secondary role, happy to follow the orders of others or even more specifically Clarke.  Siding with Pike very much feels like he simply substituted Clarke with the first strong person to come along and to deal with his grief at the loss of girlfriend. I really do think that we need more of an explanation for Bellamy's decision to partner with Pike.

Sense8, Season One, Episode Eleven: Just Turn the Wheel and the Future Changes

Just Turn the Wheel and the Future Changes is the penultimate episode of this season and we are clearly gearing up for a big finish, as well as wrapping up a few loose ends.

Just before Manendra was stabbed at the temple of Ganesha, he made it clear to Kala that he absolutely didn't approve of her impending marriage to his son Sanyam. This left Kala in a difficult position and this week she finally decided to reveal to Sanyam the details of her conversation with Manendra.  Kala need not have worried it seems because Sanyam was well aware of his father's feelings.  Kala suggests that this means his interest in her is really about rebelling but Sanyam says that he want to marry Kala because he cannot imagine spending the rest of his life with anyone else.  The sweeter Sanyam is, the more difficult it's going to be for Kala to go with her heart and be with Wolfie.  At this point I really wanted Sanyam to flip out just a little bit. Is anyone really that nice?

Kala was also surprised to learn that the people at the temple who attacked Manendra have come to look at her as a hero because they believe that Kala delivered Manendra into their clutches. It's telling that they try to justify their actions by saying that God understands that sometimes, violence is necessary.  Kala wants no part of this and it's Will who shows up to physically force them away from her. Will however warns that Kala has not seen the last of them.  I suspect that this incident is going to lead to a bit of crises of faith for Kala.

When last we left Capheus, he was between a rock and a hard place.  Caphues has been spending his time taking Silas's daughter for medical treatment but unfortunately, it has not gone unnoticed and determined to save the little girl from the horrible retribution Silas has earned, Capheus drops the child off with Jela before leaving to confront Biko.  Capheus quickly find's himself surrounded by Biko's armed men and is told that the only way he will walk away is if he decapitates Silas.  Silas at this point is little more than a broken man but like any other human afraid to die begs for his life. Luckily for Capheus, Sun is having a very bad day and as a result, when Capheus channels her, it leads to kick ass fight scene. What precipitates Sun's actions is Capheus being called a bitch.  Sun even warns, "call me a bitch just one more time." For her it's about standing up for herself and recognizing her power.  It's worth noting that the one time Capheus tries to throw a punch on his own, it doesn't go well for him.

The conflict that Capheus faces is a huge one.  In this instance he moves from being fascinated with the act of being a hero and actually becomes one. Unfortunately, the one person who witnesses his actions makes a comment about Van Damm. I am sick of conflation between Capheus and Van Damm. Capheus didn't actively plan on saving Silas and who can blame him really but he ended up doing so with the help of the other sensates. Capheus refuses any sort of reward for his actions and seems happy to see Silas reunited with his daughter.

When we last left Sun, she was very happy to learn that her father had told the entire truth about who was really embezzling money from the company.  Since Bak Joong-Ki has always been weasel, we all knew that he was going to find someway to avoid the accusation of guilt. When Bak Joong-Ki reveals to Sun that not only is their father dead, but that  he killed himself, Sun isn't buying it for a New York minute.  Sun gives Bak Joong-Ki what he has had coming for awhile, until she is pulled off by the prison guards.  Sun's parting words to her brother are that he will pay for what he has done. I cannot wait till next season to see this happen and hope that the Sensates move at least some of their focus off of Riley, in order to break Sun out of prison.  I know that she put herself in this situation, but she deserves a break because Sun has not had an easy life.

Lost Girl, Season 5, Episode 15: Let Them Burn

I am not even touching the “start in the middle” opening scene because they get on my very last nerve

After the loss of Trick and Bo coming out of Oz Bo then gets two new shocks – Vex with his throat slit (his vocal chords – he can’t talk but he is alive. Of course since the whole point of Vex on this show is sassy quips, him being unable to talk is virtually death) and Tamsin has been kidnapped by Hades. Naturally Dyson responds with instant push for violence but Bo, to everyone’s shock, insists son thinking rather than just attacking the super powerful guy who will just kill them all.

So she decides to go after Priapus, Hades’s fire breathing scary horse. As an aside, Ares is the one who had firebreathing horses, Hades had 4 horses and none of them were called Priapus. Anyway this means checking in Bo’s midwife who they’ve, randomly, decided must have the answers (because everything is all about Bo so all the answers must be revealed by Bo’s birth and we’re not so much logical leaping here as logical plummeting). Thankfully Vex knows who this midwife is (because reasons) and directs them to Evony – who is now rocking life as a human with lots of money and a whole lot of passion and effortless awesomeness because she’s Evony and it’s what she does.

Directed to her stable hand who was once a Midwife, they go to see Mary Lou and her various creepy horses (and a flatulent unicorn) until they find Hades’s horse (we also have her sad story but, sounding callous and all, he sad past of a vanishingly minor character is pretty irrelevant). The horse is wild and dangerous and needs to be tamed and broken which no-one can manage – except Bo with her succubus touch

Yes, there are strong bestiality implications with this. No, we’re not going to think about this. No we’re not. No.

Only then they discover the big horseshow Hephaestus made them doesn’t actually fit the horse – time for some more logical plummeting! The Peripus isn’t actually a horse it’s a metaphor and is really Bo! (What, does the show fit her or something? That doesn’t make the horseshoe make any sense! What do you do, hit her in the head with it? Problem solved!) and to extend the metaphor still further, Hades needs to break and tame Bo

This reminds Bo and Kenzi of all the times Bo has had super powers, sucking chi from multiple people and this is proof of her naughty dark evilness inside, especially since she can’t control herself when she’s all peripussy.

Blood Royal (Blood Destiny #5) by Connie Suttle

Lissa is back trying to stop the evil vampires and their terrorist minions doing nefarious things for reasons (it would be nice if they actually explained a little of why they’re doing this beyond EVIL AND EVIL SPACE ELVES)

She has her bag of tricks and super powers to stop them – but she has to do that with her leash constantly being pulled by the men in her life. Her fathers, her husbands, they all have plans for her, they all have an agenda and they all have uses for her. Whether she wants it or not

Ok, I’m going to write a lot about the toxic trainwreck that is Lissa’s relationships in this book so I’m going to cover everything else briefly before diving into that cess pool

The writing/plot in general –lazy lazy lazy. We have aliens dropping in for no other reason than to be ridiculously powerful and scatter deux ex plot-solvers in their wake. We have alien worlds that are still less alien than Ohio – seriously, Lissa would have more culture shock travelling to China than she would have going to these worlds. We have a species of proto-vampires which in any other book may have been an interesting way to develop an actual culture and a way for vampires to exist as an independent species – but no, this is a useful slave species who are also useful food. This is about it.

Which applies, pretty much, to Lissa’s powers of well. Super misting that lets her kill everyone. The actual power to smell evil to render any kind of tracking, investigation or questioning or any actual work completely moot. Every encounter is just resolved by throwing super powers at it.

We have the same minimal diversity – another world with almost no female supernaturals because REASONS, gay characters who lurk in the background and POC largely being absent (but we have a sinister Middle-Eastern terrorist)

Now the cess pool. This book continues on the series’ habit of having one of the worst relationships I’ve encountered. And, ye gods, that is saying something considering what I have read

Supernatural, Season 11, Episode 14: The Vessel

Nazis… ok I cringed, after the last depiction I wasn’t particularly thrilled with Supernatural using Nazis again. But then we get a stabbing – and I’m always here for some stabbed facists.

In 1943 we have our hero, French Resistance member and Woman of Letters, Delphine, stabbing said Nazi in order to grab a powerful artefact (yes, these Nazis are Indiana Jones style magic hunting Nazis) and get is back to Men of Letters HQ

And in the present, Sam has done some research and decides they really need this magical item – it’s one of the objects known as the Hand Of God because it was fondled by the divine hand at some point in the past. Unfortunately this object went down with the American war ship that was supposed to bring it across the Atlantic. The only realistic way to get it is… time travel. Yes, we’ve all remembered that angels can do the time travel thing: yes it’s risky but Dean points out that they’re grabbing an object from a submarine that sinks. It’s not like they have much scope to change the time line here

In hell, Lucifer, in Castiel’s body, is now in control. Naturally Castifer became king of hell very quickly because there’s no way Crowley could stop him and, well, Lucifer. Crowley is tormented and humiliated (and plotting. Of course he’s plotting) and recognises the simple truth: Castifer is not powerful enough on his own to bring down Amarra. He needs a boost

A boost like the Hand of God. That’ll do – so he goes to the Winchesters and plays Castiel (a moment of praise for the acting here – he does a really good job of playing Lucifer trying to be Castiel – that takes skill) for the brothers and agrees to take Dean back (yes, Dean, because he has a whole martyrdom complex over Amarra, woe woe is his Manpain).

And hits a snag – Delphine is a crafty Woman of Letters and has warded the submarine against supernatural stuff – and that includes Castifer. Castifer ends up back in the present, sopping wet, while Dean spends approximately 10 minutes sneaking around a submarine, 5 minutes convincing Delphine he’s legit and then being captured.

Fox's Lucifer and Sexually Predatory Behaviour

Lucifer Morningstar is the devil which means that we expect him to be evil. We expect him to cross every boundary that there is.  We expect him to be smarmy, dishonest and clearly untrustworthy.  Tom Ellis as the devil is absolutely incorrigible and embodies another in a long line of anti-heroes which the audience is encouraged to root for. Considering Lucifer’s ability to harm, we should be far more concerned about him than we actually are.  Sure, some of our laissez–faire attitude can be blamed on Lucifer’s rakish charm but a good deal of it is the fact that despite years of work by women, consent is still something we don’t take seriously.

Lucifer Morningstar on Fox's Lucifer is yet another in a long line of anti-heroes which the public has been offered. From Tony Soprano, to Walter White, to Dexter, to Francis Underwood, to Michael Corleone, audiences have rooted for these men despite their bad acts.  Though we have yet to see Lucifer do any real long lasting on screen violence like rape or murder akin to his fellow anti-hero counterparts, he is perhaps even more explicitly evil and or problematic given his identity.  When we see Lucifer using his magical powers to force people to confess their deepest desire, we are intrigued rather than repelled by the gross violation that this represents. These secrets he compels are private for a reason and yet Lucifer cavalierly forces people to openly confess, headless of the consequences his target may have to pay. There’s a reason we don’t share with the world everything that goes through our heads.  From the very beginning, and perfectly shown when he outs a gay security guard against his will and with no thought for the consequences, it’s clear Lucifer has no respect for anyone but himself. This is the foundation of his relationship with Chloe.

When Lucifer first meets Chloe Decker, he is amazed when he realises that his ability to appeal to directly to women’s unconscious desire for the so-called bad boy, or what Lucifer likes to call the “feral urge” doesn’t seem to work on her.  Lucifer even wonders if something is biologically wrong with Chloe, or if she hit her head as a child.  What he cannot accept is Chloe repeatedly explicitly saying no to his advances.  Chloe goes as far as tell Lucifer that she finds him repellant but for him, it only serves to fuel his ambition to have sex with Chloe.  

Chloe repeatedly sets boundaries and makes it clear that, at best (and reluctantly), she will consent to a  working relationship with Lucifer but none of this stops him from showing up in her home uninvited to make her breakfast.  Lucifer is more concerned about being thrown out of Chloe’s home than the fact that he violated her personal space.  Lucifer then escalates his behaviour and appears naked, like some kind of subway pervert when Chloe comes to meet him at his piano bar. Sure, Chloe might like the view but exposing your naked body to someone without their consent is not some form of harmless exhibitionism. It’s predatory and in this case, the exhibitionism isn’t about mutual consent but about Lucifer’s sexual gratification and desire to validate his sexual viability. There’s a reason why flashing is a crime.

Brighter than the Sun (Charley Davidson 8.5) by Darynda Jones

We’ve seen Charley Davidson’s story continue through the books – now we look again at these events, but from Reyes’s point of view.

This is a book that largely recaps a lot of what has been spoken about and touched upon in the main series. Often I’m not a fan of that when it comes to short stories – or long stories for that matter. Retreading old ground too often feels like some kind of broken money-grab, leaching a book out of a series when it doesn’t really have an original book there. It has to bring something new to the proceedings, to the series – it has to bring a perspective that is actually useful and novel

The perspective this book brings is Reyes point of view

The actual events of the book are ones we’ve seen before. We know Reyes’s history – we know he was repeatedly abused by Earl, we know he was controlled by threats to his sister. Everything he endured is something we knew about. But seeing it from Reyes point of view helped explain a bit more about him, especially since he’s always been the awesomely powerful one Charley has turned to

Here we see what she brought to him – he isn’t just her protector (and frequently abusive controller). He relied on her on her light and on her presence to get him through the dark times.

It also brings some insight into him and his views. He’s always been ridiculously, impossibly beautiful in a way that is full of annoying Paranormal Romance tropes of the incredible love interest who just can’t be resisted. Well here’s the dark side – here’s Reyes, ab to sense people’s emotions and always feeling that endless, hungry all consuming lust. It’s a burden on him, a constant attack on him, a pressure that always drives him down. From there his appearance is never an asset to him, but a source of constant pain. A source of him hardly ever being able to have real relationships with most people.

This is also coupled with his knowledge of who he is and what he does and the inherent conclusion that he is damned, tainted and awful. Which, of course, he is in a way – he was created entirely to help the invasion of Earth and Heaven, he was created to co-opt Charley, her mission and her power.

Teen Wolf, Season 5, Episode 17: A Credible Threat

So everyone is all worried about the Beast and not knowing what to do about it, especially since they don’t know how to find the beast. What they do know is the Beast is getting smarter, stronger and more powerful with each transformation. As Gerard points out, the Beast will get more powerful until it completely forgets whatever Chimera teenager it and becomes a monster through and through

Corey wants to run (which is pretty smart since he only cowers or gets terribly injured) but Mason wants him to stay because he doesn’t want to have to get to know the next replaceable gay token. He wants Corey to protect him (I’d laugh if this weren’t so very very sad). But Mason has a logic leap – the Beast appears near transmissions every time, the Dread Doctors are controlling the beast and summoning it with broadcasts. By making it transform more and more and more they are encouraging to become the super powerful monster.

Mason having an idea – excellent, maybe he is going to be around more than 2 seconds every three episodes? Nope, because Liam gets to explain this idea to the gang. Really, you couldn’t have Mason explain his own idea? A straight white guy had to present it to the group for more brainstorming? They can’t have him silently in the back of the room or something?

Anyway, having come to all these conclusions the then realise there’s a charity lacrosse match coming up which is going to be heavily televised. A crowd of people for the Beast to slaughter

Surprisingly they actually make the sensible decision and decide the match needs to be cancelled rather than insisting the game has to go off (honestly so many teen drama would have had the match go on no matter what). Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any sensible way to actually cancel the match, the Sheriff certainly can’t without a reason

The idea they come up with is, sadly, to rely on Coach Finstock to forfeit the match. The problem with this is a) I don’t see how forfeiting at the last minute will work since the crowd will be there and the media. And B) it relies on the random coach Finstock doing what they want.