Wayward Pines, Season One, Episode Eight: The Friendliest Place on Earth

Things are on high alert at Wayward Pines and everyone seems to want different things.  Pilcher naturally wants to be control of absolutely everything that goes on and for everyone to follow the laws that he has created.  He also very much wants to be seen as the benevolent benefactor.  Ethan wants the violence to end and for peace to finally come to Wayward Pines.  Kate, simply wants to the truth and is willing to do whatever she has to do get it.

There's a lot of flashbacks this episode.  We see Kate shortly after being brought to Wayward Pines and she is in a padded cell with Pilcher, who is acting as her psychiatrist using the name Dr. Jenkins. Kate is absolutely convinced that she has become an unwilling participant to some sort of secret government experiment though Pilcher tries to convince her otherwise.  We see Pam doing her evil thing and injecting Kate. Later when Kate appears to have acclimated, she is now in an office with Pilcher and she talks about how all of the questions that she had in previous life still exist.  Kate wants to know if there's a God and why it is that humans breathe but she has come to terms with her new life in Wayward Pines, admitting that it's a lot safer her.  Pilcher buys her story and writes Kate a prescription.  Pilcher encourages Kate to get pregnant, saying that she would make a good mother. Outside the office, we see Kate crumple the prescription in her hand. Kate has convinced Pilcher of her willingness to follow the party line but she's clearly not giving up.

Pam seems to have undergone a bit of character growth this week.  When David marches into the hospital demanding to know how these people could have created a bomb, it's Pam who pulls him aside and reminds him of where he is.  Pilcher is at a loss as to what to do but is clearly considering violence. It's Pam who deflects this urge and suggests that they should hold a gathering and make a celebration of life in Wayward Pines.  At this point, Pam seems a long way away from the woman who gleefully injected Kate with drugs against her will.

Pilcher heads to see Kate to question why she didn't come to him with her concerns.  It seems that he wants impress upon Kate that her actions have caused harm to the community and that she needs to stop her people. Kate however turns the tables when she calls Pilcher by his actual name, instead of Jenkins. Pilcher is stunned that his identity has been revealed and demands to know how long has been aware of who he is but Kate simply responds that it doesn't matter. Pilcher is disappointed because Kate represents a failure for him he had thought that if he could get Kate to conform that he could get anyone to conform.  Kate demands to know the truth but Pilcher simply walks out of the jail. The fact that Pilcher was so determined to break Kate rather than working with her to settle things down shows how his megalomania makes him unfit to lead.

Pilcher's paranoia is running high and he is certain that someone inside of the mountain must be helping the people of Wayward Pines.  He has the entire place being monitored 24/7 and therefore someone must have been ignoring the secret gatherings.  To calm his nerves, Pam agrees to head an investigation. Pam sits down with the surveillance team and asks pointed questions about their family and how they feel about their job.  All is fine until she gets to Reggie, who immediately spouts the company line.  Pam prods more out of Reggie and he finally admits that he sometimes fudges or erases bits of tape when people are actively questioning. Reggie believes that it's human nature to question and that he sees these people crying alone in their beds at night. Reggie doesn't want to be responsible for the death of someone simply because they questioned what is going on.  Pam assures him that everything is going to be okay and dismisses him.

Things aren't going to go well for Reggie because David has determined that what's needed is more discipline.  How this man cannot figure out that this approach didn't work in the town and was therefore not likely to work with the mountain people is beyond me, especially given that he is supposed to be a genius. Pam starts begging David for Reggie's life and says that if someone should punished it should be her.  David determines that there will be no more violence and decides to put poor Reggie in the freezer again in front of the mountain staff.

Ethan is still running around town trying to get control of the situation.  When he finally confronts Kate, she is anything but cooperative saying that he is Pilcher's man now.  Kate accuses Ethan of just following orders and says that her people depend on her and therefore she won't be giving them up to Ethan. It's worth pointing out that Kate has a reason to be mistrustful. She has been in Wayward Pines much longer than Ethan, has actively been lied to, drugged against her will, and watched as people were reckoned for disobeying Pilcher's laws. This would the perfect opportunity for Ethan to tell the truth but  of course he doesn't,even though it's clear that all she wants are answers. Ethan doesn't pause for a moment to consider that it wasn't that long ago that he was in Kate's position determined to figure out what is going on.

The 100, Season 3, Episode 7: Thirteen

I know that Clexia fans are reeling but the truth of the matter is that from the moment I saw Alycia Debnam-Carey in Fear the Walking Dead, I very much suspected that Lexa wouldn't live for long on The 100.  Normally, in circumstances like this, I would talk about gay death because Lexa died shortly after making love with Clarke and this one again leaves Clarke as the only reoccurring LGBT character on The 100.  That being said, it's impossible to blame the producers and writers when they have an actor signed to another show.  I don't think it would have been possible to write Lexa out of The 100, without killing her off. Lexa, whose whole life was her people, would never have willingly left them.  Her death while horrible, is the only way her character could ever have left The 100.

I think more upsetting than the fact that Lexa died is the manner of her death.  A character like Lexa deserved to go out on the battle field but I suppose doing so would have undermined the one lesson she learned from Clarke, "blood must not have blood".  Clarke primarily taught Lexa that there is more to life than bloodshed, revenge and violence and conversely, Lexa taught Clarke that she could be herself and find love again even with all the sins weighing her down. Clarke has had booty calls since the death of Finn but she hasn't loved anyone again until her path and Lexa's reunited.  At the end of the day, these two women taught each other significant life lessons and Lexa's death is going to change the direction of the show.

This week, The 100 focused very heavily on the mythos of the show.  We learned what happened to the 13th Arc and more about the role that the artificial intelligence played in the destruction of the earth.  The Grounders have turned this mythos into their religion and Titus is a true believer. We find out exactly how much when we see the lengths that he is willing to go to to find out why Murphy has the sacred symbol.  The first commander was the creator of the artificial intelligence which destroyed the earth.  When she then created a second generation and tried to use it to help the people in space survivor, they demanded it be destroyed. Rather than seeing her creation be destroyed she launched an escape pod and in the process destroyed the 13th Arc.  When she landed at Polis and encouraged all the survivors to come to her under the guise that she was there to help she became the first Commander.   Each commander since that day has had her tech implanted in the back of their neck. I suppose this is why the Grounder society is matriarchal in terms of leadership. This story is painted on the walls in Polis and because it's a part of their religion, Titus cannot conceive of the idea that this is grounded in what actually happened - a historical record of the destruction of the earth and the survival of humanity.  He is absolutely disgusted when Murphy tries to explain what it all means.

It won't be until Clarke gets back to Arkadia that we will see them make the full connection between what Jaha and Allie are up to and the religion of the Grounders.  As much as I enjoyed watching the history of the destruction of the earth and religion the grounders have developed out of it, I really don't want to see Jaha's story line dragged out

It's clear that Titus loved Lexa and would do anything to protect her.  When he attempts to shoot Clarke, it's not from a place of jealousy or worry that his power is being usurped but a fear that Clarke was leading Lexa down a road which would be soundly rejected by her people.  Given that the group Octavia tried to warn moved to attack Lexa when all she did was order Arkadia surrounded rather than it's people slaughtered is telling, Titus's concerns were indeed legitimate.  It's Titus who steps forward and kills the man who dared to attack Lexa.

Will We Ever See The Teen Wolf Video Game?

Teen Wolf is having another successful stretch, and it's set to wrap up the second part of season five this March. The show has been renewed for a sixth season, and it's hard to imagine anything but more of the same material so many fans have come to adore. Nevertheless, where other media is concerned, Teen Wolf has been surprisingly slow to expand.



Supernatural fiction, particularly where teen romance can also be involved, is spectacularly popular these days. And while Teen Wolf may inspire the same enthusiasm, discussion, and fan fiction that some other similar series or films do, it oddly hasn't been turned into a prominent video game yet.



If that sounds like an observation somewhat out of the blue, keep in mind that a Teen Wolf video game is something we were promised nearly two-and-a-half years ago now. In an interview posted to YouTube in October 2013, producer Jeff Davis confirmed that a Teen Wolf video game was something that had already been discussed. He also indicated there would be forthcoming news about such a project. Unfortunately, no such news really ever came up.



That's not to say there's never been a Teen Wolf game. Avid fans will recall that in 2012, a Facebook application was announced by MTV to give people the chance to jump into a social gaming environment based on the show. Teen Wolf: The Hunt featured material written by writers from the actual show, and it basically amounted to a mystery-solving experience as players attempted to find out what was plaguing the town. But primarily, Teen Wolf: The Hunt was valued as a means by which MTV distributed some special content (photos and clips, etc.) from production.



Outside of this Facebook app, Teen Wolf gaming has been basically non-existent. There have at least been a few werewolf-related games (some seemingly geared toward a similar audience to that which watches Teen Wolf) that have become popular. Gala Bingo has been particularly active in approaching the genre. Its collection of themed slot and arcade games includes titles like Wolf Rising, Wolf Run, and Full Moon Fortunes, all of which call to mind similar themes and atmospheres to that of Teen Wolf.



We've also seen werewolf- (or at least wolf-) based fiction gain a strong presence on gaming consoles. Telltale Games' The Wolf Among Us has become one of the most popular episodic games on any major platform. Though it's not specifically related to werewolves or teen fiction—it's also based on a comic book series that has nothing to do with Teen Wolf—it naturally appeals to some of the same people who'd love to see a game based on the MTV show released.



It's clear that the appeal of this subject matter in gaming isn't the problem. Wolf and werewolf games have gained quite a bit of popularity in the last few years, and that makes the lack of a follow-up to the 2013 promise that much more baffling. But here's hoping that with another very successful season under their belt, Teen Wolf's creators get serious about this idea moving forward.

Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassins #14) by Jennifer Estep

Gin Blanco has a new enemy. Deidre, Finn’s mother. Unfortunately she’s not just powerful and dangerous – but she’s also very very very good at manipulating Finn’s desperate emotions. Which means Gin has to play nice

She’s not very good at it. And definitely not a fan. Sometimes it’s easier when you just have to stab someone in the face.

I said in my last review of an Elemental Assassin book that this series has become very very formulaic (not bad, because I love the formula, but still) following the same basic pattern

Gin: *cooking BBQ*

Big Bad: Rawr, I am big bad and will control all Ashland and it’s improbably huge crime rate despite the Spider’s habit of stabbing everyone in the face which would suggest I’d be better off going somewhere else.

Gin: I will find you Big Bad and stab you in the face!

Big Bad: no because I have awesome powers! Super duper rare awesome powers like the last 10 face-stabbed people who tried this.

Gin: Oh no! *is captured/tortured/despairs*

Gin: Wait, past 50% of book! Escape time! See you, Sugah, bless your heart, belatedly remembered southernism. And I remember I have super powers! And Awesome friends!

Awesome friends: Yo!

Jo-Jo: *Cure Major Wounds*

Gin: Now I stab you in the face!

Big Bad: Aaaargh *is stabbed in the face*

Gin: *Makes dinner*

When I finished this book, my first thought was that we’d finally broken the pattern! And then realised that I was being, perhaps, a little optimistic there. I mean we have deviations but that same basic is there – super powerful enemy appears, we have the original set back and then the come back of awesome

So, it’s not exactly not following the same formulaic pattern. And a lot of the twists – with Deidre being Finn’s long lost mother, are somewhat repeating the same patterns we saw when Owen was dealing with Salina (which the book even gives a nod to).

However, while there are a number of similarities still, the pattern itself is disrupted by a whole lot of revelations towards the end of the book. And the introduction of a new big bad. Ok, since Mab Monroe died there have been a number of big bads brought in to replace her (including her daughter) and has followed the same pattern only briefer. But this book introduces an antagonist that is a concept, an organisation rather than a big bad scary elemental who is scary because of their big, bad scary powers. More, this affects the whole structure of the city, everything that Gin has done and everything she is part of.

In general, it feels like this book is bringing in a series reboot, a different focus and a change from the current pattern of repeated powerful one shot enemies. While we have a lot of similarities here, we can see the change of direction – we’re going somewhere new from here, or I hope so

Marginalised Characters: Banished to the Plot Box

© 2015 Pikawil, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

One phrase you will see repeated a lot on Fangs for the Fantasy is “the plot box”.

The Plot Box is a mysterious, unknown place where characters (usually minorities) are banished to when the writers decide they no longer know what to do with (or want to deal with) them. These characters disappear, often with little explanation, and are absent from the screen/page until the writers decide to use them again and they just reappear as if nothing happened.

We talk a lot about the Plot Box on Fangs because this is a storytelling tool that is very commonly used, can appear in many different ways and very often serves as another means by which marginalised characters are erased or tokenised.

The most common form of Plot Box Banishment is the simple disappearance. Usually with no explanation - a character will just not be present for several episodes. I’d like to think that they’re having wonderful wild times with the Doctor and he just got the timing wrong - but Doctor Who isn’t that diverse either.

The Originals has one gay character and he spends the majority of his time in the plot box.  Josh is besties with Davina. When he lost his boyfriend Aidan, Josh went away to lick his wounds and everybody including Davina who supposedly cares so much about him promptly forgot that he exists. Josh is allowed out of the plot box only when Davina is in some kind of danger or her fee fees are hurt. He has no real story of his own and the epitome of the GBFF, there to provide service and comfort for his straight “friend” (so often our shows seem to confuse “servitude” with “friendship”)

ABC made a big deal about adding Mulan to the cast of Once Upon a Time. And a while Once Upon A Time was teasing the idea that Mulan would confess her love to Aurora giving the series its first (and only) LGBT character. When Aurora announces her pregnancy, Mulan congratulates her and never reveals her feelings. Mulan then deals with her disappointment by joining the Merry Men and disappearing into the Plot Box - when the Merry Men return, Mulan is conspicuous by her absence. Though I say conspicuous, absolutely no-one noticed: her being lost in the Plot Box was not worthy of comment. Just when,. as an audience we were thinking of starting a missing person’s report Mulan shows up to help Merida to deal with a problem, before promptly leaping back into the Plot Box again.  

Morgan on The Walking Dead is perhaps my personal favorite example of this particular form of banishment. We first meet Morgan and his son Duane in season one, when Rick stumbles upon them after waking up in the hospital alone.  Morgan explains to Rick how society fell apart and gives him rudimentary instructions of how to survive in a zombie apocalypse.

Shadowhunters: Mortal Instruments Series, Episode Eight: Bad Blood

After all the running around, the shadowhunters finally have the Mortal Cup inside of the institute. Alec wants to hand it over to the clave but Clary is insistent that they cannot do this because it's the only leverage they have over Valentine, who is holding her mother hostage. Alec locks the Mortal Cup away for now but makes it clear to Clary that this is no way means that they are friends.  I wish that they would stop having Alec come across like a jealous ex girlfriend, even if this is the tone the books took.

The alarms go off at the institute and Izzy, Jace, Clary and Alec head outside to find out what set off the wards, they find Raphael holding what appears to be an unconscious Simon. Clary is absolutely pissed and blames Raphael for what happened to Simon, completely ignoring that she has spent the last little while blowing Simon off though he called her repeatedly for help.  They don't have time for Clary's angst and guilt however because a choice has to be made. Simon either has to be staked to let his soul free or they have to turn him into a vampire.  Jace rightfully finds the idea of Simon as a vampire ridiculous and Clary starts to cry.

Lydia Branwell walks into the institute disguised as Valentine. Alec shoots off an arrow very quickly and Lydia catches it and transforms into herself, snarking about the slow response time from the rest of the shadowhunters. Lydia is the representative the Clave sent to see exactly what the Lightwoods have been up to. There's no love between Maryse and and Lydia though their families have a very long history. When Lydia learns that there's been an attack at the werewolf headquarters she decides to check it out with Alec.

Clary has a decision to make about what to do with Simon and so she heads to his home to speak to his mother.  Elaine is all distraught about her missing son, and she questions if Clary knows where Simon is.  What Elaine doesn't know is that Jace is in the room and he's used a rune to make himself invisible.  When Clary starts to hedge and it looks like she is going to reveal how the world really works to Elaine, Jace drops a carved wooden monkey which was a mother's day gift from Simon on the floor.  When Eliane walks over to pick up the carving, Jace questions what Clary is doing and tells her to be careful.  Umm did anyone see them use a silence rune? If not, how is it that Elaine didn't hear at least Clary's side of the conversation?

Clary heads to Simon's room to collect things that he's going to need for a transition.  Jace decides to tell her a story about his childhood. It seems that as a child, Jace's father gave him a falcon to tame. Jace worked with the falcon on a daily basis even though it often drew blood until the falcon trusted him and performed at his command. Jace then took the falcon to his father, who promptly snapped the birds neck. Jace says that he was told to tame the bird and not love it. Jace tells Clary that as a Shadowhunter, she has to learn to think with her head and not her heart and that is what his father taught him by snapping the bird's neck. Clary however is certain that if that is what being a Shadowhunter is all about, she's not interested.  Since Clary doesn't make a habit of thinking with her brain anyway, it wouldn't have worked.

On the way to meet with the werewolves, Lydia gets her flirt on with Alec, saying that she knows why so many girls are into him.  Alec tactfully ignores this comment. Lydia then reveals that she was going to run the Lisbon institute with her fiancee but he was killed. Lydia then suggests that Alec avoid love.  Everyone is filled with happy stories this episode it seems.

Inside the restaurant that the werewolves use as their headquarters, Lydia and Alec find Luke. It seems that the werewolves were attacked by something called a Forsaken.  They are all certain that this is the work of none other than Valentine.  Luke is certain that this attack is personal and suggests that he might be going after former circle members. Lydia then has a big revelation for Alec - his parents are former members of the circle.  She pretends like she is shocked that he didn't know but it's quite obvious that Lydia was aware of Alec's ignorance.  Lydia does however promise extra protection for the former circle members.

Staked (Iron Druid Chronicles #8) by Kevin Hearne

Atticus continues his lethal war against the vampires – old enemies of the druids who had nearly succeeded in wiping out druidry 2000 years ago. Now Owen is opening his own school for new druids, it’s time to fight the vampires to a new peace – or extinction.

Owen and Granuaile have issues of their own, Owen building his school while Granuaile pursues her long festering family issues as well as continuing to fight against Loki’s scheming as they’ve all been dragged into the fight for Ragnorak.

This is a book with three different protagonists – Atticus, Granuaile and Owen – and I like how all their stories are connected but they all have their own plot lines and own goals. I was surprised by this because, when Granuaile first became a druid I suspected she would become a sidekick for Atticus. A kind of two legged Oberon to follow Atticus around, be sexy and be in awe of his power. Yes, I’m cynical, but I expected that

Instead we have all three of them leading their own lives and their own agendas – each of which says so much about the characters, their view points and experiences

Atticus is interesting in that he is the oldest and most powerful of all three of them – yet at the same time the one with the least plans and even the least freedom. He has spent two thousand years hiding from Aenghus Og, making enemies and collecting baggage – since killing Aenghus Og Atticus has earned so many debts, so many favours and launched on so many crusades (including the whole Norse Ragnorak issue and the current war against the vampires) that he can’t even begin to make plans for the future. When Granuaile comes to him with her environmental aims he not only doesn’t understand her (given he’s from a very different time and is far more focused on supernatural threats than human defilement of the world) but because simply having space to do something he chooses seems pretty alien to the way he’s living and has lived for two millennia. Even now with Fand out there he is, again, under threat. Atticus is a man under siege, often having to make bad decisions to try and solve the problem in front of him, fully expecting it to come back and bite him but not seeing another choice. It’s interesting how Atticus can be such a light, happy character yet have this rather bleak undercurrent.

While Granuaile is very energetic and passionate and driven – but also very personally invested. In some ways she’s much more connected to the modern world than Atticus or Owen – she’s also relatively young and still growing into her life and role. She still has issues with her step father and his callous polluting of the world which is very emotional and personal for her, which involves a lot of growth, missteps and learning – in fact I think a lot of her story this book is Granuaile deciding what she’s going to do with her life and how that doesn’t involve Atticus. It’s not that she’s breaking from Atticus, they still care for each other and spend time together – but all of Granuaile’s plans and growth are her own: her own battle against Loki, her own deal with the witches, her own plan for the future, even picking her next language to learn (druids have to learn languages for different head spaces) all separate from what Atticus suggests or would do.

Teen Wolf, Season 5, Episode 19: The Beast of Beacon Hills

Corey takes Mason into hiding – this lasts about 5 minutes before he fails epicly (because he’s Corey and utterly useless in every way possible and can’t even hide even with an invisibility power). This ends up with Mason kidnapped by the Dread Doctors.

Naturally Scott & co start searching however they can. We get a completely-non-aware moment when Corey describes that we should totally have known that Mason was the Beast because the way he was dumped into the plot box every time action happened. Because this show has absolutely no idea how often it’s rammed gay and Black characters into the plot box.

By this logic, the unexplained absent Danny is actually an Archdemon or Lucifer or maybe Unicron.

But Theo and the gang also wants in on the action, being deftly manipulated and taunted by Deucalion who cleverly pokes Theo into absorbing the power of Josh, his zappy chimera, to use the dread mask and join the search (actually this turns out to be pretty useless as the mask only reveals what we all learned from last week’s Argent Storytime). Oh, and reveals that he was able to leave at any time because he’s Deucalion and Theo is an entitled teenager with a mopey streak who doesn’t know nearly as much as he thinks he does.

Despite absolutely no-one trusting Theo they all decide to trust Theo and the complete lack of any kind of knowledge, skills or utility he brings. Oh, he reveals that the Dread Doctors are tapping a preserved Nazi Alpha werewolf for immortality juice (I could have happily lived in a world where I didn’t have to type that sentence). Using the help of everyone but Theo (remind me again why he’s here?) they manage to find said undead alpha nazi werewolf (this sentence doesn’t get better typed a second time) and he is plugged into Mason via a tube into his neck which is unpleasant

We do get a use for Theo – like Deucalion the Dread Doctor’s just can’t resist taunting him by how useless and mundane and dull and a failure he is – not even a special evil (special evil turns from true good) until he sees to give up all of his plans and just launch himself at the Dread Doctors, along with Liam equally failing to do anything.

Except antagonist Mason into enduring agony and possible death to rip himself free of the Nazi alpha zombie werewolf (third time. No better) and transform. Without frequencies – he has made the final transformation into the Beast. The Dread Doctors consider this a victory… despite the Beast’s first action to squish all three doctors as easily as swatting flies (what exactly is their plan? Surely not elaborate suicide?)

On the plus side this saves Scott, on the minus side it also saves Liam and Theo. And it may result in Mason being lost.