Wayward Pines, Season One, Episode Ten: Cycle

The season finale of Wayward Pines is absolutely action packed.  When we last left the remains of humanity, David had turned off the power leaving the townspeople vulnerable to an invasion of aberrations.  A frantic Ethan manages to get a hold of Pam and she tells him to get the people off the street because six aberrations have already breached the wall and more are amassing outside.  David gets the attention of the panicked citizens and instructs them to head to the underground bunker which Theresa found.  Theresa decides to head to the hospital to get Ben.  Ethan heads to the police station with Kate and her people to gather guns.

At the station, the First Generation which were locked up after killing Howard and the other insurgents are smug about the situation, saying rather childishly that David warned them this would happen.  With the threat of aberrations hanging over the town, the adults don't have time to talk and they grab what they need, including a bomb and take off.  Ethan heads to the hospital and Kate and her people cover the escape of the townspeople with their weapons.

On the mountain, a desperate Pam tries to talk David into turning the power on in the hope of saving the lives of at least some of the townsfolk.  David however is done with the townsfolk saying that next time they won't make the same mistakes and will not awaken a person like Ethan.  David wants to make plans for awakening group C, saying that they will be able to reopen the town when the aberrations migrate south for the winter. Pam keeps pushing David to see reason but he calls security on her.  Not only does security grab Pam, they round up the entire surveillance team.  David decides that as punishment for their defiance, they are to be placed back in stasis.  Pam tries to talk sense to the people but she is knocked unconscious for her trouble.

Some of the next generation arrive at the jail and release those who have been locked up. It seems that the plan is to head to the arc which David created for them as a fail safe because he felt that something like this would happen.  Once they arrive, they find it stocked with food and water and others of the their cohort waiting for them.

Ethan makes it to the hospital in time to save Theresa, Ben, and Amy, from an aberration.  They all make it to the underground bunker and Kate arrives shortly afterwards.  They know that they cannot stay there because the door keeping the aberrations on the outside is flimsy at best.  Kate starts talking to Hope, trying to find out where the tunnel leads but even now, Hope is convinced that David will come and save them because to her, he is pretty much a God. It's Ben who pokes holes in her theory suggesting that it was David who turned off the power otherwise they would have been notified that something had gone wrong.  As horrified as Hope is, she steps out of her comatose state long enough to give everyone the information they need.  The townsfolk start to walk through the tunnel and Hope decides to stay behind in case some of the first generation show up.  She's afraid that they will die if they arrive at the bunker and no one is there to open the door for them.

Everyone makes it to the elevator doors and Ethan and Kate decide to go up first in case David has placed soldiers there to block their escape.  When they get to the top, Ethan and Kate quickly kill a few soldiers and disarm the rest.  A guard uses the distraction to free Pam from stasis.  Ethan takes the elevator back down and leaves Kate behind to confront Pilcher.

Kate finds Pilcher in his offices and tries to convince him to turn on the power. David absolutely refuses, saying that he is going to remembered for what he did and that his way of doing things is the only way.  Clearly, this man is determined never to change.  Pam enters the room and shoots David point blank and I have to admit that I cheered. David needed to go and Pam has joined team good guy.

Ethan conducts the rest of the people into the elevator and they start the trip to the top of the mountain. Suddenly the elevator stops and the people realise that the aberrations are in the elevator shaft.  Ben opens the hatch and climbs on top of the elevator. He notices that alongside the elevator are a set of stairs.  Everyone gets on top of the elevator and starts climbing the stairs.  Ethan asks Theresa to always stay close to Ben and they kiss before he gives her a hand climbing to the top of the elevator.  Ben reaches in to help his dad out because Ethan is the only one left.  Ethan suggests that they work as a team and promises that he will be right behind Ben.  Ben climbs and reaches to the top with everyone else.  When the aberration start to break through the bottom of the elevator, Ethan sets off the bomb. The elevator crashes to the bottom of the shaft and bursts into flames killing Ethan and the rest of the aberrations.  A piece of debris hits Ben, knocking him unconscious.

Zoo, Season 1, Episode 2: Fight or Flight

In Botswana Jackson runs around telling everyone the world is ending because lions are eating people and is generally not agreed with since man-eating lions are a terrible tourist attraction.

On the good news, they do get a message from Abraham who is, indeed, alive (yay, I take back some of my first episode cynicism. Some of it). They ride to the rescue and, despite some tense moments with the lions, they do manage to get him to safety. More, they realise the lions must have gone out of the way not to kill Abraham – Jackson decides they wanted him to spread the word

Everyone still doesn’t believe Jackson so we do get a lot of scenes of the white guy telling all the Botswanan’s how they just don’t understand their environment and not one of them gives him a slap upside the head.

His mother, Elizabeth, a doctor nearly does when she hears him talking about his dad’s (Richard) research and how he believed the animals would rise up. Since Richard was derided and ridiculed for his silly theories she’s not a fan of her son going the same route

She changes her mind though when the bodies start coming in – 22 bodies mauled by lions. Not only is that a lot of people, but the way they were killed doesn’t match normal lion killing behaviour: they’d all been killed the same way, slowly. This convinces Elizabeth Something Is Up and she sends Jackson to find the rest of Richard’s research – in Japan. Abraham joins him with a completely and utterly unnecessary comment fetishizing Asian women.

Over in Los Angeles, Jamie is continuing to research Reid chemicals, convinced they’re the great satan because they destroyed her home town. She’s also facing eviction and a deeply creepy landlord’s son who is trying to coerce her into sex, so let’s hope something eats him.

Angel Falls (Cassandra Bick Chronicles Book 3) by Tracey Sinclair

Cassandra Bick runs a supernatural dating agency and between her business, her relationship with both a grounded Angel (Cain) and one of the most powerful vampires in London (Laclos), you would think that this makes Cassandra an old hat at dealing with supernatural problems but you'd be wrong. When a fledgling enters her office issuing a threat to Laclos's safety because quite uncharacteristically, he has gone on a slaughtering spree thanks to ingesting Cain's blood, Cassandra cannot overlook the threat, no matter how much she would like to.  With a vampire war looming, Cassandra has a lot to deal with and it's all made worse with the arrival of Cain's wife and the angels who have determined that Cain broke the law when he shared blood with Laclos.

Despite everything that she has been through, Cassie hasn't really grown as a person.  Cassie feels driven to size up the women she interacts with as some competition. Cassie has to break down what her so-called competition is wearing and how it all rates against what she has or can afford, making her internal monologue irritating at times. It's almost a relief when she's told to give it a rest, considering that both Laclos and Cain the two supernaturals who are arguably the most attractive in the city have been battling over her. With everything that's happening in Angel Falls, Cassie's continual competition with the women around her is absolutely tedious to read and made we want to scream just grow up already.  On a positive note, she's still willing to do what she had to do to survive and to take care of the little supernatural family she has managed to assemble.

Cassie's little supernatural family has grown even tighter in Angel Falls. We were introduced to another mortal who owes a favor to Cain and the Valkyrie, Cain's wife returned for the big battle.  Everyone has competing motivations but they all manage to work together to save Laclos.  I love that Medea will now be a full partner in Dark Dates because this further elevates her status.  I want to see these characters continue to grow and become the ultimate Scooby team. I found myself particularly drawn to the changing relationship between Cain and Laclos.  Laclos has experienced many changes after drinking Cain's blood and at times we are told that it has created a profound bond (yes, a Supernatural reference) but Sinclair works hard to show that the bond is more than supernatural and that these men have developed a history which results in a certain amount of regard.

By about the third book, I normally feel as though I have sense about the world but Sinclair showed me exactly how much I had assumed about the Cassandra Bick Chronicles by the ways she expanded the world and added so much nuance to her characters. Until Angel Falls, though we knew that angels existed and are powerful beings, we knew very little about them. We learned that Angels don't conform to modernist models of gender identity and that once they love someone, they love forever. I must admit to finding this fascinating.   The angels touch upon LGBT themes and are a notable parallel between genderqueer/non-binary/genderfluid people. That being said, it's not entirely inaccurate to include Cain as one of them; however, as a member of a species that can ALL change body/shape/gender/sex at will and generally as an alien being, the analogy isn't perfect and there are marked differences between this angel's experience/representation and a genderqueer/fluid/trans human's experience etc.

LGBTQ Characters - Happiness is a Death Sentence

If you’ve been connected to the internet at all over the past week, you will have seen a lot of fan reaction to the death of Lexa on The 100. Emotions have been… high. Twitter hashtags #LexaDeservesBetter and #LGBTFansDeserveBetter have both been full of outpourings of pain and anger over this death. A lot of people are very angry, especially LGBTQ fans of the show who, for a brief moment, allowed themselves to hope.

It seems, yet again, that we should have known better - the media teaches us harsh lessons against hope for LGBTQ happiness time and time again

In many ways, Lexa’s death on The 100 is especially painful because the show has a bisexual protagonist (and CW shows with LGBTQ protagonists are RARE. Well, shows with LGBTQ protagonists at all are rare - of the 108 shows we’ve watched we’ve seen 4 LGBTQ protagonists and 4 LGBTQ dual protagonists - and many are lacking) and genuinely seemed to be a show whose writers had a clue or at least were trying. I mean, they weren’t perfect - they told us no-one in the world of The 100 cared about sexuality but then had no LGBTQ characters until the very end of the second season (it took that long to reveal Clarke was bisexual in this homophobia free world). And Miller and Bryan bro-hugging goodbye. But, still, it was rare, it was unique, it was hopeful - and it’s that level of hope that fans, especially LGBTQ fans, invested in the show that made Lexa’s death so devastating and enraging. They expected better, they were given every reason to expect better

Since Alycia Debnam-Carey is contracted with Fear The Walking Dead, we knew that she wasn’t going to stay on the show for much longer - so removing her from the show in some way was definitely something the writers were faced with. But there were so many ways they could have done this differently.

They could have had Lexa die in a way that was actually remotely respectful for her, showing her power, her importance - rather than a stray bullet meant for Clarke (a death which eerily echoes the death of Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer which, really, is a comparison the writers should have taken pains to avoid). Or they could have stepped away from Clarke/Lexa relationship since they knew that it couldn’t possibly have a long life - especially since they had story reasons for the two not to want to get close again. Both could have worked together, found other relationships and we could have had grief without the endless tragedy

They could have simply had other/more prominent LGBTQ relationships. It wouldn’t match the power of the protagonist’s relationship, but it would have had something.

Marked in Flesh (The Others #4) by Anne Bishop

Things now rest on the knife edge, the Humans First and Last Movement is growing in power and popularity, attacking humans who don’t support them and continually provoking the Terra Indegene

And they may have gone too far – and they have no idea what mighty powers they have raised against them

This book is all about surviving, hoping for the best and preparing for the aftermath. It’s not even about trying to make it less bad – it’s past that – it’s all about getting ready to pick up the pieces.Wverything heading to a bad place and everyone is just trying to soften the blow. There’s no doubt here, the worry that has been brewing for several books has reached its peak: it’s too late to stop the disaster, the elder Others have been roused and people are going to die.

The Terra Indegene we know are not unscathed by this. Simon, Henry, Vlad et all are all closely associated with the humans and one of the repeated conflicts they face is the question of how much humanity is allowed to remain. That doesn’t just mean how many humans are allowed to live – but how many human things are allowed to remain, which is a conflict for them as well as there’s a number of human things they themselves want to keep

Which also is a personal question for Simon in particular as well – Terra Indgene are beings that imitate a predator and become more like them (so wolfguard’s ancestors saw wolves and became increasingly wolfish) – as he is more and more involved with humans how much of a human is he becoming?

Which also fits in part of the personal conflict with Meg who has excellent storylines of being the Trailblazer, trying to find a new way of living and surviving for the Cassandra Sangre like herself: trying to use their power to predict the future without it killing them. There’s also the personal story of her connection with Simon. Personally, I don’t think this book needs a romance, and I appreciate, at least, that it has been a very slow burn – but if it is going to be there it’s interesting some of the elements that they’ve added. Meg has been abused – physically emotionally and sexually – by human men; she actually views Simon’s increasing humanity as a threat and a barrier

The conflict facing the human characters is how to convince the ignorant and entitled Humans First and Last Movement demanding more and more from the Others despite the repeated warnings they’ve received. There’s lots of conflict of these humans desperately trying to placate the Others and being victimised themselves for being “Wolf Lovers”. There’s a lot of uncomfortable and difficult moments with the Others, especially the wolves, being furious with humanity for just reasons and these humans being caught in the middle, sympathising while also trying to point out some of them are trying to stop this. It’s messy and has no good ending – which is kind of the underlying theme of this book

All of these is bleak and grim but comes with a nice heavy dose of humour as well which so defines this series. The joyous confusion of the Others trying to understand humanity, especially The Meg. This light, hilariously confusion is an excellent addition to ensure that everything isn’t so grim.

The world building of this series is fascinating and pretty unique. We have a lot of book series out there where the supernatural hides out of fear of the vastness of humanity – but this is one of the few where it is the opposite. The supernatural are vastly powerful who tolerate humanity’s presence. This book also lets us see how this works in different lands with the people of Cel-Romano giving gifts to their “friends in the woods” which is a nice take on old superstitions of leaving gifts out to, for example, the fae and other local supernaturals in different parts of Europe.

A Winter's Tale

"What if, once upon a time, there were no stars in the sky at all? What if the stars are not what we think? What if the light from afar doesn't come from the rays of distant suns, but from our wings as we turn into angels? Destiny calls to each of us. And there is a world behind the world where we are all connected, all part of a great and moving plan. Magic is everywhere around us. You just have to look. Look. Look closely. For even time and distance are not what they appear to be."

A Winter's Tale was released in 2014, and directed by Akiva Goldsman. It stars: Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay and Russell Crowe.

When his parents are denied entry to the U.S. at Ellis Island, young Peter Lake (Collin Farrell) is set adrift in a small boat.  When next we see him, Peter is a grown man and has fallen out of favour with the local crime boss/demon Pearly Soames (Russeell Crowe).  Peter is on the run for his life. Fortunately for Peter, when he is cornered, Athansor, a magical winged white horse appears and whisks him away.  Peter decides that perhaps he should head south for the winter and let some of the heat cool off but Ahtansor has other ideas.  When Athansor stops in front of a house, Peter watches as a family pulls away for what must be their winter vacation. Being a smart thief, Peter decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth and decides to rob the place. His plans come to a screeching halt however when he sees Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay) playing the piano.  The two quickly develop a connection and fall in love over tea but little do they know, the dark side still has plans for Peter.

A Winter's Tale definitely falls into the category of romantic fantasy and though it absolutely bombed at the box office, I found myself somewhat captivated, even if it didn't always make a lot of sense. A Winter's Tale was adapted from a book by the same name by Mark Helprin. Though I have not read the book, which was published in 1983, I am quite certain that many elements had to be stripped away to make this movie because at times things didn't really seem to connect and rather than showing us the world, we were overloaded with exposition.

We are supposed to be caught up in the love story between Peter and Beverly but they fall in love over a cup of tea and then spend a few days together at her family's winter home.  I suppose if I were one who believed in love at first sight, I might have been able to suspend belief but I read these quick love scenarios as lust and not love.  It doesn't at all help that when Peter breaks into Beverly's posh home with the intention to steal, she is barely alarmed. It's so ridiculous that Peter has to comment on it. Who exactly invites a thief for a cup of tea and tells them their life story? Yes, I get that Beverly is dying and that this is tragic, it still doesn't explain why she wasn't afraid of Peter. Let's be honest, she's in her dressing gown and she doesn't actually know him from Adam.  He could have been a rapist but none of that runs through Beverly's mind.

Russell Crowe's Pearly Soames is perhaps the least satisfying character in the movie. He growls and grunts and grimaces throughout the film to portray his evil and supposed menace.  He is at times unintelligible and this is magnified in the scenes he shares with Will Smith (Lucifer). These two have absolutely zero chemistry with each other.  Soames and Lucifer talk about accords but these are never really explained beyond the fact that Soames, for some reason cannot travel beyond the five boroughs.  I assume that this is a shortfall of the medium rather than the author's original story.
I know that these two are meant to represent evil but it is never clearly explained what threat exactly Peter represents, or why Pearly makes the desperate move of becoming human in order to kill him. Simply saying that Peter is a protegee who developed ideas simply doesn't get it.

White Trash Zombie Gone Wild (White Trash Zombie #5) by Diana Rowland

Angel is having problems. She took the zombie drug V12 originally to help her in a mission for the Tribe. Then she kept taking it because it helped with her studies and her dyslexia – and then she kept taking it despite the side effects

It’s a major hurdle to overcome, but she can’t focus on it alone – there’s a threat to expose zombies and the Tribe has its hands full with Sabaton’s plotting.

And there’s murder on her doorstep – which may be related to zombie hunting. It’s a lot to handle and there’s only Angel free to step up.

Have I mentioned how much I love this series? Because I really love this series. More surprisingly, I love this series for different reasons to why I love Diana Rowland’s Kara Gillian series (though both series are in my top 10 list). I love Kara Gillian because I love the world, I love the setting, I love the awesome, epic plots – I’m not saying I don’t love Kara as well, but the world and plot is amazing. While the White Trash Zombie Series I love primarily because of Angel – again, not that the world or plots are lacking, far from it. But Angel is such an excellent character and this book just continues Angel’s story

I think the first thing to emphasise about Angel is that she isn’t super. She’s a zombie, but no more powerful than the average zombie. She’s not stupid, but hardly super intelligent either. She’s physically capable but doesn’t have super strength or move in a blur of speed. She can handle herself, but don’t expect her to pull our ninja moves or shoot with deadly accuracy over vast distances.

Yet, despite that (or because of that), she is one of the strongest characters I’ve come across who has accomplished more and overcome more than most I’ve read. The very lack of epicness about her underscores just how awesome our White Trash Zombie is.

At the end of the last book I predicted Angel was going to have some problems with the zombie pharmaceuticals the Tribe is now producing – more, that she should have problems with them. She managed to overcome drug addiction when she became a zombie simply because she became a zombie – and with that became immune to the drugs she used to take, forcing her to quit. Now there are zombie pharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals she uses, which are helpful and useful to her – and are addictive

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, Season One, Episode Ten: This World Inverted

Meliorn is unhappy owing a life debt to Clary, so he guides Jace and Clary into seelie land to open up a portal, so that they can find Valentine.  Watching Meliorn open the portal is like watching some really bad tai chi and cheap pajamas.  Meliorn warns Clary that when she crosses over to the alternate dimension, she will be in a world where there are no shadowhunters or demons.  If Clary stays in the alternate dimension for too long, she will forget her real identity.  Hearing that, I kind of wanted Clary to just stay forever because I find her annoying as all get out.

Clary walks into the portal and enters the body of that Clary.  The first thing that Clary notices is that her mother and father are happily married.  She freaks out a bit but after watching a commercial which advertises the services of Magnus Bane as a psychic, Clary knows where she must head for help.  Wow, can you believe how subtle the writers were at putting Clary and Magnus together in this dimension?

In the real dimension, at the institute, Shadowhunters are being questioned about what happened at the Silent Brothers.  Alec pulls Izzy aside, afraid that it won't be long until the investigation focuses in on her.  Naturally he's right, and it's a New York minute before Lydia decides that she needs to arrest Izzy because everyone knows she was sleeping with Meliorn.  How's that for evidence; your sex like makes you guilty?  Alec comes up with a compromise and decides to offer Lydia the Mortal Cup in exchange for Izzy's freedom.  Unfortunately for Alec, he finds that the Mortal Cup is missing. So much for plan one.

Meliorn continues to meditate in front of the portal and an irritated Jace looks on.  In the alternate dimension, Simon is dating Izzy and naturally Jace and Clary are still a couple. Clary tracks down Magnus and he does a tarot card reading, informing Clary that  she is in love (yeah tell us something we don't know). Magnus continues the reading and says that Clary's relationship will be threatened by a revelation (readers of the books totally know what that means). Clary is not content with the reading and informs Magnus that she knows that he is a warlock and needs his help. Unfortunately, Magnus's magic has gone dormant. Magnus makes a potion but still cannot get his magic to work, even when Clary tells him that his spell casting isn't nearly as flamboyant as she has seen him do. In desperation, Clary shows Magnus the shard and when he touches it, it reinvigorates his magic allowing him to see that the portal is in the institute.  Fortunately for Clary, Valentine is holding an Alice in Wonderland party at the institute tonight so they will be able to get in.  Quick question, if there are no Shadowhunters, why does the institute still exist? I guess we won't quibble with common sense and just go ahead with it.

Back in the real dimension, Simon goes to Jade to say that Raphael has made him the vampire ambassador to the werewolves. Now that he is undead, the werewolves don't exactly warm to Simon but thankfully, Luke is the Alpha so Simon is safe.  The two sit and share a few secrets and though Luke is a werewolf, he is able to empathise with Simon's plot because a fledgling vampire goes through the same problems as a newbie wolf.  Aww look, they're building bridges. Simon and Luke head outside and Luke warns Simon not to think about going home until he has his urges under control.  The two are confronted by an internal affairs officer and having a gun pointed at him, is enough to get Simon to attack. Thankfully, Luke's werewolf reflexes stop Simon from killing the cop. The two then set Simon up to play the role of the serial killer that the cops have been looking for and Luke shows up to play hero, shooting Simon dead.  In the morgue, Luke is hailed as a hero for rescuing a fellow cop and closing the case. Wow, I guess internal affairs is about as competent as Barney Fife.  Alone again, Simon opens the body bag and when he is informed that he saved the alpha from a police problem, Simon requests free food for life.  See, that's how alliances are made.

Back at the institute, a pissed off Alec is determined that his sister won't suffer for Jace's girlfriend. With the aid of Hodge, Alec decides to trace Jace through their parabatai bond.  This is huge because it could either weaken or break the bond altogether.  Izzy is particularly concerned but Alec claims he no longer gives a damn about Jace. Oh Alec, thou thus protestest too much. Alec begins the process despite all of the warnings.  Jace and Meliorn are busy fighting off demons but when Alec reaches out to Jace through the bond, the pain becomes unbearable and Jace falls to the ground in pain.  The absence of a foe is enough for a demon to launch itself through the portal.

In the alternate dimension, Jace approaches Clary for a dance and is disturbed that she seems not to be doting on him.  That's some relationship Clary.  If dude cannot handle that you didn't immediately respond to his text and cannot stand the idea that you might not have the time to dance with him, it's time to institute a catch and release policy.  At any rate, Magnus is outside but he cannot get into the party because Clary hasn't gotten around to putting his name on the list (way to go with priorities Clary. ) It's Alec to the rescue and he takes responsibility for Magnus. This is a total role reversal because this time, it's Alec who is doing the pursuing.  He even repeats Magnus words from a previous episode claiming that Magnus is playing hard to get and that he likes a challenge.  I kind of like this self assured Alec, even if he comes across as slightly sleazy.