The 100, Season Three, Episode Fourteen: Red Sky at Morning

This episode could easily have been called, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  It's basically about sides who hate each other, or distrust each other potentially coming together in the hopes of stopping ALIE.  Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

After talking Indra down, the merry band of resisters must decide what to do next. Both Pike and Murphy believe that the best strategy is to retreat and regroup; however, Indra wants to kill Jaha, believing that this will rescue her people.  Murphy knows more than he says and simply tells Indra that this won't work.  ALLIE enters the holding area to attempt to get more people to take the chip and she notices that Pike is more injured than when he was imprisoned.  ALLIE quickly realises that someone has gotten loose and orders the prisoners checked.  Indra quickly gets the upper hand and kills the guards.  Indra then presses Murphy to find out what he knows and he finally admits that for everyone to go free, Jaha's backpack must be destroyed.  Indra sends her people to lead away the chipped while she, Murphy and Pike make an attempt to get to the backpack. Because of Murphy's decision not to run, Pike tells him, "your father would be proud of you." Really Pike?  I can't believe Murphy didn't give him some hella snark for that.

For the first time we get to see the City of Light and it looks like a pre dystopian city.  One of the escapees has been captured and quickly reports the plan to go after the back pack.  ALIE isn't worried however because she has the perfect person for the job - Emori.  I was quite fascinated by the fact that though Emori follows orders, at least a part of personality still exists.  This becomes evident when Jaha points out that she can fix her deformed fingers in the City of Light, but Emori responds that everything about her is perfect.

When they get inside the sanctuary where the back pack is being kept, Murphy, Indra and Pike find that chipped residents of Polis are already inside.  This presents little problem for Pike and he simply starts killing. Were it not for Murphy staying Pike's hand, Emori would have died right there. Becca's space pod is there along with the backpack but they ignore it in favour of destroying the backpack. Before Murphy can act, Emori calls out that the backpack contains a nuclear fuel cell which would destroy the entire city.  It seems that it's time for brains over brawn.

Back at Arkadia, Raven is biting at the bit to use the code she learned from Becca's book and go after ALLIE.  Monty is adamant that since they only have one chance at this that they need to wait until Clarke returns.   Harper joins them and tells Monty that perhaps he should take a break.  They head to the airlock, where Monty learns that Harper's idea of a break is sex. Monty pauses long enough to ensure that Harper isn't chipped and then it's giddy up time.

On the oil rig, Luna is still adamant that she will not become the next Heda.  Clarke tries to appeal to Luna, saying that Lexa was working on changing things and stopping the philosophy of  blood must have blood. Luna however remains steadfast.

While Clarke is appealing to Luna, Jasper meets Sky, a young woman who has never been off the rig. She wants to know all about Jasper and the two being to bond. Obviously, this does not bode well for Sky.

Monty and Harper are just getting to the post coital cuddling when Raven barges in.  It seems that she was waiting for them to be finished. Monty joins Raven back at the computer where she explains that she's found something called the citadel - a firewall in the code.  Once again Raven wants to go in because she is convinced that ALIE is hiding something but Monty cautions her to wait.

Back on the rig, having failed to get Luna's consent, Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia argue about attaching the chip to her anyway. Octavia points out that if they take that approach, they wouldn't be any better than ALIE but with few options left, they decide to go for it. Luna is training some kids when Clarke approaches her. Clarke argues that the chip is Luna's birthright but Luna is more concerned that too many lives would be lost to save a few people.  A frustrated Clarke says the incantation and accosts Luna only to be quickly rebuffed cause Luna is all kinds of bad ass.

 It seems that Luna left not because she was a coward but because she was the best fighter. Luna had killed her brother in the first round and was set to face Lexa next but because she was sick of killing, she left.

Wynonna Earp, Season 1, Episode 6: Constant Cravings

This episode brings a bit more of Dolls, which is definitely needed. He and Wynonna continue to have their excellent snarky relationship. They’re awesome when they spar and investigate and generally work awesomely together.

But there’s more. Dolls’ bosses aren’t happy with him – he suggests it’s because they haven’t brought a living Revenant back for capture therefore they’ve failed to prove that Purgatory even has a Revenant problem so why are they spending all the money? Personally, I’m inclined to think the powers that be have a much more sinister motive than that – because don’t they always? Isn’t that like a rule?

To reinforce that, they seem to have cut him off from a supply of some drug he’s dependent on. And it’s definitely not a conventional drug. This drug makes his eyes change colour and shape – something supernatural. He has to get it illicitly since he’s apparently done something to offend his bosses

Without the drugs, Dolls is definitely on edge, agitated and not doing well.

We also have an interesting Revenant fight which brings a little more nuance to the whole killing demons thing. We have a family of Revenant cannibals – not just from pure evil but because they lived in a hard time in a difficult place with hard winters and few resources. Of course, one member, Mama, became addicted to human meat. Her son supported his mother out of devotion and her daughter didn’t have any choice in the matter (An interesting element here is that said daughter was raised as a son since Mam was determined she would not face the prevailing sexism of the era –but at the same time upbringing didn’t change who her daughter was or who she wanted to be. Mama wanting to be different couldn’t change that). Wyatt came to town and killed them all – turning them into revenants – but Mama’s children’s culpability is more nuanced than simple “evil demons who need to die.”

Zoo, Season 1, Episode 9: Mumuration

So this week brings a twist that helps explain a lot of the oddness of Zoo. While Mitch is trying to pull his little deal with Reiden for medicine for his daughter he sees Delavenne – the man who put their little team together. He’s working for Reiden.

He runs and, with surprising cunning, manages to get away with both the Mother Cell and the medicine, to tell the others about Delavenne’s treachery (oh and his own, which they’re also not a fan of).

This helps a great deal to explain the bizarre secrecy that this group has put up with since the beginning. It explains their complete lack of any official support, it explains the extra cloak and dagger annoyance that has bothered me from the first season.

But there’s a problem with this. Chloe. To believe this whole thing we have to think that a French intelligence agent did absolutely no background checks. No research. Didn’t even try to figure out who Delavenne is and was never once concerned about where their resources came from or who was leading them

This French intelligence agent is ASTONISHINGLY incompetent. No, it’s worse than that, she’s lazy. She doesn’t just do her job poorly, she doesn’t do her job at all. She has done no research, no checking, no back background research, nothing. While I realise this episode’s “French intelligence is a contradiction in terms” was an anti-French insult (meh, Europeans have been saying the same about Americans for a long time. And the American presidential elections will always give us an edge in this snark fest) but it was utterly accurate when it came to Chloe.

Even worse, after these revelations, Chloe just kind of collapses into nothing. It’s Jackson who takes over, Jackson who has a plan to try and get them out of this (it doesn’t work, but still – since it involves a journalist contact of Jamie’s who is then silenced by Reiden lawyers. Oh and basically confronting Delavenne and demanding he do the right thing. Sure it’s a shitty plan, but it was a plan). And he comforts Chloe who is beginning to grasp how useless she is.

The Walking Dead, Vol. 24: Life and Death (The Walking Dead #139-144) by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard (Illustrator), Stefano Gaudiano (Illustrator), Cliff Rathburn (Illustrator)

After all of the preparations, it's time for the various communities to come together to celebrate the achievements they've had since they've defeated Negan. Expectations are high, as booths begin to be filled with merchandise and people begin to arrive at Alexandria from The Hilltop and The Kingdom. For as festive as the air seems, a dark shadow is about to fall over the celebrations and not everyone will survive.

A few major events happened in this graphic novel.  In Whispers Into Screams we really got to see Maggie as a leader for the first time in her own right.  It all culminates with Gregory's failed attempt on her life.  Gregory's treachery leaves Maggie with a huge problem.  Now that Gregory has been imprisoned and it's clear that members of The Hilltop knew of his assassination plans and didn't warn Maggie, or try to stop Gregory, Gregory has become a problem which must be dealt with. Maggie decides that Gregory has to die and he is publicly hanged at The Hilltop.  Once Gregory is dead, she does take the time to talk with her people and reaffirm that Gregory's death doesn't change anything and that killing fellow humans is wrong.

This is in great contrast to Rick, who as we know has been keeping Negan imprisoned since defeating him.  Negan is treated humanely but Rick has no intention of ever allowing Negan to have his freedom again.  Maggie decides that she doesn't have to answer to Rick because she is the leader of The Hilltop and and has made the best decision for her community.  It's clear they both have a very different idea of what constitutes justice.  The continuing imprisonment of Negan has been a sore spot between Andrea and Rick for quite some time but Rick explains that Negan's continued existence is proof that they have changed and have created the kind of society where death is no longer necessary. Negan however feels quite differently about his imprisonment which we find out when Rick returns to Alexandria and discovers that Negan's cell was left inadvertently unlocked. Negan chose to wait for Rick's return rather than escaping. Negan believes that Rick keeps him alive to prove to the world that Rick is a good person and that he is the only one who can solve the world's problems.  Negan is at least partially right in his point. There can be no doubt that keeping Negan locked up allows Rick to show his power.  It also allows Rick to keep a separation between him and Negan because though Rick, as the antagonist has been positioned as good, there can be no doubt that in order to survive as long as he has, Rick has done things which were certainly not good, or that would have been acceptable before a zombie apocalypse. Negan acts as a mirror for Rick, reminding him of the kind of man he aspires to be, rather than the kind of man he is.

Not being Carl's parent, Maggie doesn't feel the same kind of responsibility for his safety as Rick would.  She sends out a scout to look for Carl but when he returns after two days saying that he cannot find him, Maggie takes comfort in the idea that Carl got himself into this mess and can take care of himself.  Maggie declares that Carl is on his own.  Maggie's big concern is that Carl's actions will cause some sort of conflict that everyone will have to deal with and that's fair given that they were warned by the Alpha to stay out of the Whispers territory.  Maggie does tell Rick the moment she arrives in Alexandria, but she didn't sentdword to him of Carl's departure right away and even gets her back up when Rick demands to know why she didn't do more.  This new Maggie is not afraid to stand up to the great and powerful Rick Grimes. This new Maggie is also aware that her priorities might not always match with Rick Grimes and she accepts this without question.

When we last left Carl, he had left The Hilltop in search of Lydia. It's not long before Carl finds himself surrounded by the Whisperers.  Carl who proves he doesn't have the sense of a concussed penguin decides to the threaten the Alpha and doesn't realise that he is actually being held captive and not there of his own free will until they decide to release Lydia.

 When Rick comes to rescue Carl, he is surprised to find himself rebuffed.  It seems that for Carl, it wasn't the sex that drew him in but the fact that with Lydia he didn't have to wear glasses to hide his scars.  In fact, Lydia finds his disfigurement sexy.  There's also the fact that to Lydia, he isn't the son of the great Rick Grimes, or Carl Grimes the kid who survived so many horrors.  To Lydia, Carl can just be himself without any expectations. I am really glad that Kirkman expanded upon Carl's attraction to Lydia because in the previous graphic novel it all felt rather twee and shallow.

Though horror and tragedy has brought people together that doesn't mean that each person doesn't bring a lot of baggage to relationships. Things were going good for Ezekiel and Michonne but Michonne simply ran scared after he brought up them staying together and having a family.  For Michonne, it's all too much because she feels that she doesn't deserve a second chance, especially given the fact that she believes that her daughters are dead.  Michonne running scared from a relationship, as awkward as it seems is a step forward for her.  Michonne is normally portrayed as a woman of few words - a bad ass with a katana and a weapon for Rick to point.  Michonne running is a sign of her vulnerability and thus her humanity.  It's Rick who pulls Michonne aside when he meets her at the boat where she is dropping of the fish she and her crew have caught.  It's Rick who tells Michonne that she deserves to be happy and that she shouldn't feel guilty.  Despite Rick's best efforts he cannot convince Michonne to go back to Ezekiel but he does make her smile by referring to her as his best friend. Given Michonne's absence in recent comics, this is a reminder that she and Rick have developed a close relationship.

Orphan Black, Season Four Episode Four: The Instinct to Rational Control

Since her introduction, M.K. has been something of an enigma.  Because she is a clone, it was easy to assume  that she was always working in the best interests of her sisters but it seems that M.K. had an agenda all her own and for a very good reason.  While Sarah is busy searching her home, M.K. runs her own sting on none other than Ferdinand.  Pretending to be Sarah, M.K. sends Ferdinand a text asking him to meet Ferdinand at Beth's old flat.

Wearing a mask, M.K. invites Ferdinand to have a seat and he does so, unaware that the chair is rigged to explode if he stands up.  M.K., whose real name is Vera, wants revenge for Ferdinand trying to kill her and successfully murdering her best friend, (also another clone) that friend's family, as well as 5 other clones ,and 32 of their loved ones.  It seems that Ferdinand unsurprisingly has racked up one hell of a death count.  Fortunately for Ferdinand, a call between Sarah and Siobhan, gives Sarah a heads up about what is going on. Against Dizzy's better instincts, he lends Sarah his car so that she can intervene. Things are going to get a lot worse for Dizzy now that he is officially a member of club clone. I suspect that he's going to learn that the first rule of clone club: don't talk about clone club, may not be enough for him to survive. Also, is anyone else wondering exactly where Dizzy fits in?

Sarah begs M.K. repeatedly not to do this, saying that Ferdinand has vital information and can be useful.  Sarah's pleas fall on deaf ears and M.K. forces Ferdinand to transfer well over three million dollars out of his account, leaving him destitute, before apologising and walking out.  Sarah's not done saving Ferdinand yet and she calls in the big guns in the form of Siobhan, who knows a little something about bombs.  It's Siobhan who disarms the bomb, as Sarah makes it perfectly clear to Ferdinand that this makes them equal because she has now officially saved his life in return.  Clearly, Ferdinand doesn't feel lucky having lost all of his money to M.K. but he should.

It seems that there must be some sort of tragic back story prerequisite to being a clone. I thought Beth's story was heartbreaking but M.K.'s just took things to another level.  The friend that Ferdinand killed was the only friend M.K. had in the world.  Her face is also permanently scared. It's easy to see why M.K. chose revenge over helping Sarah.  It's clear that things aren't even remotely done between M.K and Ferdinand because he is going to want his money back and I highly doubt she will be satisfied as long as he is still alive.

Amidst all of the chaos that comes with life as a clone, Allison is still doing her suburban housewife thing and that includes singing  Superstar, from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, while discussing if they should attempt to perform it at the community theater.  This is a rather interesting choice for various reasons.  At any rate, Allison runs into Trina from club Neolution and Trina is pissed because she believes that Allison is Beth, and that she is being stalked.  An angry Trina says, "I told you I was a carrier in confidence." Huh?

While Allison is being the busy suburban theater geek, Helena is making collages of babies.  I get that Helena is nesting but can we please have her move away from the cut and paste cause that is Allison's territory and Helena is far too interesting of a character for this.  At any rate, in a heart to heart with Donnie, Helena learns that her pregnancy has been difficult on Allison because of Allison's infertility problems.  Donnie suggests that they all tip toe around Allison for awhile. Did he forget who he is talking to? Helena doesn't tip toe around anyone; she's a blunt instrument at best.

Allison's next step is to head to the fertility clinic with Felix and Donnie. Yes, after taking a stand last week, Felix is back in the mix of things having learned about Sarah's mouth maggot and Siobhan's suggestion that he should take things slowly with Adele.  Independent Felix lasted for all of three episodes and you can bet he will be back to taking full on orders shortly.  Since Beth has already been to the fertility clinic that means that Allison is forced to wait outside while Donnie and Felix head inside pretending to be a couple.  Poor, poor Felix, who has to endure Donnie's idea of what a gay man acts like; thankfully however, Felix does take the time to not only call him out but drop some wisdom on Donnie's disgusting homophobia.

It's time for a sperm sample and Donnie is lead to a room with only gay porn which obviously won't work for him as a straight man.  He sticks his head outside and happens to see Allison's pregnant friend Portia.  Donnie gives Allison the news and she then arranges to accidentally run into Portia. Allison explains that she loves her adopted children but her friends are getting pregnant and she isn't getting younger and she wants a baby of her own.  This isn't Allison playing a role to get information because her infertility is something which has bothered her for years.  You can see it in the jealous way that she interacts with Helena (more on her later).  Portia tells Allison to ask about Dr. Bosch and to specifically mention the Brightborn treatments.

With sperm collection complete, Donnie and Felix sit with Dr. Bosch, who assures them that since they are both healthy young men that conception shouldn't be a problem.  Donnie then asks about the Brightborn treatments and explains that he heard about it from a very satisfied customer.  Dr. Bosch gives them some pamphlets about it.

Supernatural, Season 11, Episode 20: Don't Call Me Shurley

“I wish the writers would bring Chuck back” is not a phrase uttered by any sensible person, ever.

Except… wow.

Not Chuck as god. We kind of knew already that that was coming – but this exposition? This emotion? Metatron and god hashing it out with an awesome performance (from Metatron particularly?). It has been a long time since Supernatural has produced anything this awesome

Chuck the deity has called in Metatron, his old scribe to help him edit his autobiography – one that is surprisingly… boring. God is many things, writer is not one of them, especially since his new autobiography focuses far too much on his mundane life as Chuck the human – which no-one cares about – rather than big godly revelations. Metatron continually pushes him for more information, more revelations, more emotions – and we get a lot.

He has issues with his sister and it’s clearly a very touchy subject that goes deeper than he what he reveals (there’s a level of resentment and even jealousy there) but hinges on them being such utterly different people. He is Being. She is Nothing. He describes the act of creation as both a way to stop being lonely but also a way to desperately show her that there is something in creation, that creation is good. Basically, the act of creation is his way to try and reach his sister across a huge gulf of misunderstanding. And each time she destroyed his creation. Yes this is not the first apocalypse – right until god and the archangels locked her up to stop her breaking his toys.

Of course, part of the implication of this is that Dean may actually be the creation that finally gets through to Amarra since she seems to value him.

Other touchy subjects include his Very Complicated feelings about Lucifer (refusing to see him as the enemy) and above all what he considers perfect: Nature

Rape by Deception

Commonly when we think of rape, it’s usually about some stranger jumping out of the bushes or some evil man stalking us as we walk through a dark parking garage to get to our cars.  The victim is chosen at random and doesn’t know her rapist. It’s the basis for all the self defense classes women are encouraged to take. Overwhelming, we think of rape as something inflicted by the violent stranger. Additionally, rape is almost always constructed as a crime against women and if men are understood to be the victims of rape at all, it is only if the rapist is male. The truth of the matter is that the most common form of rape is not stranger related at all. In fact, rape can take on many forms and it’s these forms which step outside of popular imagination that many refuse to accept or even at times acknowledge constitute rape.

Recently, we have seen a lot of rape happening on the shows that we review. What they all have in common is an element of deception and that woman is the perpetrator. These two elements are enough for the violation to read as sex and quickly be swept aside. The victim is often portrayed to have no personal trauma related to the incident and if there is any antagonism between the rape victim and his rapist, it is usually due to entirely different issues; the rape is certainly never considered a reason for him to loathe her. In fact, a problem only seems to arise in this situations when a child is conceived as we have seen in Grimm and Once Upon A Time  There is little to no discussion about the violation itself and instead the focus quickly to turns to the child

Nick on Grimm is a Portland city police detective and if anyone should be aware of the law and how it relates to consent, it should be this character. Nick consents to sex with who he believes to be his girlfriend Juliet and instead it’s actually Adalind, who has masked her identity using magic.  Not only does Nick fail to acknowledge or even confirm that he is a rape victim, he is repeatedly shamed by his friends and Juliet. The entire sexual assault is framed as Nick having an unwitting affair - if anyone is portrayed as a victim of this rape it is Juliet - in fact, Nick being raped is probably the event that sets Juliet on her evil path. The rape of Nick is a crime against Juliet and part of her character’s development. The descriptors used help sanitise the incident, thus setting the stage for Nick to fall in love with and cohabit with his rapist.  Adalind quickly moves from the woman who violated his person to the mother of his child as though these two identities are somehow mutually exclusive. Adalind’s motherhood quickly becomes the path the redemption train traverses and all bad acts are cast away with the afterbirth.

Once Upon a Time, like Grimm, chose to include a rape by deception. This time, the wicked witch of the east Zelena pretends to be Guinevere, the love interest of Robin Hood. When the deception is revealed it is cast as a wrong against Regina (the evil Queen) because it for a time impeded her chance at true love and a happy ending with Robin Hood.  Zelena is imprisoned for her crimes but at no point is Robin’s violation even remotely considered to be at last partially an explicit reason for her punishment. All of Zelena’s bad acts are reviewed ad nauseum and not once is there a mention of the fact that along with the destruction she caused in Storybrooke that she has also become a rapist. Robin is angry but the reason for his anger is centered around the murder of Guinevere (though, admittedly, even this is depressingly underplayed) rather than the fact that he was deceived and raped repeatedly.

Robin Hood and Regina take custody of the baby because Zelena is evil (though, again, we have to stress her being a rapist is never raised as part of said evil). When they all end up in the underworld, Zelena’s redemption train begins. Regina starts by suggesting that Zelena can start making amends and choosing to do good instead of evil. It’s worth noting, again, that making amends in no way means accepting responsibility for raping Robin. The coup de grace comes when Regina and Zelena meet with Cora and learn that there was a time when they cared very deeply for each other. Zelena doesn’t need to perform any acts of contrition, she is simply forgiven by Regina who then informs Robin that he should hand over his daughter to Zelena because now, Zelena is a part of team good guy. Robin is reluctant but he does comply.

Let us stress this again, at no point was Zelena’s rape of Robin acknowledged and at no point was her addressing this part of her redemption

The very idea that someone can suddenly be labelled good and have their bad actions cast away as though no one was harmed is alarming. Watching as Robin was pressured into handing over his daughter to someone he has every reason to feel is dangerous is a problem.  Robin may not love Zelena but the woman he does love cares for her and that is enough to grant forgiveness. Love is a beautiful thing and for that matter so is forgiveness but only Robin has the right and or ability to actually forgive and accept his rapist. Forcing him into doing so renders him the invisible and inconvenient victim; we see Zelena and Regina come to terms with each other but Regina doesn’t take one moment to consider the feelings of the man she loves towards his rapist. It is not a matter of Robin trusting Regina when she insists Zelena is good now, it is a matter of addressing he has been wronged, he has been hurt and Regina’s trust is not really relevant in that.

Have Stakes Will Travel (Jane Yellowrock Short Stories) by Faith Hunter

This is a collection of four short stories largely from the early days of Jane Yellowrock’s history – and it does a great job of filling in a lot of Jane’s history and relationships that were already established before the series began – particularly with Molly

The series pretty much began with Jane and Molly as great friends – especially with Molly providing a lot of magical expertise and support for Jane since Molly is a witch. Now the series has never treated Molly as a servant and help has gone both ways, but it’s still nice to see the foundation of this relationship and what made these two highly secretive, careful women who are very wary of revealing their supernatural nature to others came to share so much together.

Haints the second story in the book does a good job of showing some of the initial overtures – we hear how Jane and Molly first met (with Jane protecting Molly from witch haters) and we see Jane helping Molly deal with a ghostly problem – and getting Molly a good income stream, preventing people taking advantage of her. It also excellently showed off Molly’s power and skill as a witch which I really liked.

This is increased further with Signature of the Death with Jane riding to the rescue of Molly’s family facing down rogue vampires. This is also an event that is frequently referred to throughout the main series, Jane facing down a while nest of vicious rogue vampires and taking them down while being terribly injured in the process. Again we see the foundation of this excellent relationship between the two and the respective strengths of each of them. It’s also a nice expansion of an event

There is one problem with this – while I love reading this story of how Jane and Molly came together, how they fought together and how this put them in such a solid place together by the beginning of the series, it also boggles me that Evan, Molly’s husband, has been so hostile to Jane for so long. Ok there are events later in the series that explain the rift, but given the events in this book my gods the Everhart family owes Jane some more consideration. She has done a lot for that family and really, she has earned a damn site more respect and patience from them. Really really she has. It kind of has damaged the way I look at the Everhearts now because their expanded history really makes them look terrible. I’m saddened that my opinion of these characters has now been badly shattered.