Salem, Season 3, Episode 3: The Reckoning

After failing to kill her demon offspring, Mary Sibley is now facing horrendous mangly death at the hands of Baby Devil’s new sidekick.

But Baby Devil still wants his mother to hang around for some reason. Devil affection apparently. Evil Sidekick is not amused and wants lots of death and awful. He’s also not even beginning to accept “trust me” from Baby Devil because he totally did that once, got lots of angels to rebel against god and they ended up in hell. So kind of a bad record on the trust department. Also humans are icky

Baby Devil responds with “hey they got wine.”

See, I’m all for believing that alcohol is amazing but I think Baby Devil is overselling the power of booze here. Baby Devil also pushes this home by punching Evil Sidekick in the groin to remind him humans can feel all kinds of pain

So Evil Sidekick locks Mary away in a magical box.

Salem is rocked by terror when they hear a huge bang and the sky turns red. This is not the early invention of fireworks but clearly Bad Things are afoot. John Alden, being John, wants to take his half trained soldiers into the woods to find this bad thing and maybe save any refugees. While designated bad guy decides they shouldn’t risk the soldiers who should be defending the town exploring possible threats and, instead, they should risk them by turning them against the influx of refugees and cause a riot because why not.

John ends up going off alone accompanied by hero-worshiping soldier who is probably a cis woman pretending to be a man but may be more than that I am calling Bob. Due to the ambiguity of Bob’s gender identity I am going to use third person pronouns until I am more sure about how Bob identifies. Bob worships the ground John walks on and he’s determined to destroy poor Bob’s dreams by saying what a terribad awful person he is. Of course part of this could be the reasonable rejection of the terrible ballad someone has written about him.

What they do find is a town completely burned to ash, zombie Native Americans (to repeat what I said before – NO NO NO NO. No, really, no. Please no. Let us not have this show with no real Native American inclusion have a whole lot of evil mindless Native monsters controlled by white men because no no no. No. Noooo. No no no. And, again. NO).

He also sees that Sebastian is still evil and doing evil because shock, horror, he’s evil. I know this is shocking. He also has some little jewel which is apparently super scary and awful which Evil Sidekick has a big menacing back story for. What this gem does, I have no idea. But it’s ominous

Back to the town and we continue to have the debate about immigration and refugees because the writers team has decided it’s topical

Look, again, I am no expert but I still have my doubts as to how appropriate this is for the time period. Yes, fear of the outsider is pretty much a bigotry that goes as far back as human kind has been able to recognise the difference between “me” and “you”, but these refugees, by all account, are other English colonists from other English colonies. Why is this agrarian society with no real shortage of land (especially since witch and plaguey shenanigans have depopulated the town considerably) looking at this influx of people as a terrible scourge rather than “excellent! More labour!”

Z Nation, Season Three, Episode Ten: They Grow Up So Quickly

At this point, I'm not at all certain that the writers of Z Nation know what they are doing. They are working so hard to create laughs that it's all beginning to wear incredibly thin.  Z Nation was always meant to be a little camp which is an original take on zombies; however, after three seasons even Doc cannot maintain the silly enough for it to amusing let alone funny. I think that what we are watching is the death knell of Z Nation. 

Once again, the cast is split up.  This week we focus on Doc and Addie who've gone to collect Lucy and Murphy in Spokane and his attempts to break poor 10K

Doc and Addy are surprised the Lucy is no longer the infant they left behind but a five year old with her own wants and needs.  Lucy has created the perfect environment for a little girl, including zombies dressed up in character for playmates.  Lucy's Blend adoptive parents, don't trust Addie and Doc at all and were it not for Lucy's intervention, Doc and Addie would be dead.  Doc tells Lucy a version of how her parents met and got together which lasts entirely too long for my taste since we already saw this all play out.  Lucy who has been very sheltered embraces the lie about her parents as King and Queen of the zombie world and rewards Doc and Addie by asking them to play with her.

The problem of playing with Lucy becomes apparent rather quickly, her playmates are all zombies. Lucy, being Murphy's daughter has never developed a fear of zombies.  Why be afraid of something you can control?  Lucy doesn't understand that Addie and Doc cannot simply join her and her playmates in an innocent game of hide and seek.  Doc is forced to kill one of them which enrages Lucy enough to take off running.

It's Addie who manages to track Lucy down when she hears Lucy scream because she's being attacked by and Ender. Enders you recall are humans who've survived the zombie apocalypse but along the way lost their sanity.  This interaction is played for all it's worth with the Ender growling in rage at Addie and Addie growling right back.  It's Addie's defense of Lucy that causes the little girl to see her as a hero and someone to be trusted.  This is telling given that Doc and Addie's plan was never to simply bring Lucy to Murphy but to use her as leverage against Murphy. 

Unfortunately for Addie and Doc, they don't manage to grab Lucy because the Man kidnaps her after knocking Addie out.  Lucy sits in the back seat and like all five year olds, she delivers a stream of constant chatter which gets on The Man's last nerves. He responds by tasering Lucy which of course she loves.  Finally in frustration, The Man tosses a bag over Lucy's head and chokes her with a rope around her neck.  What he doesn't know is that Murphy feels all of Lucy's pain in Spokane. This reveals that the connection between Lucy and Murphy is a lot stronger than just father/daughter.

Supernatural, Season 12, Episode 6: Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox

This week we have a brief look at Hunter culture. And I feel kind of like this has been a missed opportunity for this series – because the Winchesters have always been so separated from the greater Hunter collective.

The prequel to this episode is Mary way back in her Hunter day saving a boy from a werewolf

That boy was Asa Fox. And over the years Asa became a hunter, a pretty legendary hunter known to all

Until he died on the hunt.

Now to the present when the Winchesters drop in on Jody!

JODY! Ok I have complex feelings about Jody. On the one side she’s awesome, she’s fun, she’s competent and complex and capable and has a life outside of the Winchesters (something she made abundantly clear in this episode with the amount they didn’t know about her). She’s an excellent character

On the other hand, she’s on Supernatural so every episode she appears I wonder if THIS will be the one where she dies tragically and Dean gets to pull out his very-well-practiced-tragic-manpain-face (one day it’s going to freeze like that). Note that I didn’t put a conditional in that sentence. I am 90% sure that one episode Jody will definitely die for tragedy, we’re talking when, not it.

I also feel sometimes that Jody is the reaction, the token. Many people, myself included, have criticised Supernatural for being an extremely male show (and white and straight) with most the female (and LGBT and POC) characters being dead. Jody’s (and crew) once-per-season appearance feels like a desperate token to dismiss all of that.

So the brother’s stop in at Jody and while there she hears that Asa died. Since Jody’s apparently been helping any hunters who passed through the area and had a fling with Asa she decides to go to the wake in Canada – along with Dean and Sam

There is a whole hunter community – but Dean and Sam have never really been a part of it because their dad considered it trouble.

They arrive at Lorraine, Asa’s mother’s house, full of hunters drinking and partying and drinking and it’s a nice little snapshot of hunters and their funerary processes as they all play catch up, share stories (Asa is legendary – but the Winchesters cause more of a stir because they’re THE legends). This again makes me think that I’d really like to have seen more of the Winchesters in Hunter society. Long into the night until only a few hunters are left.

American Horror Story, Season 6, Episode 10, Chapter 10

It’s time for the conclusion of this season and after the last episode, is it possible to go any further?

Well we have an episode all about Lee – which is pretty extremely rare in itself and worthy of note

After seeing the lead up to season 2 of My Roanoke Nightmare – the huge fan hype for it, we then see the aftermath of it finishing

The show – with everyone dead (or not – it was TV after all) is very controversial and we continue the original format of this show – with lots of youtube clips, fan vids, reality shows et al

Including a “true crimes” style dramatised show following Lee – and the prosecutor who’s really had it in for her. With all the footage from the show, they have evidence of Lee committing many many murders.

Of course there are extenuating circumstances – not that people believe “the ghosts did it” – but it turns out the Polks were handing out hallucinogens in addition to being cannibals which was more than enough for the jury to acquit Lee given what she went through

After that, prosecutor-with-a-grudge goes after her for Mason’s murder – again. Because now he has her confession and an Ace: Flora. Turns out Flora saw Lee beat Mason to death with a rock and she testifies against her mother on the witness stand

And you thought that you had a difficult relationship with your parents!

Of course, the fact that Flora is a child and one who openly talks about her invisible friend… she isn’t a convincing witness and with a good lawyer she is discredited

But that hardly makes Lee happy – after all, everything she’s ever done has always been Flora. And her relationship with her daughter is non-existent. Flora is living with her grandparents and won’t talk to Lee.

This is pretty devastating to Lee. Over and over and over again it is made clear during this very good episode that her child is her life. Even as she becomes celebrated and reviled and a highly controversial and well known figure, that’s her obsession

And to reconnect to her daughter she agrees to an interview: with Lana Winters

Yes, American Horror Story: Asylum Lana Winters. Because Lana is very like Lee – she’s a woman who has endured a horrendous experience and don’t terrible things in order to survive.

I’m actually starting to love these little cameos for past seasons.

Hunting for Spring by Katherine Mcintyre

Conor is a hunter – but he’s never really followed in his father’s footsteps of cutting off all his emotional ties and his own sense of compassion. He cares – whether it’s about an injured dog – or a magical young woman definitely in need of help. Even if she does have her own secrets and her own agendas

And especially when there are far darker forces in the city: and his fellow hunters’ terrible methods of investigation

The foundation for this story is good.

We have an intriguing world with lots of suggestions of a broad world. And I do like a broad world with a wide range of magical beings all co-existing, especially if there is a sense of depth behind them. That’s always been something I liked. So this world with the many different kinds of fae (and I really like how many of these fae are presented as truly alien beings rather than pointy eared humans), the magic-users with their different powers and involved magic system. We have the hunters and their traditions and specific abilities and lots of hints of other creatures and other worlds

And I like the hints. This is, after all, the first book of a series, and one mistake many authors make is by deciding to push in their entire world system in their first book. Less is more when introducing a new book and new characters.

Hunters themselves have a beginning of world building. We can see they have some dedicated goals and they are a definite asset due to their training, drive and supernatural abilities in bringing down real threats. On top of that, I can definitely see – and think it was very well depicted – that Hunters too often see all supernatural creatures as the enemy

This does have a shaky moment though as we have a similarly awesome piece of world building. The presence of Seelie fae increases “art, inspiration and nature to humanity”.  While Unseelie fae bring disease, destruction et al. This is a really interesting concept and definitely adds to the world building. Except the hunters apparently know this – yet still treat all fae the same. It seems like a bit of world building that doesn’t quite fit or needs some more expansion.

I also don’t like the plucking of Detroit as a real world example – because there are major systematic issues with the decline of Detroit that go way beyond a woo-woo “too many unseelie”

Teen Wolf, Season 6, Episode 1: Memory Lost

Teen Wolf is back for a final season – so this had better bring the epic.

We begin with a continuation of the theme of Stiles from last season. He’s afraid of what he’s losing. College is looming, everyone is preparing to move on – and he’s going to be left behind. I think this is not just a comment on his insecurity and dependence on his friends but also worth noting that he’s the only non-supernatural there. If he’s separated from his friends by college he also very much faces being separated from the supernatural world, from supernatural reality

Which is probably why Stiles is super super desperate to try and stop supernatural threats in Beacon Hills… when, for one, there really isn’t one. He’s slightly irritating his friends though

Teen Wolf is also filling in time with lots of super dramatic slow motion reveals of supernaturalness.

Of course despite this, the supernatural is definitely real. Liam and Hayden discover a spooky car on a spooky road in the middle of a spooky night and they DON’T run for the hills

Really, some people are positively inviting serial killers to murder them

Instead they find a kid, Alex, in a car with a shattered windscreen and his parents missing. They call the police and Sheriff Stilinski, being a resourceful fellow, decides the best way to help the forgetful urchin be a useful witness is by stabbing him in the neck with werewolf claws

Not just for odd kiddy torture – remember one of the more unusual werewolf abilities on this show is for Alphas to be able to read your memories and risk complete paralysis by stabbing you in the spine. Could you at least wait an hour or two for the forensics to come back before we stab kiddies?

Reading memories Scott sees a horseman with a gun that shatters windscreens and enough strength to rip off a car door. He took Alex’s parents

Yet, all Scott seems to report from this memory is that a horseman with a gun took Alex’s parents. Which sounds very mundane to everyone…

Except Stiles, of course, who finds enough little clues to convince the rest of the gang who are trying to pursue some level of normality that something is afoot: namely that the shot windscreen shattered entirely from a bullet (unlike other examples of shot windscreens) and turned the glass green… which is not normal bullet behaviour

So time to examine Alex’s house (after school as Natalie, teacher and Lydia’s mother and made of awesome) won’t let Scott skip more class.

And it’s spooky. Very very spooky. So very spooky. Entire rooms are entirely empty, completely devoid of furnishings

Scott: Want to split up

Stiles: Absolutely not

Except on room – Alex’s room. Every room in the house but Alex’s own room. Yes it’s creepy. Pictures of the family only show Alex – his parents have been erased. So. Very. Creepy. They’re also joined by Mason and Liam who are following some weirdly acting compasses that are no longer pointing north – but to this house.

The Wolf Witch (Keys Trilogy #1) by Anna Roberts

Blue has moved to the Florida Keys following the death of her mother, in an attempt to honour her memory as well as to rebuild her life after the devastation of Katrina

But she never imagined the tourist resort she moved to would have so many surprises and that her simple life would be thrown into some very unexpected turns as she finds herself embroiled with werewolves, magic, spirits and who knows what else.

There’s a lot of fascinating elements in this book, elements I really want to see explored. The idea of the wolf witches and their shared history and cross overs of persecution between the wolf witches and the werewolves themselves. I really liked the idea of magic which was much more visceral, more organic and far less sanitised than a lot of magic depictions we see. I was really intrigued by the witches relationship with spirits, those spirits being both a threat and an asset which leads to a very complicated relationship

I also really liked the take on werewolves. The actual return to the idea of werewolves as cursed. Werewolves who don’t have super healing and super strength and vitality – werewolves who have to deal with real health issues from the sheer trauma that changing inflicts on them, how that creeps up on them and affects their attitude towards aging and health.

That naturally leads to some personal conflicts based on that and on being risk averse. I’m also intrigued by the different paths to Alphadom that are presented – the easygoing, friendly, health alpha on one side and the brutal, vicious Alpha who rules by fear we see so often in the genre – but the book is nuanced enough to present flaws with both which in turn leads to more personal conflicts as people deal with the politics and repercussions of both. On top of that we have our own personal conflicts from other issues – like Blue being a Katrina survivor as well as the child of a parent with a severe mental illness and the repercussions of that and how that builds to her character.

This also all supports a number of storylines. We have Gloria, the elderly woman with potentially high ability, struggling with dementia with lots of difficulty of discerning if what she says and does is due to mystical insight or just because of her illness. There’s the power of what she means to everyone around her

We have the young wolf just realising what he is and coming in to his own. We have a power struggle, a conflict over how to hold a territory going through transition with the difficulty of following a very difficult reign and trying to hold the territory afterwards. And we have Blue and Gabe building a romance, in between Blue learning about the world and Gabe trying to juggle the many demands on him, trying not to resent them, trying not to be overwhelmed by them

These are all very excellent storylines, carried by some really good characters with a rather different world setting

Lucifer, Season Two, Episode Eight: Trip to Stabby Town

For the last couple of weeks I've been complaining about the weekly police procedural shtick that Lucifer for some unknown reason seems wedded to.  This week, although the case was deeply tied to Lucifer, it was far more interesting because it helped to actually move the main meta along, making it fun and interesting to watch.  Thank goodness that Lucifer is back to what makes it good. 

A bold daylight murder has been committed and so it's up to Chloe and Lucifer to get to the bottom of things.  The murder weapon just happens to belong to the angel of the death. Oh Oh.  At any rate, Lucifer drags Amenadiel and Maze to the site of Uriel's grave only to find the angel's body still in the grave but the knife missing.  The blade tends to turn everyday grievances into capitol offenses to the person who possess the blade.

Even as Lucifer is tracking down the celestial weapon he's also back to work with Linda. Lucifer chats with her about the meaning of Chloe making him a sandwich in the previous episode but Linda's too distracted to offer much advise. The good doctor is amazed that Lucifer is indeed the devil and gets torture Hitler for an eternity.  I gotta admit in her place, I'd want to know what he chose to do with him as well. 

I know I'm not the only who thought about this so just hush. 

The chase for the blade reveals some interesting things about the characters.  Lucifer is absolutely adamant that the blade be found because of what it is capable of doing.  This comes as a surprise to Charlotte, who is responsible for the blade reaching humanity in the first place.  It seems that after teaching herself law in a weekend and her husband some new sex moves, Charlotte also drew a map to Uriel's grave and gave it to several of her clients.  Charlotte thought that if her husband found out that a celestial weapon was in the hands of humans that he would communicate with her.  Charlotte claims that what she really wants is to grieve with God.  I would like to believe her but I said weeks ago, there's something not right about Charlotte.  Lucifer demands his mother's help with tracking down the weapon because while she may see humans as disposable, he clearly does not.  Charlotte notes how much his little vacation on earth has changed him.