Wynonna Earp, Season 2, Episode 2: Shed Your Skin

Wynonna and Doc are sharing a shower together - it’s part of an ongoing theme it seems now to tease what Doc and Wynonna’s relationship actually is. They had a fling last season when Wynonna seemed to move on to Dolls and now all is a bit up in the air.

And this show is just to decontaminate after being all gooed by various demonic gribblies as insisted by their new boss - Agent Lucado. She doesn’t want to be there. They don’t want her to be there. I think Eliza would be much more fun there but alas they killed her off, Jeremy’s still around but not doing a whole lot other than try to make sense of the random chaos they do like

Wynonna is especially not here for paperwork and all the official procedures Lucado brings along with regular threats as to what will happen if they don’t present Black Badge with some big shiny dead demonic things

The tension with Wynonna and Doc continues through the episode with Wynonna making overtures towards Doc but Doc clearly feeling kind of hurt and used by her, not just as a lover, but as a friend, especially with her not having an answer when Lucado asked what Doc’s role was with the gang. A couple of times, especially when Wynonna is drunk and vulnerable, she tries to rekindle things with Doc but he backs off sharply: clearly being her lover when Dolls isn’t in the picture isn’t on the cards.

It further pushes a rift between them that Doc is keeping a secret from Wynonna which means lots of disappearing. The sheriff has offered him the bar (now the old owners are dead). He wants it reopening because the riff-raff tends to gather there and he does like all his riff-raff to all gather in one place.

Doc gets the money with some careful blackmail of Lucado (she sent some mercenaries to kill Dolls - who can’t be here precisely for that reason - which the bosses will be most displeased about). She does note that Doc asked for money - not for her to stop hunting Dolls and not for her to go easy on Waverley and Wynonna. This could be selfishness - or it could simply be that Doc thinks all the others are more than capable of taking care of himself.

He also recruits Rosita - I think she’s a revenant but I’m not sure. She’s not exactly willing to work with him but eventually joins him when he rather ominously offers her “protection” which feels vaguely threatening. He needs her to produce… something. Something chemical? I think I’ve ruled out drugs and booze. So I suspect woo-woo. Whatever it is, he’s hiding it from Wynonna.

Another conflict is Waverley and Nicole. Nicole is still very put out about not being coerced into being Black Badge. And though that sounds silly, you can see it when Waverley comes see her at work, As a deputy of a small rural town, Nicole feels her own job rather pales next to what Waverley does - you can see she feels not only excluded from Waverley’s life, but also kind of relegated and unimportant in her own town, with her own mission and her own job. It’s a nice dynamic between them as they slowly build up emotions and rebuild those bonds until the end of the episode when they reconciled and have sex

The Final Plague Vol. 1 by JD Arnold (Author), Tony Guaraldi-Brown (Illustrator)

The Final Plague begins in Lehigh Iowa on May 4, 2012.  As someone who hates any kind or rodent, this was not a good comic for me to read.  It begins when a small farming family finds that their home has become infested by rats. Helen is tough as nails and ends up killing the first one after a battle on her front porch. Helen is forced to use a shovel to decapitate it and even then, the damn thing still twitches.

The second rat attack happens in New York City on the same date. A homeless man is drunk in an alley when he is attacked by what can only be described as a horde of rats. There are so many rats, they quickly overpower the drunk and consume his alive.

The third incident happens on the same date in a lab in New Jersey. Jeremy is working with the rats and he notices that some of them have bloodshot eyes and assumes they are blind. Because he believes the rats to be sick but not contagious, Jeremy does not follow along with proper quarantine protocols, much to the disgust of fellow scientist Carol. Of course it's not Jeremy is hurt but a fellow when the rat sprays blood at her which lands in her mouth. Finally, it's decided that the rats need to go into quarantine and be dissected so that the scientists can figure out exactly what the hell is wrong with them.  

The one thing that is certain is that rats aren't acting the way that rats are supposed to. Normally, a rat would shy away from a human being if it encountered them but these rats are bold enough to actively attack humans when they come into contact with them. We later learn that it's not just the rats and that in fact all of the furry rodents are doing damage to humans when they encounter them. The red eyes suggest some sort of infection which is making the rodents more aggressive than usual. Alan, the exterminator posits that all of the pesticides that humanity has been using has emboldened the rats and changed their behaviour.  Of course, Alan finds out the hard way when he succumbs to the rats when he tries to exterminate them at the farm.

The Final Plague Vol I  quickly establishes the idea that rodents aren't behaving normally and are attacking and consuming humans. As someone with a deep fear of rodents this comic rises to the level of horror for me.  It does however make historic sense. We know for instance hat the bubonic plague was carried by fleas on rats which is estimated to have killed 50 million people.  Rodents are nothing to joke about because they carry disease, so the idea that the end of humanity might come at the paws of rodents makes perfect sense. It's particularly true in a city like New York city, where the rat population is enormous. Think about what it would mean for humanity if the rats suddenly started working in a swarm to attack humans. And since they can slip into a hole as big as a quarter and quickly reproduce, this would be a true nightmare because not only have to deal with the diseases which rats carry, we'd be attacked as prey.

12 Monkeys, Season Three, Episode Five: Causality

2046

Alone, Cole and Cassie talk about their son.  Cassie explains that the Monkeys knew that they would go to Titan and were waiting for her. Cassie and Cole briefly discuss the people guarding her son.  Cole advises that when Cassie goes into the meeting with the others, not to tell the assembled group everything. Cole explains that Jones tried to pull him off the mission for being emotionally compromised. Clearly, the Witness being Cole and Cassies's child would result in a major conflict of interest and the fact that it has already lead to Ramse's death proves that Cole cannot handle this well.  Cole is convinced that this is their problem to figure out that no one can know. 

When we see Cassie and Cole again, they are at a meeting with everyone discussing the fact that some time in the next year that the facility will be destroyed. Cassie explains that she was kept in Titan with a man who let her escape. Cassie only says that the Monkeys were waiting for the Witness to return to Titan and denies seeing him. Cassie then denies knowing the origin of the Witness to a frustrated Jones. This is so going to come back to bite both Cole and Cassie in the ass. I'm ready for Olivia to snitch on them now. 

Speaking of Olivia, she is in her cell when she gets a visit from Cole and Cassie. The first thing Cole does is to send Olivia's guards away.  Olivia has the smile plastered to her face again, as she talks about sending Ramse to kill the Witness. Olivia also surmises that Cassie and Cole haven't told Jones.  Olivia rants about being lied to by the Witness and explains that she wants to know why. Olivia says that the three of them are unified in finding the witness. 

Jennifer is working on Olivia's map and calls it their next mission.  Jennifer talks about keeping a diary filled with her secrets which her mother read. It seems she was writing about the future in the past tense thank to being a Primary and messing up time.  The map is actually the Witnesses diary.  It seems that the map was smuggled out of the Germany in a painting and then resurfaced in an auction house in the eighties. All that remains is for Jennifer to teach them how to pass for rich in the eighties.  Jennifer's big plan is to pose as her mother and then insist on seeing the security protocols. Jennifer suggests that they bring the painting back, copy it and then return the painting for it to be purchased by Olivia.  Jones is forced to grudgingly agree that Jennifer has come up with a great plan. Jones assigns Cassie, Olivia, Deacon and Cassandra to this task. 

Cole however is worried about the fact that them being in the cedar house will be on the document because it will reveal their relationship to the Witness. Deacon looks at Cassie and Cole talking and mentions to Jennifer that he's getting a weird vibe from it. Jennifer blows it off as Cassie and Cole needing some private time after being seperated for so long. 

Now, it's off to the splinnter machine.  Jones tells Jennifer that this plan is her responsibility and if it goes wrong, Jennifer needs to pull back. Jennifer's leap is made to Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time." It's almost a bit too on the nose for this scene. 

1989

The crew arrives in the 80's and I'm reminded of what an ugly decade it was. I really could have done without seeing Deacon in the Don Johnson circa Miama Vice look. Jennifer and Cassie are given a tour of a vault and its security features. Cassie slips up by asking about the painting which is a problem because the auction house hasn't made it public that the painting is being sold.  The painting wasn't going to auction because the auction house already has a buyer but now that Jennifer and Cassie expressed interest, an auction will occur. Jennifer starts smacking Cassie and suggesting they abort because there wasn't supposed to be an auction. They've been in the past five minutes and have already changed history. In the past, Olivia gets word about an auction. In the present, Olivia's nose starts to bleed. 

Outcast, Season 2, Episode 3: Not My Job to Judge

We have a whole lot of raised questions and revelations here – albeit not without actually answering any of those questions.

Last week Amber ran away saying he wanted to see Alison, her mother. Kyle tries to do that, taking Amber to see Alison at the mental institution she has been admitted to. Alison is not exactly thrilled by Kyle bringing her – whether because she doesn’t trust herself or doesn’t want to expose her to the Institution which is all kinds of creepy.

Like Megan, Alison is not buying the idea that she was possessed and is convinced she has a psychotic break and she feels terrible and guilt ridden over what she did.

There is a spooky child at the Institution – I don’t know if this is a possessed child or if we just have to have creepiness in these places on television because of ongoing depiction of Mentally Ill people as scary and dangerous.

We also have a patient who wanders around and scares Amber – along with a nurse. Both of them seem possessed and recognise Amber as connected to Kyle… but as they approach her Amber holds out her hands to them as if pushing them away; and they both wander off.

Is being The Outcast hereditary? It definitely seems Amber has some version of Kyle’s mojo – we already have seen her exorcise Megan. Hey it’s a family business.

That same possessed man though follows up in tormenting Alison – so clearly the demon people still have plans for her.

Over to Megan who, last week, was rescued from drowning by Anderson who tries to delicately approach the fact she just tried to commit suicide. And, to his credit, he’s friendly and non-judgemental despite being The Worst.

Megan is more embarrassed than anything; she is adamant it was a mistake and she did try to save herself before he saved her. Whether Anderson would pursue that or not, Holly arrives and they obviously can’t discuss it in front of her.

Kyle and Amber leaves Alison and are stopped by Anderson on the road who tells Kyle that Megan has had some issues. Kyle quickly diverts there to be less than helpful (don’t greet a suicidal person with “what the hell?!”) Again Megan is more embarrassed than anything else, drawing upon her history as a therapist to make it clear this is a blatant call to help and not something she’s going to repeat. She points out she has a gun – if she wanted to commit suicide she wouldn’t try to drown herself, she’s just shoot herself (BTW this is another reason why gun control is important – easy access to guns does not help people with suicidal issues).

I actually like this element, because it’s a part of being suicidal or having a mental health issue we rarely actually discuss: the embarrassment. How people can do something in a bad moment and then feel truly humiliated by it afterwards – but how that makes it hard to actually seek help or address the issues (and no, it isn’t all cured just because someone feels embarrassed after the fact). She also seems open to the idea of being possessed – because she has been applying all of her psychological expertise to examine her experiences and just cannot explain why she would kill Mark. It doesn’t make any sense to her at all.

She’s also pregnant – which she insists means she HAS to be ok. While this seems to be enough to get Kyle to leave, we all know it’s not that simple. Personally I think being possessed while Pregnant means we may have to deal with demon baby

She and Holly have moved back home – the home where Mark died. And we get a really heartbreaking depiction of Holly’s pain, blaming Megan, being angry, upset, breaking thinsg and just not accepting any platitudes. Of course it’s brutal – but it really should be

Handmaid's tale and Complicity in Oppression

The Handmaid’s Tale is easily one of the most celebrated new shows of 2017 and with good reason. Atwood’s brilliant tale is still extremely haunting thirty-two years ago and if anything it’s all the more relevant in the era of Trump. With Elisabeth Moss, of Mad Men in the role of Offred/June, it was absolutely clear from the first episode that Hulu had an epic hit on its hands. Like many we tuned in anxiously each week to see the story of the Handmaidens come to life and reflect about the fact that the reason this dystopian hit such a strong nerve is because of how closely it mirrored our too real fears about the state of patriarchy and the oppression of women based in religion. Perhaps the most honest truth of The Handmaid’s Tale is the complicity of the Wives, Aunts, and visiting Dignitaries in the brutal rape, murder, maiming and general oppression of women.

The collusion with an oppressor is an extremely important one because it is the reality for every single marginalised group. African-Americans have their Uncle Tom’s and useful fools, and LGBT people have their quislings and Log Cabin Republicans. It was conservative women who put up the largest fight against the ERA.  History is filled with the acts of colluders who somehow thought that by identifying with the enemy it would mark them as different or somehow special. Sometimes, such acts brought the colluder extra privileges, rations or made the difference between life and death.  

In the case of the Handmaiden’s Tale, colluding with patriarchal state of the Gilead allows it allows Aunts and Wives to have power over Handmaidens. This power is at best an illusion because a wife is still subject to her husband’s whims and an Aunt can only express power when she is actively suppressing women. At anytime, being female would be enough to have the personhood of an Aunt or a Wife ripped away from them. This power is as fragile as fine china. Wives may have the ability to occasionally influence their husband’s vote or stance on an issue but they cannot have an opinion or vote themselves. Wives may be as equally educated as their husband but they cannot read or even play a game of freaking scrabble. Beyond supporting the state's objective of terrorism, power over the Handmaidens is inconsequential because it won’t change anything substantive in the Gilead. Terrorising Handmaidens is the power that the state can afford to hand over to women and wives in exchange for them being complicit and upholding the patriarchal state. The Gilead is giving this power to Wives and Aunts not because it believes that women should have power but because it supports their rule.

Even though Wives and Aunts are complicit in the oppression of the Handmaiden’s their positions are complicated.  As much as Aunt Lydia for instance is quick to attack Offred with a cattle prod, order that Janine’s eye be plucked out and that Emily be subjected to female circumcision for being a “gender traitor”.  Aunt Lydia sees herself as responsible for girls and is pleased and proud when The Handmaidens conform to her expectations. When the Mexican Ambassador visits, Aunt Lydia is happy to have all the Handmaidens involved - even the ones who have visible signs of the oppressive state of Gilead.  Aunt Lydia’s contradictions however become most clear when Janine attempts to kill herself. Akin to everyone else, Aunt Lydia is horrified by the lies, and false promises Putnam made in order to coerce Janine into sex acts his wife wouldn’t perform.  Aunt Lydia knows that Janine has been wrong and as she sits next to Janine’s bedside, the sympathy is all over her face even though she calls Janine a poor stupid girl.

Legion (Talon #4) by Julie Kagawa

The Talon has prepared for a long time to finally bring down the Order of St George and remove all of their competition to become dominant in the world. They have a Legion

Cloned dragons, without souls or personalities, just automata of dragons designed to fight and die. Finally Talon has numbers: and Dante is the conflicted master of them to unleash them

But behind that the Elder Wyrm continues to have another sinister plan – which directly involves Ember.

Ember is faced with being directly in opposition with her brother, having to protect an organisation bent on her destruction and dodge the machinations of a dragon who has lived for a millennium.

Broken record moment? I really really do feel that this series has really missed a lot of opportunity to properly develop the character of the dragons. We still have Ember and Riley referring to their dragons as if they were separate entity. Again, these characters aren’t weredragons – they are dragons who shift to human form to hide, but their natural form, their real form, is that of a dragon. So Ember struggling with her inner dragon or being conflicted about what her dragon wants, or struggling between her human side and dragon side feels wrong – like a narrative has been cribbed from an entirely different story. What human side? Why does she even have a human side? Why is she even attracted to a human? Why does she even want to do things like kiss? Why is a dragon distracted and pole-axed by the presence of a naked human? Why is a male dragon not looking at a naked woman and not thinking “mammary glands, which my egg laying species has no real concept of. Also, no cloaca”.

Yes, I am making you imagine sexy cloacas. My mind went there, so you have to suffer as well.

It’s like the concept hasn’t been fully realised and we get a simplistic depiction that mirrors a lot with other were-animal narratives out there but doesn’t really fit with the world as it’s presented/

I feel this reflected again with the world building – this sense of not quite seeing things through. Like Talon has been designated as The Evil and so it is The Evil. This is the antagonist, so be it.

But, again, there’s so little examination of the reason behind Talon. It didn’t happen because Dragons decided they wanted to be The Most Evil – it happened because the Order of St George was literally driving dragonkind to extinction: and is still trying to achieve this. They’re just the bad guys who need to be stopped

And Talon comes up with a plot to wipe out the Order of St George and there’s so little actual examination of the fact this is an organisation that wants to make dragons extinct. An organisation that wants to kill every character here. But killing the Order is presented as a terrible difficult conflict without any acknowledgement that Talon has a point. I feel like because Talon has been designate as The Evil then no-one’s allowed to acknowledge the grey and the complexity that is built into the very world building of this world.

The Handmaid's Tale, Season One, Episode Ten: Night

In many ways this first season of The Handmaid's Tale has been unrelenting. Through flashbacks, we watched as the Gilead was formed and how by the time people realised that their rights were gone, in many cases, it was too late to flee. We watched as June became Offred and struggled to find a way to exist in this new reality.  Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum became the order of the day, as the handmaids attempted to find a form of resistance. 

The Handmaid's Tale has long been one of my favourite books even though Atwood left her readers dangling at the end.  Did Offred/June escape the Waterfords? The epilogue doesn't answer that and instead seeks to take a critical look at the Gilead from years in the future.  As much as the season finale left me wanting more, I am heartened by the fact that I will finally get to find out what happened to Offred/June. 

Night begins with Offred entering the Red Centre for the re-education (read: indoctrination) Aunt Lydia wastes not time in calling the women sluts and berating them on their dress and posture. The first thing that future handmaids are told is that their hands are to be clasped in front of them and that their eyes are to be downcast to show submission to God. June hasn't quite realised how her life has changed yet and she stares at a passing Handmaid, which causes Aunt Lydia to use the cattle prod on her.  Welcome to the world of the Gilead. June/Offred is made to apologise to Aunt Lydia.  This apology shows June's submission to the new world order but later, the same apology will be an act of rebellion. 

The Handmaids used to make eye contact and share a look of collective horror but those days are gone. As June walks back from the butcher with her illicit package, she likens them (read: handmaids) to a silent army. Since the beginning of the Gilead, the rulers have used violence and threats of violence to keep society in order but what happens when you are no longer afraid? What kind of freedom does the lack of fear bestow on a person? June rushes back to her room and quickly hides the package.

June was so fixated on doing a mission for Mayday that she forgot that the real danger lies a lot closer to home.  Serena Joy has learned of Offred/June and Fred's visits to the bawdy house and lashes out physically at June/Offred, in the process, slicing June's face open. At this point, Serena is so complicit that she doesn't recognise that June/Offred had no power to decide whether to stay or go and blames June/Offred for not saving anything for her. It's a return to the theme of women being complicit in their own oppression, a theme that will continually crop up this episode.  June/Offred is then forced to take a pregnancy test and much to her horror and Serena Joy's delight, the pregnancy test is positive.  June/Offred is absolutely incredulous when Serena Joy claims that their prayers have been answered. With her pregnancy, June/Offred has finally become what the Gilead wants her to be, a walking womb. June/Offred has fulfilled according to the Gilead, her biological destiny.

Serena then decides to press her advantage by confronting Fred next.  Serena waits in his office ready to play scrabble in the place of June/Offred.  Fred is quick to remind Serena Joy about the rules in order to avoid playing and Serena Joy is quick to remind him that she is the one who helped create them.  Yes, Serena Joy actually wrote the very laws that ended up restricting her life, how's that for being complicit. And now that the mask of civility is gone, the Waterfords confront Fred's raping of Offred/June outside of the ceremony.  Fred, like a typical man, blames Serena Joy and points out that it was she who brought temptation and lust back into their home. To assert his power, Fred actually attempts to send Serena Joy to her room.  This moment reveals just how little difference there is between Serena and Offred/June in Fred's mind.  Serena may be able to abuse June/Offred at will but at the end of the day, they are both always secondary to men. Serena Joy lays the ultimate trump card when she informs Fred that June/Offred is pregnant and that it isn't his because he wasn't man enough to make a baby.

iZombie, Season 3, Episode 11: Conspiracy Weary

We left it on a massive cliffhanger last week with Ravi standing between Donny and Harley and the zombie hunters – Harley can’t bring himself to kill Ravi – but he can knock Ravi aside – so they can begin torturing Donny to make him zombie out for their followers on youtube

Which is when Liv and Blaine arrive, journalist Rachel runs for the kills, there’s a smoke bomb that hides most of the action and a few people get eaten. Harley manages to escape but everyone else gets gunned down by the belatedly arriving Fillmore-Graves zombie soldiers. There’s a brief attempt from Jace Graves the new head of the zombie army to criticise Liv for letting Harley escape – but Liv’s not having that, pointing out that the zombie soldiers are so very very late. I do love that Liv is just not impressed by Jace at all –especially as Jace is becoming more and more paranoid about the zombies being revealed to the world.

That leaves Liv, Blaine and Donny to help themselves to fresh brains from Harley’s brother’s head (and share some with a zombie soldier). Ravi’s expression is priceless and wonderful. Just how casually they’re all reaching into this guy’s head

Poor Ravi then gets to go home and see Major and Shawna’s sex fort is still in place. Which is when Rachel tracks him down all tearful and traumatised and Ravi reassures her… and nearly kisses her. Ye gods Ravi, BOUNDARIES man. And informed fecking consent! When women are distraught and emotional and traumatised is NOT the time to make your move. Ravi’s brain turning to relationships whenever he sees a woman who is vulnerable is creepy and needs to end.

Then Rachel see his housemate is Major the Chaos Killer and runs screaming into the night. This affects poor Major’s self-esteem a little more which is why he’s very reluctant to go out dancing with the selfie-loving Shawna since people will see him.

Back to Liv and Clive is treated to Liv, Donnie and Blaine all having simultaneous visions – and all obsessing over conspiracy brains. Remember the man they ate is the one who rambled to Ravi about zombies being created by the Shah of Iran.

Is this the first time we’ve had zombies on the same brain? Because they work really well together, bounding off each other, having simultaneous visions etc. From Harley’s abandoned car they also find several guns – which, using an off-the-books ballistics expert (since this is not Clive’s case) confirms these guns were used in the attempted murder of Mayor Baracas and the death of the zombie family Clive knew.

Zombie soldier also has a vision from the brain he ate – revealing the location of Harley’s secret cabin which he tells to Jace while he’s getting his body spray (iZombie thank you for the visual) – Jace naturally plans a raid because he’s not a subtle man.

Thankfully for them, Liv gets a vision telling her that Harley knew about the bug on his car, knew he was being followed and knew the zombies knew about the cabin – and that it’s booby trapped. She sends a warning through Major saving most of Jace’s soldiers – but two are still caught in the land mines.