Stiles is back with a special guest, Lydia continues her search for Stiles, and Scott and Malia realize that something is off...
The look into where people go after they've been taken by the Riders was interesting. I assume that the train station view of it is a relatively new development since train stations are relatively new. But if you think about it, the train station is fitting. It is a place where people will sit for a while without questioning much. Also, train stations are hubs of travel, so having it as a place for holding people makes sense. My one question is why only Stiles realized that things weren't right (aside from the fact that he needed to for the story, of course). It can't be his exposure to the supernatural, because if that were true, Peter would have been able to know that things were off. I also assume that it has nothing to do with Stiles' feelings for Lydia, because I would be shocked if at least one other person didn't feel the same way about someone. I do wonder if maybe it has to do with the fact that Lydia has been searching so hard for him. It is possible that her searching for him, or the fact that she is a Banshee, could have something to do with it.
It was also nice to see how Peter got taken by the Riders. Turns out that when the gang broke into Eichen House to rescue Lydia, they released Peter and some other prisoners. When Peter escaped, he was taken by the Riders. The fact that they've been around Beacon Hills that long could be used to retroactively explain why some characters (*cough* Danny *cough*) just randomly disappear and are never heard from again. I also found it interesting that Peter said that they are an unstoppable force of nature. Does that mean that all Scott and the gang can do is to hunker down and ride out the storm? And why do the Riders pick who they pick to take? Is it possible that they serve a purpose similar to Hellhounds? Could they take people who find out about the supernatural in order to protect it? I know that is a long shot, but it is an intriguing possibility.
The more we see her, the more suspicious I get of Mrs. Stilinski. She is the only person we have seen come into existence after someone else is removed. She is also dead set against anyone finding out any information about Stiles or the Hunt. I am really curious about why exactly she came back. There is no such thing as a coincidence on Teen Wolf, so I hope an explanation is forthcoming.
I am really curious how Stiles' setting off that feedback was heard in our reality. We have more or less established that the Riders' reality overlaps with ours, so my assumption is that the noise somehow bled over. It obviously called intensely to Lydia, which would explain how she got out to Roscoe so quickly. Speaking of Roscoe, did anyone else think Scott was about to do some serious damage to the tow truck driver? The driver was lucky Malia broke his truck, because I think Scott was about to break something on him.
What exactly is Canaan? Based on the preview, it looks like it is a town depopulated by the Riders, but how did Stiles realize that it was important? Again, I hope answers are forthcoming.
It looks like there won't be an episode for at least two weeks, so I will see everyone when the show returns!
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Thursday, December 8, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.09- What We Leave Behind
Prometheus steps up their attacks on Oliver and the gang, a traitor is revealed, tragedy strikes, and someone makes a mind-blowing return...
Oliver and the gang now know that Evelyn has been working with Prometheus. I know she says that she feels that Oliver is a criminal who needs to be stopped for the sake of the city, but lets face it, she's really upset because Oliver stopped her from killing people, Sorry, but you can't come back from what she did by completely betraying the entire team. I must admit that I was almost hoping that Prometheus would have killed her when they were recreating the time the Hood attacked the pharmaceutical guy.
Turns out that one person on The List was the head of a pharmaceutical company who created a biological weapon and then jacked up the price on the cure for the disease. The Hood initially gave him a day to fix things, but the guy refused and then the Hood went on a tear and killed a ton of people before finally killing the executive. Turns out the guy had an illegitimate child who would be about the right age to be Prometheus. And tonight Prometheus recreated the entire scene of the Hood's attack, leaving a trail of bodies that ultimately led to Oliver killing Felicity's boyfriend, who had been gagged and dressed up as Prometheus.
The question is: Who is Prometheus? You may have noticed that I am using the pronoun "they" and that is purposeful. I think that Prometheus is one of two people: the reporter Oliver has been seeing or Laurel Lance. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is a version of Laurel Lance alive and in the Arrowcave. I know that the team and a lot of other people seem to be laying bets that the execs child is Prometheus, but I am not so sure. I may be reading too much into this, but when the reporter picked up that bottle of (what I think was) vodka right after Oliver talked about how Prometheus knew a move taught to him by a woman in Russia and then she repeated Thea's words right back to him, I couldn't help but suspect that she could be Prometheus. In fact, I was fairly sure of it until Laurel showed up in the cave. If this is the same Laurel that Zoom brought over last year, she might blame Oliver for the death of her doppleganger or want revenge on him.
No one on the team was immune from pain tonight. Diggle was trapped into being arrested by a phony phone call from Lyla, Felicity lost her boyfriend, and Curtis' husband left him. First off, I am having trouble blaming Paul for leaving Curtis. Curtis knew that Paul didn't want this life for them, so Curtis really was playing with fire here. Hopefully the two of them will patch this up. As for Diggle, I couldn't believe that he fell for that. The phony phone call is one of the oldest tricks in the book. He really should have sent someone else. I know that it was Lyla is "trouble", but given his status, he really should have been *MUCH* more careful. As for Felicity, it was nice to see that she isn't blaming Oliver right now. I wouldn't be surprised to find that she is upset with him, even though she knows that it was a mistake. We'll have to wait and see.
I also loved the lighter moments. Felicity's reference to people coming back to life on Wednesdays was particularly meta and funny. Oliver's crack to Felicity and Thea wondering why guys don't listen was also particularly amusing. I also loved Oliver's reference to the dream world last week with his reference to having watched It's a Wonderful Life. Then you throw in the conversation about whether or not Flashpoint Thea would have dated Rene. Those fun moments helped to lighten a really heavy episode.
We'll be back the week of the 25th, so see y'all then!
Oliver and the gang now know that Evelyn has been working with Prometheus. I know she says that she feels that Oliver is a criminal who needs to be stopped for the sake of the city, but lets face it, she's really upset because Oliver stopped her from killing people, Sorry, but you can't come back from what she did by completely betraying the entire team. I must admit that I was almost hoping that Prometheus would have killed her when they were recreating the time the Hood attacked the pharmaceutical guy.
Turns out that one person on The List was the head of a pharmaceutical company who created a biological weapon and then jacked up the price on the cure for the disease. The Hood initially gave him a day to fix things, but the guy refused and then the Hood went on a tear and killed a ton of people before finally killing the executive. Turns out the guy had an illegitimate child who would be about the right age to be Prometheus. And tonight Prometheus recreated the entire scene of the Hood's attack, leaving a trail of bodies that ultimately led to Oliver killing Felicity's boyfriend, who had been gagged and dressed up as Prometheus.
The question is: Who is Prometheus? You may have noticed that I am using the pronoun "they" and that is purposeful. I think that Prometheus is one of two people: the reporter Oliver has been seeing or Laurel Lance. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is a version of Laurel Lance alive and in the Arrowcave. I know that the team and a lot of other people seem to be laying bets that the execs child is Prometheus, but I am not so sure. I may be reading too much into this, but when the reporter picked up that bottle of (what I think was) vodka right after Oliver talked about how Prometheus knew a move taught to him by a woman in Russia and then she repeated Thea's words right back to him, I couldn't help but suspect that she could be Prometheus. In fact, I was fairly sure of it until Laurel showed up in the cave. If this is the same Laurel that Zoom brought over last year, she might blame Oliver for the death of her doppleganger or want revenge on him.
No one on the team was immune from pain tonight. Diggle was trapped into being arrested by a phony phone call from Lyla, Felicity lost her boyfriend, and Curtis' husband left him. First off, I am having trouble blaming Paul for leaving Curtis. Curtis knew that Paul didn't want this life for them, so Curtis really was playing with fire here. Hopefully the two of them will patch this up. As for Diggle, I couldn't believe that he fell for that. The phony phone call is one of the oldest tricks in the book. He really should have sent someone else. I know that it was Lyla is "trouble", but given his status, he really should have been *MUCH* more careful. As for Felicity, it was nice to see that she isn't blaming Oliver right now. I wouldn't be surprised to find that she is upset with him, even though she knows that it was a mistake. We'll have to wait and see.
I also loved the lighter moments. Felicity's reference to people coming back to life on Wednesdays was particularly meta and funny. Oliver's crack to Felicity and Thea wondering why guys don't listen was also particularly amusing. I also loved Oliver's reference to the dream world last week with his reference to having watched It's a Wonderful Life. Then you throw in the conversation about whether or not Flashpoint Thea would have dated Rene. Those fun moments helped to lighten a really heavy episode.
We'll be back the week of the 25th, so see y'all then!
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
My Review of Teen Wolf 6.04- Relics
Scott and the gang try and keep everyone from the party safe, Lydia searches for proof of Stiles, and we end on a hopeful note....
Honestly, this was one of my least favorite episodes from the show. The lack of Stiles is definitely hurting the show right now. Scott is really not focused because a lot of his energy is going to figure out if Stiles ever even existed which is leaving Liam and the younger generation increasingly on their own. That is not inherently a bad thing, but the whole thing is leaving a weird taste in my mouth and I am not entirely sure why.
One thing I am sure about is that I couldn't really have cared less about the people who disappeared tonight. They were all just random people or people who had only been in an episode or two, so their disappearance had no emotional impact on me. The only thing I felt was bad for Scott and the gang who felt guilty about not saving people. The problem is that there were too many of the Riders for them to fight off, the Riders' bullets could make people disappear, and the fact that the people they were trying to protect didn't really do anything to make the gang's job easier.
I think another problem with this season is that the villains, the Riders, are more of a force of nature than they are the more personal enemies of the first couple of seasons. That was a problem with the Dread Doctors last year too. Their motivation was never clear, which made it harder to root for or against them. All of the enemies in the first four seasons (Peter, Kate, the Alpha Pack, the nogitsune, and Gerard) were enemies who had a score of some sort to settle and definite motivations that made them really great villains. Bothe the Dread Doctors and Riders are so nebulous and unhuman that it is harder to relate them. It's not impossible to have a force of nature as a great enemy (see The First from BtVS), but it does require a level of work that the writers don't seem to have put into either group right now. I guess I am saying this because I hope that something happens int he next several episodes that will make them better villains.
Was Mason right when he speculated about the Riders being afraid of Parrish? It would seem not because the one Rider simply shot him. Interestingly, the bullet only put out the fire and didn't erase Parrish like it did other people. Did the fire of the Hellhound protect Parrish or was the Hellhound itself somehow banished from the Earth? Interestingly enough, the Riders didn't really go after any of the supernatural creatures on the field, which leads me to wonder if they don't take supernatural creatures for some reason.
I loved watching Argent work with Malia and Melissa. Melissa chattering on in the woods was quite funny and seeing Malis be more feral was interesting. I'm actually a little surprised that she didn't hold a grudge against Chris for shooting her in the leg. I wonder if she accepts it because he wasn't trying to kill her or what. And Lydia's mom is doing a good job dealing with her new reality of banshees and other supernatural creatures. I just want to know what the visions Lydia is having mean.
Next week, we get Stiles back with Peter! Until then!
Honestly, this was one of my least favorite episodes from the show. The lack of Stiles is definitely hurting the show right now. Scott is really not focused because a lot of his energy is going to figure out if Stiles ever even existed which is leaving Liam and the younger generation increasingly on their own. That is not inherently a bad thing, but the whole thing is leaving a weird taste in my mouth and I am not entirely sure why.
One thing I am sure about is that I couldn't really have cared less about the people who disappeared tonight. They were all just random people or people who had only been in an episode or two, so their disappearance had no emotional impact on me. The only thing I felt was bad for Scott and the gang who felt guilty about not saving people. The problem is that there were too many of the Riders for them to fight off, the Riders' bullets could make people disappear, and the fact that the people they were trying to protect didn't really do anything to make the gang's job easier.
I think another problem with this season is that the villains, the Riders, are more of a force of nature than they are the more personal enemies of the first couple of seasons. That was a problem with the Dread Doctors last year too. Their motivation was never clear, which made it harder to root for or against them. All of the enemies in the first four seasons (Peter, Kate, the Alpha Pack, the nogitsune, and Gerard) were enemies who had a score of some sort to settle and definite motivations that made them really great villains. Bothe the Dread Doctors and Riders are so nebulous and unhuman that it is harder to relate them. It's not impossible to have a force of nature as a great enemy (see The First from BtVS), but it does require a level of work that the writers don't seem to have put into either group right now. I guess I am saying this because I hope that something happens int he next several episodes that will make them better villains.
Was Mason right when he speculated about the Riders being afraid of Parrish? It would seem not because the one Rider simply shot him. Interestingly, the bullet only put out the fire and didn't erase Parrish like it did other people. Did the fire of the Hellhound protect Parrish or was the Hellhound itself somehow banished from the Earth? Interestingly enough, the Riders didn't really go after any of the supernatural creatures on the field, which leads me to wonder if they don't take supernatural creatures for some reason.
I loved watching Argent work with Malia and Melissa. Melissa chattering on in the woods was quite funny and seeing Malis be more feral was interesting. I'm actually a little surprised that she didn't hold a grudge against Chris for shooting her in the leg. I wonder if she accepts it because he wasn't trying to kill her or what. And Lydia's mom is doing a good job dealing with her new reality of banshees and other supernatural creatures. I just want to know what the visions Lydia is having mean.
Next week, we get Stiles back with Peter! Until then!
My Review of The Flash 3.09- The Present
The gang finds out the identity of Dr. Alchemy, Savitar puts in an appearance, Barry finds out something which shakes him to his core, and Wally has a secret revealed to all....
Well, Julian knows that Barry is the Flash now. I've been advocating for that for weeks now, so I can't say that I am annoyed about it. In fact, I think it was exactly the right move. Julian needed something like that to happen before he would trust Barry when he told Julian that he was Dr. Alchemy. And they needed that trust because they realized that Savitar is taking over Julian's body in order to bring himself into our reality. That is where I think I lost things a bit.
Savitar is (supposedly) the very first speedster and he came to Earth-1 to kill Barry because Barry poses a threat to him and did something to trap him. But Savitar is apparently trapped in the stone, which seems to have been buried for a long, long time. And we know that Barry threw the box with the stone in it into the Speed Force, where it would presumably be lost forever. So is it possible that, by throwing the box into the Speed Force, Barry has already set the future in motion which ends with the death of Iris? The only thing militating against that interpretation is that Savitar said that he was mad a Barry because of something future Barry did. Granted ti was technically future Barry (as in 5-10 minutes future Barry) that threw Savitar into the Speed Force, but it is possible, but doubtful.
One other question is which earth Savitar comes from. From what Jay said, it would seem that he is not native to Earth-1, but it was never stated definitively. Right now, Savitar is wrapped up in so much mystery that it is virtually impossible to tell much about him. The thing about Savitar is that he could be from any time period. We are told he came from the distant past (the first speedster), but he claims to have knowledge of the future, which would imply that he has done some time traveling of his own.
To throw out one final question, what can Barry do to avoid the fate he saw for Iris? The big problem I see is that knowing the future can affect the decisions someone makes. After all, knowing that something is "supposed" to happen means that you will always be second-guessing yourself to avoid making the choices that can lead to the undesired outcome. Unfortunately, these decisions to avoid the outcome can often cause the outcome to come into being. What Barry has to do is keep an eye out on things while not allowing his visit to the future to affect his decisions, which will be virtually impossible. This is not going to be pretty.
I so have to side with HR about Wally. Wally is so determined to make use of his abilities that he would have gone out on his own without training if no one would train him. I get why Joe and Iris are so deadset against Wally training, but they really need to back off and realize that he is trying to do a good thing. They just need to make sure that he gets trained well and works with Barry. Having some help should be a good thing for Barry. Also, it will allow them to help more people in the city.
Until the show returns!
Well, Julian knows that Barry is the Flash now. I've been advocating for that for weeks now, so I can't say that I am annoyed about it. In fact, I think it was exactly the right move. Julian needed something like that to happen before he would trust Barry when he told Julian that he was Dr. Alchemy. And they needed that trust because they realized that Savitar is taking over Julian's body in order to bring himself into our reality. That is where I think I lost things a bit.
Savitar is (supposedly) the very first speedster and he came to Earth-1 to kill Barry because Barry poses a threat to him and did something to trap him. But Savitar is apparently trapped in the stone, which seems to have been buried for a long, long time. And we know that Barry threw the box with the stone in it into the Speed Force, where it would presumably be lost forever. So is it possible that, by throwing the box into the Speed Force, Barry has already set the future in motion which ends with the death of Iris? The only thing militating against that interpretation is that Savitar said that he was mad a Barry because of something future Barry did. Granted ti was technically future Barry (as in 5-10 minutes future Barry) that threw Savitar into the Speed Force, but it is possible, but doubtful.
One other question is which earth Savitar comes from. From what Jay said, it would seem that he is not native to Earth-1, but it was never stated definitively. Right now, Savitar is wrapped up in so much mystery that it is virtually impossible to tell much about him. The thing about Savitar is that he could be from any time period. We are told he came from the distant past (the first speedster), but he claims to have knowledge of the future, which would imply that he has done some time traveling of his own.
To throw out one final question, what can Barry do to avoid the fate he saw for Iris? The big problem I see is that knowing the future can affect the decisions someone makes. After all, knowing that something is "supposed" to happen means that you will always be second-guessing yourself to avoid making the choices that can lead to the undesired outcome. Unfortunately, these decisions to avoid the outcome can often cause the outcome to come into being. What Barry has to do is keep an eye out on things while not allowing his visit to the future to affect his decisions, which will be virtually impossible. This is not going to be pretty.
I so have to side with HR about Wally. Wally is so determined to make use of his abilities that he would have gone out on his own without training if no one would train him. I get why Joe and Iris are so deadset against Wally training, but they really need to back off and realize that he is trying to do a good thing. They just need to make sure that he gets trained well and works with Barry. Having some help should be a good thing for Barry. Also, it will allow them to help more people in the city.
Until the show returns!
Friday, December 2, 2016
Some Thoughts About the 4-Part Berlantiverse Crossover Event
I don't want to focus so much on the Legends episode tonight as I do on the crossover as a whole because the episode tonight really was much more broadly focused than last night's episode of Arrow, which is understandable given the fact that last night was the 100th episode of Arrow.
First, there is Supergirl. The episode on Monday really was barely a part of the crossover. Aside from the couple of breaches and the very end of the episode, the episode barely connected to the crossover. My guess is that happened mainly because of the fact that Supergirl is on a completely separate Earth, which makes it harder to do crossovers. Also, Monday's episode of Supergirl was also acting as the mid season finale of the show, so it was doing a lot of lifting. The other possible connection is the alien race that is after Mon-El. I am wondering if they are that universes version of the Dominators or not. Don't get me wrong about the episode. I loved it, but it wasn't really a part of the crossover.
Both The Flash and Legends were much more of a blended crossover, mainly because both shows weren't doing anything other than being the crossover episodes. That really made both episodes more what I was expecting all four to be. I've already talked about The Flash episode, so I want to talk a little about tonight's episode of Legends.
First off, I was a little annoyed that Oliver cast Supergirl aside so quickly. When you're facing an unknown threat, you don't bench your most powerful weapon without one hell of a good reason and Oliver's simply wasn't good enough. I did appreciate his acknowledgment that he screwed up later though.
Speaking of Kara, I loved the fact that she was totally channeling Cat's catty bitchiness with the one agent. Talking with that totally sweet tone while slipping him a verbal knife was a totally Cat move and I couldn't have been prouder of Kara than I was then. She can be too nice sometimes, so seeing her show that side was all sorts of fun.
I was also really glad that Cisco finally figured out that the choices Barry made weren't as cut and dried as he was making them out to be. The Legends know how tough a choice Barry had, which is what made Sara's anger last night so understandable. They've resisted, so why didn't he? Cisco finally realized that resisting that sort of power isn't easy.
And poor Barry discovered that he is the reason for the invasion. The Dominators detected his changing the timeline and decided to wipe out all metas because they are too dangerous to exist. Apparently metas have existed on other worlds and led to them being wiped out. Hopefully, the good that our metas and heroes are doing will convince the Dominators to stay away.
Looking at the crossover as a whole, there are going to be some obvious impacts on the individual shows. First off, everyone on Earth-1 now knows what Barry did, which will probably lead to some discussions about what else changed. Also, the Dominators ran away, so it is entirely possible that they will be back. I also found it interesting that there appeared 3 main leaders who everyone accepted: Barry, Oliver, and Sara. Each one is more or less the leader of their own team, but I found it very interesting that the other groups seemed to accept the leadership of other people besides their own so very easily. Of course, it helps that Sara was a part of Oliver's group and everyone from Oliver's group knows Barry. I don't think anyone would have accepted Supergirl as a leader, but she didn't seem to particularly want to be recognized as a leader, so that was just peachy.
Now that Kara has the device to cross back and forth on her own, that should make crossovers a little easier. I can't wait to see what the group (especially Wynn) is going to think of Cisco's device. I can imagine J'onn and Alex being very wary of it, Wynn being excited to take it apart, and Jimmy just going along with Kara.
On the whole, I thought the crossover was very well done and very enjoyable. If they could do this every year, that would be awesome, but I imagine it would be a logistical nightmare. It might also be nice to do some smaller crossovers between the four shows periodically throughout the year,
Until next Tuesday!
First, there is Supergirl. The episode on Monday really was barely a part of the crossover. Aside from the couple of breaches and the very end of the episode, the episode barely connected to the crossover. My guess is that happened mainly because of the fact that Supergirl is on a completely separate Earth, which makes it harder to do crossovers. Also, Monday's episode of Supergirl was also acting as the mid season finale of the show, so it was doing a lot of lifting. The other possible connection is the alien race that is after Mon-El. I am wondering if they are that universes version of the Dominators or not. Don't get me wrong about the episode. I loved it, but it wasn't really a part of the crossover.
Both The Flash and Legends were much more of a blended crossover, mainly because both shows weren't doing anything other than being the crossover episodes. That really made both episodes more what I was expecting all four to be. I've already talked about The Flash episode, so I want to talk a little about tonight's episode of Legends.
First off, I was a little annoyed that Oliver cast Supergirl aside so quickly. When you're facing an unknown threat, you don't bench your most powerful weapon without one hell of a good reason and Oliver's simply wasn't good enough. I did appreciate his acknowledgment that he screwed up later though.
Speaking of Kara, I loved the fact that she was totally channeling Cat's catty bitchiness with the one agent. Talking with that totally sweet tone while slipping him a verbal knife was a totally Cat move and I couldn't have been prouder of Kara than I was then. She can be too nice sometimes, so seeing her show that side was all sorts of fun.
I was also really glad that Cisco finally figured out that the choices Barry made weren't as cut and dried as he was making them out to be. The Legends know how tough a choice Barry had, which is what made Sara's anger last night so understandable. They've resisted, so why didn't he? Cisco finally realized that resisting that sort of power isn't easy.
And poor Barry discovered that he is the reason for the invasion. The Dominators detected his changing the timeline and decided to wipe out all metas because they are too dangerous to exist. Apparently metas have existed on other worlds and led to them being wiped out. Hopefully, the good that our metas and heroes are doing will convince the Dominators to stay away.
Looking at the crossover as a whole, there are going to be some obvious impacts on the individual shows. First off, everyone on Earth-1 now knows what Barry did, which will probably lead to some discussions about what else changed. Also, the Dominators ran away, so it is entirely possible that they will be back. I also found it interesting that there appeared 3 main leaders who everyone accepted: Barry, Oliver, and Sara. Each one is more or less the leader of their own team, but I found it very interesting that the other groups seemed to accept the leadership of other people besides their own so very easily. Of course, it helps that Sara was a part of Oliver's group and everyone from Oliver's group knows Barry. I don't think anyone would have accepted Supergirl as a leader, but she didn't seem to particularly want to be recognized as a leader, so that was just peachy.
Now that Kara has the device to cross back and forth on her own, that should make crossovers a little easier. I can't wait to see what the group (especially Wynn) is going to think of Cisco's device. I can imagine J'onn and Alex being very wary of it, Wynn being excited to take it apart, and Jimmy just going along with Kara.
On the whole, I thought the crossover was very well done and very enjoyable. If they could do this every year, that would be awesome, but I imagine it would be a logistical nightmare. It might also be nice to do some smaller crossovers between the four shows periodically throughout the year,
Until next Tuesday!
Thursday, December 1, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.08 (Episode 100) - Invasion!
In the third episode of the 4-episode crossover, Oliver and the other taken deal with an alternate reality while those left behind search for them desperately....
This particular episode had a lot of stuff to carry. Not only was it the penultimate episode of the crossover, but it was the 100th episode of Arrow, which is always a milestone. I think that the writers did a good job balancing those two responsibilities. I loved that there was the line about Tommy being a doctor in Chicago, a totally meta line since Colin is a doctor on Chicago Med. I do wish they could have gotten him and Colton to be in the episode, but they couldn't.
It was an interesting choice to reveal immediately that the episode was in the collective heads of Oliver, Sara, Thea, Ray, and Diggle. Most shows tease you about that sort of thing for most of the episode, so the almost immediate reveal was a bit surprising. I found it interesting that there was still a Hood, even though Oliver was no longer in that role. I was just surprised that they had Diggle using a bow and arrow. It really didn't make much sense. If he were to go the vigilante route, I would expect him to have done more what he is doing now, using guns. I also found it interesting that he was still working with Felicity and in the same place where Oliver's lair is currently. I know it wasn't real at all, but that did seem a bit odd to me for some reason.
All that being said, I did enjoy seeing Oliver being happy. My question is what exactly the Dominators go t out of this experience. We know they can use mind control (see The Flash), but how can exploring people's subconscious help them out? It wasn't like they were exploring fear or anything, so it can't be using fear as a weapon. I can only assume that they want to see if they can use some form of mental control to make people happy and compliant (think the Matrix).
I can't say that I was surprised that Thea wanted to stay behind. She has had a really rough go of everything, so to have the opportunity to leave all that behind has got to be tempting. And the fact is that she doesn't have Oliver's overwhelming sense of obligation to other people. At most, she fells obligated to him since he is her brother. Oliver, on the other hand, feels the need to protect as many people as possible as much as possible. I knew she was going to go along with him, so her showing up wasn't a surprise.
I loved Curtis' reaction to Supergirl and the alien tech. Watching him, Cisco, and Felicity all geek out together was one of the greatest moments. And his reaction when he realized he would be hacking the alien tech? Priceless!
Wild Dog is definitely turning out to be one of the worst characters on any of these shows. He keeps needing to be rescued from his own idiocy and then there was his totally lacking logic reason for dislike the Flash and Supergirl. So because the two of them appeared when metas and aliens (respectively) appeared, they were responsible for the bad things. And then there was his all too sudden turn around. Please just do us a favor and get rid of him or something. Right now he just annoys the $hit out of me every time he is on screen.
Other than Wild Dog, I really loved everything about this episode. I loved all of the callouts to the previous 99 episodes and the history of the flagship show of the Berlantiverse. Watching each of the 5 taken "kill" their nemesis in that final fight scene was very cathartic as was Oliver's opportunity to say goodbye to his parents and to Laurel. I also loved the Supergirl-Flash team up on the villain of the week. He speed punches her, then she tosses the doctor towards the Flash, who speeds toward them and clotheslines the villain. Totally cool and not something someone gets up from easily.
Tomorrow we have the finale of the crossover. I may do a reaction piece to that, I'm not sure yet. Come back tomorrow night and check it to see!
This particular episode had a lot of stuff to carry. Not only was it the penultimate episode of the crossover, but it was the 100th episode of Arrow, which is always a milestone. I think that the writers did a good job balancing those two responsibilities. I loved that there was the line about Tommy being a doctor in Chicago, a totally meta line since Colin is a doctor on Chicago Med. I do wish they could have gotten him and Colton to be in the episode, but they couldn't.
It was an interesting choice to reveal immediately that the episode was in the collective heads of Oliver, Sara, Thea, Ray, and Diggle. Most shows tease you about that sort of thing for most of the episode, so the almost immediate reveal was a bit surprising. I found it interesting that there was still a Hood, even though Oliver was no longer in that role. I was just surprised that they had Diggle using a bow and arrow. It really didn't make much sense. If he were to go the vigilante route, I would expect him to have done more what he is doing now, using guns. I also found it interesting that he was still working with Felicity and in the same place where Oliver's lair is currently. I know it wasn't real at all, but that did seem a bit odd to me for some reason.
All that being said, I did enjoy seeing Oliver being happy. My question is what exactly the Dominators go t out of this experience. We know they can use mind control (see The Flash), but how can exploring people's subconscious help them out? It wasn't like they were exploring fear or anything, so it can't be using fear as a weapon. I can only assume that they want to see if they can use some form of mental control to make people happy and compliant (think the Matrix).
I can't say that I was surprised that Thea wanted to stay behind. She has had a really rough go of everything, so to have the opportunity to leave all that behind has got to be tempting. And the fact is that she doesn't have Oliver's overwhelming sense of obligation to other people. At most, she fells obligated to him since he is her brother. Oliver, on the other hand, feels the need to protect as many people as possible as much as possible. I knew she was going to go along with him, so her showing up wasn't a surprise.
I loved Curtis' reaction to Supergirl and the alien tech. Watching him, Cisco, and Felicity all geek out together was one of the greatest moments. And his reaction when he realized he would be hacking the alien tech? Priceless!
Wild Dog is definitely turning out to be one of the worst characters on any of these shows. He keeps needing to be rescued from his own idiocy and then there was his totally lacking logic reason for dislike the Flash and Supergirl. So because the two of them appeared when metas and aliens (respectively) appeared, they were responsible for the bad things. And then there was his all too sudden turn around. Please just do us a favor and get rid of him or something. Right now he just annoys the $hit out of me every time he is on screen.
Other than Wild Dog, I really loved everything about this episode. I loved all of the callouts to the previous 99 episodes and the history of the flagship show of the Berlantiverse. Watching each of the 5 taken "kill" their nemesis in that final fight scene was very cathartic as was Oliver's opportunity to say goodbye to his parents and to Laurel. I also loved the Supergirl-Flash team up on the villain of the week. He speed punches her, then she tosses the doctor towards the Flash, who speeds toward them and clotheslines the villain. Totally cool and not something someone gets up from easily.
Tomorrow we have the finale of the crossover. I may do a reaction piece to that, I'm not sure yet. Come back tomorrow night and check it to see!
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
My Review of Teen Wolf 6.03- Sundowning
Scott, Malia, and Lydia investigate what a "Stiles" is; Liam, Corey, Mason, and Hayden throw a party to protect a classmate; and Chris and Melissa investigate some unusual deaths.
Before I get into the main story, I had a question I am really curious about. Why exactly does Sheriff Stilinski know about the supernatural? When Stiles was around, it made sense because Stiles revealed everything to him in Season 3. But without Stiles there to reveal everything, why would Scott have revealed everything to the Sheriff? I am sure there is an explanation of some sort, I just want to know what it is.
I also need to mention how hilariously Lydia's mom is handling everything. She knows all about what is going on, but she is doing her damndest to keep all of the supernatural stuff at arm's length. And Lydia's line about the amount of things she keeps from her mom was also amusing.
I found it really interesting that Stiles' grandfather actually remembered the original timeline. We've never heard anything about him from before, so I am wondering if the problem is that he remembers Stiles for some reason and that is causing his dementia or something. Grasping at straws a bit, I guess, but I am very curious about it. But the revelation about Stiles might be enough to set Scott on whatever path he needs to get on in order to bring Stiles back.
Malia is definitely reverting to who she was before she started dating Stiles. It seems that, without his influence, she never settled down as much. Granted, it wasn't exactly like she was the paragon of restraint before he was taken, but she seems to be back where she started. She settles problems in the most direct way possible, which very often involves violence of some sort. Slamming that nurses's head into the desk was sort of funny, particularly since she was so casual about it. She just walked up to him, grabbed him, and slammed. No muss, no fuss.
As for Liam's group, the party was not an awful idea. Short of kidnapping her (as Malia was suggesting), there wasn't really another way to protect her. As for Corey's method of revealing the Rider, it was an idea that had a sound basis, but he just didn't think about the potential consequences. I am going with "potential consequences" because Corey did something that the stories didn't anticipate. Normally, when someone sees a member of the Ride, they are being hunted, so they therefore disappear shortly thereafter. In this case, however, Corey pulled the Rider from their dimension into ours, which then leads to a very good question. Does the person disappear because the see a Rider or is seeing the Rider caused because you will be taken?
Scott is worried that, by revealing the Rider to the party, Corey has made targets of everyone at the party. That idea, however, assumes that it the act of seeing the Rider that leads to the disappearance of a person. If, on the other hand, I am right, then seeing the Rider is a *consequence* that precedes the cause (i.e. being taken) rather than the other way around. Remember, this season is dealing with quantum physics and in quantum physics an effect can *PRECEDE* the cause (i.e effect-cause rather than the more typical cause-effect), which means that my theory is plausible. If I am right, then the people are not in danger by virtue of having seen the Rider unless they were already supposed to have been taken. Also, if merely seeing the Rider is enough to trigger the disappearance, then Liam and Corey would already be targets because they saw the Riders last week. Just a thought.
Why on earth does the Nazi Werewolf Teacher need to eat the pineal gland (i.e. the "soul") from people and breath pure helium? Inquiring minds want to know.
Until next week!
Before I get into the main story, I had a question I am really curious about. Why exactly does Sheriff Stilinski know about the supernatural? When Stiles was around, it made sense because Stiles revealed everything to him in Season 3. But without Stiles there to reveal everything, why would Scott have revealed everything to the Sheriff? I am sure there is an explanation of some sort, I just want to know what it is.
I also need to mention how hilariously Lydia's mom is handling everything. She knows all about what is going on, but she is doing her damndest to keep all of the supernatural stuff at arm's length. And Lydia's line about the amount of things she keeps from her mom was also amusing.
I found it really interesting that Stiles' grandfather actually remembered the original timeline. We've never heard anything about him from before, so I am wondering if the problem is that he remembers Stiles for some reason and that is causing his dementia or something. Grasping at straws a bit, I guess, but I am very curious about it. But the revelation about Stiles might be enough to set Scott on whatever path he needs to get on in order to bring Stiles back.
Malia is definitely reverting to who she was before she started dating Stiles. It seems that, without his influence, she never settled down as much. Granted, it wasn't exactly like she was the paragon of restraint before he was taken, but she seems to be back where she started. She settles problems in the most direct way possible, which very often involves violence of some sort. Slamming that nurses's head into the desk was sort of funny, particularly since she was so casual about it. She just walked up to him, grabbed him, and slammed. No muss, no fuss.
As for Liam's group, the party was not an awful idea. Short of kidnapping her (as Malia was suggesting), there wasn't really another way to protect her. As for Corey's method of revealing the Rider, it was an idea that had a sound basis, but he just didn't think about the potential consequences. I am going with "potential consequences" because Corey did something that the stories didn't anticipate. Normally, when someone sees a member of the Ride, they are being hunted, so they therefore disappear shortly thereafter. In this case, however, Corey pulled the Rider from their dimension into ours, which then leads to a very good question. Does the person disappear because the see a Rider or is seeing the Rider caused because you will be taken?
Scott is worried that, by revealing the Rider to the party, Corey has made targets of everyone at the party. That idea, however, assumes that it the act of seeing the Rider that leads to the disappearance of a person. If, on the other hand, I am right, then seeing the Rider is a *consequence* that precedes the cause (i.e. being taken) rather than the other way around. Remember, this season is dealing with quantum physics and in quantum physics an effect can *PRECEDE* the cause (i.e effect-cause rather than the more typical cause-effect), which means that my theory is plausible. If I am right, then the people are not in danger by virtue of having seen the Rider unless they were already supposed to have been taken. Also, if merely seeing the Rider is enough to trigger the disappearance, then Liam and Corey would already be targets because they saw the Riders last week. Just a thought.
Why on earth does the Nazi Werewolf Teacher need to eat the pineal gland (i.e. the "soul") from people and breath pure helium? Inquiring minds want to know.
Until next week!
My Review of The Flash 3.08- Invasion!
In the second night of the massive crossover event, the entire crew meets Supergirl, secrets are revealed, and issues are revealed...
Last night was the first episode of the crossover, but it didn't seem to have much to do with the whole storyline aside from the random breaches that Cisco opened up to get to Earth-38 (i.e. the Earth of Supergirl). Well, that and the aliens we saw who are after Mon-El. I suspect that they will play a more prominent role later in the season.
As for the whole crossover, I loved watching the whole gang meet each other. The initial skepticism about why Kara is called "Supergirl" quickly disappeared when she showed off her flight and heat vision. That was really amusing. And the fact that Sara is so obviously crushing all over Kara is even funnier. Kara is so enthusiastic about everything that not even Mick telling her how he had received the moniker "Heatwave" dampened her spirits. She was obviously taken aback, but still excited. And his reaction to her x-ray vision was hilarious. He went right for the lewdest possible interpretation, which was just hilarious.
As for everyone's reaction to finding out what Barry had done, it was understandable, but stupid. My first question is why anyone left that recording out for people to find. If they really wanted to keep it a secret for the time being, they should have put it somewhere where people wouldn't find it. And I do think holding off saying anything was the right idea, as evidenced by everyone's reactions. They went off without the Flash and Green Arrow to fight the aliens. Granted, it was ultimately a good idea given the mind control, but they couldn't have known it at the time.
Speaking of the message, is it even still relevant? It became obvious that the Legends are remnants of the original timeline, so the message was probably from the original timeline. Is it possible that the warning from Barry was referring to an event in the original timeline that is not going to happen now? Or is it possible that the Legends could be called back to Central City at another time and the message relates to that? I think that is an obvious question that needs to be asked and answered at some point.
As I said, I do get why people, particularly the Legends, were upset about what Barry did. I think what everyone needs to remember is that he did what he did in a moment of extreme grief. He had lost his dad not long before and made a very impulsive decision to save his mom. And to his credit, he did try and repair the timeline. I am a little confused by Diggle's reaction, mainly because I don't remember him being particularly pressed about having a daughter in particular.
Sara's reaction really did make the most sense. The Legends have been going around for months fixing problems from people messing with the timeline, only to discover that one of their friends has completely upended the timeline for selfish reasons. Sara has been especially good about not trying to being Laurel back or anything.
Oliver had this one right, yet again. Barry made an impulsive decision that had ramifications well beyond what he had intended. He has to accept that he screwed up (which he has) and try and move on. The problem is that the rest of the gang won't let him move on. He's not trying to sweep what he did under the rug, but Cisco (in particular) does need to figure out how to get beyond this.
And Iris needs to stop trying to control Wally. I get that she wants him to be safe, particularly after Barry revealed that Wally died in Flashpoint, but she needs to back off and fast. I am always astonished that, as mad as she got at Barry and Joe for hiding things from her, she so quickly defaults to hiding things from other people if she feels that she needs to. Sorry, that is not one of her more attractive qualities. I have nothing against a secret, particularly if it is your secret and not someone else's, but given the fits she's thrown in the past, this is sheer hypocrisy. And the thing is that the secrets she keeps are secrets that she shouldn't be keeping because they directly impact the lives of others around her.
Until tomorrow!
Last night was the first episode of the crossover, but it didn't seem to have much to do with the whole storyline aside from the random breaches that Cisco opened up to get to Earth-38 (i.e. the Earth of Supergirl). Well, that and the aliens we saw who are after Mon-El. I suspect that they will play a more prominent role later in the season.
As for the whole crossover, I loved watching the whole gang meet each other. The initial skepticism about why Kara is called "Supergirl" quickly disappeared when she showed off her flight and heat vision. That was really amusing. And the fact that Sara is so obviously crushing all over Kara is even funnier. Kara is so enthusiastic about everything that not even Mick telling her how he had received the moniker "Heatwave" dampened her spirits. She was obviously taken aback, but still excited. And his reaction to her x-ray vision was hilarious. He went right for the lewdest possible interpretation, which was just hilarious.
As for everyone's reaction to finding out what Barry had done, it was understandable, but stupid. My first question is why anyone left that recording out for people to find. If they really wanted to keep it a secret for the time being, they should have put it somewhere where people wouldn't find it. And I do think holding off saying anything was the right idea, as evidenced by everyone's reactions. They went off without the Flash and Green Arrow to fight the aliens. Granted, it was ultimately a good idea given the mind control, but they couldn't have known it at the time.
Speaking of the message, is it even still relevant? It became obvious that the Legends are remnants of the original timeline, so the message was probably from the original timeline. Is it possible that the warning from Barry was referring to an event in the original timeline that is not going to happen now? Or is it possible that the Legends could be called back to Central City at another time and the message relates to that? I think that is an obvious question that needs to be asked and answered at some point.
As I said, I do get why people, particularly the Legends, were upset about what Barry did. I think what everyone needs to remember is that he did what he did in a moment of extreme grief. He had lost his dad not long before and made a very impulsive decision to save his mom. And to his credit, he did try and repair the timeline. I am a little confused by Diggle's reaction, mainly because I don't remember him being particularly pressed about having a daughter in particular.
Sara's reaction really did make the most sense. The Legends have been going around for months fixing problems from people messing with the timeline, only to discover that one of their friends has completely upended the timeline for selfish reasons. Sara has been especially good about not trying to being Laurel back or anything.
Oliver had this one right, yet again. Barry made an impulsive decision that had ramifications well beyond what he had intended. He has to accept that he screwed up (which he has) and try and move on. The problem is that the rest of the gang won't let him move on. He's not trying to sweep what he did under the rug, but Cisco (in particular) does need to figure out how to get beyond this.
And Iris needs to stop trying to control Wally. I get that she wants him to be safe, particularly after Barry revealed that Wally died in Flashpoint, but she needs to back off and fast. I am always astonished that, as mad as she got at Barry and Joe for hiding things from her, she so quickly defaults to hiding things from other people if she feels that she needs to. Sorry, that is not one of her more attractive qualities. I have nothing against a secret, particularly if it is your secret and not someone else's, but given the fits she's thrown in the past, this is sheer hypocrisy. And the thing is that the secrets she keeps are secrets that she shouldn't be keeping because they directly impact the lives of others around her.
Until tomorrow!
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
My Review of Teen Wolf 6.02- Superposition
We have our first Stile-less episode and we find out exactly how important he is to the gang while Liam and Corey come to an understanding where Mason is concerned.
Scott, Malia, and Lydia were suffering from a psychic form of phantom limb syndrome? That is interesting. Scott makes a lot of sense because he and Stiles were best friends forever and Lydia also makes a certain amount of sense because she is a banshee and is connected to the supernatural that way. I was a little surprised that Malia figured it out so quickly, mainly because she has never seemed to be as good at figuring things out as the rest of the gang. Then again, she got some big honking clues, so I guess it does make sense.
So the gang now knows that they are missing someone who was taken by the Riders and that this person has some connection to the word "Stiles", which Lydia created by writing the word "mischief" over and over and over while in a trance. They also know that the riders actually erase someone from existence, which is what we found out last week.
Interestingly, when Corey makes himself invisible, he can see the Riders. To me this indicates that he is not actually making himself invisible, but is rather shifting himself into another plane of existence and this plane of existence is somehow connected to out universe on a quantum level. My guess is that it is superimposed over our reality, but it is out of phase with our reality, which explains why they can interact with our reality without people seeing them.
If I am right, than that would mean that the people who are taken by the Riders are slowly shifted to that plane of existence because they can see the Riders. This shift causes ripples in our reality, which changes things. That would explain why people were forgetting who Stiles was last week and why his mother is around in this reality. This also tells me that there is no multiverse (like on The Flash) in Teen Wolf but rather one world with multiple possibilities implicit in it. Remove one piece and the world remakes itself to accommodate that change. It is really all quite fascinating.
To put it in simpler terms, removing someone from this level of existence causes a hole in the world. Since nature abhors a vacuum, it fills in that hole. In this case, erasing Stiles from existence caused a ripple which meant that his mother never died, so she is still around and with her husband. Most people's minds quickly adjust to the new reality, but because the gang is so intimately connected to the supernatural, they can tell there is something off. Also, Corey's ability to shift between realities means that he can see things that no one else can. And as any sociologist will tell you, observation will affect the thing that is being observed. Or, think of it as the old question about whether or not a tree falling in an empty woods makes a noise. If a noise is defined as something heard by someone, than if no one is around, there is no noise. Consider that.
Speaking of Corey, it was nice to see him and Liam working together. Liam doesn't trust Corey (and vice versa), but they tolerate each other for Mason's sake. Clearly, Mason is getting tired of the status quo. He wants his best friend and his boyfriend to actually get along, and they took their first step in that direction tonight. They made the conscious decision to try and be friends for Mason's sake, which is a good start. I don't know which one of them Mason would choose and it was fairly obvious that neither of them wanted to find out the answer. I suspect that there will continue to be issues, but I think they'll get through it.
The other question tonight is whether or not Liam will be able to take over for Scott. Scott clearly thinks that the answer is yes, but Liam is not nearly as sure. Liam does remind me a lot of early Scott because he is not entirely sure of himself. He also has the smart best friend (Mason) and a frenemy (Corey) where Scott had Stiles and Derek respectively. There are obvious differences, but I am definitely seeing some parallels there. Once Liam becomes more confident in himself and gets more training from Scott, things should work out well.
Until next week!
Scott, Malia, and Lydia were suffering from a psychic form of phantom limb syndrome? That is interesting. Scott makes a lot of sense because he and Stiles were best friends forever and Lydia also makes a certain amount of sense because she is a banshee and is connected to the supernatural that way. I was a little surprised that Malia figured it out so quickly, mainly because she has never seemed to be as good at figuring things out as the rest of the gang. Then again, she got some big honking clues, so I guess it does make sense.
So the gang now knows that they are missing someone who was taken by the Riders and that this person has some connection to the word "Stiles", which Lydia created by writing the word "mischief" over and over and over while in a trance. They also know that the riders actually erase someone from existence, which is what we found out last week.
Interestingly, when Corey makes himself invisible, he can see the Riders. To me this indicates that he is not actually making himself invisible, but is rather shifting himself into another plane of existence and this plane of existence is somehow connected to out universe on a quantum level. My guess is that it is superimposed over our reality, but it is out of phase with our reality, which explains why they can interact with our reality without people seeing them.
If I am right, than that would mean that the people who are taken by the Riders are slowly shifted to that plane of existence because they can see the Riders. This shift causes ripples in our reality, which changes things. That would explain why people were forgetting who Stiles was last week and why his mother is around in this reality. This also tells me that there is no multiverse (like on The Flash) in Teen Wolf but rather one world with multiple possibilities implicit in it. Remove one piece and the world remakes itself to accommodate that change. It is really all quite fascinating.
To put it in simpler terms, removing someone from this level of existence causes a hole in the world. Since nature abhors a vacuum, it fills in that hole. In this case, erasing Stiles from existence caused a ripple which meant that his mother never died, so she is still around and with her husband. Most people's minds quickly adjust to the new reality, but because the gang is so intimately connected to the supernatural, they can tell there is something off. Also, Corey's ability to shift between realities means that he can see things that no one else can. And as any sociologist will tell you, observation will affect the thing that is being observed. Or, think of it as the old question about whether or not a tree falling in an empty woods makes a noise. If a noise is defined as something heard by someone, than if no one is around, there is no noise. Consider that.
Speaking of Corey, it was nice to see him and Liam working together. Liam doesn't trust Corey (and vice versa), but they tolerate each other for Mason's sake. Clearly, Mason is getting tired of the status quo. He wants his best friend and his boyfriend to actually get along, and they took their first step in that direction tonight. They made the conscious decision to try and be friends for Mason's sake, which is a good start. I don't know which one of them Mason would choose and it was fairly obvious that neither of them wanted to find out the answer. I suspect that there will continue to be issues, but I think they'll get through it.
The other question tonight is whether or not Liam will be able to take over for Scott. Scott clearly thinks that the answer is yes, but Liam is not nearly as sure. Liam does remind me a lot of early Scott because he is not entirely sure of himself. He also has the smart best friend (Mason) and a frenemy (Corey) where Scott had Stiles and Derek respectively. There are obvious differences, but I am definitely seeing some parallels there. Once Liam becomes more confident in himself and gets more training from Scott, things should work out well.
Until next week!
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.07- Killer Frost
Killer Frost comes out to play and the results are not pretty, Dr. Alchemy is unveiled, and Savitar is more terrifying that Zoom....
Talk about having issue with the people around you! I can't say I blame Caitlin for being mad at Barry . He has managed to royally screw things up. I totally get that he never intended for things to get this screwed up, but they did and he really has to deal with the consequences. Caitlin is mad because she now has these powers that could turn her evil, Cisco is pissed because his brother is dead, and we have a new speedster who makes Zoom look like a not all together bad guy.
Yes, Savitar really is that terrifying. He is invisible, moves so fast that he can't be tracked, and Dr. Alchemy is his follower. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that Caitlin blasted him with her frost powers, which froze him for a few seconds. The fact that he is so fast has me wondering if he might actually be a manifestation of the Speed Force who is after Barry because he has messed with the multiverse so much. I doubt he is an actual deity, but I am curious about how he came to be.
As for Dr. Alchemy, we discovered this week that he is Julian. That actually makes a certain amount of sense because both Julian and Dr. Alchemy appeared because of Flashpoint. I do have to wonder if Julian knew that he was Dr. Alchemy. If he did know, then he was doing a good job pretending to hate metas. Based on the last scene, it is hard to tell whether or not he knew. The fact that he hates Barry so much could very well mean that he does remember.
Barry is going to have to do a whole lot of work to fix his relationships with Cisco and Caitlin. Like I said above, he did not mean to cause all the damage he caused. He was so focused on saving his mom that he didn't consider the other potential problems that could result from messing with the timeline. And as a result of that lack of thought, he created a new timeline where his best friend's brother is dead and one of his other best friends has dangerous abilities. Because of this, they don't exactly trust him at the moment. After all, what is to prevent him from changing the timeline again? yeah, things are seriously screwed up right now.
I am not sure if Wally would agree with that assessment. He is a speedster and is clearly loving it. I just hope he takes time to think about the potential pitfalls. After all, all of the metas who have been activated by Alchemy have turned out to be bad. He just needs to be really careful, particularly with Savitar out there. I don't know how Savitar will react to a new speedster. He may have some way to control Wally, or he may simply try and destroy him in much the same way he was dismantling Barry tonight. Either way, it will not be pretty.
Next week is the 4 way crossover, which has me super excited. I may very well do reviews of all fo the episodes, I am not sure yet. So keep an eye out and you'll see. Until then!
Talk about having issue with the people around you! I can't say I blame Caitlin for being mad at Barry . He has managed to royally screw things up. I totally get that he never intended for things to get this screwed up, but they did and he really has to deal with the consequences. Caitlin is mad because she now has these powers that could turn her evil, Cisco is pissed because his brother is dead, and we have a new speedster who makes Zoom look like a not all together bad guy.
Yes, Savitar really is that terrifying. He is invisible, moves so fast that he can't be tracked, and Dr. Alchemy is his follower. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that Caitlin blasted him with her frost powers, which froze him for a few seconds. The fact that he is so fast has me wondering if he might actually be a manifestation of the Speed Force who is after Barry because he has messed with the multiverse so much. I doubt he is an actual deity, but I am curious about how he came to be.
As for Dr. Alchemy, we discovered this week that he is Julian. That actually makes a certain amount of sense because both Julian and Dr. Alchemy appeared because of Flashpoint. I do have to wonder if Julian knew that he was Dr. Alchemy. If he did know, then he was doing a good job pretending to hate metas. Based on the last scene, it is hard to tell whether or not he knew. The fact that he hates Barry so much could very well mean that he does remember.
Barry is going to have to do a whole lot of work to fix his relationships with Cisco and Caitlin. Like I said above, he did not mean to cause all the damage he caused. He was so focused on saving his mom that he didn't consider the other potential problems that could result from messing with the timeline. And as a result of that lack of thought, he created a new timeline where his best friend's brother is dead and one of his other best friends has dangerous abilities. Because of this, they don't exactly trust him at the moment. After all, what is to prevent him from changing the timeline again? yeah, things are seriously screwed up right now.
I am not sure if Wally would agree with that assessment. He is a speedster and is clearly loving it. I just hope he takes time to think about the potential pitfalls. After all, all of the metas who have been activated by Alchemy have turned out to be bad. He just needs to be really careful, particularly with Savitar out there. I don't know how Savitar will react to a new speedster. He may have some way to control Wally, or he may simply try and destroy him in much the same way he was dismantling Barry tonight. Either way, it will not be pretty.
Next week is the 4 way crossover, which has me super excited. I may very well do reviews of all fo the episodes, I am not sure yet. So keep an eye out and you'll see. Until then!
Friday, November 18, 2016
Some Thoughts about The Vampire Diaries 8.05 and Season 8
Honestly, I am not sure what to make of this season. When a show announces that the last season is coming up, I would expect that the writers would go balls to the wall to make an outstanding and stellar season to end the show. This season of The Vampire Diaries, like other shows (I'm looking at you Falling Skies) is barely holding my interest right now. I'm not sure what is missing, but there is definitely a something that is not in the mix right now. The show is not awful, but I am definitely finding it hard to get up enough enthusiasm to write a decent review.
I think part of it is the fact that the writers are having Bonnie/Enzo as one of the main focuses of the season and I can barely stand Enzo. I find this particularly galling when there is Matt, who has been there since the pilot, who is consistently getting shafted in terms of storylines and in every other way. He has been wasted as a character for some time now.
I think the other problem is that the theme of this season is one that this show has done to death. Can Stefan pull Damon back from the brink? Seriously, how many times have they repeated that particular storyline with minor, cosmetic changes? It feels like it has been almost every season. If there was a villain who was compelling, I could probably be excited about it, but right now I can't muster much enthusiasm for the Sirens. I think I would have preferred a full-on evil Damon to the one we have right now.
Right now, I find myself I found myself in with the last season of Falling Skies. I am definitely going to watch the show because I have watched it from the beginning and I want to see it through. But unless the show starts improving drastically, I don't want to waste my time or yours writing a half-assed review about a show I am watching more out of loyalty than out of love for the show itself. So, I will continue to watch the show and hopefully I will be back with reviews of the show at some point.
I hope everyone can understand where I am coming from. If you have any thoughts, i would love to hear them.
Later!
I think part of it is the fact that the writers are having Bonnie/Enzo as one of the main focuses of the season and I can barely stand Enzo. I find this particularly galling when there is Matt, who has been there since the pilot, who is consistently getting shafted in terms of storylines and in every other way. He has been wasted as a character for some time now.
I think the other problem is that the theme of this season is one that this show has done to death. Can Stefan pull Damon back from the brink? Seriously, how many times have they repeated that particular storyline with minor, cosmetic changes? It feels like it has been almost every season. If there was a villain who was compelling, I could probably be excited about it, but right now I can't muster much enthusiasm for the Sirens. I think I would have preferred a full-on evil Damon to the one we have right now.
Right now, I find myself I found myself in with the last season of Falling Skies. I am definitely going to watch the show because I have watched it from the beginning and I want to see it through. But unless the show starts improving drastically, I don't want to waste my time or yours writing a half-assed review about a show I am watching more out of loyalty than out of love for the show itself. So, I will continue to watch the show and hopefully I will be back with reviews of the show at some point.
I hope everyone can understand where I am coming from. If you have any thoughts, i would love to hear them.
Later!
Thursday, November 17, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.07- Vigilante
Star City gets a new vigilante named Vigilante who takes a harsher view on what to do than Oliver does, Thea helps Lance out, Diggle receives a pick-me-up courtesy of Wild Dog and Lyla, and we find out who has been working with Prometheus....
So Evelyn (aka Artemis) appears to be working with Prometheus, which would explain who got the materials from police lockup and who put the arrowhead in Lance's apartment. Now, it is entirely possible that Evelyn is being a double agent for Oliver to find out who Prometheus is or something, so I don't want to completely condemn her. Remember that in Season 3 Oliver successfully penetrated the League of Assassins, fooling everyone in the process, so it is not out of the realm of possibility. That being said, I don't think she is a double agent, although I do hope that I am wrong.
I am totally with Oliver regarding the team's reaction to the Vigilante killing people. They practically revolted when they found out that Oliver had killed people in the past last week, so their reaction that maybe the Vigilante wasn't so bad was the height of hypocrisy. Either killing people is ok, or it isn't. Did Oliver kill people? Yes. Was he wrong to do so? He definitely thinks so now.
There is also a major difference in that the Vigilante looks at this as war and is willing to accept the loss of innocent lives as collateral damage. That speaks volumes about his/her morality or lack thereof. Even at his worst, Oliver did everything he could to avoid killing innocent people. The fact that the Vigilante simply shrugged off the lives s/he ended as collateral damage is deeply troubling because taking care to protect innocent lives is something that makes most vigilantes like Oliver tolerable. Do they operate outside of the law? Yes, but they also act as protectors of the innocent. The Vigilante is acting more like a one-person gang who has decided that crime is something that must be removed from the city and the consequences be damned. That is not someone that Oliver can work with.
I'm torn about whether or not Thea was right to give Lance another chance. I know that he is like family, but he is also so screwed up that I don't know how much help rehab will be. It would be nice if he came out of it ok, but I really don't know if that is likely or possible. He is a man who doesn't care about himself anymore at all. She already tried to help him out by making him deputy mayor. So, on the one hand, I can appreciate her helping him, but on the other hand I have to wonder if it is a smart move.
It was nice to see that Wild Dog can be a decent human being. Helping Lyla bring her and Diggle's son to the lair for the son's birthday was a really, really nice idea. I wasn't sure if Wild Dog could be a decent person, so I am glad to be proven wrong.
I loved the mesh, bulletproof arrow. I assume Curtis created it, although it is possible that Cisco did. Whoever did create it did a good idea. I definitely like that the show does the occasional trick arrow because those sorts of arrows are sort of a signature of the character. The show is too dark to have them around all the time, but having them around periodically is a nifty little thing.
Next episode is in two weeks, so I'll see y'all then!
So Evelyn (aka Artemis) appears to be working with Prometheus, which would explain who got the materials from police lockup and who put the arrowhead in Lance's apartment. Now, it is entirely possible that Evelyn is being a double agent for Oliver to find out who Prometheus is or something, so I don't want to completely condemn her. Remember that in Season 3 Oliver successfully penetrated the League of Assassins, fooling everyone in the process, so it is not out of the realm of possibility. That being said, I don't think she is a double agent, although I do hope that I am wrong.
I am totally with Oliver regarding the team's reaction to the Vigilante killing people. They practically revolted when they found out that Oliver had killed people in the past last week, so their reaction that maybe the Vigilante wasn't so bad was the height of hypocrisy. Either killing people is ok, or it isn't. Did Oliver kill people? Yes. Was he wrong to do so? He definitely thinks so now.
There is also a major difference in that the Vigilante looks at this as war and is willing to accept the loss of innocent lives as collateral damage. That speaks volumes about his/her morality or lack thereof. Even at his worst, Oliver did everything he could to avoid killing innocent people. The fact that the Vigilante simply shrugged off the lives s/he ended as collateral damage is deeply troubling because taking care to protect innocent lives is something that makes most vigilantes like Oliver tolerable. Do they operate outside of the law? Yes, but they also act as protectors of the innocent. The Vigilante is acting more like a one-person gang who has decided that crime is something that must be removed from the city and the consequences be damned. That is not someone that Oliver can work with.
I'm torn about whether or not Thea was right to give Lance another chance. I know that he is like family, but he is also so screwed up that I don't know how much help rehab will be. It would be nice if he came out of it ok, but I really don't know if that is likely or possible. He is a man who doesn't care about himself anymore at all. She already tried to help him out by making him deputy mayor. So, on the one hand, I can appreciate her helping him, but on the other hand I have to wonder if it is a smart move.
It was nice to see that Wild Dog can be a decent human being. Helping Lyla bring her and Diggle's son to the lair for the son's birthday was a really, really nice idea. I wasn't sure if Wild Dog could be a decent person, so I am glad to be proven wrong.
I loved the mesh, bulletproof arrow. I assume Curtis created it, although it is possible that Cisco did. Whoever did create it did a good idea. I definitely like that the show does the occasional trick arrow because those sorts of arrows are sort of a signature of the character. The show is too dark to have them around all the time, but having them around periodically is a nifty little thing.
Next episode is in two weeks, so I'll see y'all then!
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
My Review of Teen Wolf 6.01- Memory Lost
We meet a creepy new enemy, get an unexpected declaration, some amusing Liam moments, and then our hearts are ripped out....
Was anyone else devastated when Stiles realized that everyone was forgetting who he was, particularly Scott and his dad? That was just incredibly rough. I get that they needed to write Dyland out because of his movie career, and the way they did it was great. It was just so tough to watch him realize that everyone he cared about were forgetting him. I was thinking about why he was taken and no one else in the group was and I have to wonder if it could have had to do with his not wanting to leave the group or Beacon Hills. Last season, he was vocal about not wanting things to change and tonight everyone indicated that he has been very wrapped up in keeping the gang working. He has wrapped so much of his identity up in being a part of Scott's pack that leaving that behind seems to be giving him real trouble.
Look how far he has come since the first season. Being a part of Scott's pack has given him such confidence and a sense of purpose that it now really defines him. It has brought him closer to his dad, given him the opportunity to interact with his long-time crush, allowed him to help and save other people, and now he is a pseudo-mentor to the younger members of the pack. Without the pack, I really do wonder if he knows who he is. Scott, Malia, and Lydia seem to have a very good idea of who they are outside of the group. but Stiles doesn't seem to have that down yet. Could the Riders have taken him because he felt like he would be forgotten? A bit of a stretch, sure, but not outside of the realm of possibility.
I loved the look on Hayden and Mason's face when Liam said that he could be the Alpha. They were so skeptical, but seemed to trying (unsuccessfully) to hide their skepticism. And when Liam was going to charge the door to bust it down, only to have Mason open it, I just had to laugh. Hopefully, Liam will be some of the comic relief that we are losing now that Stiles has been taken. I don't want him to be the total laughing stock, but someone does need to be the comic relief in this show, because it gets too dark otherwise. And was it just me or did Dylan's voice sound odd like it is in the middle of changing? Nothing awful, but it just sounded a trifle off to me.
I was delighted to see Linden, Melissa, and JR in the credits. They have all been around since the beginning and deserve to be main characters now. This show generally does a good job balancing the adults and the teens in terms of storylines, so I hope this continues. I just wonder what will bring Chris back to town. I do hope that they bring Jackson back, because that would be really cool.
I know this season is also supposed to involve Nazi werewolves, so I am curious about how they'll be mixed in. It seems like either storyline (the Riders and the Nazis) are both full storylines, so I hope they don't try and do them at the same time. Since the show is doing 2 10-episode arcs, I hope that the Nazi werewolf storyline is the second half of the season.
The other things I would love to see this season (since it is the last season) is the return of as many old characters as possible and make sense. I don't want returns just for the sake of returns, but there are some characters (like Danny) who never got a proper send-off and really deserve to be brought back as a part of the shows swan song.
Until next week!
Was anyone else devastated when Stiles realized that everyone was forgetting who he was, particularly Scott and his dad? That was just incredibly rough. I get that they needed to write Dyland out because of his movie career, and the way they did it was great. It was just so tough to watch him realize that everyone he cared about were forgetting him. I was thinking about why he was taken and no one else in the group was and I have to wonder if it could have had to do with his not wanting to leave the group or Beacon Hills. Last season, he was vocal about not wanting things to change and tonight everyone indicated that he has been very wrapped up in keeping the gang working. He has wrapped so much of his identity up in being a part of Scott's pack that leaving that behind seems to be giving him real trouble.
Look how far he has come since the first season. Being a part of Scott's pack has given him such confidence and a sense of purpose that it now really defines him. It has brought him closer to his dad, given him the opportunity to interact with his long-time crush, allowed him to help and save other people, and now he is a pseudo-mentor to the younger members of the pack. Without the pack, I really do wonder if he knows who he is. Scott, Malia, and Lydia seem to have a very good idea of who they are outside of the group. but Stiles doesn't seem to have that down yet. Could the Riders have taken him because he felt like he would be forgotten? A bit of a stretch, sure, but not outside of the realm of possibility.
I loved the look on Hayden and Mason's face when Liam said that he could be the Alpha. They were so skeptical, but seemed to trying (unsuccessfully) to hide their skepticism. And when Liam was going to charge the door to bust it down, only to have Mason open it, I just had to laugh. Hopefully, Liam will be some of the comic relief that we are losing now that Stiles has been taken. I don't want him to be the total laughing stock, but someone does need to be the comic relief in this show, because it gets too dark otherwise. And was it just me or did Dylan's voice sound odd like it is in the middle of changing? Nothing awful, but it just sounded a trifle off to me.
I was delighted to see Linden, Melissa, and JR in the credits. They have all been around since the beginning and deserve to be main characters now. This show generally does a good job balancing the adults and the teens in terms of storylines, so I hope this continues. I just wonder what will bring Chris back to town. I do hope that they bring Jackson back, because that would be really cool.
I know this season is also supposed to involve Nazi werewolves, so I am curious about how they'll be mixed in. It seems like either storyline (the Riders and the Nazis) are both full storylines, so I hope they don't try and do them at the same time. Since the show is doing 2 10-episode arcs, I hope that the Nazi werewolf storyline is the second half of the season.
The other things I would love to see this season (since it is the last season) is the return of as many old characters as possible and make sense. I don't want returns just for the sake of returns, but there are some characters (like Danny) who never got a proper send-off and really deserve to be brought back as a part of the shows swan song.
Until next week!
My Review of The Flash 3.06- Shade
Dr. Alchemy comes for Wally, Barry and Caitlin 'fess up, HR goes out, and a new character is introduced.
The effects of Flashpoint keep rising up and causing issues. In Barry's defense, everyone did express a desire to not know about their Flashpoint selves, So not telling everyone about Kid Flash was not entirely Barry's idea. I am really starting to think that he should just sit everyone down and tell them exactly what happened, just so they can know about it. I don't think any of them, besides Wally, would be affected by Dr. Alchemy, so I don't think it will be a major issue, but it might not be a bad idea.
I was sort of hoping that we would find out who Alchemy was tonight. That beam weapon he had was pretty nifty and I want to know what it was. And who were the people with him? I don't think they were the cops, although maybe they were. I have to wonder if Alchemy is something created when Barry changed time during Flashpoint. We know that there are time phantoms (forget the names) who punish speedsters who run through time, is it possible that Alchemy was created by the hopping of timelines.
The other question is who exactly is Savitar? He claimed to be the god of speed and is definitely a speedster. His lightning is blue, which I only recall seeing in people who had been using the drug that "Jay" developed last season, and those people suffered from taking it. Again, I have to ask if this has something to do with Barry changing the timeline. If everything changes slightly, could there have been a successful version of the drug developed? If so, that could be very, very bad.
I have trouble being angry at Joe about not wanting Wally to become a speedster. As Joe pointed out, the circumstances here are vastly different from when Barry got his power. Alchemy has tremendous power and there is no way of telling how Wally would change from being changed to his Flashpoint self. Also, I suspect that Joe doesn't want his son to be in danger. He's seen what this life has done to Barry and I wouldn't be surprised to find that he doesn't want to see Wally have to go through that. Wally does need to drop the whole feeling inferior to Barry thing. Yes, Barry is put on a bit of a pedestal, but I suspect that has more to do with the fact that he last his mother so young and came to live with the Wests under such tragic circumstances.
While I totally get why Cisco outed Caitlin's powers, I can't say I approve. I know I may be overidentifying a bit, but I can't get behind intentionally outing someone when they specifically ask you not to. Well, not unless there is an imminent threat. Cisco's vision did show him an Caitlin fighting, but there was no context to the fight. Did he start it or did she? Was she defending herself from him? There are so many questions when dealing with future events.
I am worried about Caitlin given the previews for next week and the way she and Barry interacted at the end of the episode. He is slowly realizing how horribly he screwed things up by hopping timelines. And now that she knows that she wasn't alway destined to be Killer Frost, I am worried about how she will react.
In a somewhat amusing aside, Earth-19 has several sentient gorillas. I appreciated that nod to the comics where Grodd is a party of a nation of sentient gorillas.
Until next week!
The effects of Flashpoint keep rising up and causing issues. In Barry's defense, everyone did express a desire to not know about their Flashpoint selves, So not telling everyone about Kid Flash was not entirely Barry's idea. I am really starting to think that he should just sit everyone down and tell them exactly what happened, just so they can know about it. I don't think any of them, besides Wally, would be affected by Dr. Alchemy, so I don't think it will be a major issue, but it might not be a bad idea.
I was sort of hoping that we would find out who Alchemy was tonight. That beam weapon he had was pretty nifty and I want to know what it was. And who were the people with him? I don't think they were the cops, although maybe they were. I have to wonder if Alchemy is something created when Barry changed time during Flashpoint. We know that there are time phantoms (forget the names) who punish speedsters who run through time, is it possible that Alchemy was created by the hopping of timelines.
The other question is who exactly is Savitar? He claimed to be the god of speed and is definitely a speedster. His lightning is blue, which I only recall seeing in people who had been using the drug that "Jay" developed last season, and those people suffered from taking it. Again, I have to ask if this has something to do with Barry changing the timeline. If everything changes slightly, could there have been a successful version of the drug developed? If so, that could be very, very bad.
I have trouble being angry at Joe about not wanting Wally to become a speedster. As Joe pointed out, the circumstances here are vastly different from when Barry got his power. Alchemy has tremendous power and there is no way of telling how Wally would change from being changed to his Flashpoint self. Also, I suspect that Joe doesn't want his son to be in danger. He's seen what this life has done to Barry and I wouldn't be surprised to find that he doesn't want to see Wally have to go through that. Wally does need to drop the whole feeling inferior to Barry thing. Yes, Barry is put on a bit of a pedestal, but I suspect that has more to do with the fact that he last his mother so young and came to live with the Wests under such tragic circumstances.
While I totally get why Cisco outed Caitlin's powers, I can't say I approve. I know I may be overidentifying a bit, but I can't get behind intentionally outing someone when they specifically ask you not to. Well, not unless there is an imminent threat. Cisco's vision did show him an Caitlin fighting, but there was no context to the fight. Did he start it or did she? Was she defending herself from him? There are so many questions when dealing with future events.
I am worried about Caitlin given the previews for next week and the way she and Barry interacted at the end of the episode. He is slowly realizing how horribly he screwed things up by hopping timelines. And now that she knows that she wasn't alway destined to be Killer Frost, I am worried about how she will react.
In a somewhat amusing aside, Earth-19 has several sentient gorillas. I appreciated that nod to the comics where Grodd is a party of a nation of sentient gorillas.
Until next week!
Monday, November 14, 2016
Final Teen Wolf Credits Post
They took a while to get this season's credits out, but ETonline got the opening credits up and, boy, are they seriously different. Completely new scenes and a much different format, but the same cool music. I have to say that I am loving this scene.
One thing that struck me as very different is that the credits since season 2 have had some bearing on the major villain of the season, but that didn't seem to be the case this year. Instead, the credits show the major villains from the first 5 seasons in order, pretty much in order. They also added Linden, Melissa, and JR to the main credits, which is very cool. I do wish they would have added some of the newbies, but I guess they're not the main characters, so they can't be in the credits. The credits end with someone (presumably Scott) looking out over the city of Beacon Hills. This would seem to symbolize his role as a protector and watcher of the city and its denizens.
I've seen where some people were disappointed, but I can't be. I love this show too much and I adore the fact that the credits for the final season are giving nods to the past seasons. I just hope that they bring back major characters from the past if possible. Seeing any of them would be really, really cool.
My other hope is that the season remains focused. The past couple of seasons seem to be occasionally unfocused, particularly last season since it was their first 20 episode season with one arc. I want this great show to go out with a major bang and on top.
I'll post my reviews on Tuesday nights after I write my reviews of The Flash, so it may be a bit late. I hope everyone enjoys this final season of one of my absolute favorite shows!
One thing that struck me as very different is that the credits since season 2 have had some bearing on the major villain of the season, but that didn't seem to be the case this year. Instead, the credits show the major villains from the first 5 seasons in order, pretty much in order. They also added Linden, Melissa, and JR to the main credits, which is very cool. I do wish they would have added some of the newbies, but I guess they're not the main characters, so they can't be in the credits. The credits end with someone (presumably Scott) looking out over the city of Beacon Hills. This would seem to symbolize his role as a protector and watcher of the city and its denizens.
I've seen where some people were disappointed, but I can't be. I love this show too much and I adore the fact that the credits for the final season are giving nods to the past seasons. I just hope that they bring back major characters from the past if possible. Seeing any of them would be really, really cool.
My other hope is that the season remains focused. The past couple of seasons seem to be occasionally unfocused, particularly last season since it was their first 20 episode season with one arc. I want this great show to go out with a major bang and on top.
I'll post my reviews on Tuesday nights after I write my reviews of The Flash, so it may be a bit late. I hope everyone enjoys this final season of one of my absolute favorite shows!
Saturday, November 12, 2016
My Review of The Vampire Diaries 8.04- An Eternity of Misery
Stop me if you've heard this story before: There are two siblings and one tricks the other into doing something awful. When the tricked one realizes what is going on, they try to kill themselves, only to have the other one force immortality on them. Surprise, this isn't the story of the Salvatore brothers.
Well, yes it is, but tonight it was the story of the Siren sisters. Yes, Sybil has a sister: Seline, aka the nanny. Turns out that centuries ago (like almost 30 centuries ago), two psychics were exiled to an island when one (Seline) lured sailors to their deaths and then fed their flesh to her sister (Sybil). When Sybil discovered what we going on, she tried to kill herself, but Seline offered their services to the first psychic Cade in exchange for serving him. All they had to do was kill and eat the damned so their souls would be sent to Cade, who formed a Hell dimension using a powerful psychic surge when he was burned alive for being a psychic.
Yes, ladies and gentleman, I believe that we have discovered the origin of the first hell dimension, much like the one the Gemini Coven used to imprison Kai. And interestingly, when Georgie (the intern/TA) was killed, her soul was sucked away much like Katherine's was when the Other Side was breaking down. And that leads me to an interesting question. Is it possible that the Other Side somehow interfered with Cade feeding on souls? After all, assuming that Katherine was taken to Cade's dimension, why wouldn't he have taken her (or other people from the Other Side) before it started to break down? After all, the Other Side was ripe with beings who had done awful deeds, so why were they never taken? The only answer is that they couldn't be taken for some reason. I just find that sort of fascinating.
That also means that Cade could be the ultimate First. We've met the first vampire family (the Mikaelsons) and the first doppelgangers (Silas and Amara), so why not now meet the ultimate First in the form of Cade. If he really is The Vampire Diaries version of the Devil, then he would be the first and ultimate Evil. He would be a psychic remnant of anger and pain that is so profound that it took on its own shape and form. That is not a good thing.
And this would be another example of this shows use of recurring themes. The doppelgangers history being replayed throughout history and the pitting of siblings against each other are two examples of mistakes being repeated throughout history with disastrous consequences. If Seline hadn't forced Sybil to become an immortal Siren serving Cade, Sybil would have died a good person. But Seline was so desperate to keep her sister with her that she forced a choice on her that Sybil didn't want. Likewise, Stefan was so desperate to keep his brother with him that he forced Damon to become a vampire. Now, both Sybil and Damon are dedicated to bringing misery and rejection to their respective siblings. The good thing is that Stefan is willing to admit that he screwed up and is trying to fix it. It doesn't appear that Seline has done the same.
In other events of the hour, Damon tried to kill Matt's father, only to have Matt save him. When Matt was interrogating Damon, Damon revealed that he had attacked Tyler and left him in the trunk of a car near a state border. When Matt arrived, Tyler was dead. That is definitely not going to make Matt look kindly upon vampires.
Until next week!
Well, yes it is, but tonight it was the story of the Siren sisters. Yes, Sybil has a sister: Seline, aka the nanny. Turns out that centuries ago (like almost 30 centuries ago), two psychics were exiled to an island when one (Seline) lured sailors to their deaths and then fed their flesh to her sister (Sybil). When Sybil discovered what we going on, she tried to kill herself, but Seline offered their services to the first psychic Cade in exchange for serving him. All they had to do was kill and eat the damned so their souls would be sent to Cade, who formed a Hell dimension using a powerful psychic surge when he was burned alive for being a psychic.
Yes, ladies and gentleman, I believe that we have discovered the origin of the first hell dimension, much like the one the Gemini Coven used to imprison Kai. And interestingly, when Georgie (the intern/TA) was killed, her soul was sucked away much like Katherine's was when the Other Side was breaking down. And that leads me to an interesting question. Is it possible that the Other Side somehow interfered with Cade feeding on souls? After all, assuming that Katherine was taken to Cade's dimension, why wouldn't he have taken her (or other people from the Other Side) before it started to break down? After all, the Other Side was ripe with beings who had done awful deeds, so why were they never taken? The only answer is that they couldn't be taken for some reason. I just find that sort of fascinating.
That also means that Cade could be the ultimate First. We've met the first vampire family (the Mikaelsons) and the first doppelgangers (Silas and Amara), so why not now meet the ultimate First in the form of Cade. If he really is The Vampire Diaries version of the Devil, then he would be the first and ultimate Evil. He would be a psychic remnant of anger and pain that is so profound that it took on its own shape and form. That is not a good thing.
And this would be another example of this shows use of recurring themes. The doppelgangers history being replayed throughout history and the pitting of siblings against each other are two examples of mistakes being repeated throughout history with disastrous consequences. If Seline hadn't forced Sybil to become an immortal Siren serving Cade, Sybil would have died a good person. But Seline was so desperate to keep her sister with her that she forced a choice on her that Sybil didn't want. Likewise, Stefan was so desperate to keep his brother with him that he forced Damon to become a vampire. Now, both Sybil and Damon are dedicated to bringing misery and rejection to their respective siblings. The good thing is that Stefan is willing to admit that he screwed up and is trying to fix it. It doesn't appear that Seline has done the same.
In other events of the hour, Damon tried to kill Matt's father, only to have Matt save him. When Matt was interrogating Damon, Damon revealed that he had attacked Tyler and left him in the trunk of a car near a state border. When Matt arrived, Tyler was dead. That is definitely not going to make Matt look kindly upon vampires.
Until next week!
Thursday, November 10, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.06- So It Begins
Oliver discovers some disturbing information about Prometheus, the team is shaken bu some revelations about Oliver, Felicity reveals her secret to her boyfriend, and we find out a possible identity of Prometheus...
Turns out Prometheus knows all about Oliver's past and has been using it to choose who to strike against. He is attacking and killing people whose names ara anagrams of people from The Lisr. Not only that, but he has melted down the arrowheads and is turning them into throwing stars and using those to kill people. That is taking this to a whole new level.
I was a little surprised at how strongly the team reacted to the revelation that Oliver was the Arrow. I'm honestly not sure why they would be so surprised. I know that the public thinks that the Arrow was killed and replaced by the Green Arrow, but you'd think that the group would have figured it out by now. As far as the hypocrite charges go, I will reply as I always do: when someone did something int he past and has clearly changed, arguing that you shouldn't make the same choices they did doesn't make you a hypocrite. Doing one thing now while saying to do another is what makes you a hypocrite. Helping someone avoid mistakes you made in the past is a good thing.
I loved the scene in the market. Seeing the team work to save the people was pretty cool. My favorite part was when the Green Arrow shot the arrow into the barrel of the gun. I really don't get why the people were setting fire to the market and randomly shooting into the sky. How in the name of all that is good and holy is that supposed to help? Sheer stupidity if you ask me.
Watching Felicity's boyfriend go all schoolboy when she revealed that she is working with the Green Arrow was really funny. He was so excited and had so many questions for her. I was a little surprised to hear him call her a criminal, even if he is technically correct. That being said, he did make the note that she was doing things for the right reason, so he wasn't holding it against her, which was a good thing.
So is Lance really Prometheus? The throwing star and injury on his arm seem to indicate that he is. The fact that Lance hasn't had the proficiency in the bow or sword in the past would militate against it. That being said, don't forget that we are in Flashpoint, so not all backstory is the same. I see two possibilities:
[1] This version of Lance was trained by the League of Assassins (unlikely)
OR
[2] Dr. Alchemy is using an alternate version of Lance to attack the Green Arrow. (more likely)
Unless we're going with some other form of possession or something, these are the only two viable alternatives that I can see, if Lance is Prometheus. It is also entirely possible that this is a massive red herring, in which case Prometheus is setting Lance up. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Until next week!
Turns out Prometheus knows all about Oliver's past and has been using it to choose who to strike against. He is attacking and killing people whose names ara anagrams of people from The Lisr. Not only that, but he has melted down the arrowheads and is turning them into throwing stars and using those to kill people. That is taking this to a whole new level.
I was a little surprised at how strongly the team reacted to the revelation that Oliver was the Arrow. I'm honestly not sure why they would be so surprised. I know that the public thinks that the Arrow was killed and replaced by the Green Arrow, but you'd think that the group would have figured it out by now. As far as the hypocrite charges go, I will reply as I always do: when someone did something int he past and has clearly changed, arguing that you shouldn't make the same choices they did doesn't make you a hypocrite. Doing one thing now while saying to do another is what makes you a hypocrite. Helping someone avoid mistakes you made in the past is a good thing.
I loved the scene in the market. Seeing the team work to save the people was pretty cool. My favorite part was when the Green Arrow shot the arrow into the barrel of the gun. I really don't get why the people were setting fire to the market and randomly shooting into the sky. How in the name of all that is good and holy is that supposed to help? Sheer stupidity if you ask me.
Watching Felicity's boyfriend go all schoolboy when she revealed that she is working with the Green Arrow was really funny. He was so excited and had so many questions for her. I was a little surprised to hear him call her a criminal, even if he is technically correct. That being said, he did make the note that she was doing things for the right reason, so he wasn't holding it against her, which was a good thing.
So is Lance really Prometheus? The throwing star and injury on his arm seem to indicate that he is. The fact that Lance hasn't had the proficiency in the bow or sword in the past would militate against it. That being said, don't forget that we are in Flashpoint, so not all backstory is the same. I see two possibilities:
[1] This version of Lance was trained by the League of Assassins (unlikely)
OR
[2] Dr. Alchemy is using an alternate version of Lance to attack the Green Arrow. (more likely)
Unless we're going with some other form of possession or something, these are the only two viable alternatives that I can see, if Lance is Prometheus. It is also entirely possible that this is a massive red herring, in which case Prometheus is setting Lance up. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Until next week!
Saturday, November 5, 2016
My Review of The Vampire Diaries 8.03- You Decided That I Was Worth Saving
Sybill presents Bonnie with a choice, an old face resurfaces, and someone new is clued into what is going on....
While better than last week's episode, this week's was still subpar. It's almost like the show is struggling to figure out what to do in the last season. I really hope they start kicking the show into high gear really soon, because they only have 13 episodes left to wrap things up nicely. And we still haven't seen Matt back yet. What's up with that? That boy seriously deserves more respect than this show has been giving him.
I think one of my big issues with the show right now is what they're doing with Damon. I understand that he has only ever been good on the show because of Elena, and I think that is what they are trying to drive home. The thing is that we know he can be a good person, which is why Elena fell for him in the first place. He suffers from a chronic lack of self-respect, which is why he's always looked for someone outside of himself to keep him a good person, much like Lance on Arrow. I would just love to see either of them really realize that they are good people all on their own and be able to stand up for themselves. I would just really like for Damon to actually be worthy of Elena, because the two of them really are good for each other. I love Damon's relationship with Bonnie when they were friends, but I don't think they could ever be much more than that.
And then there is Enzo, a character I have never particularly liked who was originally written to be a lot like Damon, but all of a sudden seemed to turn himself around. However, much like Damon, he did it for a girl, Bonnie. If he did lose her, would he take the same path that Damon is taking? I suspect that he would, particularly if Sybill was messing with him as much as she was with Damon.
And I'm sorry, but I can't blame Stefan for picking Damon over Enzo and the fact that Bonnie seemed surprised was just weird. Stefan will always pick Damon when push comes to shove. Stefan knows that Damon is the way hew is because of choices that he made. Stefan is the one who turned them both. Stefan is the one who got Damon hooked on blood. Stefan is the one who caused a lot of pain to Damon. I'm not saying Damon is blameless, but without Stefan, I am not sure he would be half as bad as he is. And there is also the fact that they are family and Enzo is not. Oh, and Enzo has tried to kill Stefan and Damon and Sarah on more than one occasion. So yeah, color me so not surprised.
Alaric's TA got a seriously rude awakening this week. She now knows that the supernatural is real and that everything is not as it appears. I am just curious about how she will react. I hope she sticks around, because I really do like her.
And then there is Tyler. Is he dead? Probably. He's never been one of my favorite characters, so I won't weep overmuch, but he did deserve better than that.
Until next week!
While better than last week's episode, this week's was still subpar. It's almost like the show is struggling to figure out what to do in the last season. I really hope they start kicking the show into high gear really soon, because they only have 13 episodes left to wrap things up nicely. And we still haven't seen Matt back yet. What's up with that? That boy seriously deserves more respect than this show has been giving him.
I think one of my big issues with the show right now is what they're doing with Damon. I understand that he has only ever been good on the show because of Elena, and I think that is what they are trying to drive home. The thing is that we know he can be a good person, which is why Elena fell for him in the first place. He suffers from a chronic lack of self-respect, which is why he's always looked for someone outside of himself to keep him a good person, much like Lance on Arrow. I would just love to see either of them really realize that they are good people all on their own and be able to stand up for themselves. I would just really like for Damon to actually be worthy of Elena, because the two of them really are good for each other. I love Damon's relationship with Bonnie when they were friends, but I don't think they could ever be much more than that.
And then there is Enzo, a character I have never particularly liked who was originally written to be a lot like Damon, but all of a sudden seemed to turn himself around. However, much like Damon, he did it for a girl, Bonnie. If he did lose her, would he take the same path that Damon is taking? I suspect that he would, particularly if Sybill was messing with him as much as she was with Damon.
And I'm sorry, but I can't blame Stefan for picking Damon over Enzo and the fact that Bonnie seemed surprised was just weird. Stefan will always pick Damon when push comes to shove. Stefan knows that Damon is the way hew is because of choices that he made. Stefan is the one who turned them both. Stefan is the one who got Damon hooked on blood. Stefan is the one who caused a lot of pain to Damon. I'm not saying Damon is blameless, but without Stefan, I am not sure he would be half as bad as he is. And there is also the fact that they are family and Enzo is not. Oh, and Enzo has tried to kill Stefan and Damon and Sarah on more than one occasion. So yeah, color me so not surprised.
Alaric's TA got a seriously rude awakening this week. She now knows that the supernatural is real and that everything is not as it appears. I am just curious about how she will react. I hope she sticks around, because I really do like her.
And then there is Tyler. Is he dead? Probably. He's never been one of my favorite characters, so I won't weep overmuch, but he did deserve better than that.
Until next week!
Thursday, November 3, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.05- Human Target
Oliver and the crew rescue Wild Dog, only to discover something that requires an interesting expert friend of Diggle's, Oliver finds out a secret about Felicity, there is a confrontation with Church, and we see Oliver inducted into the Bratva.
Seeing Chance was pretty cool. I watched some of Human Target when it was on a few years ago and enjoyed it. I had heard that Chance would be on the show this year, but didn't quite figure out that this was him until we saw Oliver. Don't get me wrong, I knew that Oliver was not really killed, but I had wondered if maybe Chance was playing the assassin. And it was also interesting that he saved Oliver when he was in Russia.
I have to admit to not being unhappy that Rene was taken down several notches. I don't wish being beaten on anyone, but Rene did need to take everything down. What gets me is that he knows his problems and refuses to deal with them. He said that he keeps making the same mistakes over and over, but he doesn't seem to learn from his past mistakes. Hopefully he can learn from this one and become a decent student.
It was nice to finally have Diggle back on the team. Watching Artemis fangirl on him being Spartan was definitely fun to watch. And his skills were definitely put to good use during the confrontation with Church and his group. Having Diggle outside with the newbies gave Oliver a chance to be inside the hanger and waiting for Church to come in. Diggle was also useful because he helped Rene remember what Church and his henchman were talking about so the gang could confront them in the first place.
Watching "Oliver" with the reporter and with the councilman was also fun. Threatening the councilman was really cool. Having a poser like that is severely irritating, so I was glad to see him get him comeuppance. And that reporter appears to be reneging on her deal with Oliver already. I know she isn't actually writing anything yet, but somehow I doubt she is getting a report together this far in advance of its publication.
It was also nice to see Oliver and Felicity have a very adult conversation about her dating. I can't say that I blame her for being unwilling to tell him about her new boyfriend. While I don't think Oliver would go flying off the handle or anything, it could have made things very awkward in the very small group. But I also get why Oliver was hurt. He has been trying to move on and let her go, but she seems to be having some doubts or something. But they had a good conversation, which will hopefully help things along nicely.
Until next week!
Seeing Chance was pretty cool. I watched some of Human Target when it was on a few years ago and enjoyed it. I had heard that Chance would be on the show this year, but didn't quite figure out that this was him until we saw Oliver. Don't get me wrong, I knew that Oliver was not really killed, but I had wondered if maybe Chance was playing the assassin. And it was also interesting that he saved Oliver when he was in Russia.
I have to admit to not being unhappy that Rene was taken down several notches. I don't wish being beaten on anyone, but Rene did need to take everything down. What gets me is that he knows his problems and refuses to deal with them. He said that he keeps making the same mistakes over and over, but he doesn't seem to learn from his past mistakes. Hopefully he can learn from this one and become a decent student.
It was nice to finally have Diggle back on the team. Watching Artemis fangirl on him being Spartan was definitely fun to watch. And his skills were definitely put to good use during the confrontation with Church and his group. Having Diggle outside with the newbies gave Oliver a chance to be inside the hanger and waiting for Church to come in. Diggle was also useful because he helped Rene remember what Church and his henchman were talking about so the gang could confront them in the first place.
Watching "Oliver" with the reporter and with the councilman was also fun. Threatening the councilman was really cool. Having a poser like that is severely irritating, so I was glad to see him get him comeuppance. And that reporter appears to be reneging on her deal with Oliver already. I know she isn't actually writing anything yet, but somehow I doubt she is getting a report together this far in advance of its publication.
It was also nice to see Oliver and Felicity have a very adult conversation about her dating. I can't say that I blame her for being unwilling to tell him about her new boyfriend. While I don't think Oliver would go flying off the handle or anything, it could have made things very awkward in the very small group. But I also get why Oliver was hurt. He has been trying to move on and let her go, but she seems to be having some doubts or something. But they had a good conversation, which will hopefully help things along nicely.
Until next week!
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.05- Monster
An apt name for an episode where there were questions about who is a monster....
Is it the other Wells? Apparently not. Turns out the Wells from Earth-19 isn't a genius after all. He is the public face of his earth's STAR Labs who is trying to write a novel. I do love the way that the show is playing with the differences between the different Wells'. This Wells has all the tech savvy of an Amish Luddite and he tries to cover for it by repeating the words of others around him. About the only thing he has going for him are his attempted pep talks, stress on the word "ATTEMPTED". Maybe he can get better, but I doubt it.
Maybe Caitlin is a monster? That seems to be a possibility as she explores her powers. This week, she went to see her mother, who is also a scientist and whose frosty personality might make Killer Frost shiver. Turns out Mommy Dearest emotionally shut down after her husband died and Caitlin bore the brunt of it, which is why they haven't talked in years. Fortunately, her mom has enough maternal instinct to try and help Caitlin after she attacks one of her mother's scientist who is attempting to hold her hostage. She also warns Caitlin that continuing to use her considerable abilities will make it harder to take them away. Unfortunately, the warning triggered Caitlin to use her abilities. Oooppsss....
Or maybe the Flash himself is a monster? At least, that seems to be what Julian thinks. Julian, the scion of a wealthy British family, sees the Flash as someone who has made the police lazy. He also despises that most metahumans have ended up using the gifts they were given for their own purposes and not for helping people. Fortunately for Julian, the Flash showed up in time to stop him from killing a teenager who was projecting a monster in an effort to gain power, which he had lost because he was being bullied in school. Maybe the Flash isn't so bad after all. And maybe Barry isn't either....
I really think Barry needs to clue Julian in soon about his being the Flash or something. Having Julian around is proving to be bloody inconvenient for Barry, who has gotten used to being able to zip away to help someone whenever he hears about it. Unfortunately, Julian is all too eager to rat Barry out to Singh, who give Barry a stern talking to. I know there is always the risk that Julian could be a bad guy, but it is something that Barry does need to think about.
It was fun to have a villain of the week who wasn't really a bad person, but rather a scared kid. Take one bullied computer genius and then turn him loose on the streets and see the havoc he wreaks. I knew it wasn't a real monster from the moment it disappeared the first time. I suspected that it was a hologram because of the amount of power being used and because it looked like some classic movie type monsters. I definitely enjoyed the break from metas and Dr. Alchemy to allow for an exploration of the group dynamics and to have some definite personal growth.
Next episode in two weeks. See y'all then!
Is it the other Wells? Apparently not. Turns out the Wells from Earth-19 isn't a genius after all. He is the public face of his earth's STAR Labs who is trying to write a novel. I do love the way that the show is playing with the differences between the different Wells'. This Wells has all the tech savvy of an Amish Luddite and he tries to cover for it by repeating the words of others around him. About the only thing he has going for him are his attempted pep talks, stress on the word "ATTEMPTED". Maybe he can get better, but I doubt it.
Maybe Caitlin is a monster? That seems to be a possibility as she explores her powers. This week, she went to see her mother, who is also a scientist and whose frosty personality might make Killer Frost shiver. Turns out Mommy Dearest emotionally shut down after her husband died and Caitlin bore the brunt of it, which is why they haven't talked in years. Fortunately, her mom has enough maternal instinct to try and help Caitlin after she attacks one of her mother's scientist who is attempting to hold her hostage. She also warns Caitlin that continuing to use her considerable abilities will make it harder to take them away. Unfortunately, the warning triggered Caitlin to use her abilities. Oooppsss....
Or maybe the Flash himself is a monster? At least, that seems to be what Julian thinks. Julian, the scion of a wealthy British family, sees the Flash as someone who has made the police lazy. He also despises that most metahumans have ended up using the gifts they were given for their own purposes and not for helping people. Fortunately for Julian, the Flash showed up in time to stop him from killing a teenager who was projecting a monster in an effort to gain power, which he had lost because he was being bullied in school. Maybe the Flash isn't so bad after all. And maybe Barry isn't either....
I really think Barry needs to clue Julian in soon about his being the Flash or something. Having Julian around is proving to be bloody inconvenient for Barry, who has gotten used to being able to zip away to help someone whenever he hears about it. Unfortunately, Julian is all too eager to rat Barry out to Singh, who give Barry a stern talking to. I know there is always the risk that Julian could be a bad guy, but it is something that Barry does need to think about.
It was fun to have a villain of the week who wasn't really a bad person, but rather a scared kid. Take one bullied computer genius and then turn him loose on the streets and see the havoc he wreaks. I knew it wasn't a real monster from the moment it disappeared the first time. I suspected that it was a hologram because of the amount of power being used and because it looked like some classic movie type monsters. I definitely enjoyed the break from metas and Dr. Alchemy to allow for an exploration of the group dynamics and to have some definite personal growth.
Next episode in two weeks. See y'all then!
Saturday, October 29, 2016
My Review of The Vampire Diaries 8.02- Today Will Be Different
As the gang attempts to rescue an old friend, the Siren gets her claws deeper into Enzo and Damon. Also, Alaric learns something about his research assistant....
Well, Sarah Salvatore is officially dead. She was killed by the Siren who then proceeded to take Elena's place in Damon's memory. Elena was the one thing Damon was able to hold on to in order to resist the Siren and now that is gone. I can't say I blame Stefan for being ready to give up. All of his family (with the exception of Damon) is dead and Damon is under the complete influence of the Siren. All he has now is Caroline, who he is now engaged to. Like I said last week, I am really curious about how this parenting thing is going to go since the kids aren't really hers. I know she carried them in her womb, but that doesn't really make them hers. To complicate everything, they call her mom, which does sort of make them hers. So yeah, can you see why this should prove to be interesting? I don't think there will be a lot of issues, but it will still be interesting.
Bonnie and Enzo appear to be pretty much done as well since the Siren sunk her claws deeper into him as well. He'd been using Bonnie and Sarah in much the same way that Damon had been using Elena, as refuges to maintain some control of himself. Since the Siren has now removed those barriers, there isn't going to be much holding them back.
So Ric's research assistant died and apparently ended up in hell briefly before being brought back or something. I am curious as to where exactly she did go. Was is a real near death experience? Or did she simply imagine it as she lay dying? That would be something very interesting to see.
I apologize for the shortness of this particular review, but there really wasn't a whole lot to deal with. I really hope the rest of the season gets better because the first couple of episodes haven't been all that great so far....
Well, Sarah Salvatore is officially dead. She was killed by the Siren who then proceeded to take Elena's place in Damon's memory. Elena was the one thing Damon was able to hold on to in order to resist the Siren and now that is gone. I can't say I blame Stefan for being ready to give up. All of his family (with the exception of Damon) is dead and Damon is under the complete influence of the Siren. All he has now is Caroline, who he is now engaged to. Like I said last week, I am really curious about how this parenting thing is going to go since the kids aren't really hers. I know she carried them in her womb, but that doesn't really make them hers. To complicate everything, they call her mom, which does sort of make them hers. So yeah, can you see why this should prove to be interesting? I don't think there will be a lot of issues, but it will still be interesting.
Bonnie and Enzo appear to be pretty much done as well since the Siren sunk her claws deeper into him as well. He'd been using Bonnie and Sarah in much the same way that Damon had been using Elena, as refuges to maintain some control of himself. Since the Siren has now removed those barriers, there isn't going to be much holding them back.
So Ric's research assistant died and apparently ended up in hell briefly before being brought back or something. I am curious as to where exactly she did go. Was is a real near death experience? Or did she simply imagine it as she lay dying? That would be something very interesting to see.
I apologize for the shortness of this particular review, but there really wasn't a whole lot to deal with. I really hope the rest of the season gets better because the first couple of episodes haven't been all that great so far....
Thursday, October 27, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.04- Penance
Wild Dog is as annoying as ever, Oliver and Lyla go to free Diggle while the team races to stop Church from executing a plan to cripple the ACU, and Felicity and Rory have a heart-to-heart.
I have to say that I was mightily impressed that Rory got that Felicity was cornered last year when she diverted that missile onto his home town and he really isn't holding it against her. That being said, he is having trouble working with her because she is a constant reminder of everything he has lost. To their credit, both Oliver and Felicity get where he is coming from and don't press him too hard about coming back. And to his eternal credit, Rory is really trying to work through it all by coming back and working with the team. Given how badly everything could have gone, I think this was settled in what was the best way possible.
Wild Dog is beyond getting on my last nerve at this point. He is a hot headed pain in the ass and I really don't see any good reason to have him on the team. He won't follow orders, doesn't work well with others, and refuses to think and figure things out. About his only good quality is that he was willing to stay behind this week so the gang could get away from Church. Oliver specifically told him that the shot was Artemis', but Wild Dog took the shot anyway and screwed everything up. It was just like last week where he ignored Oliver and managed to screw things up royally. He needs to shape up or ship out.
I can't believe that the newbies thought they could actually stop Oliver. Seriously? Every time they have fought him in training, he has handed them their collective asses on a silver platter and he did the same thing this time. I get why they and Felicity would want to stop him given the danger, but it was stupid to try and force him to stop. And I really hope they don't try and blame Oliver for what happened to Wild Dog because he was elsewhere. Oliver was given the chance to rescue Diggle, so of course he is going to take it as both Felicity and Curtis should have known. Artemis and Wild Dog don't know Diggle, so they don't know why Oliver would do what he did, but Curtis and Felicity (particularly Felicity) have seen the two of them work together and understand. When it comes to helping his friends, Oliver will let nothing stop him.
And Oliver is now officially a part of the Bratva (in the flashbacks). While in jail, he killed a henchman of the guy he is after without questioning why he should. He did pause,, but ultimately he did it, which seems to be the most important part. I wonder if his propensity to think about why he is doing things is a reason he becomes a high-ranking member of the Bratva as we saw in the first two seasons.
So next week is apparently going to be about rescuing Wild Dog from Church. Hopefully being captured and tortured will knock some sense into his head and he'll start actually listening to Oliver.
Until next week!
I have to say that I was mightily impressed that Rory got that Felicity was cornered last year when she diverted that missile onto his home town and he really isn't holding it against her. That being said, he is having trouble working with her because she is a constant reminder of everything he has lost. To their credit, both Oliver and Felicity get where he is coming from and don't press him too hard about coming back. And to his eternal credit, Rory is really trying to work through it all by coming back and working with the team. Given how badly everything could have gone, I think this was settled in what was the best way possible.
Wild Dog is beyond getting on my last nerve at this point. He is a hot headed pain in the ass and I really don't see any good reason to have him on the team. He won't follow orders, doesn't work well with others, and refuses to think and figure things out. About his only good quality is that he was willing to stay behind this week so the gang could get away from Church. Oliver specifically told him that the shot was Artemis', but Wild Dog took the shot anyway and screwed everything up. It was just like last week where he ignored Oliver and managed to screw things up royally. He needs to shape up or ship out.
I can't believe that the newbies thought they could actually stop Oliver. Seriously? Every time they have fought him in training, he has handed them their collective asses on a silver platter and he did the same thing this time. I get why they and Felicity would want to stop him given the danger, but it was stupid to try and force him to stop. And I really hope they don't try and blame Oliver for what happened to Wild Dog because he was elsewhere. Oliver was given the chance to rescue Diggle, so of course he is going to take it as both Felicity and Curtis should have known. Artemis and Wild Dog don't know Diggle, so they don't know why Oliver would do what he did, but Curtis and Felicity (particularly Felicity) have seen the two of them work together and understand. When it comes to helping his friends, Oliver will let nothing stop him.
And Oliver is now officially a part of the Bratva (in the flashbacks). While in jail, he killed a henchman of the guy he is after without questioning why he should. He did pause,, but ultimately he did it, which seems to be the most important part. I wonder if his propensity to think about why he is doing things is a reason he becomes a high-ranking member of the Bratva as we saw in the first two seasons.
So next week is apparently going to be about rescuing Wild Dog from Church. Hopefully being captured and tortured will knock some sense into his head and he'll start actually listening to Oliver.
Until next week!
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.04- The New Rogues
We find out that there are at least 19 different Earths, Barry teaches Jessie about using her abilities, Caitlin has an unpleasant surprise, there is amusing awkwardness about a new relationship, and we have two new metas.
I love how Grant can get so adorably awkward when Barry is having romantic issues. This week, Joe nearly walked in on Barry and Iris making out, which led to a hilarious scene between Barry and Joe about the new relationship. Joe so desperately doesn't want to think or know about what happens between Barry and Iris, so much so that when Barry talks about moving out, Joe leaps at the opportunity. That whole thing was pure comic gold. The whole thing is definitely a little weird for all of them and it is something that they will have to navigate together.
Watching Barry teach Jessie was great, especially when he started quoting Oliver about checking things out before going in. The look on his face when he realized that he was quoting Oliver was quite funny. Unfortunately, Jessie chose not to listen to him when he said to stay away from Mirror Master and Top, which led to Barry being trapped in a mirror. To her credit, Jessie owned up to her screw up and decided to keep going, after a kiss from Wally.
I am curious about how this new version of Wells will work with the group. He seems to be very laidback about everything. I loved that Harry was jealous about being replaced, but it was nice to see them figure out a way to keep Wells on the show without having Earth-2 be without their version of the Flash and allowing Jessie and Harry to stay together. Watching him figure out the dynamics of this particular group is going to be fun.
I loved that Harry figured out that someone else freed Barry. Since he told Cisco about someone else doing the freeing, I suspect that we are coming closer to a discovery of the fact that Caitlin is a metahuman. And judging from the way her powers were unleashed in the post credits scene, this could be a bad thing. Her hair and lips are starting to change colors. I hope that she doesn't become the evil Killer Frost. It will be very interesting to see how they handle her as everything develops.
Given what Cisco was saying, it seems that he has to cycle through the different Earths in order to reach a particular one. That is interesting because it would indicate that there is a definite order of some sort to the multiverse. I am curious about why he cannot simply create a breach between two particular universes. I really hope they actually explain that. It is possible that he will be able to do it without cycling through different Earths eventually, we'll just have to see.
The metas this week weren't terribly interesting. They mainly served to cause issues for Barry and to force Caitlin to use her abilities to free Barry from the mirror.
Until next week!
I love how Grant can get so adorably awkward when Barry is having romantic issues. This week, Joe nearly walked in on Barry and Iris making out, which led to a hilarious scene between Barry and Joe about the new relationship. Joe so desperately doesn't want to think or know about what happens between Barry and Iris, so much so that when Barry talks about moving out, Joe leaps at the opportunity. That whole thing was pure comic gold. The whole thing is definitely a little weird for all of them and it is something that they will have to navigate together.
Watching Barry teach Jessie was great, especially when he started quoting Oliver about checking things out before going in. The look on his face when he realized that he was quoting Oliver was quite funny. Unfortunately, Jessie chose not to listen to him when he said to stay away from Mirror Master and Top, which led to Barry being trapped in a mirror. To her credit, Jessie owned up to her screw up and decided to keep going, after a kiss from Wally.
I am curious about how this new version of Wells will work with the group. He seems to be very laidback about everything. I loved that Harry was jealous about being replaced, but it was nice to see them figure out a way to keep Wells on the show without having Earth-2 be without their version of the Flash and allowing Jessie and Harry to stay together. Watching him figure out the dynamics of this particular group is going to be fun.
I loved that Harry figured out that someone else freed Barry. Since he told Cisco about someone else doing the freeing, I suspect that we are coming closer to a discovery of the fact that Caitlin is a metahuman. And judging from the way her powers were unleashed in the post credits scene, this could be a bad thing. Her hair and lips are starting to change colors. I hope that she doesn't become the evil Killer Frost. It will be very interesting to see how they handle her as everything develops.
Given what Cisco was saying, it seems that he has to cycle through the different Earths in order to reach a particular one. That is interesting because it would indicate that there is a definite order of some sort to the multiverse. I am curious about why he cannot simply create a breach between two particular universes. I really hope they actually explain that. It is possible that he will be able to do it without cycling through different Earths eventually, we'll just have to see.
The metas this week weren't terribly interesting. They mainly served to cause issues for Barry and to force Caitlin to use her abilities to free Barry from the mirror.
Until next week!
Saturday, October 22, 2016
My Review of The Vampire Diaries 8.01- Hello, Brother
Welcome to the final season of The Vampire Diaries. We find out what has been happening with everyone since Damon and Enzo left, what was in the vault, and get a lot of callbacks to the first season of the show.
I loved that the opening scene of the episode was so reminiscent of the beginning of the series. From the couple driving along the road who are killed to the rolling fog, it was just a great callback. And the lines about the vampire craze being over and Damon and Enzo joking about the end really gave good service to the long time fans and acknowledged that the end of the show is nigh. I also love that the title is the first line ever uttered by Damon in the show and that when he said the line to Stefan in the slaughterhouse, it was almost exactly like the first time we saw him in the pilot. Little things like that are just really awesome and allow the fans to remember some great moments.
Speaking of reliving moments, Damon is at his season 1 best. He has turned off his humanity switch and is going along for the ride. Of course, this time the reason for the lack of humanity is to protect the ones he loves rather than because he wants to have it off, which does make a rather large difference. As much as I dislike Enzo, he and Damon do the whole dry comedy after a gory scene thing well. When they killed the couple and then sauntered off to bed, I had to chuckle. Maybe I'm disturbed, but I thought it was funny.
Speaking of Enzo, he was actually somewhat tolerable tonight. I also thought it was interesting that he was able to leave enough subtle clues for Bonnie to pick up on that she was able to figure out what was going on. Turns out the thing in the vault was a Siren. In case you don't know your mythology, a Siren is a beast that took the form of a beautiful woman and lured men to their deaths using their voices. This Siren can control people and get them to do what she wants, which seems to lead a path of death and destruction. Not nice at all.
I hope that the writers aren't going to have Caroline try and sabotage Alaric's potential relationships. She seems to be in a good place with Stefan, but she was obsessing (just a bit) over Alaric and the hot nanny. If she wants Alaric, then she needs to be with him. Otherwise, stay with Stefan. Although it doesn't seem that Alaric is looking for anything at the moment given the way he shot the one intern down. He made it perfectly clear that he was only interested in being a good dad at the moment and nothing else.
I just have a few hopes for the season:
[1] Get rid of any little love triangles and don't start any new relationships. Enzo and Bonnie (assuming Enzo comes back) are paired off as are Caroline and Stefan. Let Damon either be alone or with Elena at the end. Maybe bring someone in for Alaric and Matt, but that's it.
[2] Speaking of Matt, give him a proper storyline. He, Jeremy, and Tyler have always been criminally underused by the show. Give him something real to do and let him have his own story.
[3] Bring back Jeremy, Tyler, and Elena if at all possible, I know Steven is on Chicago Fire, but I really hope they can bring him back for at least the finale. It would also be great to bring Elena and Tyler back for the finale as well.
[4] Have a crossover with The Originals if possible. It might be hard given the time jump last year, but it would be nice to see the Original Family on TVD.
[5] Close the series with a bang. Too many series seem to end with a whimper. This show really deserves to go out firing on all cylinders.
Until next week!
I loved that the opening scene of the episode was so reminiscent of the beginning of the series. From the couple driving along the road who are killed to the rolling fog, it was just a great callback. And the lines about the vampire craze being over and Damon and Enzo joking about the end really gave good service to the long time fans and acknowledged that the end of the show is nigh. I also love that the title is the first line ever uttered by Damon in the show and that when he said the line to Stefan in the slaughterhouse, it was almost exactly like the first time we saw him in the pilot. Little things like that are just really awesome and allow the fans to remember some great moments.
Speaking of reliving moments, Damon is at his season 1 best. He has turned off his humanity switch and is going along for the ride. Of course, this time the reason for the lack of humanity is to protect the ones he loves rather than because he wants to have it off, which does make a rather large difference. As much as I dislike Enzo, he and Damon do the whole dry comedy after a gory scene thing well. When they killed the couple and then sauntered off to bed, I had to chuckle. Maybe I'm disturbed, but I thought it was funny.
Speaking of Enzo, he was actually somewhat tolerable tonight. I also thought it was interesting that he was able to leave enough subtle clues for Bonnie to pick up on that she was able to figure out what was going on. Turns out the thing in the vault was a Siren. In case you don't know your mythology, a Siren is a beast that took the form of a beautiful woman and lured men to their deaths using their voices. This Siren can control people and get them to do what she wants, which seems to lead a path of death and destruction. Not nice at all.
I hope that the writers aren't going to have Caroline try and sabotage Alaric's potential relationships. She seems to be in a good place with Stefan, but she was obsessing (just a bit) over Alaric and the hot nanny. If she wants Alaric, then she needs to be with him. Otherwise, stay with Stefan. Although it doesn't seem that Alaric is looking for anything at the moment given the way he shot the one intern down. He made it perfectly clear that he was only interested in being a good dad at the moment and nothing else.
I just have a few hopes for the season:
[1] Get rid of any little love triangles and don't start any new relationships. Enzo and Bonnie (assuming Enzo comes back) are paired off as are Caroline and Stefan. Let Damon either be alone or with Elena at the end. Maybe bring someone in for Alaric and Matt, but that's it.
[2] Speaking of Matt, give him a proper storyline. He, Jeremy, and Tyler have always been criminally underused by the show. Give him something real to do and let him have his own story.
[3] Bring back Jeremy, Tyler, and Elena if at all possible, I know Steven is on Chicago Fire, but I really hope they can bring him back for at least the finale. It would also be great to bring Elena and Tyler back for the finale as well.
[4] Have a crossover with The Originals if possible. It might be hard given the time jump last year, but it would be nice to see the Original Family on TVD.
[5] Close the series with a bang. Too many series seem to end with a whimper. This show really deserves to go out firing on all cylinders.
Until next week!
Thursday, October 20, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.03- A Matter of Trust
Oliver deals with a new villain created by Wild Dog while everyone gets a lesson in trust, Diggle winds up in jail, and Thea learns a harsh lessons about modern politics.
While I understand the idea that the buck stops at the top, there are times when people underneath need to held accountable and tonight that was definitely true for both Wild Dog and Thea. I hope this doesn't become a pattern where Wild Dog defies Oliver and then Oliver gets scolded for his reaction to it. Was Wild Dog able to find the drug dealer? Yes. However, the gang was specifically told to stay out of the situation for a good reason. Oliver needs to know that they will obey him when he asks them to do something and that he can trust them. Wild Dog not only showed that he can't be trusted, but he also completely lied to Evelyn about what they were doing. If they had done surveillance only, then I would be more understanding. Instead he went in and attacked the gang and created an even more powerful gangster. So yeah, I totally think Oliver had every right to lay into him and that Felicity was wrong to upbraid Oliver about his reaction. Wild Dog took a situation and made it so much worse than it had to be and then Oliver gets blamed for it. Sorry, that is just crap.
The Thea situation, on the other hand, was handled beautifully, mainly because Thea took responsibility for the screw-ups she did. As soon as she told the reporter that she had offered Lance the job without Oliver's knowledge, I knew that the reporter was going to run with that. That being said, I think Oliver did exactly the right thing here. He accepted Thea's apology and then took responsibility publicly himself. The major difference? Thea acknowledged that she screwed up and offered to take the lumps herself. Wild Dog, on the other hand, never acknowledged that he severely screwed up and then Oliver was blamed for anything. So yeah, I am definitely annoyed about the situation.
I must admit that I was surprised that Felicity told Rory that she redirected the missile to his home town. I am glad that she did, because she was acting awfully sketchy every time he was around her. I am a little worried about how this will affect the team, but I hope that everything sorts itself out nicely.
I am not sure what to think of everything with Diggle. I get that the show is showing him dealing with the fallout of him killing his brother, but I really want them to either bring him back into the main story or something rather than having his story out there all on its own.
At least the flashbacks are tying closer to the overall story this year. Oliver was learning that he had to trust the Bratva even if he didn't get what they were doing. I think that is pretty important for any group. Everyone is not always going to have the big picture, so sometime you have to proceed on a certain amount of faith until you get an explanation. That is never a bad lesson to learn.
Until next week!
While I understand the idea that the buck stops at the top, there are times when people underneath need to held accountable and tonight that was definitely true for both Wild Dog and Thea. I hope this doesn't become a pattern where Wild Dog defies Oliver and then Oliver gets scolded for his reaction to it. Was Wild Dog able to find the drug dealer? Yes. However, the gang was specifically told to stay out of the situation for a good reason. Oliver needs to know that they will obey him when he asks them to do something and that he can trust them. Wild Dog not only showed that he can't be trusted, but he also completely lied to Evelyn about what they were doing. If they had done surveillance only, then I would be more understanding. Instead he went in and attacked the gang and created an even more powerful gangster. So yeah, I totally think Oliver had every right to lay into him and that Felicity was wrong to upbraid Oliver about his reaction. Wild Dog took a situation and made it so much worse than it had to be and then Oliver gets blamed for it. Sorry, that is just crap.
The Thea situation, on the other hand, was handled beautifully, mainly because Thea took responsibility for the screw-ups she did. As soon as she told the reporter that she had offered Lance the job without Oliver's knowledge, I knew that the reporter was going to run with that. That being said, I think Oliver did exactly the right thing here. He accepted Thea's apology and then took responsibility publicly himself. The major difference? Thea acknowledged that she screwed up and offered to take the lumps herself. Wild Dog, on the other hand, never acknowledged that he severely screwed up and then Oliver was blamed for anything. So yeah, I am definitely annoyed about the situation.
I must admit that I was surprised that Felicity told Rory that she redirected the missile to his home town. I am glad that she did, because she was acting awfully sketchy every time he was around her. I am a little worried about how this will affect the team, but I hope that everything sorts itself out nicely.
I am not sure what to think of everything with Diggle. I get that the show is showing him dealing with the fallout of him killing his brother, but I really want them to either bring him back into the main story or something rather than having his story out there all on its own.
At least the flashbacks are tying closer to the overall story this year. Oliver was learning that he had to trust the Bratva even if he didn't get what they were doing. I think that is pretty important for any group. Everyone is not always going to have the big picture, so sometime you have to proceed on a certain amount of faith until you get an explanation. That is never a bad lesson to learn.
Until next week!
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.03- Magenta
We have an episode free of time travel, but with a special visit from some old friends from Earth-2...
It was great to have Harry and Jesse back again. Watching Harry be all snarky with Barry after figuring out that Barry had screwed with time (again!) was just fun, As for the whole Harry not wanting Jesse to run around being a hero thing, I get it. After everything that happened to her last year with Zoom, it isn't hard to understand why Harry wants Jesse to be safe. Could he have stated it better? Sure. And I also think she took what people were saying the wrong way. She seemed to think that they were saying that it was ok for Barry but not her, when really they were just concerned about her being safe, just as they are for Barry. That being said, it was nice to see her work with Barry to save the hospital and the people in it.
As for Barry, he is definitely realizing how seriously he screwed everything up. It seems that every time he turns around, there is another difference. Like I said last week, I am not quite convinced that Jay Garrick is right and things can never go back to what they were. I am not saying that it would be easy, but I do think that if Barry could go back and adjust things just so, he might get things back to the way they were originally. I could, of course, be wrong, but until I hear more definitively, I will hold out that hope.
It was fun watching Barry and Iris on their dates. The first one was a complete disaster because they were trying too hard to not talk about Flash-y stuff. The second one, on the other hand, was looking to be much better because they were being themselves and much more relaxed. The thing is that Barry is never really going to have a normal date because he has to be ready as the Flash 24/7/365. Dating Iris will make that much easier because she knows who and what he is. However, she will have to be ok with knowing that he won't always be there. That is an unfortunate side effect of dating a superhero.
And Wally needs to get some help stat. He is so desperate to be a hero that he was willing to almost kill himself in order to try and activate a possible latent power. I am seriously worried that Alchemy could get to him and somehow twist him to make him an evil version of Kid Flash. I don't see Alchemy turning him into the Flashpoint Kid Flash, but I do think Alchemy would do it if he could twist Wally into an evil speedster. And that could potentially be very bad.
Magenta was an interesting one-off villain. She is obviously very powerful and it was interesting to see Magenta and Frankie fighting for control of Frankie's body. I think I would like to see her back, but I'm not sure if they could since Magenta was the one with powers and it looks like Barry helped Frankie quash her.
Until next week!
It was great to have Harry and Jesse back again. Watching Harry be all snarky with Barry after figuring out that Barry had screwed with time (again!) was just fun, As for the whole Harry not wanting Jesse to run around being a hero thing, I get it. After everything that happened to her last year with Zoom, it isn't hard to understand why Harry wants Jesse to be safe. Could he have stated it better? Sure. And I also think she took what people were saying the wrong way. She seemed to think that they were saying that it was ok for Barry but not her, when really they were just concerned about her being safe, just as they are for Barry. That being said, it was nice to see her work with Barry to save the hospital and the people in it.
As for Barry, he is definitely realizing how seriously he screwed everything up. It seems that every time he turns around, there is another difference. Like I said last week, I am not quite convinced that Jay Garrick is right and things can never go back to what they were. I am not saying that it would be easy, but I do think that if Barry could go back and adjust things just so, he might get things back to the way they were originally. I could, of course, be wrong, but until I hear more definitively, I will hold out that hope.
It was fun watching Barry and Iris on their dates. The first one was a complete disaster because they were trying too hard to not talk about Flash-y stuff. The second one, on the other hand, was looking to be much better because they were being themselves and much more relaxed. The thing is that Barry is never really going to have a normal date because he has to be ready as the Flash 24/7/365. Dating Iris will make that much easier because she knows who and what he is. However, she will have to be ok with knowing that he won't always be there. That is an unfortunate side effect of dating a superhero.
And Wally needs to get some help stat. He is so desperate to be a hero that he was willing to almost kill himself in order to try and activate a possible latent power. I am seriously worried that Alchemy could get to him and somehow twist him to make him an evil version of Kid Flash. I don't see Alchemy turning him into the Flashpoint Kid Flash, but I do think Alchemy would do it if he could twist Wally into an evil speedster. And that could potentially be very bad.
Magenta was an interesting one-off villain. She is obviously very powerful and it was interesting to see Magenta and Frankie fighting for control of Frankie's body. I think I would like to see her back, but I'm not sure if they could since Magenta was the one with powers and it looks like Barry helped Frankie quash her.
Until next week!
Thursday, October 13, 2016
My review of Arrow 5.02- The Recruits
Oliver works with new team members and meets someone new while Diggle learns a hard lesson of his own. In the past, Oliver learns that joining the Bratva has a steep price....
Oliver is not the most inspirational teacher in the world. Shocker. Yes, if you noticed large amounts of sarcasm there, you are reading it correctly. Oliver is a very intense, dedicated, and focused man who is not the best people person. He has lost so many people over the years that it is little wonder that he is reluctant to work with new people and he is very hard on them when he does decide to work with them. Both of his parents, Laurel, Shado, Tommy, the people from the Glades, the people killed by the soldiers on mirakiru, the people killed by R'as Al Ghul, the people killed by Damien Dahrk, and on and on. Rightly or not, Oliver has taken the responsibilities for all of those deaths on himself which means that he won't put anyone else in danger until he is convinced that they are ready. And that also means that he will be merciless when he is training them to make sure that they have the best chance possible. Where he really fell down was the way he reacted after Wild Dog disobeyed him, Did good come of it? Sure, but it could very easily have gone south like a bird during the winter. But Oliver's reaction to completely belittle all of them was a very, very bad reaction. Understandable, but bad. The rest of his training made sense. He was trying to force them to work together as a team to take him down. And he knew that if he told them what the goal was, it wouldn't be worth as much because they need to decide on their own to be a team. So inspirational? No. Good? For the most part, yes.
Remember that Oliver was against the idea of Laurel going out in the first place because she wasn't trained the way everyone else was. Diggle is a trained soldier, Thea was trained by Malcolm, Oliver trained Roy himself, but Laurel only had some training with Nyssa. Not that Nyssa is not skilled, but she didn't work with Laurel as long as anyone of the others had been trained. I think that if he something happens to the new recruits properly and he thinks that hasn't trained them properly, he will blame himself and that idea terrifies him. And Wild Dog's attitude towards being trained isn't helping. One problem with the old team was the fact that there wasn't really a clear cut leader because Diggle kept challenging Oliver. The team really does need to have one leader to plan things and Oliver is indisputably the best one for that role.
Listening to Diggle talk with the young soldier, I felt a little uneasy. Diggle never really struck me as the type to hide from responsibility, but that seems to be where he was headed with his speech about how having other people make the decisions is a good thing because it provides clarity. I know that may sound odd after the last paragraph, but it really isn't. While I may not be super fond of Diggle, it was more because of the way he dealt with things in stark black and white terms. I appreciated that Laurel and Felicity can challenge Oliver's ideas without actually challenging him the way Diggle would. The two of them had a way of pointing out the problems with Oliver's ideas in a good way. That means not just blindly following him, but still following him with thought. They also saw that the world was not as simple as Diggle seems to think it is. And that sort of thinking really got Diggle in trouble. I am hoping that he isn't just going to be separate the whole season because if he is on the show, it really does need to tie into the story in Star City.
As for Lance, I am glad that Thea is giving him a job. As I said last week, the man still needs serious therapy to get over his self-loathing if he really wants to remain sober. The fact that he needs to have something outside of himself to be sober is seriously not a good thing. I don't think it will change, but I hope it does.
Am I the only one worried that Ragman is from Havenrock? You know, the city that was hit by the nuclear missile at the end of last season after Felicity redirected it to save as many lives as possible? yeah, this is going to get messy....
Until next week!
Oliver is not the most inspirational teacher in the world. Shocker. Yes, if you noticed large amounts of sarcasm there, you are reading it correctly. Oliver is a very intense, dedicated, and focused man who is not the best people person. He has lost so many people over the years that it is little wonder that he is reluctant to work with new people and he is very hard on them when he does decide to work with them. Both of his parents, Laurel, Shado, Tommy, the people from the Glades, the people killed by the soldiers on mirakiru, the people killed by R'as Al Ghul, the people killed by Damien Dahrk, and on and on. Rightly or not, Oliver has taken the responsibilities for all of those deaths on himself which means that he won't put anyone else in danger until he is convinced that they are ready. And that also means that he will be merciless when he is training them to make sure that they have the best chance possible. Where he really fell down was the way he reacted after Wild Dog disobeyed him, Did good come of it? Sure, but it could very easily have gone south like a bird during the winter. But Oliver's reaction to completely belittle all of them was a very, very bad reaction. Understandable, but bad. The rest of his training made sense. He was trying to force them to work together as a team to take him down. And he knew that if he told them what the goal was, it wouldn't be worth as much because they need to decide on their own to be a team. So inspirational? No. Good? For the most part, yes.
Remember that Oliver was against the idea of Laurel going out in the first place because she wasn't trained the way everyone else was. Diggle is a trained soldier, Thea was trained by Malcolm, Oliver trained Roy himself, but Laurel only had some training with Nyssa. Not that Nyssa is not skilled, but she didn't work with Laurel as long as anyone of the others had been trained. I think that if he something happens to the new recruits properly and he thinks that hasn't trained them properly, he will blame himself and that idea terrifies him. And Wild Dog's attitude towards being trained isn't helping. One problem with the old team was the fact that there wasn't really a clear cut leader because Diggle kept challenging Oliver. The team really does need to have one leader to plan things and Oliver is indisputably the best one for that role.
Listening to Diggle talk with the young soldier, I felt a little uneasy. Diggle never really struck me as the type to hide from responsibility, but that seems to be where he was headed with his speech about how having other people make the decisions is a good thing because it provides clarity. I know that may sound odd after the last paragraph, but it really isn't. While I may not be super fond of Diggle, it was more because of the way he dealt with things in stark black and white terms. I appreciated that Laurel and Felicity can challenge Oliver's ideas without actually challenging him the way Diggle would. The two of them had a way of pointing out the problems with Oliver's ideas in a good way. That means not just blindly following him, but still following him with thought. They also saw that the world was not as simple as Diggle seems to think it is. And that sort of thinking really got Diggle in trouble. I am hoping that he isn't just going to be separate the whole season because if he is on the show, it really does need to tie into the story in Star City.
As for Lance, I am glad that Thea is giving him a job. As I said last week, the man still needs serious therapy to get over his self-loathing if he really wants to remain sober. The fact that he needs to have something outside of himself to be sober is seriously not a good thing. I don't think it will change, but I hope it does.
Am I the only one worried that Ragman is from Havenrock? You know, the city that was hit by the nuclear missile at the end of last season after Felicity redirected it to save as many lives as possible? yeah, this is going to get messy....
Until next week!
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.02- Paradox
Barry deals with the ramifications of messing with the timeline and they are vast. At the same time, he has an obnoxious co-worker, a new enemy, and an unexpected returning enemy....
The one thing about this season is that they are not wasting any time telling us about what his going on. Turns out Iris and Joe are not talking to each other anymore because of the fact that Joe hid the fact that her mother was still alive. For some reason, in this timeline, she refused to forgive him the way she did in the original timeline. I doubt we'll get an explanation why, but I can only guess that she was even more fed up with being lied to than she was in the original timeline. Other differences included Diggle having a son rather than a daughter and Dante being killed in a car accident, which has caused a massive rift between Barry and Cisco. Cisco has asked Barry several times to go back in time and save Dante, but Barry has refused.
This problem was made worse because Barry confessed what he had done to the gang. Cisco predictably was upset that Barry went to save his mom but won't save Dante. But after his talk with Jay (the real one), Barry doesn't want to mess with the timeline anymore. The question is whether or not Garrick was right. Can Barry never return the timeline to its original form? If not, then that has some serious ramifications for Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. When he changed the timeline, Barry caused effects that spread beyond Central City, which could make for some serious issues with the other shows. Either that or The Flash ends up on a different timeline than the other shows, which would make a crossover very hard. I am really curious as to how they are going to solve this.
The other major changes involved Cisco and Caitlin's powers. In this timeline, Cisco has much more control over his abilities than he did in the original timeline. Also, Caitlin actually has the abilities of Killer Frost. She is obviously not Killer Frost yet, but she has the abilities and it seems that the rest of the team is not aware of this yet. This ought to be interesting when it comes out.
The one really good thing to come out of Barry's confession is that he got the team to at least set aside some of their differences. I have very little doubt that they will resurface at some point, but at leas they shouldn't interfere with the team's day-to-day work. At least, we hope they don't.
Who or what exactly is Dr. Alchemy? He apparently has the ability to give people the powers that they would have in an alternate timeline, given the fact that he restored the speed and memories to the Rival from the one we saw last week. I am very curious about how he does that. There is no dark matter, so it doesn't seem to be the same thing that gave other metas their abilities. The fact that he (?) can restore knows about the alternate timelines and can access things from them suggests either meta-human abilities or tech like that of the Time Lords.
I did love seeing Cisco and Barry team up on the Rival. That combination of Barry's lightning punches and Cisco's blast could not have been fun. And I have the feeling that the Rival is actually gone this time.
I'm not sure what to think of Barry's new co-worker. He seems to know that Barry is hiding something, which makes him not trust Barry. Given the pattern of the last couple of seasons, it would make a certain amount of sense that Julian is Dr. Alchemy. But he is also the seriously obvious choice, which militates against the idea that he is Dr. Alchemy. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Until next week!
The one thing about this season is that they are not wasting any time telling us about what his going on. Turns out Iris and Joe are not talking to each other anymore because of the fact that Joe hid the fact that her mother was still alive. For some reason, in this timeline, she refused to forgive him the way she did in the original timeline. I doubt we'll get an explanation why, but I can only guess that she was even more fed up with being lied to than she was in the original timeline. Other differences included Diggle having a son rather than a daughter and Dante being killed in a car accident, which has caused a massive rift between Barry and Cisco. Cisco has asked Barry several times to go back in time and save Dante, but Barry has refused.
This problem was made worse because Barry confessed what he had done to the gang. Cisco predictably was upset that Barry went to save his mom but won't save Dante. But after his talk with Jay (the real one), Barry doesn't want to mess with the timeline anymore. The question is whether or not Garrick was right. Can Barry never return the timeline to its original form? If not, then that has some serious ramifications for Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. When he changed the timeline, Barry caused effects that spread beyond Central City, which could make for some serious issues with the other shows. Either that or The Flash ends up on a different timeline than the other shows, which would make a crossover very hard. I am really curious as to how they are going to solve this.
The other major changes involved Cisco and Caitlin's powers. In this timeline, Cisco has much more control over his abilities than he did in the original timeline. Also, Caitlin actually has the abilities of Killer Frost. She is obviously not Killer Frost yet, but she has the abilities and it seems that the rest of the team is not aware of this yet. This ought to be interesting when it comes out.
The one really good thing to come out of Barry's confession is that he got the team to at least set aside some of their differences. I have very little doubt that they will resurface at some point, but at leas they shouldn't interfere with the team's day-to-day work. At least, we hope they don't.
Who or what exactly is Dr. Alchemy? He apparently has the ability to give people the powers that they would have in an alternate timeline, given the fact that he restored the speed and memories to the Rival from the one we saw last week. I am very curious about how he does that. There is no dark matter, so it doesn't seem to be the same thing that gave other metas their abilities. The fact that he (?) can restore knows about the alternate timelines and can access things from them suggests either meta-human abilities or tech like that of the Time Lords.
I did love seeing Cisco and Barry team up on the Rival. That combination of Barry's lightning punches and Cisco's blast could not have been fun. And I have the feeling that the Rival is actually gone this time.
I'm not sure what to think of Barry's new co-worker. He seems to know that Barry is hiding something, which makes him not trust Barry. Given the pattern of the last couple of seasons, it would make a certain amount of sense that Julian is Dr. Alchemy. But he is also the seriously obvious choice, which militates against the idea that he is Dr. Alchemy. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Until next week!
Thursday, October 6, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.01- Legacy
Tonight was all about moving on as Oliver adjusts to life without Speedy and Spartan, Felicity has a new man, and Lance returns...
I'm not entirely sure what to think about Oliver's putting killing back on the table as an option. On the one hand, his explanation to Thea made a lot of sense. If Oliver had killed Dahrk when Dahrk was stripped of his powers, Laurel may very well have been alive. Also, the one guy saw Oliver and what he could do, which could place everyone around Oliver in danger. On the other hand, the Green Arrow is a hero and heroes aren't supposed to kill people. I think how good an idea it is will ultimately be tested by how often Oliver chooses to kill. If he leaves it as a last resort, then I think it is more acceptable. If he chooses to kill often, then we have an issue.
It is nice to see Oliver and Felicity still working together even though they aren't together anymore. It was also nice to see them back to their fun banter and much more of a season 1 feel. It would be nice if Thea and Diggle rejoined the team, but I am interested to see how Oliver and Felicity train Curtis and Wild Dog. Oliver has shown that he is a good teacher (see Roy), so we know he can do it. And Curtis is seriously gung ho about this after getting jumped, so here's hoping he does a good job. I'm just worried about what his husband will say.
I can't say that I am glad to see Lance back. While he has occasionally been not too bad, for the most part I find him to be obnoxious and hypocritical. I get that he is supposed to be the voice of law and order, but the way he goes about it is extremely annoying. I have seen shows with similar characters (like Carter on Person of Interest) who serve much the same function without being so annoying and obnoxious. Honestly, I have the same problem with Diggle most of the time. While I appreciate their sense of right and wrong, the way they express themselves is often horrible. And I do get that Lance is an alcoholic who lost both of his girls. The problem is that he seems to be someone who hates himself so much that he needs someone outside of himself to focus on in order to remain sober, which is never a good thing. He really needs to figure out how to make peace with himself at some point.
The new crime boss in definitely menacing, but not in the same way Dahrk was. He seems to be more like Deathstroke in that he is someone who can stand toe to toe with Oliver in a fight and isn't particularly subtle. I'm really not sure what to make of Prometheus, the new dark archer. He is definitely creepy and I am very curious where he is going to go. Is it possible that he is Malcolm? Or is he someone else entirely?
Laurel's last words were....interesting. So she just told Oliver to find another Canary to carry her mantle. Not what I was expecting. To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything in particular, but I would never have gone there. It seems a bit anti-climatic somehow.
Until next week!
I'm not entirely sure what to think about Oliver's putting killing back on the table as an option. On the one hand, his explanation to Thea made a lot of sense. If Oliver had killed Dahrk when Dahrk was stripped of his powers, Laurel may very well have been alive. Also, the one guy saw Oliver and what he could do, which could place everyone around Oliver in danger. On the other hand, the Green Arrow is a hero and heroes aren't supposed to kill people. I think how good an idea it is will ultimately be tested by how often Oliver chooses to kill. If he leaves it as a last resort, then I think it is more acceptable. If he chooses to kill often, then we have an issue.
It is nice to see Oliver and Felicity still working together even though they aren't together anymore. It was also nice to see them back to their fun banter and much more of a season 1 feel. It would be nice if Thea and Diggle rejoined the team, but I am interested to see how Oliver and Felicity train Curtis and Wild Dog. Oliver has shown that he is a good teacher (see Roy), so we know he can do it. And Curtis is seriously gung ho about this after getting jumped, so here's hoping he does a good job. I'm just worried about what his husband will say.
I can't say that I am glad to see Lance back. While he has occasionally been not too bad, for the most part I find him to be obnoxious and hypocritical. I get that he is supposed to be the voice of law and order, but the way he goes about it is extremely annoying. I have seen shows with similar characters (like Carter on Person of Interest) who serve much the same function without being so annoying and obnoxious. Honestly, I have the same problem with Diggle most of the time. While I appreciate their sense of right and wrong, the way they express themselves is often horrible. And I do get that Lance is an alcoholic who lost both of his girls. The problem is that he seems to be someone who hates himself so much that he needs someone outside of himself to focus on in order to remain sober, which is never a good thing. He really needs to figure out how to make peace with himself at some point.
The new crime boss in definitely menacing, but not in the same way Dahrk was. He seems to be more like Deathstroke in that he is someone who can stand toe to toe with Oliver in a fight and isn't particularly subtle. I'm really not sure what to make of Prometheus, the new dark archer. He is definitely creepy and I am very curious where he is going to go. Is it possible that he is Malcolm? Or is he someone else entirely?
Laurel's last words were....interesting. So she just told Oliver to find another Canary to carry her mantle. Not what I was expecting. To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything in particular, but I would never have gone there. It seems a bit anti-climatic somehow.
Until next week!
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