The Fosters Season Premiere Review Coming Tomorrow

Due to the Teen Wolf finale tonight, I was unable to watch the season premiere of The Fosters.  So I will be watching to show tomorrow and will write a review of it and Arrow tomorrow night.

My Review of Arrow 5.10- Who Are You?

The team starts to hunt for Prometheus following what happened to Billy, Curtis has a crisis of confidence, Laurel has a surprise, and Diggle gets some interesting help.

Even without the promos, it was pretty obvious that Laurel wasn't our Laurel.  I even hazarded a guess in my last review that Laurel could have been the Black Siren.  And I was right.  Given how fond she was of creating destruction on The Flash when Zoom brought her over, I am not entirely sure that she can be redeemed.  It would be nice if she could be, but I have my doubts.  I loved Curtis' device and the fact that Felicity punched her.  Other than the pray and spray last season when the card guy (can't remember his name) attacked the lair, I don't think I can think of a time when Felicity has actually gotten involved in a fight.  So that was definitely fun.

Unless I am very much mistaken, the person who saved Oliver from the renegade Bratva was Talia al Ghul, which is very cool.  You have to wonder if she was another source of his fighting training.  Oliver has had several at this point, but if Talia does teach him, that would make her the first League trained person to have trained him.  R'as would have been the second when Oliver went to Nanda Parbat in Season 3.  Obviously, we don't know that she trained him for sure, but that would account for some of his more League-like fighting abilities that he has shown at various points.

And who is the new woman who has the Canary Cry?  Is she a meta or does she have some sort of tech like the one that Cisco created for Laurel?  I have to admit that, up to the point where she screamed, I thought she might be Talia, which made sense given how close their respective introductions were.  I just can't wait to see how she works with the team, assuming that she does (of course).

You gotta feel bad for Curtis.  He doesn't do horribly, but his lack of training is showing.  Getting beat by Prometheus and the Black Siren is nothing to be ashamed of, particularly since the Black Siren is a meta who is well trained.  He is better at tech, but he is also good back-up in the field.  And I can't believe that it took Rene to point out to him how he can be helpful to the team.  I just hope that Paul comes back to him, because I would hate to see Curtis and him split up,

I loved that the DA was sent to help Diggle.  I was a little annoyed when the General said that he could have the DA disbarred in 15 minutes, because he really couldn't.  Being disbarred would take much, much longer.  I know it was fro dramatic effect, but it still annoyed me because it was so obviously wrong.  I think my favorite part was when Dig punched him so that the DA could keep Dig in his jurisdiction and away from the General.

Until next week!

My Review of Teen Wolf 6.09- Memory Found

Scott, Malia, and Lydia make a last, desperate attempt to bring Stiles back while Theo and Laim work to give them time.

I know I've been very critical of this season so far, and (honestly) that isn't going to change now.  The whole season has felt somewhat off to me.  I won't bother explaining why (again), but there have really only been one or two really good episodes so far in season 6.  While this episode was better than most, it still felt too exposition heavy for the penultimate episode of the arc.  The whole thing has seriously dragged for me, so I am hoping for a super strong mid-season finale next week.

I do think that one thing I have seriously been missing is Stiles.  The best episodes of the season were the episodes with Dylan, which shows me just how important he is to the show.  Stile brings a lightness and sense of humour to the show that no other character does.  Granted, they all have their moments, but Dylan has a way of making everything seem lighter and so much more fun.  Even when he was playing VoidStiles, it never felt this heavy, dark, and brooding.

The other major issue is that it is episode 9 and we still have no clue about what the aim of the Riders or Douglas really is.  That makes everything so much more boring.  Last season, we knew that the Dread Doctors were looking to bring forth the Beast (even if we didn't know the name) and we knew that Theo was looking for his own pack.  That gave a sense of purpose to the show.  This season has lacked that, which means that everyone disappearing has very little heft or anything.  Assuming that Mr Douglas is the villain of the second half of the season, they REALLY need to lay out what he is looking for relatively quickly.

All that being said, there were some bright moments tonight.  Seeing Theo willingly sacrificing himself to save Liam was a good thing, and something I wasn't sure if Theo had in him.Their fighting and the almost fist bump were particularly cool to see.

As for the memories of Stiles that the gang dredged up, none were particularly surprising.  The only thing that surprised me was that the hugging scene between Scott and Stiles at the MRI wasn't given a more prominent place since that was a major affirmation of their brotherhood.  Don't get me wrong, the scene outside the bus was a great one and well deserving of a place of honor, but I just think that the MRI scene should have been more prominent.

All of the Malia scenes were great.  I sort of wish they had shown one of the spooning scenes, but I get why they didn't.  The spooning would have been more comedic than intensely emotional, which would have messed with the feel of the scene.  Still would have been fun to see again though.

I loved the memories from Lydia.  I've been on the fence about the two of them as a couple for a while now.  In the first couple of seasons, Stiles just had a puppy dog type crush on Lydia and she wasn't really deserving of him.  Then she became a more integral part of the group and the two of them started working really, really well together, which made me not want them to get together romantically.  But since they are apparently going to be a couple now, I can't say that I object too much.  I just hope that it doesn't screw with the good work the two of them do together to help Scott cume up with plans.  They are, without a doubt, the smartest people in the group.  Mason comes up close behind them, but he's not as smart as they are,  I think it will be interesting to see where the two of them go.

Next week is the mid-season finale.  See you then!

My Review of The Flash 3.10- Borrowing Problems From the Future

The team welcomes a new member, Barry has a revelation for (most of) the team, Caitlin is worried, and signposts appear to be set out...

I'm glad Barry told the team about what he saw.  This is the type of thing that shouldn't be kept to yourself.  For most of the Flashpoint changes, Barry at least had the fact that the team asked him not to tell them anything, but he didn't this time.  And because what he saw in the future affected more than just him, he didn't really have the right to keep it to himself.  My only worry is that trying the future is an almost fruitless endeavor.  Yes, they do know certain things that happened, but there is no context, which means that there is no way of knowing what exactly leads to Savitar killing Iris.  Can changing the news save Iris?  Maybe, but I suspect that there is a lot more to it than that.

For example, Barry was ready to let Plunder go in order to change the future.  The problem is that making a change like that could have unintended side effects.  After all, how do we know that the capture being talked about in the news broadcast was the one tonight?  What if he escapes again and tries for the museum again and is caught by the Flash that time?  While unlikely, it does illustrate that what Barry is trying to do is incredibly complex because he is operating with only partial information.  Without context, the individual events are virtually meaningless.  We know that the was a news story about Killer Frost.  What if that doesn't refer to our Caitlin but a Killer Frost from another universe?  Again, unlikely, but possible.  Alternatively, what if Barry accidentally jumped to a completely different earth?  Once again, it is unlikely, but the possibility does exist.  The team really does need to use the utmost caution when trying to prevent a future event, otherwise they might end up causing the event they are trying to prevent.

I'm not entirely sure not telling Joe is a good idea.  I get that he might go and do something precipitous, but when he finds out that they didn't tell him what Barry saw, he is not going to be happy.  And I find it very interesting that both he and Iris have completely changed their tune about Wally being Kid Flash.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad they did, but it was fairly sudden.  Yes, I know that a month passed between the last episode and this one, so that probably accounts for it, but for theme, it was a bit jarring.

Welcoming Julian to the group was a good idea.  It will allow them the opportunity to keep an eye on him and will also give them access to his knowledge and skills, particularly since they've lost Wells.  He's already proven himself helpful where Caitlin is concerned, so I am curious to see where this will go.

Opening up STAR Labs as a museum is not the smartest idea in the world.  I am just worried that it could allow for too many people to get inside and potentially give Barry and Wally issues when it comes to keeping their identities a secret.  I get that they need money, but I do wonder if there is a better way.

Until next week!

My Review of Teen Wolf 6.08- Blitzkrieg

We learn more about Mr. Douglas, the gang gets increasingly desperate, Sheriff Stilinski remembers, and we learn Stiles' first name.

And the long awaited first name is...Mieczyslaw.  I'm told it's pronounced Mish-ih-slav (couldn't get it from the one time the Sheriff said it).  If you can pronounce that on your own, you are better than I am.  Of all the names, I would never have gone anywhere near that one.  Although now Coach's comment about whether or not the Sheriff hated Stiles makes sense.  And I also get why Stiles never uses it.  I can just imagine the teasing that the name would involve.

On the whole, I had ,mixed feeling about the episode.  Compared to last season's "The Maid of Gevaudan", this expository episode felt very odd.  Given how the "villains" (the Riders) aren't really the villains but rather victims of Mr. Douglas who has suddenly become a dangerous person, I think that is understandable.  It's almost like they're starting to transition to the second half of the season already and making Douglas a real threat and that he is.  He can somehow control the Hellhound, which was a surprise.  We also found out that he is part lion and part wolf before being captured by the Dread Doctors.  Because he had been hit with the whip of a Rider, he had some of that in his system when he was stuffed in their tank for decades.  Add to that the fact that the Doctors experimented on him, so when he woke up he was part lion, part wolf, part Alpha, and part Rider.  And that explains why the Riders can't capture him as well as why he can use their weapons.

I think the reason I am so "meh" on this episode is that they had too much exposition replace us seeing what the Riders were doing.  All of a sudden, Beacon Hills has been virtually denuded of people.  I know that the Riders have been taking people for a while, but to seemingly have them all of a sudden ramp up how many they are taking felt off.  Add to that the fact that we never saw Mason discovering Corey's phone and it felt like they really rushed a lot to get to where they need to get to.  Given how slow some of the earlier episodes felt, I wonder if they could have redistributed some things to even things out a bit.

Why was the Rider scared (or wary) of Lydia.  We know that they can't (or won't) take Banshees, so I wonder if it was actual fear or if it was more of a they are under orders not to do anything to a Banshee.  I was a little surprised that the group hadn't thought of that sooner.  They know that the Riders won't take a Banshee, so why not put her out in front as a shield of sorts earlier?  Also, they know that the Hellhound won't hurt her, so why not have her try and block Douglas and the Hellhound from entering the rift in the first place?  Or at least have her use her voice to throw them back?

So apparently the Sheriff remembering Stiles caused his wife to disappear, which leads me to the conclusion that she wasn't actively working with the Riders.  If she was created for this new, non-Stiles world, then she wouldn't have any memories of him and would have nothing to allow her to see the artifacts of his existence that the Sheriff brought back.

I am really curious why people being taken now seem to be remembered.  Stiles and earlier people were completely wiped from existence, but Scott has his mom's number in his cell phone and Corey's phone was found by Mason.  An explanation for that inconsistency would be appreciated, otherwise it looks like just sloppiness/

So next week, the gang tries to get Stiles back by remembering him.  This should be interesting....

My Review of Teen Wolf 6.07- Heartless

And this is what the whole season should have been like.  Unanswered questions, the group working as a group, and some shocking twists....

I know I was hard on the show last week and spent most of the review criticizing the episode, but this episode is a prime example of why I love this show and why I was so critical last week.  The episode allowed everyone to shine and showed the show at its best.  I really hope that they keep this pace going because it worked really well.

My first question, is what exactly is Mr. Douglas?  His eyes have been both blue and red, which is really weird.  Blue eyes indicate that a wolf has taken an innocent life and red eyes indicate an Alpha.  The only person we've seen with both colors was Derek, and that was only because he became and Alpha and then lost the status.  Douglas never seemed to get or lose it, he just had eyes that were two different colors.  The other odd thing is that when he shifted, he looked awfully like Deucalion when he shifted into the Demon Wolf.  Does that mean that Mr. Douglas is a Demon Wolf?  I would suggest that the Dread Doctors had modified him with Deucalion's powers, but we saw Deucalion alive after the Dread Doctors perished at the hands of the Beast.  The other question is how exactly Mr. Douglas caught the whip that the Rider used on him and how he was able to kill it.  That indicates a tremendous amount of power or something, which does not bode well for the pack.

I was impressed with how well Liam's plan worked considering how intricate it was.  There was a ton of potential for it to go wrong, but it didn't.  Well, it didn't until Douglas stepped in and screwed things up.  It was definitely good that Scott took the time to listen to Liam and see what his plan was, despite any reservations he may have had.  Trusting Theo is not the smartest move ever, but it was the best play they had in this case because he, like Peter, has a well developed sense of self-preservation and the Riders are a threat to everyone.  Also, the chains and shackles helped out.  😁

How was Lydia able to make Stiles' lacrosse shirt materialize out of thin air?  I am guessing that she wanted it badly enough that it appeared, much the way she thinks that Claudia appeared because the Sheriff Stilinski couldn't stand to lose Stiles.  If that is the case, then she is aware that she shouldn''t be there and is potentially a threat to the gang.

How did the Rider force the Hellhound to try and free it?  That was something that was really surprising.  Since the gang constructed a Faraday cage and we've never seen the Riders exhibit telepathic abilities before, something about that seemed off.  Of course, it is always possible that keeping the Rider locked up would have upset the supernatural balance, so the Hellhound decided to free it in order to maintain the balance.

And I hope that Mason can find Corey.  Of course, he'd first have to remember Corey, which may not happen.  Of course, it is possible that Corey will find Stiles and may be able to bring him back somehow,  Since Corey can always see the Riders when he is using his abilities, it is possible that he might be able to shift back to our world.  Doubtful, I know, but hope springs eternal.

Until next week!

My Review of Teen Wolf 6.06- Ghosted

Scott, Malia, and Lydia investigate Canaan while Liam and Hayden summon a ghost from the past and Melissa helps Chris out...

I have to admit to a certain amount of annoyance with Teen Wolf this season.  While I have loved the past seasons, this season seems a bit lackluster.  Maybe it's because they're missing Stiles or maybe it's because it seems like the show is trying to split its time equally between two different storylines, but there hasn't been much this season to make me want to absolutely pay attention.  Having the storylines constantly split between the older crew and the junior group means that both are really suffering.  Part of what has always made this show so good is the way the pack works together, which is part of what made Theo and Peter such formidable foes.  Both of them knew enough to try and split the group apart to try and take Scott down.  This season it is more like the writers are trying to see if they can create a spin-off with the younger crew, which I am so not feeling right now.  While I like Liam and Hayden within the context of the gang, neither Dylan nor Victoria seems to be seasoned enough to carry a show right now.  Given the end of the episode, it looks like they might be trying to bring the gang into one storyline, which will help everything tremendously, I hope.  That being said, I have no intention of dropping my review of the show, I just hope the rest of this arc and the final arc get a whole lot better.

I did find it very interesting that banshees are seemingly immune to the Hunt.  I would love to get an explanation as to why.  Being able to sense death doesn't seem to be a good reason, so it must be something else.  I really hope that they actually explain it and don't just leave us hanging because that sort of thing really deserves an explanation.  And why could Lenore seal up the house if she is a banshee?  The only person we've see be able to do things like that was Jennifer Blake, who was a Darach.  Even then, she had to be majorly powered up to do things.

Then there was the idea of bringing Theo back.  The initial idea wasn't a bad idea.  After all, if he still had all of the powers he stole, he would be able to absorb the lightning.  I assume that when he died, he suffered the same fate as Ethan and Aiden who were unable to recombine after Jennifer broke their neck in their collective form.  As for him remembering Stiles, I can only assume that because he was elsewhere when the Riders took Stiles, Theo still has his memories.  And what did he mean by the Riders being stuck?  How did they get stuck and how can the gang unstick them?  I wonder if the Dread Doctors' messing with everything had something to do with the Ride getting stuck.  After all, the Doctors messed with the supernatural after the apparent arrival of the Ride during the thunderstorm at the beginning of last season.  Could their meddling have done something to cause the Ride to be unable to leave?  The idea is interesting.

The other possibility I can think of is that the Nemeton has something to do with everything.  After all, if it acts as a supernatural beacon, it could have gotten the Ride to come to Beacon Hills and it will not let them leave.  After all, the Nemeton has been powered by death or sacrifice, which could mean that what the Riders are doing is somehow giving strength to it.  A bit far fetched maybe, but still a possibility.

I did love seeing Chris and Melissa together.  I hope those two actually get together before the end of the show, because that would be cool.

Until next week!