Sorry this is late, I fell asleep early last night and didn't get a chance to write this.
Oliver continues to spiral while Diggle and the gang do their best to keep going, Felicity continues to consort with the hackers, and Oliver makes a move that shocks Diggle....
It is hard to be against what Oliver was trying to do tonight. As I said last week, he was right that his initial reasons for going on his crusade were not right, but over time that changed and the crusade became a good thing. He moved from just killing those who had done wrong and started actually bringing them to justice, so his focus changed from vengeance to justice. And after what has happened to other people around him, I get why he wanted to push the team away to keep them as far from him as possible. What he didn't consider is that by pushing them away, he was actually making them less safe because that would make it easier for Prometheus to go after them because they would be separate from the group.
Bringing in the Bratva to kill Chase seemed a touch excessive to me. Again, I get his reasoning: he wanted to spare the team the agony of killing someone, particularly since he had seen the suffering Diggle had been undergoing after killing his brother. The problem is that Oliver had no way of controlling the Bratva and he had also allowed them to steal from the needy people in the city. That was totally not cool of Oliver. I am glad that he finally decided to try and stop them, even if it was a bit too late.
I must also say that I am not impressed that Gregori felt that he needed Oliver to remain a good person. I get that he had been using Oliver to do the heavy stuff while he led, but he really needs to learn to stand on his own. I don't know if we've seen the last of the Bratva or not, but it seems like we very well might have because they were not happy when Oliver decided to try and stop them.
I am glad that Diggle kept trying to get through to Oliver. Oliver definitely needed to have his tree shaken a bit and Diggle did a good job of that. I am also glad that the team figured out a way to how that Adrian Chase is Prometheus. What they couldn't have foreseen was his figuring out what happened and killing the marshals guarding him. This is not going to be pretty.
I am seriously worried that the hackers know who everyone is because they can now do some serious damage to the team. Hopefully Felicity and Curtis can figure out a way to mitigate any damage, but I am not hopeful on that score.
Be back on the 26th, so until then!
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
My Review of The Fosters 4.18- Dirty Laundry
Things start to come out as Lena get stressed by everyone's requests, Callie goes on a road trip with Aaron, and Jude makes a surprising decision after more bullying....
Poor Lena. She had so many people come to her tonight to get help or advice and she is having her own troubles on top of everything else. I did giggle through that entire awkward conversation with Jesus and Emma about them having sex, what positions they used, and how they should have it for the foreseeable future. She was so embarrassed to be having that conversation with them. The funniest part is that they didn't seem embarrassed at all. That's good that they can talk with her openly about sex, but watching her be so uncomfortable was definitely amusing. It was also really nice to see her and Stef using some of those techniques they learned in therapy to work through everything. I think I was most impressed that Stef was the one who initiated that particular conversation.
Speaking of Stef, she now knows about The Letter. I really, really hope that she talks with Brandon first since she found it in his pants. If she talks with Jesus, who has no clue what it says, and it slips out that Brandon knew about the letter, things will get ugly. To be fair to Emma, she did try, several times, to tell Jesus that she had been pregnant, but he never really let her say anything. And it really isn't Brandon's place to talk about The Letter, so there's that. But it will still get ugly.
As for Jesus, it is good that he can read again. I am just worried since he has decided to not take the pills since they seem to be affecting his sex drive. I get that he has a beautiful girl and wants to have sex with her, but taking those pills is so much more important than getting laid.
Then there is Jude. I wish I could say that I was really surprised that he decided to bully the bully, but I am not. He's changed a lot from the sweet kid we were introduced to in the first couple of episodes. In this case, I can't exactly blame him for wanting to get revenge. That student has been being a complete ass and wanting to get revenge is a very human thing. Posting a bad grade all around school was definitely going too far, but it did put him and Noah in the position to hear Drew and some other guy talk about turning Anchor Beach into a private school. If only there is some way they can tell Lena about this without revealing how they found out.
I am so proud of Callie. Standing up to Aaron's parents after the way they were treating him was absolutely the right thing to do. I get why he was upset, but he was being emotionally abused and completely (and purposefully) misgendered, which is also a form of abuse. I appreciate that he wanted to visit his dad on his birthday, but I do think he needs to either stand up for himself or stop going home if he is going to be treated that way he was tonight. Hearing them call him "Allison" and "her" and their "daughter" was just completely wrong. He is their son and if they cannot accept that, he needs to cut ties. I know, that is easier said than done, but it needs to happen, if only for his own mental and emotional health. I am not entirely sure what to make of their romance. She just broke up with AJ, so I am not sure that immediately getting into a relationship with Aaron is such a great idea.
I sort of want to slap Mike upside the head for not helping Gabe out. I know he wants to move forward with Anna, but helping out Gabe would have really helped both Mariana and Jesus, so I wish he would have done so. I was very proud of Anna for trying and wish she would have figured out some other way to help Gabe out;. Hopefully, he will be able to stay in the garage for now so that he can help them complete the treehouse.
Until next week!
Poor Lena. She had so many people come to her tonight to get help or advice and she is having her own troubles on top of everything else. I did giggle through that entire awkward conversation with Jesus and Emma about them having sex, what positions they used, and how they should have it for the foreseeable future. She was so embarrassed to be having that conversation with them. The funniest part is that they didn't seem embarrassed at all. That's good that they can talk with her openly about sex, but watching her be so uncomfortable was definitely amusing. It was also really nice to see her and Stef using some of those techniques they learned in therapy to work through everything. I think I was most impressed that Stef was the one who initiated that particular conversation.
Speaking of Stef, she now knows about The Letter. I really, really hope that she talks with Brandon first since she found it in his pants. If she talks with Jesus, who has no clue what it says, and it slips out that Brandon knew about the letter, things will get ugly. To be fair to Emma, she did try, several times, to tell Jesus that she had been pregnant, but he never really let her say anything. And it really isn't Brandon's place to talk about The Letter, so there's that. But it will still get ugly.
As for Jesus, it is good that he can read again. I am just worried since he has decided to not take the pills since they seem to be affecting his sex drive. I get that he has a beautiful girl and wants to have sex with her, but taking those pills is so much more important than getting laid.
Then there is Jude. I wish I could say that I was really surprised that he decided to bully the bully, but I am not. He's changed a lot from the sweet kid we were introduced to in the first couple of episodes. In this case, I can't exactly blame him for wanting to get revenge. That student has been being a complete ass and wanting to get revenge is a very human thing. Posting a bad grade all around school was definitely going too far, but it did put him and Noah in the position to hear Drew and some other guy talk about turning Anchor Beach into a private school. If only there is some way they can tell Lena about this without revealing how they found out.
I am so proud of Callie. Standing up to Aaron's parents after the way they were treating him was absolutely the right thing to do. I get why he was upset, but he was being emotionally abused and completely (and purposefully) misgendered, which is also a form of abuse. I appreciate that he wanted to visit his dad on his birthday, but I do think he needs to either stand up for himself or stop going home if he is going to be treated that way he was tonight. Hearing them call him "Allison" and "her" and their "daughter" was just completely wrong. He is their son and if they cannot accept that, he needs to cut ties. I know, that is easier said than done, but it needs to happen, if only for his own mental and emotional health. I am not entirely sure what to make of their romance. She just broke up with AJ, so I am not sure that immediately getting into a relationship with Aaron is such a great idea.
I sort of want to slap Mike upside the head for not helping Gabe out. I know he wants to move forward with Anna, but helping out Gabe would have really helped both Mariana and Jesus, so I wish he would have done so. I was very proud of Anna for trying and wish she would have figured out some other way to help Gabe out;. Hopefully, he will be able to stay in the garage for now so that he can help them complete the treehouse.
Until next week!
My Review of The Flash 3.18- Abra Kadabra
Barry and the gang confront a villain from the future and Barry learns the wrong lessons while Julian makes a decision after something happens to Caitlin...
Time travel? Again? Barry, this cannot be a good idea. Yes, you may have opponents from the future, but haven't we figured out that time travel is just a bad idea? After all, what if he had made the decision before to time travel? Then Savitar would be expecting him to do so and would be prepared to stop him. Sorry, but this has horrible idea and potential disaster written all over it. I'm just thinking that maybe Barry should try something else first. After all, messing with time is what got us in the current predicament in the first place. Traveling to fix it? Oy!
As for Abra Kadabra, if Gypsy hadn't interfered with what Joe was doing, it is entirely possible that we would know who Savitar is. And, to be honest, I think what Barry et al should have done was tell Abra that they would free him if he told them who Savitar is and then free him into Gypsy's hands. Nice? No, but it would have helped them stop Savitar and prevent Abra from going around killing people again. I know it is not nice or heroic, but in a case like this, it may have been their best option.
Abra Kadabra was a pretty cool villain. Not my favorite, but still fun to watch. I think my favorite scene was watching Barry and Wally chasing him while Gypsy and Cisco went to different places. Barr's move of phasing through the ship and knocking Abra out that way was particularly cool.
So Caitlin is apparently gone and Killer Frost seems to have reentered the building after Julian removed the necklace that held Frost at bay. While I am totally sympathetic to his reasons for doing so, he did ignore her explicit instructions to not remove the necklace because she would rather die than become Frost again. I do not think she is going to be happy with him now.
Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that my reviews for The Flash have become shorter. That is because the show is definitely losing some of what made it so much fun to write about in the past. The review for last week's musical episode more or less wrote itself, but I have been having trouble writing these otherwise because the show seems to just not be as good as it once was. I will definitely finish reviewing this season, but unless the show takes a dramatic turn for the better, this may be my last season reviewing this show.
Time travel? Again? Barry, this cannot be a good idea. Yes, you may have opponents from the future, but haven't we figured out that time travel is just a bad idea? After all, what if he had made the decision before to time travel? Then Savitar would be expecting him to do so and would be prepared to stop him. Sorry, but this has horrible idea and potential disaster written all over it. I'm just thinking that maybe Barry should try something else first. After all, messing with time is what got us in the current predicament in the first place. Traveling to fix it? Oy!
As for Abra Kadabra, if Gypsy hadn't interfered with what Joe was doing, it is entirely possible that we would know who Savitar is. And, to be honest, I think what Barry et al should have done was tell Abra that they would free him if he told them who Savitar is and then free him into Gypsy's hands. Nice? No, but it would have helped them stop Savitar and prevent Abra from going around killing people again. I know it is not nice or heroic, but in a case like this, it may have been their best option.
Abra Kadabra was a pretty cool villain. Not my favorite, but still fun to watch. I think my favorite scene was watching Barry and Wally chasing him while Gypsy and Cisco went to different places. Barr's move of phasing through the ship and knocking Abra out that way was particularly cool.
So Caitlin is apparently gone and Killer Frost seems to have reentered the building after Julian removed the necklace that held Frost at bay. While I am totally sympathetic to his reasons for doing so, he did ignore her explicit instructions to not remove the necklace because she would rather die than become Frost again. I do not think she is going to be happy with him now.
Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that my reviews for The Flash have become shorter. That is because the show is definitely losing some of what made it so much fun to write about in the past. The review for last week's musical episode more or less wrote itself, but I have been having trouble writing these otherwise because the show seems to just not be as good as it once was. I will definitely finish reviewing this season, but unless the show takes a dramatic turn for the better, this may be my last season reviewing this show.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
My Review of Arrow 5.17- Kapiushon
The show takes a dark turn as Oliver is forced to confront the real reason that he became the Hood....
When I saw things earlier in the week talking about a "game changing" revelation, I wasn't expecting the revelation that we got: Oliver started killing people because he liked killing them and he started using the list as an excuse to keep killing. So he created the persona of the Hood as a way of walling off those dark impulses from the Oliver Queen persona so that he could live with himself. That tells me that Oliver is not some psychopath who gets off on killing, because someone who truly loves killing for the sake of killing wouldn't need to create a whole new persona that way.
Given everything that happened to Oliver on the island, I think he was confronted with situations that he had never seen before and was looking for a way to get back control and power when he had completely lost the control and power he had as the scion of a rich family in Starling City. He also has only ever gone after people who did wrong, so there is that. Ultimately, however, the start of his crusade was rooted not in a desire to do good, but rather a desire to channel these dark impulses he had, which does undermine a lot of the initial good he has done.
All that being said, Oliver has changed a lot over the years. He recognized that giving free rein to the dark impulses of killing was not a good thing, so he turned from them and did start doing things in order to help people in the city. Oliver's conscious decision to turn from the monster the Hood was to become the Arrow and then the Green Arrow shows that he does truly have good intentions in mind now.
My other question lies in wondering why the act of killing felt good to him. Did he enjoy killing for the sake of killing? As I say above, I suspect that the answer is no, otherwise he probably would have been a bit more indiscriminate in his choices of kills. I suspect that he enjoyed killing people who had done wrong because he was able to help people who had been harmed and punish people who would not otherwise have been punished. Does that make the killings right? No, but it does make them a little less horrific.
Obviously, the rest of the season is going to be spent figuring out how Oliver can reconcile these dark impulses with his current set of morals and practices. I am curious about how the rest of the team will react when Oliver (or Chase) reveals this information. And I wonder how long Oliver's decision to quit being the Green Arrow will last. I suspect not long at all, unless he wants to start confronting Chase as Oliver Queen openly, which would not be a good idea.
Until next week!
When I saw things earlier in the week talking about a "game changing" revelation, I wasn't expecting the revelation that we got: Oliver started killing people because he liked killing them and he started using the list as an excuse to keep killing. So he created the persona of the Hood as a way of walling off those dark impulses from the Oliver Queen persona so that he could live with himself. That tells me that Oliver is not some psychopath who gets off on killing, because someone who truly loves killing for the sake of killing wouldn't need to create a whole new persona that way.
Given everything that happened to Oliver on the island, I think he was confronted with situations that he had never seen before and was looking for a way to get back control and power when he had completely lost the control and power he had as the scion of a rich family in Starling City. He also has only ever gone after people who did wrong, so there is that. Ultimately, however, the start of his crusade was rooted not in a desire to do good, but rather a desire to channel these dark impulses he had, which does undermine a lot of the initial good he has done.
All that being said, Oliver has changed a lot over the years. He recognized that giving free rein to the dark impulses of killing was not a good thing, so he turned from them and did start doing things in order to help people in the city. Oliver's conscious decision to turn from the monster the Hood was to become the Arrow and then the Green Arrow shows that he does truly have good intentions in mind now.
My other question lies in wondering why the act of killing felt good to him. Did he enjoy killing for the sake of killing? As I say above, I suspect that the answer is no, otherwise he probably would have been a bit more indiscriminate in his choices of kills. I suspect that he enjoyed killing people who had done wrong because he was able to help people who had been harmed and punish people who would not otherwise have been punished. Does that make the killings right? No, but it does make them a little less horrific.
Obviously, the rest of the season is going to be spent figuring out how Oliver can reconcile these dark impulses with his current set of morals and practices. I am curious about how the rest of the team will react when Oliver (or Chase) reveals this information. And I wonder how long Oliver's decision to quit being the Green Arrow will last. I suspect not long at all, unless he wants to start confronting Chase as Oliver Queen openly, which would not be a good idea.
Until next week!
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
My Review of The Fosters 4.17- Diamond in the Rough
Mariana decides to help Jesus out, Callie tries to make things better with AJ, Stef handles her first case as a detective in Human Trafficking, and there is fallout from the LGBTQIA sex-ed class...
So Monte is now out of a job. While I wish I could feel worse for her, she has been so all over the place that I am having a hard time finding a lot of sympathy. That being said, I wouldn't wish what happened to her on anyone. As I said last week, the LGBTQIA sex-ed class was totally needed and I think that permission slips shouldn't have ever been required since it wasn't a school activity. Drew using this as a method to push Monte out the door so he could take over as principal speaks to a total lack of principles on his part. If Monte had not required the permission slips, this all could have been avoided since the event was outside of school hours and not on school property. I just worry what this means for Lena and for the school. Drew does not seem like a very good or decent guy, so I am very worried now.
While I love that Mariana wants to make Jesus feel better, I'm not sure lying to him about the project was the best option. At least, I assume she is lying because the last thing we heard was the Drew had turned the idea down. I guess she could have taken the project on as her own, but without further proof, I don't think she did. My issue with the lying is that Jesus will have a bad reaction when it comes out that she lied. I personally have no problems with the occasional well-intentioned white lie, they can be problematic when the fact comes out that there was a lie. While Jesus can get better (at least partially, not sure about fully), he may need to end up staying back a year. As hard as being kept back a year will be for him, I think taking classes that are beyond what he can handle will be even more discouraging for him.
I cannot say I am fond of AJ right now. While I get that Callie can be a lot to handle, AJ knew how she can be before he started dating her. When she is convinced that she is right or that there is an injustice, Callie will stop at nothing to make sure things work out. It does lead her to do stupid things occasionally, but it is not like AJ didn't know that already. So by cheating on her with another girl and then basically blaming her because it's "too hard" to be with her, AJ is just being a jackass. I'm not saying that he doesn't love her, but I can't say he does either. All I can say is that he thinks he does, but his actions sure don't seem to reflect it.
Stef did a good thing, putting Diamond in GU, but I was a little surprised that people weren't being more careful around her. I know she asked for help, but she was clearly reluctant to turn on her pimp and everyone in that group has been around (or have been!) girls who excel at the sneakiness, so you'd think they would see the signs. I also know that GU has the whole, "We trust you until you give us a reason not to" thing going, so that might be part of it. I love that Daphnae is working for GU now. It was really, really cool to see her story come full circle that way. I don't ever remember hearing if she got her daughter back, so I wonder if she did. Because she has seriously pulled her life together now and she has shown that she really wants to be a mother, so I hope she got a shot at it.
Until next week!
So Monte is now out of a job. While I wish I could feel worse for her, she has been so all over the place that I am having a hard time finding a lot of sympathy. That being said, I wouldn't wish what happened to her on anyone. As I said last week, the LGBTQIA sex-ed class was totally needed and I think that permission slips shouldn't have ever been required since it wasn't a school activity. Drew using this as a method to push Monte out the door so he could take over as principal speaks to a total lack of principles on his part. If Monte had not required the permission slips, this all could have been avoided since the event was outside of school hours and not on school property. I just worry what this means for Lena and for the school. Drew does not seem like a very good or decent guy, so I am very worried now.
While I love that Mariana wants to make Jesus feel better, I'm not sure lying to him about the project was the best option. At least, I assume she is lying because the last thing we heard was the Drew had turned the idea down. I guess she could have taken the project on as her own, but without further proof, I don't think she did. My issue with the lying is that Jesus will have a bad reaction when it comes out that she lied. I personally have no problems with the occasional well-intentioned white lie, they can be problematic when the fact comes out that there was a lie. While Jesus can get better (at least partially, not sure about fully), he may need to end up staying back a year. As hard as being kept back a year will be for him, I think taking classes that are beyond what he can handle will be even more discouraging for him.
I cannot say I am fond of AJ right now. While I get that Callie can be a lot to handle, AJ knew how she can be before he started dating her. When she is convinced that she is right or that there is an injustice, Callie will stop at nothing to make sure things work out. It does lead her to do stupid things occasionally, but it is not like AJ didn't know that already. So by cheating on her with another girl and then basically blaming her because it's "too hard" to be with her, AJ is just being a jackass. I'm not saying that he doesn't love her, but I can't say he does either. All I can say is that he thinks he does, but his actions sure don't seem to reflect it.
Stef did a good thing, putting Diamond in GU, but I was a little surprised that people weren't being more careful around her. I know she asked for help, but she was clearly reluctant to turn on her pimp and everyone in that group has been around (or have been!) girls who excel at the sneakiness, so you'd think they would see the signs. I also know that GU has the whole, "We trust you until you give us a reason not to" thing going, so that might be part of it. I love that Daphnae is working for GU now. It was really, really cool to see her story come full circle that way. I don't ever remember hearing if she got her daughter back, so I wonder if she did. Because she has seriously pulled her life together now and she has shown that she really wants to be a mother, so I hope she got a shot at it.
Until next week!
My Review of The Flash 3.17- Duet
An aptly titled and very, very fun episode where our protagonists sing their way through their thoughts and recent actions....
This was an excellent and totally fun episode to watch. Everyone was at the top of their game and they had great singers on these casts. I had heard Jesse, Victor, John, Grant, Melissa, and Darren sing before, and I knew that Jeremy was good because he has a musical theater background, but I didn't realize how good Carlos was. The episode was fun, cheesy (in the best possible way), and a total blast. You could tell that everyone was having a grand old time, which made it that much better,
I think my favorite song was the "Superfriends" duet with Grant and Melissa. The two of them play off of each other magnificently and the lyrics were totally spot on. Melissa's rendition of "Moon River was gorgeous as was the original solo Grant had at the end. Listening to Victor, Jesse, and John sing "More I Cannot Wish for You" together was tremendous as was the quartet of Darren, Jeremy, Carlos, and John singing "Put a Little Love in Your Heart".
As terribly cheesy as it was to have the Music Meister basically be a twisted fairy godmother type character for Kara and Barry, it fit in perfectly with the episode. Barry and Kara both needed some perspective about their love lives and that is what the Music Meister gave them. Like I said, it was twisted, but also perfect. Seeing how they needed the fathers to look at why their kids were doing what they were doing allowed both Barry and Kara to get some much needed insight about how they have been screwing things up. Kara's anger towards Mon-El about his lies is totally understandable, but she never really thought about why he lied. And Barry needed to see that while his actions may have been a bit misguided, he needs to do what he can to keep the love around in his life.
Another total highlight was when Barry was imitating Superman during his duet with Kara. That was really funny and was something that Kara needed to hear. She is often being compared to Superman, so having someone appreciate her for being her (and saying so outright) was really good for her to hear.
As far as overall storylines movement goes, there was not a lot that happened tonight. It was mainly a chance for the gangs to stop and reflect on what has happened and where they need to go from here. Barry and Iris are engaged again and this time it seems that it will stick. Wally had the chance to work out a little of his fear about what happened to him in the Speed Force. That is an area where HR really sowed his value to the team. He may not be the scientific genius that either of the other Wells' were, but he is really good at figuring out how to mentor and help people be what they can be, and that is what Wally needs. I also loved Cisco's reaction to seeing J'onn's Martian form. And the triple team of Cisco, Kid Flash, and the Martian Manhunter on the Music Meister was also really cool to see.
My sole annoyance is that this was announced months ago as a musical crossover with the implication being that both episodes would be musicals. So when there was no crossover or anything last night, I was a little annoyed. I think that is a problem that they need to work on. It seems that when crosssovers happen with Supergirl, the Supergirl episode is only ever peripherally involved in the crossover itself. I guess it probably has to do with Supergirl being on a different earth, but if they could integrate the show better into crossovers, that would be awesome. That being said, this was an awesome episode, so this complaint is not that major.
Until next week!
This was an excellent and totally fun episode to watch. Everyone was at the top of their game and they had great singers on these casts. I had heard Jesse, Victor, John, Grant, Melissa, and Darren sing before, and I knew that Jeremy was good because he has a musical theater background, but I didn't realize how good Carlos was. The episode was fun, cheesy (in the best possible way), and a total blast. You could tell that everyone was having a grand old time, which made it that much better,
I think my favorite song was the "Superfriends" duet with Grant and Melissa. The two of them play off of each other magnificently and the lyrics were totally spot on. Melissa's rendition of "Moon River was gorgeous as was the original solo Grant had at the end. Listening to Victor, Jesse, and John sing "More I Cannot Wish for You" together was tremendous as was the quartet of Darren, Jeremy, Carlos, and John singing "Put a Little Love in Your Heart".
As terribly cheesy as it was to have the Music Meister basically be a twisted fairy godmother type character for Kara and Barry, it fit in perfectly with the episode. Barry and Kara both needed some perspective about their love lives and that is what the Music Meister gave them. Like I said, it was twisted, but also perfect. Seeing how they needed the fathers to look at why their kids were doing what they were doing allowed both Barry and Kara to get some much needed insight about how they have been screwing things up. Kara's anger towards Mon-El about his lies is totally understandable, but she never really thought about why he lied. And Barry needed to see that while his actions may have been a bit misguided, he needs to do what he can to keep the love around in his life.
Another total highlight was when Barry was imitating Superman during his duet with Kara. That was really funny and was something that Kara needed to hear. She is often being compared to Superman, so having someone appreciate her for being her (and saying so outright) was really good for her to hear.
As far as overall storylines movement goes, there was not a lot that happened tonight. It was mainly a chance for the gangs to stop and reflect on what has happened and where they need to go from here. Barry and Iris are engaged again and this time it seems that it will stick. Wally had the chance to work out a little of his fear about what happened to him in the Speed Force. That is an area where HR really sowed his value to the team. He may not be the scientific genius that either of the other Wells' were, but he is really good at figuring out how to mentor and help people be what they can be, and that is what Wally needs. I also loved Cisco's reaction to seeing J'onn's Martian form. And the triple team of Cisco, Kid Flash, and the Martian Manhunter on the Music Meister was also really cool to see.
My sole annoyance is that this was announced months ago as a musical crossover with the implication being that both episodes would be musicals. So when there was no crossover or anything last night, I was a little annoyed. I think that is a problem that they need to work on. It seems that when crosssovers happen with Supergirl, the Supergirl episode is only ever peripherally involved in the crossover itself. I guess it probably has to do with Supergirl being on a different earth, but if they could integrate the show better into crossovers, that would be awesome. That being said, this was an awesome episode, so this complaint is not that major.
Until next week!
Thursday, March 16, 2017
My Review of Arrow 5.16- Checkmate
Oliver finds out the identity of Prometheus which sends shockwaves through the team and Felicity continues to work with the hackers...
Oliver's day officially sucked. First, he finds out that Talia is Ra's al Ghul's daughter and that she trained Adrian (aka Prometheus) because Oliver killed her dad. So now he has another major enemy out to get him. And both are determined to make him suffer, not to kill him. While I think that Oliver could defeat Adrian on his own, trying to defeat both Adrian and Talia might prove to be awfully difficult. If he had Nyssa with him, it would greatly increase his odds of winning. It is possible that the rest of the group could take on Talia while Oliver fights Prometheus, but I don't know if they could take her. Malcolm won't help out and Sara is off with the Legends, so Nyssa is the only person not working with the group right now who would be able to take on Talia or Prometheus.
I can't say that I was shocked that Adrian stabbed his wife or that Oliver had Diggle bring her to the confrontation. When Oliver said that Adrian had a weakness, his wife was the only logical option. And Adrian is determined enough to kill his wife to make sure that he can take Oliver down. While it did throw him off, I am not sure that it was a good idea for Oliver to bring her along. Yes, she was Adrian's one weakness, but there was a seriously high probability that she would be killed, so bringing her along was not good.
Felicity really needs to be careful where Helix is concerned. I get that they have lots of information and can really help her out, but she is doing some seriously shady stuff for them. Without having the whole picture about why they wanted her to do what she did to the drone, it is hard to say much else. Just be careful and make sure that she protects herself. I have a feeling that this group could turn on her really, really quickly if she doesn't do what they want. Not good, not good at all.
The rest of the team is obviously in shock from the news about Prometheus. The problem is that there is not really anything they can do to stop him, particularly since there is nothing publicly linking Adrian and Prometheus. With the captain now in a coma after Adrian attacked him, there is not a whole lot anyone can do. And now Adrian and Talia have Oliver, with Adrian saying that he is going to help Oliver get to know himself. So very, very bad.
Watching Oliver's first go as the Hood in Russia was sort of interesting. You can see the moves he used in the first season are all there. He kills people without compunction and has a singular focus. My big question is how Oliver gets from Russia back to Lian Yu. Does he have a falling otu with Anatoly or does he go back willingly?
Until next week!
Oliver's day officially sucked. First, he finds out that Talia is Ra's al Ghul's daughter and that she trained Adrian (aka Prometheus) because Oliver killed her dad. So now he has another major enemy out to get him. And both are determined to make him suffer, not to kill him. While I think that Oliver could defeat Adrian on his own, trying to defeat both Adrian and Talia might prove to be awfully difficult. If he had Nyssa with him, it would greatly increase his odds of winning. It is possible that the rest of the group could take on Talia while Oliver fights Prometheus, but I don't know if they could take her. Malcolm won't help out and Sara is off with the Legends, so Nyssa is the only person not working with the group right now who would be able to take on Talia or Prometheus.
I can't say that I was shocked that Adrian stabbed his wife or that Oliver had Diggle bring her to the confrontation. When Oliver said that Adrian had a weakness, his wife was the only logical option. And Adrian is determined enough to kill his wife to make sure that he can take Oliver down. While it did throw him off, I am not sure that it was a good idea for Oliver to bring her along. Yes, she was Adrian's one weakness, but there was a seriously high probability that she would be killed, so bringing her along was not good.
Felicity really needs to be careful where Helix is concerned. I get that they have lots of information and can really help her out, but she is doing some seriously shady stuff for them. Without having the whole picture about why they wanted her to do what she did to the drone, it is hard to say much else. Just be careful and make sure that she protects herself. I have a feeling that this group could turn on her really, really quickly if she doesn't do what they want. Not good, not good at all.
The rest of the team is obviously in shock from the news about Prometheus. The problem is that there is not really anything they can do to stop him, particularly since there is nothing publicly linking Adrian and Prometheus. With the captain now in a coma after Adrian attacked him, there is not a whole lot anyone can do. And now Adrian and Talia have Oliver, with Adrian saying that he is going to help Oliver get to know himself. So very, very bad.
Watching Oliver's first go as the Hood in Russia was sort of interesting. You can see the moves he used in the first season are all there. He kills people without compunction and has a singular focus. My big question is how Oliver gets from Russia back to Lian Yu. Does he have a falling otu with Anatoly or does he go back willingly?
Until next week!
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
My Review of The Fosters 4.16- The Long Haul
Callie continues to dig herself in deeper, Stef's mom has a surprise for Stef, Jude is teased because of the LGBTQIA sex-ed class, Emma write a letter to Jesus, and there's a wedding....
Let's start with the sex-ed course. While one part of me sympathizes with the need to have parents sign off on their kids learning about sex-ed, most of me thinks that it is just a horrible idea. The whole idea of needing permission to learn about sex is rooted in the false ideas that sex is nothing that should not be talked about and that teaching someone about sex is tantamount to encouraging them to have sex. Americans are far to puritanical about sex. While I am not saying that we should all be having sex in the streets, sex is a natural and wonderful thing, not something to be ashamed of. Far too often, the people who need to learn about sex the most are the people who don't learn about it at all. Because of the fact that we have so intertwined sex and religion, we have made something which should be commonsense into a part of a larger cultural war.
I get that people have religious feelings about sex, but there are times where the religious views of the parents need to be overridden, and this is one of them. Not teaching a kid about sex merely makes them more curious about it and causes them to be ashamed of it. Trust me, I grew up that way. I was made to feel that sex (and my attraction to men) was something to be ashamed of. I never had sex-ed, so I had to learn everything on my own, which is not ideal at all. And Lena is right, what do you do when there are kids who need to learn about sex, but can't because their parents make them feel afraid or uncomfortable? In a situation where the child's mental, emotional, or physical health is in danger, any parental rights are null and void. The life of the child must take precedence. Unfortunately, given the society we live in, Lena is going to get in trouble for teaching kids without parental consent. Whether or not what she did was technically legal, it was absolutely the right thing to do.
You do have to feel sorry for Jude who was on the receiving end of some almost bullying. Given the direction he's been going, I wonder how much longer until he snaps. He's a good kid, but even the best can only take so much before snapping. And if kids continue to go after him, I am betting he'll snap soon, particularly given everything that is going on with Callie.
And speaking of Callie, she really needs to back off. I totally get where she is coming from, but she is coming seriously close to stalking Troy now. Between going to his place of work and then having Mariana Facebook-friend his girlfriend/alibi, this is not going well. I can't blame AJ for being upset with her. What she really needs to do is take any concerns she has to Stef and then completely back away, otherwise Troy can probably use these things against her in court. And given their comparative records, I have little doubt that she would end up the loser in that situation.
I was glad that Emma wrote that letter to tell Jesus what happened to her. Unfortunately, he can't read right now, so he had his grandma read it instead. Was keeping the fact that Emma was pregnant and had an abortion from Jesus a good thing? Given the fact that she didn't know he is unable to read now, the decision made sense since, presumably, he would read the letter, particularly after she urged him to do so. Now that both Emma and Brandon know he can't read, someone absolutely has to tell him. This is so going to suck for everyone involved. And if Stef and Lena find out? Who knows what will happen then. I know they won't get too upset at Emma, but would they feel compelled to tell her parents? Or would Lena decide that she doesn't have to because Emma was afraid to tell them on her own? I guess that will depend on the fallout from the lack of parental permission forms for the sex-ed class.
I loved the remarriage of Stef and Lena. Their vows were simple and beautiful. That was one of the best TV weddings that I've ever seen.
Until next week!
Let's start with the sex-ed course. While one part of me sympathizes with the need to have parents sign off on their kids learning about sex-ed, most of me thinks that it is just a horrible idea. The whole idea of needing permission to learn about sex is rooted in the false ideas that sex is nothing that should not be talked about and that teaching someone about sex is tantamount to encouraging them to have sex. Americans are far to puritanical about sex. While I am not saying that we should all be having sex in the streets, sex is a natural and wonderful thing, not something to be ashamed of. Far too often, the people who need to learn about sex the most are the people who don't learn about it at all. Because of the fact that we have so intertwined sex and religion, we have made something which should be commonsense into a part of a larger cultural war.
I get that people have religious feelings about sex, but there are times where the religious views of the parents need to be overridden, and this is one of them. Not teaching a kid about sex merely makes them more curious about it and causes them to be ashamed of it. Trust me, I grew up that way. I was made to feel that sex (and my attraction to men) was something to be ashamed of. I never had sex-ed, so I had to learn everything on my own, which is not ideal at all. And Lena is right, what do you do when there are kids who need to learn about sex, but can't because their parents make them feel afraid or uncomfortable? In a situation where the child's mental, emotional, or physical health is in danger, any parental rights are null and void. The life of the child must take precedence. Unfortunately, given the society we live in, Lena is going to get in trouble for teaching kids without parental consent. Whether or not what she did was technically legal, it was absolutely the right thing to do.
You do have to feel sorry for Jude who was on the receiving end of some almost bullying. Given the direction he's been going, I wonder how much longer until he snaps. He's a good kid, but even the best can only take so much before snapping. And if kids continue to go after him, I am betting he'll snap soon, particularly given everything that is going on with Callie.
And speaking of Callie, she really needs to back off. I totally get where she is coming from, but she is coming seriously close to stalking Troy now. Between going to his place of work and then having Mariana Facebook-friend his girlfriend/alibi, this is not going well. I can't blame AJ for being upset with her. What she really needs to do is take any concerns she has to Stef and then completely back away, otherwise Troy can probably use these things against her in court. And given their comparative records, I have little doubt that she would end up the loser in that situation.
I was glad that Emma wrote that letter to tell Jesus what happened to her. Unfortunately, he can't read right now, so he had his grandma read it instead. Was keeping the fact that Emma was pregnant and had an abortion from Jesus a good thing? Given the fact that she didn't know he is unable to read now, the decision made sense since, presumably, he would read the letter, particularly after she urged him to do so. Now that both Emma and Brandon know he can't read, someone absolutely has to tell him. This is so going to suck for everyone involved. And if Stef and Lena find out? Who knows what will happen then. I know they won't get too upset at Emma, but would they feel compelled to tell her parents? Or would Lena decide that she doesn't have to because Emma was afraid to tell them on her own? I guess that will depend on the fallout from the lack of parental permission forms for the sex-ed class.
I loved the remarriage of Stef and Lena. Their vows were simple and beautiful. That was one of the best TV weddings that I've ever seen.
Until next week!
My Review of The Flash 3.16- Into the Speed Force
Barry goes into the Speed Force to rescue Wally and meets a few unexpected people while Jessie stays behind to protect Earth...
Let's start with Jessie. I can't say I was surprised at how stubborn she was about wanting to confront Savitar, but I was a a little surprised to hear them think that they were facing a literal deity. I had assumed that they would have realized that he was not a literal deity, otherwise how could he have been trapped in the Speed Force and why would he have armor? And don't forget that both Barry and Jay have fought Savitar and at some point. So the idea that HR's inspiration to attack Savitar was somehow completely revelatory struck me as being really weird.
As for Barry, here's hoping he learned the right lessons from the Speed Force. While I get the he does need to take responsibility for his own actions, I'm not sure not getting back together with Iris was the right decision. If he just needs the time to reflect on what happened in the Speed Force, cool. Maybe he wants to see if by setting Iris aside he can save her from Savitar. At this point, who knows?
I did like that all three people who Barry saw in the Speed Force were people inspired to do something good because of him. Eddie killed himself to prevent Eobard from killing Barry. Ronnie sacrificed himself to close the vortex that linked Earths 1 and 2. And Snart sacrificed himself because he wanted to imitate Barry and help other people. Barry has also inspired the people closest to him to be the best people that they can be. Does Barry always live up to his potential? Nope. But he does always try and that is the important part. Barry makes stupid decisions (i.e. saving his mom) that end up having ramifications that are far beyond what he could hav imagined. I truly believe that he does not quite grasp how much power he truly has, so he make bad choices and doesn't think his actions through. When he does, he makes good choices. When he acts rashly is when he tends to screw things up.
I think the question we really want answered is: Who is Savitar? The one thing we know for sure is that Savitar is a speedster and is human. I think it is probably safe to say that Savitar is probably one of the speedsters we have already met, meaning that Barry, Wally, Jessie, or Jay is probably Savitar. It could be Hunter Zolomon, but I sort of doubt it since he was revealed to have been Zoom last season. Yes, Savitar could be a completely different speedster who we will meet (again) at some future point, but I am suspecting that this is not the case. There really is no way to try and say who it is because there haven't really been any clues yet. All we know is that Savitar hates Barry's guts, was trapped in the Speed Force, and claims to be the first speedster. Hopefully we'll find ouit relatively soon, because there aren't a lot of episodes left.
Next week is the musical episode. See you then!
Let's start with Jessie. I can't say I was surprised at how stubborn she was about wanting to confront Savitar, but I was a a little surprised to hear them think that they were facing a literal deity. I had assumed that they would have realized that he was not a literal deity, otherwise how could he have been trapped in the Speed Force and why would he have armor? And don't forget that both Barry and Jay have fought Savitar and at some point. So the idea that HR's inspiration to attack Savitar was somehow completely revelatory struck me as being really weird.
As for Barry, here's hoping he learned the right lessons from the Speed Force. While I get the he does need to take responsibility for his own actions, I'm not sure not getting back together with Iris was the right decision. If he just needs the time to reflect on what happened in the Speed Force, cool. Maybe he wants to see if by setting Iris aside he can save her from Savitar. At this point, who knows?
I did like that all three people who Barry saw in the Speed Force were people inspired to do something good because of him. Eddie killed himself to prevent Eobard from killing Barry. Ronnie sacrificed himself to close the vortex that linked Earths 1 and 2. And Snart sacrificed himself because he wanted to imitate Barry and help other people. Barry has also inspired the people closest to him to be the best people that they can be. Does Barry always live up to his potential? Nope. But he does always try and that is the important part. Barry makes stupid decisions (i.e. saving his mom) that end up having ramifications that are far beyond what he could hav imagined. I truly believe that he does not quite grasp how much power he truly has, so he make bad choices and doesn't think his actions through. When he does, he makes good choices. When he acts rashly is when he tends to screw things up.
I think the question we really want answered is: Who is Savitar? The one thing we know for sure is that Savitar is a speedster and is human. I think it is probably safe to say that Savitar is probably one of the speedsters we have already met, meaning that Barry, Wally, Jessie, or Jay is probably Savitar. It could be Hunter Zolomon, but I sort of doubt it since he was revealed to have been Zoom last season. Yes, Savitar could be a completely different speedster who we will meet (again) at some future point, but I am suspecting that this is not the case. There really is no way to try and say who it is because there haven't really been any clues yet. All we know is that Savitar hates Barry's guts, was trapped in the Speed Force, and claims to be the first speedster. Hopefully we'll find ouit relatively soon, because there aren't a lot of episodes left.
Next week is the musical episode. See you then!
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Some Final Thoughts about The Vampire Diaries
I reviewed this show from the first episode of season 3 until the fifth episode of this season. For the first few seasons, TVD was must-watch TV for me. It wasn't perfect, but it was fun, twisty, and constantly surprising. I think the show definitely peaked in seasons 2 and 3 with the arrival of the Mikaelsons and everything that came along with them. Seasons 4 and 5 were good and then season 6 return the show to top form with the arrival of the best villain since Klaus Mikaelson: Kai Parker. After that, it was all downhill. While Season 8 did get better int he last couple of episodes, it really wasn't enough to save the season.
One problem that I've always had with this show is that they never really focused enough on some of the characters. The central characters were always the Salvatores, Elena, and Caroline. Bonnie got uneven amount of attention while Matt was criminally underused, Jeremy became whatever was needed by the story, and Tyler was just there. If any of these four ever had a storyline, it was never about them, but was rather about moving the story of the central 4 forward. Maybe that isn't a horrible thing, but it always bugged me. All four of these characters could (and were) gone for long stretches and nothing seemed to be adversely affected, which is just sad.
My other problem with the show was that they kept repeating the same stories where Damon would go off the rails and Stefan would sacrifice to save him leading Damon to do something drastic to bring Stefan back. And yes, I do realize that other shows do something similar, but at least those shows always did something to keep it from feeling like a stale retread of the same story. TVD never seemed to catch onto how to do that. I also think the show never recovered from the loss of Elena. While her presence drove much of what happened in the last two seasons, not having her there definitely hurt the show.
As for the finale, while I did enjoy most of it, there were some glaring problems. Well, one really. If the Salvatores were really trying to save Mystic Falls, why not just grab Vicki and lock her away somewhere while they dealt with Katherine? Since neither Matt nor his father were likely to ring the bell, keeping Vicki locked away would have kept the town safe and would have negated the need for some of the sacrifices that were made. I know that my way entails less drama, but it was super obvious what they should have done which made the episode that much less enjoyable.
All that being said, I am glad I watched this show. The first few amazing years were probably some of my favorite years of TV. Those were the first time I was consistently surprised by a show and what it would do. Killing Vicki int he middle of season 1 and then killing Jenna at the end of season 2 really drove the point home that very few people were actually safe on this show. And that made for some good and anxious tv episodes. There were also some amazing couples who I just loved, especially Klaus/Caroline and Jeremy/Bonnie. There were also some interesting pairings hinted at such as Elena and Elijah.
Overall, I did enjoy the show, I just really wish they had kept the quality up in the last couple of seasons. While they weren't the worst episodes ever, they definitely were nowhere near as good as the first couple of seasons (and Season 6). Will I miss the show? Sure. Will I mourn its end? Sorry, but no.
One problem that I've always had with this show is that they never really focused enough on some of the characters. The central characters were always the Salvatores, Elena, and Caroline. Bonnie got uneven amount of attention while Matt was criminally underused, Jeremy became whatever was needed by the story, and Tyler was just there. If any of these four ever had a storyline, it was never about them, but was rather about moving the story of the central 4 forward. Maybe that isn't a horrible thing, but it always bugged me. All four of these characters could (and were) gone for long stretches and nothing seemed to be adversely affected, which is just sad.
My other problem with the show was that they kept repeating the same stories where Damon would go off the rails and Stefan would sacrifice to save him leading Damon to do something drastic to bring Stefan back. And yes, I do realize that other shows do something similar, but at least those shows always did something to keep it from feeling like a stale retread of the same story. TVD never seemed to catch onto how to do that. I also think the show never recovered from the loss of Elena. While her presence drove much of what happened in the last two seasons, not having her there definitely hurt the show.
As for the finale, while I did enjoy most of it, there were some glaring problems. Well, one really. If the Salvatores were really trying to save Mystic Falls, why not just grab Vicki and lock her away somewhere while they dealt with Katherine? Since neither Matt nor his father were likely to ring the bell, keeping Vicki locked away would have kept the town safe and would have negated the need for some of the sacrifices that were made. I know that my way entails less drama, but it was super obvious what they should have done which made the episode that much less enjoyable.
All that being said, I am glad I watched this show. The first few amazing years were probably some of my favorite years of TV. Those were the first time I was consistently surprised by a show and what it would do. Killing Vicki int he middle of season 1 and then killing Jenna at the end of season 2 really drove the point home that very few people were actually safe on this show. And that made for some good and anxious tv episodes. There were also some amazing couples who I just loved, especially Klaus/Caroline and Jeremy/Bonnie. There were also some interesting pairings hinted at such as Elena and Elijah.
Overall, I did enjoy the show, I just really wish they had kept the quality up in the last couple of seasons. While they weren't the worst episodes ever, they definitely were nowhere near as good as the first couple of seasons (and Season 6). Will I miss the show? Sure. Will I mourn its end? Sorry, but no.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
My Review of The Flash 3.15- The Wrath of Savitar
Savitar makes his move and the team is rocked by revelations from both Barry and Wally...
First, I need to talk about Barry and Iris. While I can sort of understand why she is upset about his timing in asking her to marry him, the whole thing strikes me as a bit overblown. he has always loved her, so the fact that the timing of his asking her to marry him has to do with saving her seems to be very secondary to me. Barry and the gang have been pulling out all the stops to save her, so trying this particular one seems to be a non-issue unless you are looking for a reason to not marry. The question to ask before marrying someone is whether or not you love them and want to spend your life with them. So, yeah, I think that Iris was making a big deal out of nothing.
And I am pissed at Wally for screwing things up. I get that he was upset about Barry benching him, but Barry was absolutely right. Savitar was screwing with Wally's mind, which meant that Wally couldn't be trusted. Would Wally have purposely hurt the gang? No, but as he demonstrated, he could be manipulated into doing tremendous harm. His reason for telling everyone about the lack of ring on Iris' hand was just to get back at Barry, which is a really shitty move. After all, there could be a million reasons for the lack of a ring. It could have fallen off, it could have been being resized, etc. Am I sorry he got sucked into the Speed Force the way he was? Yeah, but what he did to Barry and Iris was just not a good thing to do.
Now that Savitar is loose in the world, things are going to get interesting. I've seen some people speculate that maybe Wally is Savitar. Given how things went down this week, it is possible that when Wally was sucked into the Speed Force, he blamed Barry for what happened and decided to get his revenge. Obviously that is completely unknown at this point, but it is possible. Otherwise, it would seem that we have someone else completely as Savitar. If Wally is Savitar, than that would explain why Wally was targeted: because Savitar knew what Wally would do because he had already done it. And by being stuck in the Speed Force, he could appear at various points in time, hence being called the first speedster.
You had to feel sorry for poor Julian. He got stuck being the voice of Savitar not once, but twice and he was clearly unhappy about it. The gang had better be *really* nice to him from here on out because he keeps doing things to help them after a certain amount of coercion, no matter how gentle it was.
Next week Barry goes into the Speed Force to get Wally and then we hit the musical crossover! Until then!
First, I need to talk about Barry and Iris. While I can sort of understand why she is upset about his timing in asking her to marry him, the whole thing strikes me as a bit overblown. he has always loved her, so the fact that the timing of his asking her to marry him has to do with saving her seems to be very secondary to me. Barry and the gang have been pulling out all the stops to save her, so trying this particular one seems to be a non-issue unless you are looking for a reason to not marry. The question to ask before marrying someone is whether or not you love them and want to spend your life with them. So, yeah, I think that Iris was making a big deal out of nothing.
And I am pissed at Wally for screwing things up. I get that he was upset about Barry benching him, but Barry was absolutely right. Savitar was screwing with Wally's mind, which meant that Wally couldn't be trusted. Would Wally have purposely hurt the gang? No, but as he demonstrated, he could be manipulated into doing tremendous harm. His reason for telling everyone about the lack of ring on Iris' hand was just to get back at Barry, which is a really shitty move. After all, there could be a million reasons for the lack of a ring. It could have fallen off, it could have been being resized, etc. Am I sorry he got sucked into the Speed Force the way he was? Yeah, but what he did to Barry and Iris was just not a good thing to do.
Now that Savitar is loose in the world, things are going to get interesting. I've seen some people speculate that maybe Wally is Savitar. Given how things went down this week, it is possible that when Wally was sucked into the Speed Force, he blamed Barry for what happened and decided to get his revenge. Obviously that is completely unknown at this point, but it is possible. Otherwise, it would seem that we have someone else completely as Savitar. If Wally is Savitar, than that would explain why Wally was targeted: because Savitar knew what Wally would do because he had already done it. And by being stuck in the Speed Force, he could appear at various points in time, hence being called the first speedster.
You had to feel sorry for poor Julian. He got stuck being the voice of Savitar not once, but twice and he was clearly unhappy about it. The gang had better be *really* nice to him from here on out because he keeps doing things to help them after a certain amount of coercion, no matter how gentle it was.
Next week Barry goes into the Speed Force to get Wally and then we hit the musical crossover! Until then!
Thursday, March 2, 2017
My Review of Arrow 5.15- Fighting Fire With Fire
The identity of Prometheus is revealed, the conflict over Susan continues, Oliver's impeachment proceeds, and Oliver makes a surprising move.
So Adrian Chase is Prometheus? That was surprising because I could have sworn they said earlier in the season (in interviews, not on the show) that he was the Vigilante. That definitely threw me for a loop. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a brilliant move, but it still threw me. Now I am wondering who the Vigilante is. I had been making some assumptions because I thought Chase was the Vigilante, but now that we know he is not, I am wondering why the Vigilante does what he does. I can understand the DA wanting to make sure criminals get punished, so him being the Vigilante makes sense. But since he is Prometheus, that amkes the motives of the Vigilante a little murkier. Very intriguing.
While I am totally on board with what Thea and Felicity did to Susan last week, I think their plan to blackmail the one council member was definitely going too far. Last week, they were doing what they had to do to ensure that the Green Arrow could continue to operate and save people. This week, they were only trying to save the skin of the mayor, so the stakes were much lower and such drastic action was not called for. I totally get why they wanted to do it, and I agree to a degree, but it was definitely a different story than last weeks events with Susan and not justified.
Wish I could have said that I was surprised that Paul was divorcing Curtis. Given how heavily they were focusing on the fact that Paul would only call Curtis to forgive him, I knew the opposite was going to happen. Still seriously sucks, but there it is. Curtis' plan to try and make sure that Paul's fears would be assuaged and Curtis could still help the team was pretty good. Unfortunately, Paul never even gave him a chance to lay it all out. Not happy with Paul right now.
I was a little surprised that Oliver threw the Green Arrow under the bus. First the Arrow was framed by R'as in season 3 and now Oliver has thrown the Green Arrow overboard. How many times can he create a new vigilante? Eventually, someone is going to figure out that they are all the same person. While I was not fond of Thea's "throw Malone under the bus" idea, even that was a better plan. Or just tell everyone that Prometheus tricked the Green Arrow by dressing Malone up as him. Explaining that would make the cover-up make more sense. Since the whole thing was an accident, I think the public would be more forgiving. Unfortunately, since Chase is Prometheus, I have no doubt that he has had this whole thing planned out from the beginning.
Until next week!
So Adrian Chase is Prometheus? That was surprising because I could have sworn they said earlier in the season (in interviews, not on the show) that he was the Vigilante. That definitely threw me for a loop. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a brilliant move, but it still threw me. Now I am wondering who the Vigilante is. I had been making some assumptions because I thought Chase was the Vigilante, but now that we know he is not, I am wondering why the Vigilante does what he does. I can understand the DA wanting to make sure criminals get punished, so him being the Vigilante makes sense. But since he is Prometheus, that amkes the motives of the Vigilante a little murkier. Very intriguing.
While I am totally on board with what Thea and Felicity did to Susan last week, I think their plan to blackmail the one council member was definitely going too far. Last week, they were doing what they had to do to ensure that the Green Arrow could continue to operate and save people. This week, they were only trying to save the skin of the mayor, so the stakes were much lower and such drastic action was not called for. I totally get why they wanted to do it, and I agree to a degree, but it was definitely a different story than last weeks events with Susan and not justified.
Wish I could have said that I was surprised that Paul was divorcing Curtis. Given how heavily they were focusing on the fact that Paul would only call Curtis to forgive him, I knew the opposite was going to happen. Still seriously sucks, but there it is. Curtis' plan to try and make sure that Paul's fears would be assuaged and Curtis could still help the team was pretty good. Unfortunately, Paul never even gave him a chance to lay it all out. Not happy with Paul right now.
I was a little surprised that Oliver threw the Green Arrow under the bus. First the Arrow was framed by R'as in season 3 and now Oliver has thrown the Green Arrow overboard. How many times can he create a new vigilante? Eventually, someone is going to figure out that they are all the same person. While I was not fond of Thea's "throw Malone under the bus" idea, even that was a better plan. Or just tell everyone that Prometheus tricked the Green Arrow by dressing Malone up as him. Explaining that would make the cover-up make more sense. Since the whole thing was an accident, I think the public would be more forgiving. Unfortunately, since Chase is Prometheus, I have no doubt that he has had this whole thing planned out from the beginning.
Until next week!
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
My Review of The Fosters 4.15- Sex Ed
Jude goes to extreme lengths to learn about gay sex, Callie shows her senior project, Brandon helps, Emma which causes problems with Jesus, and Stef tries to teach Mariana about self-defense.
Having never been through sex-ed myself, I find myself feeling very sympathetic for Jude. When you don't learn about sex, you will go to some weird places to learn about it. Being a bit of a bookworm, I mainly went to the encyclopedia but also watch shows with LGBT characters (such as Queer as Folk) secretly so I could see how two guys "did it". Jude found himself in a similar position. He has no idea how two guys would have sex, so he decides to see what he can find for himself. His idea was definitely more dangerous. Even as an adult, hooking up can be somewhat hazardous. Lying about his age, while understandable, was beyond stupid. He should know that he can talk with Stef and Lena about anything. Granted, they don't have any hands on experience in this particular area, but they might know some gay guys who could sit Jude down and answer any questions he might have. And yes, I know it would have been embarrassing, but better to be embarrassed than assaulted or dead. Sorry, but that apartment building was seriously sketchy and the initial encounter went exactly the way I would have expected. The host is all ready for the visitor. And I will leave it at that.
That being said, LGBTQIA sex ed is definitely needed in school. We give parents to opt their children out of sex ed now, so why not give them the same choice for LGBTQIA sex ed? After all, it is a whole lot better to talk with kids openly about sex than it is to hide it. Talking about it openly doesn't mean that you're advocating for them to have sex, but hiding it makes it the forbidden fruit which is always more tempting for teens. Just give them the facts and answer their questions honestly. I remember when I was teaching religion and we hit the sexual morality portion of the year, I always had a day where I would simply answer questions. I would say "penis" or "vagina" or "breasts" as often as possible so that my students knew that the words were not dirty or anything and to remove some of the stigma or shame surrounding them. I think sex ed should be the same way. Deal with it frankly and in a way that is age/developmentally appropriate. To do otherwise is to tell one groups of students that they don't deserve the same treatment or the same respect as the rest of the students and that is wrong.
Callie's project was seriously powerful. While I understand why Monte wanted the project removed, I am not sure she should have tried. I am pretty torn about it because I do get why it might be bad for the image,particularly after everything that happened with Nick. That being said, taking away one of the senior projects was just not a smart thing. It might have been better to see if there was some way to make it blend in so that it wouldn't have been as noticeable. I don't know how exactly the projects were presented, so I don't know if that would have been feasible. I was surprised that Talia apparently led the boycott given her and Callie's rocky past. It was nice to see, but still somewhat surprising.
Brandon certainly had an eventful week. First he helps Emma get through an abortion, then he messes up at the music therapy, then he has Jesus accuse him of sleeping with Emma. Helping Emma was definitely the right thing to do. Jesus could not handle being a father at this point and I don't see Emma being a single mother in high school. Unfortunately, Jesus misread everything that was going on and thought the secret being kept was that Brandon and Emma were having sex.
The whole "let's teach Mariana self-defense" felt relevant to her, but still felt like a bit of a throwaway. I hope they keep it going to show that it was not something just to give her a story in this episode. I did love her screaming in Stef's ear though. That was funny.
You have to feel for AJ. His brother wants them to live together when he gets out of prison, but Mike wants to adopt him. And to make matters worse, Mike and Ana apparently can't live together while Mike is fostering because Ana has a felony. That sucks.
And then there is Callie's court case. One person refused to settle, so they are going to court. Here's hoping they can get this taken care of and keep Callie out of prison.
Next episode in two weeks. See you then!
Having never been through sex-ed myself, I find myself feeling very sympathetic for Jude. When you don't learn about sex, you will go to some weird places to learn about it. Being a bit of a bookworm, I mainly went to the encyclopedia but also watch shows with LGBT characters (such as Queer as Folk) secretly so I could see how two guys "did it". Jude found himself in a similar position. He has no idea how two guys would have sex, so he decides to see what he can find for himself. His idea was definitely more dangerous. Even as an adult, hooking up can be somewhat hazardous. Lying about his age, while understandable, was beyond stupid. He should know that he can talk with Stef and Lena about anything. Granted, they don't have any hands on experience in this particular area, but they might know some gay guys who could sit Jude down and answer any questions he might have. And yes, I know it would have been embarrassing, but better to be embarrassed than assaulted or dead. Sorry, but that apartment building was seriously sketchy and the initial encounter went exactly the way I would have expected. The host is all ready for the visitor. And I will leave it at that.
That being said, LGBTQIA sex ed is definitely needed in school. We give parents to opt their children out of sex ed now, so why not give them the same choice for LGBTQIA sex ed? After all, it is a whole lot better to talk with kids openly about sex than it is to hide it. Talking about it openly doesn't mean that you're advocating for them to have sex, but hiding it makes it the forbidden fruit which is always more tempting for teens. Just give them the facts and answer their questions honestly. I remember when I was teaching religion and we hit the sexual morality portion of the year, I always had a day where I would simply answer questions. I would say "penis" or "vagina" or "breasts" as often as possible so that my students knew that the words were not dirty or anything and to remove some of the stigma or shame surrounding them. I think sex ed should be the same way. Deal with it frankly and in a way that is age/developmentally appropriate. To do otherwise is to tell one groups of students that they don't deserve the same treatment or the same respect as the rest of the students and that is wrong.
Callie's project was seriously powerful. While I understand why Monte wanted the project removed, I am not sure she should have tried. I am pretty torn about it because I do get why it might be bad for the image,particularly after everything that happened with Nick. That being said, taking away one of the senior projects was just not a smart thing. It might have been better to see if there was some way to make it blend in so that it wouldn't have been as noticeable. I don't know how exactly the projects were presented, so I don't know if that would have been feasible. I was surprised that Talia apparently led the boycott given her and Callie's rocky past. It was nice to see, but still somewhat surprising.
Brandon certainly had an eventful week. First he helps Emma get through an abortion, then he messes up at the music therapy, then he has Jesus accuse him of sleeping with Emma. Helping Emma was definitely the right thing to do. Jesus could not handle being a father at this point and I don't see Emma being a single mother in high school. Unfortunately, Jesus misread everything that was going on and thought the secret being kept was that Brandon and Emma were having sex.
The whole "let's teach Mariana self-defense" felt relevant to her, but still felt like a bit of a throwaway. I hope they keep it going to show that it was not something just to give her a story in this episode. I did love her screaming in Stef's ear though. That was funny.
You have to feel for AJ. His brother wants them to live together when he gets out of prison, but Mike wants to adopt him. And to make matters worse, Mike and Ana apparently can't live together while Mike is fostering because Ana has a felony. That sucks.
And then there is Callie's court case. One person refused to settle, so they are going to court. Here's hoping they can get this taken care of and keep Callie out of prison.
Next episode in two weeks. See you then!
My Review of The Flash 3.14- Attack on Central City
With Grodd headed towards Central City, Barry has a choice to make, Cisco goes for some help, and a surprise occurs....
I want to spend most of my time talking about Barry's choice about whether or not to kill Grodd. In one sense, the point is irrelevant because he figured out a different way t deal with the situation, but in another, it is super relevant. While I do believe that, generally speaking, killing is wrong, there are times when it may be unavoidable. In that I completely disagree with Iris and Harry. I respect where they are coming from, but to state categorically that killing is *NEVER* an option is just wrong. Sometimes, in order to protect one life or many lives, it might require that someone be killed. After all, if we could have killed Hitler to save the Jews from the Holocaust, would that not really be a good thing? Extreme example, I know, but the point is still valid.
I'm not saying that killing should be the first option, but it shouldn't be completely removed from the table. I know that may be an unpopular opinion, but sometimes killing one to save innocent lives may be justified. As long as the decision is not reached easily, I think should be an option in extreme cases. In this case, yes, there was another option (having Salovar attack Grodd), which made killing Grodd irrelevant, so it was a good option. But keep it on the table as a potential option. I'm not talking about cold-blooded murder, but killing done to protect the innocent. Big, big difference in my book.
I do have to admit that the idea of bringing Salovar to fight Grodd was a good idea. That enabled everyone to avoid a massive battle that would have otherwise been overwhelming for the few people who were fighting the gorillas. I'm just worried that, by giving Grodd to ARGUS, there is a chance that Grodd could come back and wreak even more havoc.
What Harry did to Wally was low. Trying to use Wally to guilt Jessie into going back to Earth-2 was not a good thing. I was glad that Jessie saw right through it and then proceeded to dress down Harry in front of everyone else, because he deserved it. I'm just curious about why Savitar reappeared now and how he got out of wherever he was.
Barry proposing to Iris was not completely unexpected, but it was very sweet. I am having a little trouble imagining her saying yes right now, but you never know.
Finally, I want to address an article I saw the other day asking if Barry might be the true villain of The Flash because he causes so many problems. While I sort of get that view, I think the thing about Barry is that he is not perfect. He sometimes makes bad choices, but they are never intentionally harmful. At most, he is impulsive when he gets emotional and apt to make rash decisions.
Until next week!
I want to spend most of my time talking about Barry's choice about whether or not to kill Grodd. In one sense, the point is irrelevant because he figured out a different way t deal with the situation, but in another, it is super relevant. While I do believe that, generally speaking, killing is wrong, there are times when it may be unavoidable. In that I completely disagree with Iris and Harry. I respect where they are coming from, but to state categorically that killing is *NEVER* an option is just wrong. Sometimes, in order to protect one life or many lives, it might require that someone be killed. After all, if we could have killed Hitler to save the Jews from the Holocaust, would that not really be a good thing? Extreme example, I know, but the point is still valid.
I'm not saying that killing should be the first option, but it shouldn't be completely removed from the table. I know that may be an unpopular opinion, but sometimes killing one to save innocent lives may be justified. As long as the decision is not reached easily, I think should be an option in extreme cases. In this case, yes, there was another option (having Salovar attack Grodd), which made killing Grodd irrelevant, so it was a good option. But keep it on the table as a potential option. I'm not talking about cold-blooded murder, but killing done to protect the innocent. Big, big difference in my book.
I do have to admit that the idea of bringing Salovar to fight Grodd was a good idea. That enabled everyone to avoid a massive battle that would have otherwise been overwhelming for the few people who were fighting the gorillas. I'm just worried that, by giving Grodd to ARGUS, there is a chance that Grodd could come back and wreak even more havoc.
What Harry did to Wally was low. Trying to use Wally to guilt Jessie into going back to Earth-2 was not a good thing. I was glad that Jessie saw right through it and then proceeded to dress down Harry in front of everyone else, because he deserved it. I'm just curious about why Savitar reappeared now and how he got out of wherever he was.
Barry proposing to Iris was not completely unexpected, but it was very sweet. I am having a little trouble imagining her saying yes right now, but you never know.
Finally, I want to address an article I saw the other day asking if Barry might be the true villain of The Flash because he causes so many problems. While I sort of get that view, I think the thing about Barry is that he is not perfect. He sometimes makes bad choices, but they are never intentionally harmful. At most, he is impulsive when he gets emotional and apt to make rash decisions.
Until next week!
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