My Review of Teen Wolf 3.23- Insatiable

As promised, there was a major death (and it was a shocker!).  There were also a couple of fake-outs, a story from Scott's dad, and one massive fight....

Allison Argent is dead.  That was a complete shock to me.  If I were asked, I would have put her in my top three or four safe people (the others being Scott, Stiles, and Lydia, in that order).  Scott is obviously safe since he is the titular character.  Stiles was there because he would have been such an obvious choice to kill that I figured that one out.  I honestly have no particular reason for listing Lydia there aside from a very strong feeling that she would be safe.  I had always thought that Allison/Scott was the endgame, so I didn't see her dying.  I would have put Isaac, Derek, or the twins as the most likely to die.

Allison dying does open up a lot of doors story wise.  Aside from Stiles and his mother, Allison was the one person whose death is guaranteed to unhinge Scott to some degree.  They were each others' first big love, so he'll have to deal with losing her.  Her death may also lead to Mr. Argent becoming unhinged and/or leaving the show.  Scott will also be forced to deal with the death of someone really close to him and that could bring his leadership into question to some degree.  I do wonder if Kira may be around to stay at this point as Scott's newest pack member/love interest or if she'll leave after the nogitsune is (presumably) dealt with next week.  This is going to be very interesting to see.

To add to the hurt, the nogitsune was still wearing Stiles' form when it wrested control of the oni from Kira's mom.  Given the fact that it was one of the oni that killed Allison and that the nogitsune is here because of her, Scott will probably harbor some seriously ill will towards Kira's mom.  This will also probably complicate Scott and Stiles' friendship because of the nogitsune's form.  Talk about some serious complications.

Looking back at the episode, there were some clues about Allison's death.  The way she said goodbye to her dad when making the arrowheads was a big one as was the call she made to him and his warnings to stay away.  The talk with Isaac in the car was a smaller one.  Basically, in retrospect, they were wrapping up her relationships with people before she died.  Not in an obvious way, but one that totally makes sense retrospectively.

I have to compliment Dylan for managing to play two completely different characters at the same time.  He had the nogitsune who was taking an almost sadistic pleasure in what was going on and in the way he was torturing Lydia.  Then there was Stiles who was weakening gradually as the episode went on.  I suspect that the fact that the nogitsune is wearing his body is what is making him sicken.  If I'm right, then killing the nogistune will cause Stiles to get better.  If it is something else, then we definitely have reason to worry.

What is up with the girl from the asylum?  Does she have an ability that is driving her mad or is her madness allowing her to see beyond our reality and into the supernatural reality?  She could be a banshee, but if so I want to know how she became one.  The problem with her warning is that it was too general and not strong enough.  Maybe that was all the warning Lydia could give under the circumstances though.

I loved watching Coach taser the guy from the asylum.  That was quite fun to see.  I will admit that I was secretly hoping to see the guy get tasered someplace a little more painful, but it didn't happen and I'll leave it at that.  :-)

I am so hoping that the story Scott's dad told him about Scott falling down the stairs was not the big secret.  If so, I will be massively disappointed.  I know I said I was hoping they weren't going to go the affair route, but that story was so minor that it didn't seem to be worth the time.  Not that dropping a baby/kid down the stairs is good or anything, but with no lasting damage, it seemed very anticlimatic.

So we have the twins shot with wolfsbane laced shells (what was up with Mr. Argent's reaction to the shell?), Isaac looking like he received several wounds from the oni, Allison dead, Stiles seemingly near death, and Scott completely devastated.  I cannot wait for next week to see how exactly how this all plays out in the season finale.

Until then!

My Review of The Originals 1.16- Farewell to Storyville

Someone leaves, Marcel tries to stand up to Klaus, the witches make a demand, and we learn more about the Originals' childhood.

Well, I cannot say that I was expecting Rebekah to completely leave.  I figured that she'd be gone for a few episodes and then show back up for some reason.  I will miss her.  While she is not my favorite character, she was always fun to watch, even if her constant feuding with Klaus did get a bit repetitive after a few years.  I guess the question is whether or not her calling Mikael to New Orleans was a result of Klaus' actions or not.  Watching the two of them argue back and forth about it was interesting to see.  Klaus is paranoid and determined to prove that she wanted to actually kill him, whereas she (at first) maintained that she just wanted to make him suffer.  She did admit that she sort of wanted him dead, but can you blame her after everything he has done?

So now we are down to Elijah and Klaus.  Klaus is not terribly happy with Elijah because Elijah "betrayed" him by protecting Rebekah, but Klaus did cause Elijah tremendous pain via the curved stake, so that appears to have worked itself out.  When Elijah came into the courtyard at the end of the episode and ordered everyone to leave, it was one of his scary moments.  He is so calm about his threats that they are actually scarier than Klaus yelling.  Then there was his very pointed threat to Marcel.  He chose to spare Marcel out of respect for Rebekah, but he did promise Marcel that if he set foot in the Quarter again, he would die.  And it looked like Marcel believed him.  Is Elijah going to become Klaus' enforcer now?  Or is he simply trying to make nice with his brother again?

Gotta admire the fact that Marcel tried to stand up to Klaus.  Unfortunately, it didn't amount to much because of Klaus' indifference and Elijah's arrival.  Marcel really has lost all of his power.  The witches don't fear him anymore, Klaus is ignoring him, Rebekah has left, Elijah has exiled him, and Davinna is back with the witches.  If Marcel is planning on getting his power back, I want to know how he plans to manage it since he really has very little left.  He can't use Klaus again like he has in the past and I don't think anyone else will work with him for fear of the wrath of the Originals.  This should be interesting.

So the witches wanted Davinna back.  I am curious as to why.  Davinna is not fond of them after they tried to kill her, but she is also afraid of the ancestors and what they will do if she steps out of line again.  It appears that she can be used as a symbol by the witches, but I am not sure how.  Gonna be interested to see how this one plays out.

Watching more snippets of the Originals' childhood just makes it clearer why Klaus is the way he is.  Mikael hated Klaus so much that he wouldn't encourage him at all and would, in fact, beat him in order to toughen him up.  One time, he beat Klaus so badly that Rebekah had to threaten him with a sword in order to save Klaus' life.  To see that and then to see how far they've fallen is quite depressing.  Both Elijah and Rebekah love Klaus deeply, but Klaus is so suspicious and so damaged that he can't see it.

New episode next week and then we're off for a month.  See y'all then!

My Review of Teen Wolf 3.22- De-Void

The nogitsune causes even more chaos, this time among the supernaturally inclined; a surprising person comes to the rescue of Sheriff Stilinski; Melissa receives a shock; Scott shows his Alpha side to surprising effect; and Lydia makes a deal with a surprising person....

If there was someone I would not have expected Lydia to make a deal with, it was Peter.  Considering everything he has done to her and the gang, I was surprised that she was willing to make him any sort of promise.  Then again, if he is as desperate to find his daughter as he appears, it means that he can be trusted to uphold his end of the bargain.  Doesn't make me any less surprised, but I guess it does make sense.  She gets to save Stiles in exchange for giving Peter the name of his daughter.  Pretty good deal from her end.

And regardless of what you think of him, Peter did deliver.  Scott was looking for how to free Stiles from the nogitsune and was ready to bite him, hoping to expel the nogitsune that way.  Fortunately, Peter knew how to do the mind-entering thing and told Scott how he and Lydia could work together to help Stiles.  And what a journey that was!  The nogitsune took Lydia back to the night she was bitten by Peter and took Scott into the closet with "Alison" after trapping both of them by tying them down to a bed.  That scene with Stiles and the nogitsune playing that game (think it was checkers) was a little odd.  And then Alpha Scott came through with the howl that broke Stiles away from the nogitsune and caused all of the affected people (see below) to drop.  And then Teen Wolf introduced us to a whole new level of disgusting by having Stiles throw up what must have been several yards of wrapping.  When it was peeled off, we saw...Stiles!  Apparently "Stiles" was actually the nogitsune and it left with Lydia.  Not good.

While not disgusting, it was a little disturbing to see "Stiles" stab himself and then see flies come out of the wound.  To see them then go and crawl into Ethan, Aiden, Derek, and Isaac was interesting, if only because we got to see what each of them thinks at some deep, dark level.  Ethan blames Aiden for not being in Scott's pack and thinks he is a loose cannon.  Aiden thinks Ethan is weak.   Isaac hates them both (<sarcasm> total shocker there! </sarcasm>) and Derek blames all of the Argents for what happened to his family.

That three way wolf brawl between Ethan, Aiden, and Isaac was brief and interrupted by Kira and Allison attempting to stop it.  I do wonder how Allison managed to handle the katana so well.  I assume that, since it is a sword, she has a certain amount of carry over ability from her other fighting skills.  The two of them better be grateful that Scott managed to stop the nogitsune when he did, because otherwise I guarantee they would have been used as mops for the floor.  I know that they are both good fighters, but I don't see them being able to fight the twins and Isaac.  Well, not unless Kira were to use some of he kitsune abilities on them somehow.

Watching Derek with Mr. Argent was weird.  The two of them have settled into a wary sort of friendship, so finding out that Derek does blame him on some level for what Kate did is a little disturbing.  I really hope it doesn't affect them too much, because I do like watching the two of them work together.  They do make a really good team.

What exactly did Stiles overhear Melissa say to his dad?  I am so hoping it is nothing as banal as an affair, because that would just be annoying.  Given what the nogitsune said and Melissa's reaction, it must be something pretty bad, particularly if she actually thinks that Scott will hate her for what happened.  The two of them are so close, that I am trying to imagine what could be that big.  Then again, it could also be something relatively small that has been hidden for so long that it will be a big thing now.

I was very surprised that Agent McCall came to Sheriff Stilinski's defense.  It could be that he genuinely thinks that no one can handle things as well as Stilinski can or it may be that he wants to get in Scott's good graces.  If it is the latter, that is flat out wrong.  Sorry, but manipulating your son's emotions to get close to him is just wrong.

That first scene was uber-intense.  I knew that Argent wouldn't shoot Stiles, but watching the nogitsune order Argent to shoot him and Sheriff Stilinski hold a gun to Argent was just intense.  Thank goodness Allison realized what was going on and also removed the firing pin from Argent's gun.

Two more weeks until the finale!  See y'all next week!

My Review of Vampire Diaries 5.15- Girl Gone

3 characters take a bow (one in a most unexpected way), one character comes back, Caroline goes off on Tyler, someone beside Bonnie is after Jeremy, and sore loser takes on a whole new meaning....

Katherine, Nadia, and Wes have all shuffled off this (im)mortal coil.  Nadia succumbed to Tyler's bite, Katherine was forced out of Elena's body by the Traveler's knife, and Wes played doctor with Damon and lost.  Out of the three of them, I am not sure if I am going to miss Katherine or Nadia more.  Although we only knew Nadia for a short period of time, I definitely grew to like and admire her.  Her only real fault was being too loyal to Katherine, but that is completely understandable.  I think she could definitely have been one of the good vampires had circumstances been different.

Katherine, on the other hand, I will miss for other reasons.  She may have been an uber-bitch, but I still loved her.  So much of her life was forced in directions dictated by the fact that she is a Petrova doppleganger and by Klaus chasing her.  If she had been left alone after being turned, I do think that she may have turned out a lot differently.  Not that this excuses anything she did, but it does provide reasons for her actions.  She was right to point out that each of the characters has been shaped and affected by her (as I noted here).  Not that she has been a positive force or anything, but she has been a major factor in their lives.

I want to know where Katherine was taken off to.  That exit was really weird.  Something threw her back from Bonnie, dragged her out of the church, and then launched her into the sky.  I can think of two main possibilities.  First, the spell the Travelers cast is keeping her on earth and dragged her to them.  Second, she is being sent to hell or something.  The only thing wrong with the second idea is that as a vampire and doppleganger, she should have passed to the Other Side.  Inquiring minds want to know.

And tonight Katherine redefined sore loser.  She knew that the gang knew about her switch with Elena, so she decided to take Elena and others down with her by injecting Elena with a souped up version of the ripper virus.  She said that since Elena gets everything, she was going to ensure that Elena did not get Stefan.  What Katherine never got is that Elena gets things because she is a genuinely good person, not because she is manipulative or anything.  I honestly think that this is a concept that Katherine cannot comprehend.  Katherine became familiar with the concept of love at the end with Nadia, but other than that I doubt that she loved anyone.  And I am including Stefan when I say that.  She says that she loved Stefan, but her actions to ensure that Elena never gets Stefan say otherwise.

I was so happy to see Caroline tell Tyler off.  Like I've said many times recently, what happened between Caroline and Klaus happened in part because of Tyler's actions.  Now if only Caroline can take the sentiments she expressed and apply them to Damon.  She has been treating Damon much the same way that Tyler has been treating her, only for longer.

Liv (the witch who's been helping Bonnie) was making some serious googly eyes at Jeremy.  Not that I blame her or anything, but to openly ogle someone in front of their SO is so not cool.  Watching her reactions when Jeremy and Bonnie were explaining the whole situation was quite fun.  Welcome to the wacky world of the gang sweetie.  Now, go find a new guy and stop hitting on Jeremy.

We'll be back in two weeks.  See y'all then!

My Review of The Tomorrow People 1.15- Enemy of My Enemy

Ultra teams up with Julian, Astrid goes to John for help, and there's a confrontation in the Tomorrow People's hiding place.

Teaming up with Julian was not a smart move.  Even though they implanted that bomb in his head, the potential for disaster was just too great.  The problem is that Julian is a psychopath and cannot be controlled.  Granted, since Cara was in charge and he showed Cara the ropes, he did have an advantage of being able to predict her movements.  My question is why Jedikiah gave Julian unfettered control of the Kill Squad.  Granted, Julian did figure out what Stephen is doing, but his initial reason for having Stephen around was in order to have a weapon to use against Jedikiah if needed.

I was seriously surprised that Cara was able to let the bomb go off.  I know that it was the most pragmatic option, but I did not expect it of her.  I must also admit that it was the lesser of evils all told.  If she had let Julian go, he would have revealed Stephen's double agent status to Jedikiah, continued to come after the Tomorrow People, and quite possible kill many more people.  The trap was a nice one, particularly because it had the suppressors, which was an element that Julian could not have predicted.

I loved seeing Astrid and John together.  He is able to give her the insight into Stephen's world that she desperately needed and also helped her through the trauma in a way that Stephen couldn't because he was such an integral part of the trauma.  Seeing her with Stephen at the end was especially nice.  They really do need more scenes with Astrid and Stephen.

It was nice to see that Cara and John managed to work out their issues.  They're both incredibly stubborn and both will stand by what they think is the right thing to do.  That is what caused their conflict.  Well, that and the fact that Cara demanded unquestioning obedience from John.  That is never a good thing.  But they have obviously made up, so that is good for them.

Watching how the two of them met was interesting.  Cara initially thought that John was a member of Ultra and ran from him.  Lucky for her, he was around to save her from the Ultra agents who attacked her.  That was an impressive telekinetic throw that she did.  The guy went flying over the top of the van.  I swear that I heard bones breaking when he landed.  That had to hurt!

Stephen really didn't have much to do on his own this week.  He mainly reacted to what other people were doing.  It was actually sort of a nice break for him.  Poor guy kept getting attacked or having his abilities suppressed for most of the episode.  He couldn't save his friends that way he normally would.  I do want to know what that device he found at the end of the episode was.  It reacted to him in a serious way.  Maybe it will lead him to his father?

Next episode is Monday the 17th.  See y'all then!

My Review of The Originals 1.15- Le Grand Guignol

We get an explanation as to what happened when Mikael visited New Orleans, Celeste continues her revenge, Hayley is a woman on a mission, and someone comes back to us.

Well, I knew that Mikael despised Klaus, but I did not realize how deep it truly went.  No wonder Klaus has daddy and trust issues.  His dad seems to blame him for being born and also for still being alive despite the fact that Klaus (obviously) had no control over the first and Mikael and Esther forced the second.  In fact, Mikael has completely dehumanized Klaus and declared that Klaus does not even deserve to exist.  Given that, I am totally not surprised that Klaus has issues.  Not that any of this actually relieves Klaus of any guilt for what he has done, but it does make it understandable.  Being chased relentlessly for hundreds of years by your mother's husband (who he still thinks of as his dad) and called a mongrel who has no right to exist?  Yeah, that'd make anyone go more than a little crazy.

I am also not surprised that when Klaus and Elijah fled with Rebekah, they thought that Marcel was dead.   Between being nailed to that cross and the opera house being burned down, I would have thought he was dead too.  I do get why Marcel did not greet Klaus with open arms though.  I also have to wonder how exactly Marcel got out of the opera house alive.  Did Mikael free him before he left?  Or did Marcel somehow wake up enough to get out of there?

Elijah's deal with the witch was an inspired idea.  If Celeste was being honest, she could continue as she was.  If, however, she was lying and was only interested in herself, then she would go elsewhere.  And elsewhere turned out to be back into her own body.  I assume that the spell trapped her there, or else I don't think Elijah would have killed her.  Hopefully this means that Celeste is gone and we only have Genevieve left to deal with.

So happy that Davinna is back.  I wonder how powerful she is now that the Harvest is over, but it will be nice to see her back.  Assuming that she still has her power, I think she should be able to break the barrier spell that Celeste put up with relative ease.  She may also be called in to battle with Genevieve or something.  That should be interesting.  Genevieve is definitely powerful, but if Davinna is still carrying around anywhere near the same level of power she was before, it should be an interesting time.  Maybe if Davinna is in Marcel's corner, we can have a draw and relative peace in New Orleans.

Hayley has the cure for her family.  It appears that she'll have to wait until they transform back into humans, but it will hopefully work.  If not, then life will be interesting.  Since Celeste is now (apparently) permanently gone, there might be no other way to break the hex unless somehow the other witches can figure out a way to undo it collectively.

Now that we have the three Original siblings trapped in a graveyard together, life ought to be very exciting.  Klaus has the oak stake his mother created for Alaric (I think) and has murder on his mind.  Elijah is determined to prevent that murder and Rebekah (I assume anyway) wants to as well.  Next week ought to be interesting.

My Review of Teen Wolf 3.21- The Fox and the Wolf

This episode was a exposition heavy episode meant to fill us in on back story before moving onto the final set of episodes, much like "Visionary" from over the summer.  We learn about why the nogitsune and Kira's family are in Beacon Hills while Sheriff Stilinski enlists Mr. Argent, Derek, and Allison to help him find Stiles.

To truly do this episode justice, I will have to summarize the events that Kira's mom describes before talking about the characters.  Kira's mom is a 900-year old kitsune who was in a internment camp at Oak Creek.  Yes, the one that Kira's dad claimed never existed.  While there she met a soldier who she embarked on a relationship with.  They discovered that the doctor at the internment center was stealing medicine and selling on the black market and as of this several people died.  The internees had a little bit of a riot before calming down a little, but one of the internees (who was a werewolf) threw a molotov cocktail-like weapon that killed the boyfriend.  This caused the soldiers to open fire, killing many of the internees.  They took all of the bodies (including Kira's mom and her boyfriend's body) to the desert to burn them.  Kira's mom was (obviously) not dead, so she asked for a nogitsune to come and possess her so that she could get revenge.  The nogitsune possessed her boyfriend instead, killed the soldiers and most of the people in the camp, and went to the insane asylum and slaughtered people there before Kira's mom was able to stop it by stabbing it with her katana after the interned wolf stabbed the nogitsune in the back.  The katana shattered, and Kira's mom buried it (along with the body) in the wall of the asylum, where it would later be freed.  She then took a fly the flew out of its mouth, put it in a jar, and buried it beneath the Nemeton where the fly was freed when Scott, Allison, and Stiles sacrificed themselves in order to save their parents.  So now Kira's mom is insisting that Kira needs to use the reforged sword (through some nifty kitsune power that Kira has as a thunder kitsune) and stab Stiles in order to get rid of the nogitsune.

Whew!  That was a lot of story for one episode, but it did answer a lot of questions.  I have to wonder how much of this Deaton knew when he warned Scott, Stiles, and Allison about what they were doing.  I also suspect that this is part of the reason Derek's family is in Beacon Hills.  If they were guardians, it must have had something to do with the power of the Nemeton.  Now Scott has to figure out a way to expel the nogitsune from Stiles.  We know that stabbing the host only traps the nogitsune, as it was obviously able to find its way out after what Kira's mom did.  I wonder if there might be a ritual of some sort to get rid of the nogitsune.  After all, Kira's mom called for it, so maybe there is a way to uncall it.

I am not entirely sure what was up with the look on Kira's face after she got the sword.  I know some people think that she intends to stab Stiles, but I sincerely hope that she is willing to follow Scott's lead.  Stile now has at least 3-4 people looking to kill him if needed: Kira, her mom, Mr. Argent, and (maybe) Derek.  I also strongly suspect that Peter could be added to that list since he is the most pragmatic of the group and has proven more than willing to kill in order to help himself.

Enlisting help was incredibly smart on Sheriff Stilinski's part.  Mr. Argent has dealt with this before, Derek is part of the family of guardians, and Allison is incredibly capable.  It was nice to see that she was able to admit to being so affected by everything that has been going on.  I am not surprised that she has been, but it was nice to see her say it.  She gave Sheriff Stilinski something that he needed.  She showed that the gang is as scared as he is and still needs him.

Taking those brain scans to the doctor's last week was smart.  Sheriff Stilinski was able to confirm that the brain scans from Stiles were *IDENTICAL* to those of his mother, which is an impossibility.  Even in the same person, I am pretty sure that two different brain scans will not be identical.  Stilinski was able to help explain why Stiles gave into the nogitsune, it took away his sense of hope.  By tricking him into thinking that he was sick like his mother, it took away his sense of hope for the future, therefore making him an easier target.  Very smart maneuver.  By the way, what was up with labeling Derek the king on that chess board?  Was it a warning that the nogitsune is after him (since he is of the family of guardians) or is it something else?

Scott is now stuck in a very hard place.  He knows what Kira's mom (and possibly Kira) intends and he is determined to save Stiles.  He has the scroll which says that you can get rid of the nogitsune by changing the body of its host, but is that scroll reliable?  Will he be able to help Kira stab Stiles if needed?

Three episode left in the season.  Until next week!