I want to apologize for not getting this out Friday night, but I was having some cable issues, so I was only able to watch this and The Originals tonight.
So, without further ado......
Stefan and Valerie try to help Caroline and the babies, we learn about Reyna’s backstory, and Stefan makes a sacrifice for Damon…
Reyna, the huntress, is the daughter of one of the Brotherhood of Five. Remember them from season 4? In 1842, she begged her father to train her so she could kill vampires. Interestingly, we now know that the Hunter’s Mark is not automatically passed down through a bloodline, at least not to females of a bloodline. I don’t think we’ve seen a member of the Five who had a child, so that has been a bit of an open question. We know she wasn’t even a potential Hunter because she couldn’t see her father’s tattoos.
Anyway, she became the mighty huntress she is now after she got seven or eight shamans to give her longer life and power, after Julian forced her to kill her own father, by sacrificing themselves. At the same time, they created her sword and the Phoenix Stone to help her hunt and kill vampires. I wonder if Bonnie’s magic wouldn’t affect her. It could simply be protections of some sort, or it could be that shamanistic magic is different enough from witch magic that she simply couldn’t do anything. After all, we do know that there are different types of magic: nature, ancestral, Expression, gypsy, and now shamanistic. It is entirely possible that one type of magic can somehow be immune to other types. Interesting idea there.
Stefan is having a really, really, no good, very bad day. First off, his girlfriend’s babies (from another man!) are desiccating her by absorbing her magic and refusing to be born. So, he got Valerie and the other Heretics to use magic in an effort to persuade the babies to come out of Caroline. On top of that, he is dealing with the grief from his brother killing Elena and then he gets stabbed in the shoulder by Reyna, thereby marking him and ensuring that he would be hunted by her until she kills him. Yeah, his day sucks.
Damon’s day isn’t much better. He is so wracked with guilt about what happened to Elena that he is willing to allow Reyna to kill him because he is already in hell. Then his brother shows up and gets stabbed for him. Yeah, that just sucks all around. On the good news front, Enzo says that he and Tyler switched out Elena’s coffin for an empty coffin and that Elena is safe. My only question about this is why on earth did Tyler go to Enzo of all people? That really does not make a whole lot of sense to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have confirmation that Elena’s alive (not that I really thought she was dead!), but that is just a weird person to go to. So now Elena’s in New York with some of Enzo’s friends. I am assuming that is where we saw Damon in the flash forward when he was coming out of the coffin. I honestly don’t remember.
At this point, I am trying to figure out where this season is going. We’ve gotten rid of Lily and Julian and the Heretics and Stefan are on the run from Reyna, so reclaiming Mystic Falls should be relatively simple. They just need to figure out a way to get rid of the vampires who are currently living there. I am also wondering if this season will end with a time jump ahead to the end of the three years. I would assume so, but am curious.
Until Friday!
Monday, February 22, 2016
Friday, February 19, 2016
My Review of DC's Legends of Tomorrow 1.05- Fail Safe
Rip and Sara are faced with a moral quandary, Stein tries to withhold the secret to Firestorm from the Soviets, and Rory makes his allegiances clear.
I was surprised how upset Snart was at Rip this week. Last week he seemed to almost admire the way Rip took the long view and was willing to temporarily sacrifice people in order to take Savage down. This week, he was most definitely not happy with Rip at all. It's not like a lot of time has passed, so he didn't exactly have a long time to reconsider his position, so I am not sure what changed. I know he wasn't happy about leaving Rory behind, but he seemed to get where Savage was coming from. And this week we also saw him butt heads with Sara for the first time ever. I do get his disagreement about how to handle Stein if he broke, but in the long run, Sara and Rip were right. It would be far better to sacrifice one person to save so many more. Was it a good plan? No, but I think that had the situation seriously deteriorated beyond their ability to stop it, it was the best of a bunch of really bad choices. Fortunately, the choice never seriously came up until the end and by then Rip had the pieces in place to make sure that Sara wouldn't need to take the shot.
Despite what anyone may think about him, I think Rip really does care about the whole crew. But, like I said last week, he knows that some might have to be sacrificed if there is no other alternative. We know that he would never do anything that would purposefully sacrifice one of his people except as an absolute last resort. Like I said, he had other options this week once Kendra and Jax went into the gulag, so he didn't need to sacrifice Stein.
As for Jax and Kendra, I do get why he benched them initially. As he said, they are the two people Savage wants the most in the world. He could give Jax to the Soviets and create more Firestorms and Kendra is who he needs to become stronger. Keeping them safe on the ship was the best option at the time. Did that change? Sure, and he acknowledged that when he needed to. He's a smart guy and he knows when to bow to the inevitable and do what is the best for the world.
Would Sara have killed Stein if Snart and Rip hadn't told her to stop? Probably. She is an assassin and will do unpleasant tasks in order to protect that which she loves the most. I'm not saying that she would have liked it or anything, but I have little doubt that she would have done it. I'm just glad it didn't get put to the test. And how much fun was it to watch her take apart those Russians?
I think Ray earned some respect from Rory this week for using his mouth to make sure that Rory wasn't beaten by the torturer. Not a lot, but some. Up to now, unless he was in the ATOM suit, Ray hasn't shown himself to be terribly useful where Rory and Snart are concerned. I don't think Snart is fond of him, but Rory seems to realize that there is more to Ray than a pretty face. It's a step in the right direction.
You gotta hand it to Stein. He managed to withstand hallucinogenic drugs and whatever else was dished out to him. He only broke when he saw Ray and Rory being hurt. Even then, he managed to not give up everything. It took Dr. Vostok seeing the scarred writing on Stein's arm before she realized that he was the piece that she needed. And how stupid was she to not listen to him when he said that she needed the splicer. Well, maybe not stupid, because it could have been something he was making up in order to delay her, but it was not a good idea as was demonstrated when she exploded after he forced a split. I was impressed that Jax remembered the writing thing. Nicely done, nicely done.
Until next week!
I was surprised how upset Snart was at Rip this week. Last week he seemed to almost admire the way Rip took the long view and was willing to temporarily sacrifice people in order to take Savage down. This week, he was most definitely not happy with Rip at all. It's not like a lot of time has passed, so he didn't exactly have a long time to reconsider his position, so I am not sure what changed. I know he wasn't happy about leaving Rory behind, but he seemed to get where Savage was coming from. And this week we also saw him butt heads with Sara for the first time ever. I do get his disagreement about how to handle Stein if he broke, but in the long run, Sara and Rip were right. It would be far better to sacrifice one person to save so many more. Was it a good plan? No, but I think that had the situation seriously deteriorated beyond their ability to stop it, it was the best of a bunch of really bad choices. Fortunately, the choice never seriously came up until the end and by then Rip had the pieces in place to make sure that Sara wouldn't need to take the shot.
Despite what anyone may think about him, I think Rip really does care about the whole crew. But, like I said last week, he knows that some might have to be sacrificed if there is no other alternative. We know that he would never do anything that would purposefully sacrifice one of his people except as an absolute last resort. Like I said, he had other options this week once Kendra and Jax went into the gulag, so he didn't need to sacrifice Stein.
As for Jax and Kendra, I do get why he benched them initially. As he said, they are the two people Savage wants the most in the world. He could give Jax to the Soviets and create more Firestorms and Kendra is who he needs to become stronger. Keeping them safe on the ship was the best option at the time. Did that change? Sure, and he acknowledged that when he needed to. He's a smart guy and he knows when to bow to the inevitable and do what is the best for the world.
Would Sara have killed Stein if Snart and Rip hadn't told her to stop? Probably. She is an assassin and will do unpleasant tasks in order to protect that which she loves the most. I'm not saying that she would have liked it or anything, but I have little doubt that she would have done it. I'm just glad it didn't get put to the test. And how much fun was it to watch her take apart those Russians?
I think Ray earned some respect from Rory this week for using his mouth to make sure that Rory wasn't beaten by the torturer. Not a lot, but some. Up to now, unless he was in the ATOM suit, Ray hasn't shown himself to be terribly useful where Rory and Snart are concerned. I don't think Snart is fond of him, but Rory seems to realize that there is more to Ray than a pretty face. It's a step in the right direction.
You gotta hand it to Stein. He managed to withstand hallucinogenic drugs and whatever else was dished out to him. He only broke when he saw Ray and Rory being hurt. Even then, he managed to not give up everything. It took Dr. Vostok seeing the scarred writing on Stein's arm before she realized that he was the piece that she needed. And how stupid was she to not listen to him when he said that she needed the splicer. Well, maybe not stupid, because it could have been something he was making up in order to delay her, but it was not a good idea as was demonstrated when she exploded after he forced a split. I was impressed that Jax remembered the writing thing. Nicely done, nicely done.
Until next week!
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
My Review of Teen Wolf 5.17- A Credible Threat
Scott and Stiles come up with a plan to stop the Beast from killing at a charity lacrosse game, Kira has trouble containing the fox, we find out some surprising information about Parrish and the Hellhound, and Malia comes face to face with the Desert Wolf.
The surprising news about Parrish? He's not actually Parrish. If I am putting the pieces together correctly, Parrish was killed in Afghanistan while defusing that bomb at the same time Scott, Stiles, and Allison were sacrificing themselves to save their parents. When he died, the Hellhound moved in and set up shop so that it could come to Beacon Hills to help contain the supernatural forces unleashed by the reactivation of the Nemeton. So the Hellhound is actually a entity completely separate from the person we know as Jordan Parrish. So during the day, Jordan Parrish moves around and then at night the Hellhound takes over his body and does what is has to do. It would seem that the Hellhound is much like the Beast, a supernatural being distinct from the person who is housing it. In a way, that is much the same thing as Kira, a fox spirit exists within her and she can use it. That would mean that there are supernatural beings who exist as spirits separate from humans, but can join with them under certain circumstances. That is unlike supernatural beings like werewolves or banshees who are humans with abilities that are beyond the human norm. The only thing that gets me is that Kira's mom has described both of them as kitsunes, which would imply that the kitsune within is both a part of them and apart from them. Or maybe I'm just overanalyzing this.
At any rate, I want to postulate that the Beast is much like the Hellhound. In the case of the Beast it is a malevolent spirit that wants to kill. I don't think it revels in chaos the same way the nogitsune did, but it does delight in death and carnage. Either way, that is not a good thing. The other thing I found interesting is that, like last week, the Hellhound addressed Lydia as "The Banshee" rather than by her name, which implies a certain separateness there as well. Anyway, given that the Hellhound said that it has had different names, I think that it has probably worked through different humans down through the ages and battled the Beast, which would explain the image on the wall. The Hellhound is trying to protect the supernatural world from being exposed, so it tries to contain the carnage from the Beast and also to take the Beast out.
Kira desperately needs to get the fox under better control. There were large portions of the episode tonight where it was clearly in charge. Only when Scott called out to Kira was she able to come to the surface and regain control. I'm afraid that if she doesn't get the fox under control, she will be as big a danger to the pack as she will be to anyone else. The fox was certainly indiscriminate about who it was attacking.
I found it interesting that Scott managed to wrangle Brett's pack into helping him with the Beast. Given the fact that they were playing Brett's school, it was a very useful idea because Scott's pack is rather small and Brett's pack owes him big time. They used the girl (Brett's sister?) to try and find if anyone in the crowd had bloody shoes while Corey and Mason searched Devenport's bus. When Stiles was trying to look at the one girl's shoes, it was totally hilarious the way she kicked him and he hit his head. That is the old Stiles we all know and love.
Theo needs to be careful because it seems that both Corey and Hayden are more or less throwing their lot in with Scott and his pack, which should make Scott even stronger. I say should because of the fact that both Hayden and Corey are chimeras and chimeras don't always follow the normal werewolf rules. However, Scott's pack is a very atypical pack and we do know that he is drawing strength even from non-wolves, so my guess is that he will still become stronger if they stay with him.
Malia facing off against the Desert Wolf was interesting. Malia hates her with a passion and makes no bones about the fact that she will kill the Desert Wolf if she gets a chance. I'm still trying to figure out how the Desert Wolf fits into all of the events right now. Is she with the Dread Doctors or did she just take advantage of the timing to come back and steal Malia's power?
I do want to know what Liam was thinking (if anything!) about jumping to attack the Beast. That would seem to be a seriously suicidal move and a totally heroic one. Really hoping he survives the experience....
Next week, we have the backstory of the Beast and the Maid of Gévaudan. Until then!
The surprising news about Parrish? He's not actually Parrish. If I am putting the pieces together correctly, Parrish was killed in Afghanistan while defusing that bomb at the same time Scott, Stiles, and Allison were sacrificing themselves to save their parents. When he died, the Hellhound moved in and set up shop so that it could come to Beacon Hills to help contain the supernatural forces unleashed by the reactivation of the Nemeton. So the Hellhound is actually a entity completely separate from the person we know as Jordan Parrish. So during the day, Jordan Parrish moves around and then at night the Hellhound takes over his body and does what is has to do. It would seem that the Hellhound is much like the Beast, a supernatural being distinct from the person who is housing it. In a way, that is much the same thing as Kira, a fox spirit exists within her and she can use it. That would mean that there are supernatural beings who exist as spirits separate from humans, but can join with them under certain circumstances. That is unlike supernatural beings like werewolves or banshees who are humans with abilities that are beyond the human norm. The only thing that gets me is that Kira's mom has described both of them as kitsunes, which would imply that the kitsune within is both a part of them and apart from them. Or maybe I'm just overanalyzing this.
At any rate, I want to postulate that the Beast is much like the Hellhound. In the case of the Beast it is a malevolent spirit that wants to kill. I don't think it revels in chaos the same way the nogitsune did, but it does delight in death and carnage. Either way, that is not a good thing. The other thing I found interesting is that, like last week, the Hellhound addressed Lydia as "The Banshee" rather than by her name, which implies a certain separateness there as well. Anyway, given that the Hellhound said that it has had different names, I think that it has probably worked through different humans down through the ages and battled the Beast, which would explain the image on the wall. The Hellhound is trying to protect the supernatural world from being exposed, so it tries to contain the carnage from the Beast and also to take the Beast out.
Kira desperately needs to get the fox under better control. There were large portions of the episode tonight where it was clearly in charge. Only when Scott called out to Kira was she able to come to the surface and regain control. I'm afraid that if she doesn't get the fox under control, she will be as big a danger to the pack as she will be to anyone else. The fox was certainly indiscriminate about who it was attacking.
I found it interesting that Scott managed to wrangle Brett's pack into helping him with the Beast. Given the fact that they were playing Brett's school, it was a very useful idea because Scott's pack is rather small and Brett's pack owes him big time. They used the girl (Brett's sister?) to try and find if anyone in the crowd had bloody shoes while Corey and Mason searched Devenport's bus. When Stiles was trying to look at the one girl's shoes, it was totally hilarious the way she kicked him and he hit his head. That is the old Stiles we all know and love.
Theo needs to be careful because it seems that both Corey and Hayden are more or less throwing their lot in with Scott and his pack, which should make Scott even stronger. I say should because of the fact that both Hayden and Corey are chimeras and chimeras don't always follow the normal werewolf rules. However, Scott's pack is a very atypical pack and we do know that he is drawing strength even from non-wolves, so my guess is that he will still become stronger if they stay with him.
Malia facing off against the Desert Wolf was interesting. Malia hates her with a passion and makes no bones about the fact that she will kill the Desert Wolf if she gets a chance. I'm still trying to figure out how the Desert Wolf fits into all of the events right now. Is she with the Dread Doctors or did she just take advantage of the timing to come back and steal Malia's power?
I do want to know what Liam was thinking (if anything!) about jumping to attack the Beast. That would seem to be a seriously suicidal move and a totally heroic one. Really hoping he survives the experience....
Next week, we have the backstory of the Beast and the Maid of Gévaudan. Until then!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
My Review of The Fosters 3.14- Under Water
Callie tries to help AJ, Callie and Jude try to help Jack, rumours start about Monte and Lena, the kids get a major bomb dropped on them, Jesus talks with his alleged dad, and Brandon finds out something unexpected...
Callie was super rough on Stef this week. Can't say that I blame her, given everything. Stef really does need to figure out how she can separate her job from her life at home. I know that mixing the two is unavoidable in most cases, but in this case I think her view about what she should do was colored by the fact that two of her kids and their biological mom were involved. Honestly, I don't know if there was a good way to handle the whole situation. Ty was involved in a hit and run and AJ was with him. No matter how it was handled, there was going to be an issue with someone.
I am not sure what to think about Jack. He is obviously afraid of being pulled out of another home, but the one he is in is not a good one. I can't say I blame him for looking out for himself, I remember that Callie was very much like that when we first met her. She didn't trust anyone and did everything she could to make sure things were good for Jude and herself. Now that she is in a good place, she has the luxury of taking a broader view of everything, but she has to remember that not all kids are as lucky as she was. I was a little surprised that she forgave Jack so easily, but when he explained what happened, it made sense. She was the one who thought he was AJ and he went along with it for whatever reason. Not that he is blameless, but it wasn't like he set out with the intention of tricking her, and that does make a difference.
I hope Mariana keeps her eyes open around Nick because I so don't trust him. He's really cute, but he also seems to be the type who will use his good looks and charm to get out of any situation. She does have a good head on her shoulders, but even the smartest person can act stupid around someone they are attracted to. As long as she remains safe and keeps using that incredible brain of hers, she'll be ok.
Brandon's crush having a kid was a bit out of left field. That is a complication that is a lot for a 17 year old (or is he 18 now?) to handle. The two of them are really good together and I think she can be good for Brandon. She doesn't take any guff from him and teases him in a really nice way. He does need to get over Callie, and she can help there. My concern is that he sometimes seems to be the type who falls in love with the idea of love, which is never good for a relationship. If he wants this to last, he needs to make sure that he really is over Callie first.
That foster advocate still gives me the screaming willies and it seems like Callie is starting to sense something too. While having the moderators on is not a bad thing per se, not telling Callie about it in the first place was sketchy. I get wanting to make sure people aren't bullied or anything, but "Fost and Found" was intended to give a voice to kids who have never had one. Censoring their speech, unless there's a really good reason like bullying, is not a good thing. Callie definitely seemed to sense a time or two that something was up and I hope she trusts her gut, because it is a good one. I am afraid that she'll be too blinded by the need for a sponsor who will help fund the app and website to see if a problem starts developing.
That operation for Stef is widely different than any my mom had when she had breast cancer, although my mom's case was a mastectomy to remove full on cancer, not the prophylactic procedure Stef is having. It's also been almost 20 years since my mom's operation and that changes a lot too. It sounds like the doctor will be removing all of the tissue inside of the breast and then it will be replaced with saline implants. That is going to take a while to do. Fortunately, the kids seemed to handle the news rather well and immediately asked what they could do to help out. That bodes well for the Adams-Fosters.
I was actually a little annoyed at Lena for having that conversation with Monte. I get that she needed someone to talk to and she wants to be strong for Stef, but that is the sort of thing that started the trouble before. She needs to nip all of this in the bud and find someone else to talk to, maybe a therapist or something. Obviously, talking with Stef is best, but there may be times she needs to talk with someone uninvolved first and Monte is so not the right choice for that, particularly after that tweet about the two of them having an affair. I hope Monte didn't start it, but I am afraid that she might have if she thought it might break up Stef and Lena.
Gabe was arrested for some sort of sexual crime dealing with a minor. I don't want to leap to any conclusions, because it could be something as simple as he was an adult and had sex with his underage girlfriend or something relatively innocent like that. I am just worried that Jesus or Mariana will leap to conclusions about what is going on. And Jesus going back to see him at work is not a good thing.
Until next week!
Callie was super rough on Stef this week. Can't say that I blame her, given everything. Stef really does need to figure out how she can separate her job from her life at home. I know that mixing the two is unavoidable in most cases, but in this case I think her view about what she should do was colored by the fact that two of her kids and their biological mom were involved. Honestly, I don't know if there was a good way to handle the whole situation. Ty was involved in a hit and run and AJ was with him. No matter how it was handled, there was going to be an issue with someone.
I am not sure what to think about Jack. He is obviously afraid of being pulled out of another home, but the one he is in is not a good one. I can't say I blame him for looking out for himself, I remember that Callie was very much like that when we first met her. She didn't trust anyone and did everything she could to make sure things were good for Jude and herself. Now that she is in a good place, she has the luxury of taking a broader view of everything, but she has to remember that not all kids are as lucky as she was. I was a little surprised that she forgave Jack so easily, but when he explained what happened, it made sense. She was the one who thought he was AJ and he went along with it for whatever reason. Not that he is blameless, but it wasn't like he set out with the intention of tricking her, and that does make a difference.
I hope Mariana keeps her eyes open around Nick because I so don't trust him. He's really cute, but he also seems to be the type who will use his good looks and charm to get out of any situation. She does have a good head on her shoulders, but even the smartest person can act stupid around someone they are attracted to. As long as she remains safe and keeps using that incredible brain of hers, she'll be ok.
Brandon's crush having a kid was a bit out of left field. That is a complication that is a lot for a 17 year old (or is he 18 now?) to handle. The two of them are really good together and I think she can be good for Brandon. She doesn't take any guff from him and teases him in a really nice way. He does need to get over Callie, and she can help there. My concern is that he sometimes seems to be the type who falls in love with the idea of love, which is never good for a relationship. If he wants this to last, he needs to make sure that he really is over Callie first.
That foster advocate still gives me the screaming willies and it seems like Callie is starting to sense something too. While having the moderators on is not a bad thing per se, not telling Callie about it in the first place was sketchy. I get wanting to make sure people aren't bullied or anything, but "Fost and Found" was intended to give a voice to kids who have never had one. Censoring their speech, unless there's a really good reason like bullying, is not a good thing. Callie definitely seemed to sense a time or two that something was up and I hope she trusts her gut, because it is a good one. I am afraid that she'll be too blinded by the need for a sponsor who will help fund the app and website to see if a problem starts developing.
That operation for Stef is widely different than any my mom had when she had breast cancer, although my mom's case was a mastectomy to remove full on cancer, not the prophylactic procedure Stef is having. It's also been almost 20 years since my mom's operation and that changes a lot too. It sounds like the doctor will be removing all of the tissue inside of the breast and then it will be replaced with saline implants. That is going to take a while to do. Fortunately, the kids seemed to handle the news rather well and immediately asked what they could do to help out. That bodes well for the Adams-Fosters.
I was actually a little annoyed at Lena for having that conversation with Monte. I get that she needed someone to talk to and she wants to be strong for Stef, but that is the sort of thing that started the trouble before. She needs to nip all of this in the bud and find someone else to talk to, maybe a therapist or something. Obviously, talking with Stef is best, but there may be times she needs to talk with someone uninvolved first and Monte is so not the right choice for that, particularly after that tweet about the two of them having an affair. I hope Monte didn't start it, but I am afraid that she might have if she thought it might break up Stef and Lena.
Gabe was arrested for some sort of sexual crime dealing with a minor. I don't want to leap to any conclusions, because it could be something as simple as he was an adult and had sex with his underage girlfriend or something relatively innocent like that. I am just worried that Jesus or Mariana will leap to conclusions about what is going on. And Jesus going back to see him at work is not a good thing.
Until next week!
Saturday, February 13, 2016
My Review of The Originals 3.12- Dead Angels
Cami and Klaus continue their feud from last week, the Strix witches search for the weapon, and Elijah and Marcel come up with a way to distract Aya and the Strix.
I’m trying to figure out if Cami and Klaus are going to continue their relationship or not. The two of them certainly fight like a couple and they know exactly how to hurt each other. Poor Vincent was completely caught in the middle and had to play the part of the mediator, which was not an enviable position to be in. Unfortunately for everyone, the agreement Cami and Klaus came to was ultimately for naught because Aurora got her hands on the white oak horse and then created bullets out of it.
I do wonder how effective the bullets will be. Unless there is a heart shot, most of the wooden bullets we have seen tend to hurt rather than kill the vampire in question. Now, I will grant that since it is a vampire who has the bullets, the chances of a heart shot go up tremendously, so there is that. It is also possible that Aurora is looking to damage Klaus and Elijah rather than kill them so she can do some form of torture, which would be oddly fitting considering what they did to her brother. If that is the case, the bullets would be perfect.
So, Elijah and Aya formed the Strix which was taken over by Tristan after Elijah fled from Mikael. I get why Aya would be upset by that, but given how powerful Mikael was and how much damage he can do, she and the Strix should have run with Elijah. They got killed because they chose to stay when an insanely powerful vampire hunting vampire came calling. Sorry, not exactly feeling a lot of sympathy there. Even at that point, Elijah would have had a whole lot more experience dealing with Mikael, so they should have listened to him.
I found the way the Strix choose their leader to be interesting. Given their emphasis on intelligence and guile, having a contest not based purely on physical fighting was a good idea. And as for Elijah and Marcel teaming up to trick Aya into supporting Marcel as the leader of the Strix? Very smart. By having Marcel steal the charter and then having Elijah appear to be on the verge of breaking the rules, they more or less forced Aya into acknowledging Marcel as the leader. The only issue is that I don’t think Marcel will put up with Elijah controlling him, but I am not sure if Elijah will try that. He will probably be satisfied with a role of advising behind the scenes, so that should work out.
What exactly is involved in the spell to break a sire line off from the sire? That would have to be a powerful piece of magic because it would seem to fundamentally change the nature of the vampires. It would enable any affected vampires to survive the killing of the Mikaelson who originated their sire line, but how widespread would the influence be? Would it merely break the link between the sire line and the Mikaelson? Or would it break all sire relationships?
Until next week!
I’m trying to figure out if Cami and Klaus are going to continue their relationship or not. The two of them certainly fight like a couple and they know exactly how to hurt each other. Poor Vincent was completely caught in the middle and had to play the part of the mediator, which was not an enviable position to be in. Unfortunately for everyone, the agreement Cami and Klaus came to was ultimately for naught because Aurora got her hands on the white oak horse and then created bullets out of it.
I do wonder how effective the bullets will be. Unless there is a heart shot, most of the wooden bullets we have seen tend to hurt rather than kill the vampire in question. Now, I will grant that since it is a vampire who has the bullets, the chances of a heart shot go up tremendously, so there is that. It is also possible that Aurora is looking to damage Klaus and Elijah rather than kill them so she can do some form of torture, which would be oddly fitting considering what they did to her brother. If that is the case, the bullets would be perfect.
So, Elijah and Aya formed the Strix which was taken over by Tristan after Elijah fled from Mikael. I get why Aya would be upset by that, but given how powerful Mikael was and how much damage he can do, she and the Strix should have run with Elijah. They got killed because they chose to stay when an insanely powerful vampire hunting vampire came calling. Sorry, not exactly feeling a lot of sympathy there. Even at that point, Elijah would have had a whole lot more experience dealing with Mikael, so they should have listened to him.
I found the way the Strix choose their leader to be interesting. Given their emphasis on intelligence and guile, having a contest not based purely on physical fighting was a good idea. And as for Elijah and Marcel teaming up to trick Aya into supporting Marcel as the leader of the Strix? Very smart. By having Marcel steal the charter and then having Elijah appear to be on the verge of breaking the rules, they more or less forced Aya into acknowledging Marcel as the leader. The only issue is that I don’t think Marcel will put up with Elijah controlling him, but I am not sure if Elijah will try that. He will probably be satisfied with a role of advising behind the scenes, so that should work out.
What exactly is involved in the spell to break a sire line off from the sire? That would have to be a powerful piece of magic because it would seem to fundamentally change the nature of the vampires. It would enable any affected vampires to survive the killing of the Mikaelson who originated their sire line, but how widespread would the influence be? Would it merely break the link between the sire line and the Mikaelson? Or would it break all sire relationships?
Until next week!
My Review of The Vampire Diaries 7.12- Postcards From the Edge
We meet the Huntress, Stefan takes action against Julian, Damon spirals out of control, Matt picks up a sidekick, Bonnie is stuck between two feuding Heretics, and Caroline’s pregnancy gets real complicated….
Can I take a moment and rejoice that Julian is dead? I’ve never liked the guy, so seeing him killed by Stefan as revenge for everything he’s done to the brothers is pure poetic justice. My only concern is how the other vampires will react to his demise. I am not sure if he was keeping them under control, but without him, we could have problems. On the good side, without Julian around it might be easier to get rid of the rest of the vampires. With Valerie firmly on Stefan’s side, the vampires could be in serious trouble. Maybe they can finally restore some semblance of order to the town.
Unless, of course, the Huntress comes to town. Now that she’s be reyouthed by Enzo, trouble is definitely going to hit everyone in Mystic Falls. Which begs the question, why in the name of all that is good and holy would Enzo restore a vampire hunter to her youth? The only real possibility that I can think of is that he knows and cares about her, but why would a vampire hunter as ruthless as she obviously is be fond of a vampire? Inquiring minds want to know.
One thing you have to give Damon, he spirals like no one else. And this spiral is so much worse than anything he’s done in the past because he “killed” the one person he truly cares about other than Stefan. And yes, I used the quotes on purpose, because I honestly don’t think they would ever actually kill off Elena Gilbert. I could be wrong, but I would put the chances of her actually being dead at the same of my winning a multibillion dollar lottery. Basically zero. Normally Stefan helps drag him out of these funks, but I don’t see Stefan helping him this time, nor do I see anyone else helping him, which means that he really is on his own, which seriously sucks for him.
The babies are siphons and are stealing Caroline’s magic. That was an unexpected little twist. It would be a great explanation about why she’d be out of the show for several episodes after giving birth. Given the fact that we see her in the future, she obviously survives the experience, but it will be interesting to see how it happens.
Poor Bonnie is caught in the middle of a lovers’ quarrel between Nora and Mary Louise. I was so glad that she finally called Nora on what she was doing. Using Bonnie to get under Mary Louise’s skin was effective, but very annoying. I don’t see Bonnie ever getting seriously involved with either of them given the fact that she has never even displayed the slightest hint of being into other women, so I don’t want to call this a love triangle. It’s more of a mess between two old lovers who are currently on the outs. I just hope that the two ladies sort out their issues soon. I do enjoy seeing Bonnie pal around with Nora, so I hope that doesn’t end.
Matt finally has another ordinary human he can share everything with, which is good for him. He has been surrounded by vampires, witches, werewolves, and hunters for so long that he really needs someone else who is ordinary like him to share this crazy life with. Given the flash forwards, she doesn’t last, which sucks, but I hop he has fun while it lasts.
Until next week!
Can I take a moment and rejoice that Julian is dead? I’ve never liked the guy, so seeing him killed by Stefan as revenge for everything he’s done to the brothers is pure poetic justice. My only concern is how the other vampires will react to his demise. I am not sure if he was keeping them under control, but without him, we could have problems. On the good side, without Julian around it might be easier to get rid of the rest of the vampires. With Valerie firmly on Stefan’s side, the vampires could be in serious trouble. Maybe they can finally restore some semblance of order to the town.
Unless, of course, the Huntress comes to town. Now that she’s be reyouthed by Enzo, trouble is definitely going to hit everyone in Mystic Falls. Which begs the question, why in the name of all that is good and holy would Enzo restore a vampire hunter to her youth? The only real possibility that I can think of is that he knows and cares about her, but why would a vampire hunter as ruthless as she obviously is be fond of a vampire? Inquiring minds want to know.
One thing you have to give Damon, he spirals like no one else. And this spiral is so much worse than anything he’s done in the past because he “killed” the one person he truly cares about other than Stefan. And yes, I used the quotes on purpose, because I honestly don’t think they would ever actually kill off Elena Gilbert. I could be wrong, but I would put the chances of her actually being dead at the same of my winning a multibillion dollar lottery. Basically zero. Normally Stefan helps drag him out of these funks, but I don’t see Stefan helping him this time, nor do I see anyone else helping him, which means that he really is on his own, which seriously sucks for him.
The babies are siphons and are stealing Caroline’s magic. That was an unexpected little twist. It would be a great explanation about why she’d be out of the show for several episodes after giving birth. Given the fact that we see her in the future, she obviously survives the experience, but it will be interesting to see how it happens.
Poor Bonnie is caught in the middle of a lovers’ quarrel between Nora and Mary Louise. I was so glad that she finally called Nora on what she was doing. Using Bonnie to get under Mary Louise’s skin was effective, but very annoying. I don’t see Bonnie ever getting seriously involved with either of them given the fact that she has never even displayed the slightest hint of being into other women, so I don’t want to call this a love triangle. It’s more of a mess between two old lovers who are currently on the outs. I just hope that the two ladies sort out their issues soon. I do enjoy seeing Bonnie pal around with Nora, so I hope that doesn’t end.
Matt finally has another ordinary human he can share everything with, which is good for him. He has been surrounded by vampires, witches, werewolves, and hunters for so long that he really needs someone else who is ordinary like him to share this crazy life with. Given the flash forwards, she doesn’t last, which sucks, but I hop he has fun while it lasts.
Until next week!
Friday, February 12, 2016
My Review of DC's Legends of Tomorrow 1.04- White Knights
The team travels to 1988 in order to find Vandal Savage, Rip shows a side to himself that Snart likes, Sara and Kendra train each other, and we find out that Ronnie's death is still affecting Stein.
Rip Hunter certainly knows how to take the long view, doesn't he? Temporarily sacrificing half of the team in order to stop Savage from creating his own Firestorm was certainly a calculated gamble. To make that sort of gamble, he has to be almost certain that the rest of the team can get Stein, Ray, and Rory back. While I have no doubt that Sara and Snart will be more than able to hold up their own end, Kendra and Jax are seriously untested. Can Jax fight? Sure, but he's never gone up against trained soldiers like the ones the team is certain to encounter in the Soviet gulag. And Kendra is too out of control to be relied on right now. When she had Carter with her, she was able to control everything well enough, but without him, she seems to have a lot more trouble containing the warrior priestess within.
As for how the gang will react to Rip's gamble, it is obvious that Snart is perfectly willing to go along because it is the sort of thing he would do. I suspect that Sara will go along once Rip explains his reasoning, but I am not sure about Jax. I really don't think he gets the idea that it is sometimes ok to temporarily sacrifice a few pieces in order to get to a larger goal. Note that I say temporarily. I don't think that Rip is willing to lose any member permanently unless he was absolutely certain that that move would end Savage. Until that point, he will look at the big picture and think strategically rather than obsess over the small speed bumps along the way. That is similar to the way that Oliver thinks, only Rip has a much more complete picture of what the whole board looks like, given that he is from 150 years in the future. I have very little doubt that Stein will appreciate Rip's plans and Rory will probably accept them (if grudgingly). Ray is the unknown quantity here. He is a business man, which means that he is used to thinking about the big picture, but I don't know if he can be as calculating as Rip is.
Having Sara train Kendra in an effort to get both of them to deal with their inner issues was a smart move on Rip's part. Sara knows how to control the warrior within so she can help Kendra. Kendra, on the other hand, is empathetic enough to be able to help Sara get in touch with her humanity so she can control the bloodlust. Unleashing either of them without control is a bad, bad idea. While they would both be incredibly hard to deal with, the problem is that when they lose control, they aren't able to focus on the enemy enough to be helpful in a fight. And they both showed how dangerous they can be. Kendra came damn close to completely taking apart that soldier and Sara came within inches of killing Kendra. Control is most definitely needed for both of them.
And we find out why exactly Stein has been so hard on Jax. He doesn't want Jax to die the way Ronnie did. What he needs to learn to do is try and talk with Jax about what is going on. Jax is a good guy, albeit very headstrong. I think that Stein really needs to make sure Jax understands where he is coming from and then listen to Jax. Stein is right that his knowledge and intelligence are needed to even out the Jax's inexperience and youthful rashness, but Jax is also right that it is his body that is at risk and he needs to be trusted. Neither of them is nearly as good alone as they are when they work together. Actually, that statement is true of the entire team. While each of them is particularly skilled in their own area, when they work together, they are so much more than the sum of the individual parts.
Why am I not surprised that Snart is a skilled pickpocket? I did love the way he was able to get the keycards so smoothly and of course he stole the wallets too. Is it the heroic thing? No, but Snart isn't exactly a hero. He is a criminal and that is part of the reason he and Rory are along. They can do things that the others can't or won't do, and that is a good thing.
I also find it interesting that the show appears to be breaking the season into mini-arcs set within a given time period rather than jumping to a new time period for each episode. I think that is a really smart idea. Create a series of 3-4 part episodes, each set fitting within the overall arc of stopping Savage. It's very different from the way Arrow or The Flash operate and that is a good thing.
My only criticism of the show at this point is that the cast is so big that servicing all of the characters well is virtually impossible. Right now the best characters are those who were on one of the parent shows for several episodes. The weakest characters are Jax, Rip, and Kendra, each of whom were only on their parent show for a couple of episodes. They definitely need to be fleshed out more to make them characters we can really care about.
Until next week!
Rip Hunter certainly knows how to take the long view, doesn't he? Temporarily sacrificing half of the team in order to stop Savage from creating his own Firestorm was certainly a calculated gamble. To make that sort of gamble, he has to be almost certain that the rest of the team can get Stein, Ray, and Rory back. While I have no doubt that Sara and Snart will be more than able to hold up their own end, Kendra and Jax are seriously untested. Can Jax fight? Sure, but he's never gone up against trained soldiers like the ones the team is certain to encounter in the Soviet gulag. And Kendra is too out of control to be relied on right now. When she had Carter with her, she was able to control everything well enough, but without him, she seems to have a lot more trouble containing the warrior priestess within.
As for how the gang will react to Rip's gamble, it is obvious that Snart is perfectly willing to go along because it is the sort of thing he would do. I suspect that Sara will go along once Rip explains his reasoning, but I am not sure about Jax. I really don't think he gets the idea that it is sometimes ok to temporarily sacrifice a few pieces in order to get to a larger goal. Note that I say temporarily. I don't think that Rip is willing to lose any member permanently unless he was absolutely certain that that move would end Savage. Until that point, he will look at the big picture and think strategically rather than obsess over the small speed bumps along the way. That is similar to the way that Oliver thinks, only Rip has a much more complete picture of what the whole board looks like, given that he is from 150 years in the future. I have very little doubt that Stein will appreciate Rip's plans and Rory will probably accept them (if grudgingly). Ray is the unknown quantity here. He is a business man, which means that he is used to thinking about the big picture, but I don't know if he can be as calculating as Rip is.
Having Sara train Kendra in an effort to get both of them to deal with their inner issues was a smart move on Rip's part. Sara knows how to control the warrior within so she can help Kendra. Kendra, on the other hand, is empathetic enough to be able to help Sara get in touch with her humanity so she can control the bloodlust. Unleashing either of them without control is a bad, bad idea. While they would both be incredibly hard to deal with, the problem is that when they lose control, they aren't able to focus on the enemy enough to be helpful in a fight. And they both showed how dangerous they can be. Kendra came damn close to completely taking apart that soldier and Sara came within inches of killing Kendra. Control is most definitely needed for both of them.
And we find out why exactly Stein has been so hard on Jax. He doesn't want Jax to die the way Ronnie did. What he needs to learn to do is try and talk with Jax about what is going on. Jax is a good guy, albeit very headstrong. I think that Stein really needs to make sure Jax understands where he is coming from and then listen to Jax. Stein is right that his knowledge and intelligence are needed to even out the Jax's inexperience and youthful rashness, but Jax is also right that it is his body that is at risk and he needs to be trusted. Neither of them is nearly as good alone as they are when they work together. Actually, that statement is true of the entire team. While each of them is particularly skilled in their own area, when they work together, they are so much more than the sum of the individual parts.
Why am I not surprised that Snart is a skilled pickpocket? I did love the way he was able to get the keycards so smoothly and of course he stole the wallets too. Is it the heroic thing? No, but Snart isn't exactly a hero. He is a criminal and that is part of the reason he and Rory are along. They can do things that the others can't or won't do, and that is a good thing.
I also find it interesting that the show appears to be breaking the season into mini-arcs set within a given time period rather than jumping to a new time period for each episode. I think that is a really smart idea. Create a series of 3-4 part episodes, each set fitting within the overall arc of stopping Savage. It's very different from the way Arrow or The Flash operate and that is a good thing.
My only criticism of the show at this point is that the cast is so big that servicing all of the characters well is virtually impossible. Right now the best characters are those who were on one of the parent shows for several episodes. The weakest characters are Jax, Rip, and Kendra, each of whom were only on their parent show for a couple of episodes. They definitely need to be fleshed out more to make them characters we can really care about.
Until next week!
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