Reign 2x20 Fugitive

 

After weeks of having to watch Mary flip-flop between „I love you and we should elope together” and „I love you but we can’t be be together” and then Conde basically saying screw all that, I’m just gonna marry your mortal enemy instead, this week’s episode of Reign was delightfully light on the Mary-Conde-Francis love triangle/relationship drama, so much so that I could probably sum up that part of the episode in only a couple of sentences. In fact, that is exactly what I’m planning to do, and then devote the rest of this review to Mary’s ladies and their respective love lives, because let’s face it, every single one of those is a million times more interesting than what Mary’s storyline has been reduced to in the second half of the season.

Supernatural 10x20 Angel Heart

 

It’s been awhile since we last saw Claire Novak, the daughter of Castiel’s vessel Jimmy, and to be honest during that time I almost completely forgot about her. She was one of those characters that I really wanted to care about because I sympathized with their situation a lot, but there was something about her that just never clicked for me. Nevertheless, I was happy when she and Cas ended the episode she last appeared in in what I thought was a good place, with Claire taking off on her own but asking Cas if it was okay if she called him sometimes. I can only guess that she never actually called because in this episode she acted as if they never made up, so initially I wasn’t looking forward to yet another episode of Castiel trying to get closer to a grumpy Claire. Oh how things can change in only 40 minutes!

Arrow 3x21 Al Sah-Him

 

It’s been three weeks since Oliver gave up everything he loved to save Thea’s life by joining the League of Assassins. We don’t know much about how he spent those three weeks other than sleeping in a small room, being trained in combat by Ra’s al Ghul, and apparently being mind-controlled into forgetting who he used to be. His first true test of loyalty came in the form of a captured Diggle who supposedly snuck back in to rescue Oliver but who also insists that he was captured while trying to escape in the first place and has been held at Nanda Parbat all along. Whatever the truth is, it is up to Oliver to deal with him, and he orders the other men to give Dig a sword because he won’t kill an unarmed man. In the end he stabs and kills him only for it to turn out not to be Dig after all – Ra’s explains to Oliver that he was given a herb that made his conscious take over his mind. Now, I only have two small questions about all of this.

Revenge 4x21 Aftermath

 

Last week I spent a lot of time wondering how exactly did Victoria plan to frame Emily for her murder after she committed suicide by blowing herself up with Grayson Manor. It’s one thing that their hatred for each other is now public knowledge, but the house and everything in it belongs to Emily, and why would she choose such a complicated and messy method for murder instead of literally anything else? These are the questions I would be asking first if I was a cop, but as it turns out if you’re the kind of cop who used to date and then got badly burnt by the suspect herself, then you can easily throw logic out of the window in favour of circumstantial evidence. As you may have guessed already, this week’s episode of Revenge was all about the aftermath of Victoria’s suicide/suspected murder, and unfortunately, with only two episodes left of the season (and possibly series), things were not looking too bright for Emily by the end of this hour.

Orphan Black 3x02 Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis

 

Remember when last week I was hella confused by pretty much everything that was happening in the Orphan Black season premiere due to my inabilty to rewatch the first two seasons before the new one began? And remember how I said that by the end of the episode everything was pretty clear and I wad good to go forward? Yeah, forget that. It seems like my confusion is not over yet. Oh no, in fact, by the looks of it, it’s only just beginning! Honestly, it even made me question whether I should be writing these reviews at all, because I imagine after a while it will be pretty tiring if my reaction to everything will be something like „okay I have no idea why that’s happening but it’s alright, I can roll with it!”... But for now, I’m gonna write this review and then see where the next episode takes me. Also, please do point out if I’m talking bullshit or completely misunderstand something that should be obvious. I promise I will be extremely grateful because I WANT to enjoy this show to the fullest, and I feel like much of my annoyance with this episode was rooted in not remembering simple but essential details about the show’s mythology.

But first thing’s first: last week I mentioned that I don’t know any of the Castor clones’ names and netiher can I distinguish them from each other, so I’m just gonna call all of them Clone Boy and hope that it won’t get too confusing. Well, most of this problem was solved by this episode so just recapping it real quick for my own benefit: Scarface is called Rudy, he’s the one who was locked in by Dyad but was broken out by his brother in the previous episode. Said brother is the one with the Pornstache, also known as Seth, and they’re the ones doing all sorts of weird shit to random women, including that one Leda clone from last week. Then there’s Mark the Prolethean, who made a very brief appearence at the end of this episode but has yet to truly come into play, and another, fourth one at the military base where they’re keeping Helena. His name I still don’t know but for now it doesn’t seem like I have to, he hasn’t even spoken a single line yet if I remember correctly. So now that I can call them by their proper names, I can continue with the fact that Rudy and Seth opened this episode by doing some weird shit to a random woman, which is nothing new from them but it was still pretty fucking unsettling to watch. The good news is that she came out of it alive – but I’m getting way ahead of myself here.

The Flash 1x20 The Trap

 

See, this is what happens when you concentrate on the bigger picture for two consecutive episodes instead of bringing in a few more one-off villains just for the sake of comicbook shout-outs: your show suddenly becomes super fun and enjoyable. Or at least that was the case with The Flash this week, and after watching these last two episodes I suddenly find myself very much excited for the finale. There’s three more episodes to go, so hopefully they don’t ruin this great momentum until then. 

The Vampire Diaries 6x19 Because

 

If I was to make a list of all the things The Vampire Diaries does exceptionally well, playing with my emotions would definitely rank in the top five. Whether it be Elena driving to pick up a dying Damon and then choosing to be with Stefan instead, just to then break up with Stefan and sleep with Damon in the span of the next five or so episodes, dedicating a fantastically heartfelt and beautiful episode to the life of Katherine Pierce as she’s drawing her last breaths and then NOT killing her off, or just recently, making me believe that there might be cure for Liz’s cancer and then practically killing her TWICE... the term ’emotional rollercoaster’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. The reason I’m bringing this is up is obviously because there was a lot of that going around in this episode too, and with the imminent departure of Elena looming in the near future, I suspect that things are about to become more distressing and emotionally taxing than ever.

Reign 2x19 Abandoned

 

I know I gave Reign a lot of shit last week because of its handling of various relationships and just generally taking the show into the wrong direction, and I would love to say that things got better this week... but sadly, it’s still very much about Mary and Conde being super into each other, Francis being angsty about it, and Narcisse sleeping with Catherine. On the bright side, there was a bit of Narcisse/Lola too and even a tiny hint of Kenna/Renaude, so that was enough to see me off until next week. And if you think that I shouldn’t be so focused on the relationship stuff and should instead concentrate on the other aspects of the show, like the political situation, well believe me I would be the happiest if I could but as of right now these two are so intertwined that I’m literally unable to separate them. After all, these are kings and queens amd princes we’re talking about, and their relationships with each other are very much the driving force behind most of the political games the writers have decided to explore. So I will probably keep whining about the badly done relationships until they miraculously sort themselves out, or introduce a bigger plot that is much more fun to write about. Until that happens, bear with me please.

The Originals 2x20 City Beneath the Sea

 

Oh boy. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty when Klaus woke up after having been betrayed by his own siblings and daggered by none other than Elijah. What I couldn’t possible have known was that it was going to become un-pretty way before he even woke up. Turns out I didn’t take Dahlia into consideration, but then again neither did Elijah, so I guess I shouldn’t blame myself. In any case, what a great episode! It’s probably gonna get old real soon if I keep saying this every week, but I can’t help it, and anyway it’s always true – this show is really something else. Honestly, if someone came to me when I was watching season two of The Vampire Diaries and told me that only a few years from now I’m gonna willingly follow a series centered on the Mikaelson brothers, and what’s more, I’m going to adore it, I probably would have laughed for a good twenty minutes. Oh how things have changed. Anyway, enough about me, let’s talk about The Originals!

Supernatural 10x19 The Werther Project

 

After last week’s Mark of Cain-centric episode, not to mention its very much cliffhangery ending, I expected this episode to be a continuation of that storyline. So imagine my surprise when it started out with the kind of typical Supernatural opening sequence which usually is a sign of a standalone, Monster of the Week episode. Now, I’m one of those weirdos who actually love those kind of episodes, not just on Supernatural but on most similar shows as well (and yes, The Flash is an exception, but that’s only because for some reason they are unable to make any of their villains interesting in any way). I keep telling the complainers that there simply has to be a break from the main storyline every once in a while, otherwise we would never be able to let any steam out, especially if the current storyline is as dark and depressing as Supernatural’s usually is. Or, say, the last two seasons of Person of Interest. As much as I would love to get along with the story and find out whatever Samaritan is up to, sometimes you just gotta have an episode where Reese has to catch the perp on a plane while Finch is trying to land it from his office using a joystick, you know? Okay, that was a long time ago, but so many people complained about that episode being „too light” and „out of place”, while I thought it was one of the most fun episodes of the show ever and it came at a time when we desperately needed some fun, so yeah. That has nothing to do with Supernatural but you see what I’m trying to say here, right? Standalone episodes are important too. All that said, I was a bit baffled by the writers’ choice to have such an episode right here, right now, just as we’ve finally managed to find a way to maybe remove that bloody mark once and for all. So thank God it was a false alarm, and the episode turned out to be very important in terms of the greater plot, and it was also very Rowena-heavy, which is always a good thing in my book.

Forever 1x21 The Night in Question

 

I don’t think I’ve had the chance before to express my love for this little show called Forever, and seeing as there’s a chance that next week’s season finale will be the series finale as well, I feel like I have to do so while I still can. So here it goes: I adore Forever. It’s honestly one of the most perfect series on TV right now. Everything in it is amazing: the main story arc, the characters, the relationships, the cases of the week, the flashbacks, the humour, the atmosphere, the suspense, the emotional moments... everything. I love it so, so much, and I honestly think I’m gonna cry if it gets cancelled next week. Before that can happen though, I would like to review at least these remaining two episodes, and then cross my fingers that the overwhelmingly positive critical and fan reaction will be able to somehow override the terrible ratings, and grant this wonderful show the second season it deserves. So here’s how it all went down this week...

Pilot Season Wishlist 2015

Since this year's Upfronts are only a week away, I decided to do a list of all the pilots that I would love to see get ordered to series for next season, so that next week I can know just how disappointed am I supposed to be exactly.

As a general rule of thumb I'll be interested in a new series if it has either a good story or an actor that I like, or both. This year it's mainly the second category that dominates, there are only one or two pilots that I chose based on their stories, and then there's the Arrow/Flash spinoff which is kind of a weird combination of both/neither...it's really hard to explain but I know I'm gonna watch it anyway.

So without any further ado, here's a list of all the shows I would love to see next fall, the ones that I really, REALLY want to see are bolded, and the name of the actor(s) that got me interested is also added.

Once Upon a Time 4x20 Lily

I don’t think that, in my history as a TV-watcher, there ever was another episode that so perfectly embodied the phrase ’mixed feelings’ as this one. On one hand, the flashbacks were wonderful, which is always a big plus when a show is so heavily relying on them as OUAT does. But on the other hand, the present day storyline was nothing but a long series of eyerolling, „what the fuck?” lines, and frustration, topped off with the biggest ever „OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAT?????” moment that I’ve ever experienced watching this show. Which I’m not entirely sure IS a bad thing, I mean, that kind of burst of emotion is pretty freaking rare for me in this age of behind the scenes spoilers and predictable plot twists, so I really am impressed that the writers managed to pull off something that I don’t think anyone expected... and basically this is what I meant by mixed feelings. Honestly, I’m not even sure how I feel about this episode anymore. It was miles ahead of pretty much everything in this halfseason, but much worse than the previous, wonderfully twisted episode... so yeah. Mixed. Let’s dissect it a little bit, shall we?

Arrow 3x20 The Fallen

 

If a couple weeks ago someone had told me that the episode where Oliver finally agrees to join the League of Assassins would actually be one of the most boring and uneventful episodes of the season, I would have probably laughed in their face and then told them to go and shit someone else. Sadly, I would have been wrong. As unbelievable as it is to say it, this episode really wasn’t that big of a deal. Plot-wise there was hardly anything going on, and although it had a lot of long, supposed-to-be-meaningful conversations, I kept finding myself staring into space and not having any idea what the people involved were talking about, but also not caring enough to rewind and actually pay attention. The reason I still decided to review the episode is simple: I enjoy writing these reviews and the more I can do the better, but also because it gives me a reason to talk about something that I can’t really tiptoe around any longer if I want to keep reviewing Arrow, but probably wouldn’t be able to fit into any of my other episode reviews. So basically, read on if you’re curious about my opinion on the relationship between Oliver and Felicity. Or you know, the episode itself.

The Flash 1x19 Who Is Harrison Wells?

 

You might think that I would be angry at this episode because last week I clearly said that the only reason I was excited for this one is because judging by the title, we’re probably right to expect some answers to the biggest overarching mystery of the season, and yet the episode completely failed to deliver on that front... but the truth is, as baffled as I am by the incredibly deceptive title, this was still one of the most fun episodes of The Flash to date, so this time I’m willing to forgive its shortcomings and hope that maybe next week we’ll get some of those answers. There aren’t that many episodes left of the season so it’s about time, I would say.

So what is it exactly that made the episode so enjoyable? For one thing, the guest starring Arrow characters, but also the fact that for probably the very first time on the show, the Villain of the Week was actually interesting. But really, it was mainly the Arrow characters. God bless the Lance family, is all I can say.

The Originals 2x19 When the Levee Breaks

 

Before I watched this episode, I stumpled upon some spoilers saying that it was both „heart-wrenching” and „soul-crushing”, and seeing as I’m never above jumping to the worst possible explanation (in fact, that is my go-to method of approaching everything in my life), I immediately assumed that Hope was going to die. It makes a lot of sense. Obviously they’re not going to kill off Hayley or any of the Mikaelson siblings anytime soon, and while it would be definitely sad to watch Hayley cry over Jackson’s dead body, „heart-wrenching” may be taking things a bit too far if that was the case. So who else? Cami? Marcel? Davina? All important characters, but would it be really that sad if they died? Probably not. So it has to be Hope, right? Sounds logical enough to me. But thankfully, the writers of The Originals are apparently not quite as cruel and heartless as I assumed them to be. Also, it turns out there are characters on this show that other people care a lot more about than I do, because honestly, I didn’t even blink when The Thing happened. As usual when someone I care so little about that I regularly forget that they’re on the show dies, it was only the reaction of other characters that made it sad for me. All that said, please don’t ever kill Hope off, alright? If you don’t want to bother with a toddler on set, or if it gets tiring writing in a way where you always have to take the baby into consideration, just ship her off to somewhere safe, like you’ve already done it once. I don’t think I could deal with watching Hayley break down if her daughter was killed. So please don’t?

Revenge 4x20 Burn

 

If last week’s flashback episode wasn’t a big enough sign that Revenge is slowly coming to its end this season, than this one definitely was. And I’m happy to say that it was just as enjoyable to watch as the one last week, which means that my hopes of this series going out on the high note it deserves are probably justified. Fingers crossed that I didn’t just screw it up by saying that!

The Vampire Diaries 6x18 I Could Never Love Like That

 

If I’m keeping track correctly, this is the first episode of The Vampire Diaries that has aired since it was announced that Nina Dobrev is going to leave the show at the end of the season, and judging by certain events in the episode itself, I think it’s safe to say that we now have a pretty good idea as to how exactly her departure will be handled. It’s going to be weird watching TVD without Elena... no, not weird... more like completely surreal. Whether you liked her or not, she IS the main character of the show, the driving force that kept it going for all these years, and I honestly can’t imagine how they plan to go on without her. But the show is already renewed for a seventh season so they’re going to have to try, although I’m pretty sure that, unless Nina changes her mind a year from now, season 7 will truly be the last hurrah. I will be sad to see this series go because even in its arguably worst period (aka season 4-5) it was always entertaining, most of the characters are very close to my heart, and except for maybe Supernatural, I can’t really think of another show with such a gigantic, complicated and fascinating mythology as this one.

But let’s not start digging the grave just yet! Season 6 has been truly wonderful, and what a feat it was to bounce back like this after all the mistakes of season 5. This episode followed suit, as it was both exciting, emotional, hilarious, and a little bit confusing, which is just the way I like my TVD.

Reign 2x18 Reversal of Fortune

I can’t think of another show in recent years that has been such a rollercoaster ride in regards to my attitude towards it than Reign. When it started, I was mildy interested in it. As an English major and self-proclaimed general history nerd, a show about the life of Mary, Queen of Scots was right up my alley. Unfortunately, I quickly found myself bored with the whole love triangle angle of the show which was pretty hard to care about when you already knew who Mary was going to end up with anyway... Remember, this was back when I still thought this series was only going to be a little bit historically inaccurate, just enough to make for better drama, but devoid of any major changes to historical facts. Well, we all know how that turned out, but the point is, I enjoyed season one and was happy when the show got renewed, but I never particularly looked forward to any of the episodes, and it wasn’t unusual for me to let them stack up when I had better things to do, and only catch up three or four weeks later. That all changed, however, with the introduction of the brilliant character of Lord Narcisse, who I only paid attention to in the beginning because he is played by Craig Parker and you simply can’t NOT pay attention to Craig Parker, but I never thought I would ever care much about the character itself, and I expected him to be in only a couple of episodes anyway... but then. BUT THEN. That scene in the crypt with Lady Lola changed everything, I completely fell in love with not only the character but the pairing too, and from then on I religiously waited for each new episode just to see those two interact for ten seconds. What a wonderful few months that was.

Unfortunately, after the midseason finale things went downhill very quickly, and the show completely regressed into what was always my least favourite thing about it: relationship drama after relationship drama, love triangles all over the place, and what bothered me the most was that they seemed to have completely forgotten about the wonderful blossoming relationship between Lola and Narcisse. If I’m counting things right, in the last eight episode they only had one important scene together, which actually could have been HUGE for them, except that it was never brought up ever again, as if it never happened. Now, you might think that it’s not fair of me to critize the show for not focusing on my ship, after all, there must be other, more imporant things to deal with, right? Well, if that was the case I wouldn’t be angry at all. I’m all for slow-burn relationships and God knows it wouldn’t make any sense for this particular pairing to just go from acquintances to lovers overnight... but the thing is, what we have instead ranges from boring to infuriating to completely nonsensical, and anyway, I’m more upset about the wasting of a perfectly good storyline than about my ship heading nowhere. Because believe me, I know the difference between „this couple has no chance of ever happening and it’s just the fans who read too much into it” and „this couple is written in a way that suggests that they’ll eventually get together”, and Lola/Narcisse was definitely, 100% percent in the second category... except that somewhere along the line the writers either changed their mind or just simply forgot about it. In any case, the last few months I found myself being back in my season 1 attitude: I watch the show every week but I don’t expect wonders. Which is sad, really... so much wasted potential, so many characters that deserve better.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is that you’ll understand how it could happen that I apparently fell asleep while watching the previous episode, because honest to God when I was watching the „previously on” segment this week, I didn’t remember any of that happening, and they were pretty important stuff too. Mary sleeping with Condé, Bash getting stabbed, Francis collapsing... important stuff. The only thing that I seemed to remember was Narcisse and Catherine kissing and probably sleeping together, which I sometimes randomly remembered all through the week but it seemed so improbable that I actually had to check the episode to see if it really happened or if I just dreamt it. But no, it did happen, and now you probably see what I meant when I said that everything BUT Lola/Narcisse seems to be happening on this show. Anyway, enough about my frustration, let’s see what this week’s episode had to offer.

Orphan Black 3x01 The Weight of This Combination

Lovers of fantastic TV and otherworldly acting rejoice, everyone’s favourite clone-drama is finally back, and by the looks of it, it’s about to get even more complicated! The last time we saw the Leda-sisters, Sarah has only barely escaped from Dyad, Cosima was still dying, Helena got kidnapped, Rachel got a pencil put through her eye, and Alison was... being Alison? I don’t remember anything particularly terrible happening to her in the finale, which is good because she’s my favourite and God knows she’s been through a lot in season 2. And then there was of course the big twist at the very end of the episode when we found out about the existence of Project Castor, a group of male clones who all look suspiciously like Creepy Mark from the Prolethean ranch.

That’s more than enough to make anyone crazy excited about next season, right? Well, I’m afraid here’s the part where most fans are going to get angry at me, but honestly, it didn’t make me excited at all, for various reasons. First of all, the twist didn’t shock me as much as it seemed to shock most people. I was kinda just like, okay, there are male clones too, so what? Plus I never really gave half a shit about Mark so there wasn’t even that to make me excited about getting to know his „brothers”. Just imagine if it was revealed that Felix was a clone instead. Now THAT would have been amazing. Also, by the end of season 2 I kinda got really confused about all the different groups and people and organizations and who wants to do what with which clones, that I was honestly more worried about season 3 than excited. I mean, how am I gonna enjoy this show going forward if I have zero idea about what’s going on? So I made this plan to rewatch the first two seasons and make notes of it so I can finally get everything straight, but then I didn’t, which meant that I basically went into this premiere completely lost. Thankfully, the „previously on” segment was unusually useful and it helped me remember a lot of things that have happened, so by the end of the episode I felt like I was good to go forward again. The reason I’m telling you this is so that maybe you’ll be more understanding if half of my review is going to be clueless ramblings and me wondering about why certain things are happening. I promise I’ll be more on top of things by the time the next episode rolls around.

Supernatural 10x18 Book of the Damned

Before I get started on this, I have to admit something: I kinda lost track of the main storyline on Supernatural a few episode back, so this episode was full of surprises and „wait, what?” moments for me. It’s very possible that I’ll be using the phrase „wait, what?” a lot throughout this review, simply because I didn’t remember that any of these things were supposed to be happening. Now, I would hate for anyone to get the wrong idea so let me just say this right now: I love this show. It’s one of my favourites, and I kinda want it to go on forever even though I’m well aware of the fact that the potential for new storylines that are actually interestint and entertaining to watch is getting smaller and smaller each season, and I’m really looking forward for the prospect of seeing these wonderful actors try themselves in something non-Winchester related after the show finally ends... and yet I still hope it gets renewed at the end of every season. So please understand that I only mean it in the best possible way when I say that this Mark of Cain storyline is boring my ass off and as far as I’m concerned it can’t end soon enough, and that is the reason why I’ve been kinda phasing out the last couple of weeks whenever something Mark of Cain-related  came up, and I always let out a sigh of relief whenever I see that an episode is going to be a standard good old-fashioned Monster of the Week one.

That said, this eisode was plenty entertaining, even with all the Mark of Cain (which I’m just gonna calll MoC from now on because typing Mark of Cain every ten seconds is about as boring as hearing about it all the time) stuff going on. Most of the entertainment value came from the fact that Charlie was involved, and she always brings a kind of lighthearted fun to whatever episode she is in, even if said episode would be pretty dark and doom-and-gloomy otherwise. I can only guess that Metatron’s presence was also supposed to provide some comic relief, but I’m so sick of the guy that I could only roll my eyes whenever he was cracking jokes, rather than being actually entertained. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, and let’s see what Charlie was up to first.

Movie Trailer: Black Mass (2015)

So I know that technically this is not a news blog and I never intended it to be one (although lately I have been thinking about doing weekly news roundups every Sunday, but more on that later), and I always considered the release of a new trailer to fall under the news category, but this one is so incredible that I don't care, I just have to share it.

HOLY FUCK. Did Black Mass just became my most anticipated movie of 2015 after Age of Ultron? I think so. This movie has been on my Watchlist ever since it was announced, back when it was still Guy Pearce who was supposed to play Johnny Depp's brother, not Benedict Cumberbatch - I love them both though so I wasn't really upset about the change - but then it kinda fell off my radar as it was overshadowed by more urgent, bigger releases. BUT NOW. I'm so excited, everything about this trailer screams perfection to me, and can I just say how pumped I am for the first Johnny Depp movie I'm going to be watching in the cinema since The Lone Ranger? I've been feeling kinda bad about "abandoning" him and not seeing either Transcendent, Into the Woods or Mortdecai... I always planned to but then I just didn't, for various reasons. Anyway, this is gonna change in September, and by the looks of it, it's gonna be worth the wait.

Also, as a sidenote, can I just say that I absolutely love how this movie is the perfect middle finger for those people who've been complaining for years that he only ever plays crazy characters with overdone make-up, and he probably wouldn't even know how to act in a serious movie anymore? Well, his character in this movie looks as crazy as they come with plenty of make-up, but it's also supposed to be a serious crime drama... I can't wait for him to nail the role and prove all his doubters wrong.

Arrow 3x19 Broken Arrow

Who doesn’t love a good double twist? I know I do.

Leading up to this week’s episode of Arrow, all the fans could talk about was which character was going to be the one to die, thanks to the promotional material for the episode as well as a couple of not subtle at all tweets by various cast members. The obvious candidates were Roy and Captain Lance, but nowadays where everyone is expecting twist endings and just twists in general, what kind of show would go for the obvious? Unless, of course, they have figured out which one the fans would think was the obvious choice, therefore knew we would be expecting them to surprise us, in which case doing the obvious would end up being the bigger surprise... Well, this is the kind of mental gymnastics that I usually do whenever a show announces that there is a big death coming up. For me, personally, at this point of the show I would have been cool with anyone dying except for Dig and Laurel, and given that one of them has just gotten her first major storyline in ages and the other is supposed to get one next season, I was actually fairly calm waiting to find out just who it is exactly that I’m supposed to say goodbye to. As it turns out, it was no one. Or at least I think it was. Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? The writers somehow managed to do both the obvious AND the not-so-obvious at the same time, but the way the episode ended we just all know that it isn’t going to stick. Which wasn’t a very easy sentence to come up with without mentioning any names or what actually happened, and because by the time I’m posting this I know that everyone has most probably seen not only this but also the next episode, I think it’d be better for everyone if I just stopped rambling and got started on the actual review.

The Originals 2x18 Night Has a Thousand Eyes

 

If I had to sum up this week’s episode of The Originals, I would say it was a delightful combination of strange alliances, horror and suspense, as well as some truly spectacular pieces of poetry. Starting with a fantastically creepy opening sequence complete with a melancholic violin solo, a message about promises made, and a black dahlia, and ending with the devastating death of a beloved character, this episode was truly one of the best this show has ever produced.

This week it was all about preparing for Dahlia’s inevitable arrival, and trying to find way to protect Hope when her great-aunt finally rolls in to take her. Unsurprisingly, Klaus, Freya, Jackson and Elijah all had different ideas as to how to achieve this, and in the span of the episode we got to see all but one of those plans fall apart. It was actually pretty telling, the different methods each of these characters deemed appropriate to employ in the same situation. If I had to sum up each of them with one word, it would be: Klaus – fight, Elijah – protect, Jackson – run, Freya – prevent. Let’s take a look at how exactly each of these plans did NOT work out.

Once Upon a Time 4x19 Sympathy for the De Vil

If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you might have stumbled upon half-sentences here and there, mentioning my favourite series of them all, Once Upon a Time. Now that I actually get to write a proper review for one of its episodes, I need to mention just two things real quick: 1. I’m super excited about this, and 2. Just because this show means more to me than most other things in my life, it doesn’t mean that I’m not super critical of it and acknowledge when it fucks up. This is important because, unfortunately, OUAT has been doing a lot of fucking up during its current season. The first half wasn’t so bad. I thoroughly enjoyed all the Frozen characters and their corresponding story, the Snow Queen was as cool a villain as any – no pun intended – and if you don’t count the fact that it contained what’s probably my all time least favourite episode (4x05 Breaking Glass, also known as The One Where Regina Verbally Abuses Emma For 40 Minutes and Emma Never Gets to Fight Back), most episodes were actually pretty solid. Then season 4B happened, and... holy shit, where do I even start

There’s this whole mess with the Author who supposedly controls everything in the story, which is in direct contradiction with previously established canon but hey, it’s okay, the writers had a last-minute explanation for that so we’re all supposed to be cool with it now! In connection with it there’s all of our main characters tripping over themselves to help Regina get her happy ending, conveniently forgetting that she’s the reason for pretty much all the terrible things that have happened in their lives, and also that happy endings are not supposed to work that way (see previous sentence). Then there’s the fact that there’s little to zero focus on Emma, the main character of the show, and her basically non-existent relationship with her parents, if you don’t count the fact that the writers have managed to come up with a truly terrible way to make her angry at them, which also involves fundamentally changing some of the characters’ pasts, which we’re also supposed to be okay with because it apparently proves that not everyone is truly good or bad... which is something we’ve all been aware of for the past four seasons but whatever, let’s just make the heroes of the story into secretly horrible people to make the villains look that much better. And finally, speaking of villains, Emma and Regina are apparently best friends now, which we’re supposed to not question even a little bit, because a lot could have happened in that six weeks we’ve conveniently skipped, right? Well yeah, but this is kind of a huge deal because it wasn’t that long ago when Regina only reluctantly admitted that she doesn’t want to kill Emma, shortly followed by the revelation that what she actually feels for her is nothing less than the polar opposite of True Love, aka probably the most passionate hatred you can ever feel for a person... but it’s all cool, they’re friends now. So that’s about all my problems with season 4B that I could come up with on a whim, but I’m sure I could think of more if I actually took the time to do so.

Now, remember that I’m being 100% subjective here. This is my opinion, you don’t have to agree with any of it, but I’m pretty active in this fandom to know that at least I’m definitely not alone in thinking that this whole „let’s help the villains get their happy endings even though they did squat to deserve it”plot is the dumbest thing to ever happen on this show. Hell, you only have to look at the ratings to see that the numbers are steadily declining as more and more people lose faith that things will ever get back to how they used to be. As for me, I still watch every episode, but I no longer stay up until 3am just so I can see them live – what used to be the highlight of my week slowly turned into „I’m just gonna watch it when I get back from school on Monday”.

Taking all this into account, it’s probably not that surprising that I wasn’t all that excited for this week’s episode either. True, Cruella’s origin story was definitely more promising than most things that we’ve had to look forward to this season. Cruella herself has been my favourite of the three Queens of Darkness basically since the moment we first saw them all together, and the last one to get her own flashback episode. I had all the reasons to be hopeful about this one because while Maleficent’s backstory was pretty much a disappointment in that it gave us nothing of her actual origin as an evil sorceress, the episode which featured Ursula’s past is easily my favourite episode of the season. Yes, I am a little bit tired of almost all the villains having sad pasts that are supposed to explain their actions, but at least Ursula’s was truly touching and emotional, plus, if we’re being really honest, she wasn’t even that much of a villain to begin with: all we ever saw her do was choke people lightly with her tentacles. Not that the other two Queens were any more frightening, mind you. Maleficent’s dragon powers were severely underused, and Cruella’s only magical talent seemed to be... controlling dogs? Yes, sadly the much-anticipated, all-powerful Queens of Darkness turned out to be surprisingly mild as far as villains go, and looking at the big picture of the season, things wouldn’t really be any different if they weren’t there at all. Ursula was needed so she could help out the heroes a little bit, and then, having served her purpose, was quickly whisked out of the picture. Maleficent was needed to give Snow and Charming that completely unnecessary „terrible secret” storyline which would distance them from Emma, as well as to somehow connect Lily to the main cast, and Cruella was needed... well, that’s not entirely clear to me, not even after having watched her centric episode. But at least her backstory was super entertaining, probably one of the best I’ve ever seen on this show, so let’s get right into it, shall we?

Revenge 4x19 Exposure

 

I think it’s safe to say that I haven’t been this excited for an upcoming episode of Revenge since this season’s premiere. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show, and this season, for the most part, has been wonderful... it’s just never been that „oh my God, I can’t wait for next week” kinda show for me, you know? Maybe because I watched the first three seasons last summer in only a couple of weeks’ time so for me the whole waiting for next week business only started in September... anyway, what I am trying to say is, I was incredibly excited for this episode after the one last week ended with Emily telling the truth about her real identity to the whole wide world. Where can the show go after a shock like that? Well, I had no idea, but I couldn’t wait to find out.

So imagine my surprise when after the promise of a very interesting new plot – Emily’s victims trying to get back at her, which by the way would have been infinitely more entertaining to watch than whatever Margaux is up to at any given point – the episode quickly turned into a clipshow-like series of flashbacks. I know that many people hate clipshow episodes (if it’s made up of clips we’ve already seen, that is), thinking that it’s a waste of time and just a convenient way for the writers to not have to do too much work for that week, but I’m not one of those people. For me a good flashback episode can be incredibly satisfying, and this, I’m thrilled to say, might just have been the best that I’ve ever seen.

The Flash 1x18 All Star Team Up

My overall reaction to most of this episode can be summed up in one word: ugh. Because here’s the thing: I’m not that big of a fan of The Flash to start with, and add to that another 40 minutes with Ray Palmer, after I already have to suffer through him week by week on Arrow… well to put it simply, I had close to zero motivation for watching this episode. The only reason I did was because, on the other hand, I really really wanted to watch this week’s Arrow as soon as possible, and I usually like to watch them in the order they aired, if I can.

Now, I’m actually glad that this episode was just as I was expecting it to be, because it gives me a great opportunity to address all my problems with this show without sounding like a nitpicking douchebag. So here’s the thing: I love Arrow. I loved pretty much everything about it since the first couple of episodes: the background story, the main seasonal arcs, the fantastic characters, the dry humour… it was everything a gritty, realistic, but still highly entertaning superhero show should be. So was I happy when I heard that they’re developing a spin-off which would expand the show’s universe and give me another potentially great series to watch? Hell yes I was! I was all prepared to love The Flash the same way I love Arrow, especially after they introduced Barry’s character and I found him to be extremely likeable, the perfect main character for the new show. Then came the Pilot which introduced a cast of potentially great characters and a very exciting main storyline, and I was just as pumped as everyone else… but then the weeks went on and on, each new episode was praised by critics and fans alike, and I was just sitting here, wondering why I can’t see what everyone else is seeing. The main story wasn’t really moving anywhere, the Villains of the Week were boring beyond imagination, and apart from Barry and Joe, and maybe Caitlin, I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters. Things have improved a bit lately ever since most of the show’s focus have been moved from the insufferable one-off villains to the central story arc, but I’m still not entirely satisfied. So while it’s still not a question that I’m gonna watch every new episode to find out the latest discoveries on the Harrison Wells front, I’m just simply not as excited for them as I usually am for Arrow.

The Originals 2x17 The Exquisite Corpse

Here’s a fun fact about The Originals: I can’t remember the last time they had an episode I didn’t like. This is something I honestly never expected to say back when the show started. We were just after The Vampire Diaries’ worst season to date, I couldn’t recall a single thing from the utterly boring backdoor pilot, and as an avid Klaus-hater I didn’t really look forward to watching a show centered entirely around him. The only reason I even started the show is because the creators promised TVD crossovers, and because I liked Elijah and Rebekah enough to want to see more of them. So no one was more surprised than me when somewhere around the middle of the season I found myself looking forward to it every week more than I looked forward to TVD. Elijah and Hayley quickly became two of my favourite characters ever, I became invested in the lives of minor characters like Marcel, Cami or Davina, I even started to tolerate Klaus a little bit, and the whole atmosphere and plot and mythology and just about everything on the show was way better than season 5 of TVD. Now, it’s true that season 6 has been fantastic so far and I thorougly enjoy the new episodes of the mother-show again, but I still place The Originals just a little bit higher on my current toplist, so much so that it’s usually the show that I look forward to the second most every week, beaten only by my nr. 1 favourite show, Once Upon a Time.

Taking all this into account, it’s not very surprising that I absolutely loved this week’s episode as well. It had pretty much everything that makes up a great episode for me: fast-paced action, suspense, new additions to the show’s mythology, a little bit of relationship drama, fantastic acting from multiple castmembers, and some truly brilliant character moments. The episode also saw the end of the thankfully not too long-lived Eva Sinclair storyline, for which I am very grateful because it not only means that we got Rebekah back, but also that we can finally start focusing on the whole Freya/Dahlia plot, which I assume is going to make up the majority of the remaining five episodes of the season. Before this episode we didn’t get to see much of Eva, apart from those brief moments when she temporarily gained back the control of her body and went around town terrorizing children, but this week she was back in full force, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of her presence. The credit for that, of course, goes to the wonderful Maisie Richardson-Sellers, who not only owns her role as the new Rebekah so much that at this point I would very much like her to stay forever, but apparently also does a crazy-good performance in an evil role as well. I looked her up after I finished watching the episode to see what else could I watch her in, and according to IMDb this is her first ever major role, which just makes her even more amazing in my eyes. I was thrilled to find out, however, that she appears to have a role in Star Wars VII, so I’m probably not exaggerating when I say that she is definitely an actress to look out for in the future. I know I will.

In the ever-relevant words of John Oliver, "Welcome to whatever this is!"

I'm Nóri, a 23 year old English literature major from Hungary, and this blog is my attempt at writing reviews for movies, TV series, albums, books, and anything else that catches my attention. I'm not a professional critic or even a writer of any kind, but I passionately love all things pop-culture and when I find something new to love I usually get this uncontrollable urge to talk about it to anyone who would listen, so instead of annoying the hell out of my family and all my friends with my random ramblings about favourite characters and such, I figured it would be time for me to start a blog where I can collect all of my thoughts and maybe, hopefully, discuss them with like-minded people. I already have a tumblr which kinda sorta serves the same purpose, but that's more like a collection of reblogged gifsets and uncontrolled fangirling than a place for actual serious discussion.

Now, "serious" might not be the best word to describe my blogging style, and what you should know about my reviews above everything is that they're never going to be entirely objective. As I said earlier, I'm not a professional, I know very little about the technical background of music- and filmmaking, and I don't pretend that I do. What I do know, however, is how to be an obsessed fan, and that involves long paragraphs of off-tangent ramblings about anything and everything that might come to my mind regarding the piece that I'm reviewing, which include but are not limited to childhood memories, personal details, and very specific descriptions about how the discussed piece of media makes me feel. If you like that sort of reviewing, this is definitely the place for you.

Now, just a few quicks words about just what exactly it is that I am gonna be reviewng here:

Music: I mainly listen to hard rock and various subgenres of metal, but I'm open to pretty much anything, from 90s boybands to movie soundtracks to Celtic folk music. Still, I'm mainly gonna review the latest rock/metal releases, as well as older albums that I might be discovering just now. A list of my favourite bands and artists can be found here.

Movies: When it comes to music I'm even more open-minded. I'll literally watch anything if someone recommends it to me, and I do mean it. I'm currently doing a "100 movies in 1 year" challenge for the fourth year in a row, where the only thing that matters is that the movie has to be new to me, so expect reviews of older movies as well as the newest releases.

TV Series: Again, I'm an omnivore when it comes to TV. Obviously I'll be more willing to start a new series if an actor I already like is in it or if the plot interests me, but some of my biggest favourites didn't cut any of those criteria when I started them, so it's not really a necessity. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to review every single episode of every single ongoing show that I watch, otherwise I wouldn't be able to eat or sleep or go outside ever again (if you don't believe me, check out my list here), but I'll do my best to cover as many and as often as possible.

Books: Mainly fantasy and historical fiction, but again, all I need is a convincing recommendation and I'll read the thing, whatever it is. Just as with movies, I'll be reviewing both old and new books.

To make things a little bit more interesting and colourful, beside the regular reviews I also plan to do other fun stuff, like thematic movie marathons, series of posts about the careers of certain artists, top 10 lists, and various other things. I have like a million ideas that I'm very excited to bring to life, and I'll do my best to never let this blog become stale and boring. Also, if there's anything, and I really do mean anything, that you'd like for me to watch/read/listen to and review, all you need to do is post a comment about it somewhere. I love it when people ask for my opinion, so don't be afraid to do so!

Other things that I'm interested in and that might come up sporadically are football, history, poetry, video games, languages, learning about foreign countries, cultures and religions, and probably a billion other things that I'm forgetting right now. I'm very open minded and always eager to learn about new things, so please don't be surprised if I suddenly start going on about something that I've never mentioned before... I can guarantee that's gonna happen a lot.

Alright then, that's about it for my introduction. I plan to be back tomorrow night with my first actual post, so see you then!