Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Season 1, Episode 8: Home

Start with a flashback – Alice and Cyrus being all sweet and loving under the stars when her groping hands find a compass. It’s a memento of Cyrus’s mother – his human mother. Cyrus wasn’t always a genie and the compass points to his mother – as to whether that mother is alive or not, well, it stopped pointing some time ago.

All this sad and sweet musing is interrupted by men with swords wanting to catch themselves a genie who make the silly mistake of ignoring Alice. One nifty sword fight later and the swordsmen run – but Alice is injured and collapses.

In the present Alice and Knave watch the guards searching for Cyrus – which Knave calls good news because it means they haven’t found him yet. Alice thinks there’s one place Cyrus would go to be safe.

Switch to Cyrus running through the woods – and being hoisted up into the canopy by a trap. While he struggles, one of the Red Queen’s Tweedles hears the genie’s struggles through the grapevine (and then thanks said vine). But while going to report the fact to the Red Queen he sees one of his fellow Tweedles acting oddly – he follows the other and finds him meeting with Jafar, handing over something he stole from the Queen.

He hurries to report everything to the Queen, including his brother’s betrayal, then runs before she kills the messenger. Jafar has stolen the genie’s bottle.

Over to Alice and Knave and they’re heading towards the Outlands, the safe place (apparently absolutely miles away from everywhere). But first she wants to visit the White Rabbit – something Knave finds ridiculous since the Rabbit betrayed them. But Alice thinks they need to leave Wonderland to be safe, for which they need the Rabbit, besides she and the Rabbit were once good friends, there has to be a reason for his betrayal.

Flashback to Cyrus hurrying the injured Alice to the White Rabbit’s home where… Mrs. White Rabbit treats her wounds

Back to the present and the Red Queen collects Cyrus, telling him she’s taking him to his bottle. And Jafar gloats over having all three genie bottles together again before realising that the Red Queen is no fool. She’s switched Cyrus’s bottle for a fake.

Alice and Knave arrive at the Rabbit’s house and she’s surprised to find the grounds unkempt. They go into the house and talk to the Rabbit; he confesses his betrayal and how he cannot help them because the Queen has his family. They only solution is, of course, to rescue them – but that means finding them and the Rabbit has looked everywhere the Queen would hide something. Over to the Knave, he may not know where the Red Queen would hide things, but he knows where Anatasia would.

The Vampire Diaries, Season Five, Episode Ten: Fifty Shades of Grayson

Damon is still in his cell, punching the walls repeatedly.  He then gets down on the ground and grabs the bullet that Aaron dropped. He places the bullet in the rock and the puts it next to the lock. Damon creates a mini explosion and the finishes opening the door by kicking it.

Katherine wakes next to a sleeping Stephan and finds another lock of hair has fallen out and begins to panic. Katherine quickly wraps herself in a blanket and does the walk of shame.  As she approaches the door, Damon enters looking for Elena. Katherine proudly claims getting the dirty on with Stefan and Damon is clearly not impressed. 

Elena awakes and finds herself strapped to a bed.  When she looks around she finds herself surrounded by medical equipment.  When she sees Wes of course Elena wants to know where she is. Wes puts Elena out to begin blood dialysis.

Stefan wakes up to learn Elena is missing.  Damon explains about Wes and that they need leverage to find Elena.  Damon sits next to Aaron and suggests killing him for information.  Aaron tries to run but is confronted by Stefan.

Wes is continuing his experiment on Elena and commenting on the fact that even after a lot of blood loss she is still awake.  Elena assures him that her friends will find her.  Wes brings up Aaron and asks how what happened to his family can be justified. Elena counters by bringing up Wes's little medical experiments. Wes then shows Elena the medical findings of her father and informs her that he learned out to this from him.

The Tomorrow People, Season 1, Episode 9: Death's Door

So last week, after a moment of monumental foolishness that doesn’t come close to being realistic, John was captured. This week John is being tortured by the Founder who also makes the point that he is way way way more powerful than John. And way smarter. But then, there are species of algae smarter than John. Stephen rushes to stop the founder hurting John too badly but everyone keeps up the fiction that Stephen totally isn’t a double agent, honest. And John and the Founder reveal that John killed Stephen’s father

Stephen leaves and Cara contacts Stephen psychically (yes, in Ultra, the place where they couldn’t read Jedikiah’s mind last week because… reasons) and Stephen quickly covers up “John killed daddy” and warns Cara that the Founder will kill John soon.

Cara’s plan is to kidnap Morgan and use her to force Jedikiah to exchange prisoners. They track her down to a holiday property where she’s laying low. Morgan and Cara have a nice teleport/run/battle thing (including a moment where Morgan throws a tree at Cara which, if it hit, would totally have killed her) before Russell finally puts the cuffs on her – cuffs which switch off her powers.

With Morgan imprisoned, Cara delivers her ultimatum to Jedikiah.

At Ultra Stephen gets some alone time with John to ask about the whole killing his dad thing. John is repentant and wishes he could change it but Stephen questions the whole bemusing idea that John was setting Stephen’s dad up to be some kind of saviour ready to swoop in and save them all. Still, Stephen isn’t going to tell Cara John’s a liar because John gets to do that (never mind the small cult he’s built) and he’s even going to let the whole trying-to-kill-his-dad thing because Thanatos is real, which means his hallucination is real which means his dad is alive.

Ok, not the strongest chain of logic but it’s positively solid from a Tomorrow People point of view.

Stephen asks his mother about his father – wow, hey Stephen’s mother, it’s been a while! He asks about the Thanatos project but she wants to keep his father out of their lives.

At Ultra it’s Jedikiah’s turn to have alone time with John. Does Ultra have no protocol for dealing with prisoners at all? Anyway he wants to say goodbye to his “son”. John doesn’t react well to that. Jedikiah then has a meeting with his nephew to question why Cara still has powers when Stephen supposedly stripped them (why would you ever doubt Stephen? It’s not like he hasn’t given you weekly proof of his status as a double agent… oh wait). He’s guessed the whole stopping time thing. But it’s all totally ok because Stephen did it for love – and he can understand that because his loved one is also in trouble! Awwww, they’re so alike in motive (except the whole genocide thing). Of course, Jedikiah can’t rescue John…. but Stephen can

And when Stephen takes John his dinner, John leaps up, they both take out the guards and John takes Stephen “captive” (when Jedikiah was making his whole goodbye scene he slipped John a key). Using a gun, brief evidence that he can very much kill and shooting out a couple of D-Chips, John makes his escape.

John having escaped, Jedikiah and Stephen go see Russell and Cara and they pass over Morgan – but Jedikiah wants them to take Morgan and keep her safe. Of course it’s a huge risk since she could be used to track their safe location, but Stephen speaks for her and Jedikiah throws in threats and appeals to their very point of existence – looking after their own.

Back at the HQ, Stephen and John practice teleporting and freezing time at the same time to try and actually reach limbo (wait, can Stephen freeze time on demand now? And if he can… why doesn’t he?) though it’s not going well, and Cara knows that John is keeping something from her and is bemused that the Founder could be against them when he’s one of them (have you not come across agents before, Cara?) In a bemusing moment, John wants to confess all to Cara while Stephen thinks that it would be a distraction and since his dad isn’t really dead then why bother?

Time for Stephen to question his mother again (something of a clumsy segue), with added mind reading. She give sin and gives him the huge box of her dad’s research but warns him against putting his dad on a pedestal and being disappointed. She also realises Stephen has a secret – can someone explain to me again why he’s keeping this secret from her.

Jedikiah gets a grilling from the Founder and reveals that, yes, he has a secret – Morgan. It’s an affair of the heart and the Founder tells him not to get too upset “you’re only human”. Ooooh nice little stab there. Though he does expect Jedikiah to take care of it

The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf #2) by Molly Harper

Now that Connor is abdicated his position of alpha, his younger sister Maggie is now alpha.  Maggie campaigned for this position but as with all things in life, one must be careful what they wish for.  Maggie new role calls for great responsibility because pack life is not a democracy.  All decision must be made her and a result, if something goes wrong all the blame is hers as well.

As the alpha, Maggie must set a good example to the other werewolves.  The were line is in jeopardy of dying out and the only was to assure not having a deadlined family is mate with another werewolf.  Unfortunately the male werewolf options presented to Maggie are not in the least bit appealing.  It seems that they are more interested in taking over her position as alpha than respecting her, let alone loving her.  When a human professor enters the valley researching werewolves with the intent of publishing a book about werewolves, Maggie knows that she must stop him but when she finds herself having feelings, Maggie must weigh what is best for the pack against where her heart wants to go.  If that were not enough, Maggie's pack is under attack from outsiders.  Can Maggie resist the outsider pressures and will she chose her people or her heart?

American Horror Story, Season 3, Episode 9: Head

For some reason (and I’ve kind of given up following the whys of this show so I’m just going to run with it) we start in 1991 in some woods on a father son camping trip (awww, never had one of those. Of course, I did threaten my father with multiple stab wounds if he ever tried to drag me more than 10 miles from tarmac). Kid seems about as thrilled as I would be to be dragged out to the woods, but his dad isn’t a total barbarian, he brought coffee. It’s not just a camping trip, it’s a hunting trip – with very shiny bullets. His father goes into the woods and flushes out… a woman who begs the child for her life. His dad screams at his son to “put her down” but the kid hesitates, giving her chance to throw a fire spell at him. The dad leaps in, saving the hunter kid but getting his arm burned in the process before he shoots the witch dead. He growls at his son never to show witches mercy and always to remember what they are

I think we just got a Hank flashback?

At Marie Laveau’s salon, Fiona shows up with Lalaurie’s head in a box. She and Marie talk (Lalaurie’s body in a corner, still moving around and wafting away flies) and Marie asks the question I’ve been wondering – why did Fiona dig up Lalaurie then keep her around? It’s all dismissed even though Marie hits on the real reason – Fiona wanted a bargaining chip. Anyway, Fiona doesn’t want to fix the truce, she wants an alliance. Marie finds that hilarious – Fiona shows her the silver bullets and warns her of witch hunters but Marie calls that “white women’s worry” (especially since she hired the hunter). She notices Fiona’s wig and correctly guesses she has cancer – and concludes that Fiona is too weak to protect her own so is turning to Marie to do it for her. She’s not buying it – and orders Queenie to burn Lalaurie’s head.

Back at the Academy, Cordelia is frustratedly failing to cook while trying to learn how to adapt to being blind and Myrtle just has to be reassured that Cordelia doesn’t really think that she was the one who blinded her (complete with flashback showing how much Myrtle meant to Cordelia) – she asks Cordelia to touch her and use her sight to confirm it but Cordelia refuses – she doesn’t need magic, she knows Myrtle didn’t do it.

In Atlanta, Hank is at the headquarters of the Delphi trust (apparently a big hunter organisation), snarking friendly (honest) to, David, the man who is his dad’s new right hand (his dad is the big boss of the place it seems) when Hank thought he was up for the promotion. Turns out boss-man-dad is Not Pleased with Hank’s plans all falling apart, nor with him hanging around with Marie Laveau. Also, this whole “taking initiative” thing is above Hank’s paygrade – whatever masterplan Hank has, he should be following orders and gathering intelligence – hence the reason he was the man on the inside.

Hank tries to bring up the witch he killed – but that doesn’t earn him any brownie points. He actually booked that hotel room with a Delphi company credit card (Really, Hank? Really) and they had to cover it up, killing a couple of innocents in the process (not including the witch, obviously). He was sloppy and clumsy – and, as David points out, Delphi is also a big business making lotsa money and they need to be afraid of the “liberals in Washington” doing that whole nasty regulation thing. But hey, at least Hank isn’t the only screw up – the Hunters authorised the acid attack on Cordelia to try and make her more dependent on him. Hank is shocked that they disfigured his wife – which is the wrong thing to say, apparently, because he’s forgotten what she is! Hank quickly recites a kind of pledge of hate like a good little soldier. He looks kind of dead eyed and traumatised through it all

And is his dad getting touchy feely there? That’s the problem with this season, I can’t look at a parent touching their child without getting the heebie jeebies.

Back to the Academy and Myrtle is holding a wonderful dinner (with melon balls!) for her two fellow council members who are so very sorry about the whole burning at the stake thing. Myrtle sings Misty’s praises with lots of sly little digs pushed in there. And she’s poisoned their melon balls, as you do, to paralyse them so she can have an epic rant (she won’t kill them until after dessert because it’s key-lime pie and she does like it so) about them plotting against her.

But no, this is not about revenge – it’s about helping Cordelia. Who needs new eyes. And Myrtle has the melon baller. Oh, I did not need to see that.

She gives Cordelia her new eyes, one from each council member, and she can see again. While grateful, Cordelia does rather think Myrtle could have asked her first – and Fiona arrives, shocked that Cordelia can see and that Myrtle has the power and the skill to pull this off. Being burned alive has upped Myrtle’s power. (The rest of the council members bodies have been disposed of in acid). Myrtle and Fiona snark back and forth (Fiona threatening to banish Myrtle to New Jersey). It takes Cordelia stepping in and demanding everyone act like a damn adult so they can face the actual threat to the coven. But there’s a side effect- with her new eyes, Cordelia has lost her visions.

Madison and Zoe go to the hospital to find Nan (while the cameraman loses his ever loving mind. Seriously, are you drunk?) She’s waiting to see Luke but can’t because his mother is standing guard. They go in and Joan instantly flares up, blaming Nan, quoting Bible passages – until Nan proves her clairvoyance by reading Luke’s mind – and allowing her to sing to Luke as he asks her to.

That was a touching scene, time for American Horror Story to ruin it and rejoin – Queenie! Who has saved Lalaurie’s head to become a whacky sitcom! Oh dear gods, why?! At least Queenie has some window dressing on why she won’t kill Lalaurie – she won’t let her leave this earth ignorant of the people she tortured – of Queenie’s people. Which means a film festival: Roots, Mandingo, the Colour Purple, B*A*P*S. Lalaurie sings to try and drown out the sound from the TV

Black Arts (Jane Yellowrock #7) by Faith Hunter

Jane has three jobs in this book – Katie, Leo’s unpredictable second-in-command vampire, wants her to find where two of her working girls have disappeared to; previous good friends of Jane. Leo himself is having a great big shindig and wants Jane to handle the security just in case they’re invaded by werewolves again – especially since the guest is a new addition to Leo’s vampires and he doesn’t trust the man one iota. As ever, Leo is engaged in a long game of lots of subtle plotting and has firmly cast Jane in the role of doing terrible things he can then deny he had any part in.

And Jane’s best friend, Molly, has disappeared. Her husband Evan arrives in town, distraught, knowing only that Molly was heading to see Jane when she disappeared – and that she doesn’t appear to want to be found.

Throw in some deadly vampire magic, some lethal magic artefacts, a whole lot of revelations and a side order of closure and Jane has a very full plate to handle.

We spent a lot of interesting time in Jane’s head this book. Firstly, this is the book where everyone knows she’s a Skinwalker – everyone she meets is told. Jane’s reaction to this is excellent and complex, with both a feeling of exposure after having kept her secret so long but also a vast feeling of relief. She can now talk about these things with people, she can talk about her history, she can be open about her abilities and it’s amazingly freeing. She’s happy to use her sense of smell or her strength (and make it clear to people “Not human, deal with it”, if it shocks them). This brought a lot of her history out in the open for everyone to know, her nature and her abilities which sets us off in a whole new direction and tone for the books.

Jane’s ongoing struggle to reconcile her job and the things she has to do with her strict moral upbringing and her own sense that she is not a good person. She also has the battle between her Christian faith and her returning memory bringing more and more of her Cherokee beliefs to the fore. It’s a wonderful crisis of identity and morality that has been at the margins of Jane’s character for a long time and it really comes to a head in this book.

There was a bad moment – Rick. I hate Rick. No, that’s not fair, I don’t hate Rick, Rick is not a bad character. What is bad is what happens to Jane whenever Rick is around – she becomes a lovestruck fool, her sense of professionalism goes out the window and her emotions get in the driving seat. Some of these are natural reactions, but Jane takes it to the next level – including having to run out of a function she is chief of security for, while the big bad is right there, so she can go be weepy in a corner. Sorry everyone, play nice for half an hour, our chief warrior is bawling her eyes out.

Sleepy Hollow Season One, Episode Ten: The Golem

 

Ichabod is chopping wood when Abbie pulls up. They bicker a bit about Xmas and Abbie consoles Crane about the loss of his son.  Crane wonders what his son was like, how he lived and why Katrina didn't mention she was pregnant.  Abbie suggests that it was to protect the baby and Crane wonders if their fates will come to bare in their war against Malok. Crane decides that he wants to get in touch with Katrina.  Parish the sin eater pulls in the driveway and Crane asks Abbie how far she would go for answers.  When Crane offers his hand, Parish makes it clear that it is not a good idea to touch him.

In the cabin, Parish makes it clear that he is only a sin eater and Crane reminds him that he summoned a man who died a very long time ago and suggests this means Parish can reach Katrina.  Parish says that he has never tried before but promises to make an attempt.  Parish warns that he will have to put Crane's life in danger.  Parish says that Crane is tempting fate and adds that it will frighten Abbie.  Parish instructs Crane to think of his wife and summon her with all of his heart. Parish grabs Crane suddenly and begins choking him.

Crane is now in a church and behind him stands Katrina, lighting some candles.  Katrina asks how he got there and warns that Malok is always near.  Crane asks if it is true that they have a son and reminds Katrina that she owes him he truth.  Katrina reveals that the boy's name is Jeremy after his grandfather. Katrina adds that she didn't know that she was pregnant when she buried him. The coven threatened Katrina with a fate worse than death if she didn't reveal where she buried Ichabod and so she fled to the only sanctuary she knew.  Katrina realised that she could not keep the boy to protect him from the coven. Katrina gave the child to Grace and Joseph and then never saw him again.  It seems that her own coven banished her.  Ichabod promises to find out what happened to Jeremy and promises that they will be together again.  A demon crashes through the door and Katrina tells Crane that he must leave now.

Crane returns to the present and tells Abbie that her ancestor Grace took custody of his child.  Abbie promises to do whatever they can to find out what happened to Jeremy.

In the woods the same demon we saw in the alternative world climbs out of the mud. Abbie reminds Crane that they don't know if any of his descendants are alive.  Crane suggests that he could have as many as 6000 offspring.  Abbie brings up the Historical Records Library which has rare records leading back to the revolution.  Parish calls out that it is time for him to leave and Crane suggests that Parish has a purpose with them.  Parish replies that his contribution is over now that Crane has been separated from the horseman. Parish concedes as long as he is on the train which leaves at 12:44AM, he will help. The three then get into the car and leave but what they do not know is that they were being watched by the demon.

Frank has gone to see a Priest about the two witnesses of the apocalypse. Frank wonders what happens to the witnesses and the priest reveals that they are destined to die for their testimony.  Frank then asks what happens to the people who follow them and the priest reveals that they will die as well. Frank talks about being alone and that the grand prize for a life of public service is death. The priest suggests that Frank should have faith in the Lord's plan.  Frank stands and says that he has remembered why he stopped coming there.

At the library, Crane is told that they may have no reference to the church he is looking for. After he snarks about the importance of books, the librarian points him to an area in the back.  Parish finds a book with a reference to Grace Dickson and that she died in a fire.  Apparently, people were afraid of Jeremy and the local people claimed they had seen Jeremy start fires just by crying.  Ichabod realises that Jeremy inherited Katrina's power. After the house burned down, they found the boy the next morning and Jeremy was sent to a home for orphan children of the war. Crane then realises that Jeremy was responsible for the death of Abbie's ancestors and Abbie quickly absolves him of guilt. Crane argues that he could have been there and Parish pipes up and reminds Crane that he wasn't given a choice.  Crane then asks about the home where Jeremy was sent and Parish says that Ms. Hudson knows more than she is telling.  Crane goes looking for Ms. Hudson but she is gone.  Crane, Parish and Abbie find the librarian dead in her crushed car.

The next day, Frank goes to pick up Lacy. Frank apologizes to Cynthia for always being gone and adds that she deserves better, as Lacy listens in.  Cynthia says that if Frank had said that a year ago he would still be living in the family home.  Frank leaves with Lacy.

Blade to the Keep (Rowan Summerwaite #2) By Lauren Dane

Hunter Corp and the Vampire Nation are meeting to amend the treaty between their organisations – and hopefully prevent a war. Except there are members of both the Hunter Corp and the Vampire Nation who are positively itching for a fight

Rowan is the representative of Hunter Corp. And the daughter of the First Vampire. It gives her a unique position in the negotiations and makes her ideally suited to ensuring this treaty passes. She has worked extremely hard to make it happen and now is the finally stages – and she’s not letting prima donnas, bloodthirsty vampires or war mongering hunters screw it up. By blessed sword, goddess strength, investigative skills or political wrangling, she will ratify this treaty.

There are a lot of books in the genre, including the book that preceded this one, where we have excellent, powerful female characters who wield weapons, magical power and are combat monsters who can take on all comers. They are lethally dangerous warriors to be feared by even the most deadly creatures in their world – and that’s not a bad thing (so long as they’re not JUST a lethal combatant).

But being a combat monster usually means that is all the character is. Her challenges will be a) sorting out her love life (because combat monster characters are usually socially inept as well) and b) fighting bigger and tougher monsters who are even more lethal!

Then comes Blade to the Keep with this lethal combat monster protagonist who spends the whole book using her brains, intelligence and experience to navigate the shoals of devious political machinations, investigate the shenanigans of various people trying to sabotage the negotiations and generally be clever and cunning and call out a lot of fools for being fools.

And it is EPIC. No, really, a book where she slaps people down for messing with the agenda of meetings and is bustling from meeting to meeting to have discussions about amending a treaty is epic. It’s awesome, it’s amazing and the best parts of this book don’t require her to draw her sword. Yet it still feels exciting, thrilling and action packed. That takes some effort.

Of course, Rowan is the main reason behind this. She’s wonderfully confident – she knows she’s the most qualified for the job. Not because she’s special or shiny or the Chosen One (though, as the vessel of a goddess, she kind of is all those things, but that’s beside the point) – but because of experience. She is the ideal person to be the Hunter’s liaison to the vampires because she was raised by them, by the First himself. She knows vampire etiquette (which is interestingly different from human etiquette as we see wonderfully displayed when Rowan has to slap down her competitor for repeated faux pas) and how a large entourage means “status symbol” to humans and “annoying number of people to house” to vampires. She knows what vampires value, she knows what they’ll not accept, she knows what they will tolerate – she knows what’s negotiable and what’s a deal breaker. She has the knowledge and experience to get this done – so she is in charge, she should be in charge and she knows that.

Almost Human, Season 1, Episode 5: Blood Brothers

John is waiting impatiently for Dorian in his… droid barracks? Where they charge up and do droid things? He gets tired of waiting and goes down to find him – and seems a naked MX droid – complete with Barbie-doll groin (well, those special effects are good – there’s some mental images that will take some time to erase. A snarky part of me wants to question why, if they’re going to make so little effort to make the leg joins look human, would they sculpt 6 packs on the droids?) John is rather thrown by this – until Dorian arrives and they can leave – though Dorian needs a new chest plate from Rudy.

In the car John complains about the image seared into his retinas and Dorian has little sympathy – he has to live with the emotionless, robotic MXs with no sense of personal space and freakily vacant eyes; he wants to move out. John is still dealing with the mental images and asks Dorian if he’s the same – just after Dorian has protested his lack of privacy. He makes a point of it not being John’s business, he unzips to show him (John objects but perhaps should have respected boundaries in the first place) and explains his creator was more thoughtful. Also, apparently, very very generous. John questions what exactly an android does with it anyway – and Dorian snarks back “same as you do with yours, nothing.” And teases him about Detective Valerie Stahl’s obvious interest in John

Capt. Maldonado is in court testifying about the murder of a Dr. Fuller (a cloning, reproduction and fertility expert) but the defence lawyer points out she has no physical evidence at all. Maldonado decides to insert the eye witnesses she does have despite the objections that no-one asked that question (the prosecution didn’t already bring these up? Maldonado doesn’t know how court cases work?). To make matters worse for Maldonado’s case, one of her witnesses is incredibly nervous and the other describes herself as a psychic, a medium and has arguments with the empty air.

Nervous witness, Hayley, speaks first – broadcast remotely into the court with nifty hologram technology. As she gives her testimony, the android outside her door in the safe house is shot in the head. In the court they can see her react to things they cannot see and Maldonado calls in that the safe house has been compromised. She is shot – flying across the room and out of the hologram, along with her guards (the defendant, Ethan, smirks). Scatty witness is in the bathroom and manages to run.

The police search the woodlands she escaped to, Dorian using his heat tracking vision to find the woman, Maya. In the safehouse John talks to Detective Richard Paul (the arsehole) reviewing the evidence – no physical evidence and the safe house was found with a tracker on one of the guards. Over the ruins of the broken MX, Valerie and John get in some flirting

For some bemusing reason, Maldonado goes to visit Ethan in prison so she can tell him he still has to kill the other witness (why?!) and to let him play headgames with her about her career and her being single and how terribad awful it is to be a woman who is completely ignored by men (why are you sitting there for this? What do you hope to achieve Maldonado?) She curses him and leaves. Well that was productive.

Lost Girl, Season Four, Episode Five: Let the Dark Times Roll

Bo is still in her meeting with the Unamenz. Bo declares that she is not dark fae and is in fact still unaligned.  It seems that a gargoyle read Bo's blood and made a determination based on that. Bo insists that she not dark but it seems that there is some connection involving Vex.  Bo goes to leave and she is told that Lauren and Kenzi are enemies of the fae and will suffer a harsh death.  Bo uses her succubus power to attack the Unamenz, but it boomerangs and attacks her.  Bo is informed that she must pay fealty to the leader of the Dark Fae at once or die. 

Kenzi and Bo are waiting and Bo talks about finding the wanderer  and Vex because she is now supposedly dark fae.  They then discuss Dyson, who is M.I.A. because he is looking for Lauren. Bo declares that Lauren has to be found.  Kenzi asks if she is dark as well because Bo is dark and Bo declares that they will not be dark for long.  Bo makes her way into The Morrigan's office declaring that she is dark and is shocked to see that The Morrigan is still alive. The Morrigan snarks that Bo is dark and Bo says that she is having it annulled as soon as The Morrigan hands over Vex. The Morrigan invites Bo to a party and Bo declines.  As Bo moves to leave the office, The Morrigan informs Bo that if she was tricked into joining the dark fae, she can get out of it if she can show proof before the first fool moon. Bo realises that this is tonight.

Trick is on the phone trying to dig up information about The Wanderer.  When he gets off the phone he looks at some weird fae seed in a box and is momentarily mesmerized, before locking the seed away. A men makes an appearance and Trick is informed that he has been summoned by the Unamenz.

Bo, Kenzi and Tamsin show up at the dark fae party and Bo says that this is the only dark fae party they are ever going to.  The Morrigan calls Bo the guest of honour and presents her with a human buffet.  Bo glamors the humans to leave and says that this is why she is not dark.  The Morrigan scarfs and declares that there is no difference between the light and the dark. The Morrigan reminds Bo that just like all the faes she feeds off of humans.  The Morrigan and Bo head outside and Bo demands to ask Vex how she got pledged to the dark.  The Morrigan says that she needs to find Vex as well because the Unamenz see him as a loose end. The Morrigan adds that she wants to prove how good of a friend she can be and Bo turns to see Lauren walking towards her.

Trick makes an appearance at the Unamenz chamber for his inquisition.

Bo and Lauren start to make out when they are left alone.

The Unamenz it seems were created to over turn the blood laws of the blood king.  The Unamenz want the blood king to swallow the seed Trick was looking at earlier and join them so that they can establish justice unchallenged.  It seems that though Trick is the blood king it is treated as a separate identity.

Kenzi and Tamzin are at the buffet and they find Bruce serving as the table.  Kenzi orders him to stand up. 

Laruen and Bo continue to kiss and Bo declares that she wanted to find Lauren.  Bo then explains that Vex worked with the Wanderer to make her dark.  Lauren says that she is hiding in terror from the Unamenz.  They kiss again and are interrupted by The Morrigan who says that they should scissor already.  The Morrigan promises the means to run down Vex, if Bo promises to bring him to her. The Morrigan then introduces Bo to the scavenger and then leaves Bo and Laure to have their quickie.


The Scavenger tells Bo that with his accounts frozen that Vex has been working as a hooker. Really Lost Girl? At any rate the Scavanger goes around a corner where she stabs a body several times with a supposed magic knife.  This magic knife is the only way to cut away the poison which the Unamenz placed on Vex, binding him to the territory.  It seems that Vex believes that the Scavenger is stealing the special knife for him but it's a sting operation.  Lauren and Bo ask where Vex was last seen and it appears Vex was hiding near where Dyson is living. 

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf #1) by Molly Harper

Mo has run away from her life in the lower 48 to Alaska.  That's right, Alaska of all places.  Though her parents were the ultimate hippies, their sense of relaxation did not impact their views on rearing a child.  Mo's controlling mother regularly crossed the line with things like demanding medical  information from her OBGYN and breaking into her apartment to throw out anything that wasn't strictly vegan and organic.  After a lifetime of fighting to be what she viewed as "normal," Mo finally makes her escape to Alaska in the hope of finding a hunky man, breaking her parents ironclad control over her life and deciding who she really is outside of their influence.

As luck would have it, Mo runs into the surly Cooper and though he is rude and cold, Mo finds herself attracted to him.  When he shows up one day with a bear trap on his leg, Mo takes him in and discovers Cooper's big secret - he's a werewolf.  This should be troubling enough to deal with but when tourists start to go missing and wolf tracks appear around the bodies, Mo must question whether the affable man that she has come to love has embraced his animal instincts too much.

I'll be honest, I picked up this book fully aware that it is paranormal chick lit.  If you pick up How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf with that in mind, it's not really a bad read. Harper includes some rather funny dialog about the trauma of growing up with vegan, environmental parents in a disposable disengaged culture.  Let's be honest, we all know that we should eat organic, avoid nitrates and buck the system when we can, but when you're young, all you really want is to fit in.  I found myself giggling at Mo's history, even as I agreed with her mother on the evils of Walmart.

Once Upon a Time, Season 3, Episode 10: The New Neverland

Storybrooke – and Belle takes Ariel to go find her prince – Eric, the fishmonger! This being once Upon a Time he doesn’t decide she would be an excellent knew edition to his fresh fish counter and greets her with a kiss (I choose to believe he is checking the taste before deciding how to cook her).

And the pirate ship descends from the skies, greeted by cheering and glee by the populace. Lots of hugging and glee. In among the reminiscing, Rumple gives Neal his stick since it’s a reminder of the man he was (it’s also a walking aid because of his injured leg, you can’t just give it away). Lots more hugging and reunions and Mary Margaret notices Regina on the outside – and tells everyone that Regina contributed a lot and they couldn’t have done it without her help.

Very very true (Regina did the lion’s share after all) and nice to see the acknowledgement.

Time to flashback to the Enchanted forest and Regina’s epic pledge to destroy the newly wed Snow and David’s happiness. Snow is perturbed by this, David however wants to continue on living their lives and going on honeymoon to prove they can still be happy (and leaving a powerful sorceress to plot). Snow White is more sensible (only in comparison to David, which isn’t saying much) and points out that they can’t exactly leave the kingdom after a powerful sorceress just effectively declared war. But David convinces her and she agrees to go to the Summer Palace on Honeymoon. When David leaves, Grumpy asks Snow if she’s seriously going on holiday at a time like this – Snow refers to David but Grumpy asks what she (the actual princess, woman trained for this job and not a shepherd being used in a con-job) thinks she should do – and she assures him there’s something in the Summer Palace

Back to the present day and Rumple assures everyone that the shadow, trapped in the ship’s sail, is well and truly trapped because Pan is trapped in Pandora’s Box. Honest. Henry/Peter (Penry? Panry?) plots with Felix and promptly throws him under the bus by telling everyone that Felix really needs locking up. Rumple locks the box under his floor, guarded by a spell that only he can break – everyone assures “Henry” that he’s totally safe and he’ll never ever have to worry about the big bad Pan again and Pan will never be free while Rumple lives.

Belle and Rumple have a sweet moment (I think this episode is going to have a lot of these “yay we’re all together again” moments) and Emma takes Henry to dinner and give him his book back! Of course, Panry isn’t quite as enthusiastic about a book of fairy tales as Henry would be and Emma notices the odd behaviour. Hook and Neal have a drink and Hook promises to back off and give Henry’s parents a chance rather than have Neal compete with a “devilishly handsome pirate”. I suppose this is the only way Neal could ever win such a competition. Besides, since he was never cursed, Hook still needs to adapt to things like electricity, running water and modern hygiene. Not that he’s given up, but he’s confident that Neal, not having the best relationship history with Emma, is going to screw it up again.

Regina and Tinkerbell confront the Blue Fairy/Mother Superior to try and get Tink her wings back – but the Blue fairy refuses. The reason Tink can’t get Pixie dust to work consistently is because she doesn’t believe in herself – and if she doesn’t believe in herself, why should Blue believe in her?

Neal asks Emma on a date and Emma waffles, she doesn’t want to focus on herself when her son has just gone through trauma – something David thinks is reminiscent of Mary Margaret (lack of self-absorption? Oh please, are we talking about the same woman?).

But it is a segue to a flashback! Snow and David arrive at the Summer Palace. He’s all eager to get down to lots of sex since it has been difficult to get some alone time before now, but Snow distracts him. When he goes to stable the horses she raids one of the chests for weapons and sneaks out. Only to find David on the road waiting for her. Snow White has a plan – they hunt down Medusa, cut off her head then use it to turn Regina to stone.

…whut?

Is an arrow not good enough? You need to pull out a random creature from Greeky Mythology?

back to the present day and it’s Henry’s bed time – Emma insists he say goodnight to Regina and he does – and asks to stay at Regina’s. Regina leaps at the chance and Mary Margaret rushes to reassure Emma – he just wants to spend time in his old room (and, besides, his room is much bigger and more comfortable than the cramped conditions at Emma and Mary Margaret’s).

Fangs for the Fantasy Podcast: Autumn 2013, Episode 10

It's time for another episode of our podcast, back again for the Autumn where we discuss our book of the week and some of the shows we've been following all through our social justice analysis.

You can join us here and you can listen live on our youtube channel, here, or in our sidebar. All will also carry a recording after the show is finished. As ever all our previous podcasts can be found in the archive

The podcast begins at 7:00pm EST

2nd December - 9th December: Under Wraps by Hannah Jane

9th December - 16th December: Blood Wager by Connie Stuttle

16th December - 22nd December: Goblin Quest by Jim C Hines

22nd December - 6th January: Tempest Unleashed by Tracy Deebs

6th January - 13th January: Fury of the Demon by Diana Rowland

Under Wraps (Under World Detective Agency Chronicles #1) by Hannah Jayne

Sophie works for the UDA – the Underworld Detective Agency. The regulatory body that keeps an eye on San Francisco’s supernaturals, making sure they keep their heads down, making sure they follow the rules and making sure they submit the correct forms in triplicate.

But people have been dying in the city, brutally murdered, in ways that seem supernatural. The police – with detective Hayes as investigating officer – want some expert help on the supernatural denizens of the city. Sophie, as an (almost) human member of the UDA seems the ideal choice

Also, it doesn’t hurt that she finds Hayes rather… compelling

I always try to start a review with some positives, so let’s start there…

..

.

This concludes the positives.

No, seriously, I have not one good thing to say about this book. Ok, let me dredge something up – it has POTENTIAL.

The potential lies in the world. The idea of an underworld full of every creature of legend coming to Earth and having to fill in forms in triplicate for the UDA is an appealing one. There’s a huge number of creatures mentioned and they have hints of greater characters – like the fairies and pixies with their very bad tempers, for example, and the feud between the trolls and the dwarfs. There’s a lot of potential for growth and depth there to create a really fascinating and likely funny world.

It wasn’t realised here. For the most part all of the creatures were names, descriptions. They could have been wereavocados for all the difference it made. Now, fitting in depth for all of them so early in the series is hard and maybe impossible, so I don’t hold it against the book – yet. So the world gets a grudging tick.

There. A positive! Now to the negative

Which has to start with Sophie, the protagonist. Oh dear gods, this woman is quite literally the worst protagonist I have ever had the displeasure to read.

Firstly, this woman needs to give Anne Summers a call, invest in half of their catalogue and take care of business – because her overriding, unworkable obsession with good looking men is bordering on needing an intervention or treatment. The number of pages she spends drooling over her boss or Hayes are completely staggering. If you remove her endless desire to hump their legs from the book you’d be left with a pamphlet. It doesn’t matter what she’s doing, murdered bodies around, important work, saving lives – it doesn’t matter, her hawtness obsession never pauses. I actually have a note in the book saying “please gods stop” before the end of chapter 1. That is how quickly my patience ran out.

The whole reason she volunteers herself to help Hayes is because he’s hot. That’s how she inserts herself into a murder case. At one point she holds her breath when hunting for clues that Hayes is single and he gives her a concerned look because she has been rendered breathless by his hawtness for so long.

Secondly, this woman is pathetically weak. She works every day in the UDA, surrounded by every kind of creature imaginable yet get her in a club on an undercover mission and she has a minor panic attack because of all the monsters around her and has to be saved by Hayes. She not only loses her lunch at crime scenes, but she can’t even think about the victims without getting nauseous – or even leaving the room. When she’s irritated or angry or arguing she starts to become “hysterical” and needs to take deep breaths to keep close to rational. She whines, she cries, she mopes, she fails to achieve anything and has to be protected and sheltered.

Fangs for the Fantasy Book of the Week

Every week on the Fangs for the Fantasy podcast (archives here) we read a book and discuss it on the show. The review for the book of the week always goes up on a Monday.

To give people a chance to read along with us, every Monday we’re also going to include a list of our planned books of the week for the next few shows, so people can get the books, read them and join in the conversation.

 Our podcast will be at 7:00pm EST tonight 

2nd December - 9th December: Under Wraps by Hannah Jane

9th December - 16th December: Blood Wager by Connie Stuttle

16th December - 22nd December: Goblin Quest by Jim C Hines

22nd December - 6th January: Tempest Unleashed by Tracy Deebs

6th January - 13th January: Fury of the Demon by Diana Rowland

Atlantis, Season 1, Episode 10: The Price of Hope

Hercules consults an information vendor/spy master, Creos to find news of Medusa’s whereabouts – and he comes through. Hercules hurries to pass the news to Pythagoras and Jason who don’t believe Creos since he’s a known liar. And Pythagoras can’t find a cure for Medusa, though he can’t bring himself to tell him that. Pythagoras has only one lead…

Jason goes to the Oracle to try and get Pandora’s Box back, in the hope Pythagoras can use it to find a cure. The Oracle won’t because the temptation to open it is too high – Jason points out he was never tempted and we have another round of “but you’re so special Jason!” Jason asks why – guessing at his mysterious mother being the cause of his specialness, but the Oracle returns to evasions and crypticness. She does give him the box though… gods know why.

Jason and Pythagoras go to see the super genius Daedalus. His workshop is full of fascinating inventions Jason just has to poke (Jason, you come from a world with MP3 players, airplanes and Miley Cyrus. Nothing should surprise, impress or shock you). Daedalus pokes him repeatedly for poking his inventions – and rightly so. In response to Daedalus being tempted to open the box, they lock it and give the key to Jason (Daedalus doesn’t like Jason and drives him out making goat noises. I find this quite a reasonable response).

Daedalus is delightfully random in his genius and manages to translate some of the words on the box – of course it’s “when all seems lost, only hope remains.” (And we have an excellent little shout out to mythology and Daedalus’s son, Icharus). Pythagoras thinks this is a good thing but Daedalus rather awesomely points out you all have hope – even Hercules has hope – everyone has hope, the world needs less hope and more brains. He looks again at the box and translates the story of Admetus and Alcestis – which totally shows there’s a cure for Medusa!

Pythagoras is all confused so Daedalus explains – the price of the cure is Hercules’s life. Pythagoras goes to Hercules and Jason and tells them there is no cure and that Jason should give the box back. Hercules falls into a deep depression and Jason tells Pythagoras how Hercules is isolating himself and blaming himself for what happened to Medusa (it being his fault and all). They go to check up on him and find his room empty – and his sword missing.

They go speak to Creos, who they do not like and he tells them what he told Hercules – and that he didn’t lie. Of course, he also didn’t tell them about the band of Scythians on the way waylaying travellers. Jason threaten him and the man moves like a snake and puts a knife at Jason’s throat. Jason is quicker and pins him to a wall. Of course that means having to deal with Creos’s giant bodyguard. Blows seem to bounce off the man so they leave, rapidly.

Pythagoras and Jason set off after Hercules and Pythagoras fills Jason in that the Scythians like to hunt people for sport. And along the way they find an altar dedicated to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. They leave quickly but are followed by a woman carrying a bow

Lost Girl Season Four, Episode Four: Turn to Stone

Bo and Dyson are working out and she complains about needing answers.  Bo sees it as no big deal that someone wants her dead. Dyson tries to tell her to take Unisom plot seriously but Bo replies that it is the last thing on her mind.  Bo asks about Lauren and Dyson replies that it is better that Lauren stay away.  Bo and Dyson start making out and Dyson notes that there is something different about her.  They end up having sex in the middle of the ring.  So much for Bos's promise that she wouldn't feed off of Dyson.

Kenzi is brushing Tamsin's hair and notices that despite the heavy brushing, Tamsin didn't lose a single hair.  Tamsin entertained herself throughout this ordeal by practicing twerking. Bo tries to enter the apartment but is bared by a magical ring that Trick set on the apartment. Kenzi says that she probably set it up wrong because it is only supposed to block out malicious fae.  Bo questions Tamsin, who reveals that all she knows is that she dark but does not know who she was working for. Bo does not believe her.  Kenzi decides that she and Bo need a night out and convinces Tamsin to stay home by herself and watch the X Files.

At The Dahlm Bo is not impressed by how quiet it is.  Kenzi asks if they know anything about The Wanderer and Bo replies that she doesn't want to talk about it.  Bo gets up, changes the music, and uses her fae power to get people up drinking and dancing. Kenzi declares that Bo is back with bonus features.

Massimo makes his way over to Kenzi and she says that she wants permanent powers. Massimo says that Kenzi needs to stop thinking about permanent powers because she cannot even pay for the temporary powers he supplies her now. Kenzi tells Massimo that he will get paid as soon as her powers stop fading.  Massimo hands Kenzi another container of temporary powers and she leaves.

At the apartment, Tamsin hears a noise and calls out for Bo and Kenzi.  Two maksed men walk into the room and Tamsin shifts, scaring them away.  Tamsin doubles over in pain grabbing her back as the men appear to make their escape.

Bo and Kenzi are still dancing away at the bar.  Suddenly, the camera focuses on a gargoyle on the wall.  Kenzi does her fae power thing for Bo and asks if she is still mad. Bo calls it freaking incredible.  Bo and Kenzi make their way into their apartment and discover that they have been robbed.  They rush in and find Tamsin in the bathroom, larger than when they left her.

Bo is at the station with Tamsin freaking out about being robbed.  Dyson says that it might not be fae related because if the rim was indeed up, then humans could still enter.  Bo makes it clear that no one takes what's hers.  Bo and Dyson flirt ridiculously using shopping as a metaphor for sex. Bo says that she has a lead to track and dumps Tamsin on Dyson. Tamsin points to a picture of Lauren and Dyson says that she is someone who needs to be found.

Lauren and Crystal are in chains and Crystal complains that this is all her fault.  They are interrupted by a voice and Lauren is referred to as Karen.

Kenzi is walking down the street trying to get a hold of Massimo on the cell phone when she is grabbed by two men from behind.  They toss a black bag over her head and begin to led Kenzi away. Kenzi is told that they are for customers who don't pay and is tossed her into a van.  Before the men can get in, they are subdued by Bo, who says that they cannot take her Kenzi. Bo asks why Kenzi is flying solely now that she is back.  Kenzi replies that she knows these guys and that this is her problem but Bo declares that this is their problem. Kenzi reveals that Massimo is behind her attempted kidnapping.

Bo and Kenzi head to see the druid Massimo and Massimo reveals that the seal from Kenzi's kiss allowed Bo to be collected.  Bo asks who kidnapped her and Massimo declares that he was just hired to deliver the goods.  Bo makes it clear that she wants her stuff back and for Kenzi to be left alone because she won't need Massimo's services anymore.  Massimo declares that this won't settle Kenzi's debt.  Massimo suggests a herb he needs, which grows on Lauren's wall.  Massimo promises to return what he hasn't burned and Bo promises to kill him if he doesn't hold up his end of the bargain.

Lauren realises that she and Crystal are being filmed.  Lauren announces that she is done playing.  Crystal admits that she was forced to sleep with Lauren to keep her close but developed feelings. Lauren relates because this is what she did to Bo. Lauren reveals that she has a brother and that they were going to change the world.  Their version of changing the world turned into blowing up pipelines and 11 people died.  Crystal realises that Lauren is a terrorist. Lauren says that she hates herself for what happened and that no one was supposed to be there.  Lauren reveals she made the explosives then trusted her brother with them.  Lauren reveals that she has been running ever since and that she hasn't even told Bo.  Lauren is ordered to look under the tarp in her cell and discovers a fridge with a sample of blood.  Lauren is told that an elder needs her diagnosis within the hour, or Crystal will die.  Lauren realises that this isn't about eco terrorism and calls it light fae bullshit.

Haven, Season 4, Episode 12: When the Bough Breaks

The Trouble starts early this week – around Haven people hear a terrible noise no-one else can hear – then they fall down dead. Ok, that may be the creepiest thing Haven has ever done.

The gang have all gathered to discuss William, the book, Jennifer and other randomness. They need to find the heart of Haven to have Jennifer open it and kick William out of town. Duke and Jennifer get on that, the only clue they have is that the image of the Guard tattoo in the book keeps fading in and out just like Vince’s tattoo

They go to see Vincent and Dave who are wonderfully bickering – and it turns out Vince’s tattoo is acting oddly, fading in and out on its own beyond his control. It blinks in and out exactly in sinc with the symbol in the book.

Vince explains that it’s not a tattoo, it’s a birthmark, the first born in the family always has it (they have Micmaw blood, apparently – so we can get a character that has hundreds of years of history in Haven, while only having that throwaway reference for inclusion of Native Americans). It marks his sacred duty to help and protect Troubled people – hence the reason he leads the Guard. We also learn that Dave was adopted, he and Vince aren’t blood relatives

Audrey and Nathan investigate the new deaths, consulting with Gloria (who is awesome). 3 people at once, at different parts of town all unrelated. William drops in to taunt them all with his rather awesome evil – and dares Nathan to arrest him – though people will keep on dying (call his bluff and hide him in a cage somewhere until you have the door open – c’mon! Like a free William is going to stop killing!) Audrey agrees to go with William, alone, to help solve the latest Trouble William has caused.

Alone William begins the poking – he refuses to accept responsibility since Audrey was the one who caused the Troubles – he just tweaked things a little (and this one was one of her favourites). He wants to connect to the real person – not the Audrey shell – and to do that he’s going to make her give someone a new Trouble to cure this one. In their fun past they used to make Troubles that were “complimentary” (so Jordan causes pain and Nathan can’t feel it, for example). And if this is a death-causing noise Trouble then the counter is a silencing one – while she’s figured it out Audrey does not want to give someone a Trouble. She will find another way – William laughs and takes her to the Troubled person – a baby with the hand print on his back.

William has Troubled a baby. When the baby cries, someone dies. William, again, blames that on her. Audrey and Nathan talk to the baby’s father – he knows about the Trouble, it’s his family Trouble, but doesn’t normally trigger until puberty. The Harker family kill people when they cry – so each generation they train their family not to cry from childhood, the father, Ben, hasn’t cried since he was 11. When his uncle with Downs Syndrome couldn’t be taught not to cry before puberty, they had to cut his vocal chords.

Dracula Season One, Episode Six: Of Monsters and Men

At Carfax Manor, Greyson walks out into the sun and is completely amazed.  He raises his arms in triumph. The scene switches and he is back inside.

Lady Jane, Lord Davenport and Laurent are discussing the fact that Greyson has yet to be seen in daylight and Lady Jane argues that vampires simply don't run businesses the way that Grayson does. Laurent brings up all the people who have died and that if Greyson is successful what it will do to the Order's investments.  Lady Jane assures him that she would have noticed if Greyson wasn't human.  Davenport agrees with Laurent and asks for permission to investigate, but Laurent denies Davenport, claiming to know a way to flush out the beast.

Lady Jane and Greyson sit at a restaurant where Mina is seated across the room watching a card trick with Lucy and Harker.  Greyson interrupts and explains to Mina how the card trick she just watched was performed. Harker and Lucy are clearly not impressed with the interruption.  Lucy heads over to Lady Jane and is invited over for tea. Lady Jane tells Lucy that she knows what it is to be denied one's hearts desire.  Lucy immediately denies that she has no feelings for Greyson and Lady Jane replies that she wasn't talking about him. Lucy makes a quick exit.

Greyson apologizes for leaving the engagement party early and then places the king of hearts in front of Harker and the Queen in front of Mina saying that no evil Jester can sever their bond.  Greyson then orders that their bill be put on his account before walking away. 

After leaving the restaurant, Mina and Harker are laughing and walking in the rain.  They head into Harker's home still laughing and playful.  Mina removes her dress and turns to face Harker in nothing but a shift.  Harker asks Mina if she is sure and when she nods yes, the two begin to make love. The next morning, Harker suggests that they elope, arguing that the don't need the trouble of a formal wedding when they can just be together.  Mina asks if what they did makes their vows any less sacred and adds that they should get married in the church before God.  Harker agrees that they should set a date. Harker asks Mina what she is doing later and she says that she is due at the university.  Harker suggests that he is playing second fiddle to her work.

Harker shows up at Carfax and Greyson asks about the foundries in England with nickel/steel alloy. Harker says that there is only one and it is owned by the American Ewan Tellingford. Tellingford has a fanatical interest in everything wild west, particularly Poker. Harker informs Greyson that Ewan is holding a game tonight.  Renfield makes his appearance and Harker asks if the police have made any headway on his attackers and Renfield replies no. Harker questions that a man Renfield's size was attacked and Renfield snarks that time heals all wounds.  Renfield hands Greyson a note and he jumps up immediately asking Harker to leave.  Renfield tells Greyson that he has found the Dresden Triptych.

Cameron is in a meeting with Daveport and says that they intercepted a telegram about the Dresden Triptych, which is apparently a 15th century Romanian rock. Cameron says that there will be an auction next week and reports that Greyson has been looking for it for quite some time. Davenport says that if Greyson wants it, then he does as well.

Greyson is playing poker and folds his winning hand of four kings.  Tellingford questions why Greyson folded nine straight hands and Greyson simply says that the cards weren't to his liking.  Back at Carfax, Greyson snarks to Renfield that Tellingford is trying to explain how he lost his business in a card game.  Renfield informs Greyson that the annual stockholder meeting for British Imperial Coolant has been rescheduled to noon instead of Friday at noon.  Greyson orders that Renfield sends his regrets but Renfield points out that Greyson's absence will lead to a proxy vote to remove him as head of the company, causing him to loose the coolant. Greyson is angry and brings up that he told Van Helsing to delay their fight against the Order until the daylight serum was perfected.

Mina is at the university looking at slides of blood.  When she introduces more blood to the slides the platelets begin to move making her wonder what is going on.  Mina injects the rat with the blood but when it doesn't move, she puts the rat away.  What she does not know, is that seconds after she puts the rat down, its foot begins to twitch.

Grimm, Season 3, Episode 6: The Stories We Tell Our Young

“We don’t believe, we only fear.”

Well that’s an ominous beginning.

Renard packs – including his passport – and tells Hank and Nick that he’s going away for mysterious reasons that may or may not be connected to his brother’s death (though he and his spies seem more interested in Adalind’s pregnancy recently) and to ignore any communication they get from him – it won’t be really from him. He would contact them through Rosalie, yes it’s all very dangerous but no, they can’t help.

Now to the case of the week – a mother and father bring their young son to see a priest, late at night, in order for him to help the boy, Daniel (who is apparently having problems given his talk about the doctors). They leave him alone with the priest and his assistant locks the doors. The parents are worried and desperate outside

The help, appears to be an exorcism. Mid exorcism the boy starts struggling and woges when the assistant ties him down. While the parents bang on the door to be let in, the boy unleashes some impressive super strength, knocking the priests aside and unconscious.

Nick and Hank are called in – the Monsignor is dead and Matthew, his assistant, was knocked unconscious. Daniel, the boy, is missing (probably out of the window). In the room, Nick’s super senses prick and he finds Daniel hiding in a cupboard. They reunite him with his parents and hide the priest’s body from him – and bag up the rope he was tied with (still with the wrenched off metal bar attached). The boy’s taken to hospital and sedated due to stress and shock.

They interview Daniel’s father who tells them that Daniel has episodes, mood swings and he doesn’t even remember when he has them and nothing medical helped. Nick asks if Daniel is adopted, apparently not – but his dad does see him change – his face alter. Hank puts this as a simple case of a Wesen child, but Nick doesn’t get it – for the kid to be Wesen the mother, father or both need to be Wesen too. And ominous music plays as we see freaky black veins creep over Daniel’s sleeping face.

Nick and Hank go to check their knowledge of Wesen biology with Rosalie and Monroe, which they explain with lots of unexplained German terms (basically human and Wesen has a 50% chance of being Wesen – but surely half-wesen, given Renard? He isn’t  a full Zauberbiest) Two Wesen of different kinds produces… some other random Germanic Wesen term. This has been singularly unhelpful.

They’re interrupted by the news that Matthew, the assistant, has woken up and they go interview him. He begins by making excuses for why they’re putting a child through an exorcism. Hank’s not impressed that they tied the boy down and Matthew describes the “face of a demon” he saw. Hank and Nick begin to even suspect demonic possession – if the boy were Wesen then one of the parents would also be Wesen and wouldn’t be putting their child through exorcisms.