Dominion, Season 2, Episode 10: House of Sacrifice

Michael has fainted and now has been transported to Mallory in local garb. In the church he is greeted by The Prophet. The Prophet talks about order, rules and solitaire (and virtually paints a neon sign saying “hey, I’m god!”. Prophet isn’t all that pleased by Michael derailing his human sacrifice rules – and now wants Michael dead because he did swear to sacrifice himself and all. He has a dagger of empyrean steel for Michael to do the deed

But Michael is more concerned that The Prophet saved Noma in the Wasteland and, more importantly, is interested in Alex. He grabs the Prophet who chides him for being violent “in his father’s house” but Michael objects to the idea that this is God’s house because human sacrifice is too old school, god doesn’t do that any more. He is sure that The Prophet is getting his power from somewhere other than god

Either way, The Prophet has a simple demand – either Michael dies or the Mallory fire goes out and everyone there dies.

Michael decides to play a game for his life – and The Prophet agrees. They play poker while they talk about Alex – the prophecy of which says he can be a healer OR destroyer. Michael, of course, believes healer. The Prophet almost wins and offers Michael the chance to be spared but doom Mallory. But Michael continues to play because he “has faith” he belongs with the Chosen One. He wins the match.

The Prophet pulls some golden light out of Michael – and says it’s not over until Michael brings the Prophet to him.

His body is actually comatose in Vega much to Noma and Alex’s shock (wait… is Michael wearing a fishnet shirt? I do admire an archangel who has a thing for sexy fetishwear).

Claire and her council are all kind of worried because them completely ignoring the civil war last episode has led to David and his rebel minions taking the nuclear reactor. Gates and Alex cross antlers of course because WOMAN. They both demand Claire support their plans – and Claire sides with Gates because his idea (not having a firefight in a nuclear reactor) is better than Alex’s (boomy booomy ooooh shiny!)

Gates sets up a contact with a guy called Ramirez, a V2, ex-Archangel corps and part of David’s rebellion. Him being Archangel corps also gives Alex an excuse to take over negotiations. In the plant an alarm goes off indicating the plant is going to go boom in 2 hours. Alex tries to appeal to Ramirez but he’s quite happy to blow it all up to change the smoking crater that will be left in the aftermath. That means Gates has to go to the reactor to stop them all dying and Alex, of course, decides to take him.

Doctor Who Series Recap: Season Five

Okay folks we are onto Season Five of NuWho and this means a brand new Doctor.  Matt Smith is a love him or hate him kind of Doctor.  For some people, Matt Smith pales in the shadow of Tennant because for some, he seemed like he was try to emulate the 10th Doctor.  For others, he is a favorite for his slap stick humour, nerdy professor shtick, absolutely frantic movements and inability to walk past a fez.  If David Tenant is lightening quick Doctor because he was always running, then Matt Smith is the tornado Doctor because he always seemed a little bit lost while he moved in frantic circles. Just watching him sometimes was exhausting. Also in geek alert news, Matt Smith is the youngest actor to ever play the Doctor and for many, that was absolutely a negative.

Like any regeneration, though we are still dealing with the same character, it takes awhile to get used to the new Doctor.  Yes, the Doctor's past is still the same but elements of the Doctor's personalty will definitely change with each regeneration. In the Eleventh Hour, not only does the audience and Amy Pond get to meet the Doctor, the Doctor begins to try to figure out who he is and what he likes.  My stomach curdled every time I saw Matt Smith dip his fish stick into the pudding and I absolutely howled watching him ask for multiple items of food, only to be disgusted by it.  Poor Amy. I would have thrown him out of my kitchen. In The Lodger, the Doctor discovers that he's actually pretty good at football.

When The Doctor first meets Amy, she is a little girl praying for someone to fix the crack in her wall.  The Doctor does a brief examination and promises to be right back.  Unfortunately, having just gone through a regeneration, the Doctor's timing is really off and he ends up showing up years later to find an adult Amy.  With the help of Amy and her boyfriend Rory (yes the doe eyed wet lettuce duo) the Doctor takes on an ancient police force seeking to find an escaped prisoner hiding on earth.  Once the prisoner is captured, the Doctor has a word with Atraxi in which he shames them, and informs them that the earth is protected by him.  If this story line is familiar, it's because it's the same one the 10th Doctor had when he first awakened after regeneration.   The Doctor tells the Atraxi to look him up and when they do, they flee in fear.

I think it's fair to say that the 11th Doctor is certainly the most eccentric Doctor of the NuWho series. That being said, he is a throw back Doctor in many ways.  The bow ties that he wears for instance are an homage to Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor. Then there is the fez which Sylvester McCoy's seventh Doctor wore briefly.  The eleventh Doctor however took it to a new level declaring, "I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool." Thank goodness for River Song and Amy putting a quick end to that.  Matt Smith may have been the youngest Doctor, but he really reflected the old man inside.  He tried to be cool with his fezzes and questions like, "who de man?" but it only served to remind us all how old the Doctor really is, despite his absolute frantic energy.

Much of this season is concerned with the Doctor being the boogie man under the bed that so many are afraid.  If you think about it, one wouldn't be rational, if one didn't experience fear in the presence of the Doctor, given what he is capable of and how he deals with dissent. The Daleks call him the, "oncoming storm" for a reason.  The mask he wears as a slightly dated helpful professor hides a being capable of great destruction.

In The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang, all of the destruction the Doctor has caused comes home to roost. Yes, for the most part the Doctor has always done the right thing for the right reason but despite his abhorrence to guns, the fact of the matter is that the Doctor's hands are dripping with blood.  All of the Doctor's enemies come together in a truce to actually contain the Doctor because they fear he is going to break time.  Imagine what it took for creatures like the Daleks and the Cybermen to agree that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  It was certainly more than vengeance for perceived wrongs.

Along with a new Doctor, season five also introduced two new companions:  Rory Williams and Amelia Pond.  That's a lot to get used to at once and the Ponds didn't help because water dripping from a tap is more exciting than either of the two of them. The second time the Doctor leaves Amy, he once again promises to be back in a few minutes but shows up two years later, the night before her wedding to Rory.  Most brides would be to excited to think about anything else but their big day but Amy jumps at the chance to go with the Doctor.  This is the beginning of the angst of whether or not Amy truly loves Rory or would rather be with the Doctor. The Doctor however has firmly friend zoned Amy and shows up at Rory's bachelor party after Amy kisses him.  Yep, the Doctor plays match maker, even as Amy isn't sure which man she wants. Amy's Choice is an entire episode about whom Amy loves more. It is only when Rory dies that she suddenly decides to pick Rory and so Amy risks her life for the opportunity to see him again.

Under the Dome, Season 3, Episode 13: The Enemy Within

The new Queen is rallying her troops (and is totally disrespecting the last Queen). Step 2 is bringing down the Dome. Step 1 is defeating the enemy within.

Joe, Norrie and Jim are looking at bringing down the Dome though Norrie has angst – which is all irrelevant because lots of Drones with guns appear

Meanwhile Barbie and Julia are burying the body of doctor-don’t-pretend-you-remember-her-name-she-had-like-4-lines-before-she-was-killed-and-no-I’m-not-looking-it-up because it proves they’re better than the Kinship (it also proves they’re vastly less practical since they’re low on time and resources and taking a time out to get all tired grave digging). Julie tries to talk about feelings and Barbie’s last hope to cure his daughter – when a crowd of Drones arrive (they’re both far too exhausted to fight because grave digging and bad decisions), led by Daughter Queen. Daddy-daughter reunion!

Then we have a smoking crater and a stunned, bleeding Junior staggering to his feet. He’s just discovered the truth about Christine

Anyway, the Resistance is all put in a gaol cell and Queen – Dawn – has no time for Barbie’s attempt at sympathy or emotion with Barbie. She has no place for love or parents, people only exist to serve a purpose. Their purpose, as Jim points out, is to be leverage to make Joe obey

She goes to Joe to threaten him and Joe decides to hold his ground and co-operate so long, as Dawn “doesn’t hurt them until the Dome comes down” uh, Joe, can we talk about the time limit you decided to put on that condition?

Anyway since Joe was podded, Dawn points out he’s also Kinship, even if he’s asymptomatic. For now.

In prison Barbie realises they’re doomed because either a) the Dome stays up and they all die or b) they unleash Alien awfulness on the world. Julia suggests murdering Dawn and Barbie has a “no my daughter!” moment. Somehow missing the fact that, as a Black woman, Dawn already has a count-down to death clock ticking away on Under the Dome.

Dawn decides to release everyone but the uninfected– Jim and Julia. And Barbie is still determined to connect to the non-existent humanity in his daughter.

Junior returns – and Sam tries to convince Dawn that he is the super Alpha. She’s not convinced so he warns her that the Dome is surrounded by troops who will swoop in and destroy every last one of them except those who get to be experimented on. Something Christine neglected to mention. Sam tells her about the cement factory tunnels which they can use to escape – and kisses him. Junior watches and jealousy begins

Doctor Who Series Recap: Season Four

After losing Martha Jones, a resigned Doctor returns to his Tardis only to have the Titanic of all things crash into the side of the Tardis. After a few moments of astonishment (including his signature, "what") the Doctor fixes the Tardis and boards the ship. He works together with the other passengers (particularly Astrid) to find out why the Angels are determined to not only kill everyone on board but crash the Titanic into earth.  For a Christmas episode it wasn't bad though it did have the Doctor leave yet another dead woman in his wake.

Season Four is easily my favourite David Tennant season thanks to Donna (Catherine Tate).  In Partners in Crime, Donna's second episode as a companion, (the first was Runaway Bride in series three)  it's immediately apparent that Donna is not the type of woman to just sit there.  Before even reuniting with The Doctor, Donna had decided to investigate Adipose - a company selling miracle weight loss pills. I don't know about you but this felt like a commentary on obesity, particularly because we learned that in the alternate universe, Adipose attacked the Americans.  I was irked by the heavier woman who planned on breaking up with her boyfriend because after some weight loss she decided that she was too good for him. This episode made it seem that everyone is desperate to lose weight and not at all happy with their bodies, particularly because those on the pill were on higher end of the scale. The fact that so many went on Adipose is absolutely about our fat hating culture but it was never really explored. The writer chose to skip social commentary on this one and make it all about the alien. In the Forest of the Dead, Donna casually mentions being on a diet.  The fat shaming might be subtle this season but it's absolutely there.  

The Fires of Pompeii and the Planet of the Ood reveal that Donna's role as a companion is to show The Doctor humanity. When the Doctor and Donna first arrive in Pompeii, he initially mistakes it for Rome. It's not long before they realise that not only are they in Pompeii, but that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is imminent.  Donna pushes for the Doctor to warn as many people as possible to leave but he is adamant that the eruption is a fixed point in time. When the Doctor refuses to listen, Donna starts trying to warn people herself to no avail.  When Vesuvius finally erupts, the Doctor decides to leave with Donna, though it means leaving Lucius Caecilius Iucundus's family to die.  It's particularly compelling given that Lucius Caecilius Iucundus and his family actively beg the Doctor to save them on their knees and he still turns away.  If it were not for Donna, the Doctor would have left them to die.  Now we know that not only is the 10th Doctor vengeful and cold with his enemies, the cold streak runs extremely deep.

Companions not only improve the Doctor's empathy, they force him to pause fora moment to focus. It's only when we get to The Waters of Mars that it becomes evident how important companions are to the Doctor.  Despite landing on Mars during a fixed event in space in time, the Doctor intervenes, by saving the life of Captain Adelaide Brooke. The Doctor explains that since he is the last Time Lord that he is a survivor and make his own rules, declaring himself Time Lord Victorious. It's absolutely terrifying to watch his mania. The situation resolves itself because Captain Adelaide Brooke committed suicide thus allowing history to happen as it was meant to.  The Doctor knew from the beginning the importance of Adelaid and in order to play God he played with time.  A Doctor in control never would have done that.

The writers decided to comment on slavery in The Planet of the Ood.  Immediately, Donna is saddened by what the Ood have been through.  The slavery, and oppression, were all for the sake of profit.  In this case, the Doctor is quick to intervene on behalf of the Ood but at the same time, I cannot help but think that the last time he saw the Ood (Impossible Planet and Satan's Pit: series two), they were in a similar situation and he  did nothing to help them.  In fact, he viewed them as part of the threat against him and Rose. The Doctor just readily accepted that they (read: the Ood) were a mindless subservient species because that's what he was told by a human. Rather telling isn't it?

The Planet of the Ood was also about foreshadowing for the coming season.  The Doctor is warned that his song will soon end.  He is clearly upset by this revelation but he tries to brush it off as if it's nothing.  This is a warning to viewers to prepare themselves to lose the 10th Doctor.

The Planet Ood was not the only lesson in the ways in which we can be cruel to each other.  In Turn Left, Donna finds herself in an alternate universe and since she was not present when the Doctor battled the Empress of Racnoss  in Runaway Bride, the Doctor died because he was in such a rage that he didn't know when to stop on his own. This reinforces the idea that The Doctor is absolutely dependent upon his companions because they rein him in and focus him.  After London was destroyed because the Doctor was not there to stop the titanic from crashing into Buckingham Palace, the country is forced to go into disaster mode.  Donna and her family are forced to move to Leeds and live in a house which they share with several families.  Donna tires to stay hopeful but it's clear that the situation is stark.  When a family is removed because British leaders decide that England should be for the English, Wilfred (Donna's grandfather) comments that it's just like the last time.  This is all it takes to get Donna thinking. She tries to find out what's happening to the family which is being removed but is ignored. There's always been the false belief that when there's a disaster it pulls people together and that they forget their differences but that is not the case at all.  We don't all pull together as is clear from what happening with the Syrian refugee crises.

Donna was labelled the most important woman in the universe (don't get excited, the Doctor's companions are often called that).  The Doctor notices that they have constantly been drawn together.  It's evident in The Unicorn and the Wasp, when the Doctor needs a shock and Donna kisses him that theirs is a different kind of love. Rose may have been the Doctor's love interest but Donna is his friend.  The relationship might be different but they are absolutely equal. Donna may only see herself as a temp from Chiswick, but she has skills she doesn't even realise.  It's Donna who thinks to check human resources in Partners in Crime and it's Donna who notices the numbers above the doors in The Doctor's Daughter. It's Donna who yells, "oy watch it spaceman", as a warning when the Doctor steps out of line and she is even willing to slap him if she has to.

Black Dog Short Series by Rachel Neumeier

I’m not going to begin with my usual “I don’t like short stories because reasons” disclaimer, because I really don’t think I applies here

This is an excellent short book with three separate stories in it. They’re all very compact, relatively simple stories but, above all to me, every last one of them is really useful and even necessary to the broader plot.

The first story, Christmas Shopping, addresses one of my underlying concerns of the story – the relationship between Keziah and Natividad. These two are the most prominent by far (and, to a degree, the only appreciable) female characters in the series – it is a very male dominated series, especially in major roles even if Natividad is usually the protagonist. Few prominent female characters and those female characters hating each other with the fiery passion of a thousand exploding suns is, alas, a powerful trope

So this story of Keziah and Natividad spending time together is an excellent story. They don’t like each other a great deal, certainly – but this is a rift brought about form vastly different experiences, tastes and lives. Them being together in this story both excellently showcases this while, at the same time, having them build more and more connections, more understanding and approaching, if not friendship, then perhaps mutual respect. It’s all nicely capped with something Keziah taunted Natividad about becoming a joke between them

It also comes with a nice bit of world building shouting back to the major war that defines this series. In all, an excellent story – though I do have a discomfort with how very awed Natividad is of towns and cities. Sometimes her POV gives the impression that Mexico has no great cities and isn’t very sophisticated.

The second Story, Library Work, also brings some really necessary elements to the series. In this case we get to see a lot more of Miguel, Natividad’s human twin brother who is often out on a limb in the world dominated by Black Dogs and magical Pure and vampires. This book helped emphasise his strength – he’s smart, he’s cunning, he’s patient and he is excellently skilled in not only navigating around the dangerous Black Dogs and their uncertain tempers – but also in outright manipulating them for his own well being.

Sense8, Season One, Episode Four: What's Going On?

Wolfie and Felix sit in an alleyway talking.  Felix is excited about the diamond theft and Wolfie points out that nothing will change for them if they cannot sell them.  They meet up with a Jewish jeweler and speak about what happened to the jeweler's family during the holocaust thus mirroring somewhat Felix's ideas on how people think they would have reacted to Hitler.

Sanyam, Kala, and Manendra Rajan meet with the wedding planners to discuss the ceremony.  It seems that Rajan wants to add a ring exchange even though the ceremony is supposed to be Hindu. It seems that the priest is ready to accommodate the couple though it will mean that the ceremony might go on for six hours.  The planners suggest that with a bribe the priest can be talked into delivering a shorter ceremony.  Manendra naturally is disrespectful throughout this entire conversation. The addition of rings is important to Rajan because married men in India don't wear rings and he wants to have something tangible to show his commitment.  Okay, I'm sighing with all kinds of aww at this. Sanyam looks on with a smile as Rajan declares his love for Kala.

In Korea, Sun puts make up on the massive shiner she gained from her fight night but it does nothing to cover the bruising.  We get another flashback to the young Sun talking to her ill mother.  Sun believes that her father hates her and points out that he only attends Joon-Ki's matches.  Sun's mother tells her not to be jealous and not to blame Joon-Ki for how much his father loves him.  Joon-Ki it seems is destined to take over the company and to that end, Sun's mother makes Sun promise to take care of her Joon-Ki.  Back in the present, Sun stares into a mirror thinking.

The jeweler is now examining the diamonds and he declares them to be beauties.  The jeweler believes that the diamonds came out of Mumbai and that he will not be able to sell them unless they are re-cut. Wolfie stands to go calling it a waste of time because re-cutting the demands will dramatically reduce their value.  Felix quickly grabs Wolfie's arm and the jeweler points out that he said a sale would not be easy but will still be possible, promising to buy 1/3 of the diamonds.

Shiro is ironing and tells Capheus that he would be a success without her because then he wouldn't have to pay for her medicine.  Capheus is not interested in what Shiro is saying and pointedly tells her so.  I love that he is so devoted to his mother.  Shiro believes that if she wasn't a bad person, she would stop taking her medicine and allow Capheus to get on with his life.  Capheus answers that without her he would go into the world naked.  Capheus promises to bring back water when he returns and kisses his mother before leaving.

Capheus makes his way to the bus to find a crowd of people surrounding it. Jela greats him with a huge smile and the crowd cheers.  It seems word has spread about the fight Capheus had to get Shiro's medicine back.

Back on the streets, Felix stops to talk about the first time he had sex.  It seems that before he had sex he thought he was wasting his time with the girl because he had been buying her presents and taking her to the movies but once he was able to penetrate her, he realised that everything had been worth it. Yes, that officially makes Felix an epic ass. In celebration, Felix went out and bought a new pair of shoes because everything changed from that point on.  Wolfie laughs.  Wolfie and Felix return to his key cutting shop and Felix announces that he now needs new shoes.

Capheus is driving and the bus is so full that Jela is hanging on to the railing on the side of bus with his body actually outside of the bus. Jela is in full celebration mode until they are pulled over by the cops.  Jela approaches the cops and is told to shut the fuck up because they want Capheus. Capheus is ordered to follow the cops and when he is slow to move, they surround him and escort him away from the bus.  A concerned Jela looks on.

Lito tells Hernando and Daniela that Joaquin came to the set.   Daniela expresses surprised and Lito goes on to say that over lunch Joaquin put a knife to his throat.  Hernando interrupts to get Lito to taste the food he made.  Lito tastes it quickly and goes back to talking about how the set is a sacred space and that it is difficult to concentrate with Joaquin waving around a weapon.  Daniela puts Lito on ignore and goes on about how good the cerviche Hernando made is and suggests that Hernando open a restaurant because he is such a good cook.

Felix is in a shoe store and at this point has already tried on several pairs.  Wofie holds a pair of boots and Felix complains that they fit him too perfectly.

Capheus is escorted through the woods to a clearing where he is met by Silas Kabaka - a local drug lord.

Making Sense of the Dimes and Nickles in Urban Fantasy

© 2014 Pictures of Money, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Urban Fantasy is, very often, a wonderful form of fantasy escapism. They depict worlds that are similar to ours but full of the fantastic and wonderful, a place where we can escape the mundane worries of our lives to go to a land where vampires brood in the shadows (or glitter in the sun), werewolves manage to make excess body hair hot and magic can make anything possible.

So, it’s not entirely surprising that money and money troubles are rarely a common topic in these books. After all, we can spend our very real, mundane lives worrying over next month’s bills or mentally battling over whether we can afford just a few more books… just one or two… they’re on sale, right? Especially when those money worries can be so all consuming, so painful and so difficult.

But Urban Fantasy is very close to our own world, it’s one of the primary definitions of Urban Fantasy, after all. As such the repeated glossing over of issues and the realities of wealth is a hole in this genre, it’s a failure to develop the lives of the characters and the world building around them and, looming over this, it’s completely avoiding or casually brushing over the very necessary issues of class and poverty that should still be in these settings.

Most commonly this is seen with protagonists - or sexy male love interests - who simply have money. How and why they have money is not really covered. They just have cash as and when they need it without any real explanation as to where the money comes from.

Sometimes there will be a convenient rich relative, friend or inheritance introduced to render it all moot (Mary-Janice Davidson rather appalling introduced a millionaire Black girl in the Undead series to bank roll Betsy, who managed to afford extremely expensive designer shoes on the salary of an office temp).

If they’re employed, we rarely see them actually perform their jobs (when was the last time anyone saw Anita Blake raise a zombie?) sometimes to a laughable degree (does Sookie even still work at Merlottes any more?). Or their job will require minimal effort - they’ll own a business that someone else will run, or it will have big pay-offs for only occasional work such as Elemental Assassin series with Gin’s lucrative assassin job or Dresden Files with Harry always seeming having money in his pocket despite rarely actually working as a wizard for hire. Or Jeremy in the Otherworld Series managing to amass a fortune that requires only the occasional painting to maintain, or Dorina Basarab in her series always had money to drop on some very expensive and rare weaponry despite her only occasional work for a Council that hated her.

They have ready money, they work for it - but working for the paycheck is never more than a small sidenote to their lives, rather than the 9-5 most of us have to put in to get by and they can often pull out large sums of cash at very little notice and with very little consequence - like Joanne Walker can put their day jobs on hold (or actively abandoning it for a while) to pursue whatever adventure has hit this week.

Of course, often wealth is just there and age or random woo-woo is often used as a justification - Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles is an extreme and typical example where everyone is dripping in wealth often with little real explanation as to why beyond the desire to have every scene smeared with purple-prose opulence porn. Age is why Anita Blake Series’ Jean-Claude (and most other vampires) have gathered their wealth, why Twilight’s Cullens live a lifestyle that rather exceeds the wages of one doctor and why every vampire in the Blood Destiny series is rich enough to throw their wealth around and play with credit-limit-less cards and why the Night Huntress Series’ Bones (and fellow vampires) have a near infinite budget to play with.

From the moment Damon appeared, The Vampire Diaries geared the story towards a love triangle between Elena, Damon and Stefan. Many of their interactions in terms of difference between vampires and humans tended to fixate on their abilities and need to drink blood. What I would like to know is where is the discussion of money? We know that Damon and Stefan’s home is the Salvatore family home but how do they sustain themselves, or at the very least pay for their enormous alcohol bill?  Both drive expensive cars and seem to have an unlimited budget for designer jeans. The Salvatore Brothers may pause to think about how to take out a Big Bad but any logistics which involve money are never part of the conversation. We are to accept that they are old men in young mens bodies and somehow this entitles them to wealth. Not only are they supernaturally entitled, Elena never ever questions it and accepts it as part and parcel of their vampiric state.

Kitty Saves the World (Kitty Norville Series #14) by Carrie Vaughn

The battle between Kitty and Roman is finally coming to a head as Roman’s master is revealed – and that master’s plan is finally being executed, possibly leading to the end of the world

Leaving only Kitty and her friends to stand against him – even if she has damaged her own credibility by trying to rally people against Roman’s plotting.

She doesn’t know where he is or how to stop Roman’s immense magic – nor even how to avoid the vast power of his influence, but the world hangs in the balance.

This is the final instalment in Kitty’s story and, thematically, it works. The primary emotions of Kitty here are fear and tiredness. Kitty is ready to stop the fight. She is ready to live, to have a family, to not be afraid, to not keep fighting. It makes the ending especially satisfying since it doesn’t have a huge lavish gift of riches for Kitty so much as a mundane peaceful life. I do find it awfully cliché and such a deeply stereotypical ending for how a woman’s Happily Ever After simply must pan out

It leaves no threads untied and it flows through a lot of action and some very well maintained emotional tension

I find myself immensely frustrated by this book on several levels, especially as a conclusion to this entire series. Here is Kitty’s final showdown with Roman, the final explanation of him and the general conclusion of all of it. And I’m disappointed

I’m disappointed because the whole point of Kitty, as the Regina Luporum, was set up as the major opponent of Roman because she was developing her own coalition. She had allies. She had friends. Even in this book it made a repeated point that Kitty’s super power is her friends. That has always been an excellent point of the series – she isn’t the most powerful werewolf, she isn’t the most powerful supernatural. She doesn’t have super powers, she doesn’t have any secret weapons – but she has friends and allies who are willing to work with her, trust her and make her their leader. She is the opposition to Roman because she was building her own army to match his but in a very different way

So in this book I expected those friends to gather. I expected Kitty to lead them, to gather her coalition, to take advantage of the group she’s put together. And she doesn’t. Oh, those friends appear – Grant, Rick, Tina, Sun and a few others. But they appear because “fate” or because “magic” or some other mystical force guided them. Fate is such a very lazy way of writing because it can justify just about any kind of coincidence. There’s very little emphasis on these people, what they bring to the party or much of their history and involvement with Kitty or why they matter now. And, again, most of her contacts are just irrelevant here (and even most who turn up basically fight a battle where we and Kitty are not).

From Dusk Till Dawn, Season 2, Episode 3: Attack of the 50 Foot Sex Machine

One of the downsides of reviewing and recapping is you find yourself typing things and then quietly hating your fingertips. The title of this episode is one of those times.

Some people are moving surreptitiously through the night until Santanico and Richie kidnap one of them.

Richie goes to see a guy called Eddie who apparently likes them – since he paid to have their fake bodies buried and greets Richie with a hug. They discuss good coffee and Richie wants to be connected with a man called Nathan Blanchard, who Eddie describes as a “pimp” and generally not a nice man. Eddie’s leery about Richie being apart from Seth until Richie finally guilts him into helping.

Back to Santanico who is eating rats and now has a collection of women in a cage. She drags one woman out and brutally forces her to dance.

Richie gets his meeting and tells Nathan he had stolen a truck which happened to be full of “immigrant girls” he’s looking to sell on to Nathan – a “flesh trader” and become a regular “supplier.” To which he shows videos of half naked women Santanico has forced to dance. And Richie is offering to “sell” women rather than “rent” to try and get an in on Malvado’s network (and new blood source). They set up a new deal

While the woman Santanico made dance is trying to stand up to her – Santanico tells her that no-one will touch her but she is going to use the woman to bring down Malvado. She gives a snippet of her history to the woman to show off, again, how much she really loathes him. The woman, however, says Santanico is doing the same thing to her that Malvado did to Santanico

Richie and Santanico talk, covering a range of subjects (like rats tasting good because they don’t have souls and Santanico trying to get Richie to eat some of the women) and their motivations. Richie has dreams of replacing Malvado and controlling his organisation while Santanico wants it all destroyed. His perfect eye-sight is also fading, he’s wearing the glasses he wore while human. Santanico says his “calebros soul” is warring with his mind. She doesn’t think his humanity will last which is nicely ominous.

Nathan has sent two men to kill Richie and take his “cargo”. Naturally, it doesn’t go well for them with Santanico pretending to be one of the kidnapped women and Richie killing and taking the place of one of the men (using the Calebros disguise – they can look like the people they eat).

Pure Blooded (Jessica McClain #5) by Amanda Carlson

Jessica has survived the Underworld and now that she is back, it's off to save her father who has been battling Made wolves.  From the moment Jessica's plane takes to the air, she quickly realises that while she might be back on an earthly plane, she is in no less danger.  Having pissed off a Hag, by killing her sister, Jessica's fate is in great flux.  Thankfully, Jessica has a strong team around her but is Jessica strong enough to fight off the creator of the werewolves now that he Hags have set them up on a collision course.

It's book five and at this point, it very much feels like Carlson is sick of her own story.  Nothing happened in Pure Blooded, absolutely nothing.  If that were not enough, it ended on such an odd note that I had to flip backward through the book to ensure that I hadn't missed anything.  Character development seems to about having Jessica pull a fancy new magical power out of her ass whenever she feels threatened and having her entourage swear loyalty to her.

At this point It would be fair to say that Jessica is a typical Mary Sue.  Everyone around her loves her without question and is absolutely devoted to her.  We are told repeatedly how special Jessica is and that if she dies, the supernatural world will simply fall to pieces. At this point I would rather see Carlson's world fall apart than to read anymore of this story. Pure Blooded made me want to scream, "I get it, Jessica's the super special werewolf." Beyond her ability to pull magical abilities out of her ass, I'm not even sure why everyone is so damn devoted to her.

For the first part of Pure Blooded Jessica had to do battle with a bokor who was being ridden by loa. As it turns out, the creator of the werewolves wanted the power that she invested into Jessica's wolf. After some running and dodging along with advise from a wise person of colour, Jessica emerged victorious.  Jessica's next challenge was a necromancer who she defeated by simply following her heart.  Apparently, brains and logic can't keep one safe but the mystical gut is all knowing.  Yes, I'm snarking.  To me it just sounds like an excuse for the fact that Jessica does not read as intelligent. Jessica is impatient and rushes in headlong with her team barely holding on.  In Pure Blooded, she is even spoon fed information and then gripes about it not being detailed enough. Sure, Jessica is a young immortal and that works as an excuse for awhile but I'm simply tired of her ignorance and the fact that she never sits down long enough to learn about the world she is supposed to change so drastically.  In fact, when Jessica is informed about counsel protocol is supposed to work, she casually brushes it aside.

The Strain, Season 2, Episode 9: The Battle for Red Hook

Eichorst is hiring a boat to smuggle 20 people into Red Hook – a part of the city that Ferraldo has successfully guarded and made vampire free.

He then goes to see Kelly who is sad because she didn’t get to eat her child. She’s especially bitter about Nora because even a vampire focused on world domination and surrounded by baby spider vamps can be bitter about a competing love interest, apparently.

To our gang (hiding in Red Hook) and Zach has finally realised that he’s a damn fool. Abraham wants to get everyone prepared for the next attack since Kelly knows where they are now – but Nora and Ephraim want to call in the cavalry – Justine Ferraldo. Vasiliy also agrees, out voting Abraham.

Abraham and Ephraim discuss their various methods of stopping the Master and neither approves of the other. Abraham’s shiny book is too woo-woo a solution for Ephraim and Ephraim’s bioweapon just kills off disposable, easily replaced drones as far as Abraham is concerned. Abraham also realises Ephraim isn’t going to use his new sniper rifle to kill vampires – he warns Ephraim about becoming  monster while fighting a monster. Abraham-who-uses-eye-worms-for-immortality cares about this now? I thought part of the POINT of his character was to BE this warning, not vocalise it.

Nikki and Dutch are staying together and discuss Nikki’s mother who would quite like Nikki to come home. Dutch points out how little her mother doesn’t like her – and concedes she has a point. Vasiliy and Nora drop in to warn them about Kelly and the spider vamps – and to encourage Dutch to get back in the team. She decides to stay and maybe catch up later- and her kiss goodbye is sort of chaste.

That leaves Nikki and Dutch to talk relationships – Dutch saying she loves Vasiliy and them Nikki and Dutch and arguing over various issues – Dutch’s laptop and items, Nikki judging Dutch, and Dutch finally deciding she was happier without Nikki. They kiss angrily wit Dutch’s “I have always been in love with you and it’s never made me happy.”

Doctor Who Series Recap: Season Three

At this point, the personality of the 10th Doctor is well established.  More than any other Doctor, the 10th is the one who should never ever travel alone.  As much as the Doctor is fascinated with humanity, he can at times forget to be humane and a companion serves to keep him grounded.  As far as The Doctor is concerned, Rose is pretty damn hard to replace, particularly given his romantic feelings for her.  He tries to pretend that he will be just fine but in his very first outing sans Rose, it's clear everything will not be  okay if he doesn't find someone soon.

Series Three resulted in one of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who of all time - Blink.  I was captivated as I learned about the lonely assassins (weeping angels) and found them to be a fitting match for The Doctor.  The Angels want to create a paradox from which they can feed and so the Doctor issues a warning from 1969 to Sally Sparrow, "Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink.” The Doctor and Martha don't even feature largely in the story but the terror the Weeping Angels manage to cause is absolutely captivating. I don't think I've looked at a stone angel the same way since watching Blink.

The third series begins with The Doctor meeting his future companion (and greatest companion ever if you ask me ) Donna Noble, when she suddenly appears on the Tardis.  Donna is beamed onto the Tardis in her wedding dress of all things and is certain that The Doctor is a Martian who has kidnapped her. The Doctor quickly realises that there is a mystery behind Donna's sudden appearance and after failing to get Donna to her wedding in a timely fashion, sets about solving it.  What ensues is absolutely hilarious, as the Doctor clashes with Donna's brash style.  She's not afraid to slap him when he gets to wrapped up in techno babble either.

In The Runaway Bride, Donna loses her job and her fiance in one day when she learns that Lance had drugged her coffee in order to make her suitable food for the children of the Empress of Racnoss. It absolutely fascinated me that the Empress was the last of her kind and that the Doctor had very little compassion for her.  He was particularly indignant about her race's history of violence and murder. The Doctor offers the Empress one last chance to give up, promising to relocate her if she agrees but the Empress refuses.  The Doctor takes his terrible justice by killing all of her children, as the Empress screams in pain.  It's Donna, who has to tell the Doctor that he can stop now.  In their parting scene together, Donna tells The Doctor that he needs to find someone because he needs someone to tell him to stop.

Martha Jones, The Doctor's companion for series three is introduced in Smith and Jones.  The hospital Martha works in is transported to the moon so that the Judoon can find an alien hiding there. Jones and the Doctor team up very quickly to assure that the correct alien is taken into custody and the hospital returned to Earth.  Upon arriving back on earth, The Doctor asks Martha to take a trip with him, making it clear that she will not replace Rose and that he is only offering one trip.  I suppose that's the Doctor's way of saying, "I'm just not that into you", but it doesn't stop Martha from giving him the eye for the rest of the season.

On their first trip together in The Shakespeare Code, The Doctor and Martha travel back in time to meet Shakespeare.  Martha is initially curious about what impact she will have being there and if she is going to get carted off as a slave - a valid concern for a woman of colour to have.  Unfortunately, the writers drop the ball by having the 10th doctor's response be glib.  I suppose it could be taken as the Doctor simply not really seeing Martha but I choose to see it as yet another example of the writers not knowing what to do with characters of colour.

Doctor Who: The Monsters Inside (Doctor Who: New Series Adventures #2) by Stephen Cole

It's time for Rose to finally have an adventure on a planet other than earth and the Doctor is just the Gallifreyan to take her.  When the Doctor and Rose land on Justicia (yes, that's really what Cole named it)  Rose is entranced by a beautiful flower growing in the desolate landscape.  Before they can contemplate the stark beauty for any length of time, they come across humans building replicas of the Great Pyramids in Egypt, complete with overseers who have vicious whips.  It's not long before the Doctor and Rose are noticed and despite fighting to get back to the TARDIS are captured and taken to different prisons.  The Doctor and Rose had the misfortune to land on a penal colony without permission and that carries a hefty sentence.  Rose and The Doctor immediately begin to work on a way to reunite but it's not long before they realise that something is not right with the prison.  The sound of copious farts and belches and a bright blue light hint that the prison may not be in human control after all.

As you can see from the cover, The Monsters Inside is an adventure story staring the 9th Doctor and his companion Rose.  You're going to have be patient with me while I fanpoodle for a moment because I simply loved The Monsters Inside, despite the fact that the antagonists were the puerile and disgusting Raxacoricofallapatorian  (try saying that three times quickly).  It easily could have been an episode of NuWho because Cole managed to capture the personalities of the Doctor and Rose perfectly.  Every time the Doctor gave one his larger than life smiles or snarked, I pictured Eccleston. Rose is characterised as plucky, brave and smart.

For much of the story, Rose and The Doctor are separated so the book changes POV several times. As much as I love seeing The Doctor and Rose together, the separation highlighted their closeness because the both of them were so desperate to get back to each other no matter what.  Rose didn't sit around like a helpless damsel waiting for the Doctor to find her ans she never doubted they would be reunited. The Doctor's absence gave Rose the  chance to step into the roll expert as she led some her fellow prisoners and a guard out of danger.  Rose even proved that she has been listening to all of the technical jargon she has learned in her travels with The Doctor as she explained the mechanics of the situation to her fellow prisoners.

While being alone worked well for Rose, it didn't work quite as well for The Doctor.  Fans of the series know that the companions serve as a foil for the Doctor.  Because The Doctor was separated from Rose, we were treated to his inner monologue.  That took away some of the mystery for me.  As a viewer, we are meant to know the Doctor is up to something but we aren't really supposed to know what exactly.  That said, I do believe the revelation of the Doctors thoughts was thoroughly tempered by the great characterisation.

Fear the Walking Dead: Excuses for the Death of Black People

For quite some time there has been a bit of discussion regarding race and The Walking Dead. To date, we have already written three pieces. The Walking Dead has a history of introducing marginalized characters and then having them sit in the background as the case with T Dog until they need a member of the group to die off.  It’s with T Dog that we first start seeing racial memes appear. The Walking Dead would go on to produce a T Dog chain in which Black male characters became interchangeable before quickly dying.  

Michonne, a huge fan favourite is little more than a walking weapon and Sasha, at least in the last season, was too caught up in her grief to really grow. It was with great trepidation that we started watching Fear The Walking Dead. When we first noticed how interracial the cast appeared cynical people that we are, we didn’t start off with much hope after all, The Walking Dead the prequ to Fear The Walking Dead started off pretty inclusive and well, we all know how that ended up.

Now that we are two episodes into Fear The Walking Dead, one thing is clear, the authors and producers clearly don’t care what messages they produce about the supposed disposability of people of colour. In short order Artie, Calvin and Matt are named, introduced and quickly killed off. What is this but thumbing your nose at an audience which has clearly shown displeasure at the handling of race in The Walking Dead Universe? Given the controversy, showrunner David Erickson sat down with the Hollywood Reporter to discuss the issue of ongoing Black death.

"I realize it's clearly become an issue and it's something we are mindful of," Erickson explained. "But ultimately it's trying to tell the story the best way we can and cast the best people we can. I wouldn't want to go back and recast a character just to avoid … if it doesn't feel true to the character or the relationship -- the relationship with Alicia and Matt or Calvin and Nick."Also, according to Erickson, producers casting the series didn't even know which characters were going to live or die.

Ok let’s parse this terrible excuse.

First of all, I call shenanigans. I’m going to call blatant shenanigans on the idea that the casting producers didn’t even know which characters were going to live or die because it doesn’t pass the smell test

You’re asking us to believe that all three of these characters who were killed off in the first two episodes just happened to be Black out of some cosmic coincidence and there’s no way the people casting these roles could have known otherwise? No. Nope. Do not buy it.

Doctor Who Recap: Series Two

David Tennant's first full episode of Doctor Who was the Christmas Special of 2005. Tennant would go on to be one of the most beloved of the Doctors, with his rakish good looks and awesome comedic timing. I must be honest, I was absolutely not onboard with the change in Doctors.  I loved Eccleston and really was not pleased to see him go, particularly because at first, Tennant's Doctor felt like a complete stranger to me.  Thankfully, Billie Piper stayed on as the Doctor's companion, so she gave the regeneration a bit of much needed continuity, even if I could have done without her mother Jackie.

The Christmas episode is the first hint of the type of Doctor David Tennant would be.  The Doctor's regeneration left him quite incapacitated and so Rose brings him back to her home to recuperate. This is a confusing time for both Rose and new fans.  At this point, we have no idea what form the 10th Doctor's personality will take.  When the Santa robots attack and the Christmas decorations go absolutely bonkers, Rose wakes the Doctor and he responds by sitting directly up in bed, and using his sonic screwdriver.  The Santa Robots are followed by the Sycorax, who force a significant portion of humanity up onto rooftops, thus holding humanity hostage.  Because of the Doctor's regeneration, negotiations are initially handled by Prime Minister Harriet Jones.

When the Doctor arrives on scene, he quickly manages to free the humans from the roof tops and challenges the Sycorax leader for possession of the earth.  In the battle, the Doctor has his hand cut off (yes, that hand will appear again) but because he hasn't finished his regeneration, he is able to re-grow it.  After a short battle, the Doctor is unsurprisingly victorious.  When he turns his back on the Sycorax, it decides to make an under handed attack and without warning, the Doctor kills him.  In quite an impassioned speech, the Doctor makes it clear that humanity and the earth is protected.

In the Doctor's absence, Prime Minster Harriet Jones had gotten into contact with Torchwood, an organization which will feature strongly in this season.  Even though the Sycorax are retreating thanks to The Doctor, Harriet Jones decides to send a stronger warning and orders the Sycorax ship shot out of the sky.  This greatly enrages the Doctor and in response, he brings about the end of her political career, thus changing history.  In The Christmas Invasion, the first thing we learn about the Doctor is that he will give no quarter if crossed and is more than willing to set himself up as the moral authority on violence. This is quite a change from Eccleston, who had been more than willing to give his adversaries second chances and didn't demand absolute agreement with his position.

I found myself sympathising with Harriet Jones because the fact of the matter is that earth was indeed vulnerable to invasion.  In fact, Torchwood acted in exactly the way it was designed to act by its founder Queen Victoria. Torchwood would go on to feature in Tooth and Claw, Army of Ghosts and of course Doomsday. The situation with the Sycorax escalated in the first place because the Doctor was incapacitated.  Yes, The Doctor did pledge to keep humanity safe but what Jones ensured is that aliens would learn from this incident that with or without the Doctor, humanity had the ability to take care of itself.  Jones acted to ensure that aliens thought twice before invading again and it bothers me that The Doctor didn't think before he acted.  It seems that the 10th Doctor believes that only he has the right to decide who lives and who dies.

New Earth marked the first time that Rose traveled to another planet with the 10th Doctor and the return of one of my favorite characters/villains in the Whoverse, The Lady Cassandra (moisturize me moisturize me).  This is the episode that sold me on Tennant as the Doctor.  I loved watching as Cassandra moved back and forth between The Doctor's body and Rose's body.  Piper and Tennant's acting was absolutely perfect and their transitions seamless.  I also loved New Earth because I found the story of artificially grown humans bred to produce cures for other sick species/people particularly compelling.  Medical research has long been advanced through testing new innovations on particularly marginalized people.  New Earth however missed the mark by making the artificially grown humans nearly homogeneous, thus missing the opportunity to tell a story about the vulnerability of people of colour when it comes to scientific research.

I cannot address New Earth without talking about the end result for Lady Cassandra ("spoilers" said in River Song's voice) Lady Cassandra happens to be the only trans* character introduced in NuWho. Once again, she is up to no good and is absolutely determined to not only live on but live well.  Once foiled by The Doctor and forced to give up Rose's body, she inhabits Chip - a cloned human. Unfortunately, Chip is unable to survive the transfer and Cassandra is forced to concede that her life is over.  With the help of The Doctor, Cassandra travels back in time to her happiest day, and tells herself that she is beautiful before dying in her younger incarnations arms.  The ending of New Earth, bothered me for quite some time.  Yes, everything dies but Cassandra's end was particularly tragic and problematic given that she was framed as someone who had outlived her worth - a Norma Desmond unwilling to admit that her time is over.  It once again cemented the idea that only certain bodies matter and even then, they are restricted to a specific from.  As long as Cassandra could pass as a beautiful Cis woman, she was entitled to accolades and the moment she drifted away from that, she became nothing more than a sad perversion.  Given that the Lady Cassandra is the only trans* character in all of the Whoverse, she absolutely deserved better.

My two favourite episodes this season are The Impossible Planet and Satan's Pit.  Having lived for nearly a thousand years at this point, it's quite easy to believe that the Doctor has in fact seen everything that the universe has to offer but Satan's Pit puts that theory on end when the Doctor meets The Devil.  Even with all of his intellect, the Doctor cannot categorize or even fully understand what he has seen. He simply resigns himself to the fact that he was victorious in the end.

Marked (House of Night #1) by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Zoey’s normal life has been derailed by her being marked by a Vampyre Tracker. She is now a Vampyre, chosen by the goddess Nyx and entering the private school and vampire compound known as the House of Night

But in the House she finds that the leader of the Elite Group, the Dark Daughters, is pretty much terrible and she finds she needs to replace her. Thankfully she has been granted the greatest and rarest power, never seen before, compared to any other vampyre in history.

I try, I really do, in every review to say something positive about a book. There is usually something, some gem, some nugget, some facet somewhere I can seize on and say “hey, despite all the other problems, this is pretty decent.”

I tried with this book. I really did. But, honestly, I can’t think of one tiny, redeeming feature. It’s a a book that manages to be terrible on just about every level. With many other books I would have thrown it away, deleted it from my tablet and DNFed it after vigorously expressing my contempt. But not only am I now committed to reading this series due to the diabolical machinations of Cyna and Mavrynthia and especially Merriska I am now doomed to read this series – but also this book was so bad, so unutterably, shamefully awful that I felt the need to keep going. It was a combination of watching a terrible trainwreck and you know you should look away but are somehow drawn back to the horror, watching someone about to do something epicly ridiculous and watching them to see if they’re really going to go through with it and just reading in a vague, desperate hope that at some point the author would yell “ha! Fooled you, this is a parody!”

It was not a parody. If it were a parody it would be a bad parody because good parodies are more subtle than this.

So, since there’s absolutely nothing right with this book, let’s tackle the wrong. The oh-so-very wrong.

I will begin with the marginalised characters – on team good guy we have one gay man, Damien, and one Black woman, Shaunee, playing sassy sidekicks to the protagonist (along with two white woman, one of which, Erin shares exactly the same personality as Shaunee because characterisation is hard. We also get the joy of these two characters calling each other twin. The other is just a kicked puppy dog following Zoey around with utter devotion she developed within 10 second of meeting her because characterisation is hard).

Damien is gay, we know this because it is mentioned all the time. Even when mentioning things completely irrelevant to his sexuality – like how smart he is – he is the “gay genius.” We’ve seen this trope before and labelled it the Lesbian Shark. It definitely applies. Like all of Zoey’s “friends” Damien exists for the greater glory of Zoey, being slavishly loyal and obedient pretty much from the first meeting. As a bonus he’s used to excuse using the slur f@ggot. We also have such joys as Damien not counting as a guy because he’s the, direct quote “token gay”. He also takes on the rule as the expert of all things “peniled” because while having no relationship himself, it is the duty of all good GBFs to play advisor and counsel to straight ladies. To top this off we have derision of gay men who are “swishy girly-guys”. And all Lesbians are some kind of like minded cult who spend their whole time in the temple because Matriarchal Goddess = Lesbian devotion.

From Dusk Till Dawn, Season 2, Episode 2: In a Dark Time

We begin with another epic voice over from Santanico about her freedom (and these voice overs ARE epic, I have to give them that) and both her quest to bring her old overlords down – and theirs to hunt her down.

Now to Seth and his own little intimidating speech about stealing stuff which is also semi epic

And then to Scott who has his chains broken by a ragged man in a very bad condition – clutching snakey vampire-fangs in his hand. Apparently, his own fangs. I think this may be Carlos but he is in such a terrible ragged condition it’s hard to tell. Carlos was ordered into the Labyrinth under the orders of Narcisco last season…

Upstairs, Narcisco is recovering from having his face ripped off and dealing with Malvado who is not impressed with the poor victims Narcisco is dredging up. He doesn’t seem best pleased that Carlos beat the Labyrinth. After some grooming, Carlos is looking more himself again and Malvado wants to know about a prophecy apparently revealed in the Labyrinth, something about a massive new blood supply. He demands that Carlos explains it; but Carlos babbles a lot about Dora the Explorer and the man who “knows the answer” Whoever that is. While he’s not that coherent, Malvado offers him Narcisco’s job if he can find this person who knows the prophecy.

Carlos and Scott go back under the club, and Carlos is not having a happy fun time down there nor is he especially coherent. Down there they’re attacked by the newly Calebros Professor Aiden Tanner. Yes, Sex Machine still lives. Alas.

He recounts how he was found while dying and turned into a Calebros. Then they find Narcisco who also wants Aiden – Scott tries to stop them taking him since he can win favour but Carlos folds and hands him over. Carlos is all humble and submissive to Narcisco.

Aiden is dragged up to read the prophecy – which he can’t, not entirely. But knows of a Codex that will be able to translate it. Which he describes as being “someplace safe”. To earn his place in his new family, Malvado tells him to go find this codex.

He goes out, in daylight, using a parasol. Yes he’s not exactly great at being a vampire.

Seeing that Carlos may not be the best star to hitch his wagon to, Scott approaches Narcisco and asks how he can climb up the organisation. Narcisco tells him to kill Carlos

Scott goes hunting Carlos – and fails badly. Especially since Carlos has cast himself new, metal fangs from his old sword. I’m with Scott – who sensibly runs.

Continuum Season 4, Episode 1: Lost Hours

So last season, in the vast well of confusion, Emily tried to kill Evil Alec and was arrested. Good Alec did kill Evil Alec and now as the sole remaining Alec he is dropping all charges against Emily.

That paragraph pretty much sums up how confusing Continuum has become.

Carlos would like some quid pro quo for this dropping the charges, but it involves Alec approving something with his company – only Kellog kind of stole the company last season.

Kiera and time-travelling-alternate-future-guy Brad uses his beacon to check if his future still exists. And from that Beacon futuristitc super-sioldiers appear and chase them. Oops, backfire. Brad tries to distract them but one still goes on to hunt Kiera while she tries to use her invisibility/armour suit to escape. They have better guns but I think her suit may be better. She’s eventually knocked out. Thankfully future people use weapons that destroy walls but don’t leave any marks on people

She wakes up… in 2080, in her own time, apparently after a 3 year coma after the whole execution chamber bomb (when she first went back into the past in season 1). Apparently her CMR kicked in and decided to create a fun little happy story while she was unconscious. Continuum I’m not buying this because the whole “it was all a dream” storyline has long since been an excuse for justifiable homicide for some time now.

So Kiera is reunited with her child for lots of tearfulness (and the kid is bizarrely mature).  And in comes old Alec praising her for changing the future – and then she wakes up in the 21^st century again with Carlos and Young Alec. Ok so the random aside was a way to fill in minutes.

Alec takes Kiera home – or to the home that Corporate Evil Alec bought anyway which is now his. Hey he gets all the fancy loot without any of the guilt! Kiera has a new goal though – she has stopped Good Alec creating an evil Dystopian future (which is what future Alec was worried about) and has stopped Liber8 doing whatever naughty shenanigans they were planning on (actually, I think their naughty shenanigans was stopping Alec creating an evil dystopian future too – only they used more bombs to do it). So job’s done- she can now go back home (her non-dystopian and possibly non-existent future where she might not even exist) and see her family (who also may not exist or be her future). And she needs Alec to make that happen.