Colony, Season One, Episode Five: Company Man

Now that the Bowman's know that they are being recorded, it's time for Will to check in and see just how much trouble his family is in and what kind of damage control he can do. The issue is that if the government is indeed looking for him because of Katie's involvement with the resistance, he is walking right into their hands.  It's quite possible that Will will immediately be locked up, sent to a work camp, or even the factory.   Katie, of course bristles in her new role as housewife, though she promises Will that she will keep things above bar for the sake of their family. We know that promise is going to last a New York minute.

Will is immediately taken aside once he shows up at work and placed in a room to wait for Bennett. Yes, Jennifer's boss finally has a name. Fortunately for will, Jennifer committed suicide, taking his secrets to the grave, so he is able to convince Bennett that he had nothing to do with Bram trying to under the wall, that he doesn't know why Beau left, or if he had any involvement with with resistance and finally, that without his help Broussard will not be found.  To accomplish this, Will leans shamelessly on the fact that it was his help which led to the acquisition of the kidnapped host. Will makes it clear that it wasn't his job to look for a leak or plug it. Given Bennett's desire to capture Broussard, Will played his cards well.

Burke is in charge of Will and decides that Will is to investigate the Red Hand attack on the recruitment center.  Burke doesn't really believe that Broussard is behind the attack but believes that if they can make the public turn against Broussard it will make it easier to catch him. Will is handed a dossier but doesn't get right down to work because an explosion goes off, sending everyone scurrying for the exit. Will sees this as his chance to head to surveillance to get in contact with Jennifer.  Will is shocked when he sees just how much surveillance has escalated in his absence.

That night, having not found Jennifer at work, he decides to head to her home.  When Will arrives, he finds Jennifer's door unlocked. Okay, I was totally expecting him to find Jennifer's body given that the last time we saw her, she was knocking back wine and taking pills.  After a thorough search of Jennifer's place, Will leaves, only to find Burke outside leaning on his car. Burke informs Will that Jennifer wasn't cut out for this kind of work.  Does this mean that Jennifer isn't really dead and just tucked away somewhere?  Whatever the case, Burke is absolutely using her absence to send a chilling message to Will. 

As aforementioned, Katie isn't at all pleased with being the dutiful wife and mother even though she knows what is at stake. Lindsay is back to continue her brainwashing of Gracie about the government cult.  After Gracie's little talk with Katie, Gracie is no longer simply buying what Lindsay is selling, though Lindsay argues that unlike other religions, the Greatest Day has visible reasons to believe in the faith, like the wall.  Lindsay is so determined to cement her work with Gracie that she sends Charlie to his room. When Katie catches wind of this, she looses her shit and orders Lindsay out of the house. 

Supernatural, Season 12, Episode 11: Regarding Dean

Dean is doing his happy evening hunting and chasing a witch – who blasts him with some woo-woo

He wakes up the next day feeling hung over and unpleasant and has to get Sam in to pick him up while he eats and entire town’s supplies of waffles.

He doesn’t remember what happened last night, much to Sam’s frustration since they are on a case to find out who has murdered and accountant.

As they go back to investigate, Dean has more and more lapses and Sam assumes Dean is still drunk, completely out of it (yet is still happy for Dean to drive? Not cool, Sam). Dean is very shaky, forgetting all kinds of things – like which key is his car key – but Sam’s main take so far is that Dean needs to ease off on the partying since he isn’t 20 any more

Ouch Sam, ouch.

As they investigate Dean seems more and more blurry – and even queasy when they examine the body which has clearly been killed by witches. At this point Sam realises Dean’s memory loss is more than mere alcohol can explain and suspects some definite woo-woo

Who you gonna call? Rowena of course. Because they’re friends now? Whatever, she interrupts her cheating card game to confirm that, yes, there is a very nasty spell that will slowly erase Dean’s memories and he probably has to kill the witch to stop that happening

And soon since Dean forgets the word for “lamp” and Sam starts labelling things with post its.

So they need to find the witch –which means following where Dean wandered last night, helpfully finding a woman he slept with (who was duly furious that he forgot her. Then duly horrified that his memory loss means he may have been drugged. She thinks she may have had sex with someone incapable of consenting. And kudos to Supernatural for recognising the horror of this, that it would be rape and it can happen – yes they almost make a joke of it –but they manage to not run with it as humour). Following the clues they find the witch

The 100, Season Four, Episode Two: Heavy Lies the Crown

Heavy Lies the Crown deals with the perplexities of leadership.  Thus far, the one thing that The 100 has taught us is that whoever is in charge, is going to be put into extremely difficult situations which will lead them to make impossible decisions which will haunt them.  We've seen this repeatedly throughout this series.  When said decision inevitably leads to death, said leader always justifies it as doing what's best for the people, even if said people don't know or understand why they are dying.  Clarke, being one of the original 100, has been in the position to witness these decisions and their aftermath, all while striving to be different from those who came before her.  This is why it's so easy for others to point out that she's making the same mistake. It's why when Jaha says that one doesn't start out wanting to hurt one's people that it strikes a nerve with Clarke. What she must decide is how much people have a right to know about the true peril they are in.  

For much of this episode, Jasper is used as comic relief. I suppose I should be thankful that he's stopped crying for now.  Because Jasper knows the threat that the radiation brings, he has no problem being a douche and taking a long shower, using up their drinking water. His fatalism is revealed in his song choice.

I really could have done without this one, though I am sure that since it's from the eighties, our beloved Paul was pleased. Jasper is officially out of fucks but unfortunately, that's exactly how I feel about this character. Even the moment when Jasper tries to convince Monty to bring him back some weed from the Farm station isn't enough to remind of what I once found good about this character. 

The politics of the Grounders is something that has always been on the periphery of The 100.  We know that there are 13 clans including Skaikru, and we know that the clans are held together by one central leader, who is beholden to ambassadors from other clans. What we don't know is how well the clans get along with each other and how strong their alliances are.  From the beginning there hasn't been a lot of trust between Skaikru and the Grounders and ALIE's attempt to save mankind didn't exactly build on that tenuous relationship.  In the beginning of the episode, we watch as ALLIE forces Chai Romruen to kill his father, then his brother before holding a knife to his throat in an attempt to get his mother to take the chip.  Before Chai can kill himself, Clarke defeats ALLIE. Chai runs to his dying mother, whose last request is that he get vengeance for her death.  

At Polis, Abby and Kane are getting up after what was clearly a night of passion. Abby pauses and reaches for her necklace. On the necklace is Jake's wedding ring, the last reminder she has of her late husband.  Rather than getting jealous that Abby is holding onto her memories of Jake, Marcus actually encourages it, saying that Jake will always be a part of who she is.  I am really starting to like these two as a couple, given Kane's now complete rehabilitation.  I do however think that the ring is about more than simply remembering Jake, it's about remembering the horrible decision she made which led to his death. The ring is a symbol of Abby's ongoing guilt and complicity. The fact that after all that she's been through that she cannot take it off, suggests that Abby has yet to forgive herself. 

It takes several days but Chai makes his way to Polis where his anger at Skaikru is nurtured by others.  Chai is so blinded by hate, he doesn't even really see that he is being played when they convince him to challenge Roan, who is all that is standing between Skaikru and the other clans.  It's none other than Octavia who overhears this and delivers the news to Roan.

The Magicians, Season 2, Episode 3: Divine Eliminations

Well that episode was epic… and depressing. Both and powerfully so.

It starts more comedic – see we learned that the Beast had cursed Fillory. Turns out he had put a curse on the four thrones so that anyone sitting on them hates and fears the other kings and queens of Fillory

For a kingdom that requires the co-operation of four co-rulers, that’s a pretty clever and cunning curse that explains a lot about why Fillory has utterly fallen apart

That leaves Fenn (Elliot’s wife) and Penny to try and get the gang to not kill each other. This involve getting in the way, wasting 2 caco-demons and shooting Margot with in the backside with a crossbow bolt. This is all amusing – but really could do without Margot’s insults here.

Eventually Penny comes up with a plan to inject everyone with near-death stuff and then inject them revivy stuff. This may not be an ideal plan but the whole hostage situation falls apart when the kings and queens of Fillory all have an inject fight. Margot wins (was there any doubt?) and then the curse is so powerful that she injects herself

This leaves Penny free to resurrect everyone with the revive injections and restore everyone to something resembling sensibleness. Only down 3 caco-demons. Oops.

Still the gang does finally get together and start making plans for taking down the beast. It’s a decent plan, they make with characteristic snark and all is prepared

Also making plans is Julia, the Beast (and his singing) and Marina – though Marina does not trust the Beast. And for good reason. They both intend to use Marina as bait – but Julia intends to rush in and save her at the last minute while the Beast is more of the “let’s get him while he’s chewing on her entrails” school of thought. Julia objects

So the Beast messes with their little plot to make it happen – including teleporting her away while Marina is invoking Renard’s fake goddess persona (with a perfect dead pan). It seems not to work but the Beast figures out Renard, if summoned, would likely stalk Marina.

He’s right – but the Beast and Julia end up being locked out by Marina’s wards – while Renard is locked in. This isn’t good for Marina. It’s worse for Marina’s cat… throughout the horrendous ordeal Marina is awesome. Deadpan, snarky, perfect. All respect to Marina

The Beast and Julia break the words, the Beast freezes Renard and it’s time for Julia to deliver the killing blow…

Beyond, Season One, Episode Seven: The Hour of the Wolf

At the end of the last episode, Holden and Charlie decided to go on a road trip in his new hooptie. Somehow, the truck doesn't break down and they stop at a little diner to get a bite.  Charlie is still in full flirt mode as talks about not having a milkshake despite the fact that they look great because of the calories.  Really Beyond? You finally have a female character who is interesting and you have her engage in shame about her body? Thanks but no thanks.  Charlie decides to encourage Holden to control his power and change the awful caterwauling masquerading as music coming out of the jukebox.  Holden doesn't actually manage to change the record but he does knock out the power which has the pleasant side effect of ending the country music.  Charlie and  Holden decide given the very localised blackout that he has caused that now would be a great time to get back on the road.

Back at home, Diane and Tom are doing with they do best - arguing.  It seems that Tom isn't pleased that Holden just took off and Diane wisely points out that he's 25 and needs to be able to get out there. I don't agree with the way that Diane has pushed Holden in the past, but I like that she readily accepts that he is an adult now and is entitled to freedom.  We all know that Tom's issue is his fear that someone is out to get Holden, though he hasn't shared that with Diane yet. Luke walks in and they briefly discuss the women who have been connected to Holden in the short while that he has been awake.

Something about the number of women must have struck a nerve with Luke, because his next stop is Holden's bedroom, where he looks at the sketches Holden has drawn of the Realm. Luke then takes Willa's phone number from the note he put on Holden's bed.

Charlie and Holden end up at a lodge and register as Mr and Mrs. Mathews, claiming that they are on their honeymoon. While Holden registers, Charlie steps outside when she gets a call from Tess. Charlie is quick to inform Tess that she is not going to set up Holden and Tess is quick to realise that this means that Charlie must have fallen for Holden. Tess isn't about to let Charlie defy her and so she threatens to cause harm for a former foster sister, whom Charlie has secretly been supporting. Charlie loses her shit and threatens to kill Tess if something happens to the young woman before smashing her phone on the ground.

Luke heads to see Willa to ask about her connection to Holden and the sketches.  Willa actually lies to Luke twice but Luke is on his game and calls her out.  Finally, Willa explains that the sketches are were Holden was while he was in a coma.

The Hanging Tree (Rivers of London #6) by Ben Aaronovitch

The Faceless man is active again – only this time Peter and Nightingale are on his tale and making ever more progress in finally tracking him down and exposing him

So long as Peter can avoid the wrath of Lady Tyburn, goddess of the river Tyburn, who is most annoyed at Peter over the arrest of her daughter

And there’s some Americans with guns which is never a good thing.

I love this series. I love it so much

I love how incredibly British it is. How very London it is. Every page is just so full of London, London places, London culture, London history. I don’t really know a lot about Ben Aaronovitch but he must be a Londoner and he both loves his city but also sees it very clearly – knows it for what it is.

The constant, fun wry comments about the city, the places, the rivers, how things have changed, how they’ve adapted are so much fun and add such an incredible richness to the series. Because we’re not just adding a rich supernatural world and culture to the city, but the city itself – the actual, real, London - is also explored in so much depth and history and commentary and it’s so much fun. And, honestly, it shouldn’t be because there’s such a lot there – but Peter’s irreverent tone, his completely sarcastic, very British and wry take down of it all is excellent. The way he loves his home but is fully aware of all of the problems of it as well, all of the nasty realities.

That acknowledgement of London as it is also includes all of its racial diversity. Mama Thames and all of her daughters are Black. Peter is Black, his mother from Sierra Leone. We have Guleed who is Middle Eastern, Muslim and wears a Hijab and plays a major role throughout the book become a de-facto Folly member (I really hope she joins up because she’s an excellent partner for Peter, her wry cynicism touching nicely with his occasional naivety). Please more of this!

On top of this there’s a real acknowledgment of how class, wealth and race affect people – how people are treated, what advantages they have and especially how hat relates to policing.

There’s an excellent moment where one of the characters continually assumes they know so much about Peter – and ye gods they’re all stereotypes everyone has heard so many times before and we know so many fools think this – based on his race and class and it’s just so ridiculously wrong and far from Peter’s reality and his family.

The OA, Season One, Episode One: Homecoming

The OA begins with a viral video of Prairie, who calls herself the OA jumping off a bridge.  When her parents see the video, they rush to the hospital. It seems that Prairie has been missing for more than seven years now and she has mysteriously regained her vision.  At this point, not much of what Prairie says to the FBI makes sense.  Upon her return home, Prairie tries to get on the internet, only to learn that her parents have changed the password and she has no access. When Prairie asks her mother about the wifi password, Nancy makes it clear that they are going to follow hospital orders and restrict her access to the phone and the internet.  They will for now allow her to keep her door as long as she promises not to lock it. 

The scene moves to Steve Winchell, a neighbourhood bully having sex.  Clearly, Steve wants someone to understand him and but the woman he's having sex with makes it clear that she's only doing this because he has a nice body. It's all about the booty call baby.

Prairie makes it to a failed building project in her community where she sees several kids hanging out. Prairie asks the first kid she sees if he has wifi and if she can get his internet password.  After being shut down, Prairie heads upstairs where she meets Steve, who is doing a drug deal.  The fact that she is carrying a camera, even though she's not using it, is enough to freak Steve out.  Prairie again asks about getting internet or a wifi password but Steve aggressively says no and threatens to loose his dog on her. When Prairie tries to get her camera back, Steve looses his dog on Prairie. Prairie manages to get the upper hand by biting Steve's dog right back which freaks Steve out but calms the dog. When Prairie gets to her feet the dog licks the blood off her hand, as she approaches Steve and takes back her camera.  Prairie makes her way out of the house without a word. 

Back home, Prairie is in the tub cleaning her wounds with her mother's help.  Nancy is upset that Prairie won't talk to her about what happened and Prairie says that things would be better if she would just be allowed online.  Nancy questions if Prairie is hearing voices again and Prairie is adamant that she is not hearing anything. This is when we learn that Nancy adopted Prairie, as she relates how she felt when Prairie as a child ran into a wall, trying to learn to navigate as a blind child. Nancy tries to touch Prairie's back but Prairie pulls back.  Prairie is adamant that she's not talking because Nancy would be hurt.

Sleepy Hollow, Season 4, Episode 5: Blood from a Stone

There’s another magic item – a rock - to be collected by Dryfuss’s demon minion (it’s being used as a prop by charlatan faith healer who ends up properly dead which I am unreasonably happy about. Or reasonably given he was bilking people with fake cures)

Then everything goes a bit off – because another figure appears with superior woo-woo and promptly burns and murders the demon assistant (apparently called Job) and steals his magic rock.

Ichabod and Diana have some bonding, dubious soccer history knowledge and introducing the new themes of the episode: i.e. Diana has accepted that her daughter Molly is a Witness but what does that actually mean for her. It’s a nice moment because “witness” is very very ill defined. It doesn’t come with super powers, nor does it make you a demon magnet. Nor does it remove her free will – all of which are things Diana has been worried about. This is the theme – what does being a witness mean to Diana and Molly and what should Diana be worried about.

The gang meets for a strategy meeting – brief time out. I’m actually surprised that Jenny is still hanging around; I felt sure she’d be shuffled off so they could concentrate on the main cast. But she seems to be hanging around and is still a major part of the plot. At this stage maybe even as prominent as Diana.

The gang has finally realised that Dryfuss is doing evil things of evil and this needs to be investigates. This involves Jake, Alex and Jenny doing Research. This is good because they all have their own awesome specialties and all work really well together. Except that Jake is still all over Jenny despite her repeatedly telling him that she’s not interested, despite Alex telling him she’s not interested, despite it being obvious to everyone else that she’s not interested

This is turned into a huge ongoing joke but it’s really not funny. Jake asking Alex to basically work on Jenny for his sake is creepy and wrong. She’s made her no very very clear at this point. The response to “no” should not be “try harder.” Persistence is not a virtue when it comes to romance despite vast chunks of paranormal romance, romance in general any every bit of fiction with a romance. Please stop this.

While Jenny heads up the research crew, Diana and Ichabod decide to go use the pretext of a missing security guard as an excuse to question Dryfuss. Because Diana, homeland security, can totally investigate missing persons cases and it not be weird or anything

Dragonspawn (World of the Lupi #13) by Eileen Wilks

Sam, the great Black Dragon, is finally willing to release some secrets about the Sorcerer Tom Weng and the dragon’s shameful secret

When the missiles start landing

The nature of the dragonspawn become a less pressing problem as Sam is attacked, nuclear weapons start flying and Lupi children start disappearing

The war with the Enemy is finally coming.

Hmmmm… hmmmmm

Hmmmmm…

This is kind of what I’ve been doing and why I’ve just spent several several hours trying to start this review and then stopping because I’m not sure how to address this

There’s a lot I love here

I love that we’re back to that core battle – the battle against the enemy. We’re focused again on Lily and Rule. We’re involving the dragons and Lily’s friends and Cullen et al. It’s back to the main meta and the main plot

We continue to have the excellent world building – the wonderful development of things like the dragon’s culture and knowledge and world and unique biology. I love the excellent, detailed insight we got into even relatively minor players like the Gnomes – creating an impressive, involved culture and tradition and language system for being that have so little role but still get a full accounting and development.

We continue to have excellent commentary on politics and history and culture with some excellent moments like the politics of the FBI and law enforcement

All of it through the lens of Lilly who continues to be awesome and intelligent and insightful and so wonderfully competent.

The Vampire Diaries, Season 8, Episode 11: You Made A Choice to Be Good

It was late at night, a writer stirs in her bed, unable to sleep – fitfully she mutters the same word over and over again… elena… elena… elena – feverishly she reached for her script coming awake in horror… The Vampire Diaries has only mentioned the precious Elena only half a dozen times this whole season. Desperately she staggered towards the shrine in the corner of the room, feverishly shoehorning Elena references into the latest episodes regardless of whether it fits, pausing only to mutter “mea culpa” and punish herself by reading past Vampire Diaries scripts.

Yes, The Vampire Diaries has realised that the centre of the universe has been peskily absent this episode, time to try and make her relevant again.

Yay.

Damon was just celebrating his new humanity and how happy he is and how he’s totally looking forward to getting Stefan his humanity back and isn’t it all wonderful

Seriously, remember last episode when he was literally comatose because of his grief? He’s over that now. All better. No guilt any more. All is good.

Last episode Cade escaped, handily brushed aside the pesky Siren storyline and has now rescued Stefan. He wants Damon to get back on script and kill 100 bad people by the end of the night. Or Caroline since she’s Stefan’s fiancée and apparently fucking with the emotional lives of people he barely knows is as good as 100 souls for him.

Damon has decided he’s all about redemption – by which he means “I’m good now” rather than “I must make amends” and doesn’t want to do that. But Cade seems to be annoying invulnerable (or, possibly, the super powerful telepath is just able to create hallucinations of being on fire/having his heart ripped out etc to convince Damon he’s invulnerable. Seems more likely to me, to be honest). So they need a plan.

Caroline, meanwhile, is involved in a new town historical event because that is ALL THIS TOWN DOES all the time which involves a time capsule and lots and lots and lots of nostalgia and a couple of decodes belonging to Matt’s ancestors which Dorian decides to hand over to Matt because that’s totally how archaeology works, y’know.

Thankfully, Cade decides he cares less about Founder’s day events than I do so decides to start killing people to get Damon to get moving. Despite being a telepath who can read people’s minds and then set them on fire in seconds, Cade still thinks it’s a more effective use of his time to pressure Damon into killing people than just doing the killing himself.

Emerald City, Season One, Episode Six: Beautiful Wickedness

Thankfully, Beautiful Wickedness is all about the Wizard. All hail Vincent D'Onofrio for being so awesomely awful that I absolutely now cannot stand the Wizard.  There's little doubt now about exactly what kind of man the Wizard is, or what motivates him. Beautiful Wickedness employs flashbacks to tell this story.

In 90's, the Wizard lived in Topeka Kansas and he worked for Karen Chapman, Dorothy's mother and alongside Roberto, (Dorothy's father) and Jane, who as it happens, is the woman made Jack into the Tim man. Of the four, Frank (read: the Wizard) is clearly the least accomplished member of the team. He begins by sucking up to Karen, and she's clearly friend zoned him despite his rather pathetic efforts.  To highlight just how creepy Frank is, we watch as he uses CCTV to spy on Karen.  

We're initially led to believe that Karen's wind experiment went awry and that this is how they all landed in Oz with the exception of Roberto, who died trying to shut down the wind turbine.  When the Wizard tells Dorothy that she was born in Oz, he isn't lying. Karen was already pregnant when she arrived in Oz.  When they encounter the Munja'kin tribe, Karen is quick to assert her leadership. It's Karen who goes to see the Witch of the East to return home.  The Witch informs Karen that their presence in Oz has thrown off the balance and so it seems that the outworlders are responsible for the Beast Forever.  

Karen, and Jane's sole aim is to head home, whereas; Frank sees Oz as a chance to change his position in life. Back in Kansas, he was a nobody and certainly wasn't respected whereas in Oz, with all of his scientific knowledge he has a chance to be powerful. When Karen joyfully reveals that she's found a way home, Frank is adamant that he's staying.  Frank admits that he sabotaged Karen's experiment and that this is how they ended up in Oz. Karen is rightfully horrified and calls Frank a murderer because his actions led to the death of Roberto. Frank, who is absolutely without shame, doesn't seem to be bothered and instead decides to show the Munja'kin tribe what a battery is. Frank wants to impress them by showing them what wonderful things science can achieve but he is one upped by none other than Nahara, who sings a song which causes the rocks Frank was using to become a little stone figure.  No we know who controlled the stone warriors which destroyed the Beast Forever and why the Wizard is so desperate to get into the abject.  It's Nahara who actually saved Emerald City and not the Wizard and he punished her by locking her away. What's also interesting about this is that we know that West is suffering from survivors guilt after watching witch after witch go up against the Beast Forever and die.  West sees magic as useless because she believes it did not stop the Beast Forever.  Were she to find out about the Wizard's lies, she would finally recognize not only his extreme level of deceit but her own power.  A witch and not the Wizard stopped the Beast Forever.  

Of course, the Wizard reveals none of this to the naive Dorothy and actually gets her to hand over a bullet and her gun. At the end of the day, the Wizard wants power and he's willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to get it and maintain it.  Dorothy's main motivation throughout this season is to return home.  To that end, she agrees not only to give the Wizard her gun but to encourage Sylvia to turn Glinda to stone.  Lucas has done nothing but support Dorothy from the moment he met her and when Dorothy made her pact with the Wizard, she clearly betrayed him.  We'll just have to see if this was a ruse on her part to get Lucas and Sylvie out of Emerald City, or if her determination to go home has blinded her so badly. 

Sylvie as it turns out is more than just a mere street urchin witch.  It seems that the mother of all witches is creating witches again.  West is shocked when she learns this after unlocking Lucas's memories. It's West who has to break it down to the Wizard that Glinda isn't as passive as he believes her to be. With the council that she provided the Wizard, what Glinda actually did was set up a network of spies and now that there are new witches, Glinda will have the power to over throw the Wizard.  I'm really disappointed that West's animosity towards her sister prevented her from joining Glinda because once again, we have a situation in which female characters are working at cross purposes. 

Supernatural, Season 12, Episode 10: Lily Sunder has Some Regrets

Things are all tense in the Winchester bunker because Dean is really not happy with Castiel killing Billie and bring about the whole cosmic consequences. Being the mature person he is, he is dealing with this by giving Castiel the silent treatment and lots and lots and lots of passive aggressive snarking

This is where were remember that Dean has the emotional development of a 10 year old – but, actually, considering his childhood, upbringing and entire adult life of constantly being on the road, forming few to no long lasting attachments of any meaning and his closest confidants being people whose trust, loyalty and connection was forged in blood and war – it’s kind of understandable that he would.

But there’s a woman in an Eye patch running around killing angels – including Castiel’s good friend Benjamin (the Black woman lasted all of 5 minutes, Supernatural be very typical). Castiel rushes to see what’s happening with Dean and Sam in attendance (all grudgy and silent treatment from Dean) and finds that the angel is definitely dead, by angel blade.

Castiel turns to his old Flight members – Ishim and Mirabell, to try and get an update. They learn there’s actually been a few angels from their flight killed recently. They wonder about that – but by wonder what we really mean us that Ishim snarks about not being Castiel’s biggest fan (because, well, everything since season 6 really. Castiel’s relationship with the rest of the angels is… complicated). Oh and Ishim totally hates humans.

Investigation is solved by the killer, Lily, showing up and giving Mirabell a good stabbing. Ishim’s next and he tries to use his angelic powers to smite her – and they don’t work. She’s immune to angelic shenanigans. Ishim would have been killed them if it weren’t for Sam and Dean – she’s unwilling to hurt humans. She uses more woo-woo to vanish and dazzle them

Time for a flashback

Way back in the days of yore (1900s Maine). Ishim led his Flight of angels (which then included Castiel) to hunt down an angel Akobel who had fallen in love with a human woman and then had a daughter – a Nephilim. As discussed around the escaped Kelly and Lucifer’s child, these are super bad terrible awful things having Angelic Grace and a Human Soul and most be killed. The flight killed Akobel and Ishim killed the girl – leaving Lily, the human mother alive

Grimm, Season Six, Episode Five: The Seven Year Itch

"When something itches my dear sir,

the natural tendency is to scratch"

For whatever reason, even though there are only eight episodes to go in this series, the writers cannot let go of the whole Wesen of the week thing. Come on people, you did this for six years, don't you think that the public is owed just one bloody season dedicated to the overarching meta rather than releasing it in drops and dribbles once again?  

Grimm begins with a bug like creature crawling it's way out of the earth. As someone who has a phobia of every damn thing creepy and crawly, I'm a little bit uncomfortable at this point. My first response is to think that someone needs to smack it with a fly squatter or an industrial can of Raid. Unfortunately, because said bug is so huge, it's going to take a lot more than that to deal with it. Its first order of business is to kill a man who's walking his dog.  

Eve spent most of the last episode in the tunnel trying to get to the bottom of the purpose of the magic stick and listening in on Nick and Adalind.  Well, she's still down there.  Eve regains unconsciousness after touching the magic stick. Her knuckles are bloody from making the markings all over the wall. Upstairs, Nick is in bed with his rapist and dreams of being shot. 

Renard arrives home and checks on his sleeping demon child. I gotta say, I like Renard's new place.  At any rate, after checking on Diana, Renard picks up her murder dolls  and the stick she used to compel him to kill Boneparte. Renard wisely keeps the stick and puts back the puppets. I think it's going to take a lot more than confiscating the murder stick to stop the demon child. Renard heads to his room where Meisner is waiting for him.  This time, Renard tries a new tactic and is nice to Meisner, thanking him for helping out Adalind, Diana and himself. It's not often that Renard is humble but it's not enough to appease Meisenr. In frustration, Renard marche downstairs, declaring that Meisner can have the bedroom. Rightly, Renard's first reaction is to pour himself a drink and Meinser advises that Renard should battle his demons by visiting them in hell. Meisner then multiplies and Renard is treated to several versions of Meisner dead on the ground. 

The next day, Rosealee and Monroe head to the OBGYN to find out if Diana's prediction about multiple babies is true.  It turns out that the demon child was right on the mark because Rosealee is having not one, not two but THREE babies.  I think that this would be a call to go into panic mode but Monroe (who's super cute in this moment) tells Rosealee that they can do this. Rosealee however doesn't seem convinced.

Nick begins his morning by telling Hank about his dream. It seems that Nick believes that he should be carrying the stick with him wherever he goes.  Nick compares it to how a cop feels when they are not wearing their service weapon. Hank however thinks that it's best that Nick let this go and suggests that there's a reason someone buried the stick in the first damn place. Predictably, the conversation is brought to an end when Wu calls about the dead body in the park.