Zoo, Season 3, Episode 11: Cradles and Graves

I’m sure everyone will be shocked to learn that despite everything being thoroughly murdered last episode, no-one is actually dead.

Clem wakes up from her tank, releases Sam and finds everyone near death. She promptly starts waterboarding them all with tank fluid. This is apparently good for you and cures death by stabbing. Abe has been extra stabbed so Max and Mitch have to resort to a scorpion and a credit card. Accepted medical practice

So the main issue is they’re all stuck in their plane which is now surrounded by poison hybrid spores which make people explode. The plane is only temporarily air tight and because of various shenanigans, rescue isn’t coming. Everyone’s going to die - except not really because we know they’re not

Also the beacons are going off and causing the end of the world in like 30 hours. They decide to cut the power on the one on Tokyo and now the city is “no longer there”. So that plan fails

Excuse me? Abigail has the power to create a bomb that can wipe out a city of 2,000 square kilometers and millions upon millions of people yet she’s playing with hybrids? Can someone please try and explain this? Or do I just shrug, say “Zoo” and move on? Again?

To top this off everyone on the plane has Issues. Mitch and Jackson are super pissed with Jaime for the whole Duncan thing (Jackson locks her up - but mainly because she tried to kill Abigail who he has decided to save and OH MY GODS THIS IS EXACTLY WHY SHE DID THIS?! WHYYYYY?!). Max is running around trying to get everyone to play nice. Also Clem learns Sam is playing for Team Abigail but they all decide to put a pin in that one

Also, Clem’s pregnancy has been fast forwarded due to hybrid mojo so she’s about to give birth which also allows Max to play all family caring patriarch despite Mitch so not having time for this nonsense.

Mitch is also done with Jaime which means lots of emotional despair about how everything is terrible and I honestly didn’t see this level of pathos from him. Kudos. Jackson does call Tessa for his own moping and I did see this from him because moping is kind of a default for Jackson so I’m kind of bored by that. But Tessa turns out to be secretly working for the IADG… apparently. Anyway she decides to spring into action to INSPIRE Jackson (oh, really? This is her role? Really?) and he cracks the big date code they’ve all been struggling over for a while which will foil all of Abigail’s naughtiness (I’m not even following how it’s going to do this - because Zoo it doesn’t even matter. Plot lines do not make sense here) - he just needs a super computer to do it. So they need to get back to base.

Wildfire (Hidden Legacy #3) by Ilona Andrews

Nevada’s grandmother is in town, desperate to save her house from extinction, she is determined to “recruit” Nevada and her sisters

To remain free there seems to be one choice - to become a House. But is Nevada really ready to throw her family into the brutal world of house politics? And what about Rogan? While she loves him, what politically, will it mean to be with him - and where a House’s power is all about the magical legacy they maintain, will she be weakening both houses by choosing a non-ideal genetic match?

But even if she tries to avoid House politics, she is still being dragged into it: the conspiracy continues, a powerful, shadowy organisation is determined to cause chaos and remove what few restrictions the Magical Houses labour under and Nevada is definitely a target

I love this series. I love this book. I love these characters. I love this world. And, of course, as everyone already knows, I love love love love love Ilona Andrews. They are always one of my favourite authors and every new book in every series always ensures I will retreat from the world, clutch my tablet and promise horrible torturous death on anyone who presumes to interrupt me.

They were warned. They had it coming.

While I love every book Ilona Andrews have ever passed briefly, what I don’t like doing is reviewing their books. Because they’re awesome

And awesome is really really hard to write an intriguing review about. Because then all you do is just splurt praise. And it’s accurate because this book is worth all the praise - and more - but a review which is one long worship-fest both lacks fascinating elements and sort of makes it look like I’m on the payroll or possibly joined a cult who predicts the end of the world will come when the Kate Daniels series ends.

And even worse is writing a review about the awesome third book in an awesome series. Because not only do you have to write a review full of slightly disturbing gushing praise but you have to write three disturbingly similar reviews of increasingly disturbing gushing praise which gets steadily more uncomfortable and ends up with you being unable to say “Ilona Andrews” without adding “praise their holy name” afterwards

Which can be embarrassing

It doesn’t help that each book in this series is awesome for the same reasons the past one was. That isn’t a criticism - that’s because the first book sets the bar high and the subsequent books just keep hitting that bar.

Midnight Texas, Season One, Episode Seven: Angel Heart

The first season has essentially been about the residents of Midnight dealing with their secrets, past or whatever is haunting them. So far, Olivia, Manfred, Bobo and Creek have all had issues that the community in some form or other have helped them  deal with. This week, it's Joe's turn.

From pretty much the first episode, I've been complaining about the limited role that Chuy has been given.  In order to save Creek in Blinded by the Light, Joe revealed to the community that he is an angel.  This revelation as it turns out is not without consequences.  Joe is a fallen angel and it turns out that his mentor Bowie, isn't pleased with Joe's relationship. 

Bowie swaggers into town with a red leather trench coat (gotta say I love this look) and begins her search for Joe. The first person she meets is the reverend and when he won't answer her questions, she is quick to knock him unconscious. Joe is at loss as to what to do because Bowie is far older than he is and consequently much stronger.  It's Chuy who suggests that they need to turn to the friends that they've made in Midnight and ask for help.

Manfred is on his way to the meet up when he sees Bowie walking towards him and so he quickly turns around and heads into the van to get help from Xylda. It turns out that not only is Bowie a kick ass angel, she can read minds. In order to stop Bowie from being able to read where Joe is hiding from his brain, Manfred has Xylda enter his body. It's creepy and funny at the same time. Does anyone really want to share their body with a relative?

Manfred finally makes it to Olivia's and meets up with the gang.  It's now time for Joe to finally tell everyone the whole truth about who he is and his past. Joe reveals that he is an angel and that Bowie was his mentor.  Joe says that Bowie wasn't pleased that he fell in love with Chuy. It's Creek who wonders whether the is issue is that both Joe and Chuy are men.  It turns out that the issue is that Chuy is half a demon. It seems that Chuy's demon father raped his mother and his mother taught him to suppress his demon side.  Joe and Chuy met when Chuy was given a beat down by a group of men who stole everything from him. Joe was impressed that Chuy didn't fight back because he believed that if they stole from it was probably based in need.  Chuy and Joe have actually been a couple for quite some time. The crew is shocked to learn about Chuy and not impressed that though Joe and Chuy have lived in Midnight for quite some time, this is the first time they are finding out who Joe and Chuy actually are.  Creek in particular is not impressed and wonders if everyone is keeping dark secrets. 

Bowie is getting frustrated in her search for Joe and so she heads to the diner where of course Creek is working.  Bowie fixates on Creek when she recognises Creek from what she was able to pick up in Manfred's mind.  The people in the diner are naturally defensive of Creek, given what she has gone through recently but Bowie has absolutely zero empathy.  It seems that just like Joe, Bowie is now fallen.  Bowie uses what she has learned about Creek's family to hurt her terribly. Bowie uses Creek's phone to call Manfred and demand that Joe turn himself in.

The truth coming out about Joe and Chuy gives rise to a conversation between Lemuel and Olivia.  Lemuel and Olivia see themselves as a mixed couple, not because of race but because he is a vampire and she is human. It's clear that Lemuel always assumed that when the time came, he would just turn Olivia but she has other plans. Olivia knows that their relationship has an expiration date because she will continue to age while Lemuel stays the same and she will only be able to work for so long.  When the time comes, Olivia plans on leaving Midnight and Lemuel behind her because she doesn't want to be turned. Olivia wants them to enjoy what they have now for as long as they can.  Lemuel nods his head in agreement but is clearly not pleased with Olivia's assertion.

Stranger Things, Season 1, Chapter 4: The Body

We begin with the most horrendously painful scene we on the show: Hopper breaking the news of Will’s death to Joyce. She does… not take this well. And it’s agonising to watch, Winona Rider is the second most talented set chewers out there.

She screams about christmas light ouijah boards and Jonathan just can’t - he turns and walks out. Hopper tries to appeal to her. One element I like is that Joyce knows she sounds ridiculous, at no point does she say she’s being reasonable - but she still saw what she saw and pleads for belief. It’s painful and awful and of course she completely denies the idea Will is dead. Hopper, himself a father of a dead child, tries to reach her and encourages her to come to the morgue to see her son’s body.

But when they do Hopper is suspicious - because lots of men from the State have come to take it over, have sent his own pathology people sent away. That seems… extreme for a missing child in a rural backwater and Hopper (and Gary the pathologist) are super suspicious by this. Hopper also tries very very hard to comfort poor Jonathan who can’t bring himself to keep looking at the body

Joyce is, of course, equally doubtful in her own denial and demands to see a birthmark Will has - of course it’s not there and she storms out, refusing to sign anything and refusing to bury “it.” and screaming about the faceless monster that has her son. This is also not convincing

Poor Jonathan is pretty devastated by this and they have a huge, furious, public row. I really feel for Jonathan here because this teenager is having to step up and do things no kid should have to do with no support.

While Hopper tracks down the man who claimed he found Will and tries to question him and when that doesn’t work, he beats it out of him. Someone told him where to find the body, to keep his distance and not let anyone need the body. He also, ominously, says “they” will kill him - and there’s an obligatory ominous black car watching them.

Hopper’s suspicions drive him to investigate Will’s body (this involves more violence because Hopper has a relatively limited skill set) which he finds completely whole (it’s supposed to have been autopsied) and clearly feels wrong. Hopper cuts into the body and reveals it is full of stuffing.

And the painful act of cutting into an apparent child’s body is clear

Over to Mike who is off school again because his mother, Karen is super understanding and kind. He’s furious with El, she promised she had found Will and how he’s alive and hiding. Mike is hurt and angry and upset (hey it may be mature for a kid of his age, I do appreciate that he expressly said he was hurt, to make it clear to El who doesn’t understand human interactions why he was anger)

Travelers, Season One, Episode Nine: Bishop

The opening of this episode is clearly meant for anyone who has been with someone who has just irritated the piss right out of them. Secretary Hayes is out for a jog with his wife and he stops when he gets a phone call about pushing through a pipeline, though it will cause environmental damage. Hayes is completely smug and ends the call. Hayes complains to his wife that the exercise is going to kill him but what actually kills Hayes, is his wife throwing him off an overpass that he had stopped to lean against.  Mrs. Hayes looks around to make sure no one is looking and then breaks into hysterics.  And that folks is what they call stone cold extra. 

After having a little chat with David's boss, Marcy thinks that everything is okay but it turns out that David is uncomfortable with the game they are playing. There's a lot of unacknowledged sexual tension between Marcy and David and the strain of going through this day after day has become too much.  David asks Marcy if she can get her own place. I guess this means that Marcy lost her subsidized apartment when the government learned that she's no longer disabled. Marcy promises to leave that night and an awkward David tells Marcy that she doesn't have to rush.

Now that Jeff has made trouble for Marcy and Carly, it's MacLaren's turn. Jeff pays a visit to the FBI field office to have a man to man talk with MacLaren. Jeff makes it clear that he's trying to get his family back together and that he knows that MacLaren has been paying visits to Carly.  Jeff even questions how MacLaren's wife would feel if she knew that MacLaren was spending time with a woman half her age.  That's enough for MacLaren to tell Jeff to back up and that he knows that Jeff used to beat Carly.  MacLaren suggests that Carly no longer has any time for a beat cop who thinks it's okay to leave her bruised and bloodied. A frustrated Jeff decides to leave but he's not done messing with the Travelers yet.

MacLaren heads to his car to find a package and a note which says that he is to keep the package with him at all times. Inside the package is some kind of device but having no idea what it is, MacLaren takes it to Philip to be scanned. When Philip doesn't come up with any answers, MacLaren hops in his car to head back to his office only to have another Traveler hop in the back seat of his car. MacLaren is given a solo mission.  MacLaren is to board a plane and save someone's life. MacLaren is concerned by this because he's never been on a plane before. 

In an effort to win the custody battle with Jeff, Carly decides to apply for a job at a landscaping firm. Carly has no experience and she doesn't even have a GED but her enthusiasm is enough to persuade the owner to give her a shot. Unfortunately, when Carly arrives for work the next day, she's told the job is no longer available. Carly asks to be considered for the next opening and is told that there will never be a job there for her there. It turns out that a background check on Carly revealed that she has pending charges for assault an officer. That's right, Jeff decided to charge Carly, even though he had been regularly beating her. Carly tries to explain but her justification falls on deaf ears. 

Missing the make up mid term has some pretty bad consequences for Trevor. His mother is out of town and so it's Gary who informs Trevor that they've decided to send him to military school, so that he can pull up his grades and gain some discipline.  Trevor wants to talk this out and see if they can come up with some kind of compromise but Gary will not budge an inch. I think in this case we are only sympathetic to Trevor because we know that he isn't the same person any longer but when you consider everything his parents have been through, it really isn't any wonder that his parents are at their breaking point. None of this is to say that sending someone to military school against their will is a good idea.

Moving on with operation fuck with the Travelers, Jeff decides to pay a visit MacLaren's home.  Smiling like the Cheshire cat, Jeff tells Kat that MacLaren has been having an affair with Carly. Because Kat already believed that MacLaren was up to no good, she buys Jeff's story hook line and sinker. Kat's next move is to call MacLaren to confront him about Jeff's story but given that he has a plan to catch, MacLaren has no time for explanations.  Kat decides that MacLaren is probably having a rendezvous with his mistress and books a seat on the same flight.

American Horror Story, Season 7 (Cult), Episode 1: Election Night

Well… that was painful. No, this first episode was painful. It’s like someone decided to take on political satire without the satire or… well, the wit… and decided to throw in some caricatures and some clowns.

So, we get to relive the last thing any reasonable person wants to relive: the last American election.

Our main characters are a couple - Ally and Ivy and their son Oz. Ally completely collapses with the news and their friends the Changs are similarly hit (with a good rant about not voting and what it costs. This also joins completely unsubtle - onpoint but unsubtle - rant about Ally voting for Jill Stein rather than Clinton because of ideological purity).

Son Oz likes his comics about murderous clowns which is a really not subtle flashback to Freak Show, but American Horror Story loves doing that. This sends Ally into a panic attack. She visits her therapist to explain her coulrophobia, her claustrophobia, her trypophobia, her extreme anxiety and how the election result has basically caused her mental health to collapse. This happened after 9/11 as well but she fought and endured (“white knuckling it”) for Ivy to make their relationship work until Obama was elected and all was bright and sunny again

As her therapist points out, being upset by politics is understandable but her reactions are extreme advises her to centre herself, unplug from the world and distract herself. And take some medication

Except when she goes to the empty supermarket complete with Trump supporting cashier she sees clowns clowns clowns everywhere, some with knives, some having sex over the salad and some in the back seat of her car. She doesn’t handle it well.

Ivy is supportive and helpful but grows more impatient as the weeks pass as Ally’s problems affect their son and the restaurant business they run together. Ally promises to get it together which means they need a new nanny.

So to the next characters: Kai and his sister Winter. Kai is the worst personified who imitates Trump by rubbing his face in cheetoe dust and is celebrating Trump’s win. He not only celebrates but invites himself to a city council meeting where he speaks against providing protection for a local Jewish centre because he wants lots of violence and chaos so everyone can be properly scared and then he and his fellows can rule the scared sheep. He also racistly provokes some latino men so he can film their retaliation as clear ammunition for a race war.

Preacher, Season 2, Episode 12: On Your Knees

In the real world, we see the Saint again, even on Earth he’s still fighting in his memories, remembering his wife and child and how his wife definitely wanted to make him a good man and join her in heaven. All angsty and bleak and in almost stark contrast to the rest of this show

He was pulled out of the swamp by Hoover who then has to convince the Saint to stay on side. This involves lots of patience while the Saint tries to beat his way out of a metal van with his bare fists. It doesn’t go well and he eventually capitulates.

Cass (wow… he looks… different somehow) and Tulip are both all torn and (we also have dennis trying to eat his dog and Cass clearly having issues) upset over Jesse in between their banter. This season has lacked banter. Everyone has been so grumpy and mopey there hasn’t been enough banter. Featherstone does not appreciate good banter, still watching on the spycam.

Jesse joins them and it’s still kind of tense and awkward.

Which is when the Saint returns - without weapons. He fights Tulip, Cass and Jesse - whose voice is on the fritz again. Without supernatural powers, the Saint being super strong and pretty much invulnerable guarantees he knocks Tulip and Cass out out of action - and then captures and ties up Jesse. There follows more bleak and ominous speeches from the Saint which, again, feels far too serious for this very very silly show.

He and Jesse have a brief conversation about redemption - Jesse holding it’s possible while Saint convinced he tried it once. And failed. He also pokes at Jesse’s petty attempts to claim he was merciful - Jesse was scared of his own shard of soul being lost to hell.

Jesse is saved… but the Hell lady. No, really, the woman who rules hell. She arrives to demand the Saint return on pain of having his place taken by his wife. Against the rules, maybe, but with god gone, who cares?

And why would she save Jesse? The Grail. Yes Herr Starr seems to be every bit as powerful as thinks he is.

The Grail also provides medical attention for Cass and Tulip and gets them an audience with Herr Starr who, between all of Cass’s snark, makes it clear that Jesse is super awesome and they’re holding him back

When they’re reunited, Jesse sees the Pope on television telling crowds that god is gone - and that’s pretty bad but hey Jesus is coming back. Um. Sort of.

Teen Wolf, Season 6, Episode 15: Triggers

I hereby call this episode: For Fuck Sake Kill Them. KILL THEM

Team Good Guys get with the killing! Seriously this war would be over so quick if everyone would actually start murdering a bit more. Go more murders.

Rafael is in town but beyond making Nolan even more nervous. He doesn’t want to get the FBI involved for reasons… no don’t tell me about the FBI finding werewolves. Don’t tell me for a second the FBI are going to hear about an armed mob attacking a police station and decide that “werewolves” are what needs investigating here.

Things are still tense at school, with the students all getting more and more paranoid and everyone walking around with cut hands as proof they’re human and not supernatural since they’re not healing. Poor Edgar, the werecoyote, tries to avoid them and gets killed by the Twofaced monster guy who fills him with horrible spiders. Well, doesn’t quite kill him, but leaves him twitching until Tamorah gets minion #2 Gabe to throttle him to death. Yup, at this point Tamorah has gone beyond irredeemable. She also expects the twitchy Nolan to prove his murdery loyalty

Rafael also investigates Gerard and finds he has an armoury full of many many many many weapons - Rafael is worried and hurries to Melissa to demand to know where Scott is. Melissa perfectly snarks back - Rafael has known about the supernatural for 5 minutes, Scott and co have been saving all of them for years. Step back Rafael, trust Scott.

They do have a plan… a rather simple plan.

That involves Liam and Theo briefly using Mason to lure Nolan, and hopefully an army of hunters, to the abandoned zoo (chosen by Liam as part of his apparently nifty beta planning skills). It doesn’t quite work as the hunters don’t trust Nolan’s capacity so Theo and Liam make it sound real by fighting and screaming names. Mainly because they both hate each other. It does work and Theo and Liam should leave but don’t because Liam has Issues with Nolan and nearly kills him. Instead he breaks his hand rather than beating Nolan to death

I am unsure why beating Nolan to death would be so bad.

Theo eventually drags him out and points out that Liam has to be think more broadly if the zoo was going to trigger is rage. The fear monster is making Liam’s anger issues even worse: he needs to be better at that. I’m still kind of bored of the whole setting up Liam to be Scott’s successor.

Gerard was focused on Liam because he’s so special and a beta and super special to Scott because specialness. Yes special.

While the hunters are distracted, Chris, Lydia, Malia and Scott plan to raid the Armoury of weapons, with lots of ominous visions from Lydia of broken glass and bullets.

Scott and Malia break in - but it’s quickly clear that the whole armoury is a trap - with no guns, but an ominous map (why leave this in your trap? Whyyy?) and a lure of Jiang and Tierenen’s body parts to make sure Scott and Malia walk into it. The doors slam shut and lots of motion sensors buzz - if tripped they’ll remove all oxygen from the room. And yes, werewolves need oxygen.

Bewitching Bedlam (Bewitching Bedlam #1) by Yasmine Galenorn

Maddy is busy preparing for her grand opening of her bed and breakfast. She has a lot to do - and she does not need the spiteful machinations of Ralph Greyhoof - a local satyr and fellow hotelier - who is looking to sabotage the competition.

But no-one expected the rivalry to turn to actual murder - when a witch body turns up in Maddy’s back garden. Maddy doesn’t buy it, there is far more going on  here than a business rivalry - and hotel guests are not worth killing over

This book is a lot of fun - the characters are fun, the world is fun, the story is fun. But it’s not just fun, it has a lot of decent depth to it, especially in the characterisation and it all has a lot of substance to it which makes it fun, but definitely not fluff

Most of the other characters are excellent - Maddy’s history, her past relationships, her moments of running wild, her charging around as a vampire hunter - all of that is very present with Maddy and with Sandy who both shared this history. Franny, the frustrated ghost who cannot interact with the world but oh so badly wants to. Having someone who genuinely dislikes Maddy and is definitely a rival but having the characters recognise that  just being an enemy doesn’t make them completely evil. I like the levels there, the fact we don’t have enemy=completely irredeemably evil or that anyone who opposes the protagonist must be completely without any positive qualities. I like that

This applies to a fair amount of the plot - I like the whole complexity around the vampires, I like that the most obvious target gets questioned repeatedly. I like that we also have Linda, the head of their coven and mayor of the town who has also a lot of levels in her involvement of the plot which is hard to simply say good or bad. It’s not that everything is complex or elaborate - it isn’t convoluted at all. It’s not hard to follow, or difficult or following unnecessary twists for the sake of it. But more the characters simply are not simplistic, even enemies are multi-dimensional and as such so is the plot line, discerning actual motives and the investigation around that.

The Strain, Season 4, Episode 8: Extraction

Last week we saw pretty much every woman and every POC be slaughtered. It was a pretty comprehensive massacre which cannot do anything but leave a bad taste in the mouth

This week we have some brief reflections on this loss - but this is, of course, eclipsed by a far bigger loss. Abraham

And, yes, it should be. Abraham has been a constant since the very first episode. He has been the heart of this show. He has been the centre around which everything on this show has revolved around. His death should eclipse all others - no-one’s death, no-one’s would ever approach the devastating impact of Abe

Except it does kind of emphasise another element of this - we lost the majority of the POC and women on this show last episode and I don’t even remember the names of half of them. Nor, for that matter, most of the other women and POC who have died on this show (and, again, there’s been more than a few). Even Dutch and Gus are not exactly on par with Ephraim and Vasiliy (though Dutch comes close).

But Abe is infected - Abe is covered in worms - even as Vasily and Quinn join them with the nuke (the whole blowing up the bridges delayed them all of 10 minutes), they realise they’re just in time to say goodbye. Abe desperately tries to pass on his new insights - including his new decision that they’re totally not going to nuke the Master, instead they need to target the collaborators because the book says so.

Um… ok, y’know I’d buy this if this were last season? I mean without Desai and Palmer last season? Yes that would have made all the difference. But now? Now when the Master is in control and the biggest collaborator we’ve seen, Desai, is at best a midlevel civil servant? When he has armies of strigoi? I’m not buying the idea that collaborators are really the key to his defeat or that the nuke is now a terribad idea.

After passing on his message, Abe then acknowledges he’s pretty much doomed, sharply cutting off any false desperate hope they others have that they may save him. He demands Quinlan finishes it - and Quinlan cuts off his head

The Last Ship, Season Four, Episode Four: Nostos

This week's episode of White American man saves the world essentially is taken up in the search for Slattery, who is seperated from the team.  Slattery wanders around, grasping the precious seeds tightly in his arms and badly injured. Not only is the crew of the Nathan James looking for him, so are Giorgio, Lucia and of course Omar.  Nostos also deals with Tom's reunification with the naval officers of the Nathan James.

Reunited with his team, of course Tom immediately starts giving orders.  Tom doesn't take kindly to being questioned by Fletcher as to his approach but he does give an explanation as to why he believes that his suggestion is the best course of action, before adding, "what do I know, I'm the new guy". Yeah, Tom's all up in his feelings about new people joining the Nathan James who have never interacted with him and therefore don't naturally fall in line. Green however feels no conflict at all and says that the only way to refer to Tom, is "captain". 

In the meantime, the Nathan James itself is hiding in plain sight in order to be ready for the evac of the away crew.  If the Nathan James were the only ship in the Mediterranean, they would have been just fine but another ship captained by Stavros Diomedes, is in the ocean and determined to do its part to ensure that the Americans don't end up with the seeds.  When the Nathan James comes under fire after being forced to reveal it's position to stop a helicopter from being shot down, they manage to trick Diomedes's radar into showing two ships instead of one and escape a missile blast.  This is rather underwhelming because we all know that no matter what naval vessel the Nathan James comes across, even one captained by a former Nato member and therefore aware of American military tactics, they cannot be defeated. 

An injured Mike stumbles around is forced to take shelter in a home when Giorgio's men start to close in on him.  A kindly woman treats Mike's wound but she drugs him for the pain. Yes, that drug. This causes Mike to begin to hallucinate about his family.  This is the most humanisation Mike has gotten to date. We know that his family is dead because of the plague but he has never really spoken about them and has buried himself in the task of saving the world. We haven't even seen him mourn the loss of his wife and two kids. Mike is higher than a kite when Omar finds his hiding place but he has enough wits to sneak out of the house, leaving the kind woman who gave him shelter to face Omar alone.  Naturally, Omar ends up killing her.

Mike stumbles around town having visions of his wife and children as the team continues to search for him. Mike breaks a mirror and use morse code sends a signal to the ship. It's amazing that Mike is aware enough to find a place to hide, even as he hallucinates laughing, playing and kissing his family. It's a good reminder that Mike is more than just and XO, he's someone who lost everything when the plague hit. 

Killjoys, Season 3, Episode 10: Wargasm

So, it’s the season finale - it begins all dramatically, has a turn through lots of sass and sarcasm, because it’s Killjoys and then ends in the surreal which I’m less sure over.

We have all the big dramatic foreshadowing of all the forces gathered, big emotional not-quite goodbye moments and everyone ready to fight as the Armada arrives and we have a big stand off.

Zeph also takes a moment to give Dutch a memory stabbing thing, which is important.

Alvis’s body is delivered for Dutch to have a sad moment. Turin gets to rejoin the action with fancy’s backing: “it’s war not prom”. And Dutch loses patience and tries yelling at the captured Kendry - like Kendry is ever going to be so easily ruffled

Aneela is a step ahead, sending in a strike squad which manages to capture Dutch, free Kendry and, she herself, nearly kills Johnny. She tries to play act as Dutch - no, Johnny does not fall for it, of course he doesn’t. He is saved by Lucy and some very loud noise because Lucy always has his back

Aneela takes Dutch off to the scarback temple so they can work through their daddy issues rather than look at the actual war - while Kendry launches the attack

Which goes pretty badly - Pree (who has a lot of cute moment with his new guy) has set up the sonic device which basically turns the whole invading fleet into sitting ducks for Fancy and the Cleansed. Go team good guy

To which Gendry responds by targeting the very obvious sonic people for invasion, which means the sonic has to come down so Pree can evacuate  - which leaves Fancy & co to be completely helpless in the face of overwhelming numbers

Turin is the one leading the attack because D’avin and Johnny have gone on a rescue mission for Dutch (Zeph tries to stop them since Johnny is injured - she even tries “you can’t go, because I love you” out of desperation. Before quickly taking it back because bad bad bad place. Instead we have group hugs).

This leaves Turin to handle the counter-attack and try to keep everyone alive as they’re pushed back by the overwhelming forces. And despite his courage, plans and him generally stepping up in the face of utter desperation, it generally goes poorly and eventually Turin is captured to be Hullenised while he snarks constantly and excellently. Fancy saves him, of course.

3% Season One, Episode Three: Capítulo 03: Corredor

This episode is used to show us a little bit more about the background of the contestants.  According to Ezequiel, the point of the test for the contestants to let go of their pasts and their fears, to ensure that they are able to properly blend in with the residents offshore.  Given everything that we've seen thus far, I'm not at all convinced that people leave the testing area functional enough to create a so-called Utopian society. 

The test this time involved the contestants walking down a hallway together. They are warned that they have five minutes to complete the task. Before entering, they see another group which has been eliminated.  Some of the eliminated contestants have even wet themselves.  Still, the contestants enter the tunnel filled with false bravado. It's not long however before things change.

Ezequiel unleashes the gas into the chamber causing the contestants to start to hallucinate.  This is the first time that we actually see Joana lose her cool. When Joana was inland, she was attacked for stealing some coins and determined to get them back, she broke into some mob bosses home. Joanna grabs the backpack which was taken from her and then picks up a gun. Given that Joana was almost raped in an alley, it makes sense to me that she would want the gun for protection. Joana is startled by the sound of a toy car and shoots the weapon, thus killing the mob bosses son.  A teary Joana repeatedly tells the dead child how sorry she is before she flees.

Joana seeks help from her friend, certain that if she's found that she will be murdered.  Her friend helps her by implanting the chip of a dead woman about her age, thus allowing Joana to enter the competition. Because growing up, Michele had no one who cared for her, she didn't have anyone to register her for the competition.  Now we know how Joana was able to recognise Raphael's scar. Once the procedure is done, Joana's friend learns exactly what Joana did to end up in peril and kicks Joana out of her lab, saying that she now knows exactly what kind of person Joana is.  Joana tries to explain that it was an accident but her friend will have none of it.  

In the hallway, Joana is haunted with taunts of, "murderer". When Joana looks up, she sees a pipe releasing the gas and realises why she is hallucinating. Joana stumbles her way down the corridor and when she reaches the end, she places her hand on the hand print and demands to be let out, only to be told that the entire group has to make it to the end of the hallway for her to pass. A frustrated Joana heads back down the hall.

Zoo, Season 3, Episode 10: Once Upon a Time in a Nest

So in Seoul we have a nest of hyrbid eggs which Logan can deal with because of the new miracle chemical - alas it doesn’t give you that long to kill all the eggs and an extra is obligatory killed for drama. They decide to sit on the whole bomb thing for a little while.

Sinister Guy who i don’t believe isn’t evil also decides to recruit Dariela. He convinces her though she’s all conflicted because she just spent the entire season telling Abe that she want to go home with Isaac and now she’s totally dropping him with a baby sitter to rejoin the fight working for the IDG, I am sure is evil

This isn’t hypocrisy. This is supremely shoddy character development

Abe is all for it because this is the end of the world and she has skills, which would have been nice to bring up at any single point this season. Also everything’s good between them now, yay. Abe is even looking to join the IDG who are totally evil

We also have a little recap - all the nests around the world will hatch anyway, but with Beacons they’ll hatch sooner and Abigail will be able to control them make things so much worse.

We also have Clem and sam - but Clem is all cured by Abe’s quick thinking and kept in her tank (it’s the newest model inconvenient-female-character-fridge) while Sam is dropped in a cage since he thinks Abigail is the bestest ever and everyone else is totally evil.

Time for everyone to have a Zoo moment and be completely ridiculous. Jackson decides they need Abigail alive to hear all her evil plans (unleash hybrids, kill everyone) so wants everyone to try and save her. And people go along with this. Sure Abe voices some objections to letting the evil terrorist live, but ultimately he gets on side.

Now there is a good reason to keep her alive, but Jackson doesn’t know this - this whole scene is ridiculous.

Double down - to save her they have to use all their spinal fluid they’ve gathered to cure sterility. Save the world or save Abigail?

Yup, the team goes with save Abigail. There are no words for how ridiculous this is. No-one can possibly make a worse decision than this:

Jamie: Hold My Beer

See, she’s kept Mitch as Duncan so he can kill Abigail, because Duncan is way more likely to kill his boss than Micth is his archenemy.

…

I’m not drunk enough for this

In exchange she promises Duncan he can be Duncan forever, no Mitch. And he believes this. Really.

Duncan does his thing and sabotages Abigail’s surgery (making Abe think he killed her) and she apparently dies. Now things get worse. She has a kill switch in her neck that starts activating Beacons - which will cause eggs to hatch and a whole load of chaos. Max and Abe frantically try to extract as much data from the chip to give to the IDG so they can find the Beacon and the apparently many nests they don’t know about which are hatching