Supernatural, Season 13, Episode 20: Unfinished Business

So the archangel Gabriel, who has moonlighted as the trickster god Loki, is now being decidedly untrickster-ness. And deciding to stab someone with some magical wooden sword.

He wins, but is injured in the process. So what is prompting the trickster archangel to go all murdery? Well the dead man is Fenrir - one of the sons of Loki. And yes he’s a man but he kind of has a wolf effect to him and big claws so I can kind of see it - but he dies too quickly to develop this massive wolfy-murderer of Odin-ness to us. Gabriel has a list of more people to kill: he crosses off Fenrir leaving Narfi and Sleipnir. That would be two more spawn of Loki.

Injured, he turns to the only people he knows who can help - Sam and Dean (since Sam and Dean are in town following him since he’s still the only source of Archangel Grace they know of). He hoped they may actually have some of his Grace left but they don’t. Which is a shame since after being so tortured and drained by Asmodeus and then frying Asmodeus he is now running on empty which is why he has resorted to stabbing people.

Fenrir’s brothers, Sleipnir and Narfi decide to hunt Gabriel down for their brother being murdered and we have a god fight. And while Dean seems able to fend off a not-really invested Sleipnir but Sam is nearly strangled by Narfi before Gabe stabs him in the back. At which point the horseman flees

And, yeah, ok I’ll buy sort of werewolf Fenrir - but Sleipnir being a dapper prettyboy? I could get behind this is there were some development of Loki’s children instead of it just kind of not wanting to be bothered with CGI or monsters or special effects.

So with two of the brothers dead, Gabriel wants to kill the last one - and then kill Loki. And he explains why in a long exposition that Dean really really really doesn’t care about. Way back when, Gabriel was tired with all the Archangel stuff so he decided to go undercover - he ran into Loki (who owed him after he freed him from his cave where Skadi’s snake was dripping poison into his eyes) who agreed to teach him how to be a trickster and take his identity. Which worked for Loki as he was kind of in the outs with his family anyway and needed to go a little low key

They don’t specify why Loki needed to hide from his family but even a cursory reading of the Eddas says yes yes he does.

And when Gabriel decided to go into hiding AGAIN, because Lucifer was coming in, he decided to turn to his good friend Loki and sons so he could hang out with them. Until they betrayed him, captured him and delivered him over to Kentucky Fried Asmodeus for lots of money and now he wants revenge

And Dean is not impressed. Dean doesn’t think revenge is helpful - because he’s been there and done that over and over. Lots of epic revenge and it never actually made Dean feel better. Also Gabriel’s revenge plan is so theatrical and nonsensical that Dean can’t help but mock its nonsense.

iZombie, Season 4, Episode 8: Chivalry is Dead

Ok this may be the most annoying brain ever. And proof, yet again, that iZombie doesn’t understand how hobbies work.

Or how geeks work

Which is kind of weird - I mean how many of these speculative fiction shows approach geek culture like it’s some weird and alien thing. I know spec fic has become more mainstream, but the geek are still somewhat core audience here and I can’t imagine that their writers are this lacking in geekiness. A room full of writers producing a show about zombie medical examiners? One of them has to be passingly familiar with a D20.

Though I do appreciate Ravi in his geeky glory

The brain this week belonged to a LARPer who loved his medieval re-enactment. Which means Liv spends the entire episode painfully speaking like extras in a cut-price medieval themed restaurant. Words cannot express how much this annoyed me. Especially when random LARPers all decide to talk this way. To the police. During an investigation

Still leaving the crime aside for a while; Liv is now exposed as a human smuggler to Peyton. And… she’s in. She completely understands and respects what Liv is doing and wants to join. Liv is not a fan of this because of the risk but Peyton isn’t buying that - after all Liv is taking it. Liv does reveal they really really need money.

Peyton also has severe issues with Major and his shooting up a journalist’s office. As she should. Liv blames Fillmore Graves, calling them the Borg. Peyton doesn’t get the reference but Liv assures her that, dating Ravi, she will.

While Major himself is still working on getting in with Rus on various illegal activities so he can be exposed as the brain thief. After much buddy-buddiness he does manage to be invited to some illegal shenanigans - but it’s shutting down OTHER brain sellers (who work for Blaine). Major does manage to stop Rus killing them.

The murder, while making Liv super annoying and being weird with LARPing does introduce some nice ideas about how zombies in the city change things. The LARP group split in two, zombies and humans, not out of animosity but simply because zombies and humans fighting, scratching and stabbing each other seemed liked a bad idea. They also realise the advantages of zombies being nigh invulnerable so long as everyone keeps their blades below neck height which led one member to run with a zombie thunder-drome idea, zombies hacking and slashing each other for gore and profit.

The spanner in the works is the murdered man, Garrett, being human but joining the zombie team. He was the best swordsman so didn’t have to worry too much until the day he was impaled through the chest. The zombies claim accident - they were LARPing and Garrett lied about being a zombie and shouldn’t have been killed. This raises a whole lot of questions around sports and similar activities which can rely a lot more on zombie resilience but also raises the question of contamination and advantage.

Also I wonder if a zombie thunderdrome is a good idea in a city with a brain shortage since zombies need brains to heal… And bonus points for Clive sitting in a throne and being super uncomfortable by it.

Twist to the murder - the man who “accidentally” stabbed Garrett was using the wrong sword: the broadsword he should have used wouldn’t have been great at mortally stabbing someone wearing chainmail. He was carrying a different sword that was pretty much designed for stabbing him. And the dead man was cheating with his wife, and they knew he was human. Can they prove willful murder? Probably not

The Handmaid's Tale: Season 2, Episode 1: June

June and her fellow defiant Handmaid’s, having refused to stone Janine, are harrowingly led away to their punishment. They’re muzzled and bound and hounded to a site of apparent execution

It turns out to be faked (they’re not going to murder fertile women) but it’s harrowing and deeply horrifying psychological torture. And it doesn’t end there, hounded by the hectoring and vileness of Lydia’s false love (and extolling their “freedom” because they have “freedom from” the threats of the past - like the threats of the past matched the horrors they endure now) and fervent belief

June continues to watch Lydia with eyes that burn with hatred - there’s some excellent facial acting here. Especially as it is revealed June is pregnant and apparently has some protection against Lydia’s spite. But while June may be safe, her companions are not - as they continue to be tortured and June watches. And even pregnant Handmaids can be chained and confined in the dark

Through this as well we’re reminded that not only is Lydia a sadist, but she is a fervent believer. When she hears June is pregnant she is moved to tears ringing the bell announcing it.

Similarly while Serena is deeply invested in putting June back “in her place”; she’s also moved to kissing June in gratitude when she sees a sonogram of the baby. Their fervour only makes their sadism more powerful - because they’re not just evil people doing evil things because evil; they’re fanatics who genuinely think they’re doing good things despite the obvious vileness

But there is a way out - when one of the workers at the hospital June visits calls her by name - and sneaks her a key. She manages to get out to find that her escape has been orchestrated by Nick

And can there be a clearer cleansing than her burning her old uniform and carving a tracking chip out of her ear?

This is all undercut with the past - how Gilead became Gilead. The creeping lack of rights and freedoms which have become almost normal - like June having to get written permission from her husband to be prescribed birth control. Or a nurse repeatedly calling June by husband’s surname despite her protests. And her being shamed for working when she has a child.

We see this creeping encroachment of freedom just before the news reports a devastating terrorist attack against the leadership of the US. And we all know how fear of terrorism is so often used to push back civil rights.

Lucifer, Season 3, Episode 21: Anything Pierce can do I can do Better

Pierce and Lucifer are having a big confrontation after the drama of last episode with Pierce insisting that the key to vulnerability is Chloe loving you - Chloe’s love turns off woo-woo

Wow… that may be the worst super power ever. A hyper emotional null?

Lucifer doesn’t buy this thinking, instead, that god is up to something nefarious. Again. And when Pierce doesn’t want to be murdered Lucifer just leaves… wait, what? He charged in here looking for revenge because Pierce hurt Chloe and then decides to just leave?

So we have lots of focusing on relationships here. Because has decided he got it all wrong and he now loves Chloe and wants to be with her forever. Or, rather, he wants to grow old with her. Yes he has realised that now he’s mortal he doesn’t have to avoid Chloe for fear of hurting when she inevitably dies and she lives.

Chloe is, naturally, a little wary after he just played with her emotions.

And Lucifer? Well while he didn’t buy Pierce’s theory that being vulnerable when Chloe loves him, he does take to heart that an accidental touch causes a small cut on his finger. He realises that, if Pierce is right, that Chloe still loves Lucifer as well

He goes to Linda about this and she desperately tries to poke him into finally admitting to Chloe - to himself - how he felt about her. Of course he doesn’t. Instead he intends to prove himself better than Pierce so they can go back to how things were.

Which doesn’t go well. Both Lucifer and Pierce engage in a series of really over the top gestures and gifts to get Chloe on side - flowers, baked goods even a car. Ella supports Pierce, Dan supports Pierce. And no-one thinks how radically inappropriate it is for Chloe to face huge, prominent romantic gifts from competing men while she’s at work and trying to do her job because no-one has any concept of professionalism here or how Chloe may not want the whole department to know she may have romantic links to her boss or her work partner (remembering Chloe already faced considerable pushback since she was once an actor who appeared naked in films: she has to be sensitive to the sexist attitudes which may be prevalent in the station).

Chloe tells Lucifer to back off, tries to stop him competing and ultimately despairs as he thinks it’s all about material things and having the biggest shiniest gift.

Eventually Pierce invites Chloe to a romantic dinner and before that Lucifer insists on seeing her first. Setting up a whole wonderful romantic setting to convince her not to get with Pierce. Except he fails to say what she obviously needs him to say:

He says Pierce doesn’t deserve her

And she asks who does she deserve

And all he says is “someone better”. And not “me”.

She leaves - and goes to Pierce. And when he asks her to marry him, she agrees. Which I honestly did not see coming and seems awfully sudden…

...And Lucifer, with some prompting from both Linda and the murder case, realises that he has just lost everything just because he couldn’t tell Chloe how he felt

Into the Badlands, Season 3, Episode 1: Enter the Phoenix

Into the Badlands is back along with some of the most beautiful fight scenes on television. And I don’t care if part of me is supposed to decry the violence and all that, the sheer gorgeous artistry of the choreography on this show will make me an eternal fan.

The opening scene is the Widow quickly recapping everything, specifically that all but two barons are dead now - Chau and her (and her stylish bowler hat wearing) forces both fighting for supremacy. And Widow, of course, is fighting for freedom and equality.

We also have some of the first large scale fights - which is amazing but tellingly for all of this amazing combat skill what wins is a hail of arrows. All the skill in the world won’t help much against ranged weaponry.

The Widow herself has gone to see Nathaniel - the clipper with the most kills in the world who was recently defeated by Sunny who cut off his hand. Nathaniel has retired, he doesn’t want to be a Regent - the job she’s offering him - and cares only about being left her alone and maybe murdering Sunny to make up for the whole hand chopping thing. Being Into the Badlands they resolve their disagreement with a really really really really beautiful fight scene. Which the Widow wins - so that’s Nathaniel recruited. Especially since she also promises to help him find Sunny for some honourable murdering.

When they ride back Nathaniel notes that she has great big walls which he thinks pretty much flies in the face of her principles. But what he also sees is her comforting the mother of one of her soldiers who died in the battle. The woman is angry, accuses the Widow of acting like a god and asks what the point of a better world is if her daughter isn’t in it: but The Widow responds with grace, compassion and humility.

Of course the flip side is she has imprisoned MK (apparently in luxury and with lots of opium) because he’s lost his gift and they’re trying to poke him with sharp things to get his black eyed killing machine gift back. They also both pretty much hate each other

Sunny, meanwhile, is over everything. He’s wandering around the wilderness with his baby and generally trying to stay out of trouble. And moping. Moping a lot. He even mopes over killing deer for venison. There’s a lot of moping here.

And he doesn’t manage to stay out of trouble either - goons find him, including one who looks very young. Sunny brutally kills both of them - and this is the first none beautiful fight scene. It’s brutal and bloody and messy and there are not beautiful soaring moves or dancing with weapons and he kills one of them with spikes he’s built into his baby’s crib. This is much more raw than the more stylised battles we generally see.

Westworld, Season 2, Episode 1: Journey Into the Night

Westworld is one of those shows which is hard to recap because you almost want to quote every word because nearly every speech has so much nuance

Take our opening scene with Arnold and Delores having a conversation about a dozen or so different things at once.

But after all that setting it up we now have Bernard waking up on the beach to see an army of people moving in. Stubbs, the former security head, is the only familiar face and everything is under the control of Karl Strand, a Delos big wig with a small army of men. We also have one of the big mysteries solved - where is Westworld? Well we have actual soldiers from an actual government wanting to find out what is happening only to be given their marching orders by Strand because apparently their government gave them possession of this island and complete rights over it. Even in the case of massacres apparently

So Westworld is an island - and we hear there are 6 more parks on this island as well because some creatures (like a tiger) are crossing borders). What we do see a lot this episode is a lot more blurring of lines between the humans and the hosts - we see this from Karl as well. His men are rounding up hosts and shooting them.

And yes I expected them to destroy the hosts. But this isn’t how you deal with malfunctioning equipment. This isn’t even how you deal with equipment that you’re scrapping. Especially very expensive equipment - and doubly so when it’s resilient. After all, from a practical point of view, hosts are designed for two things: to be super realistic and to be killed repeatedly. Any competent designer would make them resilient and easily repaired - especially when facing bullet wounds which in an old west park happens a LOT. Gathering them together and shooting them? Not a clever way to destroy them. But it is how you kill a human enemy...

Bernard is having something of an amnesia incident which Karl really needs him to get over, especially when they examine one of the host’s memories and find that Delores is the one killing everyone - human and host alike. Which rather confuses the tech because Delores is the nice welcoming face and she has gone waaaay further off script than hosts are supposed to.

So let’s have some flashbacks. Bernard and a group of expendable extras and Charlotte. She thinks that This is all set up by Ford as an elaborate suicide and doesn’t buy Bernard’s theory that the hosts are acting on their own free will. They try to escape, killing one pretty innocent host, finding other hosts torturing and killing humans and the extras all eventually walk into a trap and are slaughtered by former members of Wyatts gang who are now following Delories.

That leaves Bernard and Charlotte to find one of Charlotte’s secret Delos bases. Inside are deeply deeply creepy drone hosts who are doing disturbing experiments harvesting guest DNA and experiences from hosts… which to me means either a) blackmail or b) scarily accurate clone hosts used to replace people in the real world and do Delos’s bidding. Both makes Delos scary.

Charlotte seeks a rescue but her bosses don’t really give a shit about her - they want the host she uploaded all the secret data on. Until she delivers that, no rescue. But Bernard knows tricks which will help her track this Host (Delores’s father) down.

But he’s also having problems. During the escape he was… wounded?Damaged? Basically his brain is cracked and he needs to inject himself with more host brain goo to keep functioning. This could be a problem and introduce a weird serial killer storyline.

And from here we have Delores.

I think one of the main questions on this season is less “who is a host and who is human” but how awake are various hosts? Like we’ve seen Rebus, a rather nasty host, killing humans in torturous ways - is he awake and seeking revenge or just following his programming to be a nasty mid-level bad guy who just sees humans as other hosts now?

Siren, Season 1, Episode 3: Interview with a Mermaid

Things are tense as Madison, Ben and Helen all realise that Ryn has probably killed someone. They all meet up in Helen’s shop and she gets very annoyed that Ben and Maddison both approach a brand new intelligent species on their planet as something amazing to explore. They approach it like scientists

While Helen is angry for them for looking at her as a species (but they do clearly acknowledge her personhood) and keeps insisting that Ben learn the lessons of his ancestors. She seems to hold him culpable for this random past

Despite all this she leaves them behind with Ryn as she goes to the store. They talk to Ryn and she throws Maddison across the room with super strength. Ben checks on her and she’s ok but they all try to convince Ryn that hurting people is not ok and she has to realise that she’s a lot stronger than the rest of them.

They take her to the rescue centre so they can learn more about them - they discover her heart rate is elevated, she weighs a lot more than she appears. She also ominously mentions that when she’s in the water she tried to kill Ben because that’s what you do - you fight to kill or be killed. Which is slightly ominous to say the least. She describes shapeshifting as something all mermaids can do - but that it hurts (it’s unclear whether it hurts her or just her sister or all mermaids).

She also mentions there are many mermaids but that they don’t like the land.

They record the whole thing including a more disturbing element when she starts touching and almost kissing Ben. All while singing the siren song that almost enthralls him.

Then one of their colleagues arrive, jerry. He feed the sea lions and when they’re not paying attention, decides to take Ryn to a party

They really should watch their potentially murderous mermaid more.

They end up following her to the party - to the pool party no less - where she drinks beer and generally just hangs around while Ben and Maddison catch up. At the party Ben runs into Doug, his brother

The Parnell family continues to be vaguely toxic with the parents Ted and Elaine starting the day pretty much hating each other and briefly touching on the family history that Ben is so curious about - which Elaine wants to keep quiet but Ted isn’t fussed about because as far as he’s concerned it’s well known they have a, well, history of mental illness. Of more concern is at the office where Doug wants to recruit his brother Ben on side as an environmental consultant.

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 1: What's Your Story

Ok… so that happened?

We’re focusing on Morgan. Yes from The Walking Dead who has jumped ship to Fear the Walking Dead on the much vaunted crossover. Presumably because Morgan has run out of people to mope at in The Walking Dead

It may actually be good for his character though as it means he won’t be acting as Rick’s personal moral warning system all the damn time

So he hangs around in the junk yard to get on with life as a happy hermit. Except Jesus visits. And Carol. And Rick. All of them trying to convince him to return to the fold and mope at them close range, and telling him how awesome he is and how they’re there for him

It’s hard to be a hermit who keeps getting guests so he sets out wandering, dodging zombies, running across occasional people until he runs into John Dory

John looks like a cowboy, is a quick draw and very good with a gun (though he badly needs to learn the first lesson of the zombie apocalypse - MELEE WEAPONS). He also seems to be a genuinely nice guy, charming, kind and just nice. He’s also been alone for a very long time, he mentions not speaking for over a year since he was split up from the woman he loves who, I think, carries an antique revolver twin to the one he has. It’s not surprising then when he kind of latches on to Morgan who keeps trying to ditch him

When a gang of bad people lead by a man called Leland (so you know he has reasons to be angry with the world) who decides to capture Morgan and steal his stuff. Gunslinger is a nice guy, has decided Morgan is his friend and he runs to the rescue and is captured himself - because there’s so many of the gang.

Which is when a big swat truck covered with guns arrives. It’s driven by Althea and she has a much more effective rescue (and is also willing to trade for them) so escape time. Althea is a journalist, or used to be when journalism was a thing, and is still collecting people’s stories for reasons.

The Originals Season 5, Episode 1: Where You Left Your Heart

Last season the Mikkaelson vampires split up, each of them taking a shard of the Hollow into themselves, they all went their separate ways to keep this evil apart and stop it from hurting hope.

This season starts 7 years after this and I am absolutely freaking amazed that these characters have managed to handle their shit for this long. So it’s no surprise that after 7 years everything’s kind of falling apart

The city is run by Vincent, with Freya (witches), Josh (vampires, but not really because Marcus is puppeteering him from a distance) and Hayley (werewolves). They’re preparing for Mardi Gras and everyone’s all “hey why do we have to worry about this, everything is fine.” While Vincent is all “really? You fuckers are going to burn it all down. You always do”

Josh is already laying the foundation for that because the werewolves are “we’re going to have this party” and the witches are all “yay we’re planning this party” which the vampires are basically told “just stay out the way” so I’m kinda with Josh when he says “yeah, we’re gonna want some daylight rings for that.”

Freya also has her own conflict because she’s in love with Keelin (despite the whole kidnapping and experimentation thing everyone is just forgiving and forgetting) but Keelin is now in Lebanon because keeping same sex couples apart is super

So let’s start burning stuff down

At the special school for magic students which is like a few years too late to develop the whole magical school popular trope thing which clearly died out a bit sooner than Plec thought. We meet a now older Hope who is in school and we have a briefly appearing hot guy who will no double be more important later. Hope has daddy issues because she’s Mikaelson and this is kind of necessary and she’s super super upset that he can’t even pick up a damn phone to call her.

She has the same decision making ability as the rest of her family and decides that a bullied Crescent werewolf in her school needs some help- so she gives him her blood so she can turn himself into a hybrid. Because becoming something dangerous and different which has caused several wars in the city is a great idea. Also encouraging your classmates to messily commit suicide so they can come back as a dangerous vampire wolf will get you suspended. Oops. Way to keep up family tradition, Hope

But what about the rest of the family? Well Kol seems to be doing the decent thing and staying out the way and only calling his niece to give her terrible advice. This is good, because of The Hollow inside each Original if two of the family get together then things starting getting ominously biblical. Flowers die, water turns to blood, the warning signs are not subtle

Which would be useful in case, y’know, they accidentally bumped into each other so they can realise they need to leave the country. But unfortunately Klaus has decided to stalk his brother Elijah who has had all his memories magically erased. Klaus has always been co-dependent, usually he focuses this on Rebekkah because she’s had the audacity to be more involved in other people than in him. He could always rely on Elijah to follow him around in his usual martyr complex. Elijah didn’t even have a life that didn’t, on some level, revolve around Klaus - and now he can’t even remember Klaus exists

So Klaus keeps stalking him in France and causing all of this apocalyptic nonsense which is getting everyone so stressed - so much so that Freya thinks she won’t be able to pack it all in and go live with Keelin in the Lebanon. Despite everything falling apart she does appeal to Vincent to absolve her guilt so she can be with Keelin without thinking that she’s abandoning everyone.

Rebekkah is also supposed to be living a deliriously happy like with Marcel, with lots of luxury and romance and he even proposed to her and it’s all going to be wonderful. Except she can’t say yes because she’s also obsessing about her family and Marcel is losing patience with it, giving her an ultimatum - marry him or he’s out because he’s tired of these shenanigans.

Since Klaus stops picking up his phone and everyone needs him to grow up and stop ruining things for once, they deputise Caroline to go visit. Klaus now has a reputation for being unstable and murdering people for funsies

So nothing’s changed there then

While cleaning up after his latest slaughter (because we’re all quite casual about massacres but not about ruined furniture), Caroline pretty much pins Klaus down. She knows he isn’t any more unstable than usual, but his paranoia over Elijah means he has decided to kill all their enemies and the descendents of their enemies but it’s probably more a distraction from other issues: namely Hope. He hasn’t even picked up the phone to speak to her because he has daddy issues. Caroline finally tells him what everyone needed to for the last few centuries - that was a thousand years ago and it’s about time he got over it

Once Upon a Time, season 7, Episode 18: The Guardian

Starting with the magical past, Rumple is all sad over Belle and trying to talk to her using an altar which is all full of hearts… and vodun. It’s no surprise when Facilier shows up and decides to make a play for the dagger - using one of his voodoo dolls

Needless to say that doesn’t really work with the Dark One. And he gets a strangling in return. But he manages to remind Rumple that going evil won’t help him reunite with Belle. He claims to hear what Belle says since he hears the dead and is worried that if Rumple doesn’t find the Guardian soon the darkness inside him will grow and take over.

And he has a point because Rumple’s hands are starting to turn gold again a good sign that he’s going dark sidey. He has found a potential Guardian - Alice. But he needs to test her to see if she’s good enough. Kind of how Gothel tested everyone to destruction.

The problem is that Killian has noticed Rumple watching Alice and is Not Happy because he’s always had issued with the “crocodile” and Alice seems to be getting all cute and happy with Robin. Rumple also can’t heal his heart because the curse on Killian is black magic and needs blacker magic to fix

But despite the warnings from Killian he uses this potential for a cure to manipulate Alice in true Dark One fashion. She ignores all warnings if there’s a chance of a cure and runs with the Dark One to Facilier - and rips out Facilier’s heart following Rumple’s instruction (damn this heart ripping stuff is easy to learn) and therefore, apparently, leaving Rumple’s own dark heart clean

I’m not even sure that Once Upon a Time’s broken morality would accept that as true. We see Ruimple’s hands become more and more gold and as they do his mannerisms slip more and more to the Dark One, his voice, the gestures the language - it’s really well done.

He tells Alice to heal her dad of the curse he has to crush Facilier’s heart. But despite lots of coaxing Alice refuses

And lo, we have a Guardian test - which she passed. Rumple follows her - and his mannerism settle back more normal.

He goes to the shrine and Alice follows talking about how hard it must be to be separated from who he loves and how happy she is to have found Robin and be free from all towers. And she uses her Guardian-ness to take his dagger, it’s all really impressive with lots of shining white light, the dagger has his name stripped from it and is reduced to energy and Alice looks all shiny and amazing - but Rumple stops her

I thought for a moment he did it for the power - but he says he did it for her. Because doing this would make Alice immortal and, having just lost Belle, he knows how much being immortal can hurt without the one you love. It’s another tower.

When next we see Rumple he’s fully golden, complete Dark One - and Killian thanks him for saving his daughter from being immortal. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I’ve never bought this whole idea of immortality as a terrible curse. Because of that I can’t help but feel there’s a power hungry motive to Rumple’s actions here. Which is only more likely now he’s gone full dark one again

And in the present Killian and Rumple discover that Hansel has died in their custody - and find Facilier’s pin. Rumple panics and goes to check the evidence locker - his dagger is also missing. Enraged and scared he runs out leaving poor Killian to deal with the fallout

Of which there is absolutely none. I mean a man dies in custody, just as the CCTV conveniently goes down and there’s no worry about the fallout from this? Nick is a wealthy white man, a lawyer for gods’ sake - don’t tell me that the shit wouldn’t rain down in diarrhea like rivers!

Jacinda is all kind of troubled that Nick, her ex and father of her child is a serial killer. Henry almost comforts her but is more concerned with the weird things Nick says and even says he’s not ready to talk about them yet to Jacinda. And I get it but at the same time how can this not seem terrible to her? She’s worried about how she misjudged the man she had a child with and Henry, a man who knew Nick for about 2 days suddenly can’t talk about him? Huh