The Salvation of Saint John

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!  

I would like to apologize for the blog post title. The titles of Arrow and Doctor Who this week just don't mash together well. That said, I've got some reviews for you today so quickly on to the obligatory:

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen last week's episodes of Arrow or Doctor Who, please leave the blog and come back later. The following reviews will contain spoilers. And yes, I am considering last night's episode of Doctor Who last week's episode due to it having aired on a Saturday and now it's Sunday so... there you go.

Arrow - "Salvation" - Review

I really loved this episode. But first, I have to get a random cross-fandom observation out of the way: It's really kind of strange hearing Alex Kingston speak in an American accent. I kept expecting an English lilt to pop out, and then was slightly disappointed when it didn't. Thank you, Doctor Who, you've made things weird for this show, again. Okay, onto the episode.

I thought Thea and Roy's relationship was rather realistic. She's changed from her druggy ways and excepts him to change, too. He's grown up in a bad part of town where all he knows is the bad stuff. It's what he goes home to and wakes up to everyday. And then he gets kidnapped in the middle of their fight. I'm extremely glad Roy didn't die, though I didn't actually expect him to. I'm glad he and Thea have sort of patched things up after his almost death. Looks like Roy's gonna have to solves the mystery of "The Hood." Ya know, since he has the mini-arrow and all.

I thought Felicity was amazing. She was her usual tech-brilliant self with a couple of amusing bits thrown in. I'm so glad she's joined the... these guys really need a name, I can't call everyone "Scoobies"... Olly's team. I thought her reaction to the DA's death was realistic and I'm glad Olly's gonna be her person to talk to. Those moments were very sweet.

I liked the way Laurel showed her parents that the girl in the photo wasn't Sarah. I liked Tommy doing the big brother thing with Thea, freeing Olly up to be the hero. I'm really happy Olly's decided not to isolate himself anymore.

Speaking of which, the going on in the island flashbacks were... uninteresting. I feel like the small bits being fed to us aren't enough. They aren't holding my interest as they should be. I feel like they need to be focused on more. That said, I hope we find out what Fyers is up to sooner, rather than later.

Lastly, Mrs. Queen is getting herself in way over her head. It's clear from the end of that scene that things are just now hitting home for her. Having her husband and son killed and then her new husband kidnapped just hasn't done it, I don't think. Having someone killed in front of her, I think, has shocked her system, as it were. I did like that she pleaded with Mr. Merlyn, who she didn't know was Mr. Merlyn, not to kill her friend's daughter.

Doctor Who - "The Bells of Saint John" - Review

Turns out, the concept's much more interesting than I thought it would be when I heard what it was on The Doctor Who Podcast. Also, dude! The Great Intelligence! I did not see that coming! It was a wonderful surprise at the end of the episode.

I absolutely love love love Clara. She's cute, she's quick, she's clever, she's - as Sarah Jane Smith says about Rose - more than a match for The Doctor. I think my favorite parts of the episode were the tug-of-war across the table and when she tells him to come back tomorrow at the end. Those moments just made me grin. I can't wait to have her doing the companion thing for real.

I thought the way people had their personalities/feelings/minds hacked was pretty cool. However, a hike in IQ doesn't correlate to increased creativity. I feel like that's a completely different area of the brain, even if he was trying to reverse hack things. Anyway, not sure exactly what they wanted with Clara, seeing as they tried to get her a) before she met The Doctor and then b) were going out of their way to get her. She's either connected to The Great Intelligence somehow or he knows she's special. Hmmm...

I thought The Doctor was brilliant, as he usually is. I seriously thought he'd been taken over by the Spoonheads till I saw him come up behind it. That was a very tense commercial break when I watched it the first time, I tell you what. The Doctor also had me completely taken in by the switch he pulled with the Spoonhead. I probably would have cheered if I'd been watching by myself. That bit was just... Gah! Brilliant.

Couple things about technical show details:

• LOVE the new TARDIS "desktop theme." Like, a lot.
• LOVE the new title sequence. It's all spacey and stuff.
• Really liked the new music.

In closing, I can't wait for this Saturday. I want more!

Love ya, Jessie.

The Bells of Saint John - Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen Doctor Who: "The Bells of Saint John" please go away and come back after you've seen it. The following Initial Reactions include SPOILERS. Also, some random foul language because I'm a horrible person.

Doctor Who - "The Bells of Saint John" - Initial Reactions

• Crazy warning.
• And my mother is going to read baby class stuff to my sister through the entire episode. Joy.
• Awesome new titles!
• Monks now.
• The Doctor was pretending to be a monk? Weird.
• Clara!
• Is she a nanny?
• Funky map thing...
• Phone ringing in a hole in the ground, aka, The Doctor's phone is ringing.
• The internet has disappeared?
• lol, crossing himself because it's a woman on the other end.
• Crap, she's been uploaded, but she's not there anymore. Wha???
• And suddenly the Doctor shows up.
• Lol, you fail, Doctor.
• Dude! It's that chick who played Madam Hooch in Harry Potter!
• How weird...
• Lol, the TARDIS is a mobile phone. How amusing.
• No, it's The Doctor upstairs.
• Or a creepy little girl.
• That's super weird and creepy.
• Got that right.
• Hello new coat. Me likes.
• A special box for the bowtie. Brilliant.
• I love hacker-y Doctor.
• And Clara is restored!
• WTF, Doctor? What are you doing?
• Who leaves a partially eaten cookie on the plate?
• He took her phone calls?
• Why's she leaning out a window?
• Seriously, screaming, crying babies are not good for watching TV around. But BBC America is not on the upstairs TV so no quiet Doctor Who watching for me.
• She's got the internet in her head now?
• Everyone thinks he's hitting on them.
• Turn-y things up top. Cool.
• Onto the plane. How is she not spilling her drink?
• Oh, empty cup. Or maybe not. Weird.
• Lol, passing the TARDIS off as magic.
• Lol he can't find the garage.
• People talking and babies screaming over my Doctor Who. Do not like.
• Breakfast with the Doctor's got to be interesting.
• Lol, tug of war across a small table.
• She's gonna get kidnapped...
• The Doctor dancing is always funny.
• That's a creepy thing.
• Yeah, that's creepier than Cybermen controlling you through the earpieces.
• Lol, fucked by social media.
• Frack, The Doctor's been hacked. NOT GOOD.
• Okay, not actually The Doctor.
• Oh, she is very cocky.
• Flying motorcycle. Awesome.
• Still cocky, Miss Annoying Lady?
• This is fun.
• And that's why you don't be ridiculously cocky around The Doctor.
• Like the lighter version of the music there.
• He's walking away from her? What? Why?
• UNIT!
• The Great Intelligence is back?! WHAT?!
• Odd, but kinda cool.
• So strange...
• Everyone thinks The Doctor wants to snog them!

Nameless, Brave and True

Housekeeping

Oh! What's this doing here? This is supposed to be at the end... oooohhhh! I have an announcement? I see. Well, here goes:

I missed the 7PM showing of Doctor Who "The Bells of St. John."

There, I said it. However, I will be watching the 10PM showing and doing Initial Reactions. I'm so excited!

Meanwhile, I have a review for this week's Once Upon a Time and Grimm. So this is also serving as the SPOILER WARNING.

Once Upon a Time - "Selfless, Brave and True" - Review

All of the cards are on the table! At least, they seem to be. Now all that's left is for the Storybrooke crew to figure out that Tamara and "Greg" are up to something. The possibilities on that end are, well, just about endless.

I'm gonna make a Lost connection here, mainly because I've blown through the first four seasons on Netflix. It's not spoiler-y at all, promise. This episode of Once Upon a Time reeks of Lost storytelling methods. A new character comes in, or we need to know a lot more about an existing character, and we get an entire episode containing their back story. This happened last week, too, though I refrained from saying anything about it. We got back story this week on both Tamara and August. Quite a fun and eventful back story, too. There, that wasn't such a bad connection, was it?

I'd pegged Tamara as a "black hat" pretty much since the promo for "Selfless, Brave and True." As it stands, I'm not disappointed by her, though I want to know just exactly what her motivations are. I'm not sure I like that she and "Greg" are involved romantically. Poor Neil's going to be heartbroken, I think.

I thought the August bits were... pretty formulaic. I thought it was interesting that a) he was turning wooden before he got to Storybrooke and b) that he talked to Neil again before going to Storybrooke. I'm somewhat disappointed he was age-regressed when he was turned human again. I think a love-triangle between Emma, August, and Neil would have been interesting. Forgetting Tamara in there, of course, cuz that's just not going to end well.

Now it's time for closing comments/thoughts.

• Still not entirely happy with Snow, though she was better this episode.
• Regina's slowly getting back in my good graces. She was brilliant when confronting "Greg."
• I wonder if The Dragon was actually a dragon or just a sorcerer?
• The Blue Fairy is really fast or else precognative.
• I can't wait till the next episode. Why all the breaks, ABC? WHY?!!

Grimm - "Nameless" - Review

Okay so, last week we got a lot of development from all over the place. This week we got a more concentrated look at some of that development. I, for one, really liked that. I thought last week's episode was too crammed full of stuff to really deal with it effectively. Again, we get stuff with Juliette, stuff with Renard, and then the case with Nick and Hank.

Juliette's stuff was intriguing. I think the Nick "ghosts" are a nice way to bring her memory back. I also really enjoyed her burgeoning relationship with Rosalee. If those two really become friends, I'll be overcome with joy. Monroe's inclusion in the "slumber party" was amusing. I think he and Nick need to get over themselves and just tell Juliette the truth.

Renard's business stuff was... interesting, from what I caught of it. Upset and screaming babies do not make the best TV-watching partners. I caught something about the Royals wanting to seize power again and make things all Imperialist again. Okay, that explains Renard wanting things to stay democratic... sort of. I'm honestly not sure what's going on there, but it was interesting until the explosion killed Renard's guy.

Now on to Nick and Hank's case. I thought it was fairly obvious they were doing a take on Rumplestiltskin. I also thought the Fuchsteufelwild looked like the Green Goblin from Marvel comics. I honestly wasn't paying much attention to those parts. It was a fairly standard plot thing-y as far as the case went. Though I was just as taken in by the police ruse as the Fuchsteufelwild was.

As I said last night, I honestly can't wait for next week's Grimm. Looks like it's gonna be a lot of Adalind-y fun.

Love ya, Jessie.

Mr. Sandman - Review

I would like to start off this blog post by saying: I'm totally caught up on Grimm now. I would have included Initial Reactions to tonight's episode with this post, except, well, I was babysitting my nephew. I didn't get to do Initial Reactions, though I did watch the episode... well, watching it as I type.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen last week's episode of Grimm, please leave the blog and come back later. The following review contains spoilers. This week's episode review should be done tomorrow, so no spoilers for that.

Grimm - "Mr. Sandman" - Review

Hooray for development! Here we got a bunch of stuff with Juliette, a short bit with Renard, and even some development of powers for Nick. Seems bits of Juliette's memories are coming back in a fairly spooky fashion. Looks like I was a bit right about those electrical motes being synapses firing. We didn't really get an explanation for them. Renard's mind seems to be having a hard time letting go of Juliette. Not sure what's going on with the aging thing, but it was creepy.

Speaking of creepy, I thought the Jinnamuru Xunte was creepy as fuck, more so because of his power than his appearance. I'm having a very visceral reaction to even the thought of maggot-y worms in my eyes. I'm pretty sure the Grimm team is going to have to try really hard to top themselves in terms of creep-factor for me. At the same time, the Jinnamuru Xunte's powers either gave Nick a new power or triggered one he already had. It's rather Daredevil-esque, this power. I do hope he gets to use it more often.

Last but not least on my list of things to talk about is about Miss Adalind. I want to know who this Hexenbeist she's talking to is and what she's gonna do. As much as I hate Adalind, her storyline right now has got me hooked. I wanna know!

After watching this week's episode, I seriously cannot wait for next week! But more on that later...

Housekeeping

I'm slowly catching myself up with shows. Tomorrow I'm planning to watch last week's Once Upon a Time and maybe Arrow and Supernatural, though I'm definitely watching Doctor Who. That's right, Doctor Who is coming back tomorrow! I'm so excited!

Love ya, Jessie.

Because the Night - Review

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen last week's episode of The Vampire Diaries, please leave the blog and come back later. I am not going to refrain from spoiling the episode in the following review. There will also be a Housekeeping section in this blog post so feel free to have a look at that after the review.

The Vampire Diaries - "Because the Night" - Review

So this was a fun episode. I quite enjoyed Damon's trip down memory lane and "emotionless" Elena. I still don't think she's exactly emotionless, but we'll just go with it. I don't really have much else to actually discuss here, though I did take some notes so I'm gonna go ahead and just stick those in now.

• 70's Damon is not a fun as 70's Spike.
• Now who's fault is it that people want to kill you, Klaus?
• I didn't like Shane and now I don't like Silas in Shane's form.
• Yay Lexi! I'm so glad she didn't go away completely after Damon killed her.
• It's nice to see Elena and Rebekah getting along.
• Not to sound racist or anything, but it's nice to see some not-black witches for once.
• Dun dun dun, Caroline ruined it. Go figure.
• Now I kinda want to ship Elena/Rebekah.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to some bigger, badder episodes coming up. Hopefully, we'll get less of the boys moping over Elena's lack of emotions and less of Caroline moping. Furthermore, I really hope Klaus changes his tune some 'cause he's STILL driving me nuts.

Housekeeping

About the time tonight's TVD was on, I was playing the My Little Pony game on my sister's iPhone while she finished painting a ceramic dragon. So... not only was I behind, but I missed tonight's episode. I probably wouldn't have watched it anyway since, due to ceramic-painting, I didn't watch last week's episode till just now.

If you'd like to see the pre-kiln version of my dragon, go HERE. The link goes straight to the image on DeviantArt, I swear. We went to this place called Glazed Over. It was pretty cool, though there were lots of kids pretty much from the time we got there to the time we left.

Tomorrow, I will hopefully have time to watch Grimm, Arrow, and Supernatural. I'll let you know how that goes.

Love ya, Jessie.

Why I'm Not Finishing "The Amber Spyglass"

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not read any of the books in the His Dark Materials book series, please do not read the following review. There will be spoilers for the entire series, though I do focus on reviewing The Amber Spyglass. There will be a "Houskeeping" section in this blog post so feel free to skip down to that.

The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman - Review

Well actually, just the first 59 pages, not the entire book

I was really trying to just go and get this series under my belt. I probably should have just left it alone when The Golden Compass didn't interest me enough to pick up The Subtle Knife in the first place. But no, I had to give the series another chance. Well, I'm done now. Not gonna even force myself to finish The Amber Spyglass.

I'm stopping because I just can't bring myself to care about the characters, or what they're doing, at all. Not to mention, there's suddenly a new race of people to keep track of. I understand that in a book series with multiple worlds there are going to be a lot of different creatures. I understand that not every creature is going to be explained in the first couple of books. However, in a trilogy, the last book should not be introducing new players to the mix. We should know who our players are, what they want, and how they plan on getting it. This has not happened with the His Dark Materials trilogy. I still don't know what the hell is going on. The main characters don't know what's going on. No one seems to know much of anything.

The Amber Spyglass starts off with a girl named Ama interacting with Mrs. Coulter. Mrs. Coulter has apparently kidnapped Lyra and has he sleeping in a cave. Yes, sleeping, like, under sedation type sleeping. We then jump to Will, who's got a pair of Angels protecting him in order to bring him to Lord Asriel. The main Angel of the pair, Balthamos, is impatient and rude. His entire plan hinges on convincing Will to go to Lord Asriel but Will would rather look for Lyra. Balthamos gets increasingly tetchy because he apparently can't or won't just grab Will and drag him off to Lord Asriel for some reason. When the second Angel, Baruch, returns from where ever he went off to, he's then sent to Asriel by Will and... captured or something.

Meanwhile, Serafina Pekkala reappears from where ever she went off to at the end of The Subtle Knife. Except, she's in her world talking to Iorek Byrnison about Lee Scoresby and the death she could not prevent. She goes off again, telling Iorek how to get to Lee's preserved body. And apparently, foxes can suddenly understand human speech and tell Cliff Ghasts. Uhm... right, Whatever. Iorek goes off to see Lee and eat him in order to... vengeance. It has to do with vengeance. I was skimming by this point.

Back to Ama. She's decided to go to some monks and get a cure for Lyra, who she thinks is under a spell. When she sneaks into Mrs. Coulter's cave with the cure, she finds out that Mrs. Coulter lies. And then we get some Lord Asriel time. He talks to a Lilliputian - I'm sorry, Borrower? Fairy? Oh! Pixie? No? Gallivespian? That's it, a very tiny person we've never heard of before but are apparently small enough and common enough to be spies... sounds like something a very observant child should have said something about... ya know, if she was at all actually observant.

Yeah... this is where I'm stopping. I didn't even realize the small person was teensy until I read about him jumping onto a not-giant bird. Turns out, I accidentally skipped a rather large paragraph describing the Gallivespians. When I start skipping like that, I know I'm uninterested. So I'm stopping.

My overall opinion of the His Dark Materials trilogy: should probably have been a four book series, at least. It would have given Phillip Pullman enough time to fully develop the characters and better develop the storyline. I'm not saying I could do better, but... the story is choppy at best. I don't care about any of the characters. Only the first universe is really developed in any satisfactory way. I'm just done with it. Probably gonna reread me some Harry Potter... again.

Housekeeping

I did not get around to watching last week's selection of shows. I got home too late tonight to watch Arrow and due to spoiler-y trailers, I'm not watching Supernatural tonight. So... yeah... that stuff's not happening tonight, or it might be, I'm not sure yet.

Anyway... if all goes well, I should have up some reviews tomorrow. Maybe.

Love ya, Jessie.

Weekend Update

Good Sunday to you!

I... haven't watched last week's The Vampire Diaries or Grimm due to Birthday Dinners, Grocery Shopping, and Friends Coming Over. So... those reviews will probably be up sometime next week... hopefully.

Today, my nephew is getting baptized. Yay. And then his mommy and I are driving to Dallas with him to visit the third, youngest, and cutest sister. That's one sister, lots of adjectives. Essentially... I will most likely not get to watch Once Upon a Time or do Initial Reactions...

We're coming back from Dallas on Tuesday and we'll have another Birthday Dinner, presumably, for the youngest of my sisters. I'm not sure what the rest of my week's gonna look like, but hopefully, I'll be able to watch and review stuff, at least.

Just wanted to give you guys a heads-up because I haven't posted in a few days... and stuff.

Love ya, Jessie.

The Stranger Returns

Oh, it's another crappy title mix up. That must mean there are some reviews to be had. Just reviews tonight, I'm afraid. I missed The Vampire Diaries due to a birthday dinner for the eldest of my little sisters.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen yesterday's episodes of Arrow or Supernatural, please leave the blog now and return later. The following reviews contain spoilers.

Arrow - "The Huntress Returns" - Review

I was a really big fan of Huntress last time she showed up. I was really excited she was coming back and wasn't just a one-off thing. That said, I'm somewhat disappointed in Ms. Bertinelli this time around. She came across as much more of a villain this time. Yes, I know Huntress has never really been completely White Hat, but I didn't think she'd go for using people as leverage. In my opinion, that was going too far. I know she wants her father dead and all, but to drag Olly into it like that? Nuh uh. Do not like.

I did, however, like Huntress' outfits. The "stripper" outfit felt very comic-book-y to me, toned down though it was. I liked her little mask, though when she went from full-on Huntress to just a touch of goth-y eye shadow in the interrogation room... that was a bit odd. Apparently in Starling City they allow prisoners to pretty-up before being interrogated. I liked that she gave up Olly without giving up Olly. That was clever and amusing to watch.

Now on to Tommy and Laurel. I thought Tommy's reaction to processing Olly being "The Hood" was very realistic. I like that he came around after Helena used him against Olly. I'm sort of annoyed at Laurel for expecting Tommy to be her rock after he'd clearly hurt himself. Big arm braces usually mean "give me slack," but apparently not to Laurel. At the same time, she didn't know exactly what happened to him so... that's why I'm only sort of annoyed. I thought Laurel was wonderfully sneaky about getting her dad to see her mom. That made me smile. I also thought Detective Lance's reaction to the stuff about Sarah was spot-on.

Finally, Roy and Thea got some air-time together. Roy got to be both a jerk and a hero, which was nice. Not sure exactly why he told Thea to go ahead and get him the job and then tell her off for doing it... well, not tell her off exactly, but, ya know, he wasn't happy about it. I think their chemistry is really nice. The distracting kiss was cute.

So, that's what I thought of the episode... oh, wait... there was some flashback story stuff? It was essentially really boring? Oh, okay. Olly did something somewhat clever and Slade was happy about it and now they're blackmailing Fyers... joy. Could probably have done without that this episode, but whatever.

Let me know what you thought down in the comments, that'd be great.

Supernatural - "Goodbye Stranger" - Review

This episode was really interesting. There were lots of interesting plot developments not involving Sam and Dean. I really had fun watching this episode. Wonder what that says about me as a Supernatural fan?

Okay, so... Meg and Castiel... Megstiel, since Dean, or was that Sam?, so wonderfully put it. That... came out of nowhere for me. Yes, Castiel kissed her in a previous episode and now Meg wants to jump his bones. I get it, but... now apparently he's her "unicorn," as she puts it? Yeah... not sure I'm buying that exactly. It doesn't help that she's dead and so not coming back to develop that further.

Naomi. I'm really enjoying hating her. Amanda Tapping has just hit the bureaucratic, brainwashing angel bit out of the park. I'm wondering what exactly she's up to.

Crowley was back! I love Crowley. He's pretty darn awesome for an evil S.O.B. I thought he had some really funny lines and was properly menacing... at least at Meg. Other than that, I was just enjoying him being in the episode at all.

Castiel this episode was, well, Cas. I thought it was interesting that he'd apparently been brainwash-training to kill Dean and then couldn't. By the way, that image of all the dead Deans in the Angel Danger Room was disturbing. I also thought he argued really well with Naomi against killing Dean and bringing the Winchesters in on what he was searching for. The effect when he grabbed the Angel Tablet reminded me very much of Twilight Sparkle when she's channeling the Elements of Harmony. Yup, pony reference in a Supernatural review. Deal with it.

That reminds me, references! There were a few funny ones. The big one that stood out to me was the "Shut up, Meg" thing. It made me laugh when I realized the boys had said it a few times. For those who don't know, that's a Family Guy reference. Everyone always tells Meg to shut up. I also liked the Lord of the Rings reference at the end, though I didn't realize what that was until Sam said something. Not a giant fan of LOTR so that's probably why.

Anyway... that's what I thought of the episode. Let me know what you thought in the comments, please.

Housekeeping

Yes, I missed The Vampire Diaries tonight. I should be able to watch it tomorrow and put up a review with my Grimm initial reactions. Hopefully. No promises.

You might have noticed I changed my site-theme back to it's blue self. Yeah, since the Neopets event is essentially over, I figured it'd be nice to go back. I did find a nice starry background to go the the Pleiades theme instead of an abstract blue thing.

Also, comment, please. I'd really like to know that I'm not shouting into the void... ya know, like I don't check my site stats... but really, comments would be nice.

Love ya, Jessie.

Shakespeare Code Returns

Yes, I know, crappy title mix up, but hey, there's a surprise there. I've been re-watching Doctor Who with my dad, who's watching it for the first time. We finally caught up to where I stopped reviewing so... I have a surprise Doctor Who review for you!

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Arrow or the third season of Doctor Who (2005-present series), there will be spoilers.

Doctor Who - "The Shakespeare Code" - Review

Oh, where to start on this one? "The Shakespeare Code" was fun, I'll say that. This was one of those episodes that got some flack from older Whovians, I noticed. After watching it for what seems like the zillionth time, I've got to agree with some of their points. I haven't really outlined what those points are, but there are some of them in the following paragraphs.

Martha Jones was rather... I dunno, a mix of boring, brash, and pouty. She goes through some of the normal "first time travel" bits and then up and starts randomly blabbing stuff she shouldn't. The Doctor telling her not to step on butterflies apparently means she can just say whatever she likes without worrying about the timeline. Gah! And then she gets all pouty when The Doctor doesn't give her the time of night while he's thinking. I just want to strangle her sometimes!

I thought Shakespeare was awesome. This "rock star" interpretation of him was amusing, though The Doctor quoting randomly at him was annoying. I did not like the Carrionites, though I found the explanation of their "witchcraft" interesting. But can anyone use words that way then, or just that race? And how does it work exactly?

The whole thing together was fun, though. I enjoyed the running around. I enjoyed Shakespeare for once. I even enjoyed the Expelliarmus to get rid of the Carrionites. With witches on the brain, I'd probably have blurted that out, too.

Arrow - "The Huntress Returns" - Initial Reactions

•  W00T strip club...
• Hello bit of the comic outfit.
• The club is finally finished?
• That was corny, McKenna.
• See, Alex Kingston I can take seriously. Ian Somerholder, not so much.
• Because it creates drama! Can't have a show without drama!
• Roy's back. Yay.
• He called the club Verde? Did I hear that right?
• Significantly nerve-wracking?
• Well Olly looks disappointed.
• Awkward...
• Gee, confrontations are fun.
• Saw that coming a little bit.
• Much smoother liar than Olly.
• Oh! Verdant! Not as green referencing as I thought. I'm slightly disappointed.
• Don't know why you thought he'd be the same when he got back anyway, Tommy.
• Always a pertinent question...
• Gonna blow that puppy up.
• When in doubt, hit it.
• Does Olly keep calling her "Speedy" or "Sweetie"?
• And apparently he doesn't even get a mention during that scene.
• Even simulated clubs on TV give me a headache.
• Angry Olly is scary Olly.
• He didn't do anything to try and stop her in the first place...
• And Felicity meets Helena and instantly gets shot down.
• This again?
• He's a really good shot.
• Because it's not his secret, Laurel. You should really just tell her that.
• Cute, Roy, real cute.
• This is where Roy gets to be the hero.
• If he's quipping, he's probably okay.
• Car chase time.
• Of course Olly got the decoy. It wouldn't be fun otherwise.
• She looks a bit Catwoman with that mask.
• Apparently that eye-makeup came off easily, but just enough to leave tasteful eye-makeup.
• Starling City has a bar instead of a metal look for the handcuffs.
• Hello breakout.
• I'm sure the teen-girls are being all "OMG, his shirt is off!"
• Nice, Thea.
• So why send her to Rome, then?
• Oh hey, that B-story/flashback thing...
• So now Olly's gonna break up with McKenna...
• Or not.
• Good girl, Felicity.
• Hello really obvious plot-thing.
• Gee, that's a nice way to greet people who come into a semi-public office, even if it turned out to be Diggle.
• Helena vs Olly. Fun fun.
• That was an awesome jump, there.
• McKenna's probably going to get seriously hurt here.
• Nice, she caught it.
• You were being a bad guy, of course he'd have killed you.
• Called it!
• And now Olly's all broken up about it.
• And there's the break up, 'cept she's breaking up with him.
• Good on you, Detective Lance.
• Yup, that sucks... and really, being in a relationship does not make you automatically happy.
• Apparently their mistake is not looking close to where they are.

Gaiaonline Easter Event

It has officially begun! The war for or against cute is... interesting, but not nearly as fun as it could have been. There's essentially a lot of thread-spamming and egg-hunting. Egg-hunting is... difficult without a list of eggs. I'm having fun with it, anyway.

Love ya, Jessie.

The Subtle Born Wesen

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen last Friday's episode of Grimm or read The Golden Compass/Northern Lights or The Subtle Knife, please leave the blog and come back later. The following reviews contain spoilers.

Grimm - "Natural Born Wesen" - Review

Okay so... "Natural Born Wesen" is essentially  a vehicle to introduce a new player in the form of the Wesen Council. Mind you, we don't know yet if the Council will play a huge role in the series. It is kind of nice to know that the Council is there and that the Wesen have their own sort-of police. Nice bit of world building.

As for the rest of the episode, I thought the back robbers were fairly standard bank robbers. It's usually a group of three, most often two guys and a girl. One of the group wants out after people end up dead. That person then ends up murdered by one or more of the others. This is exactly what happened here. Guy wants out, other guy murders him, girl gets in on the murdering. Standard bank robber plot. Fairly boring. The only part of this bit that was fun, was Monroe. His utter lack of under-cover skill his always hilarious.

As for the carry-over from last week, I thought it was interesting that Juliette and Renard essentially had to drink some of Nick's blood to be cured. Not what I thought would have happened, but interesting. Another thing I found interesting about this bit: no one goes to check on Juliette. She spends all night next to her door and no one notices. No one thinks to check on her at all that night. Nick's one phone call was really short and it was one phone call. Girl's been through a lot and not a one of the "Scoobies" thinks to check on her. What? Gah!

I did find Juliette's hallucinations interesting. My theory: the chasm represents her memories of Nick and the electrical motes represent her synapses firing, trying to regain the memories. Or something. Hope she finds out what's actually going on soon, because this beating around the bush thing is getting old.

Overall, the episode was interesting. It seemed like a lot of filler, especially after the whirlwind of last week. Hope we get more plot stuff next week.

The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman

I finally finished the second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Subtle Knife. I liked it a lot more than The Golden Compass, though it still wasn't stellar. The Subtle Knife is very much a setup book. People are being introduced and then moved into place. The reason for the moving around isn't explained in any satisfactory manner and I still don't understand most of the character motivations.

Lyra still irks me. She is much too bubbly and friendly for her own good, even when trying not to be. I do not understand her at all. One point really stuck out to me, during the beginning of the book. Will tells Lyra to go wash herself up and she tells him she doesn't know how. Now, granted, it's been a very long while since I learned to wash myself, but I'm pretty sure I learned how by observing my parents washing me. Lyra's apparently been washed by servants or something her entire life and still doesn't know how to wash herself? How is she such an observant child and yet doesn't know how to do that? I know it's a nit-picky thing, but I about wanted to shake her over it. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Will Parry, I found much more believable and interesting. He's had to deal with a mentally ill mother on his own and then accidentally murders someone trying to get away from them. It really wasn't his fault the guy tripped over the cat. I found Will rather smart, savvy and properly wary of the people around him. Though I don't quite understand the Subtle Knife itself, I think Will is an excellent choice of a bearer. At least he's had it stolen less than Lyra did with the alethiometer.

We get to learn more about Lee Scoresby through his search for Grumman. He's every inch the practical man I thought he was. I enjoyed his daemon, Hester, as well. When she wasn't being quiet, she was wonderfully sarcastic.

Serafina Pekkala was... meh in The Subtle Knife. She didn't really do all that much besides lead the witches to the Citigazze world. I thought it was interesting that her magic could not heal Will's hand, but I'd have liked an explanation as to why.

Overall, I found The Subtle Knife much more interesting than The Golden Compass, though it still didn't engage me as much as I would have liked. I've started the last book in the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass. So far, it's... meh. I dislike angels in fiction and their ridiculousness. But that's all I'm saying for now.

Gaiaonline Easter Event

It's coming! Today we had a storyline update about Gaia's Easter Bunny. I thought it was interesting and slightly fairytale. I can't wait to see what happens with the event!

Housekeeping

So... I did a little tweaking on the "Reviewed" page. The "Movies" section now has a table separating the list in two. This was done so that the page wouldn't be longer than it has to be... which is already really long. I was thinking about doing something similar with the "Books" and "Fanfiction" sections, but I'm not sure how that would work exactly... the titles and their authors are just too long, I think.

I'd like to know what you guys thought of the latest episodes or whatever of the stuff I reviewed. Let me know in the comments, if you would take a few moments. I'd greatly appreciate it.

Love ya, Jessie.

Bring It On Storybrooke

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen last Thursday's episode of The Vampire Diaries or last night's episode of Once Upon a Time, please leave the blog and come back later. There will be spoilers. Also, a minor spoiler for next week's Once Upon a Time. I consider it minor if it's revealed in the teaser, trailer? Whatever, it's minor.

The Vampire Diaries - "Bring It On" - Review

So... this episode we got Elena essentially being soulless, Caroline finally realizing Tyler's not coming back, and Klaus and Hayley attempting to manipulate each other. It was... filler as far as I'm concerned. Everyone needed to cool off after the whole "Finding the cure" thing and deal with their issues before the next Big Bad thing.

I enjoyed "emotionless" Elena less than I thought I would. Also, slightly annoyed they kept calling it "emotionless" because A) it was her humanity turned off and B) Elena had emotions. Those emotions just weren't colored by all of Elena's guilt. The way Nina Dobrev played "emotionless" Elena gave me Katherine flashbacks. I felt like the setting and everyone (meaning just Caroline and Stefan) stressing over her made it hard for "emotionless" Elena to really be the best of what "emotionless" Elena could be. She's essentially shown to have a "Want. Take. Have." mentality, to borrow a phrase from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

Stefan and Caroline were rather boring this episode. I felt no connection to them. They're both mourning the loss of their lovers and babysitting Elena. Neither of them made any kind of attempt to understand "emotionless" Elena. They just kept telling her she wasn't herself. And no, I did not buy Stefan's apparent change of heart before he vervained Elena. It's no wonder Elena went off on them over it. I didn't even feel for Caroline at the end. It was just... okay, she can stop calling Tyler over and over now.

I enjoyed the small bits we got with Damon and Rebekah. They're my favorite characters right now and seeing them interact was fun. I especially liked how Damon told Rebekah why she didn't really want to be "cured." That was a brilliant moment. On a side note, I'm watching Lost and I just can't take Boone seriously because of Damon. I end up breaking into fits of laughter when he shows up.

Anyway... last but not least, we have Klaus and Hayley. I've made it quite clear how much I despise Klaus, so I won't go into that again. Hayley... I don't like her. She falls very flat, in my opinion. Their interaction was serious filler. Yes, we get she'd been working for Katherine. Yes, we get that Klaus apparently knows about her family. But that was it.

So, not much else to say about this episode. It was a rest point between Big Bads. Looks like the Big Bad is going to be Silas. I'm sure we'll find that out for sure this week.

Once Upon a Time - "Welcome to Storybrooke" - Review

This was definitely more interesting than last week's episode, even if it was rather basic. Even the "surprise reveal" wasn't much of a surprise to me after the rest of the episode.

During "Welcome to Storybrooke" we get the backstory to Greg Mendell and Regina's idea to have a son all wrapped up in a nice bow. We still don't know how Regina got Henry, but we do know why she wanted him. Something to break up the monotony of her existence. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the fact that "Greg" hasn't sought out Regina, especially since he filmed her doing magic. However, I thought he came across as very creepy during his present day interactions.

As for present day Regina, I'm still not happy with her. That sudden turn during the last story arc just ruined her for me. It was really obvious she wouldn't end up actually casting the curse, too. She apparently learned nothing during that scene with Henry and the cupcake at the beginning of the season. Or else anything she did learn got killed during her time with her mother.

Past Regina was kind of fun to watch. I thought the way Lana Parrilla portrayed Regina being really happy with the way the curse worked out was positively amusing and then as she got bored with the monotony, it made me grin even more. I thought the way Regina got really attached to Owen was a) really quick and b) kind of sweet. That she got so attached that quickly was just kind of... odd.

Last stop for this review is Snow. I'm not sure I really buy her never having killed anyone before. Or at least, she apparently didn't see any of those kills as being as big as Cora's. They were at war in the Enchanted Forest, what did she think was going on exactly? I didn't like her reaction to essentially killing Cora nor her going to Regina asking for death. That would not have solved anything, in fact it would have made things worse had Regina gone through with it. I also don't think Snow's going to become evil. Her massive guilt over Cora's death is proof of that to me.

So, I can't wait till next week. The ball will be fully rolling again and I can't wait. Also, looks like August is going to be back! Yay!

Obelisk War Update

The war is apparently over. The Neopets team hasn't told us who's won yet. We're apparently having a breather. Can't say I'm sad to see the constant Battledome-ing stop.

Love ya, Jessie.

PS. Whoops, forgot my emoticon the first time.

Welcome To Storybrooke - IR

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Sorry I've been away for a week. I was house-sitting and babysitting and watching Lost. However, this week I should be on schedule with posting my initial reactions and reviews. That said here is your

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Once Upon a Time, please leave the blog and come back later. The following initial reactions are full of spoilers.

Once Upon a Time - "Welcome to Storybrooke" - Initial Reactions

• Hey, it's that guy from Alphas.
• That looks like more than just electrical storm-ness. Looks like rain.
• Explosion of magic!
• Grahm!
• Reused footage!
• It's interesting to see Regina confused.
• Yeah, so why can't Regina see that?
• Gold's got a point, but Regina's unbelievably stubborn.
• Oh yes, lie to him more.
• The world isn't as black and white as you think it is, Henry.
• Schooled by a little kid. That's funny.
• Cute.
• That's where she got the idea for having a kid.
• Things get stale without change.
• He really doesn't.
• I want that mobile.
• Mysterious curse scroll...
• Sneaking into the crypt...
• Using it on Henry seems to be the plan.
• Yup, this kid's the reason she gets Henry.
• No, that wasn't vaguely creepy at all...
• Fail, Neil.
• Dun dun dun.
• Fail, Regina.
• One or both of them end up dead.
• Okay, that guy is seriously freaking me out.
• I don't think blowing up the well is going to do it.
• Apparently got a nice new car...
• Never thought I'd see a car chase on Once Upon a Time.
• Random theory: Owen is Greg Mendell.
• Did you not learn your lesson with the cupcake?
• Bye bye curse.
• That's pretty much what I thought.
• Yeah, because Regina killing you would just end everything.
• Well gee, isn't that nice?
• I don't think that's how it's gonna work out.
• And I was right! Go figure.

Obelisk War Update

Yet more Battledome-ness, this time though, you get to work in teams to try and defeat the Big Bad. Not sure exactly how that works as I haven't done it myself, but, ya know, have fun with that. I'll probably update this again if things get more exciting.

Housekeeping

So... tomorrow I'll have my review for tonight's Once Upon a Time up and a review for last Thrusday's The Vampire Diaries. Tuesday will be my review of last Friday's Grimm and The Subtle Knife. Wednesday, initial reactions for Arrow. Thursday, initial reactions for TVD and reviews for Arrow and Supernatural. Friday, initial reactions for Grimm and review of TVD. Saturday, review of Grimm.

That's my hopeful itenerary. I've already written some of those reviews so... yeah. I should be able to stay on schedule with that.

Love ya, Jessie.

The Miller's Daughter

SPOILER ALERT

If you have not seen last night's episode of Once Upon a Time, please leave the blog and come back after you've watched it. The following review will contain spoilers.

Once Upon a Time - "The Miller's Daughter" - Review

This was one of the creepier episodes of Once Upon a Time. I've never been comfortable with the idea of Rumple and Cora as a couple. I was even less comfortable seeing it in its full-blown form. That was just... ick. That said, I very much enjoyed Rose McGowan's portrayal of young Cora. I didn't much like Cora's motivation, though. That was rather insane and didn't really make sense to me.

I really liked Emma using magic, though her protection spell was really weak. At least it seemed that way to me. I liked the further explanation of magic. It makes sense that magic isn't all in the mind. If it were, everyone would be able to do it. Channeling emotion takes skill. The explanation really spoke to me as a writer.

I think Snow going "dark side" was a good thing. I don't think "good" should be black and white. I thought the difference between Cora without her heart and with it was subtle to begin with. When she got her heart back, it was kind of intensely obvious that it was back. I thought that was a little weird, but nice at the same time.

And yes, I was wrong about Regina being mind-controlled. However, I still didn't like her quick turn around when it came to Cora. She lost credibility in my eyes and I don't think she's going to be a credible villain for me anymore.

I can't wait till next week and the full aftermath of Regina going completely dark side.

Obelisk War Update

Looks like we're getting another round of stronger Battledome opponents for the Obelisk War over on Neopets. Honestly, I couldn't even hold my own against the second tier of fighters so... that event's essentially gone down the drain for me.

Love ya, Jessie.

The Miller's Face Off

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Once Upon a Time or last Friday's episode of Grimm, please leave the blog and return later. The following review and initial reactions are filled with spoilers.

Grimm - "Face Off" - Review

This episode was pretty awesome for several reasons, the first of which was the tension. It was palpable throughout the entire episode. I thought it was amazing that the tension never let up. The second item of awesomeness: Grimm is back! It's been so long! Third awesome thing: The "Scoobie Gang" has finally gathered together completely.

I'm also really glad Nick and Monroe are finally up to speed on what's been happening around them. Nick finally knowing about Renard is great. Juliette finally knowing some pretty hinky stuff is up is great, though I'd like to know just how much she got clued in. Perhaps now our "Scoobie Gang" all knows each other, things can get going properly.

Adalind... bugs me to know end. She's just so slimy... one minute you think she's back on Renard's side, the next she's really obviously not. I'd like to know who she's going to tell about the impending baby first, Renard or his brother.

Last thing I have to talk about: Nick and the purification potion. It's going to be interesting seeing what comes of that and what he has to do afterward. Seems like going Red Hulk is just a potion side effect, which is interesting. I can't wait for the next episode.

Once Upon a Time - "The Miller's Daughter" -Initial Reactions

• Rose McGowan gets to play young Cora? Interesting choice...
• She's apparently a bitch, too.
• Thought for a second we were gonna get more Hook backstory, too... totally wrong.
• That fake blood is really bright.
• You are wicked, Cora. WTF, man?
• Interesting dagger-y thing. Nice.
• Wasn't that your ultimate endgame anyway, Cora?
• Like Cora's dress there.
• Kind of like the twist that Cora bragged about it instead of her father.
• That's not comforting, Henry.
• As he's dying, Gold's voice is getting more Rumple-y. Nice.
• That's pretty awesome.
• And that's how he kept his motivation for the curse for so long.
• This scene is just disturbing.
• So... Cora does end up a queen in her own right? Right?
• That was an easily broken protection spell.
• Yeah, cuz a door is so gonna stop someone for long...
• Why is David still outside? He can't have fallen that hard.
• That's a very cream dress, though.
• This backstory just gets more and more disturbing the longer it goes on.
• Oh, NOW he wakes up... crap timing.
• Did not realize that candle was double ended.
• That was rather anti-climactic...
  
• Lots of feels.
• Trying not to cry Neil looks like a monkey... just sayin'.
• That's a good point... and a nice point to manipulate Regina over.
• Rumple, you just have some horrible taste in women.
• Instant change in demeanor there.
• Why is there a tear in her coat?
• No, just pulled strings... that doesn't count as doing anything.

Housekeeping

Tomorrow I should have a review for Once Upon a Time, possibly something else. I'm not sure yet.

Love ya, Jessie

Face Off The Great and Powerful Oz

SPOILER WARNING FOR: GRIMM AND OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

Please leave the blog if you have not seen tonight's Grimm or Oz the Great and Powerful.

What follows are my initial reactions and a review.

Also, go see Oz the Great and Powerful. You won't regret it.

Grimm - "Face Off" - Initial Reactions

• Started this about 20 minutes in because I was taking care of my nephew. Reactions up till now: Interesting developments between Juliette and Renard. Interesting looks between Nick and Renard. Nick has actual self control, wonderment.
• Run Renard, Run.
• I like that they're putting the pieces together finally.
• Why does that necessarily mean hell will break loose?
• Because Monroe, that's how things work.
• Nick's not in a listening mood, Monroe.
• Adalind...
• Life sucks for you, chicka.
• Poor Juliette.
• Well that was awkwardly sinister...
• Yup, Renard's done keeping you safe.
• Hello horror movie chiche...
• I kinda like angry Renard.
• I never liked warm milk.
• Adalind gets what she wants... we get to see Renard's Hexenbiest face for real...
• Monroe is funny, Nick looks like a zombie.
• Yay cuddle Monroe/Rosalee goodness!
• Happy Adalind is creep-tastic.
• FINALLY!!!!!!
• Lol, that was great. Everything ends in death.
• Well that was a convenient flashback...
• The cat got hit by a car. It was funny. Not so funny now.
• Suspicious behavior in a police department is overlooked... Renard gets the key. Joy.
• Hank's back!
• That's a cool effect with the blender.
• So Nick can do the purification thing, too? Interesting.
• Monroe would write invites to that.
• You should not have stored it in your desk. That thing should have been on your person, Nick.
• Hank stalls better than Olly from Arrow.
• I also kind of like bitchy Juliette.
• Good boy, Renard, lying to Adalind.
• Yeah... I so needed another reason to hate her.
• Things are really ramping up here. I like it.
• Creepy overgrown cottage...
• Amazing it was overgrown that fast.
• Yeah, saw that coming.
• That's no consolation, Renard.
• Awkwardness ensues.
• That's less than last time...
• Lol, Renard is a bit funny.
• Explaining things to Juliette before this would have been a smart thing to do, but of course they didn't do that.
• Dun dun dun, Adalind is pregnant! And seriously creepy about it.

Oz the Great and Powerful - Review

I got to see this movie last night at a "midnight showing" aka 10:00PM for some reason... and I really, really enjoyed Oz the Great and Powerful. There were a few parts that took me out of it, but it was enjoyable overall. I'm gonna just go ahead and talk about the stuff I didn't like and then the stuff I did like.

Stuff I did not like: Theodora. She was the most forced character in the entire movie. I really wanted to like her, because I'm predisposed toward Mila Kunis and Theodora herself in the form of Elphaba from Wicked. However, instead of a strong, sure of herself woman, I was treated to an insanely naive Theodora who very quickly tread on the line of psychotic girlfriend. I thought she wasn't very well characterized and her transformation was seriously sudden and ridiculous. I also had a problem with Evanora for just that reason. Who the hell does that to their little sister? I sometimes hate my little sister, but I would never just up and decide to turn her into the ultimate evil. Seriously?

I kind of liked Evanora's motivations to get rid of Glinda, though. Having all that wealth and power pales in comparison to having beauty, apparently. Though she did have that, just not in the way she wanted it. Turning evil must have been a horrible shock to her.

Stuff I did like: The CG. It was brilliant. Even knowing Finnly and the China Girl were completely CG, I grew attached to them. It was pretty amazing CG. I also liked how the good guys used their wits and clever tech to beat the evil witches. I liked Michelle Williams as Glinda. She was just perfect, though her random loose bang-thing bugged me a bit. And speaking of Michelle Williams, I really enjoyed that she got to be the link between Oz the Great and Powerful and The Wizard of Oz, which was sort of a blink and you miss it moment.

Overall, I quite loved Oz the Great and Powerful. I highly recommend going to see it, or at least picking it up once it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix. I think that any fan of Oz is gonna love it.

Housekeeping

There have been a lack of updates in the Obelisk War over on Neopets... and that's because it's all Battledome stuff. It's boring. Though it's a good chance for the Neopets Team to get more people into the Beta Battledome...

Anyway... tomorrow, I will hopefully have my review of Grimm up. Hopefully. I did watch the entire episode, I just missed commenting because of a fussy nephew. But yeah... have a good weekend!

Love ya, Jessie.

The Decoy Vampire Bride's Diary

I was right about there being CW shenanigans. This week is apparently Spring Break for them, or something. There aren't any new episodes of Arrow, Supernatural, or The Vampire Diaries this week. In light of that, I'll be reviewing something different.

I've chosen to review two movies I watched on Netflix this past week-or-so. The first is called Vampire Diary and the second is The Decoy Bride. If you have not seen these movies, I suggest you go and watch them before you read my reviews. There will be SPOILERS, I can almost guarantee it. Although if you don't care about movie SPOILERS, go right ahead. I will try not to SPOIL the endings.

Vampire Diary - Review

Vampire Diary was not at all what I was expecting. It was also not a movie I would have watched if I hadn't been so utterly bored. The fact that I stuck through the entire movie is a miracle, given I don't often last five minutes in others like it.

Vampire Diary is one of those artsy "found footage" films. None of the characters in it were particularly interesting. The vampire lore of the movie-universe wasn't explained until about halfway through... or at least it felt like halfway through. It was slow-paced and had me wanting to strangle all of the characters in the first ten minutes, at least.

The entire premise of Vampire Diary hangs on the one vampire of the piece, Vicki, being pregnant and having to drink much more blood than she normally would in order to support the child. I liked that the main human, Holly, freaked out rather realistically upon finding out that Vicki was a vampire. I liked that after the initial freak out, she questioned Vicki quite extensively. I was not happy with what took place after that.

Holly was apparently meant to be Vicki's protector but when she rejects Vicki, Vicki goes almost feral for a good chunk of the movie. Mind you, this was not Holly's fault or decision, it was all on Vicki. So Vicki goes on her killing spree and comes back after Holly finds her... and they proceed to essentially murder both of Holly's friends in order to keep Vicki and her baby alive.

There was a lot of gore here, too. Most of it wasn't really in-your-face kind of gore, but it was there. There was a scene where Vicki essentially kills a guy by sucking him dry... if you know what I mean. It wasn't really graphic, but I could have done without it. As far as I could see, it did not serve the story.

I was not impressed with this movie. I do not recommend watching it. I'd rather watch The Twilight Saga all the way through ten times in a row than watch this.

Now on to the movie I actually liked...

The Decoy Bride - Review

I'm not a gigantic fan of Romantic Comedy. Most of it is contrived. This was... about the same, but managed to hit some nice notes here and there. That David Tennant starred as the leading man did not hurt in the least. But I digress...

The Decoy Bride is set almost entirely on a very small Scottish island called Hegg. Apparently the worst possible thing to be on Hegg is single. The main character, Katie Nic Aoidh, returns home without a husband about the same time a life-long starlet, Lara Tyler, is looking for a very remote place to have her wedding. Of course, hilarity must ensue because Lara Tyler is marrying an author who wrote about, but had never been to, Hegg. Hegg, as it turns out, is not at all what James Arbor had written about.

The Decoy Bride is full of  press-dodging, accidental marriage, cross-island treks, and a freaked out personal assistant. The accidental marriage and subsequent escape of the couple make for a rather fun film. I felt for all of the characters and kind of fell in love with the somewhat backward Hegg. Oh! And Lara's personal assistant is played by Michael Urie, who is just amazing.

I think the best part of the movie was James being mistaken for Katie's father by a very old deaf couple. He was so out of his element, but the moment he realized the couple were still so in love was just brilliant. Of course, Katie catching him attempting to play the bagpipes very badly was funny and a bit poignant when she realized what he was doing.

I highly recommend watching The Decoy Bride. It's fun, amusing, and a great way to pass an evening.

Housekeeping

Uhmm... yeah... not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing for you tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll think of something... Gah!

Love ya, Jessie.

The Queen Is Dead - Review

So sorry I didn't get to this yesterday, there was much tiredness and sore legs going on. Instead I did some sketches for some Gaiaonline commissions I did. Finished one of them today:

Anyway... here's your SPOILER WARNING for the following review: If you have not seen this week's episode of Once Upon a Time, please leave the blog and come back later.

Once Upon a Time - "The Queen Is Dead" - Review

I was not entirely enamored with this episode. I thought Cora being the one behind Snow's mother's death was contrived. I think maybe it might get better with the knowledge of why Cora had anything against Snow's mother. And why has she made it her mission to corrupt Snow? And why is Regina still being loyal to Cora? What? I seriously thought she was going to jump in with Snow and Charming there, but no, of course not. Gah! But ya, know, we gotta wait till next week for a bunch of explanation about Cora... apparently.

I thought the stuff in New York was also rather contrived. A completely throw-away line about Hook's ship being the fastest does not explain how Hook found them in the middle of New York. That was ridiculous. I used to like Hook, now he just bugs me. I think Gold's sudden turn-around on how he treats Henry was also ridiculous, even knowing about the prophecy-thing. Gold should have treated Henry like dirt from the beginning, instead of acting grandfather-y. Neil/Balefire having a fiance was kind of obvious. They had to have some other twist to his character.

Speaking of Balefire, I said in my Initial Reactions that I'm jumping on the "Balefire is Peter Pan theory" bandwagon. I've been hearing about that for a while, but didn't really have any opinion about it till Balefire said something about it. Yeah, he didn't say exactly where he'd been, but he did hint at a) having skills to pilot a boat and b) having been somewhere he didn't age. Both are things Peter Pan did. So... yeah.

I can't wait till next week mainly just to get the bad taste of this episode out of my head.

Housekeeping

I have plans to see The Great and Powerful Oz on Thursday night. I will probably have a review of it up on Friday... along with my Grimm Initial Reactions and possible TVD review. There are shenanigans going on with The CW... and did I say Grimm? Yes, yes I did. Grimm is back this Friday! I can't wait!

Love ya, Jessie.

The Queen Is Dead - Initial Reactions

Hey everybody! This is your friendly neighborhood SPOILER WARNING. If you have not seen tonight's Once Upon a Time episode, you should go away and come back later. The initial reactions are filled with SPOILERS.

Once Upon a Time - "The Queen Is Dead" - Initial Reactions

• Snowdrops. Cute.
• So many sparkles.
• It's sad she doesn't want to celebrate her birthday.
• That was a very pretty lock up on top...
• Dun Dun Dun.
• Tear-inducing reunion.
• Because that's just the most wonderful thing a mother can do for her child. - sarcasm
  
• I love that Gold is wonderfully insightful.
• "Kids like culture." - lol. I hated museums as a kid.
• Regina was blurry through that glass, nice bit of implication, there.
• You never listened to Snow in the first place, Regina.
• So many feels!
• Surprise, surprise, magic. Everyone acts to surprised.
• That's just kind of weird there, Henry.
• Interrupting Henry. Doing what he does best.
• Yeah really, time would be good. It usually is.
• How'd Hook get there so fast?
• Well that was some convenient Neil heard stuff.
• W00T the ship.
• Officially jumping on board the "Neil is Peter Pan" theory.
• Balance is key.
• Of course it's forever and a day to get to the ship.
• So then the question is what's protecting it.
• Or smashing a window...
• A different blue fairy, perhaps? Or someone is disguise.
• There are nuns...
• Tears for Snow.
• Of course now you've got it, you have to fight the bad guys to keep control.
• This girl is like Alison Hannigan with the tearing up and inducing tears.
• And the king didn't show up?
• Figured Cora was the fairy.
• And we won't find out what that means 'til next week.
• Well that was a predictable ending to that conflict.
• You knew that, though, Regina.
• She's been mind-controlled for a very long time. That sudden flip in her attitude is my proof.
• Oh, come on Regina!
• And of course he'd have a girlfriend.
• Fiance. Fun fun.
• This is the burden of the hero.
• Yeah... good luck with that, Snow.

Obelisk War Update

The second wave is upon us! I'm disappointed this thing's apparently all in the Battledome. I find it annoying that seems to be what this plot-thing is. And yes, I know it's a war and there must be fighting. I just want there to be more than Battledome fights.

Love ya, Jessie.

Supernatural - Remember the Titans

This is your SPOILER WARNING. If you have not seen this week's episode of Supernatural, please leave the blog and come back later to avoid the SPOILERS in this review.

Supernatural - "Remember the Titans" - Review

I spent a good chunk of this episode trying to remember what significance the eagle eating Prometheus' intestines or whatever had. I remembered that detail from somewhere but I couldn't remember where until Sam revealed that "Shane" was Prometheus. I thought that was a fun little mystery.

I thought the entire "pre-credits" sequence was ridiculous. Prometheus being run over wasn't done very well. The eagle eating bits of his stomach was just some unconvincing and obvious CG. Also, I didn't like the sheriff. First he checks and obviously dead and frozen guy for a pulse after seeing an eagle eating from the guy's stomach. And then he jumps immediately and whole-heartedly into zombies. What? How did this guy get to be sheriff? Gah!

As usual for me, I saw parallels between this and Doctor Who. Prometheus' returning from the dead over and over reminded me very much of Captain Jack Harkness. I'm incredibly satisfied with Prometheus being the explanation there.

I'd forgotten the Greek/Other gods existed in the Supernatural universe so seeing them was pretty awesome. That meeting between the gods was such a long time ago. I really liked seeing them represented again and their interactions with each other. Artemis was rather wooden, but it sort of made sense with her having to hide her love of Prometheus from Zeus. I really liked Zeus, too. He was properly pissed off, self-involved, and vengeful.

I thought this was another nice filler episode. I like it when there are call backs to earlier episodes and mostly forgotten mythology.

Love ya, Jessie.