Arrow - "Broken Dolls" - Review

Intro

As you could probably tell, this didn't make it out before tonight's episode of Arrow. However, as this review was written before I saw the episode, you don't have to worry about spoilers from tonight's episode.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Arrow, Season 2, Episode 3: "Broken Dolls." If you have not seen it, I recommend you do that before reading this review. There are spoilers for the episode.

Arrow - "Broken Dolls" - Review

Characters:

• Oliver Queen - Played by Stephen Amell. Main character. Also known as "The Hood" or "The Vigilante" or "The Arrow."
• John Diggle - Played by David Ramsey. Oliver's bodyguard/driver.
• Felicity Smoak - Played by Emily Bett Rickards. IT specialist at Queen Consolidated. Oliver's techie behind the scenes.
• Thea Queen - Played by Willa Holland. Oliver's younger sister. Roy's girlfriend. Runs Verdant.
• Roy Harper - Played by Colton Haynes. Thea's boyfriend. Works at Verdant. "The Hood"'s eyes and ears in the Glades.
• Dinah "Laurel" Lance - Played by Katie Cassidy. Oliver's ex-girlfriend. Works for the DA.
• Slade Wilson - Played by Manu Bennett. Oliver's mentor on The Island.
• Shado - Played by Celina Jade. Oliver's Island girlfriend.
• Moira Queen - Played by Susanna Thompson. Olly and Thea's mother.
• Black Canary - Played by Caity Lotz. Another vigilante.
• Sin - Played by Bex Taylor-Klaus. Black Canary's friend.
• Officer Quentin Lance - Played by Paul Blackthorne. Laurel's father.
• Adam Donner - Played by Dylan Bruce. The District Attorney. Laurel's boss.
• Tony Daniel - Played by Andy Thompson. Mathis' Attorney.
• Jean Loring - Played by Teryl Rothery. Moira's Attorney and friend.
• Barton Mathis - Played by Michael Eklund. "The Dollmaker."
• Detective Lucas Hilton - Played by Roger R. Cross. In case you were wondering who arrested Lance.

Review:

After watching two episodes of The Originals, this episode of Arrow was a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed it, even if bits were kind of predictable.

The Barton Mathis story line was wonderfully creepy. It vaguely reminded me of an episode of Dollhouse and one of Criminal Minds. I'm with Felicity with the porcelain dolls sentiment. People who turn other people into dolls creep me out... and so do actual dolls. I found Mathis' weird mix of creepy and grand-stand-ish-ness nice, for a villain. It was also nice to find out what Lance was doing after Sara died. I found Laurel's revelation/epiphany/break down at the end of the episode somewhat dramatic and somewhat annoying. I mean, it's nice to know why she was being all "grr" toward  "The Arrow" all of a sudden, like beyond the Tommy thing. Hopefully she'll stop with that now.

Originally, I could not have cared less about Mrs. Queen's case. I think I kind of forgot about it, to be honest. However, I'm with pretty much everyone in thinking that the death penalty is ridiculous. Hopefully that won't come to pass. I'd hate to see what it would do to Olly and Thea.

So, uhm, The Island flashbacks... I found it really convenient that Shado was pre-med. I found Slade to still be annoying with the "don't get attached" schtick. I'm more interested in why there's a well-armed prison ship off the coast. Also, does Slade start wearing the mask now his face is burnt? Or did he die?

And finally we come to the Black Canary. She was cool, but got much more interesting at the end of the episode. I found it really strange that she's connected to Ra's al Guhl, though that does explain the IMDB spoiler I mentioned in my last Arrow review. Seriously, cast lists on IMDB can be evil.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Starling City has a Bisque Museum?
• Love Lance being around for the quips and what not. He's funny when he's not being a giant jerk.
• Felicity steps up again with the undercover-ness.
• A clock tower? How very Oracle.

Housekeeping

So, that's three more reviews in the bag. Now I just need to catch up on three more episodes and five more reviews... just so you know where I'm at and are interested.

There may or may not be reviews tomorrow. It depends on how my early babysitting and then work evening go. If I don't get to blog tomorrow: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Love ya, Jessie

The Originals - "Girl in New Orleans" - Review

Intro

The second of three reviews I'm posting tonight... or at least planning to post tonight...

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for The Originals, Season 1, Episode 4: "Girl in New Orleans." If you have not seen it, I recommend doing so before reading this review. I spoil things.

The Originals - "Girl in New Orleans" - Review

Characters:

• Elijah Mikaelson - Played by Daniel Gillies. Oldest of the surviving Mikaelsons. Original Vampire.
• Rebekah Mikaelson - Played by Claire Holt. Youngest of the surviving Mikaelsons. Original Vampire.
• Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson - Played by Joseph Morgan. Middle surviving Mikaelson. Original Hybrid.
• Marcel Gerard - Played by Charles Michael Davis. Ruler of New Orleans. Klaus' protege. Vampire.
• Davina Claire - Played by Danielle Campbell. Marcel's witch.
• Sophie Deveraux - Played by Daniella Pineda. Leader of the witches.
• Hayley Marshall - Played by Phoebe Tonkin. Werewolf. Carrying Klaus' child.
• Camille "Cami" O'Connell - Played by Leah Pipes. Bartender. Human.
• Joshua "Josh" Rosza - Played by Steven Krueger. Vampire. A "nightwalker" under Klaus' control.
• Agnes - Played by Karen Kaia Livers. Witch.
• Diego - Played by Eka Darville. Vampire. One of Marcel's "daywalkers."
• Dr. Paige - Played by Andrea Powell. Gynecologist.
• Tim - Played by Shane Coffey. Human. Davina's childhood friend and crush.
• Father Kieran - Played by Todd Stashwick. Human. Reverend of the church Davina lives in.

Review:

It's official, I want Davina's back story. I want to know where she came from and why she's so attached to Marcel. This tiny glimpse into her past muddied the waters, as far as that goes. Also, Davina's naive/pure/creepy routine is driving me a little nuts.

I got kind of attached to Cami this episode. I like that she's so up front with Klaus. I like that she doesn't like what he's doing to her and insists on trying to make him stop. I'm not impressed that Klaus went against he wishes with her memory of her brother. She doesn't need to be entirely devoted to his little spy games. That's dumb.

I'm somewhat confused as to what Rebekah's up to baiting Marcel. This was the second time she's done the really close flirting thing and it's just weird. I understand they have a history, but seriously? What. The. Hell. Rebekah? That said, I'm really glad to see Rebekah honoring Elijah's wishes to protect Hayley.

Speaking of which, Elijah's apparently been invited into Davina's home or else has a lot more self-control than he displayed in Mystic Falls. Or he was the one that stopped Rebekah from entering Davina's home. It's all very confusing. I'm glad Elijah's back, though. He's my favorite Original next to Rebekah and always makes things more interesting.

As for Ms. Hayley, I'm impressed she fended off her attackers for as long as she did. That fight scene was fun. I am somewhat confused, though, as to the identity of "the Wolf." Is Hayley referring to the wolf she transforms into? Is she referring to the wolf that's been "drawn to her." Or do I just read entirely too much fiction where people refer to their "wolves" as such? I suppose time will tell with that.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Davina is creepy as fuck.
• Agnes is pulling her own shit. That's no good.
• God, Klaus. Really? You really just did that to her? You suck.

Love ya, Jessie

The Originals - "Tangled Up in Blue" - Review

Intro

It's weird not being on my computer at all until well into the afternoon... I did, however, go ahead and spend some of that time reviewing two episodes of The Originals and last week's episode of Arrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get those up before watching Arrow this evening, but I'm not sure...

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for The Originals, Season 1, Episode 3: "Tangled Up in Blue." If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do before reading my review. I spoil stuff.

The Originals - "Tangled Up in Blue" - Review

Characters:

• Elijah Mikaelson - Played by Daniel Gillies. Oldest of the surviving Mikaelsons. Original Vampire.
• Rebekah Mikaelson - Played by Claire Holt. Youngest of the surviving Mikaelsons. Original Vampire.
• Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson - Played by Joseph Morgan. Middle surviving Mikaelson. Original Hybrid.
• Marcel Gerard - Played by Charles Michael Davis. Ruler of New Orleans. Klaus' protege. Vampire.
• Davina Claire - Played by Danielle Campbell. Marcel's witch.
• Sophie Deveraux - Played by Daniella Pineda. Leader of the witches.
• Hayley Marshall - Played by Phoebe Tonkin. Werewolf. Carrying Klaus' child.
• Camille "Cami" O'Connell - Played by Leah Pipes. Bartender. Human.
• Thierry Vanchure - Played by Callard Harris. Vampire. One of Marcel's "daywalkers."
• Joshua "Josh" Rosza - Played by Steven Krueger. Vampire. A "nightwalker" under Klaus' control.
• Katie - Played by Alexandra Metz. Witch. Thierry's grilfriend. Deceased.
• Sabine - Played by Shannon Kane. Witch.
• Agnes - Played by Karen Kaia Livers. Witch.

Review:

The Originals wouldn't be a CW vampire show without some kind of vampire-run party or some kind of complicated plan. Of course we ended up killing two birds with one stone here.

Klaus and Rebekah show a knack for planning and pulling off complicated plans with no one the wiser. It was fun watching them set various parts of their plans in motion. It wasn't so fun finding out that Klaus, yet again, did something that served him and pretty much no one else. Well, I say that, but he did managed to get Marcel to agree to give Elijah back.

I felt absolutely no connection to either Katie or Thierry. Their death/incarceration meant nothing to me. It was kind of cool to Sophie was able to use Katie as a smokescreen, but since Klaus stepped in and put a stop to that, it was really for nothing. Davina's part in saving Marcel was really creepy.

I ended up disliking Marcel a bit more, mostly because he has too many rules for my liking. However, most of my dislike this episode was targeted toward Davina. She confuses me, at best.

I have no theories about Hayley's apparently demonic baby, though I found it weird she could spell what Sabine said perfectly. That's one of those TV things that really bugs me. But yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say about this episode.

Favorite Line:

"I can't believe you disposed of those vampires without me. You know how I love to set things on fire." - Rebekah

Love ya, Jessie

Dracula - "The Blood is the Life" - Review

Intro

The third and final review for this afternoon. And this one I didn't even write out first.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Dracula, Season 1, Episode 1: "The Blood Is the Life." If you have not seen it, go watch it before reading this review. There will be spoilers.

Dracula - "The Blood Is the Life" - Review

Characters:

• Dracula/Alexander Grayson - Played by Jonothan Rhys Meyers. Vampire.
• Lucy Westerna - Played by Katie McGrath.
• Lady Jayne Weatherby - Played by Victoria Smurfit. Vampire Hunter.
• Sir Clive Dawson - Played by Simon Dutton.
• Lord Thomas Davenport - Played by Robert Bathurst.
• Jonathan Harker - Played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Reporter. Mina's boyfriend.
• Mina Murray - Played by Jessica De Gouw. Medical Student. Jonathan's girlfriend.
• R.M. Renfield - Played by Nonso Anozie. Dracula's manservant.
• Abraham Van Helsing - Played by Thomas Kretschmann. Mina's Professor.

Review:

Alright, here goes. I very much enjoyed this episode. I think I'm going to enjoy the show. However, I'm not sure I'll be able to review this as I normally would. I find this steam-punk-y, intrigue-laden stuff hard to wrap my head around in any meaningful way. That said... I'll just move on to notes and lines.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• The effects bringing Dracula back from a desicated shell were better done than in Underworld.
• Seeing Katie McGrath as a blonde is super weird.
• Vampire Hunters covering up their killings with Jack the Ripper. Always fun to see different takes on that.
• Jayne's training scene reminded me of a similar scene in Electra.
• Dracula working for Van Helsing is odd, but I like it.

Favorite Line:

"The heart never lies." - Van Helsing

Housekeeping

If you didn't catch my drift in this brief review, I'm going to be taking Dracula off my list of things I'm reviewing. Perhaps I'll do an end-of-Season review or something instead.

For now, I'm off to watch some things in order to come up with reviews for tomorrow. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought in the comments.

Love ya, Jessie

Grimm - "The Ungrateful Dead" - Review

Intro

Second review of the day. There's a lot of gushing. You've been warned.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Grimm, Season 3, Episode 1: "The Ungrateful Dead." If you haven't seen it, or the first two Seasons, you should go watch them. Things will be spoiled.

Grimm - "The Ungrateful Dead" - Review

Characters:

• Detective Nick Burkhardt - Played by David Giuntoli. Grimm. Juliette's boyfriend. Hank's partner.
• Juliette Silverton - Played by Bitsie Tulloch. Human. Nick's girlfriend.
• Monroe - Played by Silas Weir Mitchell - Wieder Bultbad. Rosalee's boyfriend.
• Rosalee Calvert - Played by Bree Turner. Fuchsbau. Monroe's girlfriend.
• Captain Sean Renard - Played by Sasha Roiz. Hexenbiest. Royal.
• Detective Hank Griffin - Played by Russell Hornsby. Human. Nick's partner.
• Stefania Vaduva Popescu - Played by Shohreh Aghdashloo. Human. Gypsy.
• Sergeant Wu - Played by Reggie Lee. Human.
• Eric Renard - Played by James Frain. Royal. Captain Renard's brother.
• Adalind Schade - Played by Claire Coffee. Former Hexenbiest.
• Baron Samedi - Played by Reg E. Cathey. Cracher-Mortel.
• Frau Pech - Played by Mary McDonald-Lewis. Hexenbiest. Deceased.

Review:

Grimm is back! Party Time!

I, for one, really, really enjoyed this episode. It was everything I was hoping, despite no one actually ending up in Europe. There was action, there were surprises, there was peril, there were awesome effects, and then came the snarky end screen. Even that was awesome. I laughed and then had to explain to my dad about the snarky end screens.

I'm going to start my actual discussion with Adalind. Her section of the episode was brief, but important as far as her character goes. I thoroughly enjoyed the seriously disgusting rituals Adalind was subjected to. I'm glad Frau Pech had more to do with the rituals, rather than just being dead. I enjoyed all of Adalind's facial expressions and the snarky comments. The entire thing felt real, which is both good and important. Hokey rituals do not good TV make.

Okay, now on to the meat of the episode. The "zombies" were a lot more fun this time, mostly because they were active. I was actually scared for Monroe, Rosalee, and Juliette. I liked Wu's plan to stuff all the "zombies" in a container. The scene where they had to add another one reminded me, strangely enough, of the Monster Book of Monsters bit in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I really enjoyed seeing out "Scooby Gang" come together when they realized Nick had been kidnapped. The car ride to the airport was amusing and probably a lot more awkward in the parts we didn't get to see. I can just imagine the silence.

I thought Juliette was pretty awesome this episode. She didn't come off as whiny and it was cool to see her and Rosalee geek out a bit. I especially loved Monroe being very confused during that bit. I also found Juliette's concern for Nick more believable than it had been, at least for me anyway. It's a very good thing, too, because I do love Juliette.

Nick totally Hulking out because he's a Grimm was awesome! I loved the fight on the plane. I loved the confused look The Baron got when Nick started punching his way out of the coffin. I love that the plane didn't actually get very far. I thought the world through Hulk-Nick's eyes was interesting. I do wonder where he's going and/or what he's looking for. It did seem like he was looking for something, right?

This ain't over yet.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Long recap there at the beginning, but good for ramping up the tension after the break.
• Chemistry time with an agitated Blutbad.
• Poor Wu and those other officers.
• I missed Monroe's reactions to stuff.
• Of course, leave the girls outside.

Favorite Lines:

"How many tests do you have?" - Adalind

"What you mean we get them to smoke it?" - Monroe

"If one of them bites me again..." - Wu

"Thank God."
"I wouldn't." - Adalind and Stefania

Love ya, Jessie

Reign - "Snakes in the Garden" - Review

Intro

Today will be another day of three reviews. The first is Reign, the second is Grimm, and the third is Dracula. Not going to leave you waiting any longer so...

SPOILER WARNING

This review is for Reign, Season 1, Episode 2: "Snakes in the Garden." If you have not seen the episode, please do before reading my review. I'm horrible with spoilers.

Reign - "Snakes in the Garden" - Review

Characters:

• Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland - Played by Adelaide Kane.
• Sebastian "Bas" - Played by Torrance Coombs. Son of Diane and Henry.
• Prince Francis II of France - Played by Toby Regbo. Eldest son of Catherine and Henry.
• Queen Catherine de' Medici of France - Played by Megan Follows. Henry's wife and mother of Francis.
• Nostradamus - Played by Rossif Sutherland.
• King Henry II of France - Played by Alan Van Sprang. Father of Henry, Charles, and Bas.
• Prince Charles of France - Played by Peter DaCunha. Third son of Henry and Catherine. Betrothed to Madeleine.
• Kenna - Played by Caitlin Stasey. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Greer - Played by Celina Sinden. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Lola - Played by Anna Popplewell. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Aylee - Played by Jenessa Grant. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Colin - Played by Ashley Charles. Lola's boyfriend. Deceased.
• Madeleine - Played by Vanessa Carter. Betrothed of Prince Charles.
• Simon Westbrook - Played by Luke Roberts.
• Robert Viscount of Lorraine - Played by Eric Frank.
• Clarissa - Played by Katie Boland. "Ghost Girl"

Review:

This week we continued the threats on Mary's life with intimidation and the revelation that Colin wasn't actually executed when the monarchs had said. I honestly have no problems with this. However, the problem with Historical Drama is that it is Historical. The story already happened. We know the ending. I find that takes some of the suspense out of things. For example, Mary doesn't die until 1587 so all attempts on her life in Reign are doomed to fail.

That said, I was happy to find the "ghost girl" isn't actually a ghost. I think it's pretty cool that Clarissa is helping Mary out to the best of her ability. I also found it interesting that Nostradamus knows about Clarissa as well. I'd really love to find out why she's living in the secret passages.

I found the pact between Francis and Mary to be very sweet. Francis putting his foot down with his mother made me like him again. I also like that Francis is concerned for Mary beyond her being a Queen. It bodes well for their future relationship.

Other than that, I found Kenna's budding relationship with the King kind of fun. I like that she's concerned with her virtue and reputation, but I also like that she doesn't have to stay on that route. All of that concern is something that annoys be about history.

Favorite Line:

"And don't give up. Don't run. Stay." - Francis

Love ya, Jessie

Supernatural - "I'm No Angel" - Review

Intro

A third review today? What madness is this? Check my "Nasty Habits" review to find out!

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Supernatural, Season 9, Episode 3, "I'm No Angel." If you haven't seen it, I recommend you watch it before reading the review. I spoil stuff.

Supernatural - "I'm No Angel" - Review

Characters:

• Sam Winchester/Ezekiel - Played by Jared Padalecki. Younger Winchester.
• Dean Winchester - Played by Jensen Ackles. Older Winchester.
• Castiel/Cas/Clarence - Played by Misha Collins. Former Angel.
• Bartholomew - Played by Adam Harrington. Angel.
• Reverand Buddy Boyle - Played by Kevin Brief.
• Maurice - Played by Artine Brown. Reaper.
• April Kelly - Played by Shannon Lucio. Reaper.

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised to get both Cas and the boys in this episode. I thought we might be getting a few more just one or the other episodes before they met up. That said, most of what I have to say about the episode is rather choppy.

I liked Cas on his own. It was amusing to see all the funky reactions he got from people. It was also really sad to see him scrounging for food, but I thought it was good he got himself a warding tattoo. I'm not sure why Ezekiel bringing him back invalidated the warding, though. That was rather odd.

I liked watching Sam and Dean do their FBI routine, as usual. It was actually kind of fun to have the Angel vessel show by a podcast. I was not expecting that twist.

Speaking of which, it was nice to get a new villain introduced. Bartholomew is definitely a chip off Naomi's block. It was slightly cool to see what happens when someone obviously can't be a vessel, even if that girl was killed in the process.

Uhm... Anyone else have a giant problem with Ezekiel this episode? First the guy wants to help and then he gets all huffy when actually called upon to help. True, Dean told him to back off, but I still thought it was weird. It was even worse at the end of the episode. I really want to know why Cas' warding was invalidated when Ezekiel brought him back. That just seems dumb to me. And also weird that Ezekiel would be in danger because of it.

I know it's become my mantra at the end of these things, but I really can't wait for the next episode.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Did not catch that Cas' "Clarence" alias was a Meg reference. I'd forgotten she called him that.
• Freelance Reapers. That's not good.
• When did Sam start reading labels?
• Didn't realize this 'til later, but this was the second appearance of Shannon Lucio in the same night. She appeared on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. earlier that evening.

Favorite Lines:

"You lack of faith doesn't cancel what I believe. That's not how it works." - Woman in chruch

"It ain't just burritos and strippers, my friend." - Dean

Housekeeping

That's pretty much it for not. I have a couple paragraphs of my Reign review done, but, in the event that gets posted today, it won't get posted until later tonight. This week seems to be mostly reruns of stuff, so I have a bit more time to catch myself up...

Love ya, Jessie

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - "Forget Me Not" - Review

Intro

See the previous post for what I'm up to today.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Season 1, Episode 3: "Forget Me Not." If you have not seen the episode and don't wish to be spoiled, go watch it before reading this review.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - "Forget Me Not" - Review

Characters:

• Alice - Played by Sophie Lowe. Main protagonist. Cyrus' Fiancee.
• Cyrus - Played by Peter Gadiot. Genie. Alice's Fiance.
• Red Queen/Anastasia - Played by Emma Rigby. Antagonist. Ruler of Wonderland.
• Knave of Hearts/Will Scarlet - Played by Michael Socha. Alice's ally.
• Jafar - Played by Naveen Andrews. Antagonist. Keeping Cyrus prisoner.
• White Rabbit - Voiced by John Lithgow. Works for the Red Queen keeping tabs on Alice.
• The Caterpillar - Voiced by Roger Daltrey.
• Robin Hood - Played by Sean Maguire.
• Little John - Played by Jason Burkart.
• Grendel - Played by Steve Bacic.

Review:

In direct contrast to the depressing-ville Once Upon a Time was this same week, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland was a lot or action-y fun. We got a thieves den, a really interesting take on the Caterpillar, and fights with both Grendel and Bandersnatch. There was also development of Alice, the Knave, and, surprisingly, a bit with the Red Queen.

I was really glad the Caterpillar turned out to be more than just the high, confusing creature he normally is in most Alice in Wonderland renditions. I like the twist that he's a creepy bookie. I thought the animation bringing the Caterpillar to life was very good. He felt like he fit the world in just the right way.

The Grendel wasn't very creepy, I didn't think. It was pretty darn clear he was using the Forget Me Not to watch his wife. I don't know why Alice thought we was watching some random people who owned the house before. Even normal villains wouldn't do that for kicks. I was really happy with the way Grendel ended up helping Alice and the Knave, though I was less impressed when he turned on them almost immediately. Not that the promise of getting his wife back was bad motivation for the turn around, but considering the Red Queen had previously cursed him... I dunno, that didn't sit right with me.

I was somewhat amused by the Robin Hood flashbacks. Even if I didn't know the Knave had bad intentions, I wouldn't have bought into his scheme. That said, the Robin Hood stuff made me more attached to Robin himself. I was actually really shocked to find out that the Knave is Will Scarlet. Although I had noticed Alice calling him Will, the character of Will Scarlet never crossed my mind. The reveal of who Anastasia was however, was a lot less shocking.

Speaking of which, I though the facade the Red Queen and Jafar put on while talking with Cyrus and Grendel was fun. Now if only they could get to that point outside of the facade, things would be awesome. Well, as awesome as villains can get anyway.

I sincerely enjoyed this episode. There was a lot to get my teeth into. I'm annoyed we have to wait until November 7th for the next episode.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Jafar flirting is creepy!
• Liked the movie Bandersnatch better. This one looks like a boar and is a lot less cuddly.
• I didn't like how Grendel was manipulated and then killed. The poor, poor man.
• Forget Me Not looks into the past. Would probably be important to remember if Will hadn't burnt it.
• Looking Glass = portal.

Housekeeping

After a brief interruption with yard work, the second of today's reviews is finished! Next up, Supernatural, "I'm No Angel."

Love ya, Jessie

Once Upon a Time - "Nasty Habits" - Review

Intro

I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival yesterday. It was fun, but tiring. If you'd like to see the pictures I took, you can see them by following THIS LINK.

Because members of my family forgot to tell me we were leaving later than originally planned, I had some time to myself yesterday morning. I spent that time writing reviews. I finished three of them and started on a fourth. I'm going to see how many I can type before having to leave for work today. Wish me luck!

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Once Upon a Time, Season 3, Episode 4: "Nasty Habits." If you have not seen the episode, I highly recommend watching it before reading my review. I spoil things with impunity.

Once Upon a Time - "Nasty Habits" - Review

Characters:

• Emma Swan - Played by Jennifer Morrison. Daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. Birth Mother of Henry Mills. Product of True Love. "The Savior."
• Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold - Played by Robert Carlyle. Father of Baelfire. Grandfather of Henry. The Dark One.
• Regina Mills - Played by Lana Parrilla. Mother of Henry Mills. Step-Mother of Snow White. The Evil Queen.
• Prince Charming/David Nolan - Played by Josh Dallas. Father of Emma Swan. Husband of Snow White.
• Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard - Played by Ginnifer Goodwin. Mother of Emma Swan. Wife of Prince Charming. Step-Daughter of Regina Mills.
• Henry Mills - Played by Jared Gilmore. Son of Emma Swan, Baelfire, and Regina Mills. The Truest Believer.
• Captain Killian "Hook" Jones - Played by Colin O'Donoghue. Pirate.
• Neal Cassady/Baelfire - Played by Michael Raymond-James and Dylan Schmid. Son of Rumplestiltskin. Father of Henry Mills.
• Peter Pan - Played by Robbie Kay. Big Bad of Wonderland.
• Tinker Bell - Played by Rose McIver. A fairy who lost her wings trying to help Regina.
• Felix - Played by Parker Croft. Peter's messenger... or something.

Review:

"Nasty Habits" was actually more depressing than not. Neal finally made it to Neverland but ultimately fails to save Henry for more than an hour or two, at most. Rumple is so ridiculously self-loathing and Neal goes and makes it worse. The team of Emma, Snow, Regina, Charming, and Hook find Baelfire's star map but can't read it and Emma dissolves into tears. And finally, Henry succumbs to Pan's manipulation, or at least seems to.

In addition to all of that mess, we got more back story on Rumple and Bae's rocky relationship. I thought it was essentially more of what we got before Bae went to the Blue Fairy. The only slight surprise was the Pied Piper thing, though that was obviously going to be Pan all along.

I honestly don't have very much to say about "Nasty Habits." I think Neal was ridiculously resourseful and extremely judgmental toward his father. I thought Belle was criminally underused. At this point, I'm hoping this Neverland story line gets wrapped up sooner rather than later.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• I don't like Felix's accent.
• I like that Charming's got his priorities straight.
• Yup, Pan's dastardly. Much with the planning, like Rumple.

Favorite Lines:

"You may have grown up, Baelfire, but it would appear you have grown up stupid." - Felix

"Well if there's one thing I've learned from you hero types it's that there's always hope." - Hook

"Yes, because preteen Baelfire probably made lots of pasta." - Regina

Housekeeping

Next up, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, "Forget Me Not" review.

Love ya, Jessie

The Originals - "House of the Rising Son" - Review

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for The Originals, Season 1, Episode 2: "House of the Rising Son." If you have not seen it, you should go watch it before reading this review. I will be spoiling episode elements, as usual.

The Originals - "House of the Riding Son" - Review

Characters:

• Elijah Mikaelson - Played by Daniel Gillies. Oldest of the surviving Mikaelsons. Original Vampire.
• Rebekah Mikaelson - Played by Claire Holt. Youngest of the surviving Mikaelsons. Original Vampire.
• Niklaus "Klaus" Mikaelson - Played by Joseph Morgan. Middle surviving Mikaelson. Original Hybrid.
• Marcel Gerard - Played by Charles Michael Davis. Ruler of New Orleans. Klaus' protege. Vampire.
• Davina Claire - Played by Danielle Campbell. Marcel's witch.
• Sophie Deveraux - Played by Daniella Pineda. Leader of the witches.
• Hayley Marshall - Played by Phoebe Tonkin. Werewolf. Carrying Klaus' child.
• Camille "Cami" O'Connell - Played by Leah Pipes. Bartender. Human.
• Thierry - Played by Callard Harris. Vampire. One of Marcel's "daywalkers."

Review:

Well... I didn't hate this episode and I didn't hate Klaus so much in it. That's probably because now that Klaus doesn't have to be overshadowed by Damon, Elena, Stefan, and the rest of Mystic Falls, he can have some actual character development. In this episode, Klaus actually comes off a lot better, even when he appears to be being bratty. He has an actual plan for what to do about Marcel and for keeping Hayley safe to the best of his ability.

I very much enjoyed Rebekah in this episode. She's got all of that lovely spunk and is not taking crap from her brother. I find it very interesting, though, that she let Klaus manipulate her feelings for as long as he has. I was actually rather impressed with the initiative she showed in looking for Elijah. It was also fun to see her do some fighting and to see her bonding with Hayley. I did find it a bit weird that Rebekah seems to be doing the vulnerable soul-sharing thing with both Hayley and Sophie, especially considering she just met them both. It was fun to get that stuff on her, but the way it was done was weird, is all.

Hayley is still very much a wild card in my books. Yeah, she realized she doesn't want to kill her baby, but there hasn't really been much development besides that. I did like, however, that she stole the daggers for Rebekah. It was sweet. I can sort of see myself starting to ship the pair of them, except that won't ever happen so... it'd join my legion of "not happening" fan ships.

And now we come to Marcel. I really, really don't like him. I found it interesting that his history with Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah goes back as far as it does. I wouldn't have guessed that Klaus would take him in like he did. It was also a bit interesting that Marcel decided to be turned instead of choosing Rebekah. He had clearly decided on Rebekah beforehand, but apparently changed his mind. I found his protectiveness over Cami kind of sweet, but it's not enough to make me like him at all.

Pretty interesting episode, but not completely stellar as far as I'm concerned.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• I think it's really weird that the deaths of Finn, Kol, and Mikael were completely glossed over in this episode. They were Originals and they were killed, but I suppose lack of white oak stakes makes it rather hard to kill Rebekah and Klaus.
• Anyone want to mention that it's weird when vampires who help raise humans who then become vampires and/or old enough to date then end up dating and/or sleeping with each other? No? Just me?
• Davina is clearly psychotic. I wonder how Marcel ended up with her.

Favorite Line:

"Klaus, get out here and tell me what you've done with our brother, you narcissistic, back-stabbing wanker!" - Rebekah.

Love ya, Jessie

Legion - Movie Review and Discussion

Intro

I originally watched Legion when it came out on DVD and showed up in my library. Today, however, I was flipping channels trying to find something to watch. It's Saturday and even with over 600 channels, there wasn't really much on I knew I'd enjoy watching. Legion was airing on FX so I decided to watch that. Even though I didn't actually sit through the entire movie this time, I did think about some of the messages it sent. That's what spawned this blog post, even though I should be reviewing something else entirely.

SPOILER WARNING

If you haven't seen Legion, I highly recommend you watch it before reading this review/discussion. I am going to spoil some things, as usual.

Disclaimer

One of the main characters of Legion is the archangel Michael. The villain of the movie is the legion of angels. My thoughts on the movie mainly have to do with religion. I am by no means a Biblical scholar. I have read a lot of the Bible. I went to a Lutheran school from Preschool into Fifth grade. I went to church until I left high school. My opinions are my opinions and by no means represent the church or the Christian religion. You can attempt to argue with me in the comments, but I'm not arguing about what I have to say so... save yourself the trouble and don't attempt to argue with me on this.

Also, I identify as Agnostic. So despite my Christian upbringing, I don't actually subscribe to the tenants of that faith.

Legion - Review/Discussion

Characters:

Michael - Played by Paul Bettany.

Charlie - Played by Adrianne Palicki.
Bob Hanson - Played by Dennis Quaid.
Jeep Hanson - Played by Lucas Black.
Gabriel - Played by Kevin Durand.

(For the rest of the cast list, you can go to IMDB)

Review:

Legion is your standard dark apocalyptic action movie. There are lots of guns, lots of explosions, and lots of CG. I thought it was a fun ride the first time through. Mostly, though, I wouldn't watch it if you've got a weak stomach or have objections to violence or possible religious questions.

Discussion:

The premise of Legion, in case you've decided not to watch it before reading this, is that God has lost faith in humanity and just decided we needed to be wiped out. The only way to save humanity is for a particular baby to be born. Instead of using a flood, like he did in Noah's time, God sends his legion of angels to wipe out humanity, especially Charlie, the unborn baby's mother. The archangel Michael breaks from God to protect Charlie. His reasons for doing so and the very fact that the angels are ordered to wipe out humanity sparked this blog post.

First, I'd like to talk about the wiping out of humanity by the angels. I was really disturbed by this idea after thinking about it. The angels are following God's orders because God arbitrarily decided humans didn't deserve to live anymore. All of them, save Michael, just up and follow these orders. Now, it's not the angels following orders I have a problem with, it's the orders themselves. I remembered from my Bible lessons that God had promised not to do something like that ever again. However, upon reading the actual passage in the Bible, it turns out God was not breaking his promise at all for a very big reason I'll discuss after I type out the verses so you can read them yourself.

Genesis 9:11-17 according to The Holy Bible: New International Version

"I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

     And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

     So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

In Legion, God does not, in fact, send a flood to "destroy all life." Instead he sends a legion of angels to destroy just humans. This is seriously scary to think about. Assuming you believe that God controls the angels and can indeed send them to do whatever he wants, watching Legion is fucking scary. If God actually just up and decided all humans needed to be wiped off the face of the planet, it could and would happen. God never promised he wouldn't wipe out all humanity. He promised not to send a flood to destroy all life.

On a side note, I noticed while typing those verses that God repeats himself a lot. Makes me think he must be senile or something...

Anyway... the next thing I want to discuss is Michael. Michael decides to disobey God because Michael believes God is wrong in his decision of destroy humanity. There's a small discussion between Gabriel and Michael about the fact that Michael still loves humanity, even though God decided he doesn't anymore. Michael decides to give God what he needs rather than what he wants by saving Charlie's baby and thus saving humanity. This characterization of Michael is the only characterization of him where I actually like Michael rather than hate him.

So... that's essentially it. The thought that God could just decide all humanity needed to be wiped out is scary and Michael was actually a good guy for once.

Favorite Lines:

"When God chose your kind as the object of His love, I was the first in all of heaven to bow down before you. My love, my hope for mankind was no less than His. But I have watched you trample that gift. I have watched you kill each other over race and greed... waging war over dust and rubble and the words in old books. And yet, in the midst of all this darkness, I see some people who will not be bowed. I see some people who will not give up, even when they know all hope is lost. Some people, who realize being lost is so close to being found. I see you, Jeep. Fifteen years old, your mother leaves. Your father withdraws from the world and you spend the next five years of your young life helping him find his way home. You love a woman who bears the child of another and you love her with no thought of yourself, even though you know she may never love you the way you love her. You, Jeep... you are the reason I still have faith." - Michael

Housekeeping

I'm currently working my way through watching The Originals. I forgot that Grimm and Dracula were premiering last night so... I didn't watch them and they're on my list of things I need to watch. I'll catch up eventually... this post just stuck in my head and needed to be out there on the great wide internet.

Love ya, Jessie

Agents of SHIELD - "Girl in the Flower Dress" - Review

Intro

Finally got this review done! I think I've been promising it since Wednesday... Ah well.

I think it's just gonna be this one tonight, folks. I'm still recovering from work today and I still have to watch a bunch of stuff and review a bunch of stuff and do Halloween events on lots of websites... I might not have a life, but my littlest sister is coming into town this weekend so my time will be further taken up by family stuff. I promise I'll catch myself up at some point... Hopefully before the end of this TV-watching Season. Maybe over Christmas break... (Nope, not being PC about that)

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 1, Episode 5: "Girl in the Flower Dress." If you have not seen it, either head over to watchabc.go.com or get it on DVD or Netflix or whatever depending on the time of you actually reading this review. Just watch it and then read the review because I do spoil things.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - "Girl in the Flower Dress" - Review

Characters:

• Agent Phil Coulson - Played by Clark Gregg. Not dead. Leader of Level 7.
• Agent Melinda May - Played by Ming-Na Wen. Pilot of the Bus. "The Cavalry."
• Agent Grant Ward - Played by Brett Dalton. Black Ops Specialist.
• Skye - Played by Chloe Bennet. Computer hacker. Member of Rising Tide.
• Agent Leo Fitz - Played by Iain De Caestecker. Engineering.
• Agent Jemma Simmons - Played by Elizabeth Henstridge. Biochem.
• Agent Kwan - Played by Tzi Ma. Chan's handler.
• Chan Ho Yan/Scorch - Played by Louis Ozawa Changchien. Pyrokinetic.
• Raina - Played by Ruth Negga. The girl in the flower dress.
• Miles Lyndon - Played by Austin Nichols. Skye's lover.
• Debbie - Played by Shannon Lucio. Scientist for Centipede.

Review:

"Girl in the Flower Dress" felt like a big old setup, at least in terms of Skye. Surprisingly, though, Skye was setup from the outside rather than the inside. I quite enjoyed that little twist. The B Plot of the episode following Chan Ho Yan/Scorch was interesting, but mostly fun because of his powers.

Scorch is essentially a Mutant without outright being called a Mutant because ABC doesn't have the rights to Mutants of some such nonsense. I thought Scorch's powers were fun. It was interesting to see how he could survive the amount of burns after his platelets were injected back into his system. However, platelets are what makes your blood clot and have nothing to do with your skin so... that was just plain weird. I thought the switch from street performer to villain was a bit quick, but I didn't really mind that. Scorch is, after all, a one-time villain, presumably anyway. As for Raina... I don't like her, which was the point but I thought it needed to be said.

So... Skye's reasons for joining up with S.H.I.E.L.D. were revealed. Or at least, I'm gonna assume they have. It's always the search for the parents that drives people into infiltrating "secret" or government entities, isn't it? Not to say that's not an acceptable reason, but still...

I quite liked how much growth we got to see in Skye. I suppose it was kind of hard to tell until she got put next to someone she used to be really close with, ideals-wise. It was really heartbreaking to see how low Skye got during this episode when everyone turned against her.

It was quite interesting to see the team react to Skye's apparent betrayal. I think Fitz's worldview is too black and white for his own good. I liked that Simmons was more understanding and open-minded about the situation. I thought Ward and May essentially giving Skye the silent treatment was in character for them. And... Coulson's reaction was weird to me. Yes, he took a chance on bringing Skye in. Yes, she apparently betrayed his trust. No, that wasn't much of a stretch for her. No, he didn't need to get to seriously angry about it.

Overall, another solid episode by the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. team. I liked the return and development of the Centipede villain. Can't wait to see what they do with that.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Skye and Ward playing Battleship was fun, though the lighting was really dark.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. has one of those Skyping robots!
• This is weird, but I appreciate that Skye did not have matching underwear.

Favorite Lines:

"You're a hacker, Skye, not Seal Team Six."
"No, but he is." - Miles and Skye

"Aw crap, they gave him a name." - Coulson

"You have two choices. Take what's in this box or we put you in a slightly bigger one." - Coulson

Love ya, Jessie

The Vampire Diaries - "Original Sin" - Review

Intro

The second review I'm putting up today. This one's really short because it kind of pissed me off...

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for The Vampire Diaries, Season 5, Episode 3: "Original Sin." If you haven't seen it, I would definitely recommend watching it before reading this review. I spoil stuff.

The Vampire Diaries - "Original Sin" - Review

Characters:

• Elena Gilbert - Played by Nina Dobrev. Jeremy's older sister. Damon's girlfriend. Doppelganger and Vampire.
• Jeremy Gilbert - Played by Steven R. McQueen. Elena's younger brother. Sees ghosts. Hunter.
• Stefan Salvatore - Played by Paul Wesley. Damon's younger brother. Elena's ex-boyfriend. Vampire. "Shadow-Self" of Silas.
• Damon Salvatore - Played by Ian Somerhalder. Stefan's older brother. Elena's Sire and boyfriend. Vampire.
• Katherine Pierce - Played by Nina Dobrev. Doppelganger, former Vampire. Sire of Stefan and Damon.
• Silas - Played by Paul Wesley. Immortal vampiric being.
• Matt Donovan - Played by Zach Roerig. Works at Mystic Grill. Human. Possessed by a Traveler named Gregor.
• Jesse - Played by Kendrick Sampson. Human.
• Nadia - Played by Olga Fonda. Vampire bounty hunter.
• Amara - Played by Nina Dobrev. Deceased, previously the yin to Silas' yang. The originator of Katherine and Elena's line of Doppelgangers.
• Qetsiyah/Tessa - Played by Janina Gavankar. Witch. Silas' former fiance. Back from the dead.

Review:

I have had it with this Damon/Elena/Stefan love triangle! It honestly does not help that it's apparently "destined" to be Stefan/Elena, especially since we finally got Elena's final choice on which brother she's dating. This seriously pissed me off! Also, on top of all the plot that's going on, we get Qetsiyah apparently back from the dead and thrown into the mix. Looking like we're heading into another Season of Soap Opera and too much plot.

The only other thing I have to say about this episode is: It's kind of awesome to have an antagonist who knows she's crazy. Oh, and I figured Katherine was essentially The Cure now. Hopefully the next episode will be more than just a ton of exposition.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Why is everyone being someone else these days?
• I know Rebekah's being on The Originals now, but it's weird she just disappeared like she did.
• Oh look, Stefan's mind also got friend by Qetsiyah's spell. I figured that would happen.

Housekeeping

I'm off to do a little Halloween eventing now. May or may not be back with an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. review tonight... I just don't know.

Love ya, Jessie

The Vampire Diaries - "True Lies" - Review

Intro

I was seriously contemplating putting both my The Vampire Diaries reviews into one post, considering the second one ended up being really short but... I've decided against that for some unknown reason, even to me. So now I'll stop with that most likely run-on sentence and get on with the Spoiler Warning.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for The Vampire Diaries, Season 5, Episode 2: "True Lies." If you have no seen it, you should go watch it before reading the review. I'm horrible at keeping spoilers out of my discussions.

The Vampire Diaries - "True Lies" - Review

Characters:

• Elena Gilbert - Played by Nina Dobrev. Jeremy's older sister. Damon's girlfriend. Doppelganger and Vampire.
• Jeremy Gilbert - Played by Steven R. McQueen. Elena's younger brother. Sees ghosts. Hunter.
• Stefan Salvatore - Played by Paul Wesley. Damon's younger brother. Elena's ex-boyfriend. Vampire. "Shadow-Self" of Silas.
• Damon Salvatore - Played by Ian Somerhalder. Stefan's older brother. Elena's Sire and boyfriend. Vampire.
• Caroline Forbes - Played by Candice Accola. Elena's best friend. Vampire. Currently at college.
• Bonnie Bennett - Played by Kat Graham. Witch. Ghost. Currently hanging around checking up on her friends and keeping an eye on things... or something.
• Katherine Pierce - Played by Nina Dobrev. Doppelganger, former Vampire. Sire of Stefan and Damon.
• Silas - Played by Paul Wesley. Immortal vampiric being.
• Sheriff Lez Forbes - Played by Marguerite MacIntyre. Caroline's mother. Sheriff of Mystic Falls. Human.
• Matt Donovan - Played by Zach Roerig. Works at Mystic Grill. Human.
• Jesse - Played by Kendrick Sampson. Human.
• Nadia - Played by Olga Fonda. Vampire bounty hunter.
• Dr. Wesley Maxfield - Played by Rick Cosnett. A link to Elena's dad.

Review:

I feel really sorry for Jeremy and Matt. The pair of them keep getting shoved out of Mystic Falls for one reason or another. I did kind of enjoy that they got stuck with Katherine, though. She was amusing only because she's so pissed off about her "human" predicament. I did like how she sort of came around after Jeremy pointed out why people don't treat her like a person. Also, guns aren't that hard to figure out.

Caroline and Damon were fun to see interacting. They make quite the double act. It was also fun to see Elena attempting to kill Damon. It was cool to watch her just go at it. It was also pretty amusing how she stopped herself actually killing him. Not the Stefan thing but the poker through her leg and chair. The Stefan thing pissed me off, actually. I thought we were done with the "Elena has to choose between the brothers" nonsense.

It was really interesting to see what happens when the Immortality Ring works. I liked the concept of the soul ending up further and further away from the body. It explained the eventual corruption of the wearer, I think. I did not like that the experience gets wiped, but I suppose they had to explain why Jeremy and Alaric never said anything about that. I also have no sympathy for Bonnie. She still annoys me to no end and I'd love it if she just up and moved on already.

Lastly, I'm so not interested in any of the school stuff. Jesse is boring. Dr. Maxfield is weird. I honestly don't care about that plot line. I think we've got enough going on without the addition of "The Mystery of John Gilbert."

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Liked the Moonstone reference.
• Don't really understand why Silas wants Damon dead.
• Kind of amusing Silas drinks blood from cups.

Theory:

Jesse turns out to be an antagonist.

Favorite Line:

"That's why people treat you like an object and not like a person." - Jeremy to Katherine

Housekeeping

Stay tuned in a little bit for the next The Vampire Diaries review.

Love ya, Jessie

Reign - Pilot - Review

Intro

Just wanted to say: the character list for Reign is going to be a tad different than the usual. Anyone who I'm sure was a real person will have their name linked to the corresponding Wiki page, as well as the actor names linked to the corresponding IMDB page.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Reign, Season 1, Episode 1. If you have not seen it, go over to cwtv.com to watch it... unless it's not there anymore. In which case... find somewhere else to watch it? Or perhaps pick up a history book.

Reign - "Pilot" - Review

Characters:

• Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland - Played by Adelaide Kane.
• Sebastian "Bas" - Played by Torrance Coombs. Son of Diane and Henry.
• Prince Francis II of France - Played by Toby Regbo. Eldest son of Catherine and Henry.
• Queen Catherine de' Medici of France - Played by Megan Follows. Henry's wife and mother of Francis.
• Nostradamus - Played by Rossif Sutherland.
• King Henry II of France - Played by Alan Van Sprang. Father of Henry and Bas.
• Diane de Portiers - Played by Anna Walton. Henry's mistress. Mother of Bas.
• Kenna - Played by Caitlin Stasey. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Greer - Played by Celina Sinden. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Lola - Played by Anna Popplewell. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Aylee - Played by Jenessa Grant. Mary's Lady in Waiting.
• Natalia - Played by Lola Tash. Francis' lover.
• Colin - Played by Ashley Charles. Lola's boyfriend.

Review:

Although my usual TV watching consists mainly of "Genre" television, I also enjoy the occasional Period Drama. While Reign is certainly Period Drama, it wasn't what I'd been expecting. I really should have known better, considering Reign is a CW show. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy Reign, it's just that it wasn't the usual "historical reenactment" kind of thing I tend to watch...

I'm not currently attached to any of the characters. I did, however, like Mary and Sebastian the best. Mary has always intrigued me as she plays a big part in the story of Elizabeth I. So far I like how Mary's been characterized. Sebastian interests me because he seems like a nice guy with no alternative agenda. Of course, only time will tell with that, but for now he's firmly on my "like" list.

I also sort of like the supernatural element, if it is a supernatural element. I don't have a problem adding that. The supernatural makes history slightly more interesting. Even if it turns out to not be supernatural, it's intriguing.

Most everything else was standard Period Drama. The only thing that really bugged me was the music. Not so much the anachronistic-ness of it, but the volume. All the music, even the incidental stuff, was really loud. Oh, and Mary would not have been left on her own if her life was in danger. That's just dumb.

All of that said, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the Season.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• No, the assassination attempt wasn't gross or creepifying at all.
• Mary being awkward is endearing.
• I had no idea Anna Popplewell was going to be in this.

Housekeeping

I managed to finish another couple of reviews this evening, but they won't be going up until sometime tomorrow because it's late and certain members of my family have managed to piss me off... again.

Love ya, Jessie.

Trust Me, Alice

Intro

I got two reviews done last night! Well... one was in the afternoon, but the other one I wrote during Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Supernatural. Knowing me, these might be the only two reviews you get from me today, but I could also be completely wrong and decide not to be lazy... ya never know.

The reviews will, of course, be posted on their own posts, possibly hours apart.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Season 1, Episode 2. If you have not seen the episode, please head over to watchabc.go.com in order to view it before reading this review... assuming they still have it up, of course. I don't know when you're reading this.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - "Trust Me" - Review

Characters:

• Alice - Played by Sophie Lowe. Main protagonist. Cyrus' Fiancee.
• Cyrus - Played by Peter Gadiot. Genie. Alice's Fiance.
• Red Queen - Played by Emma Rigby. Antagonist. Ruler of Wonderland.
• Knave of Hearts - Played by Michael Socha. Alice's ally.
• Jafar - Played by Naveen Andrews. Antagonist. Keeping Cyrus prisoner.
• White Rabbit - Voiced by John Lithgow. Works for the Red Queen keeping tabs on Alice.
• Silvermist - Played by Jordana Largy. A fairy who has history with the Knave.

Review:

Okay so... the main thrust of the entire story seems to be a really fast love story. Or at least it seems that way to me. And yes, I'm aware the "Once Upon a Time Multiverse" has a lot of "love at first sight" crap that goes on. However, if it had been revealed last episode that Alice and Cyrus' "epic love story" had happened as quickly as it did, I would be a lot less invested in it. All of that said, I sincerely hope we get more than we've gotten with the pair of them adventuring together. The "love at first sight" nonsense does nothing for me.

What does work for me is a pair of fairly equally matched villains. I very much enjoyed the power struggle between Jafar and the Red Queen. Jafar is one of those ridiculously impatient villains, which bugs me. Also, his legion of bugs was creepifying. The Red Queen earned some respect when it was revealed she was actually trying to govern her kingdom. That's fairly rare with royal villains. I'm really looking forward to seeing more from the pair of them and hope they do more than bicker next time.

Even though I don't think we'll get it, I'm really interested in what went on between the Knave and Silvermist. I liked Silvermist a lot more than I liked the Blue Fairy from Once Upon a Time. Silvermist might be up there with Tinker Bell at the moment.

The Mock Turtle was much, much bigger than I'd envisioned while reading Alice in Wonderland. I thought it was convenient the turtle was exactly where he or she was, though that didn't really take me out of the story at all. I actually quite liked the Mock Turtle, for all we saw a bit of his/her shell and head. I figured out it was a turtle before Alice realized.

Other than that, I really don't have much to say about the episode. It wasn't spectacular, but I'm not expecting absolute perfection with every episode. I can say I'm incredibly interested in seeing how the remaining episodes turn out.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Agrabah has an interesting style. Not what I expected, to be honest.
• Like the Clothes Horse concept. Nice excuse for a much needed costume change for Alice.
• Genies and silver don't mix. Who knew?
• 4 Magical Laws: You cannot change the past. You cannot kill. You cannot bring people back from the dead. You cannot use magic to induce love.
• Wishing genies free does not work. Weird.
• Who is this Anastasia?
• Bottle got stolen. Someone was spying and of course it would be the rabbit, even if he wasn't "spying" at the time.
• Using magic paper to get a message to Alice is clever.

Favorite Line:

"The one thing you can count on in Wonderland is that you can't count on anyone." - Alice

Housekeeping

Let me know what you thought in the comments below!

Love ya, Jessie

Gigantic Bike Problems

I was going to do some reviews today. I was going to watch some Once Upon a Time and The Originals today. I was going to ride my bike up to work to see how long it would take so people could stop hounding me about riding my bike instead of walking.

Instead, my bike has ripped away my patience and royally pissed me off.

1. I discovered the car-powered-pump missing, along with the adapters for my tires. Fancy tires require adapters so you can actually pump them full of air, don't you know.
2. We go out to get another set of adapters. That's fine, they're dirt cheap.
3. We get home and I have to pop the tread back into the wheel with the little tools for that.
4. I think I pump the tires full of air so I go to leave.
5. Surprise! The tires are still flat.
6. I pump more air into the tires.
7. Tires are finally done and I'm ready to go.
8. I make it about halfway to work and as I'm walking my bike up over a break in the crappy sidewalk, the tread pops back out of the wheel.
9. I'm essentially stuck because the tread keeps getting caught between the brakes and won't move properly. I don't have the tool with me to fix the damned thing.
10. I walk my bike back home enduring pedals scraping my leg when the bike drags and a reflector falling off the wheel.

So... yeah... I'm just in a foul mood now. Luckily I didn't actually have work today.

I probably won't have any reviews up until Thursday or Friday, the way things are going. Just thought I'd let you know.

Love ya, Jessie 

Big Apologies

I'm back after several days away from the blog. I will eventually get up all the reviews I've set myself to do, but at the moment, that's not happening. Due to an overwhelming case of "OW!" every time I take a step and the fact that my notes and note-taking supplies are clear across my room, I won't currently be reviewing Once Upon a Time in Wonderland like I should have Friday or even going to watch The Vampire Diaries and/or The Originals right now. I have made it my mission to get most, if not all, of that done this evening, though Sleepy Hollow is on so... distractions.

I would like to apologize for the overwhelming laziness I've had this weekend. Work is taking a lot more out of me than I thought it would.

In the event I don't get my review(s) up tonight... I'll probably apologize in the intro to the next review.

Love ya, Jessie

Supernatural - "Devil May Care" - Review

Intro

The second of two reviews going out today... for now anyway. See the last Arrow review for details regarding that.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Supernatural, Season 9, Episode 2. If you have not seen the episode, I highly recommend you head over to cwtv.com and watch it before reading this review. If you haven't seen the first 8 Seasons of Supernatural, I recommend either picking up the DVDs or getting Netflix and watching those before reading this review. I will spoil things from the get-go.

Supernatural - "Devil May Care" - Review

Characters:

• Sam Winchester/Ezekiel - Played by Jared Padalecki. Younger Winchester.
• Dean Winchester - Played by Jensen Ackles. Older Winchester.
• Crowley - Played by Mark Sheppard. King of Hell. Currently being held by the Winchesters.
• Kevin Tran - Played by Osric Chau. Prophet.
• Abaddon - Played by Alaina Huffman. Knight of Hell.
• Irv Franklin - Played by Paul Rae. Hunter.
• Sgt. Miranda Bates - Played by Cameron Moore. Military Police, I'm assuming.
• Pete - Hunter.
• Tracy Bell - Played by Olivia Ryan Stern. Hunter.

Review:

I don't think I've laughed so much watching an episode of Supernatural in a very long time. I'm really, really loving the Season so far. There wasn't a single bit of the episode I disliked. However, that doesn't mean I don't have things to discuss.

I very much enjoyed the return of Crowley. Crowley is seriously one of my favorite characters, and not just because he's played brilliantly by Mark Sheppard, though that helps. I didn't really expect him to recover from his humanity spell-thing as quickly as he did, though I'm glad we didn't end up with weepy Crowley. I thought he was weirdly preoccupied by S&M things this episode, though I can sort of see why. I liked that he went and attempted to manipulate Kevin. I liked that Sam and Dean left him to stew on his own instead of attempting torture.

I liked Kevin's little arc here. Now that I actually think about it, his reaction to Crowley strongly reminds me of Wesley's reaction to Faith on Angel. It makes sense Kevin would not only be angry at Sam and Dean for keeping Crowley around and alive but also go beat the crap out of Crowley when he had the chance. Mind you, I know Kevin didn't go down there looking for Crowley, but it made sense to me he'd fall for Crowley's baiting. I also very much enjoyed the bit at the end where Dean tells Kevin he's family.

Uhm... let's move on to Abaddon. I will probably never spell her name right consistently, so just be aware of that. I like that Abaddon was brought back, though I'm not sure why it had to be the same vessel she had before. Not that I have anything against the actress, but it seemed weird that she didn't just find a new vessel. I though Abaddon was wonderfully villainous, if not a tiny bit over the top. I like that she's making use of modern technology as a lot of other demons clearly aren't. I thought the scene where she was taunting Dean was... strange. And again with the S&M this episode. I would like to know why she just up and scampered when Ezekiel showed himself. Seems a Knight of Hell is afraid of angels. Interesting, to say the least.

Having other Hunters show up was nice. I always love when we get some expanded universe. Nice to be reminded the boys aren't the only Hunters out there. I very much liked both Irv and Tracy. I was sad to see Irv go so quickly, especially after he had that clearly manipulative speech about being lonely and whatnot. It worked on me, what can I say? Tracy was a tad more interesting and I hope we get more of her. I like that she had some slight history with the boys, even if they weren't aware of it.

Lastly, we must of course address the Ezekiel secret. I'm right there with Dean on it being weird talking to someone who is and is not his brother. I was actually really surprised to see Ezekiel show his wings so soon. Didn't think we'd get that for a while yet. Good to know that he's not just gonna be forgotten in the background. I thought Jared did a really nice job portraying Ezekiel. Nice to see him getting to stretch his acting muscles a little.

Overall, I would characterize this episode as the calm before the storm. I mean, yeah, it's nice to have a light episode every once in a while. I was calling for them last Season after everything got all depressing. However, I really do think the next episode will be less funny and more down-to-business.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Dean doing mentoring stuff again is nice.
• It's kind of strange having Dean almost making me cry.

Favorite Lines:

"Things go Breaking Bad, he knows our number." - Dean

"He's the junk in my trunk." - Dean

Most of what came out of Crowley's mouth while talking to the boys... which I would write out and type but... I'm too lazy. That entire scene was gold.

Housekeeping

See the Arrow review for the Housekeeping.

Love ya, Jessie.

Arrow - "Identity" - Review

Intro

Okay, I might have lied a little on the last Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. review. This particular review is going out on time and I should be able to get tomorrow's out on time, too. So sue me, I was extrapolating based on general tiredness.

As with yesterday, there will probably be more than just this review going out today. I've got one episode of both Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries and a couple episodes of The Originals to blow through. Not sure if those will all be up this evening, but I'll get as many done as I can. I might even lump The Originals reviews together into one. Who knows.

Stay tuned after this review for a little bit of Housekeeping.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Arrow, Season 2, Episode 2: "Identity." If you have not seen the episode, please don't spoil yourself by reading my review. Or at least don't complain about the spoilers. The episode is available at cwtv.com if you'd like to watch it before you read my review.

Arrow - "Identity" -Review

Characters:

• Oliver Queen - Played by Stephen Amell. Main character. Also known as "The Hood" or "The Vigilante."
• John Diggle - Played by David Ramsey. Oliver's bodyguard/driver.
• Felicity Smoak - Played by Emily Bett Rickards. IT specialist at Queen Consolidated. Oliver's techie behind the scenes.
• Thea Queen - Played by Willa Holland. Oliver's younger sister. Roy's girlfriend. Runs Verdant.
• Roy Harper - Played by Colton Haynes. Thea's boyfriend. Works at Verdant. "The Hood"'s eyes and ears in the Glades.
• Dinah "Laurel" Lance - Played by Katie Cassidy. Oliver's ex-girlfriend. Works for the DA.
• Sebastian Blood - Played by Kevin Alejandro. An alderman for the Glades.
• Slade Wilson - Played by Manu Bennett. Oliver's mentor on The Island.
• Shado - Played by Celina Jade. Oliver's Island girlfriend.
• China White - Played by Kelly Hu. Triad leader/assassin.
• Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger - Played by Michael Jai White. Triad fighter/assassin.

 

Review:

Word to the wise, don't look at IMDB cast lists if you don't want to be spoiled. I just did that and... yeah... not sure whether to be excited or really annoyed.

"Identity" was both a lot of fun and really nerve-wracking. On the one hand, it was fun to see how Felicity, Dig, and Olly are fitting into their roles as Executive Assistant, Driver, and CEO. I especially loved Felicity being not at all impressed with being Olly's assistant. However, she should probably know by now that Olly most likely won't treat her like your average executive assistant. That said, the nerve-wracking parts came when Olly was in situations as Oliver Queen where he was essentially helpless. Also that bit at the end where he had to choose between stopping China White and appearing at his benefit.

I've quickly become exceptionally annoyed at Laurel's new anti-vigilante stand-point. It's such a turnaround from last season and it makes me want to hate her. I don't want to hate Laurel. I like Laurel. She's not the annoying whiny girlfriend. However, blaming "The Hood" for Tommy's death is dumb. There was obviously nothing anyone could do because Tommy was impaled on rebar. Just... ugh!!! She really needs to lay off. Her father came around, didn't he?

I thought Roy was exceptionally stupid this episode. Yeah, he sort of had a point after the police decided to not send anyone after the medical shipment, but it was still stupid of him to get involved with that in the first place. While I was impressed by his balls, I was unimpressed by his methods. I do like, however, that he's staying with Thea and not becoming a superhero at the moment.

I think it's good that Felicity had a chance to a) shine and b) give Olly a piece of her mind. I really enjoy Felicity as the conscience of our trio. Sometimes the boys need a little push in the direction of being humans beings and not soldiers. That said, the apology scene was both touching and hilarious.

I was ambivalent toward China White and confused by "The Bronze Tiger." I will admit I had no idea who he was supposed to be and referred to him in my notes as "The Wolverine Guy." He was okay as a minor villain, I just hope we don't see him back. Speaking of villains, or at least antagonists, I'm sort of middling on where I stand with Sebastian Blood. He seems like an okay guy, but at the same time, his temper seems to get the better of him more than it probably should.

Island Flashbacks... yeah... Slade's apparent jealousy of Olly over Shado was just weird. On the one hand, he's pushing them together, but on the other he doesn't want them to actually be together. I honestly don't know what to make of that or the Japanese soldiers they found. It's slightly more interesting that the Fyres thing last year, but I still don't like "The Island."

Lastly... looks like Olly's going to have a heck of a time in both his Oliver Queen role and his "Hood" role. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he gets out of the situation with the SWAT team.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• I love that Felicity hates being Oliver's executive assistant.
• Roy got to have the "Robin discussion."

Favorite Lines:

"I'll always think of you fondly." - Thea

"And I love spending the night with you." - Felicity

"Could be worse. My secret identity is his black driver." - Diggle

"You know, I've been meaning to tell you it weirds me out to no end the way you refer to yourself in the third person like that." - Diggle

"You're not the only one allowed to bring a friend." - Olly

Housekeeping

I have officially decided not to watch The Tomorrow People or The Crazy Ones. The Crazy Ones I'm not watching because I really didn't like the first episode and can't bring myself to watch any more. The Tomorrow People I'm not watching because I got bored watching the first one and bored watching the second one. Heck, I turned off the second episode last night because I was so bored.

That said, I will attempt to keep up with the rest of my reviews to the best of my ability.

Love ya, Jessie

PS: I'm being a ghostie for the rest of the month. Happy October!