The Not-A-Review Post

Alright, I've done it. I've completely caught myself up on shows I'm supposed to watch. However, as both time and mental capacity are things I need to actually write reviews, I won't be writing them today. I have work in a few hours and I'll miss Sleepy Hollow tonight.

For now, I've got my notes and some time to let the shows stew in my head. I'm going to work on some art, while that's happening, so perhaps keep an eye out on my deviantART page.

Reviews should be back tomorrow. I'm planning to do at least three... again.

Love ya, Jessie

Grimm - PTZD - Review

Intro

Third and most likely final review for this evening. All the rest of the intro-ness can be found by reading the intro I posted with my Supernatural review today.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Grimm, Season 3, Episode 2: "PTZD." If you have not seen the episode, you should do so before reading my review. I spoil stuff, as usual.

Grimm - "PTZD" - 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. Deceased.
• Adalind Schade - Played by Claire Coffee. Former Hexenbiest.
• Frau Pech - Played by Mary McDonald-Lewis. Hexenbiest. Deceased.
• Two other detectives investigating the bar fight... who I can't find on IMDB so... *shrug*

Review:

This is the episode in which the action started last Season finally winds down. It's also the episode in which Nick has to reconcile the crap he did as Hulk-Nick with keeping himself on the safe side of the law. Also, Nick seems to be suffering from some kind of weird after-effect of being Hulk-Nick. Lastly, Adalind has to continue the creepy rituals to regain her powers.

I was confused when the episode started. Last thing I remembered, Renard, Hank, and Monroe were entering the bar and leaving Juliette and Rosalee outside. Apparently, I misremembered things or else there was a weird little time-skip. Either way, we pretty much picked up the action where we left off in the last episode. Hulk-Nick goes to terrorize some people in a house and almost gets shot while Monroe and Hank track him through the woods.

Hulk-Nick gets to fight all the guys and back hand Juliette before Rosalee stabs him with the cure-needle-thing. He doesn't wake up until a second dose is administered and then spends a day in a death-like sleep. The effects with the sleep thing were weird. Not sure why Nick turns grey every time, but he's pretty obviously messed up from being Hulk-Nick.

On a lighter note, Nick gets to use his Grimm-powers from last Season. That was fun. It was also fun to see the Scooby Gang come together in order to protect Nick. I'm not entirely sure why Nick suddenly has a problem with accidentally killing someone while under what is essentially a curse. I mean, yeah, he has a conscience, but the fact that he wanted to turn himself in was a bit over the top for me. After all, he spent two Seasons covering up for having to dispatch Wesen and didn't really seem to have a problem with that.

I kind of enjoyed Renard's cover-up for Nick. However, the scene where we see him trashing the bar office was unnecessary. I think we pretty much had that figured out when he pulled out the hard drive.

Adalind's disgusting rituals thing continued this episode. It was kind of weird and mostly made me want to puke. However, I really loved Adalind's facial expressions during that entire thing. Not sure whether or not she has her powers back yet, but it sort of seems so.

So, uh, yeah... that's pretty much what I thought. I know it's not my usual well-reasoned review, but I was kind of distracted during part of it and the parts I paid the most attention to, I've discussed here.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Convenient address on mailbox and a barn.
• Yup, leave the girls outside again, because that works well.
• Loved the Hank and Monroe revenge-fueled bonding moment.
• Didn't think for a second Nick would actually turn himself in.
• Surprised that the Frau Pech-goo was CGed on Adalind's stomach.

Housekeeping

So... that's it from me for today, I think. I'm gonna go try to catch up on stuff, since I clearly didn't the last two days.

Love ya, Jessie

Arrow - "Crucible" - Review

Intro

Please read the intro from the previous post because I don't feel like a) retyping it or b) copying and pasting it  into multiple posts.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Arrow, Season 2, Episode 4" "Crucible." If you have not seen the episode, I recommend you do so before reading this review. I spoil things.

Arrow - "Crucible" - Review

Characters:

• Oliver Queen - Played by Stephen Amell. Main character. Also known as "The Hood" or "The Vigilante" or "The Arrow."
• John "Dig" Diggle - Played by David Ramsey. Oliver's bodyguard/driver.
• Felicity Smoak - Played by Emily Bett Rickards. Oliver's Executive Secretary/techie.
• 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.
• Sara Lance/Black Canary - Played by Caity Lotz. Laurel's sister. Olly's ex. Currently vigilante-ing around Starling City.
• 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.
• Isabel Rochev - Played by Summer Glau. Vice-President of Acquisitions for Stellmoor Industries.
• Sebastian Blood/Brother Blood - Played by Kevin Alejandro. An alderman for the Glades.
• The Captain - Played by Jimmy Jean-Louis. Captain of the ship off the Island.
• Lyla Michaels - Played by Audrey Marie Anderson. Dig's friend in the FBI.
• Xavier Reed/The Mayor - Played by Cle Bennett. Attempted to take over The Glades.

Review:

I'm not sure whether or not this will come as a surprise to anyone, but I thought this episode was rather bland. I'm not really one for filling up episodes with big fight scenes and I honestly don't care that Laurel's starting to have a drinking problem. I don't really have much to say about the episode, but I'll attempt to pull some things from my notes.

Oh, but wait, there's this thing that I've been alluding to in my reviews for the last couple of episode. The Black Canary is Sara Lance! Thank you IMDB for spoiling that a while back. Not sure if they fixed it or not, but I was already spoiled so... meh. It wasn't surprising. I was more surprised by the mention of Ras Al Ghul last week than I was about Sara.

Of course, with the revelation of Sara's "alive" status, we got her showing up on the prison ship in the Island flashbacks. This was also unsurprising given the banter between she and Olly during the episode. So, yeah, all the surprises weren't that really.

I like that Roy has become attached to Sin. Hopefully that won't kill his relationship with Thea. Thea, however, seems surprisingly not jealous of Sin. I'd kind of like to see the pair of them become friends. It would be a bit fun, I think.

The villain of the episode was boring. I was much more interested in what Blood thinks he's doing behind the scenes there at the end.

But yeah... this episode was rather forgettable, in my mind. I'd actually mostly forgotten what went on before I reread my notes, so you can see about how much I was bored with it.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Queen Consolidated must really be in it deep, for what Rochev is hinting at.
• Lance showing up to ask Olly for help with Laurel must really have taken a lot for him, considering how much he hates Olly.
• Loved Felicity's air-quotes.
• So now Sara's going to come home?

Favorite Lines:

"No woman should suffer at the hands of men." - Sara

"Living is not for the weak." - Olly

Housekeeping

Next up: Review of last night's Grimm, like there should be. Of course, I'm taking another break to do more daily stuff.

Love ya, Jessie

Supernatural - "Slumber Party" - Review

Intro

Well I was gone longer than I'd planned. *Shrug* Not much I can do about that really. I had to work on Halloween and then yesterday and also had a friend over to hang out after work. It was my birthday so I figured I'd do something more fun than sit around the house by myself/with my nephew.

I'm currently planning to crank out another three reviews today, all from this week, incidentally. However, I might not get all three due to babysitting and... ya know, stuff.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Supernatural, Season 9, Episode 4: "Slumber Party." If you haven't seen it, I recommend doing so before you read my review. There will be spoilers.

Supernatural - "Slumber Party" - Review

Characters:

• Sam Winchester/Ezekiel - Played by Jared Padalecki. Younger Winchester with an Angel healing him from the inside.
• Dean Winchester - Played by Jensen Ackles. Older Winchester.
• Charlie Bradbury - Played by Felicia Day. The first "Woman" of Letters/Hunter.
• James Haggerty - Played by Gildart Jackson. Man of Letters from the 1930s.
• Peter Jenkins - Played by Andrew Jenkins. Man of Letters from the 1930s.
• Dorothy Baum - Played by Kaniehtiio Horn. Daughter of L. Frank Baum. Hunter.
• Crowley - Played by Mark Sheppard. King of Hell.
• The Wicked Witch of the West - Played by Maya Massar. Yup, that one.

Review:

In a show peppered with extremely strange episodes, "Slumber Party" fits right in with the strangest. I've had a good half a week to attempt to wrap my head around it, but my brain insists on saying "What the hell did I just watch" over and over again. That said, I rather enjoyed this romp of an episode.

The first thing I'd like to talk about/address is the concept of Oz as a real place. This is by no means a new concept. Years ago I checked out an annotated version of The Wizard of Oz from my library. (I highly recommend reading annotated versions of things, it's quite fun.) It contained a massive section at the beginning detailing the history and legacy of the book. I don't remember actually reading the story itself, but I paid a lot of attention to the annotations and such. One of the concepts touched upon was one of inter-dimensional travel via tornadoes and whatnot, like Dorothy mentioned in the episode. I'm not sure exactly where I read up on the concept, but there's more information out there on it than you'd think. Anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that I don't have a problem with the concept of Oz existing alongside the Supernatural universe. I was certainly surprised that it did, but it didn't bug me in the slightest.

I loved the concept of Dorothy as a Hunter. No one could go into Oz, do what she did, and come out on the other side a normal/stable person. She was kind of awesome, though I wish she'd stuck around longer. It would have been fun to see her interacting with the boys and the people of today.

I was extremely excited to see Charlie. What I don't understand, though, is the boys treating her like a piece of glass. Sure she's new and everything, but that's not excuse to be constantly trying to bench her. I like that she saved Dean's life, even if she did die in the process. I don't think it crossed my mind that she was actually dead or would stay dead so the fact that she died was kind of... surreal, I guess. I was not impressed that Dean then had to cover up Ezekiel's existence from everyone afterward. That secret's getting to be annoying, especially since it keeps coming up every episode.

Crowley sort of teaming up with the Wicked Witch was fun. I like that the Witch was stronger than your average baddie and that she had designs on world domination. She made an interesting one-off baddie who gave the boys an excuse to further explore their new home. Speaking of which, I loved the look at the Men of Letters bunker. It was awesome. Kind of reminds me of the underground X-Men complex. I'm not sure I buy into the whole "Same doesn't feel at home in the bunker because he's never really had a home" thing. Sure, he had a point that he's been on the road his entire life, but that seemed kind of forced to me. The bunker's gotta be at least as much home as Bobby's or the cabin was.

Anyway, I'm still reeling from this episode. I know I liked it. I appreciated the references. I enjoyed the characters. I thought the music was strangely upbeat and pulled me out of the episode a couple times. The entire thing together, though, was just weird.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Awwwww... no Cas.
• Dean broke the computer and let loose the witch goo. Good job, idiot.
• Charlie has Supernatural on her tablet, lol.
• Becky reference!
• Me thinks Dorothy has a crush on Charlie.
• Love it when Dean gets all domestic.
• Heaven is your dream life.

Favorite Lines:

"Now heel." - Charlie

"Ding dong, bitches." - Charlie

Housekeeping

Next up, an Arrow review... after a break of doing some daily stuff I didn't do this morning.

Love ya, Jessie

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