The Avengers at the Moulin Rouge

Intro/Overview

While Primeval: New World and Sinbad were on, I was watching Moulin Rouge with my family. I think I'm going to have to rethink finding them elsewhere online now that I've missed two episodes of each. I also think I'm going to give up on fully reviewing last week's Warehouse 13 and Defiance. That's apparently not happening.

Tonight, I have full reviews of Moulin Rogue and The Avengers, two movies I love very much.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen Moulin Rouge or The Avengers please leave the blog and return when you have. I am horrible about keeping my reviews spoiler free.

The Avengers - Review

I really, really loved The Avengers when I saw it in theaters initially. When it finally showed up on Netflix today, I was ecstatic. Upon second watch I was able to fully appreciate some things about the movie I hadn't noticed before or had overlooked initially. Now, because The Avengers has been out for so long and because I have read/listened to a lot of different reviews, I won't be nit picking the movie apart. In fact, if you like nit picking you should just go away.

In speaking about nit picking, the giant battle at the end of the movie instantly comes to mind. It's been nit picked within an inch of its life by anyone and everyone who enjoys nit picking these things. I have never seen a reason to do anything other than sit back and enjoy the set-piece. I had fun watching it and that's pretty much all that matters to me.

I really, really enjoyed Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and The Hulk. Edward Norton was my favorite Hulk before Ruffalo took up the mantle. Although I did love Norton, I'm not sure he would have worked for The Avengers. I don't think there would have been as much chemistry between Banner and Stark if Norton had been in the role. That said, the chemistry between Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. just flew off the screen. I totally saw all the shipper-fuel for all the Bruce/Tony fan-schtuff. I myself am more a fan of Black Widow/Hawkeye based on the movie, but to each their own.

I like how each of The Avengers were set up as characters and gathered together. Those who hadn't seen the previous films could easily pick up on what each character was about and how they worked with the others. Those who, like me, had seen the previous films could sit back and enjoy the characters interacting with each other and the various tie-ins to their individual movies. Yeah, some characters -- Black Widow and Hawkeye in particular -- got left in the cold as far as deeper characterization goes, but that's fairly par for the course in big ensemble movies like The Avengers. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing a movie about how Black Widow and Hawkeye met or something along those lines. Perhaps they'll make a surprise appearance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What? Thought I wouldn't mention that?

Speaking of which, The Council. They bug me. I get why they're there. They're your pretty standard Oversight Committee-esque people. I still don't like them and I enjoyed Fury blowing them off twice.

I would be remiss if I didn't give some mention to the Loki/Tony verbal sparring scene. Yeah, it's totally a "Iron Man is awesome and RDJ is getting a giant paycheck out of this movie" scene, but it made a lot of sense. Sure, Loki and Iron Man could duke it out, but their strengths really lie more in the realm of words. Tony can stall to get a less banged up suit and Loki can gloat a little. I thought the scene was brilliant and a nice change of pace between action scenes.

Final Thoughts:

• S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters pulled a Sunnydale and turned into a giant crater.
• Loki's long-distance call was pretty awesome. I loved the effects there.
• Everyone's got really interesting tech.
• Great action and character moments interspersed with classic Whedon dialogue.
• I like Loki as the villain because he's crazy, cocky, and witty to boot.

Favorite Scenes:

• Black Widow talking to Loki in the cage. It was brilliant. I was totally sold the first time through.
• Hulk vs. Loki. Nuff said.
• Pepper not picking up her phone while Tony's on a suicide mission. I about cried this time through.

Moulin Rogue - Review

I'm gonna start this off by saying: I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I watched it for the first time many years ago and it holds up spectacularly in story, character, and set-pieces.

I find the mish-mash of classic musical numbers combined with modern music turned into musical numbers works extremely well. I also really enjoy the shifts between normal movie bits and stage-production bits awesome. Moulin Rouge is just a wonderful mish-mash of everything you could want in a movie and that's part of what makes it work so well.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Ewan McGregor's performance. I think at the time I originally say this movie, I'd just come off thinking of him as Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, Ewan positively melts into Christian just within the first few scenes. I had no trouble separating the two in my head. Add to that Ewan's singing voice. It's spectacular.

The cast of other characters really serve more as a backdrop to the world in which Satine and Christian find each other. I also really enjoyed Nicole Kidman as Satine. She's sexy and cute and just magnificent in the role. I thought Richard Roxburgh as The Duke was easily believable as the villain and as the buffoon. I'm not exactly fond of John Leguizamo as Toulouse, but I loved Jim Broadbent as Harold Ziddler. The other characters, while most definitely there, are largely forgettable. But then, the story's not about them at all so, there's that.

I'd started this review thinking it would turn into one of my normal in-depth things, but really all I can think about is gushing over the spectacular-ness that is Moulin Rouge. It's one of those movies that you have to sit down and watch to really understand what's so magical about it. It's beautiful, tragic, funny, heartwarming, and tear-jerking. There's really not a lot I can say about it that won't sound like gushing nonsense.

I will say though: I constantly play songs from Moulin Rouge and just fall back into that world. They really convey the emotions of the individual scenes beautifully.

Love ya, Jessie.

Fringe, Season 4 In Review

Intro/Overview

I have a sunburn. I'm kind of miserable because of it, but not as miserable as I usually am with these things. This one's tiny in comparison to full-back and arms, can't wear a bra or a shirt, need to slather myself in Lidocaine ones I've had in the past...

I've still not gotten around to reviewing this week's Warehouse 13 or Defiance. I have, however, finished Fringe, Season 4 and am well into Season 5 and I've written my review for that.

Spoiler Warning

The following review is for Season 4 of Fringe. I think it goes without saying that there will be spoilers if you haven't seen the previous seasons. I'm also horrible at keeping spoilers out of anything I do so... the following review is full of them

Fringe, Season 4 - Review

Oh My Gosh, So Much Stuff! The fourth season of Fringe was almost ridiculously full of twists and turns and stuff to talk about!

First, there's the disappearance of Peter. The entire timeline is rewritten and we get to see what happened because of Peter's absence. I found the episodes without Peter incredibly strange, watching it this time around. I think when Season 4 originally started I figured he was just being replaced with Lincoln... ya know, for the whole episode I watched before forgetting about it. Despite my initial lack of remembering Fringe was on, I've obviously dived back in with both feet. But I digress. I really enjoyed seeing how Olivia, Astrid, Walter, and Broyles interacted without Peter being there. The new dynamic was interesting to see while it lasted. I also really enjoyed how everyone reacted to Peter's reappearance, or rather appearance, in their case.

I found Olivia's journey through the season a bit odd, though the end of the season was spectacular. I'm not sure I really found the revised-timeline-Olivia that different from the one we had in the first three seasons. I did think giving Olivia a more personal relationship with Nina was nice. I thought the development of Olivia's powers through F-Nina's meddling was interesting, though it kind of killed some of the Olivia/Lincoln stuff that was going on. I would have liked to see that, even if it was only for a little bit before Peter came back on the scene.

Speaking of Peter: I think it might have been more interesting to see the rekindled romance between Olivia and Peter if Peter figured out on his own that he couldn't get back to his timeline, instead of the way it happened... Their whole thing had me yelling at the screen again, but at Peter this time, instead of Olivia. I think the best thing to come out of Peter and Olivia's relationship was Walter's reactions to it. I like that he went from really disapproving to extremely happy and proud about them being together.

I really enjoyed "Making Angels" where we got a better look/understanding of F-Astrid. The way she interacted with the team from the main universe was cool to see. I like that no one had trouble navigating her Asperger Syndrome. It was also really touching to see F-Astrid and Astrid interacting. Astrid is amazing. I don't think I was as attached to her before as I became after this episode. I was also really pleased to see F-Olivia getting along with everyone, especially Walter. That whole thing between them was really sweet.

I also really enjoyed "Letters of Transit." It was interesting to see a slice of the semi-apocalyptic future. Of course no future of Fringe is going to end up being perfect. However, I think the reveal of Etta's connection to Peter and Olivia was really obvious. I also thought that it was nice to get a tiny glimpse of a piece of the last episodes of the season was great. I had no idea what the significance of the bullet Etta was until that last episode.

My Closing Thoughts:

• I'm glad Lincoln found his Olivia.
• I'll miss the alternate universe and the "doppelgangers."
• Olivia's application of her powers was awesome.
• I'm surprised F-Broyles ended up being human. I was fully expecting him to be a shapeshifter.
• Not sure I liked William Bell being the Big Bad at the end.
• Naming your real kid after your nonexistant son was ridiculous.
• I thought the reintroduction of David Robert Jones as a villain was interesting and unexpected.

Love ya, Jessie.

Time For Some Political Nonsense

Intro/Overview

This should be a review blog, it really should be. However, I haven't been able to get my thoughts about episodes in order and I've been really exhausted the past couple days so... instead of the regular reviews, I'm going to do something totally different.

This blog post is going to be somewhat political. More of a reaction to the things that have gone on this week than actually talking about the politics. I am not a political person. In fact, I think most politicians should go stick their heads in an airplane engine... but that's never going to happen so... yeah. I just wanted to make that clear before I go into the next section of the blog.

There is a Housekeeping section after the politics.

Also, be aware that I swear several times during this post. So if that's not your cup of tea, I suggest you leave.

My Reactions To Recent Political Developments

The Voting Thing

Good going Republicans. You're all jerks.

Supreme Court Decisions

I actually spent most of my day sleeping off a monster headache. Everything I've heard about the two Supreme Court decisions was through the news broadcasts after I woke up at about 3PM... and Facebook at about 10AM.

While the news was doing their usual thing of showing tiny clips of people talking, I heard something from who I'm assuming is a Republican of come sort that made me angry and actually spawned this blog post. I have no idea who this guy was, I don't even know if he was actually a Republican, but I'm assuming so because of what he said. He was talking about the state defining marriage. He said that the only person with the authority to define marriage is "the creator."

Yeah... I got news for you, buddy, not everyone actually believes in "the creator" and therefore defining marriage cannot be in "the creator's" court. It has to be in the hands of the people, most of whom obviously want the same damn rights you're afforded. Yes, you happen to be one of "the people" but your religious beliefs should be nowhere near a political arena. It's been said before, but I'm saying it again: Separation of Church and State is actually a thing and everyone should actually respect that.

All of that said, I'm very happy for all the same-sex couples who now have more equal rights than they had before. I'm glad that the citizens of California can legally marry their partners. Equality is important and I'm glad there's more of it in the US today then there was before.

Texas Legislature, Senate Bill 5

Also in some other political decisions affecting me, the abortion laws here in Texas. The Republican Politicians of the Texas Senate got a big kick in the guts today after all their cheating and BSing yesterday. The Senate Bill 5 has been ruled to not have been passed because it was passed after midnight.

Senator Wendy Davis has fast become one of my heroes for actually standing up for my rights to make my own medical decisions. And yes, I say that knowing precisely what I said in the intro.

A Message to So-Called "Pro-Lifers"

Unless you're willing to adopt each and every unwanted child you've "saved" from abortion, you're not actually "pro-life." Unless you're willing to pay for each and every unwanted child you've "saved" from abortion, you're not actually "pro-life." Being "pro-life" is, at this point, forcing your religious beliefs down other people's throats. You don't like abortions? Don't get one. Stop trying to control everyone else's decisions. It's annoying, detrimental, and needs to stop NOW.

Housekeeping

I will try my hardest to get those reviews done so I can get them out to you as soon as possible. If you've stuck through my various political things, thanks for reading. Let me know what you think in the comments. I'd love to hear it.

Love ya, Jessie.

Lost and Found - Warehouse 13

Intro/Overview

Sorry for the prolonged absence. I've... had issues. I also missed last Saturday's episodes of Sinbad and Primeval: New World. SyFy isn't putting episodes of those online and I really don't feel like downloading those episodes elsewhere so... I won't have reviews for those up at all. However, what follows this intro are my Initial Reactions for tonight's Warehouse 13.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Warehouse 13, please leave the blog, watch it, and return later... unless you'd like to be spoiled. Initial Reactions are like live Tweets. They contain many spoilers.

Warehouse 13 - "Lost & Found" - Initial Reactions

• Dark and stormy conditions never bode well.
• Poor Myka.
• Nice thing to spring on him at 1 AM... well that's really weird...
• Lol, sandwich theft!
• Interesting use of stock footage.
• Artie keeps things in weird places.
• Listen to Jinks, he knows best!
• Sneaky McSneakerson is being Sneaky.
• Of course he'd be her son. I don't like him.
• Well that was an interesting setting screen.
• It still amuses me that the B&B has a purple roof.
• I think it's that guy's face... it bugs me for some reason.
• It's Sneaky Mom.
• Yeah really, stop dancing around the issue.
• This is true, but you're a bad chick.
• No Pete, Blue Cheese.
• So you're eating Whipped Cream? Really Pete?
• Lies.
• Huh. Weird CG.
• One Time Use Only.
• Because Myka is awesome!
• Yeah... that was totally really obvious.
• Wohoo manipulation...
• Seriously, Myka?
• Silly Pete is silly.
• That's apparently not that hard...
• I really love Claud and Jinks as a team. They're awesome.
• That's awesome.
• Aren't they the same thing?
• WTF are you doing there?!
• Warehouse 13 cat fights are always fun.
• I hate hidden passages.
• Ghost-y artifact!
• It's afraid of bells?
• Well that was interesting...
• Oh geez!
• Well duh guys.
• Of course that was it. Poor Artie.
• Shapeshifting artifact. Nice trick.
• Serves her right, though I'm sure that was her plan... that ended in her death. Go figure.
• Of course there's not.
• Well duh.
• Lol, Artie and Pete together are really interesting.
• I enjoy how they all carry bags in their pockets.
• You invoke "Spoilers"?!
• Paracelsus? Who?
• Anthony Stewart Head!
• That's not good.
• Okay, now how is Charlotte alive?
• Well then. Of course that'd be somewhere.
• Immortality gets boring as fuck after a while, I'd imagine.
• And of course she'd give that up.
• Eternal childhood is a very bad thing, if Claudia from Interview With The Vampire has taught us anything.
• And of course this is where Myka would tell Pete.
• Of course he did. Of course.

What Matters If I Leave This World Alive

Overview

I was sick yesterday so I didn't put up a Warehouse 13 review... so I'm also giving you a Defiance review as well. That'll be pretty much it.

Warehouse 13 - "What Matters Most" - Review

I quite enjoyed this episode. I thought the artifacts were interesting. I liked most of the character bits. This episode was nicely solid.

Although I wasn't particularly interested, I thought getting more backstory on Abigail was nice. I kind of want to know if the patient she "couldn't help" is going to be showing up at some point. I thought the fact that she got her character moment with Jinks was good. Seeing Jinks paired with people other than Claudia this season has been really nice. It was also kind of funny that he got Goo-residue in the face because he was talking too much and not wearing proper safety gear. He kind of deserved that.

I really loved the Claudia/Artie storyline. It was nice to see Claudia having those moments to bond with the kid and be really mature was great. I liked that Artie was there to have "Liquid Pride" moments while Claud was being awesome. The artifact in that section was kind of interesting as well. I do question what would have made someone put those goggles on while doing math in the first place... ya know, if it hadn't been a set up. Knowing that it was a set up makes me slightly sad for Claudia, being taken in like she is. I have a feeling she's going to be heartbroken and angry about it when she finds out.

The Pete/Myka storyline was great until the end part... and all the "Pete's worried about low testosterone" bits. I didn't buy Pete going overboard about the low-T thing. I understand where the writers were trying to come from, but I don't think it worked very well. In fact, it upped Pete's ridiculousness factor... which he has plenty of already. I also didn't find Pete's confession thing particularly touching or engaging at all. At this point in the show's run, we all know that Pete had a drinking problem and was a horrible person in his past because of it. His guilt over almost killing his friend, while a realistic guilt to have, didn't fit with the rest of what was going on in the episode. That said, I liked that there was an artifact created from the Soddom and Gomora thing.

Last notes: I kind of want to punch the spy-kid. I was floored by the revelation that Myka has Cancer. That's horrible!

Defiance - "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" - Review

To sum this episode up: Predictable to the n-th degree.

There's a plague that would have been a much more effective plot device if it had lasted more than a single episode. The plague, predictably, wipes out almost all of the major human characters... except not because they're all still alive. That, in itself, was rather predictable. Kind of annoying they killed off Connor; I liked him a lot.

Also predictable: Quarantining the Irathients because they carry/cause the plague but don't get sick from it. That entire plot was predictable. Of course they're going to do something that inadvertantly pisses off one of their captors. Of course that captor is going to be a ridiculous hot-heat and try to physically stop them. Of course someone pivotal to the not-captured-Irathients' plan is going to be killed by the hot-head. Of course there's not going to be any actual repercussions from that.

I'm glad Nolan and Connor were able to get the cure. I don't really understand Datak's reasons for killing Connor. Yeah, Connor witnessed him beating the crap out of the Irathient chick, but Datak was angry... I'm pretty sure Connor wouldn't have said anything. Datak just up and shooting him was really unexpected and weird.

It figures that Quentin would give Nicki the artifact. It figures that Nicki's trying to get Yewll to work with her again. It figures that Datak is going to run for Mayoral office against Amanda. Odds are, he'll win so things can be more interesting around Defiance.

Yup... Defiance was incredibly predictable this week. I've seen this story loads of times in other TV shows and movies and books. Same old, same old.

Let Me Know What You Thought In Comments!

Love ya, Jessie.

Harry Potter and the Spell Bound Stone

Overview

I actually read/finished some books! I'm gonna review them for you. Also, an Altador Cup Update and a Housekeeping section.

SPOILER WARNING

I am absolutely horrible at keeping spoilers out of my reviews, especially when rereading stuff. If you have not read any of the Harry Potter series and/or seen the movies, the following review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone contains spoilers for the entire series. Also, if you haven't read the Women of the Otherworld series, my review for Spell Bound also contains spoilers.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - Review

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I'm a Harry Potter fan. As such, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was the book that got me into J.K. Rowling's magical world. That said, I tend to skip over it when I reread the series. This is for several reasons, which I will outline below, before I get to the reason I shouldn't skip over Sorcerer's Stone as often as I do.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is largely a setup book. The reader gets what is basically a book-long info-dump interspersed with actual plot. That said, much of the info-dumping is necessary as the reader is in the same shoes as Harry: neither has any idea what the Wizarding World is like. However, in large info-dumps serve to make the book choppy. While we don't necessarily need to know what's going on hour-to-hour and day-to-day, I personally felt as though delving into the day-to-day stuff more often would have been helpful to break up all the jumping around that happens. There are also a lot of plot-conveniences throughout the book that hinge on characters being in certain places at certain times to overhear random bits of dialogue in order to create the red herring villain: Professor Severus Snape. I enjoyed Snape as the villain on the first read, but knowing about that upon reread ruins the magic, as it were.

What I really enjoy about rereading Sorcerer's Stone is the foreshadow-y clues sprinkled throughout the pages. Sirius Black is mentioned in the first chapter, though he doesn't come back up until Prisoner of Azkaban. Horcruxes, while not explicitly named or expounded upon, are mentioned. We see the after-effects of Voldemort using one of them. It's the only way he could even show up in the book. Professor Snape is initially set up as the villain. By the end of the book, and ultimately the end of the series, we see that he's not. We get a slight mention of the Marauders in this book, or at least a mention of their exploits, when Dumbledore tells Harry that James saved Snape's life. These, along with many other bits and pieces, are reasons rereading Sorcerer's Stone is so much fun.

In addition to the foreshadowing, there were certain bits of the story I really enjoyed. The depiction of Hogwarts at Christmas really stands out. I also quite enjoyed the Gringotts plaque -- I've got that thing memorized. I do really want to punch Ron in the face for all the things he said to Hermione in this book, though. That was before they became friends, but even so, he was really cruel to her.

If you are reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time -- I don't know why you're reading this review if you are, first off -- this is the book that gets you into the series. It might not be the best example of Harry Potter brilliance, but it works as a nice introduction to the series.

Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong - Review

Spell Bound picks up the morning after Waking The Witch ends, skipping nary a beat getting into the action. Spell Bound continues to follow Savannah Levine as she works a case that turns out to be much bigger than she'd started out believing. Largely, Spell Bound takes all the loose ends from Waking The Witch, expands upon them, and then ties them up fairly well while at the same time creating something to carry readers into the next, and last, book in the series.

I really enjoyed Savannah's journey through both cases and her life. It was a lot of fun seeing her get things done without her powers, even if she usually had a "babysitter" alongside. Savannah is fully fleshed out here as she unknowingly gets ready for the apparent war to come.

I also enjoyed the cameo appearances of Elena, Clay, Hope, Jaime, Jeremy, and Cassandra. Getting all the Council characters working together in one place was awesome. Seeing them through the lens of Savannah was also quite fun. Usually we're seeing her through their eyes. Of course, rounding out the very fun cast were Karl, Adam, Paige, Lucas, and Sean to lesser extents.

Adam acted and reacted pretty consistently through the book. However, he did do a ridiculously quick turnaround from being pissed at Savannah. That bit threw me and didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the goings on, even if he thought he'd found a way to get Savannah's powers back. It was so weird I didn't even think that was actually Adam.

I thought the various "villains" of Spell Bound worked well together and apart. They transitioned quite smoothly from one to the other, at least. While they gave Savannah some trouble, they were mostly ancillary to what was going on in Savannah's head while they were around.

The questions asked, but not really answered were actually quite welcome. It was like watching a TV show and coming toward the end of a season. I do wonder who this Giles person really is, or rather, what he is. I wonder who "took" Savannah's powers and is pulling her toward becoming a Champion.

Overall, Spell Bound kept me engaged every step of the way. I found it very hard to put down. While Spell Bound is definitely not as stand-alone as previous Women of the Otherworld books have been, I'm really happy with how it was presented and how it ended. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.

Altador Cup Update

It's a bye day today. Perfect for giving an update.

Shenkuu ended this round fourth in the Alabriss Bracket. We're currently tied with Terror Mountain for 10th place overall.

Housekeeping

Tonight I may or may not have Initial Reactions up for Warehouse 13 due to shopping that needs to happen tonight.

I'm thinking of starting a Tumblr... so I can share pictures and stuff I've found around the internet. Currently I'm doing that through my Twitter feed, but... I keep forgetting about it so... a Pleiades Tumblr might be coming soon.

Love ya, Jessie.

Queen of the Sisiutl

Overview

This post contains reviews for last night's episodes of Primeval: New World and Sinbad as aired on SyFy. There is also a small Housekeeping section below the reviews.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen last night's episodes of Sinbad or Primeval: New World, please leave the blog and come back later. My reviews always contain spoilers.

Also, there's some swearing so just be aware of that.

Sinbad - "Queen of The Water Thieves" - Review

Okay so, this episode was essentially the crew getting captured by a savage culture and Sinbad befriending a giant bird and then becoming de facto leader. I wasn't impressed. Yeah, the CG on the bird was pretty awesome, but it was really the only impressive thing about this episode.

I found Razia incredibly boring. While she was supposed to be the bad ass leader of the Water Thieves, she didn't come off that way. I think she seemed spoiled, actually. I also didn't like that she essentially felt she had to lecture Sinbad on being a leader... and then essentially did nothing while her son was being killed. Razia's grip on her "people" was obviously tenuous. Honestly, Sophie Okonedo was more convincing as Liz 10 on Doctor Who than she was as Razia. The apparently lack of society there also bugged me. Yes, they're savages, but they've got a queen and no real line of succession... except who can be the coldest, most heartless asshole ever.

I also honestly don't care about any of the crew. They're all pretty generic. The Cook's parts were slightly funny, but really obvious. I'm also already tired of Lord Akbar and his witch, Taryn. That entire part with Sinbad's family wasn't necessary, in my opinion.

And about the end of the episode... if there's no wind until the bird starts flapping behind the boat, then how is the boat going any further? Birds do not make wind, even giant ones. They're pretty much stranded for a while, unless the bird's going to be flapping behind them forever.

So... I basically thought this was a crap episode. We'll see if next week's episode is any better.

Primeval: New World - "Sisiutl" - Review

I am trying really hard to keep Primeval: New World separated from Primeval in my head, really I am. Again, this was an episode I thought the parent series did better. I get that we had to establish to a new audience that Anomalies could appear underwater. I get that they didn't want to repeat the giant crocodile that Primeval did. I get that a giant snake worked better with local mythology. I just don't think it was very well done.

I think part of my problem with the plot of this was all the jumping around that happened. We had to jump from Evan to Mac to Dylan to Toby to Angelika to Evan and the native dude to Angelika and Lieutenant Leeds back to Evan and the native dude to... you get the idea. I didn't like all the jumping around. It made the story seem choppy, even when it shouldn't have been.

That said... I really, really don't like Angelika. I don't know what her motivation is, but she's generally acting like a bitch to everyone. I didn't appreciate the way she decided to handle things. I'm not happy that she's going to be looking for a way to close the Anomalies. Mind you, I know from Primeval that the Anomalies can be closed, just not permanently. Angelika is looking for a permanent solution to a problem she essentially just found out about and I don't like it. I also didn't like that she went behind Evan's back to talk to Leeds about talking to Evan.

I didn't really have a problem with the snake, for the most part. I thought it was rather ridiculous that it went off after sound even when it could see and smell a tasty snack right in front of its face. Other than that, I thought the snake was a good choice, given the circumstances surrounding it.

I did not like the protest thing. Yes, I understand these things happen all the time. I live in the US. It's like the protest capital of the world. I just didn't like how the protest was used, nor do I care about any of the characters involved with the protest. They could have all been eaten by the snake and it wouldn't have bothered me at all.

But anyway... that's all I've got to say about this episode. Let me know what you thought about it and the episode of Sinbad down in the comments.

Housekeeping

As it's Father's Day today I'm not actually writing this post today. This is me from last night typing all this up. Tomorrow, though, will be the present me reviewing some books I just finished... and then doing Warehouse 13 Initial Reactions later in the evening. I'd delay the reviews, but I kind of want to get them out sooner rather than later.

Love ya, Jessie.

Initial Reactions - Sisiutl

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen this evening's episode of Primeval: New World, please leave the blog and come back later. Initial Reacions, like Live Twitter feeds, are often full of spoilers.

Primeval: New World - "Sisiutl" - Initial Reactions

• Johnny Depp looking guy on a boat...
• Sudden disappearance of the guy on the boat...
• Reappearance of the boat.
• Sea serpent under the chick's boat...
• Chick dies, too. Now who's going to alert the team to weirdness?
• Interesting opening...
• Hello nerdy Lieutenant.
• Yup, just come out and say that in the middle of a very open hallway.
• Oh, that chick was his wife?
• From this point forward tonight, my initial reactions will be spotty... due to stuff...
• Why is this guy even on this team?
• Dun dun dun, Anomaly in the water.
• Ah, so it was a Native Person telling them.
• Gotta love those rivalries.
• Obviously.
• Cryptids are more than just sea monsters, dude.
• Hello snake.
• Hello snake lunch.
• Dylan, didn't anyone tell you wandering around by yourself when there are dangerous creatures on the loose is a bad idea?
• Is this her police guy friend?
• Everyone's just lining up to get themselves eaten...
• That's gross.
• But you can say it was flying monkeys?
• Fuck the uniform. It's stupid.
• Also don't be on a boat at this point.
• Oh yes, let's go down this road, that's a brilliant plan.
• Go Dylan!
• W00T storm drains.
• Ew goo.
• Oh look, someone else to get killed.
• An idiot does that.
• So... what were you planning to do when it caught up with you, Evan?
• Ew, obviously not something you wanted to wipe your flashlight on.
• Well that was convenient.
• It's a giant snake, it can probably lift itself up there, dudes.
• Yup, make noise, attract attention.
• And I was right.
• That was obviously a bad idea.
• Yeah... I really don't like Ange. She's not his boss damnit.
• Flimsy doors...
• Yeah, that's a good idea Evan. Good thing you're faster than the snake.
• Okay, so now the only sound-making things in there are you. Brilliant plan.
• Hello helpfully unhelpful police guy.
• Bye bye snake.
• Oh, now they listen...
• So... why not just call Mac instead of going through Toby?
• Yup, now you're stuck with the giant snake.
• Spontaneously back. W00T.
• Time to start banging on the boat.
• Oh, the drill works, but not the boat?
• Clever, though.
• Time to do the completely ridiculous thing that you're not going to die from... inexplicably.
• She wasn't even there!
• See, they're quick on that uptake. Took the ARC team a season or two to figure that out.

The Superman Rant

Overview

This blog post will contain a rant and an Altador Cup Update.

The Superman Rant

Okay so, I've been seeing a lot of really stupid Man of Steel tie-in commercials lately. I'm not gonna lie, this is one superhero movie I'm not even remotely interested in seeing. I only saw the last Superman movie because I was bored and it was on Netflix. The stupid tie-in commercials cement my disinterest in seeing this one.

Part of my personal disinterest in Man of Steel is the attempt to make Superman dark. Supes has never been a dark hero. The only reason they're even attempting a dark Superman is because the Batman Trilogy was such a giant hit. Thing is, the reason Batman was a dark hero with a dark story is because he's always been that way. They got the darkness spot on with this particular trilogy. Superman, however, just doesn't have that kind of darkness in him.

Granted, these assumptions have been made by someone who'd never been big into Superman and avoids anything Superman related like Supes avoids green Kryptonite. My personal experience with Superman starts with really old, really sexist cartoons then to The Justice League (animated) to Supes appearances in Batman comics and, of course, the last Superman movie. Also, a random smattering of Smallville and Lois and Clark. It's incredibly fair to say that I strongly dislike Superman.

I find Superman to be a boring character. the Clark Kent "disguise" is akin to the Sailor Moon style of disguise, which is essentially nonexistent. Superman is also incredibly over-powered, in my opinion. Not only does he have ridiculously-powerful-superstrength and flight, but he can burn holes in stuff, freeze anything with his breath, and turn time backward for no discernable reason... in addition to X-Ray vision and super-hearing. Most of which end up in groups of one or two of those powers in other heroes. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather watch Carol Danvers or Wonder Woman run around on screen and they only have superstrength and flight, for the most part.

In my horribly biased opinion, Lois Lane is the only good thing about Superman, even if she is sidelined and horribly portrayed most of the time.

But yeah, that's pretty much what I think of Superman and part of why the tie-in commercials annoy me to no end. Man, that commercial thing got side-lined quickly, didn't it?

Altador Cup Update

Shenkku lost to Meridell yesterday in everything but Slushie Slinger... I hate that game, by the way. Today, we play Terror Mountain and we'll probably lose, too... perhaps I ought to switch teams next year...

Also, the results of the first round of the Staff Tournament will be revealed tomorrow, so you've got the rest of tonight to pick a team.

Love ya, Jessie.

Fringe, Season 3

Overview

Spoiler Warning followed by my Fringe, Season 3 review, followed by an Altador Cup Update, followed by the Housekeeping section.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen Season 1 - 3 of Fringe, the following review is not for you. I spoil stuff.

Fringe - Season 3 - Review

Early in the season, I seriously wanted Olivia to just deal with the fact that people can have feelings for multiple people, especially when those people look really similar/exactly like the person they have stronger feelings for. I completely understand this concept. I thought Oliva's bitching about F-Olivia went on entirely too long.

I thought the flashback episodes were great overall. I love the opening sequence for them and the child actors. I also quite like Elizabeth. She's a lot stronger character than I originally gave her credit for. Walternate was also quite a bit more interesting and less loathsome than I'd originally thought. Seeing him when he was vulnerable helped with that.

The last couple episodes of Season 3 were interesting, to say the least. I really enjoyed F-Olivia in her episodes. It was quite nice to see her as a mother/expectant mother. It was also really interesting to see her reaction to Walternate's betrayal/plan. I like that she'd rather try to ultimately fix the problem than have billions of innocent people killed.

The very last episode of Season 3, "The Day We Died," was very Days of Future Past. I liked how all the future incarnations were realized, though Astrid and Oliva's hair bugged me. Also, I'd probably have been more affected by Oliva's death if I hadn't been expecting it.

Overall, I thought the story-arc of Season 3 was well done. The alternate versions of characters were fun to watch and I really loved having Charlie back, even if I have no idea what's up with the spiders in his blood... that was weird. At the time of writing this, I'm well into Season 4, which explains and deals the aftermath of the end of "The Day We Died" so I'm just gonna call this review done now.

Altador Cup Update

The new brackets have been announced:

Alabriss Bracket: Meridell, Maraqua, Terror Mountain, Shenkuu, Virtupets Space Station, and Kiko Lake.

Menitheus Bracket: Altador, Roo Island, Darigan Citadel, Haunted Woods, Kreludor, and Brightvale.

Vaeolus Bracket: Tyrannia, Krawk Island, Lost Desert, Mystery Island, Faerieland, and Moltara.

Current Top Three Teams: Altador, Tyrannia, and Meridell

Shenkuu is currently 4th in the Alabriss Bracket and 10th overall. Today we play Meridell.

Housekeeping

Okay so, I've got a chapter left in my reread of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone so the review for that should be coming soon. Also, I wrote a little rant about Superman that I'll be posting probably tomorrow.

Love ya, Jessie.

Runaway Review

Overview

This post contains a review, Altador Cup Update, an art piece, and a Housekeeping section, in addition to a slight format change to include this overview. The review will be first after the spoiler warning and then everything else will follow in order.

SPOILER WARNING

If you did not see last night's episode of Warehouse 13 and do not wish to be spoiled, please skip the following review... or leave, watch the episode, and come back later. My reviews are always lousy with spoilers.

Warehouse 13 - "Runaway" - Review

I am officially tired of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius related stuff. There was that episode of Doctor Who from a couple years ago, something I was watching more recently (I think it was Fringe), and now this... yup, I'm pretty done with it. I didn't think the amphora was even a particularly interesting artifact. The story surrounding it? Boring to the nth degree.

If you've read my blog with any kind of regularity, you'll know I'm big on connecting to characters. I didn't connect with any of the characters in the A Plot nor did I like them or care what happened to them. The father trying to save his son from a gang by breaking out of jail and killing his accomplice and several other gang members in the process was convoluted at best. Left a nice little trail of bodies for Pete, Myka, Jinks, and Jinks' Ex to follow. Speaking of whom, I honestly didn't care about Jinks' Ex. I should have cared that he and the father were going to die via lava, but I didn't. I was more worried about Jinks during that scene. Also, Jinks' Ex figuring out The Warehouse stuff as quickly as he did was ridiculous. Add to that the shoe-horned in conversation in the car... the only scene I even remotely cared about him was in the interrogation room with Myka. I thought that bounced off each other and had more chemistry than he and Jinks did.

During the "tense" scene with the lava lake, I was honestly more distracted by the heat-defying cars. A little scientific accuracy here would have been nice. Those cars should have melted to slag and killed Jinks and the Ex. I mean, I'm glad they didn't, but it was ridiculous.

The B Plot was much more interesting. I really like it when Artie and Claudia get a chance to work together. They make an awesome team and it was nice to see their father/daughter thing in action again. The only part of that plot that I thought was overly ridiculous was the guy they essentially threw off the second floor. He was annoying, idiotic, and stupid.

I'm not really going to comment on the ending scene of the episode... except... I would not have known who Cherie Currie was if I hadn't watched The Runaways... possibly the only good thing to have come out of my Twilight obsession...

Altador Cup Update

Today is a "bye day" in which you play the Jelly Chia practice team, get no points for doing so, and wait for the next bracket change.

Shenkuu finished 5th in the Alabriss Bracket this time around. I am disappointed... and less involved than I should/want to be.

Art

I was feeling generally blah this afternoon... tired and stuff from not enough sleep and doing chores... so I took a Blind Bag Rarity toy and gave her a new paint job.

Before

After

If you'd like to see those pictures better, check out my deviantART by following the link in the header.

Housekeeping

Tomorrow... I'll be putting up my Fringe, Season 3 review. I'll also probably be keeping this format of having an overview because... I'm getting tired of pointing out that there's stuff below my reviews in the Spoiler Warning. The only posts this definitely won't happen in are the Initial Reactions posts because those are long enough as they are.

Love ya, Jessie.

Initial Reactions - Warehouse 13 - Runaway

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Warehouse 13, please leave the blog and come back later. Initial Reactions, like Live Tweets, usually contain spoilers.

Warehouse 13 - "Runaway" - Initial Reactions

• Episodes that start in prisons never end well.
• Weather artifact?
• Giant lava monster?
• Dude, let Artie plan the dang party already.
• Ow...
• Mad clock is mad.
• Ouch.
• Pete biting his tongue is kind of amusing.
• How very astute.
• That's very trippy.
• This is a good point.
• Claudia is very touched.
• Clowns are creepy, Artie!
• Well that's interesting...
• Nope, someone without an artifact who just happens to be doing artifact-y things... she says sarcastically in response to Pete's comment.
• "Hillbilly Spa Resort" pretty amusing line there.
• Way to be obviously weird about the ex, Jinks.
• Myka, you're such the best girlfriend ever.
• Lol, Pete.
• Way to be un-subtle about talking up Steve, Myka.
• Prisoner in the background is kind of distracting.
• That's kind of ridiculously cryptic.
• Ya'll are over-thinking it.
• I think someone wanted an excuse to use the the fish-eye lens.
• It's a Vesuvius related artifact.
• That's a crappy cover story, Pete.
• Hey, Pete's gotta eat.
• And apparently so does Myka.
• Of course you're gonna do it now, there's no reason he'd be in the episode otherwise.
• So hard on yourself there, Jinks.
• Yay for family connections...
• Guy in the idiot shirt is obviously an idiot.
• Dude, go get the guy, Claud!
• Go Claud!
• Gotta love those gang initiations...
• Well that landed in a horrible place...
• And late to the party, our intrepid heroes, Myka and Pete.
• Yup, jump on top of the extremely melt-y car.
• Okay... that was an interesting end to the idiot guy...
• Car surfing? Why are the cars not melting quicker? I mean, it's a nice idea and everything, but really?
• Well that lava cooled quickly.
• Gotta have those "family" moments with the characters who mean nothing to the audience...
• As if there was any doubt the kid was going to go talk to his dad after that.
• Pete never does listen.
• So true!
• Dude, Bradley Copper looks good in most anything, even trash bags.
• The Prius survived? What is this nonsense?!
• Everyone gets all kind of creepy on Jinks-y.
• See, Artie fraking rocks! And no clowns!
• That song was better on electric guitars.

Pilot The New World

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen the first episodes of Sinbad or Primeval: New World, please leave the blog and come back after you've seen them. My reviews usually contain spoilers.

However, if you'd like to skip the reviews and jump down to my Altador Cup Update and Housekeeping sections, please feel free to do so. Happy Reading!

Sinbad - "Pilot" - Review

Sinbad is essentially the tale of a kid who got himself into trouble with a high-ranking official of some sort and his own overly harsh grandmother. It's also another one-season show that SyFy is airing and sort of attempting to pass off as one of their shows... at least, that's the gist of what I gleaned from the commercials. I didn't know that Sinbad wasn't a SyFy show until I checked its Wiki Page and found out that it wasn't. This summer's Saturday evening schedule is essentially made up of a pair of shows that have already been cancelled by the people who originally made them... gah!

But I just digressed down a rabbit hole so... back on track here...

I wasn't overly impressed by the "Pilot" episode of Sinbad. It was a lot of setup and not a lot of actual goings on. I'm not overly fond of or really connected to any of the characters, most of whom end up discarded halfway through the episode. It's really important to me to be able to connect with the characters because if they care about things that are going on, I will. But... this didn't happen. I'm not even sure who half the characters are, at this point.

But yeah... plot point, plot points... Lord Akbari is cruel and insane. Sinbad's grandmother is crazy and overly harsh. Akbari's witch friend is... obviously up to something but hasn't really given her motivations. The crew of the ship Sinbad ends up on are apparently mostly dead... or something... and I'm not surprised at this point that Sinbad got cancelled.

The "Pilot" takes too much time getting Sinbad to where he ends up at the end of the episode. I feel like this episode could have been better done as flashbacks. That said, the effects realizing the "sea demon" were stellar. I'm not sure why it was blind, but... meh. I'm gonna keep watching and see if Sinbad gets better.

Primeval: New World - "The New World" - Review

Before I get into reviewing "The New World" I thought I'd give a little background on my history with Primeval. I pretty much marathon-ed Seasons 1-3 on DVD while I was living in Iowa. I fell almost instantly in love with Connor, Abby, Claudia, and Rex. They're what drew me into the show and kept me watching. Well, that and the premise was interesting. I sort of forgot about Primeval for a whole until I found it again on OnDemand. I then marathon-ed Seasons 4 and 5 before re-watching the entire series with my little sister. I had no idea Primeval: New World existed until I was catching up on Defiance two weeks ago. I saw the trailer, saw Connor was at least making a cameo, and decided to watch Primeval: New World as it's airing on SyFy.

And now for the blanket SPOILER WARNING. Because I'm a big fan of Primeval, I will be making references to it. If you read through my Initial Reactions last night, you'll have seen some of those. I'll also probably be comparing the two a bit. I'll try to keep that to a minimum, though. Now, on to my review.

I thought "The New World" was... a pilot. There were elements from the original show I recognized, but a cast I largely didn't. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about Primeval: New World yet. I'll keep watching and let you know as I go along.

As of right now, I feel next to no connection to any of the characters. I know I'm not really fond of Angelika. I have no feelings towards Mac or Toby. I thought Lieutenant Leeds was a Connor/Mulder type character down in his little office. I honestly didn't recognize Sara Canning as Dylan until my sister pointed out that she played Jenna in The Vampire Diaries. I kind of like her, but she seriously reminds me of Claudia Brown/Jenny Lewis from Primeval looks-wise. Evan Cross was a tad more relatable, but then, I was really fond of Zane Donovan, the character Niall Matter played on Eureka. So... that's where I stand with the PNW characters.

The plot was your standard "Oh there's this weird thing that spits out monsters that we must find before the monsters eat everybody" kind of plot. I think Primeval did it better. It was less cohesive in PNW and had some less than believable characters so... there's that.

So, about Connor. As I stated before, Connor Temple was one of the characters that sucked me into Primeval. I felt like, the Connor we're getting in PNW either had something really, really bad happen to him between Primeval and PNW or else the writers haven't really written for him before and aren't sure how to write him effectively. He was a lot more serious and mysterious than he manages to come off anywhere in Primeval. The only time we get a glimpse of Primeval Connor is when he's trying to convince Angelika that he's there to "fix the internet from being slow." Hopefully, as the trailer showed Connor again, we'll get more backstory on what happened to get him to Canada.

So yeah, that's pretty much what I thought about "The New World." Not exactly sure where the series is gonna go from here. It'd doubtful they'll become another ARC. It's also unclear was to who the frozen person is that Evan's got hidden. I kind of want to know about that. Again, I'll keep watching and let you know.

Altador Cup Update

At some point last week there was a bracket shake up and so pretty much everyone's in a different bracket now. Shenkuu is now in the Alabriss Bracket. We're currently ranked fifth and are doing kind of horribly overall. We've been managing to grab some wins with the mini-games, but when if comes to Yooyuball, we're sucking gigantically.

Also, the Staff Tournament has started up so go pick your teams for that. That's all you have to do: pick your team.

Housekeeping

Tomorrow is Warehouse 13 and Defiance day! I'll be putting up my Initial Reactions for Warehouse 13 tomorrow evening and will most likely have reviews up Tuesday. Gonna hold off on posting my Fringe, Season 3 review until later in the week, though.

Love ya, Jessie.

Initial Reactions - The New World

Housekeeping

At the time of typing this section, I'm in the middle of watching Sinbad on SyFy. I was babysitting when it started so I won't have Initial Reactions for that up this evening. Hopefully, though, I will be getting those up for later episodes.

Tomorrow, I'll be having reviews of tonight's Sinbad and Primeval: New World. I've also finished Fringe: Season 3 so I should have a review of that up sometime next week.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen the first episode of Primeval: New World, please leave the blog and come back later. Initial Reactions, like live Tweets, usually contain spoilers.

Primveal: New World - "The New World" - Initial Reactions

• Interesting reveal of the dino. Liked the original one in Primeval better.
• Is there some reason we're watching people building-dive?
• Pterosaur!
• Well that's an interesting dynamic.
• Sneaky Connor is sneaky and annoyed.
• It's gonna take me forever to stop calling Evan, Zane because Eureka.
• Got to love that slow-mo.
• Hello Claudia/Jenny look alike.
• What is Evan the president of?
• My sister is distracting me by informing me that the Claduia/Jenny look alike played Jenna in The Vampire Diaries.
• Already calling them Anomalies.
• Nice walkthrough of your headquarters.
• Funny, the ARC team seem to have no problem getting to them...
• That scene was unnessecary.
• Sneaky Connor is sneaky.
• So... what's Connor looking for?
• Ah, the thing he dropped.
• And now we get an example of Connor's horrible lying skills.
• Hello Anomaly.
• Raptor!
• Yeah, that was a good plan.
• That was a convenient Anomaly closing.
• Poor Raptor, can't find his way home.
• ARC is the best authority for this.
• The old guy is gonna die.
• Of course it would be a homeless guy that got partially eaten.
• Bye bye Drake. Nice knowing you for all of not a lot of time.
• So, what? The Raptor just disappeared? Didn't eat a lot of either of the guys? What?
• I'm pretty sure whoever wrote Connor for this hasn't written Connor before.
• Yeah, 'cause that's worked so well in the past...
• You're just gonna leave him hanging like that? Really?
• I'm not sure I like this chick.
• Hello Mulder's office.
• That's a crappy name for a project.
• Yup, government.
• They need a Jenny. If you watched Primeval, you'll know what I'm talking about.
• My dad is laughing about the ancient stuff government dude has.
• Yay for stealing random high-powered weapons with tranq darts in 'em.
• I liked the kid from the first Primeval episode better.
• I miss Stephen.
• How the heck do you know you don't have time?
• Yup, because dinos speak English.
• Yeah... the Raptor conveniently shows up right where the Pterosaur was and takes it out for them.
• He built his business where his girlfriend was killed? And he's got an Anomaly... or his girlfriend on ice.
• Or not... could be an ARC person. But who?

Instinct - Review

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen last night's episode of Warehouse 13, please leave the blog and come back later. The following review will contain spoilers. Altador Cup Update after the review.

Warehouse 13 - "Instinct" - Review

While it was brilliant to have Helena back for an episode, I wasn't all that impressed with the storyline she was given. There was too much flip flopping by other characters in regards to her motives. I thought Myka's judegment of Helena's new life was ridiculous. Myka's usually the person to get other people's emotions and motives. She's also not really the type to just sacrifice herself like she attempted to do. I also wasn't impressed with the villains of this section. People in law enforcement positions getting even with criminals is a plot device that's overdone, in my opinion.

However, I did enjoy the plot that took place within The Warehouse. It was quite fun to see Abigail thrown into the deep end. The Warehouse essentially trying to get Claudia's attention was cool, too. The revelation that The Warehouse is both semi-sentient and always expanding was not surprising, but rather nice to have officially revealed. I thought Claudia was being a bit childish in regards to how she thought of Abigail. I'd thought Claud had put her past behind her, honestly.

I wasn't at all happy with the hyena jaw artifact, it was really rather ridiculous, in my opinion. I'm not sure exactly how the shapeshifting had anything to do with the fear, primal-ness or not. I enjoyed the goo-guns. I thought the completely random spike that was jamming The Warehouse expansion joint was... completely random. I also enjoyed the F.I.S.H. ... if that's how it's spelled... it was a nice little misdirect that turned out to be kind of cool. I had kind of wondered how The Warehouse cloaked itself.

Altogether, this episode was fairly solid, even if some of the plot points didn't quite make sense to me. I had fun watching it, at least.

Altador Cup Update

Round One, Day Four: Vaeolus Bracket

Altador and Roo Island are still holding onto their top spots. Shekuu's moved back up to the third spot after trouncing Faerieland in everything but Make Some Noise.

All other bracket standings can be seen HERE.

Love ya, Jessie.

Black Fringe

Okay so... I caught the season finale of Orphan Black and am currently 5 episodes into Fringe Season 3. I thought I'd do a little post reviewing the season finale of Orphan Black and Season 2 of Fringe. In addition, there will be an Altador Cup update from the Shenkuu perspective and a little Housekeeping section below the reviews.

Oh, and I'm writing this running on less sleep than I usually do, so please excuse any typos and rambling. Thanks. Also, swearing happened. Deal with it.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen the most recent episode of Orphan Black or Season 2 of Fringe, please leave the blog now and come back later... or skip down to the sections below the reviews. My reviews always contain spoilers because I'm horrible like that.

Orphan Black - "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" - Review

This episode was a mixed bag of tied up loose ends, not-quite reveals, and some emotional stuff. I'm not sure quite how to feel about it other than to say that I enjoyed the ride.

I thought the scenes between Sarah and Helena were fun to watch, as always. I thought that Helena did a semi-good job impersonating Sarah when their mother came to visit the apartment. The redness around Helena's eyes gave her away, to me at least, immediately. I thought it was interesting that Helena slipped Sarah's ropes earlier in the episode. It was fun watching her get out of that while Sarah was being arrested upstairs.

I, for one, don't trust Delphine despite her assurances to Cosima that she's changed sides. I did, however, find their scenes together quite realistic. I think that, if Delphine isn't lying through her teeth, she and Cosima make a cute couple and a good team. Speaking of good teams, I'm glad Paul ran away with Sarah at the end there. I've always liked Paul and I'm glad he's staying loyal to Sarah.

Alison's section of the episode was... weird. I did not actually expect her to just stand by and let Aynesley die. Also, why the heck was the switch for the garbage disposal all the way over on the wall? Surely they could have rigged something closer to the sink, ya know, for safety reasons. I thought it was interesting that, even though it was really obvious Aynesley wasn't the monitor, Alison still let her die. Mind you, Aynesley was a giant bitch so... there's that.

I'm not sure how I feel about the final reveals of the episode. It makes sense that the clones were patented, though why you'd imprint that where no one can actually see it and then have to decode it if they found it, I don't know. As for Mrs. S... I'm not sure I like what was implied about her, especially since she obviously cares for Felix, Sarah, Kira, and even Alison. If she was the one who took Kira and ran, I think she'd have taken her to a safe place. I think the trashed house is a misdirect to us and Sarah... or just Leekie's company making sure nothing was left behind.

Season 2 of Fringe

Even though I'm just now actually watching Fringe in a serious manner, I'd actually seen a good chunk of Season 2 before now. This may or may not make anything I'm about to say better for rewatch or worse because I can't half remember what went on...

Anyway... this season is where Fringe dives headlong into the Alternate Universe stuff, which I love. There's a big focus on the Cortexiphan "kids" and their developing powers as well as their history in Walter's lab. This includes some episodes in which I was legitimately covering my eyes because some of the stuff seriously grossed me out.

I thought the further development and then destruction of Walter and Peter's relationship was very well done. I thought the Olivia/Peter relationship got pulled really suddenly into a romance, even though it was more clear to me that they were just close friends... but apparently TV ratings depend on romance so... there's that to bring into consideration. I'd say things about Astrid and Broyles, but they're pretty much static characters so... we won't go into that.

What I really wanted to talk about was the really abrupt stuff at the end of the season. Most of the season was world/character building that could have led really organically into the jump to the other universe. However, what I would have liked to be an organic lead-in wasn't. Suddenly, in the last two episodes, we've got people jumping to the alternate universe and the switch of Olivias. Yes, two of the Cortexiphan "kids" were set up earlier, but we never really got what happened to them after they were sedated... and then there was the random fire chick. While I enjoyed the semi-X-men feel to their powers and short development, I wasn't really connected to them in any way. I was honestly more attached to Alter-Charlie than to any of the Cortexiphan "kids."

Other than the abrupt ending, I really enjoyed Season 2. I'd probably say more, but as I can't half remember everything... I'd better not.

Altador Cup Update

Round One, Day Three:

Shenkuu won against Moltara on May 31st. Like seriously wiped the board with them in every game. However, things have taken a serious downswing since then. We lost to both Altador and Roo Island pretty spectacularly.

The losses dropped us from third in the Vaeolus Bracket to Forth. Hopefully, we'll do better against Faerieland today.

Housekeeping

I'm totally planning to watch Warehouse 13 and Defiance this evening. However, as it's only 4:30 and I'm running on fumes, I might not do Initial Reactions for Warehouse 13. Rest assured, though, I will be continuing my reviews tomorrow.

Also, I found out that SyFy is going to be airing Primeval: New World starting this Saturday. As I haven't seen it and really loved Primeval, I'll definitely be watching that and most likely doing Initial Reactions for it. Hopefully, it'll be good. And yes, I read the Wiki article and know it's only got one season, but, as Firefly taught us, that means nothing. I might also check out Sinbad but I'm not sure yet.

Love ya, Jessie.

Altador Cup Pride

The Altador Cup Has Started!

Time to gear up and actually play the games for points! Also, TDN has started their coverage: HERE. I got this cool play counter from them:

It's Pride Month!

Yeah... I'm not blanketing my blog in rainbows, but... it's Pride Month so... yeah. Not really much to say about that...

But yeah... that's pretty much it from me today...

Love ya, Jessie.