‘iZombie’ Review: “Zombie Knows Best”

April 13, 2017

iZombie
Season 3 Episode 2: “Zombie Knows Best”
Original Air Date: April 11, 2017

iZombie returned to its “Crime of the Week” format in this week’s episode, “Zombie Knows Best.” While the episode was entertaining, as always, it also felt cluttered and a bit disjointed. “Zombie Knows Best” had difficulty balancing the major plot of the episode, Det. Clive Babineaux’s connection to Wally, with the crime of the week and the several B plots that are currently floating around.

Murder of the Week:

The case: A teenage girl, Cindy, and her father, Stanley, are victims of vehicular murder. See, Stanley discovered that Cindy’s friend Winslow had an affair with her step dad and Stanley planned on reporting it to the po-po. Winslow’s mother was afraid this would tarnish her own reputation, and affect her inheritance, so she had to silence the Chens. It felt like the show was trying to force a connection between Winslow’s case and Wally that just didn’t exist and was instead distracting.

Brains of the Week:

Let’s be honest, the only point of this week’s crime was to watch Liv and Major on the victims’ brains. Liv’s face lights up as soon as she arrives at the crime scene (she hasn’t eaten since Janko brains!) and Clive is introduced to the culinary adventures of the Zombie Life. And oh man, she makes Brain Chili Dogs, and they just look so tasty. While Ravi is used to the zombie cuisine, Clive is definitely going to need more time to adjust.

Liv chows down her Stanley Dog leaving Major to ingest the teenage girl brains. Ravi wastes no time going to ask advice from Liv’s supportive and enthusiastic Dad Brain. He tells Liv that he has a new understanding of what it is like to not to control what goes on in your head. OMG Ravi! Are you really trying to compare your obsession with Blaine and Peyton to being a Zombie? I get it, you are hurt, and you can’t stop thinking about “your precious” with Blaine, and that sucks, but to compare it to adopting someone else’s personality after eating a brain? I just can’t. Unfortunately, Liv’s Dad Brain provides him with the supportive and caring advice that he doesn’t deserve.

Major’s teen brain kicks in pretty quickly. Soon he is laying on the couch inundated with the angst and indecisiveness that accompanies adolescents. Major is discussing his Natalie search with Ravi, but makes the dreadful mistake of uttering the word “Blaine.” At the mere mention of Blaine’s name, Ravi hijacks the conversation to make it all about himself and tells Major about the message Peyton left him.

Major: “She wants to talk? What does that even mean?!”
Ravi: “Well, I’m fairly certain it means that she wants to talk.”

Major then asks Ravi if they are best friends and Ravi fucking hesitates. WTF Ravi? Of COURSE Major is your best friend. Why are you making it so hard to love you this season?

Over at the FG training locker room, Major is struggling to cope with the insecurities that accompany being a teenage girl. How is he supposed to concentrate on training when he can’t stop obsessing over how bad he looks in all of his selfies!?!?!?!

After Major’s mini meltdown, the other zombie commandos introduce him to the Brain Tube: a tube with a bunch of brains mushed together which provides all the nutrition of a normal brain without the pesky mood swings and flashbacks.

While Liv and Major were entertaining on their own, the shining moments of the episode occurred when the pair interacted with their respective brains. Watching the dynamic of Liv, the embarrassing father, and Major, the angsty teenage daughter, was priceless. Example:

Liv: Where are you off to kiddo?
Major: “I’ve got mercenary training, GOD!”

Clive

While Liv and Major were fun and entertaining, the primary storyline was Clive and the murder of Wally’s family. Wally was indeed more than just a former neighbor to Clive. Wally and Clive first met when Clive begrudgingly crawled out of his apartment to reprimand young Wally for playing in the halls. It should be a surprise to no one that Clive starts off as the grumpy neighbor. What should come as a surprise is the dark caterpillar that has taken residence on his upper lip, which some may refer to as a mustache:

Wally: “Is that mustache real?”
Clive: “No I glued it to give myself more authority in situations like this.”
Wally: “Well you look like black Tony Stark.”

After sending Wally’s abusive father to prison Clive starts to spend more time with Wally and his mother, Anna. Clive and Anna start developing feelings for each other. I mean damn, even Wally ships them. Unfortunately, the pair was never able to act on these feelings. Life just got in the way. Clive was swamped at work, and Anna left the apartment building to move in with her brother in anticipation of her exes release date.

And this is all he can think about as he looks at Wally and Anna’s body in the morgue. Liv and Clive have to be careful how they handle investigating this case because Det. Cavanaugh is getting pretty suspicious. He is asking a slew of questions that, if he finds the answers, will lead him down the Zombie path.

Clive and Liv’s investigation leads them to an online message board where people all over Seattle talk about their Zombie neighbors. Ruh roh.

Wrap Up

While there were many good elements of this episode (Liv and Major; Clive’s backstory), there were also significant flaws. The most frustrating aspect of this episode for me was the timeline.

“Zombie Knows Best” begins with Clive sitting down with Det. Cavanaugh to discuss the nature of his relationship with Wally. It is here that he has a flashback to his and Wally’s first encounter. Then the episode jumps back to “Four Days Earlier” in the morgue, right before the Murder of the Week occurred. As the episode progresses, Clive has Wally flashbacks during the “Murder of the Week” timeline, but then the show would jump to the timeline with Clive and Cavanaugh where Clive would also have Wally flashbacks. Finally, at the end of the episode, as Clive is booking the statutory rapist Step Dad that the episode come “full circle” when Det. Cavanaugh sits Clive down to talk. Having Clive and Cavanaugh’s conversation bookend the episode seemed very unnecessary, and I think that it highlights my point that they were trying to make a connection between Winslow and Wally that just didn’t exist.

Other Things

I know that Cindy died and all but I need to point out that she called Dolphins fish, which they most certainly are not.
Was anyone else appalled that Liv let Winslow’s stepfather take Winslow home from the police station right after she discovered he was sleeping with his TEENAGE STEPDAUGHTER?
If Fillmore Graves is going to nominate a Zombie Mayor, can it please be Vivian? Please? PLEASE?
I really hope that we get more of the creepy vampire IT guy in future episodes.

‘The Magicians’ Review: Alice and Umber Live, John Dies, and Julia Meets Persephone

Nicole C

April 12, 2017

In the penultimate episode in season 2 of The Magicians, Quentin finally succeeds in his quest to bring Alice back from the dead and after he and Eliot meet a familiar god in their mission to save Fillory. Meanwhile Penny travels to the poison room with Sylvia his mentor and the hedge witches get a weapon to kill Reynard, but at a great cost.

After retrieving Alice’s shade from the Underworld, Julia and Q manage to guilt trip Mayakovsky into helping them summon niffin Alice back to reunite her two halves together by using the magical batteries the teacher had been gathering. Unsurprisingly she’s severely pissed off upon returning to the corporeal world. That’s understandable being that she’s transcended human concerns. Q tries to reach out to her but keeps getting shut down and so she basically spends her time trying to write down everything she remembered about magic as a niffin before it fades from her mind.

In the meantime, Eliot asks for Q’s help in getting him back to Fillory after his sudden banishment. Together they figure out a into the other world via the first portal hinted by the dragon in last week’s episode. Quentin remembers that he saw an old grandfather clock that looked just like the one from the books inside the house of the magician who was supposed to conduct his Brakebills interview but died (leading Jane Chatwin to intervene). The two are able to track down the clock through an auction website (they bribed the webmaster into revealing the purchaser’s address) to a residence in Vancouver. Q’s inner nerd saves the day when he recognizes a fellow collector in the owner and they bond over Fillory. Inside the home is a ton of memorabilia and collectors items all relating to the books. Quentin spots a scrapped screenplay and tentatively asks if he can read through it. The other man gives him permission and ends up mentioning that Jane was the Watcherwoman and Q catches that was never mentioned in the stories. The mysterious collector tries to backtrack but Eliot casts a quick spell and sees that he actually has horns like Ember. Sighing heavily, the other man snaps his fingers and reveals his true form and Quentin recognizes him as Umber, the other ram god of Fillory.

Supposedly Martin had killed Umber, but in truth he made a deal with the Beast, faked his death, and then left Fillory to live in Vancouver because obviously that’s the next best thing. He’s then spent his time working on a new pocket world in the shape of a cube that he calls Cuba. Umber explains that without him chaos is descending upon the other world because he balanced his brother out. The difference between the two brothers are noticeable as Ember is a wilder creature fond of excess in all things, while Umber wears buttons ups and khakis. He questions Eliot and Quentin about Fillory as if they are in a focus group so that he can make updates to Cuba. The ram god also fills them in that his brother is likely growing tired of the game they created in Fillory and will soon destroy it out of boredom. He confirms that Ember had wanted to turn humans into rats (which happened in last episode). Eliot makes an impassioned plea to Umber that even if he won’t go back to save the place he helped create that he should at least let them try. Eventually the magical being relents because he sees that the High King truly loves Fillory as well and gives them the grandfather clock.

Speaking of clocks, time is running out for Julia and Kady to kill Reynard. They haven’t got much of a lead at the moment since they don’t have the energy to take out a god nor the spell to be able to do some intense battle magic. John (the demigod and senator) suddenly comes back to Brakebills though and lets the two women know that his father seems to be obsessed with Our Lady Underground aka Persephone. Julia comes up with the plan that they just need to lure the fox god into a trap by thinking that the goddess is on Earth.

However Reynard confronts his son after, knowing that he’s gone to speak to the witches and as punishment killed John’s wife. This only pushes the senator returns further from his father and he returns to the magical school and makes Kady perform the ceremony to harvest his power and killing him in the process. He couldn’t make Julia do it after everything that she’d been through (he coerces her to go out for pizza). John’s sacrifice results into one god piercing bullet.

They are able to get the spell for it thanks to Penny who finds the Poison Room through the help of Sylvia. She figures out that they just need to find a specific fountain with books that is the main door to the restricted content section. Sylvia is also able to break the wards put on the fountain and she ties a rope around herself before jumping in with Penny going after. Beforehand though she claims that she wants to see her book because something wonky is severely going (the book of every person currently alive is missing the last 20 pages). Apparently the librarians have known about it for awhile, but have no idea what is going to cause it, only that it’s going to be a catastrophic event happening in a few weeks time. Penny finds “The Art of Killing Gods” after some time and unfortunately instantly gets boils on his skin upon touching the book. He runs to get Sylvia who looks horribly sick already. She tells him to get out of there because she isn’t going to make it and his only chance to survive is if he leaves her. We don’t find out if she somehow survives, but in the next moment Penny’s travelled back to Brakebills and gives the book to Kady before collapsing. He’s taken to the infirmary and hopefully will make it through to the end of the season!

As a distraction, Julia invites Kady to go hunt Reynard with her and they set up a trap for the god. They summon a massive storm and soon enough the trickster appears and just as Julia is about to shoot him with the bullet containing John’s energy, time stops and Persephone appears. The hedge witch confronts the goddess and asks why she’s appeared now. Persephone implores her to spare Reynard’s life because he isn’t her former lover but her son. Say what??? So the fox god is angry that his mother abandoned him. Julia is still beyond livid and asks her if she knew what he did because not only did she get raped, she also lost all her friends and her own shade during the exorcism. Persephone says that there are consequences to killing a god and that Julia shouldn’t let him take away her compassion as well. Realizing that the goddess was right, the hedge witch puts the gun down and the two magical beings vanish after the mother tells her child that she’s back and so disappointed in him. Kady is understandably pissed as all hell since she had personally been forced to kill John in order to destroy his father. As the other hedge witch walks away, a familiar figure emerges to greet Julia. It’s her shade! Looks like Persephone sent her from the Underworld as compensation.

So far throughout the season we’ve seen a ton of continued character growth all around. Margo had finally accepted responsibility for her actions by going after Fen into the fairy world after seeing how upset Eliot was. Eliot in the meantime actually wants to fix Fillory even though Ember gave him an out by banishing him. He’s starting to act like a real king. Penny opened his heart and put someone else’s interest before his own. Kady didn’t run away this time and stuck it out to help Julia even though the odds were against them. Though Quentin wallowed in self-pity for awhile after Alice’s death, he finally made better use of his time by helping Julia get her shade back and in turn she aided him in resurrecting Alice. Alice was a less selfish person to start with and so seeing her change into a more sinister and self-serving character was so much fun to watch.

With the season two finale next week will Eliot be able to save Fillory? Will Margo and Josh rescue Fen and her baby? Will Alice finally forgive Q for bringing her back? Will Penny survive the poison room and how will Julia deal with getting her shade back? We’ll find out soon enough.

The Magicians is on Syfy Wednesdays at 9/8 central.

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

The Witness Speaks In The ’12 Monkeys’ Season 3 Trailer

Nicole C

April 11, 2017

12 Monkeys - Season 3 — 12 MONKEYS -- "Mother" Episode 301 -- Pictured: Amanda Schull as Cassandra Railly -- (Photo by: Ben Mark Holzberg/Syfy)

Syfy has released the trailer to the highly anticipated third season of 12 Monkeys where chrononauts James Cole (Aaron Stanford) and Dr. Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull) battle a mysterious organization bent on ensuring the collapse of time itself.

We get our first look at Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future) who plays the father of the villainous Pallid Man (Tom Noonan). In addition, James Callis of Battlestar Gallactica fame joins season 3 in a pivotal role according to series creator Terry Matalas. Based on the trailer though there is a high probability that he will be playing The Witness, the child of Cole and Cassie and enigmatic leader of the 12 Monkeys. We also saw a quick glimpse of Hannah Waddingham (Game of Thrones) who is looking fierce and makes me wonder if she’s a part of the future timeline. Team Splinter travels to new periods and locations as well, including the 1980’s and a masquerade ball.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch the first two seasons yet, do it now.

Season 3 synopsis:

The third season finds Cole and Railly embarking on a desperate search across time to find the man responsible for the apocalypse, a time traveler who calls himself the Witness. Killing the Witness will mean saving the world, but the journey will come at tremendous personal stakes for the two and will call into question new alliances, old bonds, and the virtue of the mission itself.

The show returns to Syfy starting May 19 (8-11 pm) where the network will air the whole season in a course of three days. Prepare yourselves.

To catch up on seasons 1 and 2 click HERE.

Asgard Faces Destruction in First ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Trailer

Bilal Mian

April 10, 2017

Asgard is faced with its biggest threat yet as Hela, the Goddess of Death, aims to burn the city to the ground in the first trailer for Thor: Ragnarok.

Hela’s threat feels more credible than most Marvel Cinematic Universe threats we’ve seen to date as she’s seen stopping Mjolnir with ease and then proceeds to destroy it. This is a weapon that’s survived an alien invasion and has gone toe-to-toe against the Hulk. It’s refreshing to see a villain that can match/surpass Thor in regards to power levels.

Speaking of the Hulk, it appears Bruce Banner has gotten himself imprisoned alongside Thor on the other side of the galaxy as the former teammates are forced to face off in a gladiator setting.

Oh and let’s not forget that Tom Hiddleston is back as Loki flipping some knives.

Synopsis

In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk!

Thor: Ragnarok releases into U.S. theaters on November 3, 2017.

No, ‘Mass Effect Andromeda’ Isn’t Like An Early Access Game

Jen Stayrook

April 7, 2017

No spoilers for Mass Effect Andromeda. Please mark all spoilers in the comments.

Since its release on March 21st, Mass Effect Andromeda has been put through the ringer, garnering hate from gamers and critics for its poor graphics and performance. BioWare has responded in kind to this criticism and as of yesterday have released the first in a series of patches meant to improve gameplay over the course of several months. This move has led critics to compare Andromeda to an early access game, one that gamers should be furious at for shelling out the full AAA game price of $60.

First off, if you pre-ordered a game without heading any advice from critics, that’s on you, not the developers. Y’all gamers need to learn that.

Second, Mass Effect Andromeda isn’t anywhere near the state of an early access game and the comparison makes me wonder if these critics have ever played a proper early access game. After nearly 50 hours in the game (with no end in sight), Andromeda still feels very much like a finished game.

Because let me tell you what it’s really like to delve into the world of early access gaming: it’s grueling, exhausting, and sometimes, downright demoralizing because of all the broken promises. Sure, you get a game at a better price than at release because you’re testing out bugs, giving the developers feedback, and generally just entering an unknown barren world that typically has no ending planned. Early access gaming means playing for 20 hours every six months when new updates are released, hoping that maybe this time that game-breaking bug has been fixed or the enemy AI has finally been patched.

Don’t get me wrong, I have sunk thousands (yes, thousands) of hours into early access games, most of which I would consider more than paid for in terms of time spent in-game. There is something exciting about returning to a game after a year of not playing in the hopes of seeing something brand new. (And then the inevitable let down when you realize after 8 months, the only thing new is the loading screen.)

mass effect andromeda architect — Bosses like *Andromeda’s* Architect would take *at least* a year to show up in an early access game.

However, I can assure you that Mass Effect Andromeda, even in its pre-patched state, is not an early access game. Sure, there are bugs, glitches, and generally just irritating facets to Andromeda’s gameplay, but if we’re honest with ourselves, this kind of release has been more common in recent years with the rise in technology. Fallout 4’s release was riddled with game-breaking bugs that ruined save files. Titanfall 2 saw games crashing as soon as players loaded into multiplayer. Dead Rising 4 was steamrolled for poor performance and camera work. Even games like Skyrim, Super Smash Bros., Dark Souls II, all had poor launches due to performance and bugs and now they’re touted as classics.

Andromeda certainly has its fair share of issues. The facial expressions are distracting (which, thanks to the patch, has been improved upon immensely). Enemies spawn in mid-air and stay there, locked. Heck, I watched Cora phase into a part of the Tempest like she was the Flash and then I couldn’t find her again until I restarted the game. (Seriously.) None of this is meant to excuse the issues fans have with Andromeda. But it also doesn’t mean it warrants the incredible amount of backlash and harassment toward developers either.

Let me repeat that again for the trolls in the back: STOP HARASSING ~~DEVELOPERS~~ PEOPLE ONLINE.

What BioWare is doing for Andromeda is exactly the right call. Slow fixes as they come is certainly a start to apologizing to fans for the issues they’ve faced. Maybe later on down the line we’ll get unique armor or guns as a thank you for sticking with the game. Because at the very least, BioWare admits there are serious problems in Andromeda and they’re willing to fix them.

Besides, what’s BioWare’s alternative? Not fixing the issues at hand and then selling the game again a year later at full price under the guise of “improving” the game as whole? (Yes, Bungie, I’m still bitter about how you handled Destiny.)

Note: I’m not saying that we should be “grateful” for BioWare fixing its broken game. As consumers, we absolutely should hold creators accountable for selling broken work. However, let’s ease up with the pitchforks and torches. If I can concede that Arkham Knight was entertaining despite being straight up broken on PC at launch, we can all cool it on Mass Effect Andromeda.

‘iZombie’ Review: “Heaven Just Got a Little Smoother”

Alyssa Berkowitz

April 7, 2017

GUYS, iZOMBIE IS BACK!!

The season premiere of iZombie, “Heaven Just Got a Little Smoother,” begins exactly 2.8 minutes after last season ended (that is 2 minutes and 48 seconds for anyone wondering), in a sad reality where the artist Rob Thomas is no longer alive. But there is no time to grieve because Team Z and Vivian Stoll need to come up with a cover story:

Liv: “We should go with something close to the truth.”
Clive: “A zombie outbreak?!?!”

Liv concedes to Clive’s point, but that does little to calm his nerves. How will they explain the reappearance of the Chaos Killer’s victims? How will they all keep their story straight? What about all of the evidence left on the hundreds of dead humans and zombies in the Max Rager basement?

Don’t worry Clive, Ms. Vivian Stoll has it all taken care of. First, Chaos Killer victims will be bused to the Fillmore Graves (FG) campus where they will get debriefed. And for that second concern, Vivian is setting a bomb off in the Max Rager building as you speak. Move over Olivia Pope, there is a new fixer in town and her name is Vivian Stoll!

The cover story that the team decides on is this: Major, the former Chaos Killer suspect, had a tip on where the chaos killer stashed his abductees. So the police, plus a murder suspect, plus a random Assistant M.E. used the Max Rager party as a cover to find the victims. It is not the best cover story in the world, but it is in no way the worst.

Meanwhile, Peyton, Ravi, and Blaine Doe have to answer questions about their own murder scene on the other side of town. Detective Cavanaugh collects all of the details: Blaine Doe has ~~unreciprocated~~ feelings for Peyton; Mr. Boss kidnapped Peyton to lure Blaine Doe out; Blaine Doe saved Peyton (and killed four people); Ravi stayed safely in the car being useless the entire time.

The No Secrets Club

After their absolutely terrible no good night, Team Z reconvenes at Liv’s apartment, which apparently also doubles as a fully stocked bar.

Here is each person’s drink order:
Peyton-White wine
Ravi– A dark ale in a tall glass (because he is British of course)
Clive– A beer in a tin can (because he is not British)
Major and Liv– Spiced Whiskey

With drinks in hand and Peyton’s one night stand with Blaine out in the open, Liv declares that from here on out, Team Z is officially a Secret Free Zone.

Keeping in the new spirit of honesty, Liv tells the team about her interaction with Vivian. You know, that time Viv casually revealed that she plans to make Seattle the Capital of the Zombie Homeland. Clive does not feel comfortable keeping this information a secret. What if humanity’s fate rides on him NOT keeping this a secret? What if he is known as a villain in all future textbooks? Ravi astutely points out the that since the zombies are going to win, Clive will probably be regaled as a hero aka “who lives, who dies, who tells Clive’s story.”

Blaine Doe:

Blaine’s former henchman Donnie is still extremely skeptical of Blaine’s “memory loss,” and after being shot several times has an “epiphany.”

Donnie’s Epiphany: After Blaine had taken the Zombie cure he realized that cure= no zombies; no zombies= bad for business. Therefore, cure=bad for business. So to make sure no one else took the cure, he made up the worst possible side effect, complete memory loss (I can think of many worse side effects).

Ugh, I hate that I don’t know whether or not Blaine is faking his amnesia! That seems like a whole lot of work just to keep his business up and to court Peyton. But later we see him removing brains from a corpse, so I don’t know what to think!

Meanwhile, Donnie finds Blaine’s father in a freezer and comes up with a new brilliant idea: defrost that sucker and start a new Brain Selling Empire with Papa Blaine. And how does Donnie decide to defrost the body? With a freaking HAIR DRYER. Seriously? A hair dryer. There are so many better ways to defrost a body, like say run it under hot water in the bath/shower. But, to add another layer to his stupidity, Donnie is just waving that blow drying around Mr. DeBeer’s feet, as though that is the most useful body part in this situation.

Fillmore Graves

To further investigate this whole “Seattle Zombie Homeland” thing, Clive, Liv, and Major meetup at the Fillmore Graves campus which has its military and school system.

Vivian fills them in on Fillmore Graves primary mission, preparing for D-Day (Discovery Day): the unfortunate, yet inevitable day that humans discover that Zombies exist. Does Team Z think humans and zombies can live in harmony? Will humans help zombies procure brains to survive? When Clive broaches this exact subject, he immediately proves Vivian’s point.

While giving the crew a tour of the FG grounds Vivian tells them her Coming-of-Zombie story. After her husband had been scratched, he wanted to leave her to keep her safe. Instead, Vivian scratched herself while he was sleeping so they could forever live a blissfully undead life together. This blissful undead fairy tale was cut short though when her husband’s former extortionist brain dealer killed him.

As for the rest of FG’s undead employees, that is a different and much more complicated story. A dozen or so FG soldiers were sent to Ecuador to save people or something when an evil Ecuadorian general detonated a biological weapon that infected them all. A week or so later, during the annual FG 4th of July party, the soldiers started developing lesions and became super contagious. So to save them, Vivian scratched them all.

My Precious

After a day of revelations, Liv heads back to the morgue. Although she is hungry, she is afraid that if she eats a new set of brains her current soldier brain will wear off. The Janko brain’s ability to compartmentalize and suppress her emotions is the only thing distracting her from the fact that she shot and killed her boyfriend the previous night. Ravi wishes that he too could be a Zombie so he could eat a soldier’s brain to take away his pain. Ravi is dealing with an emotional crisis as well. Just like Liv, he too is suffering from heartbreak since his ex-girlfriend slept with another man AFTER they were broken up. He is also hurt by the fact that this other man had the chance to save Peyton’s life while he just sat in the car. Because, what is the point of having the person you love be alive if you are not the one to save them? Am I right?

Ravi: I have this movie in my head, of the object of my affection, my precious dear sweet, smart Peyton in the throws of passion with oily teen murdering Blaine.
Liv: Get over it… You called her ‘my precious.’ You don’t plan on throwing her in Mt. Doom do you?”

PREACH LIV, PREACH!

But Liv’s Janko brain can only last so long and when it starts wearing off her pain over Drake’s death hits her like a ton of bricks.

Poor Old Major

Even though Major is technically cleared of all the Chaos Killer allegations, it does not mean that the public accepts his exoneration. His home is getting vandalized, his face is scattered throughout the media, and barista’s are passive aggressively shunning him. This leads to my favorite cut screen of the episode. I mean this is just brilliant.

Because of all of the above, Major decides to join the Fillmore Graves army.

Conspiracy Theory

Meanwhile, the reality of D-Day becomes more and more plausible when a guard who escaped the Rager Max party starts telling his account of brain eating monsters on air. Liv and Clive rush to the radio station to nip this story in the bud, but not only are they too late, but their presence also makes the conspiracy theory sound more credible. AKA, they just made shit a whole lot worse because listeners start calling in with their own zombie stories.

Up until the point, Clive has been on the fence about aligning with Fillmore Graves, but that all changes when his former neighbors, including their ten-year-old son, are executed for being Zombies.

Wrap Up

I am really excited for this season because of the possibilities created by introducing Fillmore Graves. This is not just another company like Max Rager, Fillmore Graves is expanding the world of iZombie. Each character is going to form a new and different relationship with this corporation. Clive is invested because of Wally. Major is invested because he works for them now. I really hope that each character is able to interact with Fillmore Graves in a different way.

Additionally, the impending Zombie Wars present a moral dilemma that Team Z has to deal with as a group. Last season primarily revolved around Major and his moral dilemma of kidnapping Zombies. But now, each character has to decide, when push comes to shove if they will protect the safety of humans or the safety of zombies.

A few more tidbits

I love that not one, not two, but THREE people called Liv out this episode for not tanning and dying.
Vivian: “You really should tan and dye, we’re trying to keep a secret here.”
Um, can we discuss Ravi’s memory loss reversal experiment? First, it looks like he is just placing metal rods into a dead brain and connecting it to electricity. But is he using a Zombie brain or a human’s brain? I have so many research method/ scientific questions about this experiment I do not even know where to begin.
Liv tells Vivian: “I downloaded Major and Clive on what you told me.” Is that like a saying now? I replayed this scene ten times to make sure I was correctly hearing her say “downloaded.” Is that because she is on military brains? I have legit never heard anyone use this phrase in my entire 28 years of living
If Fillmore Graves is building Zombie Island, why do they need Seattle as their Zombie Capital? Is Seattle just a stop gap until construction of the island is complete?

‘The Magicians’ Review: Field Trip to The Underworld

Nicole C

April 5, 2017

The Magicians - Season 2 — THE MAGICIANS -- "The Rattening" Episode 211 -- Pictured: (l-r) Stella Maeve as Julia, Jason Ralph as Quentin -- (Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy)

In this week’s episode of The Magicians, Julia and Quentin take a field trip to the Underworld and find some shades!

Jules and Q track an ancient one deep in the depths of the New York sewers. A dragon (or Queen of the Great Wyrms) has burrowed deep underground where she has hoarded gold, baby teeth, and all sorts of knickknacks. The creature eventually agrees to give them passage to the Underworld, but first requires a gift. She asks for the enchanted button that allows Quentin and the gang to travel back and forth from Fillory to Earth. Julia say no but he decides to give it up, saying that they need to get her shade back. With a deal struck, the dragon explains that they will have 24 hours where in their souls will travel to the land of the dead. That time period because their bodies will remain in her keep and she snack on them if they go past the time limit. She is a dragon after all.

The two friends find themselves in a nondescript elevator and discover that the Underworld starts in a terrible hotel lobby where you must take a number and wait to be seen. They soon notice that a dead human with some of his shade missing is swiftly taken somewhere for safety and so they decide wisely to be silent on Julia’s status. When they get to the receptionist after their number is finally called, he sees that they’ve died 39 times and so their paperwork is going to take awhile to get processed. Somehow the duo makes their way to a bowling alley and meet Richard and the rest of Freetrader Beowulf who were previously killed by Reynard. Jules explains to Richard why they are there and luckily he is able to help them since he is looking for his son’s shade himself. The magician shows them what he’s been able to map out of the Underworld so far.

Richard then serves as distraction so that Q and Julia can sneak into the receptionist’s desk to find out where the man with the missing piece of shade went too. However all they saw was a note that said E. The hedge witch realizes that it must stand for Elysium, where the gods Persephone and Hades live. Strangely though they apparently vanished some years back and hadn’t returned since. The twosome make their way to the big house and encounter lots of young shades creating mini miracles on Earth. They ask one of them if they’ve seen a girl who’s always getting into trouble and he recognizes who that could be. He begins to lead them upstairs when Julia notices a painting in the hallway. The young shade says that is Persephone though he hasn’t seen her in a long time. The witch recognizes the woman though as Our Lady Underground, the deity she and her friends were trying to summon only to get Reynard.

Julia goes into one of the rooms that looks like it could be Persephone’s. She sees a coin with the symbol of Our Lady Underground and is startled by a noise coming from the closet. She puts the object into her pocket and tells the shade in the closet not to be afraid, thinking that it was hers. Surprise!! It’s ALICE!!!!!! Q enters the room with Julia’s shade in tow and sees his lady’s soul and it’s a bittersweet reunion.

It looks like the two shades became friends during their time in the Underworld. Shade Jules tells Julia that shade Alice talked about Quentin all the time. The hedge witch asks if they could take the other spirit with them but her younger self shakes her head sadly. When Julia tells Q that it’s time, he explains that this is the reason why he could never get the math to work. He was missing Alice’s shade in his equations to revive his ladylove back from the dead. The shade in question says that they’ve got to go now and can use a portal in the closet that will take them back to reception. She says that she’s glad they were able to say goodbye. Q tells her that one day he’ll be back here for good and that he’ll find her.

Julia tells him to go through first and he holds the elevator door. When she emerges however she’s not bringing her own shade but Alice’s. Q is shocked because they were here for her shade and the hedge witch shrugs saying that things change. I wonder if the contact with her own humanity allowed Julia to feel again temporarily and so she knew that she had to do this for her friend. She confirms that she knows this is her one shot and this is what she wants to do with it. Oh Julia, you are giving me severe warm and fuzzy feelings.

After everything’s she’s been through it seems like she’s genuinely trying to atone for her past actions. She was indirectly responsible for Alice’s death and in this way she can help Q get the other magician back. Julia is sacrificing her own chance at being whole again for someone else’s sake and it’s pretty darned amazing considering that she appeared to be well on her way to becoming the next Martin Chatwin.

It was also really interesting to see all the shades performing miracles in the name of Our Lady Underground. They are likely responsible for the small bits of magic that happen when people pray to the deity. Did the goddess bring in all the lost shades to Elysium to do this so that she could do other things with her time? But if so what exactly has she been up to? Speaking of which, we also learned in this episode that Reynard has a deep history with Persephone. The trickster god called her an evil bitch who left men and gods alike after his son asked him if he did all those awful things to the women who summoned the goddess. Now what could that be all about? Is he a spurned former lover taking out his wrath on all her followers since he couldn’t take it out on the deity herself?

Regarding the gods, I’ve also been enjoying how the show has brought in deities from different cultures. Reynard is from Dutch, German, French, and English fables, while Persephone and Hades are from Greek mythology. Ember and Umber as ram gods could be based on Egyptian mythology.

With only two more episodes left until the end of this season, the stakes are raised higher than ever as Q and the gang continue to encounter new problems week after week. Here’s to a crazy season finale!

The Magicians is on Syfy Wednesdays at 9/8 central.

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘The Magicians’ Review: Wedding Planning, A Poison Room, and the Underworld

Nicole C

March 29, 2017

After last week’s explosive episode, Quentin and the squad continue to deal with difficult circumstances on multiple fronts calling for love potions, subterfuge, hexes, and bending the space-time continuum.

In Fillory, Eliot is in full on bridezilla mode as he plans his wedding to King Idri of Loria. He’s unhappy with the food, the wine, the sheets, and the list goes on. Q has spent the last 3 months there sulking and being drunk after he let niffin Alice free so that she could make beautiful magic. Margo tells him that it’s his turn to go be Eliot’s errand boy and reluctantly he agrees. He heads back to Brakebills to bring Josh (who seems back to normal after having some lycanthropy) to Fillory to become head chef.

At some point El finds Fen who is staring outside the window preoccupied in her own thoughts. He confides in Margo that he thinks something’s going on with her and asks his best friend to check on his wife. Turns out, Fen is seeing a fairy pop up all around the castle and she thinks she’s going crazy. Except she’s not because Margo sees it too and asks that they negotiate the terms of their agreement. The fairy quickly vanishes but Fen is right behind her. The High Queen is forced to admit that she saw the creature too and that the other woman is not insane. In addition Margo has to reveal that she made a deal with the fairies to fix the Wellspring and save Eliot’s life by giving them Fen’s baby. Of course the mom to be is livid and tells Margo that she’d better fix this. The last we see of Eliot’s baby mama is a fairy kidnapping her after saying, “A deal’s a deal.”

Eliot has another situation on his hands as well regarding the FU Fighters. The High King has been spending time with his prisoner Baylor, playing backgammon and feeding the man nachos. They seem to be in much friendlier terms until Josh finds a note hidden in the food in the kitchen. He was testing a love potion on the dishwasher and made it a little too potent that rendered the other man in a stupor (the not was intended for the man to take to Baylor’s comrades). Margo then comes up with a brilliant plan to put a locator spell on the note, sober up the dishwasher, and then find out where the FU Fighters are encamped. The Fillorian renegades were planning to attack during the wedding festivities, but instead Josh is to go out to their camp and spike their food with the love potion. The mission is a success and the wedding can proceed as planned thanks to Margo’s quick thinking.

Meanwhile before Q returned to Fillory with Josh, he ate one of the chef’s special brownies that allowed him to peer into other worlds. While enjoying the psychedelic effects, he ends up meeting Julia’s shade who is trapped in another dimension with no way to escape.He tells El that he needs to go back to Earth to help Jules and reluctantly the king lets him go. However, the king proclaims that if Q misses his wedding he’s going to kill him.

Back at Brakebells, Fogg has freed Julia since he knows that she’s made of stronger stuff and needs to just figure out what can save her. In the first scene of this episode we saw another reality where Julia had been an exceptional student at the school and Fogg was like a mentor of sorts. They had the same discipline, which was that of magical knowledge. This makes sense now why he had granted her sanctuary since he was the only one who remembered everything that happened in the previous time loops. Julia and him did have a history together even though it technically never happened. The last time that Jane had set the time loop, the thing that she changed was Julia not being at Brakebills and it led to her own death but also the death of her brother the Beast.

Q tracks Julia down and explains that he had spoken to her shade. After getting info from Todd that the dean had mentioned that he knew someone who was obsessed with shades, they go to confront him about it. Fogg admits that is true but this person technically doesn’t exist in their reality. In the 23^rd time loop, Alice had been the only survivor and had become consumed with finding a way to talk to the dead. Julia then suggests that they talk to this Alice via a teslaflection. This is a spell that bends two spaces for a very limited amount of time (two minutes) that would allow the Alice from that universe to converse with them. Julia and Fogg cast while Q goes into the folded space to talk to Alice. She tells him that shades go into the Underworld and it is normally only accessible to the dead but that a living person could enter with the help of a guardian. She only knew that it was an ancient being older than the world. So many things to say and not enough time, Alice apologizes to Q while he tells her that he will always love her no matter what.

Later on, Julia tells Quentin that she understands he’s hurting but she doesn’t know the right words to comfort him. He says it’s alright, since he doesn’t really want to feel better anyways. She then shows him a book she’s been reading, explaining that she’s just figured out what an ancient one is. It’s a DRAGON. A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!

Lastly, Penny and Kady have been having their own screwed up adventure as the traveller’s paperwork miraculously is processed through and he is now officially working for The Order. His job? The exciting world of overdue library books. His first task leads them to Fuzz Beat (their world’s version of Buzz Feed) where it turns out that one of their head honchos is a magician. The listicles on their site are actually just a front for spells. Harriet (the magician with a hearing disability) seems to be running this site because she doesn’t appreciate knowledge being kept by authority figures.

We see this when she hexes a book card (from her overdue book), which forces a librarian in The Order to open a locked door. The man though hits a kill switch before he did was able to so and instantly dies from a spell. Freaked out, Penny confronts the other librarian who eventually caves and explains that the locked door is the poison room, a place where books deemed too dangerous to be in the general population are kept.

Kady had been allowed to join Penny in the Neitherlands library to help him “transition” for the moment and she had been searching the stacks for any god killing spells. When she went with him to Fuzz Beat, she had explained to Harriet that she was looking for a way to kill a trickster god and the other woman had hexed the card to help her out. When the duo came back to the web startup’s office it was completely abandoned except for a card. Kady reads it and it contains the name of the book she needed and the call number. Well well, I guess the next hurdle is how to actually get that text from the infamous Poison Room.

Final Thoughts

Poor Q just can’t catch a break when he’s constantly being reminded of what he lost with Alice so that he still can’t let go and move on.
Good for Julia in trying to control her actions even though she doesn’t have any kind of feelings anymore. At least she’s trying and doesn’t seem to want to end up like Martin.
I wonder if The Order will allow Penny to graduate form Brakebills first or is he just going to be forced to drop out since he technically can’t cast until he finds the books that can help him in his spare time.
Will Eliot be pissed off that his kid was traded to the fairies?
Can Margo undo her deal? Mmmm seems unlikely.

The Magicians is on Syfy Wednesdays at 9/8 central.

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Silicon Valley’ Season 4 Trailer Features an Unhinged Richard

Bilal Mian

March 29, 2017

The season four Silicon Valley trailer is here, bringing a brand new direction for Richard and the Pied Piper crew – creating a brand new internet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mydFes629og

The fourth season of Silicon Valley will premiere on April 23 on HBO.

The First ‘Destiny 2’ Teaser Arrives, Reveal Trailer Thursday

Bilal Mian

March 28, 2017

Leave it to Nathan Fillion to deliver more charisma and personality in the first Destiny 2 teaser than can be found in all of Destiny.

Bungie’s teaser features our favorite Exo-hunter, Cayde-6, recounting the tale of how the Last City comes under fire from the Cabal in a humorous fashion.

The worldwide reveal trailer for Destiny 2 will arrive on Thursday, March 30 at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST.

‘Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series’ Gets an April Release Date

Bilal Mian

March 28, 2017

Telltale Games has set April 18 as the release date for the first episode of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series.

Titled ‘Tangled Up in Blue,‘ the first episode will be available digitally on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, iOS, and Android-based devices for $4.99. A special season pass disc will be available at retailers across North America beginning May 2, and elsewhere across the globe beginning May 5. The season pass disc will include the first episode of the season and will grant access to the subsequent four episodes as they become available for download via online updates.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series will feature an original story that will revolve around the discovery of an artifact of unspeakable power.

The series features a star-studded cast of voice talent, including Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights, The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series) as Star-Lord, Emily O’Brien (The Young and the Restless, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor) as Gamora, Nolan North (the Uncharted series, Pretty Little Liars) as Rocket, Brandon Paul Eells (Watch Dogs) as Drax, and Adam Harrington (The Wolf Among Us, League of Legends) as Groot.

The first trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series will be released Thursday, March 30.

‘Supergirl’, Mon-El, and the Douchebag Redemption Arc

Jen Stayrook

March 28, 2017

Spoilers through Supergirl season two, episode seventeen: “Distant Sun” and The Flash season two, episode seventeen: “Duet.”

There’s this awful thing happening on my precious Supergirl and his name is Mon-El. For at least twelve episodes now, I have suffered as Mon-El wormed his way into this unabashedly feminist ensemble show I love, helpless as he corrupted it from the inside out. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment it happened, but as of the seventeenth episode, “Distant Sun,” Mon-El has acted as a replacement for all of the other characters, completely drowning out Kara’s relationships with James, Alex, and J’onn, especially. It’s so bad that I imagine soon the show will be renamed, “Mon-El & Supergirl.”

I’ve watched as Kara–a girl who needed her friends, who needed her job at Catco to remain grounded–became unrecognizable. It’s not just that Mon-El has done horrible things or that Kara broke up with James for, I can’t even remember the stupid reason, it’s that Mon-El has taken away from who Kara Danvers is as a person (not Supergirl) and I’m not okay with that.

The Crimes

If you’re wondering why I and so many others are so upset by Mon-El and his relationship with Kara, let me list out some of behavioral issues, so that you can better understand why he’s not just bad for Kara, but bad for television and its young viewers, as well.

He’s selfish, first and foremost.

Mon-El wants to make himself a better person, not because a good twinkle in his heart tells him to, but because that’s how to best serve Mon-El’s desires. Mon-El wants Kara; Kara is a good person; Mon-El only wants to be good to win over Kara. He doesn’t care about endangering anyone else as long as Kara is safe. In “Distant Sun”, Mon-El even suggested that the pair run away to another planet together to escape Kara’s bounty (placed by his mother). He doesn’t care that Kara would leave behind her home, her family, and the city who needs her; he only cares that he is with her.

He has no concept of respect.

At one point during “Star-Crossed,” Mon-El pleaded with Kara to tell him how to fix their relationship because according to his “research,” she should have already forgiven him. Kara doesn’t give in because Mon-El has never listened to a single thing Kara has told him. She taught him that in order to be a hero, he needed to trust her and to protect civilians. He ignored her. She told him to go get Alex so that she could save the kidnapped humans on Maldoria. He ignored her. She asked him not to tell everyone about their relationship and ten seconds later, he–surprise–ignored her wishes. Mon-El doesn’t respect Kara as a girlfriend, as a hero, or as an equal. She’s pretty and he wants her and he’s used to getting what he wants, either through manipulation, charm, or just by whining about it.

Moreover, when Kara disagrees with Mon-El, he lashes out at her. Things Mon-El has said TO KARA when things aren’t going his way:

“You’re no saint! You just fly around like you’re pure of heart, but that is crap because you love the attention. You are not selfless.”

“I knew you were full of yourself, like a little bit, but this is off the charts.”

“(angrily) I’m sorry that I was defending your HONOR.”

He doesn’t trust Kara.

Kara has been a superhero for a while now, but even more recent episodes, Mon-El STILL does not trust her decisions or her abilities. As she goes out to face HIS enemies, even though he’s also super-powered, he tells her:

Mon-El: “Be careful.”
Kara: “Always am.”
Mon-El: “Respectfully disagree.”

That is not how a changed man behaves. That is not how a man who loves and trusts his girlfriend behaves.

In “Distant Sun”, he doesn’t trust in Kara’s ability to talk out a problem and instead believes the issue is hopeless. Kara wants to solve the issue by talking Queen Rhea, but Mon-El has already written that off as an option because he never even gives Kara a chance to prove her abilities. Even though Mon-El’s parents are the problem, it’s one that’s left to Kara to solve. While that is her job as a hero, one that she will never begrudge, Mon-El never offers insight into how to take them down, he only reminds her that her plans won’t work. As he does in most tense situations on the show. In fact, he responds to most situations with violence.

“Would you like to see my superpower? ‘Cause I will just rip you apart with my bare hands right here, if you’re interested in that.”

He considers himself a hero

This might seem like a small nitpicky detail, but I think it’s rather telling of his character. Mon-El tells his parents that he is “also a hero.” Now, I’m sure that MON-EL believes he truly is a hero, but on Supergirl, we’ve never seen him exhibit that behavior. When has Mon-El truly sacrificed his own sake for the good of others? Others, not Kara. We know that he loves Kara and he, I genuinely believe, would do anything for her. He gave himself up to his parents just to save her life. But that does not make him a HERO. It makes him selfless where she is concerned because HE loves her and HE cannot lose her. Mon-El wouldn’t be as selfless if he were forced to sacrifice himself for a stranger, as Kara has done hundreds of times. (How many Daxamites were killed when he blew a hole in the side of a spaceship to save Kara?)

He’s taking away from other beloved relationships

My biggest qualm with Mon-El is that Kara seems to have no identity outside out of him anymore. Where she goes, he follows, and it’s the SuperFriends who suffer. James has been relegated to being a background character. J’onn hardly had a line each episode. And you can’t tell me that a year ago Alex “my sister is my life” Danvers would let Mon-El take her unconscious sister out of her sight. Alex went into Kara’s Hell last season to save her and now we’re left to believe that she leaves that “saving” up to Mon-freaking-El? Rao no.

Instead of cute SuperFriends game nights on the show, every episode of Supergirl begins and ends with Mon-El. Enough is enough.

Mon-El’s Defense

In last week’s episode, “Star-Crossed,” Mon-El wasn’t painted in the best light. Yet, I want to make clear that my dislike of the character actually has very little to do with his flashbacks to the escape from Daxam. Was he a pampered sleaze? Sure, but his escape was chaotic. As asteroids fell to the earth, waking him from sleep, his guard wrenched him from bed and then thrust him into a shuttle. I can hardly make coffee 30 minutes after waking, so I can forgive his leaving Daxam how he did. I can also forgive him initially hiding his identity from Kara and the DEO. He didn’t know them. He had no reason to trust them. As royalty, it was safest for him to keep quiet. And I can understand his hesitation in telling her the truth after learning they were trustworthy. He had, in his mind, shed his royal ways and begun a new path on a new world.

However, as soon as invaders started asking for him and threatened Earth, he should have spoken up. By not telling the truth, he endangered everyone. I will concede that Mon-El clearly grew up in an abusive household. His father is an entitled slave-owner and his mother suffers from some Pillars of the Earth-style son obsession that clearly isn’t healthy. However, we’ve watched Lena Luthor, a character who also grew up in a very manipulative environment, become a hero in her own right, not because she wanted to win Kara’s heart, but because it was the right thing to do.

Even though I compare Mon-El and Lena’s backgrounds, none of this is intended to contribute to the ship war between Karamel and Supercorp. While I’m an avid shipper of the latter, I’d be just as happy if Kara were with James again or if she stayed single. However, if the writers are adamant that Mon-El is here to stay, there needs to be some serious changes.

The Redemption Arc

None of this is to say that Mon-El and the TV Douchebag trope cannot be redeemed. Goodness knows TV and movies love trying to prove to viewers that jerky boyfriends are just waiting to blossom into the “good guy” underneath. Steve, from Stranger Things, proved to viewers that being a douchebag is not an incurable disease. Now, Steve suffered more from having a poor choice in friends than he did from being a spoiled jerk, but he still had his issues in the early episodes of Stranger Things. And while Steve and Mon-El aren’t the same (Steve never pressured Nancy into sex, never made fun of her friends, and never manipulated her into staying together with promises of being better), there’s enough similarities that I can say with hope that Mon-El can be rehabilitated. However, it requires the same treatment Steve received in Stranger Things: Mon-El needs to learn to live without Kara.

Here’s the thing: for all Mon-El’s flaws, of which there are many, how many of them are actively improving as he spends time with Kara, reaffirming his love for her?

I’ll tell you: none.

Because Mon-El has no real reason to change, no reason to improve. Kara broke up with him and less than 24 hours later, they were back together. Despite his ridiculous actions, Kara has defended Mon-El at every turn. She followed him onto an unknown warship. She stood up to his parents. She faced Kryptonite, TWICE. Through it all, Kara has been his biggest advocate, because that’s who she is. But if Mon-El wants to be better for her, if Mon-El wants to earn her love, he has to leave her and see who he is outside of Kara Danvers. He needs to clean up the messes he makes, not because Kara is watching, but because it’s the right thing to do. And right now, I don’t think he has that kind of selflessness in him.

Note: none of this is meant to be against the actor who plays Mon-El, Chris Wood. He seems lovely and honestly, none of this is his fault. Also, his comedic delivery is top-notch. I don’t hate him, just the Daxamite.

Supergirl airs Mondays on The CW at 8pm EST.

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Unleashes the Vulture in New Trailer

Bilal Mian

March 28, 2017

A brand new Spider-Man Homecoming trailer brings destruction to Manhattan as Michael Keaton’s Vulture takes flight.

The new trailer seems to reveal a lot in terms of the plot structure of the movie. If you’re worried about spoilers or don’t want to know too much, I’d avoid watching the trailer.

If you don’t care too much, than you’ll Tom Holland’s Spidey living his day-to-day, being mentored by Tony Stark, which doesn’t seem to be off to a great start (but then again this is Tony Stark whose relationships are never great), and facing off against the Vulture, Spider-Man Homecoming‘s villain for the movie.

Spider-Man Homecoming releases in theaters on July 7, 2017.

‘Final Fantasy XV’ Receives First DLC with ‘Episode Gladiolus’

Bilal Mian

March 28, 2017

The first DLC for Final Fantasy XV is now live with Episode: Gladiolus.

The episode, available now as a standalone package for $4.99 or through the Season Pass, marks the first time players are able to control another character outside of the Crown Prince Noctis. Centering around Gladiolus, the DLC will concentrate on the events that transpired when he left the party in the main line story of Final Fantasy XV.

The episode features:

● A new story told from Gladiolus’ perspective uncovering the events that transpired when the character left the party in FINAL FANTASY XV’s main storyline

● An exhilarating combat system that capitalizes on Gladiolus’ blocking and counterattacking play style through the new “Valor” and “Rage” system

● Previously inaccessible parts of Eos that are now open for exploration

● Special items that can be carried over the main game and exclusive to those who complete Episode Gladiolus

● Two brand-new gameplay modes, “Score Attack” and “Final Trial” made available upon completing Episode Gladiolus

Alongside the release of Episode Gladiolus is a free game update that has added cutscenes that enhance the Chapter 13 story experience, two different playable Chapter 13 routes for players to choose from, more powerful ring magic, and additional areas to explore in the game.

Story of Episode Gladiolus

After losing to the enemy high commander Ravus, Gladiolus is forced to swallow a bitter pill and face the limitations of his own strength. In order to travel with the Chosen King, he realizes he must also possess a comparable level of power in order to protect him. In the ancient ruins that were found in the Kingdom of Lucis 30 years ago, the spirits of heroes that once served the king await the next generation of warriors.

Gladiolus parts ways with his entourage and meets up with Cor, the sole survivor of the trials. Now, with his mentor at his side, Gladiolus sets out to challenge the Shield of the Founder King: the Blademaster, Gilgamesh.

‘The Flash’ and ‘Supergirl’ Musical Review: “Duet”

Yvonne Tang

March 23, 2017

The Flash
Season 3, Episode 17: “Duet”
Original Air Date: March 21st, 2017
Grade: A+++

IT WAS SO GOOD. It was just so good.

When I first officially heard that the producers of The Flash would be creating a musical episode, I thought that the episode would turn out ridiculous and unrealistic. But I pour truth into my statement as I say, the cast and crew of The Flash truly exceeded my expectations, which were pretty high as I saw sneak peek after interview after featurette fill my Facebook feed.

The reason that the Flash always impresses me is that they always reach for the moon, and somehow they land among the stars. (Cheesy? Sorry.) Gorilla Grodd in live action television? Oh please; you can try. King Shark? You’re crazy. Doppelgangers? Sure, okay, whatever. The Speedforce? Uh huh, right.

A musical episode? Not in your wildest dreams.

I guess that the Music Meister put me into a dreamworld, because it really happened. And it was awesome.

Alright, now let’s talk about it. The episode started with the classic “Singing in the Rain” playing on the television screen and a sweet moment between 9 year old Barry and Nora Allen. (How cute was Baby Barry though?!)

Everything’s better in song. When you speak, it’s just words. But when you sing, you open up your soul and let who you really are shine through.

The scene switched into a parallel where Barry was watching the same musical movie, 18 years later, sulking on Cisco’s couch. Cue a cute bromance moment between Barry and Cisco. You know, the classic “c’mon-bro-heartbreak-sucks-but-get-off-my-couch”, “you’ve-been-wearing-the-same-shirt-for-days” kind of thing. Best-man worthy stuff.

Sheesh Kara, doesn’t that hurt your neck?

Is that a bird? Is that a plane? No, it’s an unconscious Supergirl jumping in through a portal.

After realizing Supergirl was ‘whammied’ by this unknown alien-metahuman-villain (not villain?), Team Flash searched for the Music Meister through Cisco’s lovely vibing (which I will never get used to, yet I never want to lose), and that the Music Meister was probably after the fastest man alive as they spoke. As if on cue, Barry found Music Meister in the breach room, just… chilling.

My god, is Darren Criss (Music Meister) fine as hell. How could that cute, cheeky little smile be villainous?

The introduction to the Music Meister showed some interesting personality traits. He was a quirky, mysterious guy with a hint of arrogance (as all of masculinity has) as the character mocked Wally for “looking scared” and called Barry “slow.”

In general, the episode touched a bit on Wally’s recovery from being in the Speed Force but did not go too much into it. I supposed this could be due to so many components being jammed into this long-awaited musical episode, however I was hoping for some more character development on Wally’s part. On the other hand, I very much appreciated the development of Westallen, Karamel (I guess, I don’t keep too much up with Supergirl), and Barry’s outlook on the future.

Mon-El: “I’m keeping an eye on you, Barry. You better not do anything sketchy.”

Next thing we know, Barry becomes whammied as well, and he finds Kara singing “Moon River” in the dreamworld. Forget the acting, the set, the hair and makeup, or the costuming. They were pretty cool, but seriously, Melissa Benoist’s (Kara/Supergirl) voice is so precious and wonderful, and the song showcased it so well. Of course, I was already familiar with her as Marley because I watched Glee, but it’s different to see her blonde and playing a superhero while singing.

The chemistry between Barry Allen and Kara Danvers is something special, and something that we can only experience if they travel between universes (literally). I enjoyed every minute of it, especially while they played the part of “confused yet defiant puppies” when they first landed in the hallucination. Kara’s little snip bits about the Wizard of Oz made the episode so fluffy and adorable, and seriously, I love the tone of Supergirl because of her character.

Follow the script. But if you die in here, you die out there.

As Barry and Kara tried to discover what was going on, Music Meister appeared from the shadows, told them they were trapped there and may die, gave a “Hit it!”, and the next thing we knew, an elaborate musical number appeared onto the screen. All the characters that we ever dreamed of singing on the show began to sing “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”, and it was wonderful.

Everyone looks like they’re smiling and excited because it’s the 1940s.

Carlos Valdez (Cisco Ramon)? John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn)? Jeremy Jordan (Winn Schott)? Heck yas, heck yas, and heck yas. We also saw them dancing and it was the most wonderful thing in the world. And Barry agreed with me. Yeah, I saw him following some moves there. Let’s be honest, every time something majestic happened in the episode (so, like, every few seconds) you rewinded so you could watch it all over again. Each scene was just too good.

Back in the real world, Wally explained to the team that getting Barry whammied was “all his fault”, and he told them that it was his responsibility to go after Music Meister. He wasn’t wrong, but I’d tell him to tone it down and that we didn’t need a Barry 2.0 who blamed everything on himself.

Hello… friends!

While Wally, J’onn J’onzz, and Cisco went in through a breach to approach Music Meister, they and the audience gained a better understanding of the villain-not-villain. He (fetchingly, of course, it’s Darren Criss) told Wally that he thoroughly was a fan of his work, although he saw that Wally was not doing so well in the recent days. Probably because he was stuck in the speedforce for a week, but you know.

Basically, they fought a bit, and for whatever reason, Team Flash/Supergirl realized that Music Meister was making the team face their weak spots. Still, he as a villain was a mystery to them. It seemed that every time he had an upperhand, Music Meister disappeared without a trace. He could have won against Wally, Cisco, and J’onn, yet he simply left to play another game.

The charming affect that Music Meister had, his mysterious powers, and his unknown end goal made him a villain that did not fit the form of being a villain. This all made sense in the end, when apparently Music Meister saw that they needed help falling back in love and realizing where to go foward, and decided to go into their world to help them. Then, poof, he was off. For some reason, I really like that idea, and I hope Music Meister can come back to help them again. (Just get Darren Criss back!)

Back in the dream world, Kara and Barry realized that they needed to follow the script, which they discovered to be just like West Side Story. Two gangs, the children fell in love, and now they’re at war.

Although this plotline was extremely rushed and hard to enjoy (Mon-El and Iris kissing? Merlyn and Stein/Joe suddenly agreed? Now they’re at war?) I once again understood that there were probably so many things that the producers or writers wanted to include and so little time to include it. All of the other components that were added made up for this silly plotline, and I can still say the episode was fantastic.

Look, dads…
Dads?
Yeah! You got a problem?

As we found Mon-El and Iris kissing (Yuck! And Barry thought so as well. Loved that, by the way), and they decided to tell their respective fathers, once again a musical number came along. A decades-long-awaited duet/trio was sung, to “More I Cannot Wish You”, by John Barrowman, Jesse L. Martin, and Victor Garber. This was probably more favored by those who are a fan of Rent, Godspell, etc. You know. Old people. (Editor’s Note: HEY. WATCH IT.)

Heh, moving on from that slightly offending joke… I feel as though all of their musical numbers were so carefully chosen, and these three phenomenal singers matched so well in the song, and I could not have asked for a better choice. Once again, I praise the Flash cast and crew for attempting such an ambitious idea of having a musical, and also for being so careful with their decisions regarding it.

Many times throughout the episode, we got to see Kara/Barry’s charisma onscreen. And of course, we relished in it because oh-my-god-they-are-just-such-puppies. But this did not show quite as much as in their adorable original tapping number, “Superfriend”.

Obviously, we enjoyed Grant Gustin’s (Barry) tapping. Because he is someone who specializes in tap dancing, it was just so awesome to see Grant be able to show it off in this show (which we thought would never happen). Their improvisation and little snide remarks were awesome and so natural between them.

I’ll flash over…
Barry!
What? That was funny!

Look at these puppies and how much fun they’re having. I wanna have that much fun while working.

Unfortunately, right after this fun-filled uplifting number, both characters got shot point blank in the chest with… machine guns? You know, during the mob war that happened in 10 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, this was a HEARTWRENCHING scene. But, the change in tone was a little bizarre and moved a bit too quickly.

At this moment in the real world, Barry and Kara are (Seizing? Having a heart attack? It remains unclear). Their vitals are crashing, and Iris is basically panicking. She reminds to the group what the Music Meister said, “Only your love can save them”, and tells Cisco that he has to bring her and Mon-El to their dream world.

Where was Mon-El’s thoughts during this? I don’t really know. Or maybe I just focus on Westallen moments on the show because they’re just so damn beautiful.

CUE THE SUPER EMOTIONAL SCENE WHERE HELL I CRIED BECAUSE OH MY GOD BARRY WAS DYING IN IRIS’ ARMS? Also, Karamel was there. But seriously, WESTALLEN. (I love Karamel, but… Westallen. Yeah.)

Iris. I love you.
*SUPER QUIET SO NO ONE HEARD PROBABLY* I love you more.

AND THEN THE KISS FANGIRLED AROUND THE WORLD HAPPENED, and they were back in the real world. I WRITE IN ALL CAPS WHEN I’M EXCITED. In this moment, I actually had no idea if it meant that they reconciled yet, and boy did I have no idea what was going to happen later.

In the next few minutes the musical part of the episode was concluded, and all problems were resolved. Both groups filled each other in on what had happened, and the Music Meister explained his true end goals and disappeared, as he seems to always do. Some cute moments from Karamel and Westallen.

While I thought there would be no more musical numbers, and I was a bit disappointed that there was not enough of Grant Gustin, a scene was taking place as Barry returned with Iris to their apartment. Let me just remind you: there were no sneak peeks of this scene, no foreshadowing, no promo pictures, and no mention that anything similar to this would happen.

But it did. And I died a little inside.

The best musical number of the episode, hands down, had to be “Runnin’ Home to You”, as Barry explained to Iris and the audience everything that he felt about her and the future. As it was written by the songwriters of La La Land, everything was so catchy and the lyrics were so meaningful. THERE IS AN ORIGINAL SONG ALL ABOUT WESTALLEN AND IT SUMS THEM UP SO MUCH. I love it. Immediately the next day, I had the song on repeat. I will never stop listening to it (until I get tired of it eventually).

Dear producers of the Flash and/or Blake Neely, I know that the musical numbers are all on iTunes already (And slowly rising in the charts, may I add), but I have a Samsung. And I would really very much love it if these songs were on Spotify. Please. I love you.

I will seriously be rewatching this episode over and over again. I already have watched it three times.

If this review was too long and you didn’t read it, I can sum it up for you: Musical. Very good. Westallen. Everything. 10/10.

Stay tuned for the Flash at 8/7c on the CW.

‘The Magicians’ Channel Les Mis Before Duel To The Death

Nicole C

March 22, 2017

In this week’s brilliant episode of The Magicians, team Fillory channel their inner Broadway stars in a rendition of “One More Day” from Les Misérables before Eliot’s deadly duel with the king of Loria.

This is not the first time the show has broken into song, as we first saw this back in season 1 episode 4 when Quentin was being inceptioned by Marina and Julia. In order to communicate with the Penny in the real world, Q broke out into Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” because he knew that the traveller hated that song. It was an unexpected moment of humor and ridiculousness in a very dark episode that was perfection.

This time, as Eliot is preparing to do battle with King Idri he confesses to Margo that he’s scared in the throne room because if he dies, they will all become prisoners if not worse. Earlier, Fen had come and saved the day by giving her baby daddy an enchanted sword complete with accompanying spell that would allow a king to become a master swordsman instantly. This is handy because the Lorian royal had fought fourteen duels and without losing once. Margo responds by telling El that she remembers when he showed her a video of his high school production of Les Mis where he totally owned Valjean. She asks to hear it, though Eliot says that he can’t possibly do it because it would seem rather silly plus he couldn’t do it all on his own. But because they’re magicians, Margo quickly cats a spell and Eliot breaks into the opening verse as he continues to practice with his blade. Margo, Fen, and the rest of their entourage join him as they all prepare to meet the Lorians at an open field where the duel is to take place. The poor Lorians are greeted by a singing group of Fillorians and naturally they are confused AF, the expressions on their faces perfectly capturing the ridiculousness of the sight.

Earlier, Margo pointed out before they broke into song that music will serve to build confidence and destabilize the enemy through projected power. This totally seems to work. Eliot is able to fight Idri, though the other king runs away when its clear the magician has some skills. El follows but the tables turn due to another Wellspring blackout. He climbs up a high tree with the Lorian below waiting for him. In an unexpected turn of events, the duel is resolved peacefully when the two men decide to be lovers instead of fighters because guess what, in this world you could have a queen AND a king. Well ain’t that something. So Fillory and Loria are able to become allies after all thanks to an alternative royal marriage.

Given the seriousness of the situation Margo and Eliot face, it’s a brilliant move to inject this musical moment to lighten the very dark issues facing all the magicians throughout season 2 so far. We’ve had deaths, rapes, exorcisms, shades disappearing, hands getting chopped off, niffins, goblins, and a bloodthirsty fox god.

Hale Appleman and Brittany Curran have some musical chops as they both sounded pretty darn good during their solos and as well as the harmonization of Curran and Summer Bishil. Appleman is definitely no stranger to the stage having performed in The Last Goodbye in the role of Mercutio.

The Magicians continues to prove that it’s a show with a dark sense of humor that isn’t afraid to get a little crazy time and time again.

The Magicians is on Syfy Wednesdays at 9/8 central.

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Supergirl’: A Tale of Two Liars in “Star-Crossed”

Jen Stayrook

March 22, 2017

This week on Supergirl: SHOCKING NEWS – Mon-El is the Prince of Daxam and Kara finds out the truth; the SuperFriends chase down stolen art.

Spoilers through Supergirl season two, episode sixteen: “Star-Crossed.”

Remember two weeks ago when we had that great episode full of Supergirl heroics, a badass Alex, sweet moments between the Danvers sisters, and only snippets of Mon-El? Ah, it was a simpler time, wasn’t it? A time that reminded us of the good from Supergirl’s first season, when she was a hero first, a sister second, and boys didn’t dominate her life.

If it feels like every Supergirl recap has morphed into a “Bash Mon-El party,” then you aren’t alone. Believe me, as much as I write about the selfish Daxamite, I loathe him even more. I grow tired of complaining about him every week, but I also think it’s important that we, as consumers, voice our disdain for this poor representation of a “healthy” relationship. As Bill Pullman, the hero of Independence Day, once said:

“We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!”

However, I won’t spend this entire review dumping on Mon-El because it’s honestly too easy at this point.

Meet the Parents: Daxam Edition

Aliens show up in a ship that looks like the chemical formula for ribonucleic acid demanding that Earth hand over Mon-El or they’ll attack and for the life of me I’m not sure why everyone wasn’t like, “Yea sure, take him. He’s yours. He is more messed up than Barry Allen and the Earth-1 timeline.”

An aside: how is that alien invaders can show up to another planet and hack into all of their technology on a whim to deliver threats but I still have trouble getting more than three people into the same Skype call?

NOT ONE PERSON asks Mon-El why aliens would want him and instead Kara flies off to defend her man’s honor because she is kind and heroic and way too good for that piece of smushed sidewalk gum. The ship attacks Supergirl because they’re clearly good, wholesome, and once Mon-El gets a conscious for two seconds, we learn that the invaders are none other than Mommy and Daddy Daxam.

SURPRISE! WHO ELSE DIDN’T KNOW MON-EL WAS A PRINCE?! Honestly, I almost forgot to write that this was a “twist” in the story because it’s been blindingly apparent since Mon-El first arrived. Worst kept secret ever.

The Daxamites invite Kara to a super awkward dinner where Mon-El recounts his epic escape from the exploding planet. Now, I want to make it clear that I don’t actually think Mon-El was awful in this scene. He did what every single one of us would have done in that moment. (And if you disagree with me, you are a lying liar. We’re all at least kind of selfish.) However, you can’t tell me that this exchange wasn’t hilarious:

As dinner goes on, Kara learns that Mon-El’s apple didn’t fall far from the tree, as Mommy and Daddy Daxam are caricatures of the spoiled royals.

Papa Daxam: “Remember how good your servants were treated at the palace?”
Kara: “Because you stole them from their families.”
Mama Daxam: “We liberated them from greater hardship.”

If that doesn’t tell you that these slave owners and traders are not great people, the writers slipped in a “Make Daxam Great Again” line just to make certain you understood how awful they are. It’s meant to cast Mon-El in a more favorable light because he may be selfish and arrogant but at least he’s not as bad as mommy and daddy. Which MIGHT work if we didn’t see first hand Lena Luthor owning up to her evil family name and casting it aside, proving that she is nothing like them, time and time again. Lena is proof that you can have familial baggage and still be a good person.

I digress.

Kara and Mon-El break up because OF COURSE they did. He lied to her. He betrayed her trust. But even more, it wasn’t just about the lies, it was all of it. It was the fact that he didn’t know if he wouldn’t ever lie to her again. It was that he didn’t apologize for his actions, he apologized because he got caught. It was that he used romantic comedies as a reason for why she should forgive him. And that’s just from THIS episode, alone. I don’t have the time or the energy to list out Mon-El’s rap sheet of crimes against Kara Danvers, but if Mama Daxam, a slave trader and generally bad person, knows that Mon-El isn’t good enough for Kara, you take that to the bank, girlfriend. You cash that check.

After a few more tearful interactions between Kara and Mon-El, she confirms that they are, in fact, over. And that’s all of Kara’s involvement in the episode. While the SuperFriends were off solving a Nancy Drew mystery, Kara was dealing with boyfriend troubles. Not even life or death boyfriend troubles, just lying boyfriend troubles. And that’s why we’re upset. Because even with the will they/won’t they debacle of season one with James, Kara was still a hero. Kara still fought the bad guys and was feminist icon, someone we all admired.

The Mystery of the Missing Van Gogh

Meanwhile, back at the DEO, Winn gets in trouble for engaging in a little breaking and entering. Maggie brings him into the station and makes poor Winn pee his pants. She accuses him of stealing Starry Night and he’s all, “No, no! We just had sex in front of Starry Night.”

SCENE: Winn has sex with Lyra on the museum floor. Lyra isn’t visible.
MAGGIE GRIMACES.

Alex shows up and is all, “how dare you arrest my little goldfish? I’m the only one allowed to make him pee his pants.” Maggie sighs and lets Alex take the love-sick fool back to the DEO to find evidence against Lyra and Alex is all, “kiss pooky. ILU.”

The SuperFriends track Lyra to a trailer park because OF COURSE they do where Guardian and Alex put on their ass-kicking boots to defend their Hufflepuff cupcake, Winn. James hasn’t had a good run this year on Supergirl, but dammit if I don’t love him fighting side by side with Alex. Alex lately has been getting on better with Kara’s friends than Kara. Also, I’m a huge fan of James and Winn being best friends and not arguing over Kara’s affections.

The group learns, NOT through Martian Manhunter’s ability to read minds, that Lyra only stole the painting to save her brother’s life. The SuperFriends leap into action, traveling to a shady ass warehouse to deliver “Starry Night” to the alien art thief.

supergirl 216 photo 2 — Here’s the DeviantArt for the original artist.

He’s not pleased with the artist’s impression of the Master’s original and attacks our SuperFriends. James isn’t known for his humor, however, the failed attack on the alien and then the calm delivery of “That usually works. Run.” was fantastic. If he keeps it up, Guardian might just worm his way back into my heart.

The SuperFriends save the day, reuniting Lyra with her brother and bringing Winn and Lyra back together as a couple. Kara talks to Winn about his relationship, because even though Lyra lied to him, he still loves her. I want to make it clear here that while both Mon-El and Lyra lied to their significant others, Lyra lied to save her brother’s lifs, Mon-El lied because he thought Kara might not like him. There’s a difference.

Also, I call BULLSHIT on Alex supporting Kara and Mon-El’s relationship.

Random Thoughts

I don’t like that Kara has completely given up on her dreams since Mon-El entered her life. I don’t expect her to be all gung-ho about getting a new job, but the issue I have with them is that, as a good friend once told me, “association breeds assimilation,” and the more Kara hangs out with selfish Mon-El, the more likely she is to become like him.

If Cat Grant could see the things both Kara and Supergirl are doing right now, she would EXPLODE.

DARREN CRISS, OH, HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU.

Next week: Kara punches Mon-El in the face. At least we have that going for us.

Supergirl airs Mondays on the CW at 8pm EST.

The First ‘Captain Underpants’ Trailer Brings the Books to Life

Bilal Mian

March 22, 2017

TRA-LA-LAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Dreamworks has released the first trailer for Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, based off of the children’s book series of the same name.

As someone who grew up reading the Captain Underpants books, even though I’ll admit I was way too old to be reading them, the trailer nails the childhood mischievousness and antics that I loved so much from the pages of the series.

The official synopsis can be found below:

Based on the worldwide sensation and bestselling book series, and boasting an A-list cast of comedy superstars headed by Kevin Hart and Ed Helms, DreamWorks Animation brings audiences the long-awaited global movie event, CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE. This raucously subversive comedy for the entire family tells the story of two overly imaginative pranksters named George and Harold, who hypnotize their principal into thinking he’s a ridiculously enthusiastic, incredibly dimwitted superhero named Captain Underpants.

Release Date: June 2, 2017

Director: David Soren

Writer: Nicholas Stoller (Based on the Epic Novels by Dav Pilkey)

Producers: Mark Swift, Mireille Soria

Cast: Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Thomas Middleditch, Jordan Peele, Kristen Schaal

‘The Flash’ Review: “Into the Speedforce” Once More

Yvonne Tang

March 17, 2017

The Flash
Season 3, Episode 16: “Into the Speedforce”
Original Air Date: March 14th, 2017
Grade: A

With an adventure into the speed force, tension between fiancés, a reunion of old friends, and a series of Christmas-Carol-esque trials, the Flash once again nailed an episode that left us speechless and tearful as it ended.

The 40-minute show started off with #squad standing in the cortex, naturally. Right away, a solemn mood is in the air and the frame freezes. Barry begins his monologue about how he must be the one to save Wally West, who is imprisoned in the speed force with no way out and it’s all Barry’s fault–but wait! Why are they doing the mannequin challenge? At least, it really, really looked like they were doing the mannequin challenge as the camera panned across each of the characters throughout the cortex.

Whether purposefully or not, The Flash cast totally did the mannequin challenge this episode, and I’m pretty okay with it.

During this scene and many others throughout this episode, pay careful attention to the adorably wonderful Cisco/Barry moments. They are a true bromance that will forever touch our hearts. Did anyone squeal when Cisco squeezed Barry’s hand while pulling Savitar’s claw out of his chest?

Although the Barrisco shipping was sailing smoothly, there was still trouble in paradise regarding Barry and Iris. Considering Barry and Iris seemed to be extremely happy this season so far (their relationship was much too perfect, some may interject), it was like a punch in a face last episode when Iris found out Barry’s proposal was not completely out of love, but also from his dark thoughts and desperation to save her.

After Barry’s internal monologue, he asked Cisco to prepare the breach room so that Barry could venture into the speed force and return Wally to the real world.

Cue an anti-Westallen moment that broke me a little bit inside.

Iris… Did I lose you?

ANSWER HIM IRIS! DID WE LOSE YOU? Ahem, I mean, did he lose you? I’m not a part of this relationship.

But seriously, I think a piece of my Westallen heart got torn out of my chest when Iris took off that ring. Inappropriate simile? My bad. You may think I’m the world’s biggest Iris/Barry shipper. However, I’m sorry to say that this is quite false. I mean come on. Papaw Joe just wants some grandkids.

When Iris walked away from their conversation, Joe came into the cortex, urging Barry to fix the problems that they had and that this was the perfect timing to do so. This was the part that I maybe teared a little.

Later when Barry left for the speedforce, Joe told Iris that although they had an argument, this did not affect Barry’s decision to save Wally at the risk of his own life (AKA marry this man!).

Speaking of his travels in the speedforce… The Speedforce (capitalized, because it’s a tangible being that I still do not understand) was not as eager and welcoming as the last time. Even during the last time, they allowed him to leave with his powers back only if he accepted his mother’s death, which he did not. But, that was understandable, of course. Not a lot of people see their mothers killed at age 11 and realize it was their future selves’ fault.

This time around, Barry’s visit into the Speedforce was far from pleasant, comprised of, but not limited to: an attack from the remnants of Zoom; being freshly blamed for three deaths that he had moved on from; seeing his potentially brother-in-law being tortured with his mother’s death over again; and leaving his father’s doppelganger behind to suffer said fate.

Is it safe to say there may be leftover repercussions from this lovely visit? Maybe.

But seriously, who forgot what it felt like to be in the presence of Eddie Thawne, Ronnie Raymond, and Leonard Snart? The actors (Rick Cosnett, Robbie Amell, and Wentworth Miller, respectively) did a phenomenal job of bringing back long-missed feelings from season 1, and also matching the tone of season 3. Dear producers of The Flash, please bring them back. I need them. I mean the show needs them. Because I don’t have a personal attachment to the show or anything like that.

In the end, Barry returned from the Speedforce with Wally in tow, but Jay Garrick was missing. You know the drill.

IW: I thought I lost you too.
BA: I’m right here.

These aren’t tears of emotions. I just fell into the Speedforce and the lightning gave me an allergic reaction. Gosh darn my allergies. Always ruining my reviews…

Okay, okay. So that scene gave me some feels. But you know that the worst-feely scene is yet to come. Yeah, you know what scene I’m talking about. That one.

Oh, the one where we thought Iris forgave Barry so they would live happily ever after? Well, the writers of the Flash in their own twisted way screwed us all over. Yes, Barry left her. I repeat, they are “taking some space.”And you’d think the fastest man alive had enough of space considering he was always too fast for others to catch up. Sorry, bad joke. It didn’t even make sense. So, the episode ended with Barry closing the door of the apartment, leaving Iris sitting by the windowsill with tears down her face.

All in all, this episode was dramatic, meaningful, and was able to cover many plot holes (such as: why is Barry making Wally run faster to save Iris? Where did Black Flash/Remains of Zoom go after season two? So Wally never thought twice after his mom died?).

Although Barry can be irrational sometimes, and borderline stupid, always remember that his desperation to save the love of his life comes from his experiences in the past.

Don’t let the darkness dim your soul, Barry.

(On a side note, anyone predict that Savitar may actually be Future Jay Garrick? If not, who do you think Savitar is? Think about it. Let me know in the comments.)

Tune in to the Flash 8/7c on Tuesday nights on the CW.

‘The Magicians’: Shadeless Julia is Beastly

Nicole C

March 15, 2017

Reeling from the emergency demigod exorcism in last week’s episode of The Magicians, we discover that Julia’s shade accidentally got severed by the mugong in the process. This was definitely foreshadowed earlier in the season when Martin Chatwin offered to free her from it so that she could live a happier unencumbered life (like him).

The Beast temporarily displaced Julia’s shade from her body though she quickly told him to put it back in because she needed it. It was the thing that allowed her to feel emotions and in a sense was her humanity. As she wakes up in the Physical Kids’ cabin following her ordeal, Julia acts as if she just had great night’s sleep and all was well in the world. When Kady asks if she’s ok, she answers that she feels great and a huge weight has been lifted off her chest. Sure, all that pain, fear, and sorrow she’s been feeling since Reynard entered her life just vanished. Julia’s still out to kill the fox god though, but in a much more chipper and frank manner.

She works out that they need to find Dana’s son to harness his demigod mojo to cast a powerful god-killing spell (that they still need to create). The two women begin researching any newborns that were delivered during the time Dana could have given birth and Julia manages to find a hospital in New Jersey that fit the bill. She quickly goes and opens a doorway that leads to the outskirts of Hoboken. Both Kady and Quentin protest that she needs to stay at Brakebills to be protected by the wards, but the hedge witch insists that Reynard doesn’t actually care about finding her. She even tells Q thanks but no thanks for his opinion because she didn’t ask for it. Well claws are out I see. How wrong she is though because as soon as she’s waking on her merry way Reynard appears and wants to know the location of his son (he couldn’t get out of Dana even as she died). He immediately senses that Julia no longer fears him and deduces that her shade is gone. The fox god also knows that Quentin is hiding behind the tree and tells the magician to come out and run. But before anything else happens Q takes Julia and himself to Fillory. He leaves her there while he goes back to school to help Kady find the demigod.

In Fillory, Julia is super bored so she proposes to Margo that she’ll accompany the High Queen during negotiations with the dryads at the One Way Forest, since the Lorian army is amassing outside it’s borders. When they get there the two women are greeted by a sexist dryad refusing them passage through his territory. Julia sticks around though and catches the Lorian magician casting a spell. However, she explains that she’s only looking for a powerful invisibility spell that can hide her from a god and if he provides it she’ll let him go. The magician agrees and enchants a stone so that as long as she wears it, no god will be able to track her. She thanks him and they part ways. Julia next comes upon the dryad who is put out that she’s still there. She implores him though that they want to make things right and gives him a wooden box as a gift for his people. The magical creature relents and takes the box. As she walks away from the forest, a huge explosion is seen and she smiles in evil amusement.

At Whitespire, she is imprisoned by Margo, who has to go into damage control over her assassination of the forest dryads. This act angers the people of Fillory and Loria but Julia just finds it ridiculously amusing.

Ah!! So beastly! Julia right now is essentially the new Beast as she does things without remorse and only serves her own interests. Think of what kind of havoc she and Martin could have raised had she given in to his offer back then. She confirms this during her conversation with the Lorian magician, stating that her loyalty will always lie with herself above all else.

This new shadeless Julia is so vicious that it naturally reminds me of Martin, but also of niffin Alice (who is now a being of pure magic). These three characters are all free of human morality but Martin and Alice both paid terrible prices for it. Will Julia suffer the same fate? Will she realize that she’ll lose her friends if she keeps this up? Only time will tell.

She’s had to navigate through a lot of crap so far in seasons 1 and 2 and thus a small part of me feels like she deserves a break. Though if anything, The Magicians shows us that all people have selfish tendencies and at times it leads to disastrous consequences. This version of Julia is a lot different from the woman we first met at a college party back in the first episode of the show. She’s grown and gotten stronger considering all the obstacles she’s had to overcome so far and I am liking this uninhibited Jules. Don’t get me wrong, her actions this episode have been crazy, but given the circumstances she can embrace the madness for a hot second.

The Magicians is on Syfy Wednesdays at 9/8 central.

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Beauty and the Beast’ Review: Nothing New to See In This Tale As Old As Time

Matt DeGroot

March 12, 2017

Summing up my thoughts on Disney’s remake of Beauty and the Beast is a tricky thing. Do I compare it to the masterful 1991 animated classic on which it is based? Or do I try to evaluate it purely on it’s own merits? I deeply wanted to take that second option but as the film played out I found it is impossible to separate it from the original (a staple of my childhood) simply because the creative team didn’t do all that much to separate it from the original!

Sure, it’s hard to stray away from the notion of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but when this remake takes 45 more minutes to tell the exact same story (with some unnecessary backstory about Belle’s mom thrown in) I find it difficult to sign off on it being excellent.

On one hand I am completely bowled over by the artistry that went into the design and physical creation of every single set, costume, and character. It is clear that everything that made it onto the screen here under the direction of Bill Condon was delicately thought out and crafted with the utmost care and passion. The entire film is a feast for the eyes and for that alone the movie is well worth seeing.

But what complicates matters is the fact that despite being gobsmackingly gorgeous, Beauty and the Beast only rarely ever registers any sort of emotional resonance. As a remake that follows the story line of the original beat for beat we can’t be too surprised that there isn’t anything new to explore here, but that lack of something significantly new or interesting beyond the visuals really keeps this film from becoming something special.

I often found myself tickled by certain moments thanks largely to an overwhelming nostalgia factor but those moments were fleeting and almost made me yearn to just be watching the original again. There are moments when the servants in the house get a little more depth than they did in the original and it pays off beautifully in a scene after the big climax, but it wasn’t enough to justify remaking the whole movie.

Emma Watson is charming throughout the film but is undermined by having her voice clearly manipulated by autotune, which makes any scene where she sings feel somewhat hollow and gets the film off to a rocky start. But things improve considerably once Belle gets to the castle and starts interacting with the cursed pieces of furniture with musical numbers like “Be Our Guest” and “Something There” coming off as major highlights.

I also have to give props to Luke Evans who absolutely steals the show as the villainous Gaston. Get this guy in every musical from here on out, please.

Going into this movie I was hoping it would be on par with Disney’s stunning previous live action adaptations of Cinderella and The Jungle Book but this effort sadly falls a little short. Beauty and the Beast is far from being a bad movie but I think I needed it to completely sweep me off my feet instead of leaving me like a wallflower in the corner.

Grade: B

iZombie Season 3: First Trailer Released

Alyssa Berkowitz

March 10, 2017

After an excruciatingly painful year-long wait, the Season 3 premiere of iZombie is less than a month away! And, to whet our appetites during these final days, The CW has released the first trailer for the season:

With Vaughn and Rita gone, Vivian Stoll is the new big bad, and her mission is to make Seattle a Zombie mecca. Will Team Z be able to protect their city? Who will Peyton choose, Blaine or Ravi? Will Blaine join Team Z? The only way to know is to wait and see. So let’s get ready for a whole new season of yummy brain dishes, Ravi being adorkable, and Babineaux being grumpy!

iZombie Season 3 will premiere Tuesday, April 4th

‘Supergirl’: Are we still pretending like this isn’t Supergay?

Jen Stayrook

March 9, 2017

This week on Supergirl: Sanvers gets decent screen time, Alex is bad ass, and Kara saves Lena, again.

Spoilers through Supergirl season two, episode fifteen: “Exodus.”

Finally, Supergirl gave fans the kind of episode we have been waiting for! “Exodus” certainly wasn’t a perfect episode, and definitely doesn’t compare to the likes of some season one episodes like “For the Girl Who Has Everything,” but it’s a nice return to form for the superhero series, focusing on the big bad villain and the bond between the Danvers sisters. “Exodus” follows the SuperFriends as they try to deal with the ramifications of Papa Danvers stealing the alien registry list and giving it to Cadmus.

Let’s get into the real reason why this episode was so successful: it doesn’t focus on the relationship drama that has been bogging the series down for the past few weeks. As much as I loathe Mon-El and his “hey babe” attitude, I’ve accepted his presence as a necessity, for now. However, he’s had the forefront for far too long, so thank Rao the writers saw fit to put his dopey ass in the background for 45 minutes.

Alex Danvers: Daddy’s Girl

With a focus on Alex and her unwavering faith in her father’s goodness, “Exodus” succeeded where other Supergirl episodes failed because of its streamlined nature. Bouts of tense emotion weren’t juxtaposed against ridiculous Mon-El humor or over-the-top arguments between couples. At its core, “Exodus” was about Alex proving that Cadmus hadn’t completely corrupted Jeremiah. Last week, everyone believed Papa Danvers was truly back (except for Mon-El), until he turned traitor and gave Cadmus the alien registry. This week, Alex goes rogue, against J’onn and the DEO’s wishes, to save her father.

supergirl 215 alex jeremiah — I know it’s weird that you just appeared in my apartment, but I love you, daddy. I’ll do whatever you ask.

Alex, more than anyone else on Supergirl, needs parental guidance. On the outside, she has her shit together, she’s badass and formidable, but on the inside, she craves approval. After Alex lost Jeremiah the first time, she rebelled, squandering her bright future, and it was up to J’onn (as Hank Henshaw) to bring her back to reality. J’onn took Jeremiah’s place as the parental figure needed to keep her on the right path. She doesn’t have the squeaky clean morality that Kara does, so instead, Alex relies on rules and J’onn’s disappointed look to keep her on the straight and narrow.

But when Jeremiah came back into her life, Alex’s coping mechanisms went out the window and she unleashed a fury that had been building from fourteen years of abandonment onto the Cadmus grunts. Thank goodness Maggie understands this development in Alex. While Kara and J’onn want Alex to play by the established rules, Maggie gets that when this many emotions are at stake, only Alex can decide what’s best.

There’s no point for this gif. I just like watching them kiss.

It’s understandable that J’onn and Kara think Alex’s judgment is clouded where Jeremiah is concerned, but when she enters the Cadmus facility, she is anything but distracted. Alex, with her bombs and ferocity, is two steps ahead of Lillian Luthor, and ultimately, she is vindicated in believing that her father was still ultimately a good person. Alex is ruthless in her assault on Cadmus, but it’s important to note that she’s not reckless. She cares first for the mission at hand and saving the lives of the innocent aliens who have been kidnapped and subjected to illegal deportation from the planet. So much so that she risks her own life to try to stop the frigate Lillian launches into space.

In one of the best Danvers sisters moments we’ve seen all year, Kara uses every ounce of strength to stop the ship from reaching the Earth’s atmosphere, taking her beloved sister with it.

I can’t describe the power in this moment without getting emotional. Alex doesn’t offer up trust and loyalty lightly, but those who earn it, like Jeremiah, and especially Kara, get it doled out in spades. Alex, despite Kara struggling to stop the ship, never doubts that her sister, Supergirl, will fail, and just as Kara’s own faith wavers, Alex puts her hand to the glass and cheers her hero onward. It’s a scene that’s bolstered by fantastic music and just enough tension that made me think we might actually lose Alex for a short while. Thankfully, Alex’s faith was, as always, well placed, and Supergirl saved the day.

And Jeremiah also did his good deed in helping Alex fight against Cyborg Superman and Cadmus. He’s redeemed a tiny bit, at least for now. Their reunion is sweet, but I can’t help but feel like it came much too late. Had it occurred earlier in the season, it might have packed more of an emotional punch.

Papa J’onn being emotional at the thought of losing Alex definitely punched me in the throat, though.

Kara Danvers: Intrepid Blogger And Lena Luthor Savior

I haven’t been the biggest fan of Kara’s reporter storyline at CatCo, mostly because it felt hollow compared to season one’s plots at the media headquarters. (I MISS CAT.) And because Kara only seemed interested in the position because of Clark. (Though, I am a huge supporter of the theory that Lena was actually the reason Kara became a reporter because I’m a Supercorp trash bag.) Snapper never felt like someone who would push Kara to her limits the way Cat Grant ever did and while there is truth to his “SOURCES” tirades, the arc falls flat in comparison to other ongoing plots.

Kara wants CatCo to publish the news that Cadmus stole the alien registry, as a warning to aliens to be on the lookout for suspicious men in police uniforms followed by totally-not-guilty black vans. Snapper disagrees because he wants sources on this connection and of course Kara can’t give it to him because, well, the DEO doesn’t exist, so instead she turns to blogging as a form of reporting the news.

Now, this is a trend I’ve noticed not just on Supergirl, but Arrow as well, and I have to tell you, it rubs me the wrong way. Have y’all ever blogged? Have y’all ever tried to get news or even an opinion piece out to hundreds or thousands of people? I’ll tell you, it takes a whole lot more than hitting “publish” and tweeting it out to the world. Even with a few thousand followers on Twitter, there’s no way Kara would have the kind of reach she’s hoping for, especially not compared to CatCo’s clout. And then what? I’m expected to believe that Lillian Luthor follows Kara Danvers on Twitter and gets instant updates when she tweets? Is that kind of blog so much of a threat to her operation that she would rush the launch of a frigate carrying precious cargo? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Kara has Lena Luthor backing her on the internet (heh), and I suspend a significant amount of belief where Supergirl is concerned (namely that Kara would ever willingly chose to date Mon-El), but the plot of her blogging to stop the bad guys and then getting fired for it is so preposterous that I had to rant about it.

On the upside, Kara’s exploits did lead us to this wonderful interaction between Supergirl and Lena. There’s no way you can’t tell me this CLASSIC Superman pose, carrying the “damsel” bridal-style, isn’t fraught with subtext. I will absolutely go down with this ship. Also, if Ms. Luthor doesn’t know that Kara is Supergirl by this point, well, then we might have to suspend writing some fanfiction as punishment. (At this point, I’m almost certain Lena knows the truth. Hell, she probably knew before Kara slipped earlier in the year and said she “flew” into L Corp.)

Also, Kara and Lena had a date to go get kombucha. Y’all cannot tell me that is a completely platonic interaction. At least one of them (Lena) has romantic intentions. SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THIS GIRL’S FACE. SHE’S KNOWS GODDAMN WELL WHAT SHE IS DOING TO MY HEART.

More thoughts about Lena because Katie McGrath does things to my stupid, fluttering heart: Lena isn’t a damsel in distress either. When push came to shove, she defended herself the best any non-powered human could. Moreover, Kara goes to Lena for help on a regular basis and trusts Lena’s advice. While Mon-El is in the background, acting like Champ from Wynonna Earp, Lena is in the thick of the mess, getting down and dirty to help Kara with whatever problem she faces. EVEN IF there is never a romance between these two, there is a relationship that goes much deeper than whatever Kara and Mon-El have.

Random Thoughts

James did a fantastic two second job as Guardian, but I’m kind of bummed he doesn’t have more to do these days. I know we’re currently following the Life and Lies of Prince Mon-El of Daxam lately, but I miss James Olsen.

I’m digging Winn getting a romantic plot. Lyra is kind of wonderful.

But for real, y’all, LOOK AT HER FLIRTY EYEBALLS:

Supergirl airs Mondays on The CW at 8pm EST.

‘The Magicians’ Review: The Brakebills 6 Rob a Bank

Nicole C

March 8, 2017

In this week’s episode of The Magicians, we get a magical Ocean’s 11 style bank heist with Margo playing Danny Ocean. Naturally though, things don’t go quite as planned and we get time manipulation, battle magic, and grave injuries in the process.

Julia and Kady head to a butcher shop where they meet two Korean magicians who examine the pregnant Hedge Witch and then explode into and argument with each other. One woman angrily storms off while the other explains that Julia needs an exorcism, not an abortion because the thing growing in her is not human. Oh and it’s going to cost $1 million dollars. WOW. To make matters worse, the demigod is also tangling itself more and more with Julia’s soul and so the longer she waits, the harder it will be to remove it from her without significant damage.

She jokingly tells Kady that maybe they should just rob a bank because hitting up pawnshops for gold necklaces would just take too long. Except when they case a bank connected to the Federal Reserve (they need gold bars to make the payment), it just happens to be heavily warded with magic. That’s when an invisible creature attacks and Julia is nearly choked to death if not for the Haxenpaxen who gets the thing off her but sadly loses its life in the process. RIP smelly dude.

Kady then suggests that they go to the only place safe where Reynard and this new threat won’t be able to find her, Brakebills. Amazingly, Dean Fogg allows both women sanctuary at the school when he refused to do so for Marina. The dean explains to Professor Lipson that he’s making an exception because of his history with Julia. Lipson confirms the assessment of the Korean magicians that Julia is basically screwed and needs an exorcism. She compares it to Bella’s pregnancy with Renesmee on Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1, which is to say that its going to sap her life force and leave her a near desiccated corpse.

The two women head to the Physical Kids cabin (Kady was a Physical Kid) and they run into Q there who is still trying to figure out how to undo being a niffin and to bring the real Alice back. He and niffin Alice eventually come to mild truce as he explains that her only options are to either let him try and figure out how to bring the real her back or be boxed up forever. She doesn’t like it, but she temporarily stops harassing him. Kady fills him in on how Julia is pregnant and Q goes to see her (she’s in Alice’s room because of the lack of space). They have their own truce of sorts where Quentin admits that while he is pissed that she didn’t trust him (indirectly resulting in Alice’s death), he also still cares about her and knows how screwed up her situation is. Out of options, Jules asks for his help to rob a bank.

Meanwhile in Fillory, Margo and Eliot discover that the kingdom is broke AF and they can’t fund a war and restore the Wellspring at the same time. So they take a break and head back to Brakebills where they encounter Q at the cabin. Q fills them in on what’s going on and asks them about joining the bank heist as well. Naturally Brakebills’ biggest troublemakers are in and to no surprise, Margo is the only one that’s robbed a bank between all of them. Their interests are temporarily aligned with that of Julia, whom they still despise yet also sympathize with since it’s the modern age and any woman should be able to get an abortion.

Lastly, Kady stumbles on Penny in the library and its super awkward at first, but then the two run into each other’s arms and start making out like cats in heat. After their passionate session, the traveller asks what she’s really up to and Kady confesses that she and Julia need to rob a bank. At first Penny is upset that Jules is here but his ladylove explains that she owes it to the hedge witch. Then he inquires on when she’s going to ask for his help. Awww shucks, he just can’t stay mad at her and really wants in on this.

So with the squad assembled once more, they head to the bank where Margo informs them that corporations controlled by magicians own most of these establishments. There are the standard security measures employed for regular folk and then magical ones like the anti-traveller sigil inside the bank vault floor and a battle magician on call in case the alarm systems are triggered.

Their first step is to get the finger prints of two of the bank managers, which is up to Q and Kady. Because they have magic, instead of just getting a lift of the print, they are able to enchant one of their fingers to actually be a physical copy of the finger of the two bankers. Next their move is to get all of the customers out of the bank and they accomplish that by releasing bees into the ventilation system and pose as exterminators there to wrangle in the insects. After Kady and Q switch the alarms off, Penny travels inside the vault while wearing a levitation belt so that he doesn’t touch the floor. But as he is putting in the gold bars into his bag, he doesn’t notice that one of his shoes have touched the floor until its too late.

Luckily though he is able to contact Eliot since the real El is asleep in Fillory and his consciousness is floating between both in his actual body and his golem one. Penny explains his situation and so Q, Kady, and El head back into the bank to get him out. Another complication arises when two security guards (who had missed the evacuation because they were having sex in another room) are still downstairs by the vault. The High King comes to the rescue with a spelled mini disco ball that enchants anyone who can hear its music into a choreographed dance sequence out of the room. Their next problem is figuring out the vault code. That’s where niffin Alice comes in and offers Q her help for a price. She wants 1 hour a day of getting control of his body for her own malicious purposes. He counters with 30 minutes a day and with a word of bond contract. Niffin Alice agrees and she quickly writes out the spell that only Q can see and they are able to get in. But of course something else had to happen and Quentin trips another alarm as he steps outside the vault, this time alerting the battle magician.

Julia in the meantime has been watching the events unfold at Brakebills through the best friends charm she has with Kady. She rushes to Margo with her time rewind machine that goes back 15 seconds, however they only get four chances at it. They all end up dying in the first three tries, but on their last go the battle magician is at a different spot and mortally wounds golem Eliot. Kady then charges the older woman and knocks her out with a punch. Sometimes not using magic is just as effective.

Outside Julia and Margo have been attacked by goblins (sent by one of the Korean magicians) but Kady and the rest of the squad arrive in time. She’s able to kill it using the battle magician’s fancy electric whip. They take Jules to get her baby exorcised and it works, but with an ominous complication.

This week’s episode has multiple storylines converging and it’s nice to everyone together again to do something as crazy as robbing a bank. The Magicians continues to surprise audiences in the best way possible while maintaining it’s dark humor amidst complex scenarios.

The Magicians is on Syfy Wednesdays at 9/8 central.

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Shadowhunters’: Who Took The Soul Sword In The Winter Finale End?

Nicole C

March 7, 2017

This week was the winter finale of Shadowhunters season 2 and what an explosive episode it was with tons of new revelations. So much happened in quick succession that amidst the action Clary and Jace lost track of the Soul Sword.

Before disappearing, Clary had just inscribed a new rune on the blade that seemed to deactivate the demon-killing weapon. But as a result it had become heated to her touch and she dropped it before running to Jace to stop him from killing Valentine since they still needed to know the location of the Mortal Cup. A few seconds later, she tells the other Shadowhunter that the sword had vanished.

We next see it at the very end of the episode in the hands of a figure wearing a black hoodie and walking away from the camera down a darkened street. Now who could this mysterious individual be? Chances are this person is Sebastian Verlac, an enigmatic new Shadowhunter that we will be meeting in the second half of season two. Freeform announced this past January that actor Will Tudor will be playing the character and so it’s likely that he is our sword snatcher.

Sebastian Verlac was also in The Mortal Instruments series as an important part of the narrative with a complicated relationship to Clary and Jace especially. He’s described as a brilliant, charming and highly educated Shadowhunter who makes his way to the New York Institute after befriending one of it’s current residents.

SPOILERS FROM TMI AHEAD. STOP NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOKS.

So we discovered from the winter finale that Jace has angel blood and that he wasn’t really a Morgenstern after all. But with the vision Ithuriel shared with him and Clary, it means that there is still a Morgenstern out there who does possess demon blood who could destroy the sword. Here’s where book readers know that Sebastian is actually that person. It’s a long and complicated story, but Sebastian is the real Jonathan Christopher that Valentine experimented on while still in Jocelyn’s womb. Val faked his and his son’s deaths and secretly trained him to be a cunning and merciless warrior.

When asked by Aldertree on where the sword is, Valentine claimed that he didn’t know where it was. So the question is whether or not his real son is going rogue and is not a part of his father’s plans, or if Sebastian’s actions were a plan B in case daddy dearest got caught by the Clave. It will be interesting to find out though what their relationship will be like on the show and if it will differ from the books. So far there have been some great changes in season 2 that’s been exciting to watch unfold as characters are taken down new unexpected paths while staying true to the spirit of the source material.

Sebastian is a complex individual and is a welcome addition to the storyline. It’s going to be great fun to see what his agenda is and whether he will play a villain, hero, or anti-hero. Undoubtedly he’s going to cause all sorts of trouble for the squad and I can’t wait for the hiatus to be over to see him wreak havoc on Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike.

Here’s a look at Sebastian and Clary together!

Been out of action for a few days with flu 🤧 but now better so @Kat_McNamara and I went to the aquarium!! 🐙🦑🐟🐠🦈🦀 #foundnemo #iwantajellyfish pic.twitter.com/mIxHn9vcKX

— Will Tudor (@willtudor1) February 6, 2017

Shadowhunters returns for season 2b on June 5.

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘Logan’ Review: One Last Ride

Leo Ng

March 5, 2017

If you’re a fan of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in the X-Men movie franchise, then it is pretty safe to assume that you should run, not walk to the theaters to watch Logan. I couldn’t recommend it more. Even if you are not, Logan still delivers a very enjoyable, standalone experience that offers up a good time.

In his final performance as Wolverine, Hugh Jackman delivers one of his best performances as Logan. If Jackman wasn’t synonymous with Wolverine in your mind before (seriously, why wasn’t it), then Logan will solidify it. The look and feel of the character have grown to a much greater extent in Logan and much of that is the result of the film’s ‘R’ rating. The rating has unleashed one of the X-Men comic’s most violent and visceral characters allowing Jackman more liberties in portraying Logan. Instead of getting the generic happy go lucky PG/PG-13 superhero, Logan delivers a flawed man coping with internal struggle and strife. Hopefully Hollywood will take heed that superhero movies need not be PG-rated family affairs.

The supporting cast led by Patrick Stewart (Xavier) and Dafne Keen (Laura) play their roles well in the movie. Both Stewart and Keen help Jackman bring out sides of Logan that have not been seen in prior movies before. Xavier draws out the close bond and loyalty of Logan while Laura helps to humanize him. While Logan will never be the kind caring parent type, the two main supporting roles let us see his internal struggle with the things he has seen and the future that he wants.

Action in the movie is not for the faint of heart. The scenes are gory but fit in with the overall tone of the film. Fans of the Wolverine will be happy to see their favorite hero come to life in a way the more closely resembles the comics than the prior films. This movie definitely portrays the action with much more grit and intensity that should be expected from the Wolverine.

The overall story could have benefited from some clearer direction. The audience is thrust into plot with no real background. New characters were introduced without any lead into them. If you were not a comic book buff, the audience may have been at a loss and would need to piece together the story for themselves. Besides that, the flow is decent and there did not appear to be any gratuitous scenes that were just stalling for time. Logan also tries to keep in line with the prior Wolverine and X-men films with many references thrown about. There are also a ton of easter eggs hidden in the movie for fans to keep an eye out for. I was able to spot approximately 5 myself but there are probably more.

If you’re a fan of the X-Men films, Logan will take you for a ride.

‘The Magicians’ Review: 4 Things You Need to Know in ‘The Cock Barrens’

Nicole C

March 1, 2017

The Magicians
Season 2, Episode 6: The Cock Barrens
Airdate: March 1, 2017

On The Magicians this week the squad find themselves dealing with more than they can handle as new complicated problems arise with no clear solutions.

Q tries to summon Alice in Fillory and fails, attends her memorial and deals with her parents instead

After seeing a very dead looking Alice across a New York City street in last week’s episode, Q returns to Fillory trying to summon her near the Wellspring shack. After an hour of doing an interpretive dance, Margo and Eliot convince him to stop. Q reluctantly halts his Cirque du Soleil number since he feels obligated to attend Alice’s memorial anyways at her parent’s home. He heads to casa de Quinn where Alice’s mom and dad are still as crummy as ever. Things take a strange turn when ghost Alice shows up and leads Q to her father’s locked study where she shows him an ancient Egyptian text. Daniel Quinn soon comes upon him and Quentin confesses that he’s been seeing his daughter and that she’s led him here to this book. Daniel believes in Q and says that he thinks Alice wants them to build a pyramid to usher her soul to the afterlife and be at peace. So the two men construct a pipe pyramid where then a blood relative of the deceased must use an enchanted mirror to help the soul crossover. Daniel gets into an accident while putting hanging the looking glass and breaks both of his legs. Previously he admitted to Quentin that he had a fear of heights and when Alice was young, she had a cat that had gotten stuck up a tree and he refused to climb up to get the animal down. Eventually though, Stefanie tells Q that she’ll help finish the spell and she begins with her usual selfish notion that she was a great mom. But at last before the mirror cracked completely, she admits that she never really understood her daughter and didn’t try too. As she runs away from the guilty admission, niffin Alice appears before Q and we find out that she didn’t actually die. The cacodemon stuffed her magical essence into the tattoo trap in the magician’s back and she was doing this to screw with her parents. Well hot damn. Well played Alice!

Penny returns to Fillory to find some moss

Penny has to head back to Fillory to find some moss that Professor Mayakovsky wanted in order to help fix his hands. While there, he gets drawn into the trouble that High King Eliot and High Queen Margo is currently dealing with as an unexpected new complication arises from the neighboring kingdom of Loria. Penny also gets close to the royal mapmaker. Begrudgingly, the mapmaker draws the traveller a map of where he can locate the moss he’s been so desperately looking for.

Eliot and Margo deal with crafty Prince Ess, Loria’s most eligible bachelor

As if they didn’t have enough problems to deal with, Prince Ess of Loria arrives at Whitespire with a treaty proposal to the rulers of Fillory. Because they had royally screwed over his land with the demise of the Wellspring, he wants a 50/50 split of rights to the magical waters and a marriage between him and Margo. Margo is instantly defiant about it and as a result, one of Loria’s magicians transports the whole castle to the neighboring kingdom and they are held hostage until they agree to his terms. This is an interesting moment for the two friends as Eliot urges Margo to think like a monarch now because they have to put the interest of Fillory ahead of their own personal happiness. Bravo Eliot! Margo attempts a hand at diplomacy by talking to Ess but instead she and the Lorian prince end up sleeping together because he insulted her sexual prowess. However, Penny discovers that they had been royally duped, the castle never having left the grounds (it was just a powerful illusion spell). Margo tells Ess before the royal court that she’s made her decision and that she would marry Ess on the condition that he gives her a tour of his kingdom beforehand. The prince asks to get married first and she then breaks the illusion spell, declaring war on Loria. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Julia and Kady try to find the girl who banished Reynard from Earth

After extensive research online, Julia was able to find a series of strange natural disasters that happened within hours of each other that traced back to Hoboken. An industrial park located in the Jersey suburb burned to the ground except for one building that was undamaged with a perfect circle around it. The two women head there and are able to find traces of the ritual circle. Julia thinks that human blood was used to make it and so they are able to use that in a tracking spell to find the location of the woman who banished Reynard.

Meanwhile, Kady is also using her own contacts to try and help Julia with her baby problem (she is preggers with a demigod). Eventually one of her mom’s contacts reaches back out, one who knows people who can help abort the magical fetus growing inside the hedge witch.

It takes awhile for the locator spell to work, but eventually it does and Julia goes to the location to plead for help. Dana, agrees to talk to her inside her home and tells her story about how she had summoned Reynard when she was young and idealistic. It sounds a lot like Julia’s story and the elder woman seems sympathetic. She explains that she cannot banish the fox god again but Julia can and she’ll show her how. They head downstairs to her basement where the hedge witch notices a lot of cat liter and leaves a marker for Kady in case anything happens to her. Good thing she does because Dana soon knocks her out and ties her up. Once Julia wakes up the older witch explains that the only way to banish Reynard is to harness the power from his child while giving birth. Julia of course is horrified because she would rather die than carry the baby to term. There is also a very large humanoid creature in the basement with them and at first Julia thinks that it’s Dana’s baby. The other woman laughs and says that is her haxsonpaxson, a creature that radiates such a foul magical stench that anyone near it is hidden from any kind of tracking spell. It’s also what’s kept her safe from Reynard.

With great timing, Kady arrives to the rescue and knocks Dana out. Julia then takes the Haxenpaxen with them because she sympathizes that he’s been imprisoned for so many years. With the magical protector gone, Reynard is able to find Dana and exact his revenge.

Final Thoughts

So many new subplots happening that continues to add to the magical madness that is The Magicians. Thoroughly enjoying seeing niffin Alice, it’s almost like the evil twin of living Alice. Olivia Taylor Dudley does such a wonderful job at portraying this totally different side of her character. Her body language and facial expressions are sensual and malicious, so opposite from the meek and reserved Alice we’ve come to know and love. The new situation that Margo finds herself in with Prince Ess is also so much fun to watch. Have to hand it to her for not taking crap from anyone, especially a man who was trying to get his way at her expense.

The squad has a lot to to overcome at the moment with a high likelihood of even more crap heading their direction before the season is over and I for one can’t wait to see what happens next.

The Magicians is on Syfy Wednesdays at 9/8 central.

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Shadowhunters’ Review: Almost Everyone Wants Clary Dead

Nicole C

February 28, 2017

SHADOWHUNTERS - "Bound By Blood" - Clary is sidelined by Iris' blood oath, while the Downworld begins to fall apart, in "Bound By Blood," an all-new episode of "Shadowhunters," airing MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 (8:00 - 9:01 p.m. EST), on Freeform. (Freeform/John Medland) DOMINIC SHERWOOD, KATHERINE MCNAMARA

Things are not looking well for our heroine Clary this week on Shadowhunters. Firstly the bloodoath she made with Iris kicks in and unless she finds the young warlock Madzie her life will be over. Secondly, most of Downworld now wants her dead too because news has spread that Valentine needs her to activate the Soul Sword that could kill them all.

Early in the episode, Simon and Clary are adorably making out when Jace walks in on them in the boathouse. Their romantic relationship is a departure from the books, but a welcomed one. Though I suspect that at some point the pairings from The Mortal Instruments series will come to be (ahem Clace and Sizzy forever), it’s still great fun to see the two characters interact in this new way. Also I must bring up this burgeoning affair between Raphael and Isabelle that is giving me lots of warm and fuzzy feelings that is also a change from the books.

After getting lectured by her older brother that she needs to be at the Institute because it’s the safest place for her while their fanatical father is hunter her down, Clary’s hand begins to burn, blackening into ash. The Morgenstern siblings go to Magnus for help and he informs that that it’s the effect of the bloodoath she entered with Iris. Unless she fulfills it, the curse will reach her heart and she’ll die.

So Clary, Simon, and Jace end up tracking Madzie, while Luke meets with representatives from Downworld in an attempt to stop his kind from hunting young Miss Fairchild. Jace tells Simon to stay with his sister while he goes to look for the young warlock sensing that this was too easy. He eventually finds her with Valentine and proposes that either Madzie comes with him, or he lets Clary die.

Meanwhile the two lovebirds are on top of the van while Clary continues to weaken even further. The curse is almost to her heart and she’s giving Simon a tearful goodbye. He claims that she can’t die because it would be clichéd and too much like The Fault In Our Stars, which is only remotely similar because it’s also about young love. But thankfully Jace and Madzie arrive in time for the little warlock to remove the curse from Clary. But then she creates a portal and takes the Shadowhunter to her father.

Using Luke’s werewolf sense of smell, the three men are able to follow Madzie and Clary to the abandoned carnival where Valentine had moved his creepy experiments. Note, they had also been loosed upon the city and have been killing mundanes left and right. Likely it’s a distraction for what he has planned next and to possibly convince other Shadowhunters that his cause was righteous. Jace comes upon his sister by herself and breaks the chain keeping her captive. Then Valentine and Madzie appear, the young girl being controlled by the Circle leader. He manipulates her into doing what he wants with the promise of seeing Iris again and reminds her that Clary was the reason her nana got in trouble in the first place. Then Simon comes from behind and attacks Valentine, but the older man is the more seasoned warrior and he easily turns the table. Madzie then opens another portal and the rogue Shadowhunter takes the vampire captive. It seems like Clary just can’t keep herself and the ones she loves from getting kidnapped on a weekly basis.

Additionally, Meliorn returns and proposes at the Downworld meeting that Clary should be executed on sight. Despite his feelings for Isabelle, Raphael agrees with him and claims that his people’s interests come first. That leaves Magnus and Luke who are not willing to execute Clary given their relationships with her. Earlier in the episode Maia attacked Clary herself in wolf form and for that Luke locks her up in a meat locker despite knowing that she has claustrophobia. She had been the one to spread that Clary was the key to activating the Soul Sword.

Loyalties were tested on Shadowhunters this week between friends, family, and lovers. What was more important, those you had personal relationships with or the greater good for the species as a whole? While Luke and Magnus of course didn’t want any harm to Clary, they certainly recognized that killing her would bring Clave upon Downworld even harsher and only give Valentine more fuel for his vendetta.

I also have to believe that Jace was just bluffing about wanting to save his own skin when he met with Valentine and Madzie and wouldn’t really let Clary die. I think he’s trying to outsmart the old man but it sadly backfired on him by not realizing that Madzie had been manipulated. If it had only dawned on him sooner, having experienced the same thing when he was a child being given Valentine’s special education.

Meanwhile Alec also found out that Izzy had been seeing Raphael to feed her yin fen addiction and he catches the vampire feeding off his sister. Raphael tells the older Lightwood sibling though that he has genuine feelings for Isabelle. Magnus comes in and stops the fight and Alec reels on him for not saying anything sooner. He then storms off with Izzy in tow, but little sister is not having it. When they are alone she tells him to leave because Raphael saved her life and he didn’t even realize that something was wrong. Back at Raphael’s Magnus brings up a good point with the vampire that he needs to determine whether his feelings are real when he isn’t high off her blood. Fair point.

Season 2 has definitely changed things up a lot and it’s been refreshing to see the characters in new and interesting circumstances. For instance I wouldn’t have expected Clary and Simon’s burgeoning romance. It’s been such a treat to see Jace’s jealousy wanting to erupt, but he’s had to keep it in check because he believes that Clary is his sister and he can no longer feel the things that he undoubtedly still does for her. In the meantime I wonder if our red haired heroine has been so traumatized from having feelings for her brother to suddenly and tragically losing Jocelyn that she’s decided to cling to Simon to survive. Having her mother truly be dead must be the final straw that Clary’s running to the only thing that been stable in her life, her best friend. Perhaps she is really giving their relationship a shot because she’s afraid of losing him to Maia, though she may not be able to admit that to herself.

Still, these new storylines have made the show unpredictable but in the best way possible. With the winter finale next week, I’m sure we’ll be in for even more shockers.

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘Ghost Recon: Wildlands’ Open Beta: A Beautiful World Filled With “Meh”

Jen Stayrook

February 28, 2017

Ubisoft’s latest open-world venture, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, has been described as a mash-up between Far Cry, The Division, and Just Cause. While on the surface that seems like an accurate description, (and maybe it is for the main game), after playing the game’s open beta, the experience was much more hollow.

Wildlands is exactly what you’d expect from a Ghost Recon title. You take on the role of a Ghost and with the rest of your squad, you complete missions across Bolivia and its many different terrains, fighting members of Santa Blanca, a drug cartel that has effectively taken hold of the country. The ultimate objective is to take down El Sueño, the notorious drug cartel leader turned terrorist. But since the game is open-world, you can take your sweet time completing main mission objectives and instead blow up every sicario you come across.

Jumping into Wildlands was fairly uncomplicated for an open-world game. Sure, there are intrusive tutorials that pop-up whenever you discover a new item (and why developers think gamers still read instructions is beyond me), but for the most part, the game let’s you explore the world as you please after the initial cut scene. You’re given the option to take the linear path, following the game’s main storyline, or you can do as I did and promptly drive a Jeep off a cliff.

While that simplicity is initially a good thing, after a few hours, the lack of depth makes the game feel stale and repetitive. Essentially, you follow a cycle of “infiltrate compound, kill enemies, tag supplies, interrogate the cowering captain, repeat.” Occasionally, you’re given a side quest option to steal a plane or helicopter, but the quest still plays out the same. Wildlands developers made a big deal about being able to “play the way you want” when it comes to completing missions, meaning: making use of stealth tactics or going in guns blazing. What they failed to mention was that EVERY open-world game gives players that option.

I will concede that the difference between multi-player and single player in Wildlands is striking. Not because of a dip in graphics or bugs (though there are plenty), but because of a difference in play style. Single player Wildlands is serious, tense, and fun for about an hour before it starts to bore. Multi-player Wildlands is chaotic and almost always ends with someone getting run over by a tractor. (Note: this may be entirely due to the “friends” with whom I play games.)

Dunkey has accurately characterized the difference between single and multi-player in Wildlands:

But let’s break down my Wildlands beta thoughts in a list format. The internet loves lists.

The Good

The graphics: I am not a graphics snob like some of the other writers on this site (*cough* Bilal), but I actually thought that Ubisoft did a good job with the look of Wildlands. Each of the areas I was able to access in the beta had their own flavor and with the graphics turned all the way up, it was a sight to behold.

Seamless Co-Op: With The Division and now Wildlands, Ubisoft has done a good job at integrating multi-player into traditionally single player campaigns. Server and maintenance issues aside, I didn’t have any trouble joining a friend’s game while playing Wildlands together. And when they left, the game easily switched back to single player, giving me a handful of AI companions to keep me company.

Also, not having to fight teammates for ammo refills is such a necessary addition to a multi-player game. I can’t tell you how irritating it is playing Gears of War 4 with players who steal ammo when I’m on my last twenty bullets.

Character Creation: I love spending the first hour of a game creating my character, fussing over hair style, facial scars, and whether or not that outfit would actually fit my character’s imagined personality. Wildlands surprisingly has a great character creator, one that even allows me to play as a female character, so that’s still a big win in my book.

Skills: While I didn’t spend too much time in the skills menu, I thought that, much like in The Division, tagging supplies to achieve certain skills was a nice addition to Wildlands. It’s not a great skill tree, but it’s not abhorrent either. Also, the drone is pretty awesome, especially when it comes to navigating treacherous Unidad compounds.

The Bad

The bugs: For a game that releases in a week, I didn’t expect to see as many bugs as I did in the open beta of Wildlands. A few things I ran across were: companions being dragged alongside the vehicle they were in, being unable to see the enemies who were firing weapons, and marked enemies bugging down under the ground. The “sync shot” never quite worked like the trailer. And on a dozen occasions I couldn’t even pick up the weapons the enemies dropped (not that you’d want to, the guns in this game are boring, at best).

Vehicle control (or lack thereof): Having just finished up Forza Horizon 3, it was a real bummer coming from such a fantastic car game into the Wildlands beta. While I don’t expect any of the vehicles in Wildlands to control as precisely as they did in FH3, I certainly didn’t think the vehicles would drive like a drunk giraffe on ice. The ridiculous handling of the vehicles is almost comical when you first get inside the vehicle. It’s funny the first time you drive off a cliff with your unsuspecting teammates in tow. It’s funny the second and third and maybe even the fourth time. After being unable to control the slip and slide cars on the sixth, seventh, and eighth tries, I flat-out gave up on trying to use them. However, the dirt bike wasn’t horrible comparatively, and that became my ride of choice.

Don’t even get me started on trying to drive the helicopters.

The controls: considering how much I loved the feel of The Division’s action, I was disappointed to see that Ubisoft didn’t bring any of that solid shooting mechanic to Wildlands. The Division had one of my favorite cover systems in a third-person shooter and Wildlands is just a mess. Are you behind cover? Maybe. Are you crouched? Maybe. Want to use your drone? Can’t.

The AI: By far the most irritating aspect of the beta was the unpredictable AI. In one instance, I stood in the middle of the road and took down one enemy while his buddy two feet away didn’t bat an eyelash. I continued to snipe his friends without ever being spotted. In another instance, I picked up an enemy’s SMG and fired off a few rounds just to see how it felt (spoiler: like every other automatic weapon in the game) and then suddenly I had a dozen Santa Blanca soldiers bearing down on my location.

But it’s not just the enemy AI that doesn’t make sense. For much of my time in the single player mode, I wasn’t sure why I was even given AI companions. At one point during the final battle of the first area, I faced off against every enemy alone while my companions stood outside the house, guarding it against absolutely no one.

The Potential

With Ghost Recon: Wildlands releasing March 7th, I don’t hold out hope for many changes, but maybe with updates or, god forbid, even DLC, we’ll see changes that add depth to the game. For instance, since missions can be failed, it would be interesting to add more player interaction to the interrogations, instead of just the repetitive, “I ain’t no snitch, but here’s the information” dialogue.

In open-world games, longevity is key, and while I have no doubt that there is stuff to do in Wildlands, I’m unsure if it’s actually entertaining. Open-world games are built on crafting, random encounters, and the fun in exploration. With NPCs that feel more like flowers than humans, walking the streets of Bolivia for no reason other than they are trying to get killed by my erratic driving, the world in Wildlands feels anything but authentic. It may be the largest open-world game Ubisoft has created to date, but in the case of Wildlands, bigger isn’t better.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands releases on March 7th for Windows, Xbox One, and PS4.

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Murder of the Week:

Brains of the Week:

Clive

Wrap Up

Other Things

The No Secrets Club

Blaine Doe:

Fillmore Graves

My Precious

Poor Old Major

Conspiracy Theory

Wrap Up

A few more tidbits

The Crimes

Mon-El’s Defense

The Redemption Arc

Meet the Parents: Daxam Edition

The Mystery of the Missing Van Gogh

Random Thoughts

Alex Danvers: Daddy’s Girl

Kara Danvers: Intrepid Blogger And Lena Luthor Savior

Random Thoughts

The Good

The Bad

The Potential