What Is Happening To The Relationships On ‘Supergirl’?

February 21, 2017

This week on Supergirl: Sanvers has a two minute date and I guess we’re really doing this whole Mon-El/Kara relationship, huh?

Spoilers through Supergirl season two, episode thirteen: “Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk”

Last night, Supergirl aired it’s highly anticipated Valentine’s Day episode, and I have to say that for as excited as I was to get more Sanvers screen time, the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. Supergirl has done a lot this season for the queer community, and while I certainly don’t want to take away from scenes like Alex’s coming out, “Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk” was a huge reminder to fans that ultimately, Supergirl still panders to a straight audience.

That’s not to say that I don’t love a good girl on guy romance. I’m a romantic trash bag no matter the gender a character likes to kiss. However, when Winn and that girl from Syfy’s Defiance have the best relationship of the night, even up against established power houses like Sanvers and (ugh) Karamel, then something isn’t hitting the mark.

Sanvers

No matter what, at the end of the day, Sanvers is the Supergirl romance I will sail ‘til the day I die. I have been fully invested in their survival since day zero and unless one of the two does the UNSPEAKABLE, I’m going down with this ship. That being said, I feel a bit cheated with how events transpired between the pair. We were promised an episode that “centered” around Alex and Maggie, a phrase that made me think we’d get some kind of rescue mission for the two. Something outside of Alex’s apartment. Instead, we got four whole minutes of classic CW relationship drama.

Alex secretly being a hopeless romantic makes me swoon, but the excitement around that particular trait is dulled when we haven’t seen much of the badass Alex lately. Alex being a baby gay is adorable and I love watching her try to juggle her newfound happiness with her “I’m so serious” work personality, but she can’t exist solely for the relationship with Maggie.

And the same goes for Maggie. Thirteen episodes into season two and we STILL don’t know much about this character other than the fact that she’s gay, likes the Barenaked Ladies, and hates Valentine’s Day. Had the latter fact been introduced to viewers in another manner, through a conversation with family, coworkers, something other than hiding out in Alex’s apartment, it would have been better than what occurred. Maggie and Alex cannot exist in the Supergirl universe solely for the other because in doing so, it negates the amazing women they were before they were a couple. Let them be individuals as well as romantically entangled.

That being said, Maggie’s actual coming out story was pretty damn heartbreaking.

And their “prom” was fucking adorable.

Yep. Still a sucker for Sanvers kisses.

J’onn and M’gann

I don’t know that I can eloquently speak on the ongoing race issues on network television, but what the ever loving fuck, CW? You had the chance for a wonderful, powerful, and beautiful relationship between J’onn and M’gann and then LITERALLY TWENTY MINUTES LATER, you cast M’gann off the face of the earth. I’m sure that M’gann will eventually return to Supergirl but is J’onn not allowed happiness, too? Can he not also kiss the girls he wants to kiss? Instead, he gets to write her a letter for Valentine’s Day and we have to suffer through 45 minutes of Mon-El bumbling through his feelings? Bullshit.

These two are fantastic and their relationship is much more interesting than anything Mon-El could offer.

Kara and Mon-El

Now we’re at the big one, the major ship that has stirred up all these angry emotions deep in my core. At the beginning of the year, Kara broke up with James because there’s nothing the CW hates more than starting a season with a happy couple. It ruins ratings or something. James, distraught over losing Kara, went through his Guardian phase, thereby tainting a lot of the happy feelings I once had toward season one James Olsen. Kara, on the other hand, gravitated toward mother-effing Mon-El, ruining everything and giving him 100% more screen time than he deserves.

Early on in the season, I was optimistic about Mon-El’s arrival. Sure, my hopes were influenced by my love of Young Justice, but I thought we’d see Mon-El take the place of Superboy and fall in love with Miss Martian. Alas, no. Mon-El and Kara were always destined to be and I was naive to believe the show would think outside the box.

Mon-El is a dry piece of toast compared to literally any other romantic option for Kara. Bring back Cat Grant’s son because I’ll take him over Mon-El any day. When VILLAINS (plural) are telling Kara that Mon-El isn’t worth her time, maybe home girl should at least entertain the notion that he’s a blandsome piece of cardboard in a bow tie.

More than even Livewire and Mxyzptlk’s opinions, it’s KARA who has given the most compelling argument for why she and Mon-El should not be together. If for no other reason, she should listen to her own judgment about this alien hipster. Since Mon-El has arrived, Kara has done nothing but tell him how wrong he is for her. I know we’re supposed to find that “endearing” that they argue so much, but maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe it’s also because it’s kind of true.

Also, do we really want Kara, on a show that young girls watch, in a relationship with a dudebro who ACTUALLY SAID: “Things were easier on Daxam when I objectified women and didn’t care about anyone.”

Mon-El thought he was going to save the world with Kara as a power superhero couple, but time and time again he has proven that he is not dependable when it comes to trusting her judgment or listening to her expertise. He tries to make decisions FOR her and ends up needing to be rescued, making her life more difficult. Say what you will about James, but when it comes to the struggles of being Supergirl, he understands and respects her journey. Mon-El is egotistical and jealous, he pouts until he wears down Kara enough to get her to like him, but he just happens to also be funny, so it’s okay that his character development is centered around apologizing weekly, right?

Kara: “Love isn’t making demands of someone or forcing them to marry you. Love is putting someone else’s needs before your own.”

I’ll repeat that for those in the back: YOU CAN’T FORCE LOVE.

So why is Supergirl so intent on making “Karamel” a thing?

Besides, why does Kara need a boyfriend so badly anyway? She did break it off with James for a reason, right? I’m not saying that Kara can’t have romance, especially since there is a perfectly good candidate right in front of her…

Kara and Lena AKA Supercorp

Look, we all know that if it were up to me, Supergirl would just be SUPERGAY and we’d all be the better for it. But there’s something so irritating about watching a show and knowing that there’s a “limit” on how diverse a show can truly be. With Alex and Maggie, I KNEW that the queer quota and been filled and there was no way in hell that the CW would have two queer couples on the same show at the same time, but STILL I got my hopes up when I came to Kara and Lena.

(DID WE FORGET THIS?!)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the strides we’ve seen in representation on shows like The 100 (despite, ahem, recent deaths), but when it comes to Supergirl, the show seems hell bent on keeping Kara straight, even though she and Lena have a ridiculous amount of chemistry.

It’s not that I’m trying to see romance where there is none, it’s that there’s this double standard between Lena and every other male character on the show.

Lena filled Kara’s office with flowers and it was seen as a sweet, friendly act of gratitude. Mxy filled Kara’s apartment with flowers and it’s seen as a romantic gesture.

Lena sees Kara (not Supergirl) as her hero, someone she can depend on. Mon-El sees his feelings toward Kara as his Kryptonite, his weakness that he can’t overcome.

Lena confides in Kara, even when she knows that some of her history might be held against her because she trusts the relationship they have. Mon-El STILL has not told Kara the truth about his life on Daxam.

Lena doesn’t try to change Kara. She understands who Kara is and accepts her role in Kara’s life, no matter how big or small. Mon-El makes jokes about earth culture and brings the insides of a bear to dinner.

Honestly, I’m scratching my head trying to understand why Kara would ever choose Mon-El over Lena other than the fact that he has a penis and a cute smile. You know who else has a cute smile and LISTENS to you, Kara?

Random Thoughts

Supergirl is also severely lacking in the familial relationships we fell in love with from season one. Where are the board game nights? Where are the pot stickers and pizza? WHERE IS CAT GRANT ON THE BALCONY?

Despite my relationship frustrations from this week’s episode, I have to give props to Kara for tricking both of her male suitors. She pulled a fast one on Mxyzptlk and she sipped that orange juice with so much shade that Barry cooled off over on Earth-1. Kudos, girlfriend.

Winn is the cutest. He deserves way more screen time than that popsicle stick with hair.

Supergirl airs Mondays on the CW at 8pm EST.

Chopped Hands, Centaurs, Threesomes, and More on ‘The Magicians’

Nicole C

February 15, 2017

The Magicians
Season 2, Episode 4: The Flying Forest
Airdate: February 15, 2017

This week’s episode of The Magicians brings us to the immediate aftermath of Alice’s death. The squad find themselves overwhelmed with responsibility and tragedy, which makes for some entertaining TV. Here are the eight things you need to know.

The Wellspring is still foul

Despite the employment of multiple filtration systems, Fillory’s Wellspring is still foul from Ember’s godly excrement and isn’t recovering fast enough. Margo and Eliot continue to deal with this issue while uprisings are happening all over the land because of magic’s disintegration and the power vacuum left by The Beast’s death. Even though the squad had vanquished a tyrant, the people of Fillory still viewed them as temporary leaders because let’s face it, the other children of Earth who came before them weren’t exactly great rulers themselves. They were usually Brakebills students more interested in partying with no clue how to run an actual country, which is the predicament that Eliot especially finds himself in.

Margo and Eliot create an Eliot golem

The reality Eliot faces is no picnic in the park and he constantly feels overwhelmed by the responsibility of being High King. Margo comes up with a solution by returning to Brakebills for some supplies. When she is back in Fillory, she explains that they were going to create an Eliot golem and a perform a spell that’s going to allow him to transfer his consciousness to the golem while his real body stays put. Tada loophole! It works and Eliot is able to go back to Earth.

He ends up talking to Dean Fogg about his situation and the other man says that he will help as much as he can by gathering the smartest people to assist. It looks like saving Fillory will be Eliot’s thesis in order to graduate from Brakebills. The dean also says that it’s apparent his student is trying to live two different lives and it won’t work. He must choose one. When Eliot says that he can no longer leave Fillory the other man says then that the choice is easy.

Julia finds a drugged out Kady

With Marina gone, Julia finds Kady in an abandoned factory with other people high on drugs. After the other member of Free Trader Beowulf sobers up from a hot shower, Julia fills her in on what happened and asks for her help. Kady feels bad that she abandoned the hedge witch and agrees to do what she can. Julia then shows her Marina’s preserved body and an inscription on her arm that Kady recognizes as a call number for a book inside Brakebills. Because she was kicked out, Julia has to be the one to enter the school using Richard’s alumni key. Kady is able to guide her though via a spell where they enchant a necklace that allows the wearers to see each other’s view point through a mirror. The book is located but it’s got a magical anti-theft device so that it can’t be removed from campus. Julia heads to the Physical Kid’s cabin though to manually copy the book instead.

Quentin chops off Penny’s hands at The Retreat

Meanwhile Q and Penny are both at The Retreat, the closest equivalent to a hospital in Fillory. Quentin was brought there by Eliot and Margo initially to be saved from his injuries. He remains unconscious for three weeks and when he finally wakes up he gets the news that Alice was buried.

Penny arrives after Margo tells him to head there to have the Centaur healers look at his hands. Unfortunately, he is told that they can’t help and that they should get chopped off. At first Penny is not willing to do it but after he wakes up with his hands choking him, he has a change of heart and asks Quentin to do it. He gets super drunk, insults Q into hacking his them off and then screams from the pain. But good news is that he survives!

Eliot has a cross-dimensional threesome

During his visit to Brakebills, Eliot and Margo find the shocking scene of Todd now being the life of the party at the Physical Kids’ cabin. While sulking and working on creating a drink to reclaim his throne as life of the party, he meets an exchange student from Spain named Javier who is in town for the Welter’s tournament. After some foreplay, they end up in a room where things get a little crazy. Somehow Eliot’s consciousness drifts back and forth between his real body in Fillory and the golem’s body in Earth. Back in Fillory, Fen had come into his chambers to check in on him while he’s in the process of sleeping with Javier at Brakebills. He ends having sex with both of them as his mind switches back and forth into the strangest cross-dimensional threesome ever.

Margo helps Julia copy a spell book

The next morning after the party, Margo finds Julia on the couch and the two women engage in verbal fisticuffs. Things end in a stalemate though as both have had a track record of selfishness. Surprisingly, Margo helps the hedge witch out by giving her a Xerox copy box that will make a magical copy of any book. Though you could say that Margo was helping herself to get Julia out of there faster.

Julia and Kady bring a dead Marina back for a hot second

Back at Julia’s, the two women finish the spell and are able to bring Marina back from the dead (turns out it was a necromancy spell). The hedge witch is super freaked out and keeps babbling about how horrible the place she went to is and she can’t go back. But time is running out so Julia begs Marina to focus and tell her what she needs to know about defeating Reynard. The other woman gets it together and explains that 40 years ago there was a girl who was able to banish the fox god from Earth and he had been there until he was summoned again.

Q and Penny go hunting

In Fillory, Q and Penny call it a truce to go hunt one of the seven questing creatures of the enchanted land, the White Lady. She is a magical being that will grant three wishes to anyone who catches her. The two magicians head to find her by passing through the Flying Forest, where they get high from fog. They spend a long time wandering inside until Q is finally able to get them out and their next stop is the Darkling Woods where the White Lady lives. They manage to find her and Quentin is able to hit her with an arrow.

The White Lady reluctantly asks then what they want and after some bickering Penny asks for his hands back, which she grants. They begin to grow and he starts screaming from the pain (she magically knocks him out because the scream was annoying). Q in the meantime asks for Alice to be brought to life again but she says that even she cannot pierce that veil. It’s an incredibly sad moment for Q who now has everything he ever wanted but none of it can save the girl he loves. So instead he asks to get sent home. He abandons his bow and quiver of arrows in a trashcan somewhere in the streets of New York City and walks away.

This was another great episode of The Magicians where the squad is forced to confront some ugly truths that they can’t keep running away from. Penny had to live with the consequences of being rude to when he didn’t have to be by losing his hands completely. His small act of kindness to help Q out with the bow paid off though that they were able to meet the White Lady and get his wish granted. Julia and Margo both had to face that they were selfish with their own interests above all other consideration. Jules is now trying to make things right by stopping Reynard from killing more hedges while Margo decides to help Eliot build a monument to Alice because of her sacrifice. Q in the meantime had to come to terms that magic really isn’t a fairytale and that crappy things still happened. He has to deal with the fact that he couldn’t do anything to save Alice and now has to ask himself what now?

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

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Shadowhunters’: The Angel Ithuriel Is Held Captive

Nicole C

February 14, 2017

In this week’s epic episode of Shadowhunters we met an actual angel. This being from heaven is Ithuriel and unfortunately he’s has the worst luck ever.

Ithuriel is an angel that’s had his share of bad luck being imprisoned twice on Earth, once by the warlock John Thaddeus Shade in The Infernal Devices series and then by Valentine Morgenstern (Alan Van Sprang) many years later. Initially, the angel was trapped inside a small clockwork angel through a spell by the downworlder. Shade intended to give it to his wife Ann but they were both killed by Shadowhunters. Their adopted son a mundane named Axel Mortmain finished it instead and used it as a tool for revenge against the nephilim. He had been able to attune it to the life of Tessa Gray, who was the child of a Shadowhunter and an Eidolon demon. Her mother Elizabeth had been born as Adele Starkweather but was switched at birth with a mundane baby. He then ensured that Ithuriel would save Tessa’s life so that she would be born safely (most unions between demons and nephilim were stillborn). Because of her demon father’s blood, she was able to shapeshift into Ithuriel to kill Mortmain, saving her friends and freeing the angel from his prison.

On the show, we first meet the immortal figure in chains as he is imprisoned in Valentine’s new hideout, another abandoned factory. He appears as a very old man in filthy ragged clothes. The rogue Shadowhunter says that he freed Ithuriel from entombment and instead he tries to warn Clary. Valentine wants the angel to stop trying to reach his daughter. In The Mortal Instruments series, the angel had been summoned by the Circle leader inside Wayland Manor and had been trapped in the basement for years. I wonder if that’s what Val meant about liberating the angel from another prison in Idris.

Clary (Katherine McNamara) starts to here a deafening sound that only she seems to be able to hear until Cleophas (Lisa Berry) tells her to activate her hearing rune. This allows the ex-Iron Sister to hear what she was hearing and we discover that Ithuriel had been crying out to Clary directly for aid. This is a turning point for Cleophas who had activated her Circle rune and planned to rejoin Valentine as a loyal follower. She told Clary that imprisoning and torturing an angel was against everything that Shadowhunters stood for. I guess this it what it took for Luke’s sister to realize that Val is crazy. Acting as a double agent now, she claims that she has to help free the immortal being. Cleophas explains that Valetine intends to use Ithuriel and the coming storm to activate the Soul Sword to kill every creature with demonic blood in them.

She leads Clary, Luke (Isaiah Mustafa), and Jace (Dominic Sherwood) to Val’s hideout where she and her brother confront their former friend while the Morgenstern siblings rescue Ithuriel. Jace and Clary manage to take out the guards but it’s only when the angel shows her another rune to draw on his chains that he is able to finally break free. He holds out his hands for both brother and sister to take and when they do a vision flashes before their eyes of a demon whom holds the Soul Sword before disappearing into the wind. What could that possibly mean? Before they can ask any questions though, Ithuriel stretches his wings and launches himself into the sky.

Clary is definitely unique and has a special relationship with Ithuriel. If you’ve read the books you know why that is, but I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum here. Needless to say Clary’s ability is more than your an average Shadowhunter’s and is an incredibly important part of her narrative. As she begins to grow into her life as a nephilim she’ll discover even more surprising things about herself.

While we only met him briefly, here’s hoping that we will see more of the heavenly hosts as the series progresses.

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘I Am Not Your Negro’ Review

Tanya Lane

February 10, 2017

Politics are an inescapable aspect of our lives, now more than ever. It would be rather difficult not to have an opinion on any number of prevailing issues. Therefore, when celebrities weigh in on social and political topics, I don’t begrudge them their opinion. The collective public response is often an admonishment to “stay out of politics” or “stick to acting,” etc., but do art and politics mix? I Am Not Your Negro answers yes, and quite beautifully.

James Baldwin – for the uninitiated – was a 20th-century luminary noted for his writings and political activism. He rose to prominence in the 1950’s, espousing a political consciousness that captivated the White intelligentsia and paragons of Black history alike. Baldwin did not separate artistry from politics; they were part and parcel of his very being. I Am Not Your Negro begins with Samuel L. Jackson’s resonant baritone, his familiar voice a befitting conduit for Baldwin’s poignant musings. Awash in color, the film has an uncommon beauty not typically found in documentaries. Its rich aesthetic is a provocative contradiction of the brutality it depicted, as the film highlights the abject cruelty of a not-so-bygone era.

Baldwin’s consciousness was awakened on foreign soil, as he observed the violence visited upon Black Americans from afar while living in France. Disenchanted with a racist America, he’d long since fled to Paris where he found the same artistic refuge as fellow wayward expatriates Josephine Baker and Nina Simone. While he missed nothing about America, he longed for his mother and siblings, and he missed the soul of Harlem. Ultimately it was a photo that brought Baldwin home, the image of a young Black woman being heckled mercilessly as she integrated a school in North Carolina. We can see why the photo struck Baldwin so powerfully: the girl’s face is pained but stoic, her slight frame surrounded by a sea of faces seething with rage and hate. This theme is the foundation of I Am Not Your Negro, an unabashed revelation that hypocrisy is as American as apple pie.

The film is loosely intended to carry forth Baldwin’s untold artistic vision intertwining the stories of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Medger Evers. The film dances around these three narratives in a disjointed fashion, splicing current events throughout the film. Director Raoul Peck brilliantly draws a parallel between the police brutality of the Jim Crow era and the impetus of the Black Lives Matter Movement today. Baldwin was Black and he was proud, but he was accessible to White America because he did not hate them. He explored the way Blackness had to be packaged to make it palatable, and Peck masterfully uses cinematic examples to underscore Baldwin’s profound speech. Hollywood is rife with the stereotyping and marginalization of which Baldwin spoke, and the film was comprehensive in its discussion of film and media’s effect on the collective psyche of Black and White Americans alike.

Art inspires, but at times it can make us uncomfortable. Let me state the obvious that this film is not for everyone, and the title alone is enough to keep some viewers away. It is not a call to arms, but rather an attempt to rouse the consciousness and to demand that White America take an unflinching look in the mirror. Powerful and provocative, I Am Not Your Negro is one of the better documentaries I’ve seen.

‘The Magicians’ Review: How Many Can We Kill This Week?

Nicole C

February 8, 2017

The Magicians
Season 2, Episode 3: Divine Elimination
Airdate: February 8, 2017

Holy crap! The Magicians this week was insane as everything that could go wrong did and three important characters died. Let’s talk about all those deaths shall we?

Firstly, my girl Marina (Kacey Rohl), got the short end of the stick after she finally agreed to team up with Julia (Stella Maeve) and The Beast (Charles Mesure) to trap Reynard (Mackenzie Astin) the fox god. She performed the summoning spell, but instead of appearing at the warehouse where she performed the incantation, the god followed her home. Martin had whisked him and Jules away because he knew the deity would not show up he if immediately sensed his former prey. The older magician tells the hedge witch that if he were Reynard he would take his time and catch her while she’s not expecting him. Which is exactly what happens. Marina ends up going home and locks herself in with the fox god, who turns her cat inside and out and eats one of her fingers.

It takes awhile for Martin to disable Marina’s wards, but eventually he does and is able to temporarily freeze Reynard. But then Penny (Arjun Gupta) arrives to take The Beast back to Fillory for their battle with Julia trying to stop him (and gets transported as well). This unfortunately leaves Marina back alone with the cruel deity. She ends up dead of course. RIP.

Meanwhile back in Fillory, things go terribly wrong again as Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) misses hitting The Beast with the Rhinemann Ultra and he soon vanishes before she can cast it again. They group (minus Penny and Julia, the traveler took her back to Earth) plan to head to the Wellspring where they’re sure he’ll be at to regain his strength. Quentin (Jason Ralph) gets the idea though that Eliot (Hale Appleman) and Margo (Summer Bishil) should go to Ember to petition for more godly juice while Alice and he go to the Wellspring ahead.

When they get there, they unexpectedly find Ember coming out, announcing to Martin that he had just defiled the well with his poop and its basically unusable now. Now that was unexpected! Still somewhat afraid of The Beast though, the god soon vanishes leaving an angry Martin who notices Alice and Q hiding. He transports them over to his location and attacks. Quentin dives in front of his ladylove to protect her and he gets his shoulder severely cut. Alice seems to be overcome with anger herself as she begins to fight back with more focus and intensity than before. She manages to knock Martin back against a rock and begins to do the Rhinemann Ultra again, but this time because the godly essence is almost gone, the spell proves too much for her and she burns up and magic consuming her completely. She vanishes, leaving The Beast to think he’s won. He is about to finish killing Quentin when glorious niffin Alice returns. She is now clearly much more powerful and is easily able to freeze him. She then rips open his shirt and hundreds of moths fly out with a very dead Martin Chatwin on the ground. However, Ms. Quinn turns her attention next on the man she used to love and plans on taking him out next. Margo and Eliot try to intervene but Alice is beyond caring. Feeling like he has no other choice, Q releases his demon and it manages to end the niffin’s life to everyone’s horror.

With the demise of three significant characters this week, The Magicians aren’t holding anything back and it’s both bold and gut wrenching. Firstly, Martin’s vanquishing closes the chapter on him being the main bad guy that the squad is up against. We first met him early on in season 1 when he stepped through the mirror while Q and the gang were in class and pulled out Dean Fogg’s (Rick Worthy) eyes. We learned his tragic backstory, he had wanted to escape into Fillory forever to get away from Christopher Plover, the author of the Fillory and Further series and his molester. In his need to protect himself he drinks from the Wellspring to gain power, had kept Plover prisoner in Fillory for years (as well as traveler Victoria), had tormented Penny mentally since he was a child, and eventually he kills his sister Jane with the same plans for Q and the rest.

This season we found out that he had removed his shade so the would no longer have feelings for anything really. The shade seems to be what gives individuals their humanity and so once he no longer had it he had no moral compass. But I think that he largely did it as well so that he would no longer have to feel the pain from his childhood experiences. When he offered to do the same for Julia I wonder if he felt an inkling of real concern or was it really just pity? They did go through similar traumatic circumstances and so he understood that she needed revenge. He did caution that vendetta wouldn’t end well for her, but didn’t he do the same by locking up his own abuser? He should have listened to his own advice.

Martin was definitely a complicated character and while he did many horrible acts he also had gone through a lot of pain and hardship growing up. The saddest part is that the only way he was able to survive was to become a monster himself.

Speaking of unpleasant people, Marina was no picnic either. She was kicked out of Brakebills, became the strongest hedge witch on the east coast and also was needlessly cruel and vindictive. After getting her memories back (her mind had been altered when she was expelled from Brakebills) she banishes Julia from their community, but she’s the one who helps after the other woman is raped by Reynard. Marina pleads with Dean Fogg for aid after she finds the body of the head of the west coast hedges killed by the fox god, but he denies her sanctuary. So she has no choice but to go with Julia’s plans but unfortunately it doesn’t work out like they intended and she dies. While we never knew too much about Marina’s background, she wasn’t fully evil. She’s had moments of compassion and loved cats. She was also a lot of fun to watch on screen because her snide could totally match Margo’s. In fact, it would have been amazing to see the two women in a scene together. Alas, that can never be.

Our final death this week was Alice’s and that was a nail biting one. She had been so insecure about her magic since the first season and for a brief moment she finally had the confidence to challenge The Beast. She essentially sacrificed herself to become a malicious being of pure magic in order to beat him. But she lost her humanity and was about to kill her friends if it wasn’t for Q’s demon intervention. How tragic that both she and her brother had good intentions only to share the same cruel fate. Magic is not for the faint hearted folks.

Earlier in the episode Eliot, Margo, Alice, and Quentin all killed each other because of Martin’s curse and so this is Alice’s second death in 40+ minutes worth of TV. The curse was set up so that each of the monarchs who sat on their respective throne started to get tweaked out and paranoid that the others were out to get them. So they proactively tried to slay the other. Eventually Penny had an idea to stop their hearts with an injection and then revive them with adrenaline so that the curse would run it’s course and hopefully everyone would get brought back.

Alice was the smart, caring, and level-headed one in this band of miscreant magicians and her departure will certainly have an impact. Undoubtedly she was the most naturally gifted of them all and while the likelyhood of everyone surviving the fight was low, certainly the gang didn’t expect her to be the one to die. Still, this does fall along the same storyline as in books where Alice had sacrificed her life to kill Martin. However, in The Magician’s Land Quentin discovers that Alice survived somehow as a niffin and so we’ll find out if the series follows suit. Hopefully yes because she is too awesome of a character to be gone for good and I need more malicious Alice please.

Until next week’s episode!

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

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

We Almost Had To Burn Down ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ After “Turncoat”

Jen Stayrook

February 8, 2017

This week on #LegendsofTomorrow: KEEP YOUR GRUBBY DEATH HANDS OFF SARA; Mick should do every intro; Amaya, seriously?

Spoilers through Legends of Tomorrow season two, episode eleven: “Turncoat”

There are few things that happen on television that can send me into a fiery rage: gratuitous rape scenes; people who say mean things about Supergirl; and the death of LGBT characters. Last night after Legends of Tomorrow, I almost had to burn down the entire place. ALL OF THE LEGENDS came very close to being pitchforked in the most horrific of places.

Because Sara Lance died. A-fucking-gain.

Of all the DC shows on the CW, Legends seems the most committed to keeping the dead buried and gone, if Leonard Snart is anything to go by. So when evil Rip Hunter shot MY BABY GIRL Sara in the stomach, I almost had a heart attack. I was ready to set fire to the internet, to march my loud mouth down the CW offices and give them a piece of my pitchfork.

Thankfully, due to some last minute heroics, Gideon was able to bring Sara back from the dead so that she could stop Jax from killing evil Rip. (Who broke my damn heart when he realized he couldn’t save Sara.)

Of ALL the networks, you would think the CW would be a TEENSY bit more careful about even pretending to kill off a queer character, ESPECIALLY from a gunshot wound in the abdomen. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN, CW.

Evil Looks Good On Rip

Last season, I had two major problems with Legends of Tomorrow: Vandal Savage and Rip Hunter. Rip never made much sense to me and I definitely think much the fandom’s love for him comes from Whovians who adore Arthur Darvill, but I can’t stand Rip as the captain of the Waverider. He’s hypocritical, angry, and doesn’t inspire much loyalty in his crew. I especially loathed the way he talked down to Jax and Mick, treating them as though they were stupid (they aren’t).

However, Rip as an uncaring villain? I can get behind that change. Darvill was made to play a villain. He’s charismatic, unflinching, and not afraid to do what is necessary to get the job done. I’m eager to see how things pan out in later episodes and part of me hopes he remains evil, but we’ll see where the story takes us.

That being said, Sara: YOU DIDN’T SHOOT HIM BECAUSE IT WAS CHRISTMAS?! SINCE WHEN DO YOU CARE?! BUST THAT FOOL IN THE KNEECAP, TAKE THE SPEAR AND FLY THE FUCK OUT OF THERE.

Goodness, sometimes the bad decisions by characters I love for the sake of plot really gets to me.

**Amaya and….*him***?

When Amaya first arrived on the scene, Legends didn’t know what the heck to do with her. “Two females on one team, you say? Well, clearly since Sara is the captain, we have to make the other a romantic interest.” And look, I’ve had a good time with Legends this season, and Jax and Sara have held things together, so I’ve been more or less forgiving where Amaya is concerned.

But enough is enough. I draw the line at the fanfiction romance that happened last night between Amaya and Nate.

A time quake knocked her into his arms? She kept him alive with her body heat? He propositioned sex when their friends were in danger and she ACCEPTED?!

Amaya is this kick ass woman who has a strength unlike any other. She’s a superhero in a strange world with an AMAZING background, but instead of being allowed to be those things, she’s been relegated to being a reminder that history was horrible to black people. I’m not saying we should gloss over these moments, because even on television it’s important we don’t normalize what people of color have suffered through, but dammit, Legends, give the girl something to do. Give her a job that’s more than just “hey pretend to be this dude’s wife, have some sexual tension to tease the audience, and maybe throw a punch at the end.” If Legends can make me LOVE Mick Rory and not want to strangle Ray Palmer, then they can certainly do better for Amaya.

Like this right here.

And speaking of Amaya and that whole “love interest” thing: where the frack did all that romance between her and Nate come from? Honestly, I have been low-key shipping the dork brothers Ray and Nate as a new pairing, but suddenly Nate is suave and endearing? If you’re going to pair Amaya up with ANYONE who isn’t Sara, Mick was the best choice. Not that boob, Nate. You mean to tell me she was okay with IGNORING HER JOB and LETTING HER TEAM DIE so she could have sex with….him? I don’t buy it. It’s a horrible plot line that needs to be burned to the ground.

The only way Legends redeems itself after this move is if Amaya realizes she made a Ray Palmer-esque mistake and she moves on to someone better. OR. She actually gets some real screen time as a person who isn’t written to better the dudes around her. Shocking thought.

Random Thoughts

I seem like I’m ragging hard on Legends, but I’m actually enjoying the second season. A lot. It’s consistently the funniest of the CW superhero shows and I’m ecstatic that the show has embraced its campy nature. (Supergirl is still #1 in my heart, though.)

Mick should do all of the DC CW show introductions.

More family time on Legends, please! It works on Supergirl and The Flash, so I’ll take all those sugar sweet scenes I can get.

Everyone thinks Mick is this big, dumb oaf of a henchman, but he’s not. He lets other’s think he’s stupid, even his own team, but he’s actually competent and logical. Besides, he manages to earn the respect of Albert Einstein and George Washington. He’s doing something right.

Jax and Sara continue to be the reason why I tune in every week to Legends. Their bond is better than any romance the show could come up with and I hope they continue to develop the pair.

Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesdays on The CW at 9pm EST.

‘Shadowhunters’: We Meet The Iron Sisters and They Are Fierce

Nicole C

February 7, 2017

SHADOWHUNTERS - "Iron Sisters" - Clary and Isabelle head to The Citadel looking for answers in “Iron Sisters,” an all new episode of “Shadowhunters,” airing MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6 (8:00 – 9:00 PM EDT) on Freeform. (Freeform/John Medland) LISA BERRY, EMERAUDE TOUBIA, FARAH MERANI, KATHERINE MCNAMARA

In this week’s episode of Shadowhunters, we meet the female counterparts to the Silent Brothers, the mysterious Iron Sisters. While the brothers are scholars and medics, the sisters are warriors and weapon makers of the nephilim.

After recovering from her demonic wound in part from the yin fen that Aldertree (Nick Sagar) gave her, Isabelle (Emeraude Toubia) asks the Institute head if Clary (Katherine McNamara) can accompany her to the Adamant Citadel to visit the Iron Sisters. Clary had wanted to go so that she could be doing something to help stop Valentine (Alan Van Sprang) instead of wallowing in her grief. Aldertree agrees only if Isabelle reports back to him everything that the other Shadowhunter says. The guy strongly suspects Clary and Jace (Dominic Sherwood) of being up to something because they are Valentine’s children. He is also preying on Izzy’s growing addiction to yin fen, which he likely provided in order to control her.

The two ladies take a portal to the Citadel, the remote location where the sisters live in solitude forging adamas into Shadowhunter weapons. Clary and Izzy are soon encircled by the white-robed women wielding wicked sharp blades and are asked to state their names. Izzy says hers followed by Clary calling herself Clary Fairchild (instead of Fray) and this may be the first time she’s claimed her mother’s Shadowhunter family name. They recognize her as Valentine’s daughter though and are immediately mistrustful.

Clary protests that she wants to defeat her father more than anyone else because he’s the reason why her mother is dead and he also experimented on her brother. The two senior Iron Sisters, Sister Mag (Farah Merani) and Cleophas (Lisa Berry) eventually agree to let them be tested before entering the Citadel. There is a purity test that will detect if any Shadowhunter has been tainted with demon impurities. Anyone who is found unclean will not be able to enter the Citadel because it would cause issues with how the adamas is shaped and forged.

Understanding that the sisters are afraid that she has demon blood like Jace, Clary goes into the pool first where she passes the test. Izzy goes next and because if the yin fen in her system, the pool turns black and she nearly drowns. Sister Mag says that she cannot enter unfortunately but Izzy says that Clary needs to go and get the information that they need without her. They are there to find out why Valentine took the soul sword. The sister tells Isabelle that yin fen is made from vampire’s venom and that it cannot actually heal her wound. The younger Shadowhunter is shocked and realizes that Aldertree was not giving it to her out of the kindness of his heart.

We find out in the meantime that Cleophas is actually one of Luke’s (Isaiah Mustafa) sisters along with Amatis who is still in Idris. After her brother was bitten and turned into a downworlder, she chose to become and Iron Sister to bring honor back to their family. This is actually a big departure from the book series as Cleophas was actually Amatis and Luke’s mother. We first met her character in the City of Lost Souls when Jocelyn and Isabelle visited trying to make sense of a note from Magnus about Jace’s disappearance.

In Shadowhunters, Cleophas reveals to Clary inside the Citadel that the soul sword’s secondary function was a weapon of mass destruction. If demons were to overrun the earth, the sword could be powered with angelic energy and would wipe out all demonic blooded entities in the world including all downworlders. Cleophas tells Clary that there is no way to stop it once it is activated and so they must stop Valentine before it happens. In addition she cannot make this knowledge known because it would cause panic and chaos with downworlders rebelling against the Clave.

Despite Jace’s warning, Clary reveals to Cleophas that a rune had manifested itself before her eyes and she wondered if it could have been her mom communicating with her. The Iron Sister asks to see the rune and so Clary uses her stele and draws it. Instantly a beam of light bursts from her hand, though Luke’s sister says that it can’t be from her mother. But the older woman doesn’t know either where the rune had come from (it’s not in the Gray Book, the book where the angel Raziel inscribed marks that Shadowhunters were able to use). Nearby, Izzy is eavesdropping on the conversation, though thankfully she does not report it to Aldertree.

However the most shocking revelation was when Cleophas is seen leaving the Citadel. Mag tries to stop her, saying that she thought the other Shadowhunter had left that life behind. Cleophas then stabs her sister in the gut, uses her stele against her neck and reveals the mark of the Circle. Oh damn she was another one of Valentine’s minions. So the question is, is she leaving to stop Val from activating the soul sword to protect her brother? Or is she leaving to rejoin her former comrades?

It is such a pleasure to see the Iron Sisters come to life on screen. The order was founded by Abigail Shadowhunter, the elder sister of Jonathan, who was the first nephilim. When she grew too old to fight demons, she turned to study the esoteric parts of the Gray Book and also began to forge adamas beneath Idris to become the first Iron Sister. Like the Silent Brothers, they are immortal having been given sacred marks that enable them to do their work. However, one would also have to give up ties to their friends, family, parabatai and live in seclusion. Apart from making Shadowhunter weapons, they also make witchlights and also confer a protection spell on newborn nephilim along with a Silent Brother counterpart.

The Iron Sisters add another fascinating layer to the shadow world and to the overall story of the nephilim. I for one cannot wait to see more from their order and what Sister Cleophas has planned. Only time will tell if she is a friend of foe!

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘Supergirl’ Review: Mars Attacks in “The Martian Chronicles”

Jen Stayrook

February 7, 2017

This week on Supergirl: M’gann’s ex-husband shows up and causes a stir; the SuperFriends play a bad game of Clue at the DEO; Alex likes the Barenaked Ladies?

Spoilers through Supergirl season two, episode eleven: “The Martian Chronicles.”

You know what I love? When a TV show ends on a cliffhanger and then immediately addresses that issue the next episode. Last week in “We Can Be Heroes,” M’gann mentioned that the White Martians had found her and were intent on killing the traitor. And then, boom. There they are in the next episode, causing mayhem and infiltrating the DEO. Good times. Because let’s be honest: Supergirl hasn’t exactly been the best at staying on topic this season. Alex has completely forgotten about rescuing her dad from Cadmus; Mon-El has had stalkers on his behind for like eight episodes now; the president is dominator or some other shapeshifter; and where the fuck is Lena?!

“The Martian Chronicles” was a more linear affair, probably the most streamlined episode we’ve seen in Supergirl’s second season. For that, I am thankful, because I was getting real tired of trying to care about Guardian and Mon-El’s feelings inbetween actual storylines.

Mon-El Plays It Cool

Supergirl didn’t completely ignore Mon-El’s emotions, but instead book-ended the episode with them, which, if I’m honest, I can stomach. If I’m forced to sit through the chemistry-less pairing, it’s best if we only get Kara and Mike in short bursts. Kara, the adorkable cupcake that she is, tries her best to let Mon-El down easy but instead ends up telling him, “It’s not your job, it’s the way you are.” We are know that Kara means that Mon-El is kind of a selfish sleazeball, but Mon-El (understandably) is hurt by this comment and goes to douse his wounds in club soda.

No, but seriously, he’s drinking her drink? Am I supposed to find that endearing? Be your own man, Mike! Copying Kara’s preppy dress style, her glasses, and her taste in drinks is just downright creepy. In the end, though, Mon-El tries to move on from his Kara Infatuation and goes back to dating Miss Teschmacher. Kara gets all flabbergasted by this turn of events because she was about to confess feelings for him, but this is the CW and they’re recycling romantic plot lines from last season. Also, did they just GUILT TRIP Kara into liking Mon-El? I’m not okay with this.

Kara, baby. Don’t you fret, girlfriend. Lena is in next week’s episode.

Mars Attacks! (Kind of)

When M’gann warned last week that the White Martians were coming to kill her, I figured they’d send in an entire army. They don’t exactly seem like the type to be concerned about innocent casualties and if they accidentally conquer a planet in the interim, so be it. Instead, after losing the element of surprise, the Martians send in M’gann’s ex-husband? Obviously there’s no love lost between these two, what with M’gann trying to kill him before she left, but…why? To create more tension between M’gann and J’onn? Because I don’t know what show y’all have been watching but there’s already a spaceship-load of tension between those two.

AND I DIDN’T GET A KISS SO I’M A WEE BIT BITTER.

M’gann blows off ex-homeboy but he ain’t about to be denied so he follows her back to the DEO and begins the process of snatching bodies. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: all of the DC superhero bases on the CW have ATROCIOUS security. You would think after all the times that the DEO has been infiltrated by aliens that they would have instituted better protocol by now. At the very least, their motion sensors would also detect, oh, I don’t know, different body temperatures or something. I’m not a fake scientist. But the fact that the DEO’s best bet in determining who is and who is not a White Martian is a GODDAMN BUNSEN BURNER, maybe it’s time to reevaluate their security.

You know who IS creating such technology? MOTHER-EFFING LENA LUTHOR.

The SuperFriends play a rousing game of Clue with their White Martian enemies, but it’s the quickest game ever when they realize the culprit was Winn, in the hallway, with the seaweed goo. Of course, after a poorly timed heart to heart between the Danvers sisters, J’onn informs Kara that there are two White Martians and Alex is the second one.

Now, I’m always up for some sweet discussions between the sisters. And even though Alex was all body snatched, the scene where she tried to signal to Kara to check around the corner was ADORABLE.

How-to-the-ever, why are they slowly searching the DEO when they are on a 15-minute time crunch? Did Supergirl forget that she’s FASTER THAN BARRY ALLEN? I know we’re all about suspending some belief in superhero shows, but let’s not dumb down Supergirl’s powers for the sake of tension. Instead, maybe have the Martian Winn put on a kryptonite power dampener that Supergirl has to fight through. SOMETHING other than “oh yea, I forgot I’m super fast.”

A pretty cool fight sequence emerges between SuperFriends and the White Martians and I gotta say: Alex and Winn were definitely having fun being bad guys. The fact that both of them were evil together only solidifies them as my BROTP.

M’gann gets a kick ass finishing move against ex-douchebag and once again, evil is thwarted. But M’gann isn’t new to the ways of the White Martians and she knows they’ll keep sending bodies after her until she’s dead, so she decides to head back to Mars to recruit sympathetic White Martians. I’m still wondering why they haven’t sent an army to Earth, especially since they now know she and J’onn are working together, but I’m trying to suspend belief here.

If my knowledge of ~~Asari~~ Martian customs in ~~Mass Effect~~ Supergirl are correct, J’onn and M’gann have sex on the balcony before a final tearful goodbye. I hope this isn’t the last of these two because now that means the CW is going to really drive home the Kara/Mon-El romance and I don’t think I can handle that. Also, J’onn and M’gann are insanely cute together.

Kara’s Loneliness

Kara and Alex had a tiny falling out this episode, not because Kara was upset about Alex spending time with Maggie or even missing her Earth birthday, but because Kara is lonely. And it’s this loneliness, in my opinion, that leads her to think she has feelings for Mon-El. Is this the rambling of a girl hell bent on stopping the Karamel ship? Probably. But let’s look at the evidence anyway.

This season Kara finally spent quality time with her cousin, Clark, only to lose him. Cat Grant left Catco and in doing so, left Kara without the “no bullshit” advisor she so desperately needs. James and Winn are off doing their own “hero” thing, beating up thugs and the like after dark. And Alex is finally giving herself some much needed time to grow (and doing so with Maggie’s help). The only person who has been consistently around Kara is….Mon-El. Things were *okay* for her when they were just friends, but now that he’s admitted feelings for her, she knows that without her own emotions in the mix, he’ll pull away, and she’ll be lonely again.

But it’s okay, Kara because Lena is back next week, and she’s already admitted she doesn’t have any soooooo ALL BOARD S.S. SUPERCORP. TOOT TOOT.

Random Thoughts

I love them. I can’t wait for the Valentine’s Day episode.

Supergirl airs Mondays on the CW at 8pm EST.

‘The 100’ Returns: All Hail Octavia kom Trikru

Jen Stayrook

February 2, 2017

The week on the season premiere of The 100: Clarke tells Bellamy the truth about their “victory” against ALIE; Octavia is badass.

Spoilers through The 100 season four, episode one: “Echoes.”

All seemed well for Clarke and Co. at the end of season three. With Raven’s help in Arkadia and a surprise visit by Lexa, Clarke managed to shut down ALIE and her hold over most the earth’s population. However, the act came at a cost. After solving one major disaster, ALIE informed Clarke of another dire issue: the meltdown of the world’s nuclear facilities.

That’s the position Clarke’s in when the season four premiere opens. With only six months left to try to save the world, Clarke wastes no time in telling Bellamy the truth. They then, in turn, tell Papa Kane and Abby, as well as Roan and Raven, who gets to working on saving the world ASAP because that’s just how Raven rolls. Thank the gods Clarke and Bellamy spilled the beans early because I’m so over the whole “I’m keeping a secret to try to save you” bullshit. Season three suffered not because of Bellamy or Pike, but because no one told the damn truth. And that nonsense with Lexa, which we’ll get into shortly. But first! The biggest divider of the season four premiere of The 100:

Bellarke

I’ve said it so many times that it’s almost become my motto where The 100 is concerned: as Clarke and Bellamy go, so does Skaikru. With the two pillars of Skaikru finally united (and seemingly for a good while now), things will be less dire for the space invaders. An odd sentiment, I know, given the whole “end of the world in six months” announcement, but Clarke and Bellamy’s unspoken connection brings a calm to the rest of the group, allowing the others (ahem, Raven) to perform at their best. They trust one another implicitly, a bond unlike anyone else on the show.

But there’s a darkness in this partnership that concerns me: romance. I’ve never wanted Clarke and Bellamy to be romantically involved. That much is clear all over The Workprint. I know that in the books on which the series is based, Clarke and Bellamy are the “end game” power couple, and I don’t fault anyone for shipping the two. I see the chemistry. But I don’t want them together because in wanting more diverse representation in our media, I also want more platonic relationships. So rarely on television and in movies are men and women ever just friends. If a man and woman work closely together, they must fall in love. But Clarke and Bellamy aren’t like that, in my mind. They never have been. They go beyond so much more than just romance.

And yes, before you ask, I am still really upset about Lexa. Really fucking upset. I loved her, too. (And I’m still bitter about Lincoln, while we’re at it.)

I’m so glad we finally got this scene with Clarke grieving over the loss of Lexa. I know there was no time for mourning and shit, what with ALIE taking over everything and peeing in everyone’s Cheerios, but damn, I have wanted Clarke, for so long, to show that she fucking cared for Lexa and I finally got it. Having watched the scene a few times now, the pan to Bellamy is intentional, and I’m really worried that The 100 is going to play up the whole “Bellamy loves Clarke” nonsense once again.

Look, I have no doubt in my mind that Clarke and Bellamy love one another. They’ve been to hell and back, lost loved ones, killed friends, and they’ve suffered immensely for all their decisions. But Clarke and Lexa were important not just to the fans, but to the characters, too. Clarke learned how to lead from Lexa. To cast aside that importance so soon for the sake of “canon end game romance” is insulting. What scares me even more is Clarke giving up her last connection to Lexa, the flame, to Roan for the sake of her people. The Azgeda king takes the flame to preserve his own leadership and attempt to reunite the Coalition, all the while Clarke sheds a single tear, a final goodbye to her love.

And while I shed a tear along with Clarke, it feels a lot like The 100 is trying to get us (and Clarke) to move the fuck on from Lexa and all I have to say about that is:

Also, I’m still not okay with how she died, especially since Ice Jesus laid there for how long with a bullet in his chest but Lexa died almost immediately.

The Azgeda Threat

Two things The 100 wanted us to learn about this episode: 1. Bellarke is almost definitely happening and 2. ECHO HAS NO DAMN CHILL. This Azgeda spy came into Polis like a wrecking ball. All she wanted was Wanheda’s heart.

But seriously, The 100 needs more Echo. Echo is an unpredictable player, one who is loyal to herself above all others. She could spell disaster for Roan and Skaikru OR she could find the answer to all their problems. It’s a coin flip. That makes her exciting. Besides, I will take all the badass women I can get.

Last season The 100 struggled in the early episodes because they couldn’t find their footing in the plot. The characters had to reconcile which enemy to face, Grounders and the Coalition or ALIE, which made for some confusing character decisions. It took them through Lexa AND Lincoln’s deaths to finally get it together and get the ball rolling into a cohesive storyline. It looks like in season four, they aren’t messing around with who the enemy really is. One episode of “maybe Azgeda” as an enemy and then BOOM. Radiation.

The 100 is criticized for often being too dark, not letting the characters embrace the few enjoyable moments they get, and I suspect we’ll see more of that lightness this season, even with the stakes so high.

Octavia kom Trikru

I don’t have any deep, interesting thoughts regarding Octavia in the season premiere, I just wanted to dedicate a section to her and her badassery. After she killed Pike in the finale, I was worried that Indra might be upset with our Skairipa, but thankfully, she understood, and now they’re best friends again.

Octavia is the soldier that Skaikru needs right now, but I have a feeling she’s not going to be around much longer. Skaikru has always treated her as an outsider, whereas the Grounders made her feel wanted, important. And now, without Lincoln, she has no one keeping her tied to Arkadia. I wouldn’t be surprised if our little warpaint hero went off on her own to do some business.

I love her.

Jasper’s New Outlook on Life

Jasper has has a rough go of things since they landed on earth and his suicidal nature is unbelievably heartbreaking to watch. I’m actually glad that The 100 hasn’t gone with a “shocking” end and killed him yet because at this point, that almost seems easier than letting him live. It’s hard to watch Jasper as he struggles with his own emotions. He was safe in Mount Weather. Happy. And Clarke and Bellamy ended that. He was safe in the City of Light and once again, Clarke stole that from him. I don’t begrudge him hating Clarke, but it is a nice change of pace to watch him shift from defeated to almost…elated at the apocalyptic news. Finally, to Jasper, the humans will get what they deserve, and he’s relieved he doesn’t have to pull the trigger.

I’m also gonna need more scenes with him and Monty being best buds. For science.

Other thoughts

I’m so glad Kane and Indra were reunited. They’re my 100 BROTP.

I’m keeping my eye on Raven and her newfound computer knowledge. I’d hate to see her become a villain again, but The 100 likes to make me angry.

Also, I know they’ve only had like 30 seconds of screen time together, but I secretly want Raven and Octavia to be the new power couple.

Does the “youth shall inherit the earth” moment at the end mean that we aren’t going to see much of Papa Kane and Abby? I don’t know if I’m okay with this development.

I think Bellamy knew that Murphy was going to run off with the gun, but he gave it to him anyway.

Jaha needs to die. I’m sorry, but he’s irredeemable in my eyes. Cut him and move on.

The 100 airs Wednesdays on The CW at 9pm EST.

‘The Magicians’ Review: Let’s Do Some Damn Battle Magic

Nicole C

February 1, 2017

In this week’s episode of The Magicians, the squad (sans Eliot) returns to Brakebills in an attempt to find a spell powerful enough to stop The Beast.

Penny first takes them to the Netherlands and from there they jump back into the Earth fountain. They appear in the forest that surrounds Brakebills near where Dean Fogg is sitting on a bench. The head of the school is surprised to see that they are all still alive and the group proceeds to explain that Fillory is real, magic is dying, and they need to find a way to exterminate The Beast before he can drain the Wellspring. Quentin tells the dean that they found a Brakebills notebook from 1893 in the Armory and surmises that they aren’t the first students to make it to the other world (or become monarchs). In the student’s notebook, it notes that he/she learned battle magic from a professor named Bigby. Alice adds that there seems to be a spell called the Rhineman Ultra that could be strong enough to solve their catastrophic problem. Not at all freaked out, Dean Fogg walks away saying that he’ll get back to them.

He goes to see Professor Sunderland soon after and fills her in on the whole situation. We find out that long ago, battle magic had been taught at the school but was banned because things got messy (aka a lot of people died). Dean Fogg then goes on to say that Professor Bigby warned him that the day would come when they would need it and hinted that she hid all the spells somewhere in the library. Sunderland was brought into the fold because no one knew the space better than she did.

The school head next assembles the group in the library and we get a little background on Bigby. She is a 500 year-old brilliant, impulsive, and mercurial pixie. When Q and the gang are confused on why Dean Fogg would think the book would be in there, he explains that Bigby told him, “Battle magic will be where knowledge always is. The day you need it I promise will be your last hope.”

Q realizes that the name of one of the battle magic books is called The Last Hope Option, and so now they have to figure out how to find it by deciphering the hidden code inside the pixie’s message to the dean. They split into groups of two with Margo and the dean using the card catalog, Alice and Quentin delving into anagrams, and Penny and Sunderland using numerical code. Nothing seems to working until Q mentions Hotel Spa Potions and Sunderland recognizes it as a real book inside the library. She retrieves it and voila, it is the very text they need, except of course pages are ripped off and there’s another note to Dean Fogg.

Hello Henry,

If you are reading this then I’m right and everyone at Brakebills is wrong, how delightful! It also means that I’ll see you quick as 1, 2, 9 where middle leads and last is fine. Summer’s here in ne’er retreats. A pretty island made of streets.

Margo is quickly able to decipher that the island made of streets is Rhode Island. Q figures out that “summer’s here in ne’er retreats” could be summer sets or Somerset. Lastly they determine her house number from 1-2-9 and the dean, Q, and Alice head over to plead for assistance.

When they get there Bigby kisses Dean Fogg passionately and we discover just how intimate the two were back in the day. The answer? Very very intimate especially in the vicinity of a certain tree with super soft grass. Bigby though is still a little upset that she had been fired from Brakebills even though now she feels vindicated. She tells Alice and Q that they need to convince her as to why she should give them the Rhineman Ultra. After their passionate regaling of everything that’s happened to them so far, she agrees and gives it to the chosen one who still has the god juice in her system. Bigby warns that no one should be within twenty feet of the blast and that only Alice can cast it.

Back at Brakebills, the dean has something else up his sleeve as he beckons the group to some sketchy looking basement and hands them some hard liquor because they needed to get super smashed. Next, Professor Li tattoos an intricate design on their backs and lastly a fiery keiko demon gets trapped in the sigils that they can use to attack The Beast. The catch though is that these are one-shot weapons.

Armed with their demons and the Rhineman Ultra, the squad heads back to Fillory to face the battle to come.

The question is whether Quentin and the others will get to The Beast before Julia exacts her revenge on Reynard. On the one hand, killing The Beast would save magic in Fillory and on Earth, but what about the other worlds? If magic died would it also affect the gods? If it did, then maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

This episode showed us the squad having to solve a problem that not only was life or death for them, but also for Fillory and potentially their own realm. They’ve grown significantly from the first season, where their only concern was the next party and passing class. Circumstances urge them to rise up and be actual heroes, but whether or not they succeed only time will tell.

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

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Shadowhunters’: We Say Goodbye To Jocelyn

Nicole C

January 31, 2017

SHADOWHUNTERS - "Day of Wrath" - No one is safe when the Shadowhunters come up against a new kind of demon in “Day of Wrath,” an all new episode of “Shadowhunters,” airing MONDAY, JANUARY 23 (8:00 – 9:00 PM EDT) on Freeform. (Freeform/ Ben Mark Holzberg) MAXIM ROY, ISAIAH MUSTAFA

In this week’s episode of Shadowhunters, we say our goodbye to Jocelyn, a devoted mother, loyal friend, and kick-ass nephilim. Played by the talented Maxim Roy, she was made of strong stuff having left the shadow world and gone into hiding as a mundane. While she’s made mistakes along the way, Jocelyn was always fiercely protective of those she loved and always fought for what was right.

Jocelyn Fray was born Jocelyn Fairchild and was the only daughter to Adele Nightshade and Granville Fairchild II. She had the fiery red hair that most Fairchild offspring had thank to their ancestor Henry Branwell (also Lydia’s ancestor). Jocelyn grew up in Idris and had been childhood friends with Lucian Greymark, whom we know better as Luke Garroway.

On the show, she’s had a tumultuous life from her younger days in Idris as a member of the Circle with Valentine, Hodge, Luke, Robert, and Maryse. Eventually she realized that her husband’s views on downworld was too extreme and she prevented him from getting the Mortal Cup, going on the run and hiding the cup and her unborn daughter from him. After the Uprising, Valentine had murdered Michael Wayland and his son, and assumed his identity, raising Jace (his son with Jocelyn) to be a Wayland to hide his identity.

In season 1, Jocelyn had been in hiding for a long time and on Clary’s 18^th birthday she finally resolved to tell her daughter about the shadow world. But life decided to get crazy as two Circle members show up at her Brooklyn home after they followed Clary there from Pandemonium (they recognized her as Jocelyn). She has Dot create a portal that sends Clary to Luke’s precinct while she dealt with the rogue Shadowhunters. She ends up taking a potion that puts her into a coma so that Valentine can’t extract the location of the Mortal Cup from her. Her sleeping body is taken to a factory in Chernobyl were her husband has been hiding from the Clave.

Upon first meeting him, its obvious that Valentine still cares a great deal for his wife and so he’s happy that she’s returned. When one of the Circle members calls her a traitor, he sticks a needle into the Shadowhunter’s neck, causing the other man to start having seizures and foam in the mouth. Clary and Jace were able to retrieve Jocelyn’s body eventually through the crystal necklace that she had given to her daughter.

Clary also went to see the warlock Ragnor Fell, who had created the sleeping potion that put her in the comatose state. However, he was killed by a demon before he could reveal how to create the antidote to it. Their only clue was that the Book of the White was needed, which was in Camille’s possession. Clary and Simon had to break the vampire out of the Hotel DuMort and bring her to Magnus’ loft. She is only willing to give it up in exchange for her freedom.

They are able to retrieve the book at the cost of losing Jace to Valentine, but not all is lost as Magnus is able to brew the potion and Jocelyn is brought back. Things however haven’t been easy for the mother and daughter because old secrets resurface now that the shadow world knows that Valentine is back. Jocelyn finds out that her son Jonathan Christopher is alive and that he is now Jace. Knowing that her husband had experimented on Jace while he was still in her womb, she initially tries to kill him. Infuriated, Clary confronts her mother and Jocelyn is forced to share a memory to show how Jonathan had black demon eyes as a baby and could kill make flowers decay at super speed.

Still, she tries to make some amends by helping Jace get away from Luke and Maia while he was being chased in the hospital. In her final hours, the Clave had ordered Jocelyn to relocate to Idris and she was going to follow because she was tired of running. She asks Clary to come with her but surely she knew that her daughter wasn’t ready to leave Jace or Simon behind. Unfortunately that would be their last conversation because a demon infiltrates the Institute and it possesses Alec’s body who then brutally kills her.

Clary is unable to accept her mother’s death and tries to bring her back through warlock Iris Rouse. As the spell is being cast, she finally realizes that it was wrong to do this and she backs out. Iris however had other plans for her. Clary is able to vanquish the demon that was supposed to impregnate her.

The time finally comes where she must let go of her mom. Clary attends the funeral service at the Institute along with Jace, Alec, Isabelle, Aldertree, and the other Shadowhunters. During the last rites, she is unable to fully utter her mother’s name so Jace does it for her, saying, “Jocelyn Fairchild.”

Jocelyn’s death is a big departure from the books and it’s got to have a huge impact not only on Clary and Luke, but on Valentine and Jace as well. She was a very pivotal character in The Mortal Instruments series and it will be interesting to see how storylines will change given that Jocelyn was an important part of some very big plotlines. Shadowhunters though has certainly gone a darker route with Clary now being an orphan since Valentine isn’t exactly the doting father she can count on. It’s also going to be fascinating to see how her passing impacts the men in her life. Luke is obviously consumed with grief at the moment and because of it he has been shifting into werewolf. How will Valentine react since it was his plan to have the demon infiltrate the Institute as a distraction to begin with? One could easily see him blaming the Clave though for driving her away from him and it led to this.

She was a fierce character who deeply loved those she cared about and fought to protect mundanes. You will be sorely missed Jocelyn and I for one will cling to the knowledge that at least in the books, she got her happy ending and married Luke. And who knows, by some crazy magic she’ll come back.

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘Supergirl’ Review: “We Can Be Heroes” But Literally Just For One Day

Jen Stayrook

January 31, 2017

This week on Supergirl: It’s Supergirl v. Guardian: Dawn of Brooding; Livewire reappears; still no sign of Lena or Cat; J’onn and M’gann for life.

Spoilers through Supergirl season two, episode ten: “We Can Be Heroes.”

This will be my first Supergirl review in eight episodes where I don’t have a segment dedicated solely to my love for Sanvers. Weep for me, my children.

However, since Supergirl has decided to allow my babies some happy couple time, as well as cute jokes about vegan ice cream, it means that we, as viewers, get to focus on other things. Like Mon-El and James finally spilling the beans about their respective secrets and J’onn saving M’gann’s life. Also, Livewire made a Joker-esque appearance, but without Cat Grant, it felt a bit hollow.

Livewire Gets Shocked

Early on in the episode, we saw Livewire escape from a human jail cell. For most of the episode we’re led to believe that she’s in control of the situation and producing her own little lightning bolt minions. However, after Winn obtains footage from Livewire’s Wild Breakout, the SuperFriends learn that she’s actually a victim and Kara has to go and retract some of those horrible things she said about her “nemesis.”

Snack break: Kara calling Livewire her “nemesis” felt wrong somehow. Sure, she’s faced the villain twice now, and won, but Livewire always felt more like Cat’s villain. Don’t get me wrong, Kara talking about her nemesis was ADORKABLE TO THE MAX.

But it still felt weird.

Winn and James hide the fact that they’re going to rescue Livewire alone because they’ve been visited by the good idea fairy lately and she keeps giving them the BEST IDEAS. Along with Mon-El, the boys shockingly fail to save the electric villain and Supergirl comes to their rescue. THANK RAO for that because I was getting a wee bit tired of dudes screaming at Kara that they could save her. Kara lets Livewire go, presumably because she saw Barry do the same with Captain Cold and that went smashingly.

Here’s a probably terrible thought: Livewire should be at least a part-time member of the SuperFriends and here’s why: She’s sarcastic as hell and constantly burns both Mon-El and James.

Exhibit A:

Livewire: “Who are you supposed to be?”
Mon-El: “I’m the other Superman. In training.”
Livewire: “Your cosplay sucks.”

Exhibit B:

Livewire: “You know what I love? Little boys who think they can do a better job than the woman who’s an actual superhero. It’s pathetic.”

Moreover, Supergirl has suffered lately from the lack of an antagonistic “good guy.” For instance, in season one, Maxwell Lord floated between villain and anti-hero, and that made his dynamic with Supergirl all the more interesting. As it stands, everyone in Supergirl’s circle ADORES her (as they should), but she needs someone who won’t placate her feelings or be in love with her. That person could be Livewire.

Can A Human Be A Hero?

The biggest point of contention in “We Can Be Heroes” came from Kara’s realization that James is Guardian. After a tussle with the baby Livewires, James is injured trying to fix Mike’s screw up, and Kara unmasks him (a huge breach of privacy, as seen in Clark Kent’s Superhero 101: Chapter 3) to learn his true identity.

Once Kara realizes that ERRYBODY knew James was the Guardian, she wants some alone time with the budding hero. Alex peaces the hell out of that room because despite being a total badass, she is utterly terrified of two things: Kara getting hurt and Kara being angry with her. (And maybe of eating that vegan ice cream. Jury’s still out on that one.) Mike makes a joke about James being a “professionally handsome desk person,” reminding us all that while he sucks at Superhero First Grade, he’s still pretty damn funny.

Kara and James have it out several times over the course of the episode, discussing the merits of what does and does not constitute a hero. Kara, shockingly, places superhuman abilities over heroic characteristics, whereas James claims:

James: “There’s a lot more to being a hero than having superpowers. Like wanting to make a difference or having a willingness to put yourself on the line for others.”

They argue some more and our little cupcake Kara is completely oblivious to the fact that the Guardian/Mon-El comparison is about so much more than fighting thugs in National City. James does make a good point, however, that despite Supergirl’s strength and unwavering sunshine, she does not get to decide who is and who isn’t a hero. Kara claps back that Mon-El can change his lack of dedication to the task, the audience shares a laugh, and then she slams home that James can’t change the fact that he’s human and weak and the room goes silent. Low blow, Kara. Not cool.

I waffle regularly on James’ development as Guardian. On the one hand, he’s right. Kara can’t stop him, nor should she. If she truly wanted to protect him, she’d train him. Or better yet, she’d have Alex train him, since she’s the most badass human character on the CW. (Sorry, Oliver.) How-to-the-ever, Kara is right in worrying about James. He doesn’t have any training. A blackbelt does not a hero make. Oliver went through hell on an island (and all over Asia) for five years before even thinking about becoming Green Arrow. Even still, he’s a work in progress. All of the other human heroes we’ve seen have had an immense amount of training. Heck, Ray Palmer went through an entire arc where he had to realize that a suit wasn’t the be all, end all of being a hero. James needs to go through a similar pipeline. He can’t be gifted this. He has to earn it the same way the others did. It sucks that he wasn’t handed superpowers on a yellow sun platter, but such is life.

The only thing that worries me now is that he going to do something stupid, like go to Cadmus to “acquire” said superpowers.

Also, I’m tired of him dragging Winn into his shenanigans.

Mon-El’s Got Heart, Yes He Do

Man, do we ever hate Mike.

Don’t get me wrong, Kara and Mon-El are stinking adorable together sometimes, but there’s a heavy brother/sister vibe from them that I can’t get past. And it isn’t just because I’m a supergay shipper and want Kara to be with every female we meet (though please, I really want Supercorp to take off); the chemistry just isn’t there for them. Kara absolutely resonates with Lena; their scenes are, dare I say, electric. And the lack of chemistry between the two aliens was even more apparent when we saw how well Kara matched up with Livewire. AND even though Kara and James argued the entirety of “We Can Be Heroes,” they STILL had more sexual tension than Kara and Mike. You see where I’m going with this?

A part of me really likes Mon-El and I enjoy the humor he brings to the show (though, he’s no Winn), but he’s had the forefront now for a long time and that means missing out on more interesting stories like J’onn and M’gann or watching Lena bite her lip in a totally-not-uber-sexual way.

I’m happy that Mon-El finally admitted the truth to Kara about his feelings and the kiss, but I’m equally (if not more) grateful that she didn’t kiss him back. We don’t need a romance between those two, especially when we already have Sanvers and the two Martians to keep us warm at night.

Also: Mon-El is a poor man’s Cyclops with those clothes and the sunglasses. Get it together, Daxamite.

The Budding Martian Romance

Since I sped through Young Justice all those years ago, I have loved M’gann M’orzz. It was my hope that she would be another ray of shining light on Supergirl. However, the writers (rightly so) took M’gann another direction and played her more off of J’onn, revealing her White Martian heritage rather early on in the show. I love the bitter, broken M’gann because it not only affords her character more depth, but it brings out a darkness in J’onn we haven’t seen. It seems almost uncharacteristic to watch this man who took in two girls as his own lash out with hatred, bordering on that brink of despair because he’s been their stable rock, but it’s necessary. And it’s even more necessary that when J’onn is compelled to save a member of the race who killed his family, that these girls, his daughters as far as I’m concerned, are there to be his strength.

J’onn: “Hate becomes your reason for living when you’ve lost everything that you loved.”

J’onn and M’gann have a history that goes so much deeper than any other relationship on the show. M’gann didn’t want to be his friend because at the end of the day, she didn’t believe she deserved his kindness. But she is selfless and ultimately good, so when J’onn needed her, she gave him what little she had left. In turn, when M’gann was attacked psychically by her own kind, J’onn broke down their final barrier and bonded with M’gann to save her from her memories.

M’gann: “I wanted to be your friend. I couldn’t bring your people back to life, but I could make you feel less alone.”
J’onn: “I’m here with you. I see you. You are my friend, M’gann M’orzz. You are forgiven.”

I didn’t think any couple would come close to eliciting the emotions from me that Sanvers did. And while M’gann and J’onn are quite on that level, I adore them all the same.

Random Thoughts

WHERE THE FUCK IS LENA.

Supergirl airs Mondays on the CW at 8pm EST.

Peter Capaldi is Leaving ‘Doctor Who’ This Christmas

Bilal Mian

January 30, 2017

Peter Capaldi is on his way out as the 12th Doctor on BBC’s Doctor Who.

Capaldi’s departure was announced early today on Jo Whiley’s BBC Radio 2 show. “One of the greatest privileges of being Doctor Who is to see the world at its best,” Capaldi said. “From our brilliant crew and creative team working for the best broadcaster on the planet, to the viewers and fans whose endless creativity, generosity and inclusiveness points to a brighter future ahead. I can’t thank everyone enough. It’s been cosmic.”

Also departing alongside the 12th Doctor will be writer and executive producer Steven Moffat. “For years before I ever imagined being involved in Doctor Who, or had ever met the man, I wanted to work with Peter Capaldi,” Moffat said. “I could not have imagined that one day we’d be standing on the TARDIS together. Like Peter, I’m facing up to leaving the best job I’ll ever have, but knowing I do so in the company of the best, and kindest and cleverest of men, makes the saddest of endings a little sweeter. But hey, it’s a long way from over. Peters’ amazing, fiery, turbulent Doctor is still fighting the good fight, and his greatest adventures are yet to come. Monsters of the universe, be on your guard – Capaldi’s not done with you yet!”

The 10th season will also bring in a new companion, Bill, played by Pearl Mackie, and Matt Lucas’ Nardole. David Suchet and Michelle Gomez are set for guest appearances.

Capaldi has had a long history with the Doctor Who franchise. He first appeared in an episode from 2008, The Fires of Pompeii, playing Caecilius.

Capaldi will return in the next season for 12 episodes in April, followed by the Christmas Special when the next regeneration will take place. No official word has come down on who will take up the mantle of the 13th Doctor.

NBC Renews ‘The Good Place’ for a Second Season

Bilal Mian

January 30, 2017

NBC’s hit freshman comedy The Good Place, from executive producer and creator Michael Schur, is returning for a full-season order of 13 episode.

“Mike Schur has always had one of the most fertile and imaginative minds in comedy, but what he brought us with the first season of ‘The Good Place’ was just extraordinary,” announced Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment. “We absolutely can’t wait to see where these characters go, literally, in season two. A big thank you to Mike, the writers and cast for delivering a series in which we all take such enormous pride.”

In its rookie season, The Good Place has averaged a 1.9 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.1 million viewers overall in “live plus seven day” figures from Nielsen Media Research, improving the timeslot by +36% over NBC’s Thursday 8:30 average last season. The show’s Jan. 19 season finale delivered 5.2 million viewers after three days of time-shifted and video-on-demand viewing, for the show’s biggest L+3 audience since Oct. 27.

The Good Place stars Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto and D’Arcy Carden.

In addition to executive producing, Schur serves as writer and showrunner. David Miner, Morgan Sackett and Drew Goddard also executive produce. “The Good Place” is produced by Universal Television, Fremulon and 3 Arts Entertainment.

‘Arrow’ Review: “Who Are You?”

Yvonne Tang

January 27, 2017

Arrow
Season 5, Episode 10: “Who Are You?”
Original Air Date: January 25th, 2017
Grade: B

Quite honestly, I did not expect much from this episode of Arrow. The plot seemed overused and tired, like the writers were trying to wring out what was left of Katie Cassidy’s character, Laurel Lance. It’s too late to bring Laurel back: the damage is done, and this week’s episode was like trying to hit the fans while they were down. Those were my thoughts before the episode aired, at least.

I was pleasantly surprised when “Who Are You?” aired, however, to find that if not tepid and dull (for a midseason premiere), the episode managed to be meaningful, in a way where we were able to learn more about Earth-2 Laurel Lance and her origin story. Not to mention, that TALIA AL GHUL was introduced (in the last five seconds), Diggle was back in prison (with the district attorney helping him), and we saw some major Rene/Curtis bromance ensue. Not particularly in that order.

The episode starts right where we left off in the mid-season finale, in the scene where Oliver is in the Arrow Cave standing with a back-from-the-dead Laurel Lance. Oliver delivers something along the lines of, “How are you still alive?” (But with no suspicion at all, because for whatever reason he had no doubt Laurel was alive), and about this time I’m still incredulous that this will be a good episode, so I’m thinking “well, this explanation better be good. Realistic, even.”

And it was, much to my chagrin. It made sense that Sara would pull Laurel out of time and bring her on the Waverider, because god knows how science works on Thursday nights on the CW. (Editor’s note: Uhm…excuse me. Legends of Tomorrow is on Tuesday nights now. Sheesh.)

Hold on– did I just miss something? Oliver Queen– the same Oliver Queen who shot Barry in the back for not canvassing an area before a fight–the same Oliver Queen who’s ridiculously untrusting and suspicious of everyone because of “5 years on an island”, immediately believed that the person who was dead for half a year has come back? In fact, the second he learns Laurel is back, he decides to throw a party. Rubbing it on thickly, now are we? It sometimes seems to me that Oliver Queen is whoever he needs to be to fit with the plot. I don’t enjoy watching a show where the lead character has a very abstract personality; it makes things too hard to decipher and predict.

Meanwhile, Felicity didn’t believe it for a second. God bless her soul. Let me just hit you for a meme for a sec.

Felicity was honestly the only normal character in the episode.

Ugh, I hate memes. I don’t know why I just did that. Moving on, remember how I said Diggle was in prison again? Unexplained part of the plot: So, apparently Diggle was caught at the end of the finale when Lyla called him saying “Come back, something’s wrong with JJ.” So, where’s Lyla and JJ during this whole mess where Diggle is about to be killed by the general guy? Also, does this imply that Lyla helped the Army ambush/arrest Diggle, or did she actually think JJ was in trouble? Maybe this part will be addressed next episode.

Next, Felicity analyzes the DNA she took from “Laurel” and finds out that its Black Siren from Earth-2. (Confused? Check out the episode “Invincible” from the Flash.) Black Siren basically disses sweet vulnerable Laurel from Earth-1, attacks Rory and Felicity, and runs away when Oliver runs in.

Later, Black Siren reveals that she only turned onto a darker path the moment her lover, Oliver Queen, died on the Queen’s Gambit, which mind you, is the actual plotline of Earth-2. Her heartbreak made her become the villain. And hell, if this part of the episode didn’t hit me hard. Black Siren was Laurel Lance, just as Black Canary was too. The circumstances of her life were similar to that of Earth-1 Laurel, except for what happened on the yacht. Sorry if this is getting confusing. I can call Earth-2 Laurel, “Fred,” if you want.

Felicity, being home girl who actually is as smart as she pretends, uses water to track Laurel back to Prometheus. Oliver is mad about this genius plan for like two whole minutes because he’s cornered the market on not trusting people and he’ll be damned that Felicity tries to steal his emo way of life. They follow Laurel back to a creepy warehouse, still in abundance in Star City, despite the whole “near extinction of life because of villains in warehouses” thing. The Green Arrow and Prometheus fight for twelve seconds before Oliver has to save Felicity from Earth-2 Laurel. He does so without any damage to her ear drums (only to her hand) and the day is saved! Oliver smiles. (We’re doomed.)

The recurring theme of this episode was how someone’s path could go different ways depending on the way their lives go.

“The circumstances are what make a thing poison or nectar. ”

– Oliver Queen tryna be wise while he actually took that quote from someone else

Now, if Earth-2 Laurel (or Fred) was telling the truth, I don’t know, because she later said “that version of me never existed”, so maybe she was lying to manipulate Oliver.

So, in conclusion:

Cons:

Little to no mention about the fact that Billy Malone died like yesterday by Oliver’s hand.
Also, no one talked about the fact that Lyla and JJ presumably helped arrest Diggle.

Pros:

At least there was an interesting lesson hidden in the episode (poison and nectar and whatnot).
Three words: Talia. Al. Ghul.

Watch Arrow 8/7c on the CW Wednesday nights.

‘Shadowhunters’ Cast Will Tudor as Sebastian

Nicole C

January 26, 2017

Shadowhunters made a major casting announcement today as Will Tudor is set to play Sebastian in the series and will make his debut in the first episode of season 2B. This is a huge deal as he is a major character in The Mortal Instruments novels and has a complicated relationship with Clary (Katherine McNamara) and Jace (Dominic Sherwood).

Sebastian comes from the London Institute and arrives in New York after befriending one of the show’s main characters. This is a departure from the books where he was originally from the Paris Institute. Speaking to TVLine, showrunner Todd Slavkin explained that they are putting their own spin on Sebastian and truly want fans to be surprised. With the sudden death of Jocelyn Fray/Fairchild (Maxim Roy) from last episode, fans are getting interesting new narratives but the series is still keeping with the spirit of the world that Cassandra Clare created.

Tudor was Olyvar in Game of Thrones and Odi in Humans.

Interestingly enough, Slavkin also said that they originally had Tudor speak with an American accent but after seeing his reel they decided that using his British accent was the way to go and have his character come from the UK.

Watch his special message to the fans below:

Meet the handsome @WillTudor1, who will play Sebastian on #Shadowhunters. We are so excited to welcome you to the Shadow Fam! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/vOGQaAXETe

— Shadowhunters (@ShadowhuntersTV) January 26, 2017

Here’s a little tease of Clary and Sebastian together courtesy of Katherine McNamara!

Clary & Sebastian… and so we finally meet… Welcome @WillTudor1! #ShadowhuntersSeason2 pic.twitter.com/NpIzv20S5N

— Katherine McNamara (@Kat_McNamara) January 26, 2017

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

In The Season 2 Premiere, ‘The Magicians’ Are Royally Screwed

Nicole C

January 25, 2017

The Magicians are finally back and their world has become bigger and even more crazy. In the season 2 premiere, the squad struggles to make sense of their utter defeat and come up with a brilliant a new plan, all the while continuing to adjust to their new surroundings in Fillory.

When we last left them, Penny had lost both his hands, Margo and Eliot were unconscious, and Alice had her throat slashed. Julia had just stuck the Leo blade against The Beast’s neck (that she took from the chosen one) and proposed a deal. They quickly vanish leaving Quentin the only one with minor scrapes at the shed. Last season we also started to explore Fillory and met a host of characters including the god Ember who was not fairytale like at all. What great fun to see that life in this enchanted land isn’t so different from Earth, full of lots of dark entities with nefarious agendas.

Read below for the biggest moments from this week’s season 2 premiere.

The squad survives their encounter with The Beast/Martin Chatwin

Believing that he’s the only one to still alive, Quentin goes on a mad dash through the enchanted forest trying to find help for his slain friends. He comes across a witch who seems to be living in some kind of gingerbread house. She claims that she’s really more of a healer and a gardening enthusiast, sure lady. Before aiding him however, she wants to get paid. A desperate Q agrees has no choice but agree to give her a vial of his blood and they race back to the shed where a very much alive Alice emerges.

Thanks to Ember’s contribution last season, Ms. Quinn is a little hard to kill right now and she cauterizes Penny’s wrists and revives Margo and Eliot.

Q dismisses the healer but she warns him that he should be wary of creatures in Fillory because they only look whimsical. Amen to that.

The Wellspring is nearly empty

Back in the shed, the squad decides that they should drink from the Wellspring to get some power in case The Beast shows back up. Only Alice is able to touch the small metal ball that opens the protected door to the well on the floor. They discover that the enchanted water is nearly gone because Martin drank so much from it. When they tried to retrieve the bucket to get a drink, an earthquake suddenly hits, leading them believe that doing anything with the Wellspring was too dangerous because it had a direct effect on Fillory.

Julia makes a deal with The Beast

The Beast takes Julia to a Chuckee Cheese like establishment and over drinks and pizza they come to an agreement. Julia sets up a contract between them where he must agree to help her kill Reynard the trickster fox god and until the god’s death he must not attempt to harm her or any of friends or else the Leo Blade will kill him. In exchange once Reynard was dead she would put down the weapon and he can claim it.

Penny and Margo head to the healing river

The team decides to head to the Armory (in the Whitespire castle where the kings and queens of Fillory resided) so that they might find some battle magic spells that might help them in defeating The Beast. However Penny rightfully brings up that his hands are in a box. Yea whoops! So Q says that he can go to the healing river where he might get healed. Margo volunteers to go with him because she figures they could use all the healing water they could given what they are up against.

At a river, a mysterious man shows up who claims to aid those who need the magic of the water. He tells Margo that she’ll need to help Penny stitch his hands back on him. After, the traveller goes in butt naked and plunges himself into the cold rushing waters. But thankfully it works and as the two magicians are preparing to leave, the river helper tries to sell them stuff. Penny tells him that they have to go and so the other man nods and asks for a tip of 20 gold pieces because this is Chatwin’s Torrent. Does that mean he is collecting payment for The Beast? Penny loses his cool and proceeds to insult the guy, basically telling him to F off. Not a good move because the dude also happens to be a magic wielder and does something to the traveller’s hands that is probably going to bite him in the ass later on.

Crowns anyone?

Before they can get into the Armory, Eliot and the others need to get crowned to be fully recognized as the rulers of Fillory. Q remembers that there’s a specific coronation place that can be accessed through the Rainbow Bridge (named so because of the flowers all over it). Martin was able to find it via a spell and Eliot is able to perform it as well. Penny and Margo catch up with the rest of the group (via a magical note that they sent) and together they all cross the bridge, which is a beautiful site to behold. Once they get to the other side they meet a very dead looking knight who gets reanimated and explains that he must test them first before they can receive the crowns of Fillory. Only children of earth can be their bearers and the trial is designed to ferret out any imposters. Amazingly the test is on 90s trivia!

First question: What popular American television program stars actor Tim Daly?

Second question: This hit single is performed by offspring of famous entertainers. (Hint: Beach Boys)

The answer is Wings and Hold On by Wilson Phillips fyi.

Eliot then goes into a monologue from Dirty Dancing and the knight acknowledges him as your majesty. The next scene is a touching moment for Eliot, Margo, Q, and Alice as they take their turn to get crowned, while Penny watches on deeming the whole thing ridiculous. They become High King Eliot the spectacular, High Queen Margo the destroyer, Queen Alice the wise, and King Quentin the moderately social maladjusted.

Alice and Quentin try to be friends again, sorta

After the impromptu ceremony Alice tells Q that she accepts his apology and admits that she’s mad about losing him more than the fact that he cheated on her. She also confesses that she’s worried she’ll freeze up again when its time to face The Beast a second time. Quentin tells her that being cool under pressure is something that everyone has to practice doing and so he takes her aside and has her do a nature spell without holding back. Alice performs it and is able to grow a full on tree from one seed. Feeling the adrenaline rush from unleashing her potential, she kisses Q though quickly says they aren’t getting back together. Confused but going with his hormones, he says ok and they resume kissing.

Martin gives Julia some advice

The Beast asks Julia to get him some items in preparation for a spell he needs to trap Reynard and after she gets back he asks her why the fox god didn’t kill her along with her friends. Julia is reluctant to talk about it but he connects the dots and figures out that she had been raped, just like he had as a child by Christopher Plover. Martin then suggests that that he can help her get over this whole thing by removing her shade, the part of her that makes her feel pain (and also love). Essentially it’s her humanity. He explains that he has plans and that she could be part of it as long as she severs her shade because it is what cripples her (just as it did him) from being strong. Julia looks tempted but she tells him no thank you.

Eventually she asks him why does he want to help her with her shade and he says that she would be able to live life and be happy. He volunteers to show her and so he temporarily disconnects it from her being, but Julia is quick to tell him to put it back because she needs it. Martin seems to see a kindred spirit in her of sorts given their similar experience and he gives some surprisingly sage advice that getting her revenge will likely destroy her and there’s no glory in that.

The Armory

At the castle, the squad gets taken to the Armory except most of the books are gone. The leftover manuscripts are mainly useless until Alice finds one with notes on some serious battle magic. The catch? It was written on a Brakebills notebook. Looks like they’ve got to back to school after all. Poor Eliot though is going to be left behind as the other three head back to try and find some spells strong enough to combat Martin. He and Q share a vulnerable moment where the high king faces the reality that he might never see his friends again and live out his days in Fillory (because time moves differently there). It’s a sobering but Eliot diffuses the somberness by asking the other magician to squeeze his ass while they hug it out.

Oh how I have missed The Magicians! Season 2 dives right back into the mayhem as the grad students try to figure out how to get themselves out the deep well of crap they are currently in. The show continues to be a great melding of fantasy and reality, where characters are flawed with their own agendas and motivations. Fillory is just as dangerous as Earth except there Quentin and the squad are now responsible for solving the problems of an entire realm. It will be great fun to see how they are able to manage rescuing Fillory, themselves, and magic as a whole from dying with the mental, emotional, and magical skills of graduate students. They’ll have to prove to themselves and to everyone else that they are up to the task.

Bring on the mayhem!

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

For more on The Magicians click HERE.

‘Supergirl’ Returns To Cheesy Form in Kevin Smith-directed “Supergirl Lives”

Jen Stayrook

January 24, 2017

This week on Supergirl: Kara loses her powers, Sanvers is adorable, Millenials don’t know what an MRI looks like.

Spoilers through Supergirl season two, episode nine: “Supergirl Lives.”

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for us lady-folk, what with Trump trying to feed Americans a daily dose of Red Pill. Thankfully, we have real-life Supergirl Melissa Benoist out at the Women’s March and TV Supergirl back on air. It’s the little things that get us through the week. In the mid-season return, directed by the super dorky Kevin Smith, “Supergirl Lives,” Supergirl is having a less adventurous time than her IRL counterpart, spending her days catching boring jewel thieves and bad-mouthing Guardian.

I know that as superheroes go, Supergirl is still a baby hero and that not all baddies know quite how to deal with her yet, but honestly, who steals jewelry in National City and only brings two missiles?

The Case of the Missing Plotforce

The dull nature of her superhero days causes Kara to feel “betwixt and between,” even leading her to go to Mon-El for advice. Mon-El, the same dude who brought the insides of a stuffed bear for Thanksgiving dinner. He doesn’t help Kara because honestly, Mike is only good for a laugh and the writers aren’t sure what to do with him. (More on that later.)

Kara heads back to work where she learns about a missing girl and against Snapper’s judgment, she goes all in on a rescue mission. Finally! A real hero case for our little puppy! Things must seem awfully tame for our adorable bag of jelly beans after saving Earth-1 from the Dominators. But hey! A mission is a mission and Kara doesn’t half-ass her hero duties.

Mon-El tags along because he’s always oddly near Kara at all times. Like, for real. Kara, I know you’re all naive and trustworthy, but Mike needs a few other friends. They track the missing persons to a clinic that…posts blood test results on the internet? More question marks? I mean, I’m all for doctor transparency, but this dude LITERALLY introduced himself with a villainous “Well, well, well, well.” He doesn’t exactly seem like the type who would follow through on paperwork for potential slaves. Anyway, he goes full creeper and notes that Kara and Mon-El are “strapping millennials” and mother of God, Kara, we need you to be less of a trusting sunflower sometimes. That phrase set off at least seventeen of the “creeper” alarms in my head.

But Kara is a hero, so off she goes into a totally-not-dangerous WAREHOUSE where Dr. McCreepy “sets them up” for an MRI. Now, I know healthcare in the United States is shit, but I also know that Kara has seen at least 8 or 9 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy so she knows DAMN WELL that an MRI machine does not look like alien technology. KARA. YOU PRECIOUS BUBBLE. YOU SPARKLING SPAGHETTI NOODLE. GET IT TOGETHER.

Kara beats up the alien slavers and puts on her “no bullshit” face and tells Mon-El to get Alex and the DEO there ASAP. I’ll concede that Mon-El is likable when he’s doing the whole, “I don’t know Earth culture but I’m madly monotheistic” bits, but he’s also incredibly selfish. Kara tells him EXACTLY what to do to save them, but he’s a dude, a dude who has to save the girl–even though he’s literally never done that–so instead of listening to her and her years of expertise, he thinks he knows best and he follows her instead, trapping them both on an unknown planet without help.

There, they realize that they’re on Maldoria, also known as “Slaver’s Moon,” and it orbits a red moon, which means, no superpowers. Not even enough powers to zap Mike one good time because he was a total freaking Goofus. They meet Joe, a lovable rogue alien who feeds them Thanagarian Snare Beast, in case y’all forgot Kevin Smith directed the episode. Kara and Mike surrender but quickly turn the tables when Kara inspires the captured human slaves to rebel. They fight their way to freedom and run into Alex who has her “Kara is in Danger” Meter turned up to 11. They escape the slave planet, narrowly missing out on a chance to be owned by the best dude the galaxy has to offer:

While I’m mostly okay with the events of the episode’s main plot, I’m irritated that we didn’t get to see J’onn have to face a planet used entirely by slavers. It seems a poor oversight by the writers to just leave him out of this mission given his history and all because presumably the DEO can’t afford a breathing apparatus for J’onn to use on Maldoria’s surface. Yellow sun grenades are in the budget, but a suit to help J’onn, THE LEADER OF THE DEO, breathe is just too much.

Winn and The Hero’s Journey

Winn, the ever-present comic relief on Supergirl, has a crisis of faith in “Supergirl Lives.” For most of his life, Winn has accepted his role as the IT guy behind the scenes. He’s never going to don a mask and fist fight a dude with a gun and he’s okay with that, because honestly, why fight when you could create awesome technology? So when James, drunk on his newfound heroism, puts Winn into that dangerous situation wherein he almost dies, Winn, understandably snaps. I want to like James and have good things happen to him because I’ve seen him be awesome, but James as Guardian is kind of a douche rocket. He doesn’t care about Winn’s well-being. He only cares about the next time HE gets to save the day. Even Mike isn’t THAT selfish.

And it’s that action that leads me to being wholly unable to support James as Guardian. I hope when Kara finds out she burns holes into his smug shield and auto-tuned voice box. If James doesn’t care about the ONE guy who supported his dream from day one, he doesn’t deserve to be a hero. And even though Winn eventually came around and was cute with his celebratory speech to James, I don’t want the two of them to be a duo anymore.

James didn’t help Winn with ANY of his problems this episode. Alex did. Alex built him back up and told him that, “Nobody gets better by running away.” (Which, by the way, Alex, baby, sugar pumpkin, you need to listen to your own advice.) Of course, Alex then proceeded to leave Winn on his own to fight off a Maldorian, buuuutttttttt she at least listened to his feelings on the matter.

We all know that Winn has been beaten up more than once in his life, but sometimes I wish the show wouldn’t make light of the dorky IT dude. He’s a cool, comic relief but his pain and fears are probably the most realistic of anyone on the show.

We Need to Talk About Mike

I know that at the end of the episode Mon-El told Kara that he wanted to be a hero, too, and I’m sure that’s all well and good but I’m so over Mike. He dominated an entire episode so we could be beat over the head with the theory that, what? He’s Daxam royalty?

Mike is great for the occasional comic relief moment and I’m kind of digging the whole brother/sister comfort level between him and Kara, but he can’t be the focus, especially not without more background. Sure, we watched a Dominator (the creepy alien who bought the humans) bow to Mon-El, saving him from a Maldorian fighter, but all that did was reinforce the notion that Mon-El is probably the Daxam prince he referred to as “not being that great.” I’m guessing that the bow by the Dominator is what spurns Mon-El into realizing he wants to be a hero. As royalty, Mon-El would have been complicit in the Daxamites slaves trades and dealings with the Dominators. Given the heavy-headed hints at a Mon-El/Kara romance, I’m assuming that once they finally admit feelings for one another is when she also finds out he’s been lying to her. He’ll sacrifice his life to save Earth from the Dominators and Kara will weep and James will punch a pigeon.

(Note: instead of that oh-so-cliche romantic pairing, I’d love to genuinely see Kara and Mon-El become enemies. It’d be an awesome turn of events that would have to challenge their planets’ histories.)

Baby Gay Alex Makes a Boo Boo

For the past, oh, six episodes, Alex and Maggie have only had a handful of scenes together on Supergirl, but every damn week they are my highlight. Something about these two together makes me giddy in the pit of my stomach. Maybe it’s the reliability; maybe it’s the chemistry; maybe it’s my head-over-heels crush on Chyler Leigh. But every week, these two manage to reel me in with their puppy dog eyes and dimples and I’m hooked.

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED REVIEW FOR A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:

ALEX IS SUCH A DORK. CARRY ON.

After the end of the mid-season finale, with Maggie kissing Alex, I wasn’t sure how much happiness these two would be granted, but thank Rao it seems like the writers are intent on giving us some happy moments between the two. Maggie stays the night at Alex’s apartment and wears the smitten Danvers’ shirt, causing gays everywhere to have rainbow heart attacks. Alex has the cutest case of the black lung I’ve ever seen and she goes to work as a literal ray of sunshine.

Things aren’t all butterflies and puppies for Sanvers, however. Once Kara is in danger, Alex completely shuts down from Maggie. She pushes away Detective Dimples and focuses solely on her mission: save Kara. While it would be really easy to write off Alex as going from 0-100 in two seconds, it makes a ton of since when you look at how the Danvers sisters describe one another. I’m not saying this as a “who loves who” more kind of thing, but Kara tends to describe Alex as her adoptive sister a lot, whereas to Alex, Kara is her ENTIRE family. I think this speaks volumes about their dynamic and why Alex is so quick to toss Maggie aside when things get hairy. NOTHING will ever come before Kara to Alex. Kara’s job is to protect Earth. Alex’s job is to protect Kara.

Thankfully, Maggie knows the truth about Supergirl’s identity and she understands Alex’s need to put Kara first. And I don’t think that Maggie would EVER jeopardize their sisterly bond, but Maggie’s also a girl who has been hurt, a lot, so she needs to know that Alex isn’t going to do to her what others have: left her alone. GAH. THEY ARE SO CUTE I LOVE THEM.

Random Thoughts

Roulette was criminally underused this episode. Dichen Lachman has a booming presence on the show and I know this won’t be the last we see of her, but I’m heartbroken by how easily she was taken down in “Supergirl Lives.”

Related: Sometimes I’m baffled by “rules” for fighting in Supergirl. I know that we need to see her fail because otherwise her struggle becomes boring, but to watch her get hit and taken down by a second missile only to then rise above because of a YELLOW SUN GRENADE feels like a huge variation in skill level. I get it. We need the ups and downs, just sometimes they’re too unbelievable even for me.

That being said, nothing makes my heart sing more than Supergirl’s theme.

I miss Lena. How is she gonna save Supergirl in the mid-season finale and we don’t get a “thank you” scene between Kara and Lena? Also, I definitely wanted to watch Lena science her way out of that prison cell instead of listening to Mike whine about being selfish and not having hope and shit.

Livewire is in the preview for next week’s episode and I’m of the firm opinion that we CANNOT have Livewire without Cat Grant. Come on, CW. Do me this solid.

Supergirl airs Mondays on The CW at 8pm EST.

‘Shadowhunters’ Review: The Day of Wrath is Full of Sorrow

Nicole C

January 24, 2017

Spoilers through Shadowhunters season 2, episode 4.

In the latest episode of Shadowhunters, we were shocked by the sudden loss of an important character and the ramifications it will have in the entire shadow world. Here are some of the most notable moments:

Raphael gets seriously burned by Aldertree and seeks refuge with Magnus

When the Shadowhunters raid another vampire den and find 14 more mundanes drained of blood, Aldertree decides to take more drastic measures and tortures Raphael to incentivize him to deliver Camille. He has a concentrated UV laser that he uses to burn the vamp for motivation. Clearly the current New York Institute leader has no problem with stretching the lines of what’s allowed within the Accords.

Magnus decides to summon Camille and sends her to Idris

After healing Raphael’s wounds, Simon makes an appearance at the loft and the two vamps are about to brawl when the older creature realizes that the puzzle box contains Camille’s grave dirt. Apparently with it she can be summoned from anywhere and that is why she was having her killer snake guard it. However, Magnus is reluctant to turn her over to the Clave. He shares shares some of his past with Simon and tells him that when he lived in London in the 1800’s, he was in a very dark place. One night he was about to commit suicide by jumping of Black Friar’s Bridge and only Camille came to talk him off the ledge. He says that she’s not all bad and so it’s not easy for him to condemn her to the Clave, even though he can’t justify her current actions.

Eventually he has the two vampires run an errand for him on the guise of needing more ingredients and he summons Camille himself and traps her in a cage. This is the first time we are seeing the two immortals together and it’s an emotional scene. She tells him that she knows he’s afraid of being alone and in the end she is the only one who can be there for him forever and that’s why he will always love her. Magnus in turn says that she has sired hundreds of vampires and he can’t ever have children and so those he takes under his wing are his family. He won’t let Raphael suffer the consequences of her actions. If you’ve read the Mortal Instruments books, you’ll know that there is a deep history between Raphael and Magnus as the warlock had been the one to look after the vampire when he first turned many years ago.

Steeling himself, he decides to send Camille to Idris to answer for her crimes.

A demon-possessed Alec kills Jocelyn

Valentine arranged for a demon to infiltrate the Institute and it begins to possess Shadowhunters. While possessed, the victim is unaware of their actions and the creature uses them to rip people’s hearts out. It was shocking to see Clary come across Alec on the floor with a bloody hand and no recollection of what he’s done. In a panic she goes into her room and sees the dead body of her mother on the floor. HOLY CRAP. Jocelyn cannot be dead. No no no no! She and Luke finally shared a kiss and she can’t be gone. This is NOT OK.

Jocelyn’s death is a departure from the books and now Clary finds herself in the same position as Jace. They only have a crazy father left in their lives.

This event though changes the relationship between Clary and Alec where now it’s Clary who is angry and Alec being apologetic. The two watch the CCTV footage of the young Shadowhunter killing Jocelyn and it’s not pretty. He tries to say something to Clary but she is enraged and her focus is on destroying the demon.

Valentine invades the City of Bones to take the mortal sword and rescue Jace

Jace has not been having a pleasant time at the City of Bones. First he goes on trial where Aldertree asks him a series of uncomfortable questions, like is he in love with his sister. His only company is Hodge who is in the cell next door. However things go from bad to worse when Valentine attacks with other Circle members and uses Aldertree to open his son’s cell. The rogue Shadowhunter asks Jace to choose between rotting there for the rest of his life or joining him and having purpose. His son chooses to stay and when he gets released proceeds to kill Valentine’s minions. Dot is there though to protect her master and opens a portal so that they can get away. Aldertree tells Jace to get the mortal sword but instead he decides to save the other man’s life (a Circle member was about to stab him). The only good thing that came out of this was that now Aldertree owes Jace and he is allowed back into the Institute. Also, Valentine killed Hodge. RIP hot Hodge.

Izzy gets possessed

The final scene of the episode has Izzy being possessed by the demon and her pinning Alec down on the ground getting ready to rip his heart out. Unexpectedly Clary jumps up from behind and savagely knifes her. The creature is forced to remove itself from Izzy’s body and Clary slays it soon after. We get a glimpse of the Shadowhunter she can become with this act, one who doesn’t hesitate and gets the job done. Is this the fury of the Morgensterns surfacing?

In the aftermath though, Jocelyn is still dead and Clary has lost the only family she’s ever really had. In the next instance both Jace and Simon show up and Mr. Lewis is the one comforting his best friend. Mother and daughter only recently reunited and Jocelyn was supposed to go to Idris not be gone forever. Jace can only look on, unable to go to her with his conflicting feelings of feelings. Geez things are messy right now all around.

Other Important Moments:

Luke and Jocelyn’s passionate kiss
Clary going into the City of Bones to talk to Jace
Jace’s trial using the mortal sword
Magnus healing Raphael’s wounds like a mamma bear
Alec telling Magnus that they need to go on their real first date

Final Thoughts:

How will Valentine react to his wife being killed? From the first season we know that he was still obsessed with her and wanted his whole family to be reunited at some point.
What is Luke’s mindset going to be like after Jocelyn’s death? It was bittersweet that they got one last kiss before she was killed.
Will Jace mourn the mother he never really knew?
Clary is now going to be forced even more so to grow up and leave her childhood innocence behind.
How will Alec treat Clary now after this?
Is Jace in the clear after he saves Aldertree from the Circle?

You can catch Shadowhunters Mondays on Freeform at 8 PM.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Is The Next Chapter in the Skywalker Saga

Bilal Mian

January 23, 2017

Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be the official title of the eighth Star Wars film in the Skywalker saga.

The Last Jedi is written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is scheduled for release on December 15, 2017.

‘Dark Souls III: The Ringed City’ Announced

Bilal Mian

January 23, 2017

Dark Souls III: The Ringed City, the final DLC for the trilogy, has received its release date set from developer From Software.

Arriving on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, The Ringed City will launch on March 28, 2017 for $14.99.

The synopsis of the DLC can be found below:

At the close of the Age of Fire, as the world ends and all lands converge upon themselves, a lone adventurer descends into the madness of the earth and uncovers the secrets of the past.

The Ringed City is said to be at World’s End, as far as one can go…

Explore a brand new convoluted region, inhabited by new enemies, mysteries and characters. Fight your fight through The Ringed City with new armor, weapons and magic!

Along with the news of the final DLC came the announcement of the Game of the Year Edition, Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades edition – which includes Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City DLC. Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades will be available on April 21, 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Explore The Magicians Hall of Magic, You Won’t Regret It

Nicole C

January 20, 2017

Obsessed with Syfy’s The Magicians? You’ll want to check out the Hall of Magic, a new immersive experience into all things magic before it’s gone!

You’ll be transported to a different world where mystical things peek from every corner and your senses will be stimulated to new levels. From a whimsical room of flying books to an enchanted forest, the Hall of Magic is a unique treat that brings magical possibilities to life. One of the rooms even had a fortuneteller who had very mysterious readings with a tarot deck, crystals, and water. Want to know what it’s like to be a student at Brakebills? There’s a room for that. Feel like casting some spells of your own? There’s a room for that too.

With only a week away to the season 2 premiere of the show, the Hall of Magic is a wonderful experience for all fans of the show and of magic in general. The exhibit is currently being held at the William Vale Retail Center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and will be open to the public from January 20-29. Take a break from the mundane and go see it!

When we last left The Magicians, the squad is in Fillory and had just been bested by the Beast with Julia disappearing with him. She plans to make a deal to get her revenge on Reynard the Fox, a trickster god who killed the other members of Free Trader Beowulf (except Kady) while raping her as well. Will Jules get her revenge? Do the others survive? We’ll find out soon enough.

Check out our interviews with the cast and showrunners at New York Comic Con last year as they chatted about the upcoming season.

Also get up to speed on season 1 before the season 2 premiere next Wednesday HERE.

The Magicians airs Wednesdays 9/8 central on Syfy.

‘The Good Place’: “What’s My Motivation” Review

Alyssa Berkowitz

January 18, 2017

The Good Place
Season 1, Episode 11: “What’s My Motivation”
Original Air Date: January 12, 2017

Eleanor and Tahani’s friendship continues to blossom while trying to save Eleanor from The Bad Place and Michael learns the truth about Jianyu in last week’s episode “What’s My Motivation.”

Pobody’s Nerfect

The “Save Eleanor” dream team has convened in Michael’s office with their brand new shiny member Tahani. Tahani has made it her mission to ensure that her new best friend is not sent to eternal damnation in The Bad Place, and nothing stops Tahani when she is on a mission. She devises the perfect plan: Eleanor will perform good deeds in The Good Place to increase her “Good Deed” points and prove that she belongs. Michael has even constructed a point tracker fit bit so Eleanor can see how close she is to hitting The Good Place average of roughly a 1,000,000 points. The only downside though is that her current point total is at -4,008.

Tahini leads Eleanor to the Yogurt shop to commence the “Eleanor Good Deed Tour” by greeting all of the Yogurt Shop Patrons:

Eleanor: “There has to be something bigger I can do than holding the door and waving. There’s no way every Walmart greeter is in The Good Place.”
Tahani: “Wal….mart?”
Eleanor: “It’s a place regular people go. You haven’t heard of”

After holding the door for a dozen or so people there is no increase in her total score. Tahani correctly concludes everyone hates her and therefore she is receiving no points (I really do not understand this logic here). Tahani has the perfect plan to remedy this: a focus group.

So I know Tahani calls this gathering a “focus group” but in no way shape or form is it a focus group. A focus group would be having a group of people discuss with each other, and a moderator a specific topic where there is a structured or semi-structured outline of questions. This was basically an open forum for the neighbors to air their grievances over why they hated Eleanor. One resident is upset because she flew into a dead turkey carcass during the trash storm; another is angry because the sinkholes destroyed her cafe twice; a third man is upset because he also fell into said sinkhole.

This time Eleanor comes up with a plan to fix her problem, she is going to throw a party to remind the neighborhood of how good The Good Place was before she screwed it all up. That night she invites everyone to a lavish party at Tahani’s place to apologize for the pain she has caused. But before she speaks to the masses, Tahani delivers an amazing introduction:

Tahani: “She’s kind, she’s humble. She’s the Walmart of friends. (to Eleanor) Did I use that word right?”

Eleanor takes the stage to apologize, yet again, but no one seems to be accepting her apology. One woman even asks “What can you possibly say to us that will make up for your actions.” Eleanor has no good response to this, and with a shrug of her shoulders and an awkward smile replies:

“Pobody’s Nerfect.”

Someone in the back lets out a giggle and just like a slow clap the laughter spreads across the room and all of Eleanor’s transgressions are forgiven. Even with this blanket forgiveness, Eleanor’s point total has barely increased. Finally, it hits Eleanor, any good deeds she performed were for naught because her motive was corrupt. At the core, she was only being nice to people so she could stay in The Good Place, and therefore they were not true good deeds. The only way that Eleanor can get those good deed points is if she leaves The Good Place.

Chidi and Real Eleanor

This was a yawnfest of a subplot. It all begins when Real Eleanor disrupts her daily morning ritual with Chidi by placing a note saying “I Love You” inside of her soulmates soft-boiled eggs (maybe it’s medium boiled, I have no idea). After she explains that it is she, not the egg, that loves Chidi he begins to freak out.

Real Eleanor: “No need to respond.”
Chidi: “Oh Great”
Real Eleanor: “Well at some point you’ll respond, right? I just meant no rush.”

He goes straight to Eleanor and explains his whole dilemma starting from the very beginning of time:

Eleanor: “Dude, if you do the Chidi thing where you have to re-explain the entire world before asking a question, we are both going to grow old and die again”

Chidi is having a moral dilemma about whether he actually loves the Real Eleanor or if him assuming that she is his soul mate is clouding his judgment. I think it is safe to say that after this interaction, Real Eleanor was NOT his pick for soulmate at the end of last week.

Jianyu and Janet

Jianyu is upset because he doesn’t want to hide his love for Janet.

Jason: “I wish we were in Florida, kissing outside near a swamp. With some old tires in it, watching a flamingo trying to mate with somebody’s old gun. I want us to have the life we deserve.”

Just like the life he deserved when he was alive and living in his hometown of Jacksonville, “one of the top then swamp cities in Northeastern Florida.” Jason knew that if he wanted to become more than a “pre-successful DJ” he would have to move down to Miami, but that would require some dough. So, Jason devises a foolproof plan with his buddy Pillboy to get said money. Here is the plan: First, Jason will hide in a safe that the pair somehow acquired. Second, Pillboi will pose as safe installing Mario wannabe and install the safe in the office of a pizza joint.

Pillboi: “Just point to where the guacamole man is and I’ll install the safe.”

I am not sure exactly how they planned to steal the money or anything after that because their plan is thwarted when the cashier calls the cops. And sadly for Jason not only did his plan not work, but he suffocated to death while waiting in that safe. (I have to say, Pillboi posing as a safe installer cracked me up all of the five times I rewatched that scene.)

But Jason wants to make the most of his time in The Good Place and he convinces Janet that they should tell her “dad” Michael about their marriage. Michael does not take the news well at all. He is confused, upset, angry and trying to understand both how this could happen and how he could be such a huge failure. He makes it clear that he in no way supports their union and after threatening to reboot Janet again, the Jason and Janet decide to make a run for it.

Jason and Janet arrive at the train station where they find Eleanor who is also trying to run away. Janet reveals that there is actually a neutral place, outside of both The Good Place and The Bad Place where Mindy St. Claire lives. That is where the three of them should escape to. During this revelation, Shawn the Judge disembarks from the train and Eleanor and co. take this opportunity to hijack his train and steer it straight to Mindy St. Claire’s.

Other Things

I love Tahani and Eleanor being friends SO MUCH.
Can we talk about how everyone hated Eleanor for a second? I do not understand how/why these guys were so harsh and unforgiving to Eleanor at first. Aren’t these guys supposed to be the MOST forgiving people in the universe? Isn’t that how they got to The Good Place? It seemed strange that they wouldn’t condone Eleanor’s sins to keep her out of The Bad Place.
If the Real Jianyu was an 8-year old monk, does that mean Tahani’s soulmate is really an 8-year old?

Nintendo Switch – Why the hate? Just wait!

James Mikolajewski

January 18, 2017

Since the official kickoff of the Nintendo Switch back in November, and the major Nintendo conference held last Thursday, reactions have been a bit on the extreme side. Whether you’re a die-hard Nintendo fan, such as myself, a casual gamer, or a hardcore player, everyone seemed to have an opinion on the future of the Nintendo Switch. As you’ve probably already guessed, most of them are on the negative side.

There were the typical memes and fan-fueled Twitter rants, but the hate seemed to go a little bit deeper this time around. Kat Bailey over at US Gamer went as far to say that the presentation was “pretty much the Switch’s worst case scenario“. The fine folks over at Kinda Funny laughed at the pricing structure and delivery of news from the once lauded Japanese company. So, why so much hate before the system even launches March 3, 2017?

What we know so far

Let’s start from the beginning with the news delivered at the conference back on January 12. President of Nintendo, Tatsumi Kimishima, kicked things off by announcing the release date of the system as March 3, 2017, and the price of $299.99. This caused mixed reactions. People were extremely excited for a March 3 release, as many, including myself, saw the console landing at the end of the month. The caveat, however, is the price.

Many expected the Nintendo Switch to launch at $250, as both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 are now at the price. What makes matter’s worse, is that both of those aforementioned systems include a pack-in game, such as Gears of War 4 or Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and the Nintendo Switch does not. While I understand that the Nintendo Switch launching at $300 is a great price (it’s actually the 4th cheapest console launches of all time), it has to go up against two systems with a great library of games and a cheaper price point.

The other price problem comes with the cost of the controllers and accessories. The new input for the Nintendo Switch, the joycons, have an amazing amount of tech jammed into the controllers, and are smaller than your typical Wii remote. However, priced at $80 a pair, the average consumer won’t understand why the cost is so high. Sure, many argue that the joycons technically count as two controllers in every box, making them a reasonable $40 a piece, but the average shopper will only see dollar signs.

It doesn’t get much better when examining the other accessories. The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller comes in at $70, and the Nintendo Switch Joycon Grip, a simple piece of plastic to mount your joycons on, comes in between $15-$40, depending on if you want them charge your batteries while you play.

Games, which seems to follow suit, is another sticky spot for the company. With the launch of the Nintendo Switch, we are only going to see 5 launch games. While one of those games is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which has an absolutely-must-see trailer, many people don’t seem to be clamoring for the likes of 1-2-Switch or Super Bomberman R. Many fail to remember that Nintendo proved in the past you only need one great game to launch a system (we’re looking at you Super Mario 64), however, many have forgotten that quality should always trump quantity.

Don’t Hate. Just Wait!

As you can see above, Nintendo has myriad of issues to work through to win over the general public. However, most of the issues people seem to have with the Nintendo Switch can easily be solved by waiting it out.

Not Enough Games

One of the biggest complaints people seem to have is the lack of games at launch. However, if you look into the future, the Switch looks much brighter. As mentioned earlier, the Switch kicks of with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but is quickly followed by Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in April. Fans of online shooters can get their fix in July with the launch of Splatoon 2, and Nintendo will be ending their year strong with a holiday window release of Super Mario Odyssey. Finally, that doesn’t include the long list of games in-between like Arms, Snipperclips, Dragon Quest X and XI, Rime, Xenoblade Chronciles 2, and even The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, just to name a few.

Console Price

Like any great product, overtime the price can lower. If you remember back to 3 years ago, Xbox One launched at $499 and the PlayStation 4 launched at $399, and neither came with a game packed-in. Fast-forward to 2017, and you can get either system with a game (and sometimes an additional controller) for less than the launch price of the Nintendo Switch. Also, around Christmas time, expect the Switch to come with a pack-in title.

Hopefully, these ramblings have opened your eyes to why Nintendo isn’t Nintendoomed quite yet. If you give the time for the games to come, the price to fall, and get an opportunity for some hands-on time with the system, maybe you could give it chance before automatically seeing it as failed from the start. Nintendo has surprised us many times in the past, and I feel they just may do it again.

‘Shadowhunters’: Who Is Maia Roberts?

Nicole C

January 17, 2017

SHADOWHUNTERS - Everyone is on the hunt for Jace, but all for their own reasons in “Parabatai Lost,” an all new episode of “Shadowhunters,” airing MONDAY, JANUARY 16 (8:00 – 9:00 PM EDT) on Freeform. - (Freeform/John Medland) ALISHA WAINWRIGHT

This week’s Shadowhunters introduced us to new characters and none more exciting to meet than werewolf Maia Roberts played by the talented Alisha Wainright.

We first meet her as a bartender in the Hunter’s Moon, a dive bar that Jace (Dominic Sherwood) takes temporary refuge in after fleeing from Valentine’s (Alan Van Sprang) ship and washing up on shore without Clary (Katherine McNamara). Maia offers him a free drink and lets him use their phone so that he can contact Izzy (Emeraude Toubia). He manages to find out that Alec (Matthew Daddario) needs his help after his parabatai falls into a coma and agrees to meet them at Magnus’s (Harry Shum Jr.) loft. Jace recognizes her as a werewolf due to the gashes on her neck. However the bartender has other plans for him and wants Jace to help find the Circle members who kidnapped Gretel (Joanne Jensen). Except he gets recognized as being one of them and a fight ensues. Jace just barely manages to escape and ends up being tracked by Maia through his wounds.

In another scene Luke (Isaiah Mustafa) asks her and another pack member to confirm that Jace had indeed come by the Hunter’s Moon. She insists to her alpha that the young shadowhunter must pay for his crimes but the police detective is adamant that justice will only be served if Jace really is the one doing Valentine’s dirty work. Luke knows how manipulative his former parabatai is and isn’t so sure that Jace actually killed Gretel.

Injured, the suspect in question is taken to the hospital where the two werewolves find him. While trying to give them the slip, a mundane doctor catches him in the hallway and we see Maia transforming into a wolf. The transition was such a treat and to so much fun to see the practical effects. Thankfully though Jocelyn (Maxim Roy) makes an appearance and helps her son get away.

When we see Maia next she is with three other wolves near Magnus’s loft in Brooklyn and they are about to pounce on Jace. Luke and Clary catches up with them in the knick of time and Clary confirms that Valentine killed Gretel. Just as one of the wolves goes in for the bite, Izzy portals over and uses her whip to subdue the creature. Luke also orders his pack members to heel and reluctantly they bow to his authority.

Maia is an important character in the Mortal Instruments series and eventually becomes friends with Clary, Simon (Alberto Rosende), Jace, Alec and Isabelle. In the books she was originally from New Jersey where she had a difficult childhood, enduring abuse from her older brother Daniel (who dies in a car accident). She becomes a werewolf after being bit by her first boyfriend Jordan Kyle. Jordan and his family soon moved away and after she turns for the first time runs away to Manhattan. Eventually she found her way to Luke’s pack.

Brave and headstrong, Maia goes through many trials and tribulations in the books but always remain a loyal and caring person. She fights for what she believes is right and defends those she cares about. Maia even dates Simon for awhile, though he happens to be seeing both her and Izzy at the same time. Awkward.

Maia goes on to take over the pack for Luke after she fights Rufus, a werewolf who had survived the massacre of the Praetor Lupus (a order that made it their mission to help young downworlders). At the time Bat Velasquez was the acting leader while Luke was in Alicante to attend a council meeting. Rufus challenged Bat and then Maia challenged him before he could finish the other werewolf off. Fighting dirty, she ends up blinding the much larger man and becomes the head of the pack. After the events of the Dark War, Luke decides to retire and fully hands over leadership to Maia and in addition she becomes the new werewolf representative to the council as well.

An interesting and compelling individual, Maia is a welcomed addition to the bevy of strong female characters on the show and it will be great fun to see how her role develops as the series progresses.

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘The Good Place’ Review: Chidi’s Choice

Alyssa Berkowitz

January 11, 2017

The Good Place
Season 1 Episode 10: “Chidi’s Choice”
Original Air Date: January 5, 2017

I didn’t realize how much I missed The Good Place until I finished the winter premier “Chidi’s Choice” and noticed that an ear to ear grin had not left my face since the episode began (and only part of that is because the episode ended with N’Sync’s ‘Digital Getdown’). There was so much goodness in this episode: plots were propelled forward, relationships were examined, and one-liners were successfully zinging left and right.

Jianyu and Tahani

The fall finale of The Good Place left the audience on a major cliffhanger – Tahani discovering Jianyu/Jason was a fraud. This was addressed immediately when the episode starts with this amazing gem:

Jianyu: “Number 5 is #1, Seven is #2, Number Three and Number Four are tied for #3…”
Tahani: “What are you talking about?”

Well, I thought he was listing his favorite number but no, what he was doing is so much better. Jianyu felt that the best way to show who he really is is by RANKING HIS FAVORITE FAST AND THE FURIOUS MOVIES. Tahani suggests that telling her his actual real name is a better option and with every second that Jason’s mouth stays open Tahani realizes what an absolute moron her fake soulmate really is.

Jason admits to Tahani that all of those nice gestures of love he did in the past were all orchestrated by Chidi, prompting Tahani to conclude that Chidi is her true soulmate. Jason is sad that Tahani left him and decides that Janet should be his soulmate since she is nice to him and brings him Buffalo Wings.

Meanwhile…..

Michael has put together the top-notch team of The Real Eleanor and random humanitarian Bambadjan to build a case for Eleanor to stay in The Good Place.

Since it is pretty obvious Eleanor did very few good deeds while on earth, they decide that focusing on the good she did during her time in The Good Place is a better strategy. After mentioning a few of her missteps in The Good Place, she starts listing all the ways that Chidi has made her a better person, how he is annoyingly cute and that he is surprisingly jacked. Bambadjan and The Real Eleanor exchange looks over the way Eleanor discusses her fake soulmate:

Real Eleanor: “You know, a lot of Death Row inmates feel regret about things the never said. Admissions of guilt or anger or love.”
Eleanor: “Are you making a move on me? It’s fine, I just didn’t see it coming. Well, hooking up with someone with the exact same name it is kind of a fun narcissistic fantasy”

Real Eleanor insists that she was referring to the feelings that Eleanor clearly has for Chidi. Eleanor tries to deny her feelings but after letting out a few more ‘Shirts’ and ‘Forks’, Eleanor realizes that yeah, she is in love with Chidi.

Chidi Indecision

I am a very indecisive person. I once spent over two hours at an EMS store trying to decide which backpack I wanted to buy. That said, Chidi makes me look like the most resolute person in the world. Chidi’s indecisiveness goes all the way back to grade school when he essentially filibustered recess by taking too long to pick a team for soccer. This continued through his adult life and eventually ended in his untimely death when the air conditioner from his apartment struck him on the sidewalk while he was trying to pick a bar to go to.

So, when Chidi realizes that it is up to him to make up an ethical argument for why Eleanor should stay in The Good Place, he starts freaking out. He can’t even help Michael decide on whether they should take notes on a dry erase board or with paper and pen. Little does Chidi know that he is about to have a lot more difficult decisions coming his way soon.

Love, Friendship, and Weddings

After Eleanor’s realization, she tracks down Chidi to confess her love. She delivers it in the eloquent way only Eleanor can pull off. First, she describes how horribly annoying all of her exes were due to the fact that they wanted to talk and spend time with her. Next, she explains how Chidi is a million times worse than all her exes, but despite that, she is in love with him.

Just as Eleanor is about to bounce, Tahani storms into the house to confess her love to Chidi, unaware of Eleanor’s presence. This is all too much for Chidi so he sprints out of his own house leaving Tahani and Eleanor to their own devices. The pair decides not to be those girls that fight over a guy and instead each choose an activity to do together that will make them happy. Tahani’s choice is to watch a British sitcom about two unconventional friends.

Eleanor: “What’s this show called again?”
Tahani: “It’s Dierdre and Margret. It ran for 16 years in the BBC. They did nearly 30 episodes.”

Eleanor’s chosen activity is to braid insanely tacky blonde extensions into Tahani’s hair. After some more girl talk, Eleanor decides that Jason is actually her soulmate since he too has been both banned from public transit and does not belong in The Good Place. Right on cue, Janet pops into the living room to announce that her wedding to Jason will start in ten minutes. Tahani and Eleanor grab a large bottle of wine and head over to witness Jason and Janet’s nuptials.

During the “wedding reception,” The Real Eleanor comes by to see if Eleanor had a chance to talk with Chidi. Seconds later Chidi also arrives which is perfect because now he has his three possible soulmates in front of him at the same time. He can finally make his decision and say how he feels. But…. actually, he can’t because before he has a chance to say anything Eleanor admits that she and Chidi are more like best friend soulmates and Tahani admits that she only proclaimed her love because she was upset about Jianyu. The Real Eleanor is the only soul mate left for Chidi, so in the end, he never had to make a choice.

Do you think that if Eleanor and Tahani didn’t cut him off he would have made a choice? Who do you guys think he would have chosen?

Quote of the Week

Tahani: “So is that a family member?”
Jason: “I wish! That’s Arianna Grande, the sexiest woman alive.”
Tahani: “You wish you were related to a woman you want to have sex with.”

‘Shadowhunters’ Review: 7 Things You Need To Know In ‘A Door Into the Dark’

Nicole C

January 9, 2017

SHADOWHUNTERS - Clary struggles to find where she belongs, while Simon seeks Magnus’ help in “A Door Into the Dark,” an all new episode of “Shadowhunters,” airing MONDAY, JANUARY 9 (8:00 – 9:00 PM EDT) on Freeform. (Freeform/John Medland) KATHERINE MCNAMARA, EMERAUDE TOUBIA, MATTHEW DADDARIO

The season 2 premiere of Shadowhunters left us shocked as Jace decided to save Valentine’s life after the Circle leader took an arrow meant for his son. In this week’s episode the stakes are raised even higher as Clary, Jace, Alec, Izzy, and Simon find themselves in conflicting situations with no easy answers. Here are 7 important events that happened:

Jocelyn shows Clary a memory of Jonathan as a baby

After their return to the Institute, Clary is angry beyond belief that her own mother would try to kill her brother. Jocelyn though still harbors many secrets and is forced to tell her daughter that the reason why she tried to shoot Jace is because Valentine had experimented on her and injected the baby with demon blood while she was pregnant. Knowing that Clary wouldn’t believe it, she showed the younger shadowhunter her memory of baby Jonathan who’s eyes went demon black and made a whole bush of roses die. Talk about not being a flower person.

Raphael tasks Simon with finding Camille to answer for the vampire den incident

Maria, the vampire head of the den that Jace entered during his outing with Valentine turns out to be one of Camille’s children. After being questioned by Aldertree regarding this, Simon says that he really wouldn’t know anything about that because it was above his pay grade. As a result, Raphael pays him a little visit because he’s been summoned by the Institute to answer for it. The older vampire then tells Simon he needed to find Camille since she is Maria’s sire. Raphael explains in detail that the Clave crucify vampires to a cross and slowly let shafts of sunlight burn away body parts one by one if they broke the accords. Ouch.

Simon turns to Magnus to help him find Camille and they head to Agra in hopes of locating her. The two have a little adventure in India as Magnus retrieves some personal items while the vampire newbie makes some progress with using encanto on a fire-breathing snake. They also take back a little puzzle box that the snake had been guarding. Now what could be inside it?

Valentine is kidnapping mundanes who are good fighters

In his ongoing quest to create a new army of shadowhunters using the Mortal Cup, Valentine and the other Circle members are targeting fight clubs and dojos all around New York City to find the strongest fighters as potential candidates. Making new nephilim is no easy task though for the mundane must have a lot of resilience to survive the process. Conversion is most successful with children (usually who have the sight) as most are unable to handle it and die.

Clary runs off to the Brooklyn Academy of Art

Feeling frustrated and trapped in her new life, Clary leaves the Institute and heads to the Brooklyn Academy of Art in an attempt to feel normal for a moment. She was supposed to attend the school before her world completely changed. Jocelyn and Luke find her there and poor Clary can’t catch a break. She’s still pissed that her mother tried to kill Jace and most of all that Jocelyn made her believe that she could have a normal life. She dashes off again and runs right into Dot outside the building.

Dot is alive! But she kidnaps Clary and takes her to Valentines boat

Dot is aliiiiiiiiive! She must have been the one to create the portal for Valentine and Jace to get to Flatbush. Makes sense that the Circle leader performed experiments and is keeping her alive while she’s still useful to him. The warlock tells Clary that her father is just misunderstood and that she has something to show the young shadowhunter. When Dot touches Clary’s temples she begins to see horrific visions. She now thinks she can see the future and tells Jace that downworlders are going to kill everyone.

The Lightwood siblings temporary ally with Jocelyn

Jocelyn approaches Alec and Isabelle and explains that she has a way to track Jace through a piece of adamis that Luke gives her (it came from his mother who is an Iron Sister). The elder shadowhunter says that she knows they have no reason to trust her but that Valentine has Clary now too and she will do anything to get her daughter back. The siblings agree and Jocelyn explains that Alec will need to channel his parabatai bond through the adamis. However she warns that he must not dig too deeply or else he may not be able to come back.

Clary convinces Dot to help her escape with Jace

Clary finds herself locked in a cage within Valentine’s ship and realizes that Dot did something to her earlier. Dot confirms this and says that she must do it again because the spell wears off on shadowhunters quickly. Appealing to the warlock’s humanity, Clary begs that she help her escape because even though they can’t go back to the way things were, it doesn’t have to be like this.

Just as Jace is on the brink of killing Gretel (a werewolf member of Luke’s pack), Clary comes up with Dot and tells him that she was under a spell and that he needs to run. Snapping out of Valentine’s persuasive grasp, Jace and Clary run to the side of the ship where Dot has opened the wards so that they can jump into the river without any harm.

Are Clary and Jace safe from Valentine? Probably not. We’ll find out next week!

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘Shadowhunters’: What Do We Know About Victor Aldertree?

Nicole C

January 5, 2017

SHADOWHUNTERS - "The Guilty Blood" - Freeform's hit original series "Shadowhunters" returns on Monday, January 2 at 8pm ET/PT. (Freeform/John Medland) NICK SAGAR

In the season 2 premiere of Freeform’s Shadowhunters, a new enigmatic character is introduced as the freshly appointed head of the New York Institute, Clave represenative Victor Aldertree. Played by Nick Sagar, he was sent to replace Lydia Branwell’s (Stephanie Bennett) ineffective leadership and to resolve the issue of Jace Wayland’s (Dominic Sherwood) disappearance and Valentine Morgenstern’s (Alan Van Sprang) return.

If the name sounds familiar to book fans of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, the character could be the show’s version of Inquisitor Aldertree, a shadowhunter who takes over the position after Imogen Herondale’s death. He is first introduced in City of Glass when Jace takes a wounded Simon (Alberto Rosende) through the portal to Alicante because they had been attacked by the Forsaken. Inquisitor Aldertree, in the guise of wanting to speak with the vampire, throws Simon in the dungeon instead because he refused to lie (he wanted Simon to say that the Lightwoods were in league with Valentine).

On the show, Aldertree takes on his leadership role swiftly and quickly interviews the squad about their unsanctioned missions. However, things take a nasty turn when he believes that Jace was in league with Valentine after Clary (Katherine McNamara) tells him that the young shadowhunter had called and warned them in advanced that Valentine was going to trap them. Aldertree then has all the other nephilim hunt Jace down as a traitor instead of administering a rescue. Still, Clary takes matters into her own hands and sneaks out of the Institute by glamoring herself to look like her current foe. The head of the institute had placed Jocelyn (Maxim Roy) and her under lockdown because of their close ties to Jace.

SHADOWHUNTERS – “The Guilty Blood” – Freeform’s hit original series “Shadowhunters” returns on Monday, January 2 at 8pm ET/PT. (Freeform/John Medland) MAXIM ROY, ISAIAH MUSTAFA, KATHERINE MCNAMARA, ALBERTO ROSENDE, EMERAUDE TOUBIA, MATTHEW DADDARIO, STEPHANIE BENNETT

In what we’ve seen of Aldertree so far, he appears to be a very calculating individual with his own agenda as the current head of the New York Institute. When he first arrives, Lydia tells the Lightwood siblings that Maryse (Nicola Correia Damude) went behind her back and seems to have been the person responsible for the change in leadership. But what is Maryse and Aldertree’s relationship? Clearly Robert (Paulino Nunes) is not fond of the other man because he went back to Idris. Is Maryse just politically allying herself with Aldertree to make certain that her family’s loyalty to the Clave is not questioned in light of Jace’s disappearance and her former association with the Circle? Or could there be something more to it? In the book series, Robert and Maryse’s marriage was quite frayed and it’ll be interesting to see if the show will tap into that storyline.

Given the Clave representatives who’ve come before (Imogen Herondale and to a much lesser extent Lydia), the views from Idris seem more black and white and adhere strictly to the shadowhunter motto (sed lex dura lex – the law is hard, but it is the law). There also seems to be a greater bias against downworlders that Aldertree exhibited when he asked Luke (Isaiah Mustafa) and Simon to vacate the premises. Did anyone notice that he called Luke, Mr. Greymark instead of Mr. Garroway? He obviously knows of the werewolf’s former status as a shadowhunter.

As a recurring character on the show, it’ll be great fun to see how his narrative progresses and also there was that sexy scene of him with Isabelle (Emeraude Toubia) from the trailer that has my eyebrow raised.

Catch Shadowhunters Mondays at 8 PM on Freeform.

For more on Shadowhunters click HERE.

‘Man Seeking Woman’ Review: Josh Finds His Better Half in “Futon”

Bilal Mian

January 5, 2017

Man Seeking Woman
Season 3, Episode 1: “Futon”
Original Air Date: 1/4/2017
Grade: B+

The third season of Man Seeking Woman is back with “Futon” and luckily for Josh, the search may finally be over with the addition of the newest cast member, Katie Findlay (How to Get Away With Murder, The Magicians).

“Futon” kicks off with the debut of Findlay’s character, Lucy, going through what could be considered one of the worst days of anyone’s life. It’s comical how quickly her day goes from bad to worse, making it easy for me to see her being just the right person for Josh.

Exactly how bad is Lucy’s day? She breaks her phone’s screen in the morning trying to turn off her alarm, sets herself on fire making breakfast, slips on a skateboard and lands on garbage as a nearby kid calls her a dumbass, spills coffee on her work laptop, and randomly gets attacked by a puma. And yet, through this terrible day, with garbage clinging to her, Lucy still manages to go on her date with Josh and ends up telling her roommate that her day was “pretty good.”

It’s a great little scene that instantly puts Lucy down as a win in my book as a great partner for Josh. Of course, it wouldn’t be Man Seeking Woman without Josh running into some sort of trouble with the women in his life.

Josh quickly wears out his welcome in Lucy’s apartment causing her roommates to enforce a roadblock in front of the apartment. Things get surreal quickly as Megan, one of the roommates, appears on CCN News to discuss her views on “Apartment Illegals” – aka boyfriends living in apartments when their name isn’t on the lease.

The scene plays out wonderfully as Megan mimics Donald Trump when it comes to the discussion. “I love our apartment. I think it’s the greatest apartment in the world. But if we don’t start cracking down on these undocumented boyfriends, then pretty soon, I’ll tell you what, we’re not going to have an apartment left.”

When Josh returns to the apartment with Lucy, he’s met with border patrol and turned away since his name is not on the lease. He’s further mocked for not speaking the “Bachelor” language as the guard taunts him with “Rose Ceremony” and “Fantasy Suite.” Lucy can’t come to a compromise with her roommates and turns to ulterior methods of getting Josh across the apartment border.

Things don’t go as planned leading Lucy to move in with Josh after an attempt to smuggle Josh across the border through a tunnel fails miserably. This ends up causing more issues as Josh’s place is a mess and Lucy attempts to tidy it up before her old roommates arrive for a party.

In her cleaning, Lucy goes overboard, dissolving nearly all of Josh’s things in sulfuric acid in order to raise the apartment to her friend’s standards. Yes, this includes Josh’s disgusting futon, Futie.

Sharing your living space with another person is not an easy thing. In my first year of marriage, my wife and I moved in together and quickly realized how differently we expected our place to look. Like Josh, I needed a Lucy in my life to help “adult up” the place a bit. But as Lucy learns, it’s easily done with compromise and conversation instead of forcing it on the other person.

It’s in her overzealousness that Lucy overlooks Josh’s feelings and sends him running to Mike who tries to convince him he doesn’t need his girlfriend. Lucy is quick to realize her mistake, making Mike’s portion of the episode seem short-lived and ultimately not needed.

“Futon” is a strong premiere for Man Seeking Woman‘s third season. The addition of Findlay is welcomed as her adorable expressions and reactions are a fantastic match alongside Jay Baruchel. Apartment Illegals and sharing apartments landed major laughs with me, but I’m hoping the rest of the season doesn’t try to pack in too much like Mike’s “Guyana” storyline. Man Seeking Woman works best when it concentrates on one or two themes per episode. With Josh and Lucy now living together, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season will bring us.

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Sanvers

J’onn and M’gann

Kara and Mon-El

Kara and Lena AKA Supercorp

Random Thoughts

Evil Looks Good On Rip

Amaya and….him?

Random Thoughts

Mon-El Plays It Cool

Mars Attacks! (Kind of)

Kara’s Loneliness

Random Thoughts

Bellarke

The Azgeda Threat

Octavia kom Trikru

Jasper’s New Outlook on Life

Other thoughts

Livewire Gets Shocked

Can A Human Be A Hero?

Mon-El’s Got Heart, Yes He Do

The Budding Martian Romance

Random Thoughts

The Case of the Missing Plotforce

Winn and The Hero’s Journey

We Need to Talk About Mike

Baby Gay Alex Makes a Boo Boo

Random Thoughts

Pobody’s Nerfect

Chidi and Real Eleanor

Jianyu and Janet

Other Things

What we know so far

Don’t Hate. Just Wait!

Not Enough Games

Console Price

Jianyu and Tahani

Meanwhile…..

Chidi Indecision

Love, Friendship, and Weddings

Quote of the Week

**Amaya and….*him***?