OOOPS! Peter Capaldi’s Slip of the Lip!

Recently at Awesome Con, Washington DC, during a panel featuring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, Peter C may have said more than he intended.

‘I’m not sure how successfully Clara was able to wipe his mind. I just…. I was about to tell you something I can’t tell you…’

Jenna Coleman’s character Clara, The Impossible Girl, may be returning for Season 10. Fans will remember that she and Ashildr (Maisie Williams) have wiped the Doctor’s memory of Clara and are wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey wending their way around the galaxy in a second TARDIS. This leads to all sorts of possibilities. Maybe she will appear as a memory fragment. Or maybe in the flesh. Who knows? Capaldi declined to answer any further questions on this.
That being said, there is a Doctor Who spinoff in the works. Class, an eight episode series, is scheduled to air on BBC Three in the UK, and on BBC America in the US, this year. It is a joint production of BBC America and BBC Cymru Wales, and will be filmed in Cardiff. This spin-off, written by YA author Patrick Ness, will be about Coal Hill School, where of course, Clara taught.

Video clip of the slip of the lip below:

And meet the Doctor’s new companion Bill (Pearl Mackie)!

What are your thoughts on the possibilities for Clara’s reappearance?  And what do you think about the Doctor’s new companion?  Let me know!  And as always, show Team Skatronixxx some love!

 

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow Season 2 News!!

With the departure of Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) (sob!) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee), our lovable time travelling misfit crew of  Legends will need replacements.

Good news first! Word has it that one of these replacements will be Vixen, that lady granted a very special bond with animals via the magical Tantu Totem, supposedly created by  the African Trickster God, Anansi the Spider.

Vixen aka Mari McCabe has already made a live action appearance in the Arrowverse, helping Ollie (Stephen Amell) and Team Arrow to save his son but here is where the bad news bit comes in. Megalyn Echikunwoke, the actress whose role this has been since the inception of the animated CW Seed series, is not available to play Vixen for Legends. Her career has taken off, and she just plain will not have the time to be a Legends regular. She will be able to continue with her voiceover for the animated series. Rumor has it that she may even be able to make a guest appearance or two on any of the CW’s Arrowverse shows.

However, and this is important, Vixen will NOT be recast for Legends. The role will instead involve an older Vixen, who may or may not be related to Mari McCabe. The infinite possibilities of time travel means that there could be a Vixen team up at some point.

At this point the role has not yet been cast. Stay tuned to Skatronixxx.com for news relating to Vixen, and other possible characters for the upcoming Legends season. In the meantime, who do you think should be cast as the older Vixen? What other DC characters would you like to see either as guest appearances or regulars?

Just in case you missed this badass woman on Arrow….

 

Penny Dreadful SN3 EP6 – ‘No Beast So Fierce’

Welcome Dreadfuls!! The last episode left us with several burning questions. Is Kaetenay dead? Will Jared kill Ethan, or will Ethan keep his vow to end Jared? And what will happen if Inspector Rusk and Marshall Ostow catch up with Ethan at Jared’s home? Did Ethan’s sister in fact die when they were attacked by Kaetenay’s men? Is Ethan’s wolfiness a genetic thing? Read on for some answers!

This episode opens exactly where the previous one left off; at Jared Talbot’s homestead, in the chapel, with Ethan at the wrong end of Jared’s gun, defying Jared’s insistence on repentance, and welcoming the possibility of being blown to Hell. Instead, the moment itself is blown to hell as one of Jared’s men interrupts to announce that they have visitors.
Jared has all of his guests forcibly assembled in the lobby to meet none other than Inspector Rusk and his sidekick Marshall Ostow. I find it odd that Ostow allowed Rusk to take point in this quest, even though Rusk did pull rank right away. One would think that as it is his country, there would have been more Alpha Dog posturing. I’m off track. Rusk confirms that Jared is Ethan’s father and declares that by the joint authority of the Queen and POTUS, all present are now under arrest. The man has a great big pair, considering that they are surrounded by Jared’s men, lol.

Since Jared has the upper hand, and since there is no point in not being at least somewhat civilized about it, they all sit down for dinner under the watchful eyes of Jared’s men. There is a tense scene here where Jared serves up a large dollop of guilt for Ethan to digest, all the while insisting that Ethan say grace, since he is seated in the grace-saying chair. The one where his brother was sitting on that fateful night. Sir Malcolm tries to intervene, but his advice is rebuffed. And so is his claim that he believes Ethan to be a good man. With his flair for the dramatic, Jared drops the bomb that Ethan slaughtered his brother and sister, which perks up Rusks’ ears, as he wants to know how. Jared says that it was not like a man, to which Rusk replies that he would think not, with a meaningful look at Ethan. Jared then states that Ethan did so by running and hiding. Just like he always does. Jared compliments Rusk and Ostow by telling them that if he thought they could be bought; he would have offered them a bribe. Not done with the compliments, he tells Hecate that she is ravishing tonight, to which she offers him a little kiss if he will just come closer. Ethan does eventually say a perverted version of the Lord’s Prayer, and then he and Hecate begin to eat. Hecate chomps at the bit, but Ethan won’t turn her loose, not yet. Jared inquires of Ostow why he has been glaring at him throughout. Ostow tells him that the men on the train were his, and promises a reckoning. Jared draws, shoots and Ostow goes down like an old oak tree, thoroughly reckoned. Sir Malcolm makes the point that Jared is taking a chance, allowing everyone present to have dinner knives, but Jared likes his odds. Rusk tells him that this may be because he does not understand who is sitting at his table. He asks who sent the snakes, which is something that Jared has not yet heard about. Rusk tells Jared that Ethan and his paramour are far more ingenious in the ways of slaughter and mayhem than he can imagine. Ethan agrees. Jared doesn’t understand, so Ethan shows him. All hell breaks loose in a heartbeat. Hecate changes to her witch form and breaks her guard’s neck, Ethan slashes his guard with a knife, Malcolm stabs his through the hand and the rest of the guards hustle Jared out, shooting all the while. As Ethan deals with another guard, now having found a gun, Rusk stands firm in the midst of the mayhem, waiting for his chance. Sir Malcolm and his opponent fight each other right out of the room, leaving only Hecate, Ethan and Rusk in the dining room. Hecate jumps up on the table, threatening Rusk, who clearly has no idea the danger he is in. He keeps asking her what she is, to which she answers the “End of Days”. She leaps at Rusk, he shoots her through the heart, Ethan shoots him, and rushes to Hecate, who tells him with her dying breath that ‘Hell awaits them both”. Meanwhile, the fight between Sir Malcolm and his guard is not going well for Malcolm. At the moment that Malcolm is at the point blank business end of a gun, the guard is shot from behind. Yay Kaetenay! Sir Malcolm is understandably quite happy to see him, exclaiming that he “knew you were too mean to die!” Kaetenay sees that someone has beaten him to killing Hecate. Our trio arms themselves from a handy gun cabinet, and they go looking for Jared. Jared has decided he will make his stand in the chapel where his family died, and quickly places his men; but Ethan knows his father, and tells Sir Malcolm where the men will be hidden. Kaetenay has attacked the chapel before, and knows what to do. Kaetenay blasts through the side wall of the chapel, Malcolm goes right, Ethan goes left and they enter, guns blazing. As Malcolm covers Ethan, he walks down the aisle, killing everyone in his path to his father. He shoots the gun out of his father’s hand, and now Jared is the defiant one at the wrong end of a Colt. Jared taunts him, telling him to go ahead and do the Devil’s work. Ethan can’t and walks away, while Jared continues to hurl invectives and threats of being forever hunted at him. Before he can finish with what his dying curse will be, Sir Malcolm decisively puts a permanent stop to his verbal diarrhea.
Meanwhile, in London, Dracula meets with Renfield whilst the familiars are feasting on a body hanging from a meat hook. Renfield, who cannot keep his eyes off the feast, reports to his master that Sir Malcolm is on some mad hunt in America, her old love has abandoned her, the wolf is gone – Vanessa doesn’t know where, and she knows Dracula’s name. This information leads Dracula to believe that the time is nearly upon them, that soon Vanessa will come to him. Renfield, who is literally drooling over the familiars’ dinner, begs Dracula to “not pass him by when he distributes all the fat juicy things, the sweeties”. With a twitch of the finger, Dracula dismisses the familiars, assures Renfield that he is his Chosen One, and allows him to feed. Renfield scuttles over to dine alone on the hanging meat.

Vanessa visits Ferdinand at the Museum and discovers that he is packing for an indefinite jaunt to Cairo. She wonders what she will do without him, as he is the last friend she has in London. She asks him for the name of a person with skills similar to his own just in case, which he provides saying that he thinks that they will make a formidable team. They say an affectionate goodbye.
Later, Vanessa watches a fencing match at a club. The winner of the match proves to be a woman, much to Vanessa’s delight. Her opponent claims that she cheated, but Catriona Hartdegen (Perdita Weeks) prefers to think of it as “creative improvisation to assure a victory. Which is rather the point”. Vanessa introduces herself.  Catriona is a Thanatologist, one who studies all the aspects of death, which is how she is acquainted with Ferdinand. As they enjoy brandy and smokes in the lounge, Vanessa asks Catriona what she knows about Dracula. Catriona proves to be very knowledgeable,  noting that Dracula is a Romanian word meaning Dragon, and that he had started a war between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire simply because he wanted the world to be wet with blood. The peasants of the time believed him to be a Vampire. She notes that Vanessa didn’t even blink about this information. One of the few accounts written of him calls him the First Vampire, an ancient being flush with youth, changing his appearance and identity from century to century. This account calls him a seducer, but in the antiquated form of the word, which more literally means one who is able to lead men astray, a corrupter. Vanessa tells Catriona that Dracula is hunting her here and now, that he doesn’t want her dead but submissive. She notes that Catriona seems like a woman who understands why submission is intolerable, even if she has to cheat. Vanessa invites her to help cheat him together. Catriona warns her to surround herself with people who care for her and would defend her. Vanessa can think of only one person who might fit that bill.
Vanessa visits Dr. Seward at her office, where they sit and have drinks by the fireplace. Dr. Seward has become a friend. Vanessa confesses that she misses Sir Malcolm and Ethan, much more than she thought possible. Dr. Seward has tried not to rely on anyone since she killed her abusive husband and stood trial for it in NYC. She tells Vanessa that she is not her only friend and urges her to go to Dr. Sweet.

She takes Sewards’ advice, and goes to visit Dr. Sweet at the Natural History Museum. She tells him that if they are to continue on, he needs to know the dangers, and tells him about the creature hunting her. Sweet wants this creature’s name, and Vanessa obliges, then asks him if he can believe. Sweet takes her to the room where an upcoming exhibition of night creatures is being prepared, and draws her attention away from the wolf to show her a vampire bat. He tells her that because of this bat, he does believe that such creatures exist. He declares that he has no sympathy for any creature that means her harm, he loves her and will not leave her side. Which leads to the inevitable sex scene, overseen by the night creatures exhibit. Good thing the museum was closed by then, lol! Vanessa has let her walls down, and the release is such a relief for her that she cries.
Over at Bedlam, Victor and Henry have prepared a powerful tranquilizer for Lily, one strong enough to take down any man alive. Victor notes that Lily is more powerful than any man, and is not entirely alive. Henry assures Victor that this will take down an elephant… Lily will be out in two breaths. Henry asks again if Victor still has the nerve to bring Lily here. Victor tells him “You’ve not met her, old boy. You’ll be the one who needs the nerve.”

We arrive at Dorian’s house to see two “fallen women” ringing the doorbell. They are looking for “The pale lady, her that makes men bleed.” Justine lets them in and they join other women in the ballroom, where Lily is giving lessons on three ways to kill the men who would debase them, using Dorian as the victim. Lily warns the women that they will be “branded radicals and revolutionists, because they will not crawl or kneel. That women who are strong and refuse to be degraded and protect themselves will be called monsters.” Then she asks who wants to try. Justine eagerly accepts, taking the knife from Lily, and is told by Dorian that he will not go easy on her. Justine taunts him that he will play the part of the john very well in that case. She really gets her little potty mouth going, and holds the knife to Dorian’s throat, the light of a zealot in her eyes. Lily praises her, and wants to know who’s next, but Justine is not done. She pushes the point of the knife into Dorian’s neck, causing him to bleed and to warn her that she is pushing her luck. Ignoring him, she asks Lily if she wants to see him drown in his own blood. Lily replies matter of factly “Well, then, who would the others practice on?”. She takes the knife from Justine, and invites the next woman up.

After the lesson, Justine and Lily are dancing in the ballroom when Dorian asks to cut in. Lily refuses, so Dorian stops the music and asks the women to leave the room. He is  worried that Lily is becoming more involved with Justine and the women than she is with him, and is very concerned that Justine does not know her place. He doesn’t understand why Justine would feel that she is the equal of him, to stand at Lily’s side. Lily explains that Justine is the soul of her, the heart of who she was. She tells Dorian that she has all of Brona’s memories, that she remembers every man who ever used and debased her. Dorian cannot possibly know how she feels, but these women do, and she is committed to them and asks for his understanding. Dorian agrees that there is little that he understands, but he does understand the love that he and Lily feel for each other.

They are interrupted by Justine, who has a straight razor at Victor’s throat. It seems that Victor has broken in to kidnap Lily, which Lily actually finds amusing. Victor pleads that he wants only to heal her, to take away all her anger, and rage. To make her who she was, a whole human, unblemished by sadness. Lily knows that it is her anger, rage and sadness that makes her who she is, and so refuses Victor’s “help”. Justine is enraged by Victor’s assumption that Lily is broken, and wants desperately to kill him. Dorian tells her no, but Justine refuses to take orders from any man, even Dorian. Lily hesitates, so Dorian begs her for Victor’s life, his only crime is being a man and loving Lily, and that does not justify killing him. Lily finally tells Justine that she is sentimental about Victor, and they may at some point need his unique services, but she tells Victor that the next time she sees him she herself will hold the razor. Dorian escorts Victor out, reminding him that he is now in his debt, and he will call the debt in.

John Clare is watching over his sick son from the attic, and finally cannot stand the labored breathing and coughing that wracks the boy while he watches. He enters the apartment, helps the boy take a sip of water, and mops his brow. The boy, eyes closed, recognizes the voice of his father, and wonders if he is an angel. He knows he is dying, and the angels will come soon to take him away. John holds him and comforts him,  promising that he will bring medicine and whatever else the boy needs. As he lays his son back down, the boy opens his eyes, looks at him and screams and screams, terrified of what he sees. John runs away, falls to his knees and cries to the heavens. This short yet poignantly heartbreaking scene gets my vote as the absolute best scene of this episode, hands down. And is a fitting place for the episode to end.

So we say goodbye to Inspector Rusk, Hecate and Jared. I will most emphatically not miss that vile man Jared one whit. Sir Malcolm ending Jared has halted Ethan’s journey to the dark side, at least temporarily. Nor can Ethan blame Kaetenay for Hecate’s death, which may also help to turn him back to the light and Lupus Dei. Oddly enough, both Inspector Rusk and Hecate grew on me over the course of the season, and I will miss them. We still don’t know if Ethan’s sister is truly dead, although  she probably is. Jared might even have been the one to put her out of her misery. We’ll never know. On the score of Ethan being a werewolf, it appears that may have been something that Kaetenay caused, since Jared clearly was unaware of Ethan’s condition. Victor and Henry are building towards an epic fail, IMO, a fail that will perhaps see at least one, if not both, dead very soon. Vanessa’s new ally will prove to be an invaluable one in the quest to defeat Dracula, I believe, but how long before she realizes that Sweet and Dracula are one and the same? And when will the boys return to Vanessa? There are only 3 episodes left in this season, so I anticipate quite the cliffhanger to keep us waiting for Season 4. And on that note, here is a teaser trailer for the next episode.

PENNYWISE FOUND!!

After years of floating down there Georgie, Stephen Kings’ much loved horror classic IT is finally going to make it to the Big Screen!

Those of you who have read the book know that it flipped back and forth between 1958 and 1985, to show The Losers Club battling Pennywise as children, and then again as adults. The book was terrifying, as was the TV adaptation, which necessarily couldn’t be completely true to the book because of the constraints of the medium. I wonder if the movie may be able to be more true to the book. If so, prepare to be absolutely horrified! And to loathe clowns all over again…

New Line Cinema plans to release the movie in two parts. Word is that the first film will focus on the Losers Club as children, winning their first battle against Pennywise. The second film will take place years later, when Pennywise makes his cyclical comeback and  terrorizes children all over again. The Losers Club will reform, with the original members now being adults. This is not quite the way the book reads, or the way the TV adaption played, but I personally feel that it will allow for better focus on the characters first as children, and then as adults.  So I’m okay with that.

Bill Skarsgard has been cast as Pennywise the Clown (spider/werewolf/any other creepy thing that scares children). His work includes Hemlock Grove, and Divergent: Allegiant. Bill comes by his talent honestly; he is the younger brother of Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood), and the son of Stellan Skarsgard, (Avengers: Age of Ultron, and The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo).

The Losers Club also has its first member with Jaeden Lieberher being cast in the role of the young Bill Denborough, erstwhile leader of the Losers Club. Jaeden has had roles in St. Vincent and Midnight Special.

As of now, other cast members include:

Finn Wolfhard who has appeared in Supernatural and The 100
Jack Dylan Grazer whose work includes Tales of Halloween and Comedy Bang! Bang!
Wyatt Oleff: Guardians of the Galaxy, Once Upon a Time, and Scorpion .
Chosen Jacobs: Hawaii Five-O, FTS Kids News
Jeremy Ray Taylor who has been in 42 and Ant-Man
There is at this time no word on what their roles will be.
The man in the Director’s Chair will be Andres Muschietti, and the film will be produced by Barbara Muschietti, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith.
Many thanks to the sites that I gleaned a lot of my information from – movieweb.com and joblo.com.

The Blacklist: Redemption

So tell me RED-heads…. Who’s up for a spinoff series of the ever popular Blacklist?

In Blacklist – Alexander Kirk (No. 14) Part 1, while Tom Keen is trying to track Lizzie’s attackers down, he meets the head of Grey Matters – a “covert mercenary organization that solves problems governments don’t dare touch”. He has the intention of killing her now that she is of no further use to him, and was indirectly responsible for Lizzie’s alleged death. Before Tom can follow through, Red (James Spader) informs him that Scottie, the “brilliant and cunning Chief” of Grey Matters, is actually his mother. Yep. That’s right. She has no idea that he is Christopher, her little boy who went missing twenty eight years ago. Which makes the scene where it looks like she wants to kiss Tom really, really awkward and just EEEW for both Tom and the viewers. Long story short, she has been suitably impressed with Tom’s very particular skill set and offers him a job as one of her operatives.

During the season finale of Blacklist, the very briefly reunited Keen family are captured by Alexander Kirk (Ulrich Thomsen), who professes to be Liz’s father. We see Liz (Megan Boone) tied to a chair and utterly gobsmacked by this revelation, but there is no sign of either Tom or baby Agnes. One would assume that Kirk has kept Agnes, seeing as how she is his grandchild, but maybe he doesn’t have Tom. I am speculating that this may only be mentioned in passing in the season opener of The Blacklist, and will physically be dealt with in the premiere of Blacklist: Redemption as Tom officially joins up with Scottie. Or maybe there will be a crossover episode. It’s a given that Tom will spend much of his time with Grey Matters on the self assigned mission of discovering more about his past, while working with Scottie and Solomon (that will continue to be an interesting dynamic!) on those cases that involve “a dangerous world of deadly criminals”.

Blacklist: Redemption will star:

Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen
Famke Janssen as Susan (Scottie) Hargrave
Tawny Cypress as Nez Rowan
Edi Gathegi as Matias Solomon

This offering from Sony TV will be written by Jon Bokenkamp and John Eisendrath, who will also executive produce along with John Fox and John Davis. All of whom are Blacklist alumni.  Goodness! I’ll bet those meetings get a bit confusing, lol. Micheal Dinner (The Blacklist – Alexander Kirk) will be directing. It will air on NBC and is expected to make its debut appearance in the 2016 – 17 line-up.

The title image and all of the phrases in quotes are taken from the official Blacklist: Redemption web page at nbc.com.

Penny Dreadful SN 3 EP 5 – ‘This World Is Our Hell’

Welcome Dreadfuls to my review/recap of This World is Our Hell. As always, this piece contains SPOILERS, so if you have not yet seen it, please go do that first. Then come back and see if you agree with my assessment.

In the last episode, Vanessas’ backstory, and to a lesser extent, John Clare’s backstory and how the two intertwined was examined through the method of her memory as recalled under hypnosis. In keeping with character development through the use of back story, this week’s episode examines the history of Ethan and Kaetenay, their relationship, and his relationship with his biological father. We learn a bit about Hecate and Rusk. We also check in with Victor and Henry to see how they are progressing with their experiment on Balfour (Jamie Ballard), the maniac we first met in Predators Far and Near. Sir Malcom is the recipient of Kaetenays’ story; while Marshall Ostow comes to understand and maybe even respect Rusk through listening to his tale. Hecate employs her not inconsiderable skills to use Ethans’ guilt over his history to persuade him that her Lord is superior to his God.

The episode opens in the middle of “The Devil’s Asshole” as Ostow refers to it, aka the New Mexico badlands. It is two days hard travel to Ethans’ father. The Posse is in hot pursuit. The horses are thirsty, but Ethan knows there is a river in a canyon not far ahead. When Ethan and Hecate reach it, the riverbed is dry, and there is no other source of water for days.

Hecate shares how she came to the worship of Lucifer. When she was a child, her mother “enlisted” her. Evelyn Poole watched as Lucifer raked his claws across Hecate’s five-year-old body. She was betrayed by the very person who should have protected her. One gets the shivery impression that Hecate is understating the method of “enlistment”.

Hecate wants to know why Ethan’s father is after him, why he feels so guilty, and what he thinks that the God who created him as Lupus Dei will do for him. He is looking for forgiveness, but as Hecate points out, he doesn’t feel forgiveness from his God. She tells him that the only way for him to be at peace is to embrace his sins. Ethan relates his story. His father enlisted him in the Army, to try to make a man of him. He could have refused, or deserted, but he wanted to make his father proud. His Commanding Officer was a senators’ son, and initially a friend. His platoon came across a band of Apache, camping by this very river, and he took part in the slaughter of tribe, down to the last man, woman and child. The CO proved himself to be a cruel S.O.B., smashing in a childs’ head with a rock, because he wasn’t worth the bullet, and laughing about it. Ethan killed him and rode to the last Apache stronghold to beg their leader, Kaetenay, to take his scalp.

I think that at the risk of disturbing the flow of Ethan’s story, this is the best spot to check in with Victor and Henry. They are in Henrys’ lab in Bedlam, preparing to test the conjunction of electricity with Henry’s serum on Balfour. Balfour is in Bedlam because he, possible Jacobite, dared to try to kill the Queen. We are led to believe he becomes a raving maniac during his time in Bedlam. Although he could have been a raving maniac first, I suppose, and that led him to try to assassinate the Queen. I digress. The man is quite composed, having already been dosed with the serum, but is confused as to what is about to happen to him.

Victor promises Balfour that when they are done, he will have no memory of his crime or this treatment, or even of being in Bedlam. “Every moment that has benighted your life and set you on your dark course, I will take from you. You will re-enter this world an innocent lamb. After all, it is our memories which make us monsters is it not?” He injects Balfour with an electrified dose of Henry’s serum, through the eye socket directly into his brain. A full day later, Balfour is still catatonic, and Henry thinks that Victor may have been a bit excessive with the voltage. In the ensuing conversation, we learn that both Victor and Henry were cast out of Cambridge; Victor because the Dons of Cambridge didn’t approve of his work, and Henry because he assaulted a member of the Faculty.  Henry wonders if Victor would undergo this treatment if he could have every horrific moment struck from his memory – every time that his work was denigrated and he was treated like filth. Victor replies that he would not, and Henry tells him that is the difference between them. Henry wonders if Victor will be able to go through with giving this treatment to Lily, if it works. Victor appears to be unsure about that, but remembers the perfectness of the first few days of Lily’s life. Balfour wakes. He is physically normal, no skin discoloration, no eczema, his eyes track normally. He has no memory of trying to commit regicide and claims to love the Queen. (Scotsman, though, so perhaps not). Victor goes home, where he sniffs Lily’s nightgown, then hangs it above the tub where she was reborn, and gets busy cleaning the lab. He too is physically transformed, no longer looking like the addict he was at the beginning of the season.

Back to Ethan.

As Hecate and Ethan look across the desert later on in the evening, they see the Posse’s campfire. Hecate suggests that whatever the army made him do, whatever the Apache made him do, his God watched it all unfold and laughed. She wants to call creatures of the night, the army beneath the sand to strike down their enemies. Ethan permits it. Hecate begins her ritual, during which she spills Ethans’ blood onto symbols she has drawn in the sand, and recites an incantation. They hear the resulting chaos in the Posses’ camp across the desert. The next day, Ethans’ horse collapses, so he puts it down.

 

Later, in a cave that Ethan remembers from his time with the Apache, he translates the paintings on the cave wall for her – the story of the First Apache. Hecate proposes that this may not be the story of the beginning, but a prophesy of the end. And asks him what he sees his role as, the Saviour who ends the darkness, or the Wolf who loves it. He remembers that he and the tribe spent weeks in that cave. They had been hunted to near extinction, but he knew that guns, ammunition and food could be found at his father’s ranch. He told them where the guards would be, and where to find the food and guns. Kaetenay promised him that no shots would be fired. Ethan’s answer to Hecate is that he has annihilated a tribe, betrayed his family, slaughtered women and children and he will send his father to hell and laugh while he’s doing it. He’s done trying to be good. There is a scene that I will leave to your imagination, except to say that while that action is going on, Hecate tells him what he will need to say while killing his father; and promises him that thereafter he will feel no guilt. The following day, the last few drops of water in the canteen are gone, the second horse dies, and they strike out on foot. Eventually Hecate collapses, and Ethan carries her for some way before also collapsing.

We will leave Ethan and Hecate there for a while, and see what Sir Malcom and Kaetenay are up to, and what has happened to the Posse. We will start with Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay.

Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay are some way behind the Posse, but Kaetenay thinks they will catch up by nightfall. This will be a killing pace for the horses, and Sir Malcolm knows it, but Kaetenays’ plan includes obtaining new horses. Malcolm realizes that he intends to kill every member of the Posse. Kaetenay points out that the Posse stands between them and the demon who is even now trying to corrupt Ethans’ soul. He would have no problem killing an army to save Ethan, and will happily give his life to do it. Sir Malcolm is shocked when Kaetenay tells him that Ethan will kill him the first chance he gets. In the evening, close to the Posse and waiting for them to fall asleep, he tells Malcolm the story of Ethan and himself. Ethan wanted to die for what he had done to the tribe, but Kaetenay judged it crueller to make him live. He used Ethan to fight the army that he had served. But Ethan took to it, like a man desperate for redemption. By that time, there were 39 free Apache left in all the world, being hunted by 5000 men. The Apache died man by man, and as they died, the survivors became crueller and did monstrous things.

The men go to sleep. Kaetenay tells Malcolm he will take care of them while Malcolm goes for the horses.

Over at the Posse camp, Ostow asks Rusk how he lost his arm. Rusk tells him during the Boer War, his platoon was chasing an assassin, but were ambushed. He cauterized the wound to his arm, left the survivors behind, and continued to track the assassin. He caught up with the man, dragged him to Cape Town in chains and then reported to the infirmary. They settle for the night. Rusks’ Scotland Yard companion wakes when he hears the horses stirring, and catches Sir Malcolm. While Malcolm is being held at gunpoint, Kaetenay is slitting throats. Masses of rattle snakes emerge from the sand, intent on killing the men. Kaetenay freezes as one snake approaches him and the man he is about to kill. When it is within striking distance, he kills it and the man he is holding with one swipe, but is bitten by a snake that has approached from the side. Men wake up and chaos reigns. Malcolm shoots Rusk’s companion and takes horses. Rusk and Ostow fire from behind some rocks. Malcolm, shooting from the saddle, rescues Kaetenay. They ride off, leaving Rusk and Ostow the only survivors, the rest of the men having been killed either by Kaetenays’ knife, snakes or gunfire. Inspector Rusk, not knowing who caused the deaths for certain but assuming that it was Ethan, vows that he will no longer try to capture Ethan alive, but given the chance, will shoot him in the back and butcher all his kind.

Further into the desert, Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay rest. He refuses Malcolm’s help, saying only that if he dies, he dies. He tells Malcolm that he was not allowed to die when his son abandoned him. Instead, he was given a vision of the world cast into darkness, overrun by animals of the night, and the knowledge that if they lose Ethan to evil, the night will never end.

As Ethan is trying to muster some strength, Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay approach, Kaetenay slumped over his horses’ neck. Malcolm gives Ethan water, and Ethan gives some to Hecate. On discovering that Hecate is alive, Malcolm draws his gun. Ethan protects her, while telling Sir Malcolm that he shouldn’t have come. A group of Ethans’ fathers’ men approach and take them into custody, except Kaetenay. His fate is left to Ethan to decide, and Ethan tells them to let him die slow, he’s not worth the bullet. Malcolm protests that they cannot leave him there, but Ethan replies “Let him burn”. Now, I wonder if this is because Ethan truly wants Kaetenay to die slowly? Or is he giving Kaetenay the best chance for survival because he knows that his father will definitely kill the Apache?

Sir Malcolm, now dressed in borrowed clothes, meets with Ethan’s father, Jared Talbot (Brian Cox). Malcolm asks to see both Hecate and Ethan, but is told that they are resting. Watching this scene was very much like watching two dogs circle each other, while they try to decide which is the Alpha. Some civil yet barbed conversation later, Sir Malcolm decides that he doesn’t care for Jared at all. Jared believes the Apache are little better than animals while Sir Malcolm believes they deserve the respect and dignity all humans deserve. Jared implies that Malcolm will die if he tries to come between himself and his son.
Hecate finds Ethan’s bedroom and thanks him for saving her. She reminds him of his plan, and he confirms that he intends to enjoy this reckoning which has been so long coming. Their conversation is interrupted as Ethan is summoned.

Jared tells Ethan that he is there so Jared can save his soul. Jared begins the story of the night the Apache attacked. Ethan says he was in the stable stealing horses. Jared takes him into the blood stained chapel, where the family made their stand. The Apache made Jared watch while his oldest son was slaughtered, and his wife scalped. They made him watch while Ethans’ sisters’ eyes and tongue were cut out so that she would wander blind and mute through this place of death. She was made to suffer as the Saints suffered. He says “You brought the Devil to my door, and gave him the Key”. Jared demands that Ethan get down on his knees and beg mercy of God, that he repent or he will send Ethan to hell himself. Ethan replies “I am done repenting and I belong in Hell.”.

Fade to Black.

So I would like to point out, in the scene between Jared and Ethan, nowhere did Jared say Ethan’s sister had died. In fact, at one point, he explicitly said that he hoped she would. So there is a question mark in my mind about Ethan’s sister. Alive or dead? Perhaps alive and mentally deranged? Is that what Jared meant when he said she was made to suffer as the Saints suffered?

We now understand how Ethan became an Apache, and why he hates both his biological father and his Apache one. What we still don’t know is how he became Lupus Dei, or indeed how he even became a werewolf. Was he bitten? Is it a genetic inheritance from his father? Are they a family of werewolves? Or did Kaytenae turn him? I believe that Kaytenae will survive his rattler bite because I do not believe his part is yet done. If Ostow and Rusk catch up with Ethan while he is at his fathers’ ranch, they will die at Jared’s hands, I am convinced. I think that the scenes between Victor and Henry were not germane to this episode at all, and were included merely to remind us that Victor and Henry are still working on their joint project, and to show us that physically at least, Victor is recovering from his drug addiction, now that he has purpose again.

What did you think of this episode? Did you enjoy it? Hate it? Are you meh about it? Let me know.
Here’s a sneak peek of next weeks’ episode.

Killjoys Returning For Season 2

Killjoys is a campy, fun sci-fi show, which according to many of the reviews out there, is somewhat reminiscent of Firefly/Serenity. Having watched both Firefly/Serenity and Season 1 of Killjoys, I can see the comparison. There is action, humor, drama, plenty of clever quips, and not an overwhelming amount of science.  All that being said, it does have some adult content.

Killjoys is set in a post-apocalyptic corner of the universe known as The Quad, where the only government appears to be more of a corporate dictatorship and much less of a democracy.

So what’s a Killjoy? In the more proper terminology, they are “Reclamation Agents” working for a (supposedly) non-politically affiliated organization known as the R.A.C. – the Recovery and Apprehension Coalition. This is a mercenary organization, working for anyone who is rich enough to pay the tab and who have the need to track down people who have severely pissed them off. R.A.C.’s bounty hunters, highly trained agents more familiarly known as Killjoys, pursue and retrieve (or kill depending on the level of the warrant) the subjects of the warrants while struggling to retain an unbiased, objective view of the job.

Killjoys focuses on three main characters – Dutch, John Jaqobis and D’Avin Jaqobis. Supporting characters Khlyen – the mysterious man from Dutch’s past; Pree – bartender/owner; and Pawter Simms – a doctor whose license to practice appears to have been revoked, and who is also a high ranking member of a major Quad family, are used quite effectively to flesh out the stories and backstories of each of our three heroes. Other supporting characters include Bellus Hardy – Dutch’s mentor, friend and source of information; and Alvis – the prophet/preacher/messiah of an underground religion.

In the beginning, there is only Dutch and John, R.A.C.’s best team, out in The Quad kicking ass and taking names. Until John takes a level 5 (kill) warrant on his own. The warrant is for his brother, D’Avin, and though the two are estranged, John just can’t sit by and watch that happen. Dutch helps him to find D’Avin, and eventually they get the warrant lifted, which clears the way for D’Avin to join the team. But bounty hunter trios don’t work that well, as it effectively negates the partner dynamic.  Here’s to hoping that this trio will prove to be the exception.

D’Avin is deeply damaged; memories have been taken from him, and he has been programmed to kill in a disassociative state, as our team finds out the hard way when D’Avin is triggered into attempting to kill Dutch. That was a badass fight scene by the way! Amanda Tapping makes a guest appearance as the Doctor who damaged him.

Dutch’s mysterious man Khlyen did his own brand of damage to Dutch when she was a child. It is mainly due to his efforts that she is the incomparable bounty hunter that she is. But he trained her as a highly effective assassin, and still has some hold on her, in spite of her determination to put that part of her past away.

John is a great guy – funny, loyal, kick ass in his own right, and the main man when it comes to their ship and tech. Of the three, he is the sane one. He’s at least half way in love with Dutch, but as we all know, the great guy rarely gets the girl. And this show is no exception to that rule.

Killjoys was created by Michelle Lovretta, known previously for her work on Lost Girl, another frinkin!! awesome!! Canadian series.

The Stars are:

Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch.
A British actress, she has also appeared in the current season of Game of Thrones, and Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.

Aaron Ashmore as John Jaqobis
Aaron is known for his work in Smallville, Warehouse 13, and Lost Girl. Canadian!

Luke MacFarlane as D’Avin Jaqobis
Luke’s work includes Brothers & Sisters, Person of Interest, and The Night Shift. Canadian!

Supporting Cast:

Thom Allison as Pree
Sarah Power as Pawter Simms
Rob Stewart as Khlyen
Morgan Kelly as Alvis

I thoroughly enjoyed the premise of the show and the solid character development of Season 1 and am glad to see that it will be back for Season 2, starting in July of this year. Enough of the blah blah! Here’s the sneak a peek for Season 2.

Penny Dreadful SN3 EP4 – ‘A Blade Of Grass’

Welcome back Dreadfuls!

This episode was much more cerebral than previous episodes. It gave us plenty of backstory on “the White Room”; the orderly who attended Vanessa and the bond that grew between them; the treatments she was forced into; and her torment by both Lucifer and another known to her only as The Master.

The episode opens in Dr. Seward’s office, where Vanessa is under hypnosis, telling Seward the story of her time in “The White Room”. While in the hypnotised state, she can see and speak with Dr. Seward, because her mind is in both realities.

She was an unwilling patient, committed by her parents and subjected to treatment for her “illness” for 5 months. The only human contact she had in that room was the orderly who attended to her needs. The orderly is the man we know as John Clare, later known as Caliban – Frankenstein’s monster. Initially, she refuses to eat and will not speak. John begs her to eat, and tells her that there will be consequences if she does not.

She tells Dr. Seward that she wanted to die, because of her betrayal of her friend Mina, and because she is evil.

As she becomes more used to John’s presence, she begins to eat without being force fed, makes eye contact, and eventually speaks to him. She claims that she is being tortured. She doesn’t know if it is night or day, there are no windows and the light is always on. John tells her that the time is whatever she wants it to be, and that they are trying to make her well. He tells her that it is against the rules for him to tell her his name. But he does warn her that the next treatment is hydrotherapy. The next day, as she sits wet and shivering, he brings a blanket with her food, but when she is warm and dry, he has to take it away because it is against the rules. John is already becoming invested in Vanessa not merely as a patient, but as a human being in distress and is showing an inclination to break the rules for her. Vanessa attacks him when he removes the blanket, with the result that the next time he sees her, she is in a straitjacket.

However, she is recognizing that he is coming to care for her, and she for him. John spoon-feeds her. He explains that it is science, not torture, and that it is meant to make her better. She retorts that it is meant to make her normal – compliant, obedient, a cog in an intricate social machine. John disagrees, as none of the women he knows are cogs; she calls them freaks. John tells her his wife is neither a freak nor a cog. Vanessa thinks that God has forgotten her, that he cannot find her. She has no name or purpose. John still won’t divulge much of a personal nature, but does warn her that the treatments don’t get any easier, and asks her to get better. She tells him that she can’t get better if she is not ill. He asks for an explanation. She tells him that no one believes her, not Dr. Banning and not her parents, but tells him that she was touched by Satan because neither she nor her faith were strong enough. John tells her about his son and how when he got ill, metal spoons hurt him, so he and his wife use a wooden spoon to feed him. She wonders at the wooden spoon he is using for her, and he tells her that he brought it from home, even though it is against the rules.

As John leaves the room, he tells her that he does believe her, because he was there. He turns, and shows Vanessa his demon eyes. Lucifer is speaking through him.

Vanessa, freaking out, demands that Dr. Seward bring her out of the hypnotic state. Dr. Seward says she can’t. She has tried, has even burned her hand with a cigarette. Vanessa is in a fugue state, and will only come out when she reaches the heart of her trauma. Seward advises her to keep going and assures her that she will not leave Vanessa for anything in the world. The only way out is through.

Vanessa cannot speak, because she has been gagged as well as straitjacketed. When next John comes in, he gently leads her to the chair, seats her and takes the gag off. He is sickened by what Vanessa is going through and has come to agree that it is torture. He brushes her hair out, while telling her that they would sack him if they knew. Then he applies makeup that his wife has given him. He has talked about Vanessa to his wife which is against the rules. He would leave if jobs weren’t so scarce, but he also doesn’t want to leave Vanessa alone. He holds a mirror up for her to see who she is. He goes on to break more rules, sharing information about himself and his family, reading children’s poetry to her. Vanessa cries silently. At the end of the visit, John puts everything back as it was so that their interaction remains secret. He tells her it is Christmas today. Another rule broken.

Vanessa is lonely and despondent, her parents have stopped coming and she feels like she will never get out of there. She is so desperate for human contact that she tries to seduce John on his next appearance. She claims she should have died a virgin, like Joan of Arc who sang while she burned. John, growing more distressed, tells her that they will turn to surgery if she doesn’t show signs of improvement. He goes on to describe graphically what will happen, both during the surgery and after. “Do you know what they are, all of them? A broken thing. Ms. Ives, you have to get better.” Vanessa shakes her head, so he begs her to pretend to be cured. She asks him if he would want his son to be anything other than he is. “Would you want him to pretend? Then don’t ask it of me.” John sits down with Vanessa and tells her that though he is a stupid man, he will listen, and invites her to tell him why the Devil would be interested in her.

She doesn’t know so asks him “If you were Lucifer, why would you be interested in someone?”. John says “That’s easy. Because I love you.” But it is not John speaking, it is Lucifer with his demon eyes. He names himself. A shadow serpent coils around the walls, and around her. He asks her if God’s mercy has touched her life. She kneels in a prayerful attitude, and tells him that her God is merciful, and that He will not abandon her. Lucifer claims that He already has, that she is not even a blade of grass to Him. He invites her to “be as she was with him before there was time, before the Scorpion crawled and the Adder hissed. Give yourself to me freely.” At this a soft, menacing laughter echoes around the room. Lucifer backs into a corner. This is the other, who also appears in John Clare’s form. Vanessa demands a name, but this other only says that she can read it on his tomb. The other addresses Lucifer as his brother, mocking him for his insignificance. Lucifer berates him for the eating of flesh and drinking of blood.

The other seduces Vanessa through her baser desires. “You are a thing of the flesh, like me. You are powerful. Become the wolf, the bat, the scorpion. Be who you are. Give me your flesh, your blood, be my bride and then all light will end, and the world will live in darkness. Such is our power, such is our Kingdom, such is my kiss. In this mortal world they will lock you away in rooms like this, they will brand you a freak and a sorceress. I love you for who you are, Vanessa.” Vanessa asks him “What name do I whisper to you Beloved?” “I am the demon, the dragon, my name is Dracula.” Vanessa breaks away, and tells them that both her body and soul are promised to another. The brothers voice a litany of threats; she stands her ground. “I am no more than a blade of grass, but I am. You think you know evil? Here it stands”. Reciting something that sounds very much like the Verdis Diablo of last season, she banishes the brothers into the shadows. She wakes from this vision to find John asking “Well, why would the Devil be interested in you?”. She claims tiredness, so John leaves.

Dr. Seward tells her she can come out of hypnosis now, but Vanessa refuses. She is not yet done.

The next time John brings her food, she has a shaved head. She tells John she tried to counterfeit normality. But when the Dr. asked about her faith, she told him the truth. John tells her he is leaving. He was at home helping his son build a model of an exploring ship, and his son asked where they went. John told him that they would explore everywhere, including the frozen north. When his son wondered if people lived there, he said no. It was too cold and lonely for people to live there. Then he realized that he knows one person who lives where it is cold and lonely all the time, and this knowledge caused him such grief he couldn’t stop crying. He has tendered his resignation. But he will stay long enough so that the last person Vanessa sees before her surgery will be someone who loves her.

Vanessa comes out of hypnosis on her own. Dr. Seward has filled an ashtray with butts, and her desk with notes. She pours them both a drink and asks what Vanessa remembers. “Images like a dream, yes?” but Vanessa says “No. Everything. You once said we name things so they don’t frighten us. I’m not frightened. His name is Dracula.”

.
Fade to Black.

This episode explains a lot about Vanessa’s response to John Clare as Caliban. And Caliban’s response to Vanessa. It’s like a muscle memory. John was the only one who showed her compassion during her time in the White Room, he is the one who kept her sane. She is the one who touched his humanity, both in her time in the White Room, and later, when they met in the Cholera Clinic, neither knowing the other. And I believe that he will become a valuable ally in her fight against Dracula, even if they don’t remember their past relationship to each other.

And so we come to the end of this review. Look into your crystal ball.  Do you feel Vanessa and John Clare will come to remember each other? Is it necessary to the story that they do? Let me know what you think – of the episode, of my review, of the future. And don’t forget to check out our awesome site, Skatronixxx.com, and all the writers that contribute. An original web series – Pinheads – has made its home on our site. Episode 1 Sweet Charity is up and running.

Until next time, Dreadfuls!

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow SN1 EP16 – ‘Legendary’

If you have not yet seen the season finale, due to channels not airing it when they were supposed to (that happened to me), be warned that this article contains major spoilers.

The Time-Master’s most powerful tool is destroyed, the Timeline is unclear, Rips’ family cannot be saved and Savage has escaped, with Kendra and Carter as prisoners, in a time ship gifted to him by the now defunct Time Masters. With all of that in mind, Rip returns the team to 2016, but having a little foreknowledge, returns them to a point months later than when he recruited them. They land in Star City, May 2016. The team is less than happy with Rip leaving them while the mission is unfinished. Rip’s next action will be to go to the Last Refuge, and return their younger selves back to the time line. The team discover that Rip never got off the ship with them as the Waverider pulls away. Rory mutters that he never did like that guy anyway.

Sara finds her dad (Paul Blackthorne) in Arrow HQ, babysitting the monitors. He breaks the bad news. While she was gone, Damien Darhk has caused them problems, not the least of which is that he killed Laurel during his prison break.

Over in Central City, Rory has wasted no time in finding a new partner, and we find him at the tail end of a successful bank robbery. This new partner, wielding the cold gun, shoots an unfortunate guard. As Rory sees it, this was unnecessary, as they were just about at their getaway Charger, and the guard was on foot. He heatwaves the idjit, collects the cold gun and hops back into the Charger, to find that his driver is now Ray Palmer. Ray wants to talk to Rory. In a parking lot away from the scene of the crime, Ray tries to apologise again for Snart’s death. Rory knows that it was all Snart’s doing, as he never did anything without a plan. Ray wonders if Snart’s plan was for the two of them to be partners, to look out for each other. Rory kinda looks like he might have puked a little in his mouth, until Ray explains that he wants to finish the mission.

At Martin’s house, he and Clarissa (Isabella Hofmann) are playing Trivial Pursuit. Martin won’t talk to Clarissa about what happened during the time he was gone, but he does say that he has left some very important work unfinished. The next morning, Martin and Jax return to the landing site with a Quantum Entangler, and meet Ray and Rory who have arrived with Ray’s radio beacon. A visibly upset Sara also comes back to the site and wants to know how they can get the WaveRider back.

On the WaveRider, Rip is reviewing recordings of his wife and son. And he is wallowing in his grief, no doubt about it. Gideon interrupts his pity party with the news that they have picked up a transmission from Star City 2016. When Rip gets off the ship this time, Rory pushes him, just to make sure. The team tells Rip they want to finish the job. Rip admits to having had no success in tracking Savage, but he also has not been involved in any bar fights, or put dwarf star tech into the hands of terrorists, or been turned into a scary angry bird monster. Rory interrupts “We got your point. Now get ours. That ship’s not taking off without us. You got that?”.

In Sainte-Lo, France 1944, Kendra has escaped from Savage’s ship, and runs into a young Sargeant who is hunting Nazis. She realizes that she has seen his helmet on the WaveRider, begs the soldier for paper and a pencil, scribbles a quick note and puts it inside the soldiers’ helmet. Although his name is never mentioned, hard core DC fans will no doubt recognize this young soldier as Sgt. Rock (Blair Penner). I had to look him up, lol, having come to my superhero geekery later in life. Savage uses him for knife target practice, and recaptures Kendra.

Once on board, a very pissed off Sara sucker punches Rip because he knew about Laurel. She wants to go back and save Laurel, but Rip insists that they can’t. Sara is subdued, and taken to her room. Jax knocks a soldier’s helmet down. Rip realizes it was in a different spot from where it was originally kept, due to chronometric repositioning. He examines the helmet closely, and finds Kendra’s note. They plot course for Sainte-Lo, 1944.

Carter has come out of stasis, but is disoriented, knowing only that he is going to kill Savage. Savage takes a vial of blood from each Hawk, while chortling about his plan, which involves the three meteorites that hit the Earth in ancient Egypt. He plans to activate the Thanagarian technology in the meteorites using their blood, to erase time and reboot it at 1700 BC. Only this time, he will be in control. He will be a God.

On the WaveRider, Rip goes to Sara’s quarters to explain himself. He knew that if he returned them to when they first met, not only would Darhk have killed Laurel, he would also have killed Quentin and Sara herself. This is a point in history that cannot change, so no matter how many times they go back, the outcome will always be the same. She is undone by this, telling Rip that she can’t do it without Laurel. Rip disagrees. “You are one of the strongest people I have ever met. Laurel may be beyond your help, but Kendra and Carter might not be.” She wipes her tears, straightens her shoulders and determines to help rescue the Hawks.

Gideon locates Savage busily trying to hijack a meteorite from the Nazis. Heatwave, Atom and White Canary keep Savage and the Nazis busy while Firestorm rescues the Hawks. Firestorm accidentally discovers his ability to transmute things when he grasps a rifle, and it crumbles to dust. As the team makes their way back to the WaveRider, Kendra is hit and recaptured by Savage. They have rescued Carter, but have lost Kendra. For the time being.
Carter is still confused, but as they are a little short on time, they need to know what Savage wants. He tells them about Savage’s plan to activate three Thangarian meteorites with vials of blood from himself, Kendra and Carter. Carter tells them that Savage plans to reset time back to ancient Egypt. Gideon provides some relevant surveillance video. The team realizes that they have seen one of these meteorites in 1958. While Jax is trying to figure out how he transmuted the rifle because that would be a handy tool, Stein realizes that Savage will need to activate the three meteorites in three different time periods to accomplish his goal. Jax thinks this is the craziest bad guy plan in the history of bad guy plans. Stein’s math shows that the three time periods will be 1958, 1975 and 2021, each one a year in which Thanagar and Earth align.

In 1958, Savage meets himself and gives himself a vial of blood. He explains what he wants himself to do with the meteorite and how.

The question of the day is how to stop Savage. Stein says they have to kill him when he is triply exposed to the meteorite radiation during the activation. At that point, Savage will become mortal, briefly, so that anyone will be able to kill him. They must split up into teams of two, one team per time period. All three teams must strike simultaneously.
Savage has taken the 1944 meteorite to a rooftop in 2021, and has Kendra tied up out of the way, but where she can see it all. Rip and Hawkman are in hiding, waiting for the right time to strike.

In Harmony Falls 1958, Heatwave asks Atom when he can kill Savage. Atom tells him that they have to wait for the meteorite to go critical.

In Norway 1975, Martin, Jax and White Canary are in place, watching their past selves find the nuclear warhead and take it to detonate harmlessly underwater. They wait for the third meteorite to be delivered to Savage, and for Savage to start the ritual.

Savage starts the ritual in each time period. Each year has its’ title bout, and each Savage has his ass handed to him. In 1958 it is Rory and Savage while Atom keeps the crazy angry birdmen minions busy; in 1975 it is Sara and Savage while Firestorm keeps the thug minions busy; and in 2021, Kendra has broken loose and hawked out, so she and Hawkman take Savage on while Rip keeps the trooper minions busy. In 1975, Savage breaks free of Sara, grabs a rocket launcher and fires at her. She doesn’t even flinch as Firestorm swoops in and destroys it. Savage tells her she is too late, but she retorts that “a Time -Master is never late.” She engages, gets behind him and breaks his neck. In 1958, Savage gasps “You can’t kill me, I’m immortal” Rory says “Guess you haven’t heard the news” and turns Savage into a crispy critter. In 2021, Carter is holding Savage for Kendra, she stabs him once, says “Goodbye….. my love” and stabs him again. Rip grabs the dying Savage. “Ah, you can feel it can’t you? Things are different this time. You’re mortal.” He twists the knife, but Savage sneers “and yet my death does not save the lives of your family. I may die, but you will live knowing that you failed to save them.” Rip throws him into a building transformer for good measure.

In 1975, Firestorm transmutes the meteorite into water. In 1958, the Atom shrinks the meteorite out of existence. The two teams rejoin the rest in 2021, where both Firestorm and the Atom try a repeat performance with the third meteorite. Unsuccessfully. Rip takes the meteorite on board the WaveRider with the intent to fly into the sun. There is a conversation via comms between Rip and the team, during which Rory admits “I don’t want to lose another friend”. Rip tells them it has been an honour to serve as their Captain, and the comms cut out.

While Rip is heading towards the sun, he closes his eyes and has a poignant vision of himself hugging his wife and son. My eyes got just a lil wet. He wakes out of his vision to say goodbye to Gideon, but the AI informs him that she is not ready to die. Having said a proper goodbye to his family, Rip decides that he isn’t either. They do some fast power rerouting, dump the meteorite into the sun, and time jump out of there to when the team realized he was gone. As they realize the meteorite and the WaveRider are both gone, the ship reappears. They enter the badly beaten up ship and Rip tells them what has occurred. Another notable moment happens as Jax notes that Rip could have been killed, and Rory says “you should have been. You’re a moron.” Kendra can’t believe it is really over. Rip says “for some of you, yes. But my journey, it seems is just beginning. The Time-Masters are no longer a going concern due to the destruction of the Oculus. Someone needs to be responsible for protecting the time line. Who better than a former Time Master and any of you who would like to join me.”.

The team are taken once again to 2016. Sara visits Laurels’ grave with Quentin. Lance tells her she needs to go with Rip because justice for Laurel will happen with or without her. Sara agrees that this time she will do it for Laurel.

Martin and Clarissa are playing Trivial Pursuit again. Martin tells her that he is going to decline the offer this time. Jax enters the house, and Clarissa and he convince Martin that Firestorm is meant to have a dynamic role in history. Clarissa seals the deal by telling him that she will always be there, waiting.

In a bar in Central City, Rory has asked Snart to meet with him, just to talk. Rory tells Snart that he just wanted to say something important that shouldn’t be left unsaid. He is obviously struggling, so Snart responds with “Mick, I don’t do touchy feely. You got something to say, say it.”. Rory manages. “You’re the best guy I ever knew. You may not think you’re a hero, but you’re a hero to me. Ya got that?”. Snart says “Yeah, I got it”, and watches Rory walk away with an odd expression on his face, not the cold Snart expression it should have been for that time. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part, lol.
Outside, Rip tells Rory that he can always bring him back to this time and place whenever he wants. So it seems that some times and places can be visited repeatedly.

In Star City, the team assembles, to Rip’s delight. But Kendra breaks the news that she and Carter will not be going. Carter adds that they want to start fresh. Kendra thanks them all. She wants specially to say something to Ray, but he stops her, saying that “this was meant to be. I wish you both nothing but the best.”. The Hawks take to the sky. As the team walks towards the WaveRider, they are halted by the sight of another WaveRider careening out of the sky. It lands hard and an unknown man steps out. This man approaches them, demanding to know if this is May 2016. When he is told that it is, he tells them that they are exactly where they told him they would be. And to not get on that ship. If they do, they will all be dead. Rory, immediately suspicious, wants to know who sent him. The man tells him, “You, Mr. Rory. You sent me.” WTF? Rip asks him who he is exactly, and the man introduces himself as Rex Tyler (Patrick J Adams), a member of the Justice Society of America.

Whiteout.

And so we have the shape of things to come. The Legends will take on the responsibility for protecting the timeline against those who would manipulate it for evil. And somewhere along the way, they will meet up with the Justice Society of America. Look for more DC heroes old and new, from Earth and Earth-2 to join our team in their adventures. Some will be just passing through, but I am sure that one or two will stay on.

Who would you like to see join the team on a permanent basis? Will Hourman be one of them? (Yes I had to look him and the JSA up too, lol). How about Sgt. Rock? Yes I know he died, but we are dealing with time travel here. I personally am rooting for Jonah Hex. I would love to see Leonard return, and he will, but he will only be passing through. The question there is, will there be a Captain Cold-Canary relationship again? I hope so. That was just getting interesting. And be sure to set your PVR’s for the big Crossover event next season – Supergirl, Arrow, Flash and the Legends!

Thanks for reading my ramblings! I hope you enjoyed my style, and I hope to see you all back here for the second season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow! Meanwhile, check out the rest of the gang at Skatronixxx.com, and if you are also a Dreadful, be sure to take a look at my Penny Dreadful reviews.

Penny Dreadful SN 3 EP 3 – ‘Good And Evil Braided Be’

What an episode, Fellow Dreadfuls! From dark to darker! Didn’t think that was possible, but it is. Penny D has an 18A rating for good reason. There were some extremely intense scenes in this episode, as well as plenty of language of the times. There is no such thing as a political correctness filter at all. If you are faint of heart, or offended by historical language, this is definitely not the show for you. In Good and Evil Braided Be, there is a distinct separation of story lines. Ethan’s story is taking place in New Mexico, Vanessa is preparing to do battle with not only her inner demons, but with an external demon in the form of Dracula. And Victor is trying desperately to get Lily back with Henry Jekyll’s help.

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Let’s deal with Ethan first. Ethan has escaped from both Inspector Rusk and from the hired brigands who were bringing him back to his father in the Talbot Range. In this, he has been ably assisted by Hecate, who has made it quite clear that she is along for the ride, no matter Ethan’s feelings in the matter. “Has my utility not been amply demonstrated? Has my allegiance not been proved? I followed you across an ocean and a continent. I will follow you to Hell. I will lead the way, Wolf of God.” Ethan acknowledges Kaetenay’s teachings. “My father, my Apache father taught me to believe in things we don’t quite understand. And you are surely one of them”. He is still going to see his biological father, but on his own terms. In order to do that, they need transportation, which Hecate procures by killing a pair of homesteaders. The cold-bloodedness of the act sickens Ethan to his soul. Hecate’s motivations for helping him are quite simple, really. “I want to liberate your truest self. The beast that prowls around your heart. And when you are truly yourself and we are painted with blood, I want to rule the darkness at your side”. Ambitious Witch!
Ethan is being tracked by Inspector Rusk and Federal Marshall Ostow.

They have found the savaged remains in the Cascabel Saloon and Trading Post. Must have been pretty stinky in there, what with the scent of death and decomp being accelerated by the New Mexico heat. They are there long enough to realize that Ethan has help, as one body was killed in an entirely different manner from the rest. Ostow thinks that Rusk knows something about Ethan that he is not sharing. Rusk asks him if he believes in the occult, and advises him to start. They head out, and spot Ethan and Hecate just before the pair enter the desert. But they tip Ethan off when Ostow and his posse start shooting at them from a bluff some distance away. Ethan and Hecate ride off as if the Hounds of Hell were nipping at their heels.

We find Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay on a train – Kaetenay meditating, Sir Malcolm watching the world go by. Sir Malcolm wants to know why, when Kaetenay could have tracked Ethan on his own, did he follow him around the world to enlist his help. Kaetenay tells him that Ethan trusts Sir Malcolm with his life. Then changes the subject by describing a woman in her witch form. Sir Malcolm knows it is Hecate. Kaetenay tells him she is with Ethan. Kaetenay’s motivation for finding Ethan is also pretty simple. “If we cannot save our son, a terrible end awaits us, all of us. The Beast will feed, a darkness will overcome the earth, then all our days will come to an end. Only Ethan can save us.”. Sir Malcolm strikes a blow for race equality when they are approached by a man who insists that non-whites (in much less politically correct language) must ride with the livestock. Sir Malcolm speaks to this man. “Before you speak another word I ask you to consider this. How valuable is your life? Do you hold it dear? Does your wife value your company?” He stands and draws himself to his full height. “Do you favor growing old? To one day teach your ugly inbred children your grotesque manners? Lay hands on him and it will be your end”. Freakin’ awesome speech, coupled with a very nicely placed buuurn! Later on, having obtained horses, they track Ethan and Hecate to the homestead. Sir Malcolm knows Ethan did not murder the homesteaders, and wants to bury them. Kaetenay says “Let the coyotes eat. He is halfway damned already. We go into the desert and do not stop until we find him, and save him if we can. If we cannot, we kill the evil that he has become”.

In Bedlam, Victor converses with the inmate that was transformed by Henry Jekyll’s serum. The man only vaguely remembers his violent state while sane, or his sane state while violent. The serum wears off very suddenly, and the man is dragged away, screaming and thrashing. This is the crux of Henry’s problem. The serum lasts for mere hours at this point. The beast will out. Henry has a deep seated need to know which part is the true self, beast or angel. Victor thinks that both are the true self.  “Good and evil braided be”. Henry rejects that. “In the end we must be that thing the world demands of us. We must take the lust, the avarice and the ambition and bury them. All the ugly alien things, all the things we really are. The other one, the other man, we cannot allow him!”. Of course, as we know, Dr. Jekyll is speaking from personal experience. Victor thinks he can help to increase the length of the change, perhaps rendering it permanent, if they combine their two disciplines, biochemistry and electricity.

Lily and Justine, while having tea in town, notice a man leering at Justine. Lily tells Justine that men are utter slaves to their desires. Dorian being an exception. Justine wants to know if Lily has ever known any man who didn’t want to “f*** her or beat her”, and Lily tells her about Ethan. Justine asks what happened to him, and Lily says that it is more what happened to her. She muses that she has had an eventful life but is not ready to share all, even though Justine declares her allegiance to Lily. A group of suffragettes attract their attention, clamouring, waving placards, and being beaten by police. Justine thinks that they are the same as Lily, but Lily disagrees.

They have the same enemy, but the suffragettes want equality. She wants something else. “How do you accomplish anything in this life? By craft, by stealth, by poison, by the throat quietly slit in the dead of the night. By the careful and silent accumulation of power”. She tells Justine that when you have that power, you go to war. Back at home, Dorian tells Justine about rites of passage, while playing with a dagger, and Lily watches on. There is a naked man bound and gagged in a chair. Dorian asks Justine to share her relationship with this man. “He bought me when I was 12, and used me as his pet whore. He whored me out when I got older and he grew tired of me. He put me on a platform and let 10 men at a time f*** me. “. Dorian interrupts “and then he charged us £10 each to see you being tortured and killed” Lily, with tears in her eyes, tells Justine that is her worth. Dorian presents Justine with the knife and tells her that if she makes this pledge, there will be no drawing back. God will turn his back on her, mankind will shun her. Justine takes the knife and slashes the man’s throat, and then, in a fit of rage, stabs him over and over. She is covered in blood, and this turns them all on. The three indulge in a lurid and bloody 3-way to cement the pledge. When they are satiated, Lily and Dorian reveal their plans to build an army of the invisible women, the whores, the disgraced and powerless, all the shunned and hated. And then they will have power. Revolution. Freedom. “Liberty is a bitch that must be bedded on a mattress of corpses”.

And now to Vanessa, whom we find in Dr. Sewards’ office, in a state of agitation. Vanessa is convinced that Dr. Seward is judging her. She knows in her heart that Dr. Seward is the reincarnation of her mentor, the Cut-Wife Joan Clayton, and it enrages her that Seward doesn’t seem to believe her story. Dr. Sewards’ explanation is that Vanessa has been so traumatized by some unknown thing that her mind has invented the phantoms, demons and villains to put names to the pain. Vanessa asks her for a cigarette, and when Dr. Seward offers it, she grasps Seward’s arm and tells Seward that she was hurt by a man who would have killed her, had she not killed him first. When Seward is sufficiently shocked, Vanessa lets go and tells her that such things do have a name. “They are witches, vampires and Lucifer. They are all those things that walk in your nightmares. Shall we walk together?” Later, Vanessa and Dr. Sweet meet in Chinatown. Alexander tells Vanessa that he is recovering from the death of his wife about a year ago, and he is just now venturing into the world again. Vanessa says that she too, is healing, and is trying new things. Dracula’s lead familiar follows the two. In the spirit of trying new things, Vanessa and Alexander enter the House of Mirrors, where they get separated.

The lead familiar approaches Vanessa, and speaking in rhyme, tells her that she will meet the Master again soon. Vanessa is confused and somewhat frightened and asks him when she met the Master the first time. He clarifies that it was in a white room. No windows. No time. It was just her and the master, and “that other”. The familiar seems to hear something and bows out, crawling backwards on the floor. A visibly upset Vanessa and Alexander have tea, during which Alexander tries to find out what happened to her. She refuses to say, but tells him that she has enjoyed every minute of their time together. “But it is too dangerous. Take it as a sign of something like love. Goodbye”. As she rushes out of the tea room, Alexander takes his anger out on his teacup. On her next visit to Dr. Seward, she tells Dr. Seward of the encounter, and demands hypnosis. She needs to find out who the master is. She knows that the white room can only be at the Banning Clinic, where she was tortured and given brain surgery by Dr. Banning. Seward tries unsuccessfully to talk her out of it. Under hypnosis, she describes the room, and the door. She is alone, her only company the attendants who take her to her “treatments” and the orderly who brings her food. The door opens, and we discover that the orderly is none other than John Clare.

John Clare aka Caliban, has returned to London, having recovered some memory of his previous life. He is following the pull of those memories when he spies Vanessa across the street. His initial joy turns to wistfulness as he sees that she is meeting a man. As he looks around he sees his old apartment, and goes to examine it, in the hope that he can find his wife and son. This leads him to a factory, where it is quitting time. He is drawn to a nearby apartment block, where he sees a model of a ship in a 3rd floor window. He gets into the attic of the building and looks down into the apartment where he has seen the model, and discovers that it is the model that he and his son built together. As he watches, he realizes that his son is gravely ill, and that his wife needs financial help. He provides this help anonymously, by robbing an elderly gentleman of a gold pocket watch, and leaving the watch in the apartment for his wife to find in the morning.

Loose ends tidied up.

Renfield is becoming obsessive about finding things out about Vanessa for his master, to the point where if his ear stretched out anymore during her sessions with Dr. Seward, he’d look like Dumbo. And he is, disgustingly enough, eating any stray bug that happens to unluckily cross his path.

The lead familiar has messed up by approaching Vanessa, and not to put too fine a point on it, royally pissed Dracula off. “When the time is right, when she is abject, when she is helpless, when she begs for me, then we shall have her”. These are pretty strict instructions to the rest of the familiars, followed by some negative reinforcement. Dracula allows the rest of them to eat the lead familiar. Dire consequences indeed!
If you have made it this far, here is the trailer for next week. Enjoy!

And don’t forget to check out the rest of Team Skatronixxx at Skatronixxx.com. We can also be found on Twitter at @Skatronixxx.