DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow SN1 EP15 – ‘Destiny’

When we last left our Legends, Rip had discovered, much to his chagrin, that the Head of the Time Council, Zaman Druce (Martin Donovan) is actually *gasp* in league with Vandal Savage. And so, by extension, are the rest of the Time Council. Ray, Martin, Kendra and Rory are in cells at the Vanishing point, Carter is medically out of it, and Sara and Snart are hiding somewhere in the WaveRider. Jax, meanwhile has been sent to 2016 on a one-way trip in the jumpship to reverse the aging effects of the Time Drive reboot.

The opening scene revisits the night in 2016 when Rip showed them the future that he wants to avoid, after he had forcibly rounded them all up. When they each leave to think about it (or not), Stein tries to convince Jefferson into the trip. He asks Jefferson to meet him in his office the next morning. Jefferson agrees and leaves. Future Jax asks Stein’s help to get him back to the Vanishing Point.

In the cells at the Vanishing Point Martin is dying, because he sent Jax back to 2016 to save his life. As we know, Stein and Jax must merge occasionally to keep their separate physical bodies coherent. Rory knows his worth to the Time Masters as Chronos, so he knows they will try to re-induct him. He survived his first induction by focusing on his need for vengeance against Snart and the team. Troopers enter the cell block and take Kendra away, while Rip is taken to Druce. Druce offers to release the others if Rip will help him to capture Snart and Sara. He shows Rip the invasion of the world by warlike beings from Thanagar in 2175. Apparently, without Savage uniting the world under one rule, all life is extinguished. Rip tells Druce that he is as mad as Savage if he thinks that Savage is the world’s only hope. Druce tells him that they have considered the time line carefully, and that there is no other hope. But he has something else to show Rip that may help to convince him.

Snart and Sara climb out from under the bridge floor where they have been hiding. Len wants Sara to get into the Captain’s chair and get them out of there, because he feels that the rest of the team is done for. Sara refuses. Snart pulls his cold gun on Sara. She tells him he is not the same cold-hearted bastard that she first met. She recalls how Len stopped her from killing Stein in Russia. Snart replies “Yeah, because you seemed to have a problem with being a killer. I, however, don’t.” She dares him to shoot her. Len hesitates just long enough for Gideon to contact them through the antiquated telephone sitting on the desk. Land line on a time ship, lol. Why not? She was able to upload herself into the latency core to avoid being wiped out. And she has come up with a plan.

Kendra wakes up restrained on the time ship that the Time Masters have given Savage. He tells her that Prince Khufu is on board in stasis. Savage has an appointment with destiny to keep in 2166.

Time Master Declan (Peter Bryant) has Rory strapped into the induction chair. He tells Rory that by the time they are done, temporal criminals and time pirates alike will tremble at the sound of his boot-steps. Mick retorts matter of factly “Well for your sake, you better hope that plan works, because if it doesn’t those boots are gonna crush your skull”.

Druce escorts Rip into the the ‘Holy of Holies’, the Oculus Chamber. The Oculus is the Time Master’s most powerful tool for looking into past, present and future. But it can also be used to manipulate time, as they see fit. The Captains know nothing of this tool because, well, ‘need to know’. Druce tells Rip that everything that has happened from the time he went rogue has all been according to plan. There is no such thing as free will, except here in the Vanishing Point. Rip is not convinced, as everything that he has done has been to save his family. No one controls him. Druce reveals that he and the Council ordered Savage to kill Rip’s family to spur Rip on. To give him purpose. To make him go rogue, so that he will be nudged in the correct direction. The words strike Rip like a hammer blow to the midsection. Druce invites Rip to see for himself. He makes contact with the Oculus, and sees that what Druce has said is true. Shockingly, he also sees Ray’s death. He is returned to the cells, a broken man.

In 2016, Stein and Jax are working to get the jumpship capable of getting back to the Vanishing Point. Stein is shocked that an auto mechanic knows more about it than a nuclear physicist, prompting Jax to say that he had forgotten how arrogant Stein was. Stein picks up on the past tense and, understandably concerned, wants to know what happens to him in the future. Jax, mindful of the dangers of future knowledge, can’t tell him. Stein asks who told him that, and Jax says “You did! Now why don’t you stop worrying about yourself, and get back to work instead of being an insufferable know-it-all!”.

Back in the induction chamber in the Vanishing Point, Time Master Declan apologizes for the pain of the induction. Modifications have been made, which can dig out the deepest rooted memories. Each time Rory says his name is Mick Rory he is zapped again, until finally we see something snap on Rory’s face and he tells Declan his name is Chronos. Declan orders his release and tells Chronos that he needs to hunt for Sara and Snart.
Sara and Len are busily booby-trapping the other time ships in the hangar.

In the cells, Ray is recapping their circumstance. Mick is being turned into Chronos, Stein is about to have a nuclear meltdown and the Captain thinks their future is already written. He calls them quitters, and reminds them that Sara and Len are still out there.

Sara and Snart, on the bridge of the WaveRider, are now waiting for Gideon to finish transferring herself back to the operating system and bring the time drive back online. Snart impatiently taps his pinky ring on a support. Sara wants to know why he wears it, so Len tells her that it is a souvenir of the first job that he and Rory pulled. 3 weeks of planning went south, and all he ended up with was this ring. So for him, it is a reminder that even the best laid plans can go sideways. Gideon announces that she is ready, and they strap in and pilot out of the hangar. A guard tells Druce that the WaveRider has time jumped. Druce orders all Captains to their ships to pursue. The pilots fire up their respective ships, and the booby traps kick in, which disables the ships and forces their AI’s to sing the old Captain and Tenille one-hit wonder. Off-key. Nice touch, Gideon!

Druce tells the prisoners that he has no use for them now, and orders the attendant guard to kill them. This guard tells Druce that the WaveRider has jumped to the present. The room shakes as Gideon opens fire on the Vanishing Point. Snart appears, and  knocks Druce out. A re-suited Chronos and Declan enter the cells, getting the drop on Snart. Len tells Mick to put it down. Declan tells Chronos to fire. Chronos says “sure thing”, and fires at Declan. Declan falls, and Mick says to Declan “If I recall, I made you a certain promise.” He walks over to Declan and stomps his skull. These boots were made for crushing not walking, apparently! Lol.
Len gets Stein into the med bay so that Gideon can help stabilize him. Rip tells Gideon to get them out of there, and Sara tells Gideon to punch it. And then realizes that she has perhaps overstepped. Rip is very okay with that, as Sara has proven to be quite adept at piloting the WaveRider. The Vanishing Point employs a tractor beam, Rory tries to tell them something about it, but is ignored. Rip and Ray try to disable it. They realize that they need to remotely tell it to turn off, and use Chronos’ OS to do so.

Back in 2016, Stein and Jax have completed the jump ship mods, and say their goodbyes. Stein apologizes for being an “insufferable know-it-all”, but Jax has come to learn that it is just Steins way of caring. Jax does tell Stein about the rufying, and that he will be pissed off about it, but that it will be the best decision he never made.

Back on the WaveRider, the team is discussing their next plan of action, the Oculus and the Time Masters’ manipulation of them. They try to figure out what they can do that will not be a manipulation, and decide to blow up the Oculus at the source. Snart voices his opinion. “This is madness.. I like it!” They set course for the Oculus Wellspring.

Ray has decided that since he is going to die, there is no point in keeping up with his diet, and so is gorging himself in the galley on sugary snacks. Rory joins him. He tells Ray that Time Masters do make mistakes. Ray says that he has to stop thinking about what may be part of the Time Masters’ plan, because the temporal implications are infinite. Rory agrees. “That’s why I don’t think”. He bites into a donut. Ray asks Rory how he managed to survive the induction process this time, Rory tells him that he focused on how royally screwed the team would be without him. He goes on to tell Ray that if he can survive not being turned back into Chronos, Ray can survive anything they throw at him. Then he adds “If you tell the team I actually care, I’ll shave your head!”.

Snart meanwhile is trying to apologize for holding Sara at gunpoint, but notes that he was apparently just following a script. Sara tells him that doesn’t excuse him for being a jerk. Snart agrees.  Sara feels responsible for everything she has done. Things that still keep her up at night. Snart tells her “It’s the things I didn’t do that keep me up at night. Maybe it’s being on this ship, travelling through time, I started to wonder what the future might hold for me…. And you…. And me and you”. Sara snorts “you wanna steal a kiss from me, Leonard? You better be one helluva thief!”.

Stein has been thinking about their plan. He thinks that they have a chance, however infinitesimal. He believes that the oculus is powered by a scaled down supernova contained at the bottom of the wellspring. Rip says that he and Dr. Palmer will deactivate the core containment which should create an anomalistic event. Mick looks somewhat confused, so Stein clarifies. “A very big explosion”. They exit the ship, only to be met by Druce and a platoon of Time Master Troopers, right on schedule. Rip tells him “For all your posturing, all your claims about doing what’s best for the time line, it all comes down to cold blooded murder”. Druce sneers “The difference between murder and execution is only a matter of authority. I have it. You don’t. Kill them”. The troopers are hit by laser fire from above. Jax is back! YAY! Stein and Jax merge to kick some temporal trooper ass. The three R’s enter the wellspring chamber, and Ray gets to work while Rip and Rory hold off the guards inside the chamber. Snart, Sara and Firestorm inflict major damage outside the chamber.

Flash to London, 2166. Kendra appeals to Savage to spare Rips’ wife and daughter, but Savage points out that cosmically speaking, it’s already done. He exits to keep his appointment with destiny.

Ray has removed his gloves and helmet to work on the containment more easily. Rip tells him that this is how he dies, but as long as it means that the team can work without Time Master influence, Ray accepts that. He discovers that there is a switch that needs to be held down in order to blow the containment field. He tells Rip and Rory to go. Rory knocks Ray out, and takes over holding down the failsafe. Rip shrinks Ray, puts him in his pocket and leaves. Snart wants to know where Rory is, and when Rip tells him, he races into the chamber. Rory tells him to get out of there, so Snart KO’s Rory, and takes over holding down the switch.

He tells Sara to get Rory out. Sara refuses, Snart says “just do it”. Sara plants a lingering kiss on Snart, right dead on the lips in front of God and everybody, and drags Rory and the heat and cold guns out.

Druce begs Snart to shut it down. Snart looks at him with those incredible blue eyes, and snarls “There are no strings on me”. Ka-BOOM!!

The mood is somber on the WaveRider. Ray tells Rory that Len was a hero, even though he wouldn’t want to be remembered that way. Sara tearfully agrees. Mick is in complete shock. Rip asks Gideon for a review of the timeline data, but because the Oculus has been destroyed, time is unmoored and there is no data. A review of news clippings from 2166 confirms that Rip’s wife and son are dead.

Rory, in the galley looking at Len’s pinky ring, is joined by Ray. Ray tries to comfort him, saying “From this point forward our actions are our own. We have free will. It means that Len didn’t die for nothing”. Rory tells Ray that he has killed Declan, Druce is dead and the Time Masters’ ship is destroyed, but he still feels a need to kill someone for Snart. Ray reminds him that Savage still has Kendra and Carter. Rory notes that he will do nicely.

Savage re-enters the time ship, and tells Kendra not to weep for the dead. He tells the ship to connect him with Druce, but another time master tells him that Druce is dead. “We have lost the ability to manipulate time. You are beyond our aid, Mr. Savage. We cannot help you any longer”. The Time Master continues “Without the oculus, time is unmoored, events will no longer unfold as we have seen, or as we have engineered”. Kendra laughs at Savage. “Looks like your friends have cut you loose. How long do you think you can hold onto power without them backing you up?”. Savage admits “Not long, I’m afraid. But they have provided me with a timeship. I no longer need to rule the world, Chay’ara. I now have the ability to change it.”.

Fade to black.

OMG!!! Does this mean that my favorite character will no longer be part of the team? How is that even possible? Never fear, Ledgendaires, according to writer Greg Berlanti in an interview with Deadline, the premise of time travel means that we have not seen the last of my beloved Leonard Snart. Thank all the DC gods!
Stay tuned for the Season Finale – Legendary, airing on May 19th. Teaser trailer!

Favorite Moments:

• Rory keeping his promise to Declan. Off-screen Gore, but SO satisfying!
• Rory’s growing humanity.
• Any scene involving Sara and Snart.
• Snart, Snart, and SNART!! ‘Nuff said.

Make sure to check out the rest of the Skatronixxx team’s work at Skatronixxx.com.

Penny Dreadful SN3 EP2 – ‘Predators Far and Near’

Welcome Back Dreadfuls! Apologies for the lateness of this review. Got some hardware upgrades and had to learn how to use ‘em! I’ll bet you can all relate!  On to the show!

In Predators Far and Near, it really is all about the Predators. Namely Dorian, Lily, Ethan, Hecate and this season’s big bad – Dracula. And to a lesser degree, Inspector Rusk, Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay.

In London’s Chinatown, Dorian and Lily alight from a hansom cab, and enter a building that is serving as a theatre of sorts. The main event is the torture and butchery of a young prostitute, for the enjoyment of a circle of well to do looking men. Did I say men? No, PERVS would be a better description! As Dorian and Lily take their seats, the victim, hooded and naked, is dragged in. The Executioner and Chief Torturer chooses his tools carefully, and rips her hood off. As he goes to strike her, Dorian and Lily spring into action, killing them all thereby rescuing the girl – Justine (Jessica Barden). Lily tells Justine that she is now hers.

In the West, we come across a photographer taking proof of death pictures of victims of the train massacre in their upright coffins. Morbid, right? But historically, this was a thing. A Federal Marshall makes his feelings known about the practice with this particular group of corpses; one must assume that these victims were also Federal Marshalls. The Marshall enters the Sheriff’s office, demanding to know where his prisoner is. He introduces himself to Inspector Rusk as Federal Marshall Franklin Ostow (Sean Gilder), and tells Rusk that his services are no longer required, as the recapture of Ethan is now a federal matter. Rusk plays the Imperial card, which trumps the Marshall’s territorial jurisdiction. He tells Ostow if he doesn’t like it, he can take it up with the British Ambassador in Washington. Rusk intends to bring Ethan to heel, at which point he will be turned over to the appropriate authorities of the US government. He clearly does not feel that Ostow is one of these authorities. As Rusk struggles one-handed to light a cigarette, Ostow inquires as to whether Rusk is familiar with the territory. Rusk admits that he is not, but that his military service has taught him how to endure long stretches on horseback, and how to hunt, track and shoot from the saddle. And besides, no tracking will be required as Rusk now knows exactly where Ethan is going. He points out the Talbot Range on the map behind the Sheriff’s desk. The wolf is returning to his den. Outside of the office, a woman appears to be resting on a bench, but the woman is Hecate, and she is eavesdropping.

Vanessa enters Dr. Sewards’ office, and is greeted by Renfield. As Sewards’ previous appointment leaves, not making eye contact with anyone, Vanessa is shown in to the Dr.’s inner sanctum. Dr. Seward immediately notes that Vanessa is wearing gloves, and tells her that the gloves are merely to remind Vanessa that the itch is still there. Seward sets up a recording device, and tells Vanessa that she records her sessions and takes notes later. Vanessa is uncomfortable with this, but Seward tells her the recordings are strictly for her own use, and invites Vanessa to tell her about her first “sin”. Vanessa tells her of the seduction of Mina’s fiancée on the eve of the wedding, which lead to catastrophe, and eventually Mina’s death. Seward notes that Vanessa blames herself for this. Vanessa agrees that she does, indirectly. Seward asks her “What, directly then?” Vanessa grows extremely uncomfortable about being recorded, but Seward refuses to turn it off, and invites Vanessa to tell her story. Vanessa leans forward, and tells her that if Seward credits her story, if she believes it, she will never sleep quietly again, and asks Seward if she can believe. Seward nods, and says “Tell me”. Vanessa begins her story.

In a tea room across from Bedlam, Henry Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein are having breakfast. Here we learn that Dr. Jekyll is waiting for his father to die. He plans to use the money, estate and title to set himself up in Harley Street, in a proper lab. Jekyll is bitter about the prejudice against his ethnicity, half Indian and half white. He hates his father for leaving his Mother to die alone in India. She was tainted by taking up with his white father; untouchable, as her family had rejected her. She died of leprosy, and he notes the poetry in that. Truly untouchable. He regards his father as not being a duality of person, but as being wholly evil. This leads him to a discussion of his work in duality of person. Everyone is light and dark, angel and devil, and it is the pull between the two which energizes life. He urges Victor to eat, get his strength back, and tells him that he will help Victor with his drug addiction along the way. Victor inquires about the tour of Henry’s lab, and is told that the lab is over there. In Bedlam. As the two travel through Bedlam to Henry’s lab, we see that the inmates are kept in the vilest of conditions. Henry’s duty is to keep these people, especially the most violent, sedated and calm while they wait for the Crown to dispose of them. His lab is subterranean, near where the worst of the worst are kept. The lab is windowless, neatly organized and spacious, with a modified barber chair in the middle of the floor. The chair allows Henry to see into his subjects’ eyes, which are the mirrors of the soul. Victor is mildly upset at the thought of having to bring Lily to this awful place. He needs to know if it will bring Lily back to him. Henry assures him that it will undoubtedly make her more calm, will possibly tame the beast within her, but is not certain that they can make her love Victor again. Victor asks for a demonstration.

Back in Sewards’ office, Vanessa has tearfully finished unburdening her soul. Her story has shaken Dr. Seward up, as she finds a cigarette and lights it, noting that it is a filthy habit and that she is trying to quit. Vanessa’s appointment has taken longer than expected; Renfield knocks to let the Dr. know that her next appointment has been waiting. Seward tells Vanessa to go do something that makes her happy, and tell her about it at her next appointment. As the door closes behind Vanessa, Dr. Seward allows herself to be visibly shocked. On the street, Vanessa decides where she will go to do her homework, and the boy familiar (Sebastian Croft) follows.

In the middle of the ocean, Sir Malcolm has cabled Vanessa to let her know where he is going. He and Kaetenay discuss hunting. Kaetenay notes that hunting a man is no great thing. They are creatures of habit and will go where their needs lead, “to eat, to sleep, to fuck”. Sir Malcolm wants to know about Mr. Chandler, or Talbot as Kaetenay knows him. Kaetenay tells him that Ethan’s appetites lead elsewhere. Sir Malcolm asks “where”, Kaetenay answers “night”. Sir Malcolm asks if all of Kaetenays’ people speak so enigmatically. Kaetenay answers ‘Yes”, and goes on to tell Sir Malcolm of the story of Ethan and himself. He met Ethan when Ethan came to him with the blood of Kaetenays’ people on his face. Ethan begged him to take his scalp and wear it on his belt. But Kaetenay hated Ethan so much for what he had done that he refused because it was far crueller to keep Ethan alive. He asks Sir Malcolm if he has ever experienced that hate. Sir Malcolm, thinking of Vanessa, says that he has. But that the hate eventually turned into something else, something just as powerful. Kaetenay asks “love?”, Sir Malcolm answers “of a kind”; Kaetenay asks “like a daughter?”, Sir Malcolm answers “of a kind”. It seems Kaetenay is not the only enigmatic one! He realizes that Sir Malcolm understands, and goes about smoking a pipe of ritual herbs that will allow him entry to Ethan’s dreams.

Kaetenay appears in Ethan’s dream of overlooking a vast desert and badlands. Ethan attacks him, holds a knife to his throat and demands that Kaetenay look into his eyes. He asks Kaetenay if “they” looked into his eyes as he killed them. Kaetenay says yes. Ethan warns him that if he comes near him in life, he will take his hair and wear it on his belt. Kaetenay tells him this is a cheap Comanche trick, useful only for scaring white people, but not worthy of an Apache. Ethan protests that he is not an Apache. Kaetenay switches to the Apache tongue, and tells him that he is either an Apache or he is nothing. Ethan lets Kaetenay go. Kaetenay asks him where he is, and Ethan tells him that he is outside of Cascabel, a town on the way to the Talbot Range, where his father waits for him. Kaetenay wants to know what happens when he is brought home, and Ethan tells him that he will end it with his father, just as someday he will end it with Kaetenay. He warns Kaetenay to keep an ocean between them; but Kaetenay only says “I will see you presently, my son.” Ethan warns him that he is changed, that there is blood on his teeth and in his soul. Kaetenay tells him that then he is the Apache Kaetenay needs. Ethan wakes, and Kaetenay tells Sir Malcolm that he knows they are coming.

In the Museum of Natural History, Vanessa attends a lecture that Dr. Sweet is giving on predators. There is some flirting between the two. After the lecture, Dr. Sweet tells her that it is a tiresome part of his job, but necessary to fund the Museum’s acquisitions, and the expeditions. He does not go on these expeditions, as he claims to be not made of the same stuff as his childhood hero, Captain Nemo. She tells him that her childhood hero was Joan of Arc. Dr. Sweet goes back to work, saying good day, but not remembering her name. Vanessa reminds him. When she returns home, she looks at a newspaper and sees something that makes her smile.

At Dorian’s house, the rescued Justine wakes in a richly appointed bedroom. She hears music, and follows it to find Dorian and Lily dancing in the ballroom. Lily welcomes her home, if she is so inclined. Justine states that they killed them all, and Dorian assures her that they would have killed more. Lily adds that they will. The girl wonders why, so Lily tells her that she is dazzled by the opulence of the room, much as she herself was the first time she stood there. A feral animal, raised on the streets and forced to her knees as a girl, to service any man with “2 bob and a hard back to his hand”. She notes that there she would have stayed and died, were it not for a strange working of fate that allowed her a new life. Dorian asks Justine if she will do the same. She agrees. Dorian asks her “no matter the cost?” and she answers fiercely “BUGGER the cost!”. Lily wants to know if she will forgive the men from her past, so the girl asks her if Lily would have her do that. Lily replies “No, no! We shall have, my dear, a monumental revenge.”, and kisses Justine on the mouth.

At the Bedlam lab, the guards have brought a screaming, thrashing, animalistic man to Dr. Jekyll, and have strapped him into the chair and gagged him. Henry asks Victor for his medical opinion on the state of the man and tells him that he is a potential regicide and Jacobite. He advises Victor to never piss off a Monarch. Henry gives the man a shot that he has prepared, upon which the man has a seizure and goes limp. Henry ungags the man and asks him to greet their guest. He lifts his head, having undergone an amazing transformation both medically and mentally, and politely, lucidly and in a civilized fashion asks for a glass of water. Victor is suitably impressed.

At his office in the Museum, Dr. Sweet receives an invitation to meet Vanessa at a certain address at a certain time that evening. The address is a theatre where a projection of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is being presented with the use of new (to the times) technology.

In Dr. Sewards office, Renfield listens to Vanessa’s recordings. At a general store/saloon in Cascabel, the leader of Ethan’s captors is ordering supplies. Ethan is sitting handcuffed at a table looking out the window at the moon which is hiding behind a cloud. A Native American woman who is cleaning tables, asks Ethan what he did to be so sad and handcuffed. Ethan tells her that he killed a Senators’ son. She switches to the Apache tongue, telling him that she knows him. She is of Kaetenay’s people. Ethan, also speaking in the Apache tongue, wants to know where the old demon is. She does not know, but says that “most of the others” are on a reservation in Oklahoma Territory. She goes on to lament that the “others are cold and frozen, dead and dying, all gone”. Ethan is saddened by this news. She tells him that she would help him if she could, so he asks her to help by leaving the room right now. She pats his shoulder and says “Bless you, Son”. He responds “Thank you, Mother”. She leaves the room as Ethan’s transformation begins. He breaks free, and lays about himself killing all present. Hecate, in her witch form, detaches from the wall to help him. Hecate tells Ethan she has missed him.

After their evening at the theatre, Vanessa invites Dr. Sweet for coffee, but he declines. He thanks her for the evening, kisses her hand and vows never to forget her name again. As Vanessa turns to go home, she gets the feeling that she is being watched, but shrugs it off. However, she is being watched, by the lead familiar (Jack Greenless).

Victor is sitting outside Dorian and Lily’s house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lily. Creeper!! She sees him, and tells him that he cannot be there, there is nothing for him there. Victor declares that where she is, he belongs, so Lily tells him to take his romance, his memories and go. Victor wants to save her from all this, one way or another, as he created, and is responsible for, her. She says that she needs no man to save her, and muses that she more created him than he did her. She tells him that he will recover from this first love, and requests that he not come back. He will not like what she is becoming.

Vanessa writes to Sir Malcolm. In her letter, she wonders if Sir Malcolm will cross paths with their lost friend, Ethan. She assures him that all is well with her, and tells him she misses him.

At the end of the episode, we find Renfield at Draculas’ lair. He tells the voice that Vanessa has told Seward her story, but doesn’t think Seward believes her. He begs for blood. Who knew that vamp blood would be every bit as addictive as modern day once-and-you’re-screwed drugs? Dracula appears, slashes his wrist, and offers it to Renfield, telling him that he will be flesh of his flesh, blood of his blood. Renfield hungrily drinks, as our viewpoint pulls back to reveal that Dracula is none other than Dr. Sweet!

Fade To Black.

Here’s a trailer for the next Penny Dreadful, airing on Sunday May 15, 2016. Enjoy! And don’t forget to follow the Skatronixxx team at Skatronixxx.com for all your pop culture needs!

Dc’s Legends Of Tomorrow SN1 EP14 – ‘River Of Time’

River of Time

HOLEE!! What a RIP-snorter of an episode ending! Did NOT see that coming! Read on for details of the latest episode of Legends, and prepare to have your socks knocked off!

Flashback to Egypt, where Rip as Gareeb is in jail being taunted by Savage (Caspar Crump) as Hath-Set.

Mick Rory enters the bridge of the WaveRider, knocking back some Scotch that was given to Rip in 1689. He is toasting “Mission almost accomplished”. Martin Stein is sickened by the thought of possibly celebrating a murder, and is reminded by Leonard Snart that murdering Savage has always been part of the plan. Len goes on to note that “as long as he is on board, living and breathing, Savage is a threat to everyone on this ship”. Kendra Saunders asks “So what, we just kill Savage and leave Carter a brainless drone?”. Rory says “Yes”, Snart and Sara Lance seem to agree. Ray Palmer and Jax Jackson enter the bridge in a state of excitement. They have found evidence that Savage has been manipulating the time line while they were analyzing the data collected by the Atom suit during the fight with the giant robot. Sara thinks the Time Masters will now have to sign off on undoing the damage Savage has caused, and the decision is made that they will transport Savage to the Vanishing Point to face justice for his crimes.

Savage is very firmly trapped in the brig. What threat could he possibly pose? Savage is quite curious as to how Rip managed to escape the Egyptian jail cell. Rip brushes that off, and wants to know how Savage attained the ability to travel through time. Savage explains that when he saw Rip for the second time, in 1975, he realized that time travel was the only explanation. “You showed a caveman fire, and I had almost 200 years to figure out how to strike the flame”. He goes on to tell Rip that he will come to learn that this is just one of many things they have in common. Rip retorts that “subjugating the world to your rule is not saving it. You would create a wasteland and call it peace”. Savage is annoyed at the misquote of Tacitus. He goes on to sneer “You might be a time master, but I am a master of time, and I play a far deeper game than you could ever hope to comprehend”. Sounds like some surprise is coming. Rip leaves the brig and instructs Gideon to up their speed to maximum. Gideon objects, but Rip overrides his objections, saying that they need to get to the Vanishing Point as fast as possible.

Ray and Kendra visit Carter Hall, who is handcuffed in the cargo bay. Kendra tries to tell him who he is, but Carter only promises that if they release him he will show them mercy by killing them quickly.

Sara notes that the ship is laboring hard, and questions Rip’s decision to push it. In spite of Rip’s confidence in the WaveRider, the time drive fails. Sara goes to check on Savage’s cell. Rip tells Jax that his help is required to repair the time drive. Stein worries what will happen if they end up stranded in the time stream, so Rip tells him that the jumpship can make a one-time only trip back to 2016.

In the brig, Savage tries to engage Sara in conversation. She wonders how he knows so much about her family, so he points out that he has only had 191 years to research his enemies. She says that he should know that she doesn’t scare that easily. He tells her that she should be scared of Captain Hunter. “He has lied to you all so often, and yet you persist in believing him. Do you know why he selected all of you for this endeavour?” Sara quips “Great bone structure”. Savage continues “Because he chose people who could be manipulated. People who would believe his lies”. She notes that the lies she doesn’t believe are Savage’s. But it is easy to see that Savages’ particular brand of poison is already at work.

Jax has meanwhile found a large crack in the time drive. Gideon informs Rip the level of contamination in the engine room is 3 percent above maximum. Stein says that they need to get him out of there, but Rip assures him that Jax will be done quickly enough that he won’t suffer any adverse effects. Jax gets the time drive back online, but it surges. Jax flashes back to his mother giving him his Father’s watch. Stein and Rip hustle Jax to the med bay, but Gideon informs them that his organs are aging at a rapid rate, a condition that Gideon cannot reverse. So much for not suffering adverse effects! Now that the time drive is operational a total reboot is required.

Snart watches Rory make a mess while eating, and asks if he remembers Alexa. Rory asks why, and Snart tells him he has the same feeling now as he did then. It was obviously not a warm, fuzzy feeling!

Sara returns to the bridge, having ensured that Savage is secure, and tells Rip that Savage has told her that Rip would sell them all out to save his family. Rip agrees that Savage is not wrong, and tells her what has happened to Jax. He’s vexed by the possibility that he subconsciously chose to send Jax to do the job because of the possible danger. Sara is vexed by the possibility that they have thrown in with a Captain who cares more about himself than his crew.

Kendra, still trying to jog Carter’s memory while being guarded by Ray, gets too close to Carter. He strikes at Kendra, choking her with his legs. Ray clobbers him and pulls Kendra away, then goes back to Carter and delivers such a punch to Carter’s head that he is knocked out. Ray, now determined to find another way to get Carter’s mind back, visits Savage, and demands that Savage tells him how to free Carter’s mind. Savage agrees that he could do this, but wants to know if Ray is really sure that is what he wants. Savage points out that if he does, Ray will lose Kendra, very much as he himself lost her to Carter on her second life. It transpires that Kendra and Savage had been very much in love during her second life according to him, as Kendra had no recollection of her death at his hands in Egypt. Then Carter came along, and took Kendra and their love and happiness. Savage  blatantly draws parallels between himself and Ray. Ray denies that they are even remotely the same. Savage says that nevertheless, if Carter is free, Ray will lose Kendra. But then, he notes “she would hardly be the first woman you’d lost would she?”. Flashback to Ray’s conversation with Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) before he joined up with Rip.

Ray returns to the cargo hold where much to his shock and dismay, he overhears Kendra reciting a love poem to Carter. He spins on his heel, Kendra runs after him, and the conversation that follows leads to Ray breaking it off with Kendra. They both look unhappy about it, but at the same time I suspect that both are relieved.

In the med bay, Jax’s outward appearance now matches the aging of his innards. Snart says that this is all Rip’s fault, because this is what happens when Rip goes with Plan B. Rory notes that Plan A was to take Savage’s head in with the mace. Stein is still aghast at the thought of murder, and points out that they are trying to resolve the situation without bloodshed. With a look at Jax, Rory enquires “and how’s that working for you, Ghandi?” Jax notes that won’t help him now.  Snart tells Stein and Jax that they are not waiting around for the other shoe to drop, and that they deserve better.

Snart and Rory join Rip and Sara on the bridge, where Snart drawls “We saw what you did to Jax.” Rory is worried that this is just the beginning. Snart continues “like I said, Rip, as long as Savage is alive and on this ship he is dangerous.” Rip tells them that the time drive is rebooting and that they will soon be on their way. He asks Snart for a little faith, to which Snart responds “Sorry, fresh out”. Rip asks Rory if he is of the same mind, and asks Sara what her feelings are. Sara points out that he is the one who said he would sell them out for his family. Rip tells them about the jumpship, and reminds them that the mission has always been a voluntary enterprise. Len and Mick leave the bridge, Snart saying it has been a blast, and Rory telling Rip to tell his pals that “Chronos says to kiss my ass”. Sara stays. Flashback to Sara visiting Nyssa al Gul (Katrina Law) in her Nanda Parbat cell.

Stein visits Savage. Savage says “Finally, an intellect approximate to my own.” Stein tells him he is not there to play mind games. He reminds Savage of the ritual performed in October of 1975 at the Greyhill building. He wants to know if Savage can share his immortality with Jax. Savage informs him that he would need Carter’s blood to do that, and suggests that he go ask Carter for it, or better yet, enlist Ray’s help to spill it. Stein notes that he is sure Savage would enjoy that, having all of them at each other’s throats while stranded in the time stream. Martin then realizes that they are not stranded and thanks Savage for providing the solution to the problem. We next see Martin helping Jax into the jumpship, where he explains to Jax that he has made adjustments. If his math is correct, the trip through the time stream should correct Jax’s condition. Jax refuses, knowing that without him Stein will die, but Stein once again drugs him, and explains that this time he is thinking of Jax. He asks Jax to tell Clarissa he is sorry, she deserved a proper goodbye.  He straps Jax in and leaves, launching the jumpship.  Flashback to Clarissa (Isabella Hofmann) and Martin at Star Labs, where Martin tells her that he loves her, and that he will be back before she knows it.

Snart and Rory arrive at the launch bay to find the jumpship gone. Stein tells them that he has done what was necessary to save Jax’s life, and now they all need to do what’s necessary to save the ship and themselves.

Ray, clearly not thinking very clearly, re-enters the brig, to tell Savage that Kendra is free to do as she wants. Savage taunts him into entering the brig, where the two fight. Savage wins, and uses Ray’s palm to open the brig door.

As the time drive reinitialization completes, Ray rushes onto the bridge to tell them that Savage has escaped. Gideon informs them that Savage has released Carter, and then is disengaged by Savage. Rory threatens Ray “If we live through this you bumbling idiot I might just kill you.” Rip sends Rory, Snart, Ray and Kendra to recapture Savage and Carter, and pulls out the navigation maps. They must navigate the river that is the time stream manually, in order to reach the Vanishing Point. Sara plots the safest course, while Martin calculates when to put on a burst of speed and for how long, and Rip pilots.

Snart, Rory, Atom and Kendra catch up with Savage, where he grandiosely demands ”Who are you to stand up against me, Vandal Savage, destroyer of Empires?” Snart retorts “Leonard Snart, Robber of ATMs”. Carter approaches from behind, armed with his mace, so Ray and Kendra take him on. Kendra tells the Atom she can take care of Carter. He goes to help Snart and Rory only to be knocked out, again, in pretty short order. Am I the only one who has noticed that the guy has a glass jaw, even in his suit? Thought not! The three on the bridge maneuver the ship through the most difficult bit, Rip gives control to Sara, and goes to the aid of the four attempting to recapture Savage. Ray, Snart and Rory are now all down for the count, and Carter is putting the beats on Kendra. Rip knocks Carter down, Savage fires at Kendra and Rip jumps in front of her. Carter then grabs Kendra and gives her to Savage. Savage begins to choke her, and while Carter is watching, his memories return like a bolt out of the blue. He hawks out and goes after Savage. Savage stabs Carter, Carter falls, and Kendra goes mediaeval on Savages’ ass. Savage is recaptured, and Rip gets Carter to the medbay as he is still alive.

The WaveRider appears at the Vanishing Point. Sara notices that Rip is injured, so Rip tells her that he might have jumped in front of a laser blast intended for Kendra. He can’t have his crew thinking that he cares more for himself than for them. The Vanishing Point takes over control of the WaveRider. They are told to disable weapons and prepare to be boarded. Rip demands an immediate assembly of the Time Council, as he is here not to answer for his crimes, but to justify them. As Rip marches Savage off the WaveRider, he finally tells Savage how he got out of the cell so many years ago. He bribed the guard with a novelty pen, the type with a woman on the side. When the pen turns upside down, her top comes off. Rip tells Savage that the guards at the Vanishing Point will not be so easily swayed.

In the medbay, Ray monitors Carter. When Kendra enters, he tells her it is because Carter not only has saved her life, he is also a part of the team. He thanks Kendra for breaking his heart, because the experience has taught him that he can find someone to spend the rest of his life with.

At the meeting of the Time Council, Rip produces both incontrovertible proof, and Savages’ confession, that Savage has been messing with the time line. Time Master Zaman Druse (Martin Donovan) congratulates Rip and promptly announces that they will be returning Vandal Savage to Earth immediately. He is needed in 2166. Rip cannot believe what he is hearing. The Time Masters are working in collusion with Savage! The guards take Rip away, and are told to search the ship and arrest the rest of the team.

Snart’s Alexa senses are still working. He tells Sara they need to hide, now. Stein, on the bridge is taken into custody. Rory, who has finished off that aged bottle of scotch, is taken into custody. Both Kendra and Ray, bewildered, are taken into custody. In the Vanishing Point cells, Savage tells Rip that Druse’s men have taken the ship, his friends are under arrest and Rip is once again his prisoner. And this time, he doesn’t plan to lose him. Savage pulls out the novelty pen and shows it to Rip, saying “yes, I do remember the guard. He died. Now if you will excuse me, I better be getting back to 2166. I’ve been waiting so very long to meet your family; I wouldn’t miss it for the world”.
Fade to Black

WHAT the FUDGE?? You could have knocked me over with a feather at the end of this episode. Seriously. The Time Masters working with Savage? How? More importantly, WHY? Looking forward to the answers to these questions!

Favorite Moments:

Sara to Savage “I would tell you to go to Hell, but you’d probably feel right at home there”
The Kendra/Ray breakup. It was inevitable, really, as Ray realized that he would never be “anything more than Carter’s placeholder”.

Stein’s conversation with Savage. Martin was the only one who escaped unscathed by the interaction.

Jax to Martin “You rufied me again?”

The terminology. Is the Theory of Quantum Retro Causality a thing? Anyone?

Snart to Savage “Leonard Snart, Robber of ATMs!” lolz

Sara in charge of piloting the ship. She’s not just another pretty assassin!

Kendra going mediaeval on Savage. Again. You go girl! Maybe next time you’ll actually follow through? Please?

Penny Dreadful SN3 EP1 – The Day Tennyson Died

Let the bells ring out and the banners fly, Penny Dreadful is back! Dreadfuls rejoice! For a list of all the main characters and the actors who portray them, please see my introductory post here.

The opening scene of this first episode sees Sir Malcolm Murray’s home in severe disarray. There are dust covers on the furniture, shuttered windows, flies, cobwebs, dirty dishes, rotting leftovers and a mountain of mail at the door. As we tread the stairs, we find Vanessa Ives in a similar disarrayed state. She is clearly beyond caring about her home, herself or her life. Her friends are scattered to the four corners of the earth. She is truly alone, having deserted, or been deserted by, her faith. She slowly drags her sorry self down the stairs to the back door, where a box of food supplies is waiting. As she drinks the milk straight from the bottle, and tears into a loaf of bread with her teeth, a knock comes at the door. A voice tells her he knows she is there, and he will not go away. He will knock until his knuckles are bloody if necessary. She opens the door and lets Ferdinand Lyle in. He glances around and tells her that he loves what she has done with the place. As they sit in the living room, he tells her that the bells they can hear are for Lord Tennyson, who has passed away, leaving London in mourning. He quotes Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam A.H.H.’ “tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. Vanessa remains silent with tears welling in her eyes, while Lyle tells her that he is saddened to see her like this. He relates a time when a certain doctor helped him during his own dark days, and begs her to see this doctor. He offers to make the appointment for her. At this, Vanessa’s reserve crumbles completely, and she cries in his lap.

Across the pond, in New Mexico Territory, a train is puffing its way across the landscape. Inside one of the train cars, we find Inspector Rusk and a companion passing the time in conversation, discussing the terrain. Also in this car are a number of law enforcement types, all of whom are keeping watch on Ethan Chandler. Rusk declares that he needs tea. He inquires as to where the club car might be, and takes his leave of Ethan, companion in tow. In the club car, the bartender makes small talk, wondering what the prisoner did as he doesn’t look all that dangerous. Rusk tells him that the prisoner not only butchered a lot of people, he also ate a fair number of them. What a conversation killer! Yet another car contains a bunch of rough looking characters and a woman. The woman is Hecate Poole (Sarah Greene), one of now deceased Evelyn Poole’s daughters, who has seemingly followed Ethan and Rusk. I am not sure at this point whether she will be a big help or a big bad for Ethan, it could go either way. She did help Ethan escape the locked stairwell in her Mother’s mansion, after all, but whether that motivated by a desire to help Ethan or to help herself, I am not sure. Although I do suspect self interest, since Ethan as wolf then killed Evelyn Poole. The leader of this bunch of ruffians checks his watch, and nods to the rest. Obviously, there is a plan afoot! They get up and move to Ethan’s car, where they slaughter all the lawmen. The rest of the men in their own car are also shot dead, but Hecate is spared, because she “plays the woman card”. Yeah, I went there, lol. Rusk and his companion are alive and unharmed but outnumbered, so they merely stand and watch as the gang slings a now unconscious Ethan over the back of a horse, and ride off.

In Zanzibar, German East Africa, Sir Malcolm is sitting in a bar, drowning his sorrows as he composes a letter to Vanessa. He writes that Sembene is now buried in the mountains where he came from. He tells her that the Germans have captured many of the locals for slaves, his romance with Africa is done and so the land is tainted now for him. He wants nothing more than to be quit of the filthy place. He wonders what is next for him. He ends the letter saying that he will cable when he finally has his itinerary in mind, and hopes that the letter finds her well and at peace. He pays his tab, and leaves the bar, completely missing the nod that a suspicious looking man gives to another. He is accosted down the street by a woman who begs him for some money for her baby. He gives her some, but she begs for more, offering to fuck him for it. Sir Malcolm turns away, only to discover that she has a gun which is now pointed at him, and her fellow thugs have closed in to beat more money out of him. A complete stranger comes to his aid, and between them, they manage to put the thugs down like the mad dogs that they are. The stranger bends over and scalps one of the bodies, remarking “Old traditions die hard, don’t they Sir Malcolm?”

Somewhere in the far north, a ship is frozen into the ocean ice, at the mercy of a howling wind. The deck of the ship is littered with frozen bodies. Inside, a handful of survivors are disussing killing and eating each other, in order to survive. The Captain thinks they should die as men, not animals, and goes to comfort a sick child. One of the survivors thinks that the Captain should hasten the child’s end and let them eat. Caliban stands protectively in front of the child, and the survivor goes to sit back down. Caliban hums a lullabye to the child, and realizes that he has hummed this lullabye to a child in his previous life, before his resurrection by Victor Frankenstein. He asks the Captain how long he thinks the child has. The Captain thinks a matter of days at most, so Caliban decides that it is better the child dies quickly, snaps the child’s neck and leaves. When the Captain asks where he is going, he says “Home”. We leave Caliban slogging across the open ice.

Sir Malcolm buys the stranger a drink, which the stranger declines. He asks the man if he is an American Indian, which the stranger confirms. “Chiricahua Apache by birth and by right”. The man asks Sir Malcolm if he is familiar with the West. Sir Malcolm admits that he is familiar only to the extent of what he reads in the newspapers. He is curious how the stranger knows him, so the stranger admits that he has been following him. He missed Sir Malcolm in London, and so has been waiting in Zanzibar for his return from the Interior. Sir Malcom wants to know what made him so sure he would return, to which the stranger tells him that he cannot die until he has served his purpose. Sir Malcolm asks him what purpose that would be, and the stranger says that it is to fight the great demons of the earth and sky until he is dead. Sir Malcolm claims to be done with that, but the stranger insists that he is not. And that Sir Malcolm must come with him to America, because Ethan Chandler needs their help. Sir Malcolm wonders that he expects him to go. The stranger tells him that he demands it. His name is Kaetenay (Wes Studi). If Sir Malcolm comes with him, he will tell the story. Sir Malcolm wants to know where, and Kaetenay says “New Mexico, my home and his home. He who is almost my son. You know you have a further destiny, let this be it. Our son needs us.”

In New Mexico, the group has stopped for a rest. Ethan is now conscious, and the gang leader calls him by his birth name, Mr. Talbot. Ethan realizes that all the people on the train died because his father wants him home. Ethan wishes them luck getting him there, under his breath.

In London, a dark complexioned man, walking by the docks is nearly inundated with the contents of a chamber pot being thrown out of an upstairs window. The woman throwing the contents screeches insults at him. He finds the address that he is looking for, climbs the stairs and bangs on the door. The door opens to reveal a disheveled and wild eyed Victor Frankenstein. Victor thanks Dr. Jekyll (Shazad Latif) for coming. They catch up on old days while drinking tea, and Jekyll notices the track marks on Victors’ arms. Victor tells him why he has contacted Jekyll after so long. He has conquered death and created monsters, none more so than himself, and he needs Jekyll’s help. Jekyll assures him of their friendship and Victor proceeds with his tale.

Vanessa has cleaned herself up, and is on her way to see Dr. Seward (Patti Lupone), a practitioner of mental medicine. She enters the office and announces herself to the secretary. While the secretary is gone, she scratches at herself. The secretary brings her to the inner office. The doctor enters, and Vanessa is immediately struck by her resemblance to her old mentor, Joan Clayton aka The Cut-Wife (also played by Patti Lupone in Season 2). Dr. Seward introduces herself as an alienist – a new branch of medicine to do with the mind. She claims that her methods, while unorthodox and expensive, work. She is abrupt, almost to the point of rude, and immediately draws the doctor patient boundaries.

There is a lively conversation between the two, resulting in Vanessa learning that Dr. Seward is in fact related to the Cut-Wife. Dr. Seward challenges Vanessa on several points – her scratching, and the downplay of her money. Dr. Seward takes Vanessa on as a patient, mostly because she is interesting, after doing a very fast but 100% accurate profile of her. Vanessa is interested too, and agrees to come back. Seward tells her she must break the cycle for just one day by doing something she has never done before coming back on the following day.

Victor gives Dr. Jekyll a tour of his “house of pain”, and claims that every sin of his creations hangs on him, which is why he has turned to the needle. Victor wants Jekyll’s help to destroy Lily, but Jekyll thinks that what he actually wants is to have Lily love him again, an endeavor which Jekyll is happy to take on. His field of work is in neurological chemical reactions of the brain, which he has been brought to by taming his own inner beast. He feels that is the answer to bringing Lily back to Victor. Victor agrees, with the codicil that if they fail, Jekyll will help him destroy Lily utterly. They arrange to meet at Jekyll’s lab on the following Saturday.

Vanessa leaves the Doctor’s office, and while walking is followed by a pale man. She is accosted by a young very pale boy who is selling mementos honoring Tennyson. The young boy tells her to savor the day, and calls her “my beautiful lady, my beloved”. WTF? As she continues on her walk, she finds herself entering the Museum of Natural History, where she is drawn to the wolf, (representing Ethan for her) and the scorpions which represent herself. She is drawn into conversation by the curator, Dr. Alexander Sweet (Christian Camargo), who tells her that the smallest ones are the most dangerous. They discover common ground, having both practiced taxidermy as youngsters. When Dr. Sweet needs to attend to business, she finishes her tour and returns to her home. Back at the house, she indulges in some cathartic cleaning, tearing off the dust covers, throwing open windows and generally putting the house back in order. She writes to Sir Malcolm, telling him that she has not been honest in previous letters. She misses Ethan, and if she believed in the old words still, she would pray for him, but that she has either left her faith or it has left her. Even though her immortal soul may be lost, yet she remains. She informs him that Tennyson has died, and that all London is in mourning.

Dr. Seward’s secretary locks up the office, and goes in search of a little stress relief. As he is getting it on with a prostitute in an alley, he is rudely interrupted by some unknown force and taken to an abandoned warehouse where the pale man, the young boy and others are crawling around the place upside down. Something approaches, causing these creatures to bow and scatter. A voice tells the terrified secretary to have no fear. The voice wants to know everything about Vanessa, and instructs the secretary to find out all her secrets, and bring them to him. The voice demands the secretary’s name. The secretary tells the voice his name is Renfield (Samuel Barnett). The voice then demands Renfield’s neck, his blood, and tells him that his name is Dracula.

Fade to black.

This episode sets up the season in a satisfying fashion for me. We have the introduction of more classic fiction characters, a new original-to-the-series character who may end up being a love interest for Vanessa, and the clue that Vanessa is still the object of a dark suitor’s attention. The question for me is, is Dracula a rival to the Devil, working for the Devil, or are the two going to end up being one and same? Time will tell.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out other blogs on Skatronixxx.com!

 

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow SN1 EP13 – ‘ Leviathan ‘

Leviathan refers to something really, really big.  In this episode, Kendra earns her keep. Sort of.  That’s big.  A character returns.  That’s quite big.  Savage has a daughter.  That’s really big.  I mean, what self respecting woman would get close enough?  But as Martin says “Apparently it’s true.  There’s a lid for every pot.”  But none of these things are Leviathan-esque.   Read on to find out exactly what Leviathan refers to.

The episode opens with the WaveRider entering the airspace above London in 2166.  Into the middle of a barrage of artillery fire, London Blitz style.  Martin thinks they should develop a plan of attack, but Rip fears that there is no time.  They must rush in where Angels (or Time Masters) fear to tread, and make their attempt on Savage now.  He is apparently out in the open and therefore exposed and vulnerable.  Rip, Snart, Rory and Sara attend a rousing exhortation to the troops being given by Vandal Savage, blending into the crowd dressed in Nazi/Stormtrooper Officer style uniforms.  As officers, they are right up front.   As the speech ends, Savage and entourage leave the stage. The four are spotted by a blond woman (Jessica Sipos), dressed in a high ranking officer uniform.  This is obviously a woman to be reckoned with. She appears to recognize Snart, locking eyes with him with a smirk on her face.  Snart knows they have been made.  The four fall into line, and follow. Kendra, watching proceedings from the WaveRider, zooms in on the blonde woman, and realizes that she is wearing the bracelet that was present at Kendra’s first death.  Snart and Rory make the snap decision to play it like Chicago.  Rory trips Rip up as a distraction, the entourage turns, and our four leap into action, taking out several guards.  Snart, Rip and Rory go after Savage, while Sara engages the blonde woman.  Reinforcements arrive, so Jax, who has been standing by in the jump ship for just such an eventuality, extracts the team.

Back at the ship, our team wonders about the blonde woman – who she is, why she has Kendra’s bracelet, and how the H E double hockey sticks are they going to use a bracelet to end Savage.  Gideon is tracking the approach of a party of bodies, and tells Rip that they appear to be Resistance fighters.  Rip takes Ray, Jax, and Martin and goes to meet with them, leaving Kendra and Sara to try to figure out how to use the bracelet.  Rip offers the Rebel Commander (Sharon Taylor) their help, and they are taken to the camp, where the Commander tells Rip that they have a lot of refugees from Whitechapel, and wonders if his wife and child might be there.  Rip is dead certain that they are not.  Martin and Jax wander among the refugees, disturbed by their plight.  The children are hungry which tears at the pairs’ heartstrings.  They return to the ship to get provisions for them.  Meanwhile, Rip and Ray are waiting  by a fire barrel for the Commander’s return .  Ray wonders why they are here and are not trying to get Rip’s family to safety.  Rip tells Ray that before he enlisted the Legends, he tried to do so over and over, beginning with Egypt.  He has seen his family die countless times, because it seems that time wants to happen.  The Commander returns, and says that there is no retinal scan on file for Rip, and that his friends disappeared 150 years ago.  A report comes in from patrols that Delta Camp is under attack.  They arrive at Delta Camp to find that it has been decimated by some unknown weapon.  Back at the WaveRider, Ray and Martin work together to find out what weapon was used.  Snart and Rory meanwhile, come up with a plan to obtain the bracelet, and Kendra is tasked with going through her son’s journal to see if there is any mention of the bracelet and how it can be used.  She and Sara open the trunk containing the journal and see Carter’s mace.  Kendra flashes back to when Carter trained her to use it, in case she ever had to face Savage without him.  This gives her an idea how the bracelet can be used to end Savage.

Snart and Rory infiltrate the base where the blond woman is training soldiers, and kicking their asses.  She dismisses them at the end of the lesson, and they leave.  She hears someone clearing his throat, and looks up to find that Snart and Rory both have their weapons trained on her.  She asks “Mr. Snart” what she can do for them.  Rory says “We just like bright, sparkly objects. Like that bracelet” Cassandra wants to know if this bauble is worth risking dying for, to which Rory shrugs and says “It works with my outfit.”  Hahaha!  Good one, Mick!

Snart and Rory return to the ship with the blonde woman, and put her in the brig, where she drops the bomb that she is not Savage’s lieutenant, she is Cassandra, Savage’s daughter.  And Savage will come for her.

After some discussion on the bridge, Len steps up and offers to get the information they need out of her.  Kendra asks Rory for his help in burning something, making Rory’s day.  Len goes to the brig to chat with Cassandra, “May I call you Cassie?”.  Cassandra is expecting interrogation techniques, or torture or something equally bad, but Len merely compares his Dad to hers.  She tells him that Savage is in no way like his father.  Her father is a hard man, but saved the world by killing a madman, Per Degaton, who released the virus that killed the world and her mother.  He is more or less a hero in her eyes.  He is engaged in a war with dangerous radicals who want to kill him and rule the world.

Rory melts the bracelet for Kendra, who uses the molten metal to coat Cart’s mace.  Rory is not certain that Kendra will be able to kill Savage but she assures him that she can.

Martin and Ray have discovered that the weapon used to decimate the Delta Site is not any type of explosive.  Using a defunct satellite’s imagery, they find that the weapon left some extraordinarily big footprints.  Liquids shake and the globe on the bridge wobbles in time to the sound of approaching footsteps.  Kind of reminded me of the approach of T. Rex or the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, lol.  Ray and Martin bring the refugees back to the ship, while Rip shows an uncharacteristic lack of empathy for them.  No doubt because time wants to happen.  Rip tells Gideon to take off, and put the floodlights on.  In the glare of the floodlights we see that neither T. Rex nor the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is  approaching; it is instead a Leviathan of a Robot.  This robot is transparent, with all of its system details excitingly picked out in glowstick green, and with the symbol of an atom on both chest and head.  The WaveRider fires to no avail, as the Robot snatches it out of the air, very much as you would an annoying insect, and throws it as far as it can, which is a very long way indeed.  An hour away to be exact. The WaveRider lands hard, the propulsion drive damaged.  Our heroes pick themselves up, and Rip – again with a considerable lack of empathy – thinks that they should take the jumpship and abandon ship.  Martin strenuously objects as the jump ship will not be able to hold the refugees.  And then collapses, with a piece of shrapnel sticking out of his belly.  They get him to the med bay, where Gideon works his magic after Martin pleads with Jax to not let Rip leave the refugees behind.

Len, meanwhile, releases Cassie from the brig, and takes her to the hold, to show her the “dangerous radicals” her father has told her about.  She is not quite buying it, so he tells her that her father was the one who released the virus, and has Gideon show her the footage of the meeting in the Kasnian Conglomerate, where Savage indicts himself.

Rip has lost hope on the bridge, and is not even attempting repairs because there is only a little more than half an hour before the robot gets to them.  Ray, however, tells him he just doesn’t believe in fate, that choices can make a destiny, and that they can choose to fight, even if they die trying.  He has a plan to stop the giant robot.  Ray’s speech convinces Rip that he does believe in fate; that fate brought them together to stop this future.

Cassie, who’s mind has now been changed, will help them get into the bunker to finish Savage.  Kendra and Ray share a tender moment before she leaves with Sara, Snart, Rory and Rip.  Ray has an idea to use the power from the auxiliary time drive to reverse the polarity of the dwarf star matrix in the Atom suit.  In other words, he’s a-gonna get big.  Real big.  Lol.  Jax helps him to hook up, then retreats to the relative safety of the WaveRider, where he uses a comm link to be Ray’s number one cheerleader. And the fight of the Leviathans is on!  In the bunker, Savage is told that the robot is encountering resistance, which he cannot believe is possible, until he sees that Ray has done something brilliant.  An officer enters and whispers something into Savage’s ear, which puts a smile on his face.  Cassie is back.

Savage meets with Cassandra, and realizes that the bracelet is gone.  When he asks her about it, she says she must have lost it during her escape, but Savage knows she is lying.  Cassie accuses him of lying to her for her entire life.  Savage tells her to call in the ones she no doubt helped to gain access to the bunker.  Sara, Rip, Rory and Snart enter, and Savage accuses them of turning her against him.  Snart tells him it didn’t take much, and Rory says “Nothing at all, actually.”  Cassie calls Savage a monster, as his guards arrive.

Ray is struggling with the robot, so Jax tells him to use his lasers.  Ray explains that they are actually beams of compressed light, but uses them.

Savage senses Kendra, but sneers that “She can do him no harm”.  Rory tells him that he “clearly didn’t get the memo”.  And the fight is on.  Kendra grabs Savage and flies him away from where the rest of our heroes are fighting the guards and to where she has some swinging room. She does some serious damage with her bracelet coated mace.  He is completely shocked, and down more than he is up.  Kendra is about to deliver the coup de gras “for Carter”, when one of Savage’s helmeted soldiers enters and fires at Kendra.  Kendra attacks this soldier, knocks him out and his helmet falls off.  As she leans over the soldier, she realizes that it is Carter (Falk Hentschel).  BOOM!  She attempts to finish Savage off, but he tells her that he has locked Carter’s mind away.  He doesn’t know who he is and he never will.  Savage taunts her that if she kills him, she will do so knowing that she has killed the only one who can unlock Carter’s mind.

Meanwhile, the robot has KO’d Ray.  Jax desperately tries to talk Ray back into consciousness, and is successful when he tells him to “Choose to live!”  Ray shakes it off, then runs straight at the robot, who is running at him.  Ray finishes him off with a beautiful classical clothesline move that decapitates the robot.

Rip appears at Kendra’s side and urges her to finish Savage.  Rory tells her via comms that whatever she is going to do, she needs to do it now.  Snart, Sara and Rory are outnumbered and losing.  Kendra tells Rip that if she does, Carter’s mind will be lost, and Rip counters with if she doesn’t he will lose his wife and son.  Savage continues to taunt her.  “Well, my love, what’s it gonna be?”  Kendra backs off, saying “I can’t.  I’m so sorry Rip, I can’t.”  Rip says disgustedly “Lets get them back to the ship.  Both of them.”  And knocks Savage out.

Snart brings Cassie to the Rebel Commander, who wants to know why she shouldn’t kill Cassie.  Snart tells her that Cassie will be an asset to the cause.  Cassie says that she knows that Savage may be incapacitated but that his forces are still strong.  She knows their tactics and weaknesses.  The commander accepts her.

Ray enters his and Kendra’s quarters, saying that Sara had told him that Savage is on the ship, but that she was a little stingy on the details.  He wants to know if everything is ok.  Kendra tells him that they need to talk.  Uh-oh!  That phrase usually doesn’t bode well for relationships.

Martin has regained consciousness in the med bay.  Rip welcomes him back and tells him that they have managed to capture Savage, battle his army and defeat a giant robot, and he managed to sleep through it all.  The refugees are safe, but Martin wants to know for how long, since time wants to happen.  Rip tells Martin that for once, time is on their side.

Rip visits Savage in the brig, who is very upbeat for a captive.  And really, why shouldn’t he be?  He has retained the upper hand on Kendra, and by extension, on Rip as well.  Will Rip be able to save his family, now that Savage is not dead? As Savage puts it “Time will tell”.  Fade to black.

Favorite Moments:

Once again, the complementary duo of Snart and Rory.  Snart has always been a smartass, and I have always had a soft spot for smartasses.  Rory is definitely coming into his own as a smartass as well, with quick quips and one-liners.

Snart’s empathy with Cassie.  They both have horrible fathers who they each thought were good men, deep down.  His admission that he has had to learn that with crap fathers there is no “deep down”.

That moment when Ray clotheslined the giant Robot!  And it’s head went sailing off into the wild blue yonder, leaving the robot to clutch at where it’s head had been until realized it was a dead robot walking and toppled over.

Kendra kicking ass and taking names!  I knew she had it in her!!

A Look Back At Season 1 & 2 Of Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful was a term coined in the UK in the Victorian Era to describe fictional stories published weekly in serial parts, each part costing a penny. The stories quite typically featured the sensational derring-do of detectives, criminals and supernatural beings.

Coming up on May 1 of 2016, we return to the third season of Penny Dreadful, a story set in the Victorian Era, aired weekly in serial parts and featuring the sensational derring-do of detectives, criminals and supernatural beings. For those of you who have not been following Penny Dreadful, think a very much darker “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” on steroids, but with the advantage and luxury of time for character and plot development.
Showtime consistently airs quality shows: Dexter, Homeland, Ray Donovan and Weeds to name a few. It is, I will admit, one of my favorite subscriptions, although the cost is significantly more than a penny! Penny Dreadful is no exception to the rule, and I am anxiously awaiting my fix. An introduction to the show is in order at this point. It was created and is written by John Logan who is doing a bang up job of bringing classic literary Victorian characters to life to interact with characters original to his series. Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker would be proud. The series is shot on location in Ireland.

The Main Actors and their Characters:
Eva Green as Vanessa Ives, a Clairvoyant and Medium
Timothy Dalton as Sir Malcolm Murray, an Explorer
Josh Hartnett as Ethan Chandler, an Old West Gunslinger on the run
Danny Sapani as Sembene, Sir Malcolm’s able assistant
Harry Treadaway as Victor Frankenstein, a Scientist who wants to cheat death
Billie Piper as Brona Croft, a prostitute who becomes Lily Frankenstein
Reeve Carney as Dorian Gray, a beautiful, hedonistic philanderer

Recurring Characters in Seasons One and Two:
Helen McCrory as Madame Kali/Evelyn Poole, a World Renowned Medium
Simon Russell Kane as Ferdinand Lyle, an Egyptologist at the British Museum
Rory Kinnear as John Clare/ Caliban
Douglas Hodge as Inspector Bartholomew Rusk
Olivia Llewellyn as Mina Murray-Harker, Sir Malcolm’s Daughter

SEASON ONE

In Season One, we meet Vanessa Ives, a medium living in the house of Sir Malcom Murray, in Victorian Era London. They have formed an uneasy alliance to find and save Sir Malcolm’s daughter and Vanessa’s childhood friend, Mina, who has been turned into a vampire. Mina was turned by the Lord of the Undead specifically to capture Vanessa who is the real deal psychically speaking, and who is slated to be the Devil’s bride. Aided by Sembene and Ethan Chandler, the season is mostly centered around their hunt for Mina.
Victor Frankenstein, who is attempting to build his second creature, is recruited to examine captured vampires or their corpses, and to perhaps come up with a cure, so that Mina can be saved once found. Along the way, Ethan meets and falls in love with Brona Croft, who is dying from consumption. She is a prostitute, and numbers among her clientele the eternally youthful Dorian Gray.

Vanessa and Dorian meet at a party for the renowned medium Madame Kali hosted at the home of Egyptologist Mr. Lyle. Some pretty spooky stuff occurs during an impromptu séance, where Vanessa accidentally and rather vulgarly channels the spirits or perhaps demons.

Dorian gets around, sleeping with not only Brona, but also with Vanessa and near the end of the season Ethan as well. When you have a portrait that takes on all of your age, sins, diseases and disfigurements, STDs are not to be worried about.

Dr. Frankstein’s first creature, Caliban, returns to him, having suffered much in his quest to track his Creator down after Victor abandoned him. In stark contrast to Victor’s second creature, Caliban is dark and twisted and wishes fervently for a companion. He kills the second creature, and hounds Victor to make him a female. Ethan eventually asks Victor for help with Brona’s illness. A little judicious application of pillow to face, and voila! Lily is begun.

By the end of Season One, Mina is found and put down by Sir Malcom, Vanessa wants to be exorcised, and Sir Malcolm accepts her as his daughter. We discover that Ethan has a dark secret, as he transforms under the full moon into a homicidal werewolf, leaving his father’s bounty hunters ripped to shreds at the Mariner’s Inn. Unfortunately for him, there were also innocents in the Inn at the time. Their deaths weigh heavily on his soul. Sembene knows that Ethan has a secret, although he is not certain what it is. Sembene himself is a bit of an enigma, but I did get the impression that his relationship with Sir Malcolm probably has one hell of a back story.

SEASON TWO

In Season Two, the focus is on Vanessa’s backstory, Ethan and Vanessa’s doomed relationship, Ethan’s secret, Lily’s transformation and Sir Malcolm falling under the spell of witches led by Evelyn Poole/Madame Kali.

Vanessa takes up ministering to the patients in the cholera tunnels in an effort to stave off the torment of the disturbing occult images sent to devil her by Evelyn Poole. Here she meets Caliban, as this is where Caliban stays when he is not at work or checking in on Victor’s progress with Lily. Caliban hides his face in the shadows as they converse about literature, poetry and man’s inhumanity to man during her visits to the clinic. Their connection to each other is not known to either. She eventually leaves London with Ethan to return to a piece of property that Vanessa’s mentor, the Cut-Wife, a master of the dark arts, has left to her. This works out well for Ethan who wants to leave London.  He is being hunted by Inspector Rusk in regards to the massacre at the Inn where Ethan had been staying with Brona before her death.  Ethan and Vanessa realize that although there is potential for a relationship between them, they each have too much baggage to allow such a relationship to bloom.

Meanwhile, Dorian takes up with a gorgeous cross-dressing woman, introducing her to society at a ball he has thrown for her. Angelique eventually finds out Dorian’s secret, for which she pays the ultimate price.

The Egyptologist, Ferdinand Lyle, has been blackmailed by Evelyn Poole into spying on Sir Malcolm’s group  and is found out by the group. But he and Victor have done some invaluable work on a relic named the Verdis Diablo. They have learned how this relic pertains both to Vanessa, and to the plans that the Devil has for her.

Evelyn Poole, aka Madame Kali, is revealed to be the powerful head of a witches’ coven, working to bring Vanessa to the Devil’s side, literally. Her particular brand of magic involves freshly killed baby bits and dolls, which is just gruesome, and yet has the right feel for this series. She has a room full of dolls which includes her newest addition, a life sized doll of Vanessa powered by a baby’s heart.

Vanessa and Ethan return to London, where Vanessa defeats Madame Kali, shatters the doll by using the Verbis Diablo thus mastering the Devil.  Sir Malcolm is released from the spell that he has been under.

Sembene and Ethan bond over the course of the season. Ethan learns that he is not the only one with guilt and a dark secret. Sembene was in the past a slave trader, making a living selling his own people into slavery. He tries to teach Ethan that his wolf curse is more a divine gift. Unfortunately,  Ethan wolfs out and kills him while the two are trapped in a stairwell inside Evelyn Poole’s mansion. Ethan, a broken man, determines to turn himself in to Inspector Rusk.

Caliban spends most of the season as a captive in the basement of a wax museum, after losing his job backstage at the theatre, and finding a new job as a caretaker at the wax museum. His bosses become his captors when they realize that they could make huge sums of money displaying him. Being betrayed by yet another human being restores his non-faith in humanity. At the end of the season, he escapes, kills his captors and heads for parts far North, first stopping at the cholera tunnels to collect his things. Vanessa finds him there packing, and tearfully says goodbye to the most human man she has ever known.

Throughout the season, Victor has come to love Lily, but is brokenhearted when she reveals that she is not the loving companion that he thought, and that she has merely been using him throughout, being fully cognizant of who she was and what she now is. She has taken up with Dorian again, and they seem to be heading towards becoming an immortal and immoral power couple.

Inspector Rusk has been working quite hard to connect the dots in the Mariner’s Inn massacre and is coming to believe that though the victims were ripped to shreds in an animalistic fashion, a seemingly normal Ethan was somehow involved. However, when Ethan confirms this by turning himself in and confessing, instead of handing him a death sentence, the Inspector hands him an extradition order.

So at the end of Season two, Ethan is captive on a ship bound for America, Sir Malcolm is on a ship bound for Africa to take Sembene home, and Caliban is on a ship bound for as far away from humanity as he can get. Victor sinks deeper into his long standing drug addiction, and Vanessa throws her crucifix into the fire, acknowledging that she is truly and completely alone.

Showtime has released the full episode of the Season Three Premiere to YouTube. Unfortunately for me, it won’t play where I am, so I will have to wait for the official airing on May 1. Depending on where you are, you may be able to see it.  Meanwhile, here’s an official trailer to whet your appetite.  Enjoy!

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow SN1 E12 – ‘ Last Refuge ‘

Last Refuge

In the opening this week, we discover just exactly how the Omega Protocol works.  Kind of nasty, actually! Once the offending time pirate is disposed of, the Time Masters give the Pilgrim (played by Faye Kingslee) her next assignment, our team.  Fair warning, the episode itself contains some timey wimey inconsistencies, and some huh?? moments but what the hey!  It’s a TV show, not rocket science or Doctor Who, and still thoroughly enjoyable if you take it with a grain of salt.  Oh and BTW ladies and gentlemen, Leonard Snart is not only a damn fine looking cowboy, he also makes one damn fine looking fireman!!  What?  I can appreciate!!  It’s allowed!

We find the Legends at the scene of a burning home, searching for young Rory (Mitchell Kummen), who is tearlessly watching his world burn from some nearby bushes.  His parents are quite deceased inside the home.  Len observes that this is not his element, and does little more in this scene than to prop up the firetruck.  But he does so in style!

Behind young Rory is a menacing woman getting ready to shoot him out of existence. The Atom bursts out of the grass in the nick of time, and blasts her into the middle of next week, while channelling his inner Terminator.  (Come with me if you want to live!).  The team scoops up young Rory, and take him back to the WaveRider, where grown Rory leaves Jax in charge of babysitting in the hold.

On the bridge, Rip and Rory inform the team that because of the precision required by the Omega Protocol, the Pilgrim only gets one shot at each of their younger selves.  If she makes multiple efforts, this could result in possible irreversible temporal damage. Conversely this also means that the team only gets one shot at extracting each of their younger selves from the timeline.  More on this later.  Gideon has traced the Pilgrim to Sara in Starling City in the year 2007.

Young Sara (Caity Lotz) is handcuffed to a desk in the police station, getting a first hand look at the criminal justice system from the inside for a paper that she is doing for school.  Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorn) makes a joke about it being every father’s dream to lock up their daughters till they turn 30.  The Pilgrim continues the Terminator motif, crashing the police station and shooting from the hip at every cop in her way, while searching for young Sara.  Sara runs, only to end up at the end of a hallway containing a window and two locked doors.  Rory busts through one of the locked doors to defend young Sara, just as the Pilgrim rounds the corner.  White Canary jumps out of nowhere and engages the Pilgrim with her staff.   Having defeated the Pilgrim again, they take young Sara back to the hold to keep young Rory company. Grown Rory is not sure that this is a good idea.  Grown Sara notes that even before the League of Assassins, she could handle guys like him.

The Pilgrim has now hidden her temporal wake, so Gideon cannot track her.  Ray begins to panic, wondering how they will know which member the Pilgrim is after next, how long it would take to feel the effects of being erased, and is he maybe already dead, can anybody hear him.  There is plenty of stunned disbelief and eye rolling from the rest of the team.  Snart highlights this in a succinct “No”.  I have said it before, and I will undoubtedly say it again, but for a smart man, sometimes Ray is just not very bright.  But! he looks good.

Rip tells the team that he and Kendra are safe from the Pilgrim.  Snart observes that this is convenient for Rip.  Rip wants Snart to explain, so Snart points out that they know next to nothing about Rip’s past, and that he doesn’t trust a man with secrets.  Rip explains that this is deliberate as the less they know about him, the less valuable they are to their now numerous enemies.  Once again, Snart snorts “Convenient”.  Sara distracts them by pointing out that there is a fight going on in the hold.  Young Sara smacks young Rory, and grown Rory laughs.  Sara breaks it up, telling young Sara to keep her hands to herself but next time hit with a flat palm, and telling young Rory that he is not young Sara’s type.  While young Rory seems to be calm, cool and disconnected, young Sara is a little freaked out, and has a lot of questions, most of which grown Sara answers with a blanket “you have to trust me”.

In Ray and Kendra’s quarters, Ray tells Kendra that when stuff gets overwhelming, his safe place is the years they spent in Hub City.  He tries to tell her about the ring he wants to give her, but is inexplicably suddenly being knocked around and rapidly bruising.  The WaveRider heads to 2014 at Palmer Tech.  Firestorm tries to blast the Pilgrim but she is able to stop him by turning time against him.  Rip grabs a bit of younger Ray’s Atom suit and blasts her out of the window.  While this fight is going on, older Ray is in the med bay on the verge of dying, when he (finally) tells Kendra about the ring. Kendra picks the ring up off the floor where it has fallen and slips it on her finger, saying that she wants to spend the rest of their lives together.  When the Pilgrim is defeated, younger Ray is sent to the hospital, and older Ray begins to recover.

It seems that Firestorm’s power was stalled because the Pilgrim has the ability to use temporal micromanipulation, which essentially means that she can mess with time in her immediate vicinity.  Rip feels their time would be best spent by kidnapping the remaining team member’s newborn selves.  Martin thinks this is a brilliant plan, Snart thinks it’s morally questionable, and Rory thinks it is outright suicidal.  Rory and Rip explain that if they take too long to return their younger selves, history will be altered.  Snart thinks that it beats dying.

Kendra tells Sara that she is engaged, but is very obviously not thrilled about it because of the circumstance in which the engagement occurred.  Sara asks her to go to the hospital to snatch baby Snart, and they will figure out how to tell Ray after.  But hey, guess what?  Ray overhears the conversation, and predictably gets the whipped puppy look.

In Central City at the hospital, circa 1972, Kendra and Sara, disguised as nurses, enter the newborn nursery.  They waste a little time oohing and aahing over baby Snart.  In Sara’s words, “he is just the cutest baby in the world!”.

In the WaveRider’s hold, young Rory tries to pry the door open, but when young Sara inadvertently places her hand on the ID strip by the door Gideon cheerfully opens it.  Grown Rory, Sara, Kendra and baby Snart enter.  The team leaves baby Snart with young Rory and young Sara, but grown Rory can’t resist growling at young Rory not to drop his future criminal partner.  Martin imagines holding his own baby self, but Rip says that they are not to participate in their own abductions, citing paradox prevention.  Martin thinks it would almost be worth the risk to see how their fathers felt.  Jax confides that he never knew his father, who had shipped out the day before his Mom went into labor, and was killed 2 weeks later in Somalia.

Rip and Rory appropriate an ambulance and show up at a car on the side of the road where baby Martin is being delivered in the back seat by his father.  They whisk the baby away, telling Martin’s parents that they will meet them at the hospital.  Martin rounds a corner in the hospital where baby Jax is, to see a man in army fatigues looking into the nursery.  He notices that the man’s name is Jackson, and fetches Jax, so that he can meet his father.  It seems that James Jackson (Eli Goree) did in fact get to see his newborn son, because his transport was delayed.  Time constraints meant that he did not get to see his wife, however.  James Jackson tells Jax that Jefferson Jackson was destined for great things.  He has to go, but asks Jax to tell his wife that he saw the baby and will be home just as soon as he can.  Jax wants to tell him about the IED in Somalia, but because of paradox, feels that he can’t.  The Pilgrim is thwarted again.

Back in the WaveRider, Rip announces that “We are here”.  Snart wants to know where “here” is and Rip invites them to come see for themselves.  An older woman (Celia Imrie) comes out of a Tudor style home and greets Rip.  Rip says “It’s good to see you too Mother”.  Shocker!  This is a safe haven, and a home for orphan children who are marked for eventual Time Master status.  It exists in a secret location in history, and the Time-Masters will never think to look for their younger selves there.

Snart warns Mother that he is a handful.  Mother gives Rip a meaningful look and assures Snart that he is not the first tough case to arrive at her door.  Mother is Rip’s adoptive mother, and she is more comfortable using his birth name, Micheal.

Grown Rory catches young Rory playing with a match in the hallway, and rips a strip off him, making him feel worse than he already does, although he appears defiant.  Young Rory accuses him of sounding just like his father.  OUCH!

Mother gives Rip a pep talk, telling him that feeling selfish is a load of codswallop, and that he won’t accomplish anything by wallowing, so for goodness sake pull himself out of it and get the job done!  Tough bird, she is!

Jax is upset, and of course because of their psychic connection, Martin knows this.  Jax has always wondered how his father would feel about the good things he has accomplished.

Kendra finally tells Ray about her earlier incarnation, and what she said.  Ray tells her that he overheard her conversation with Sara and when she decides what she wants, to let him know.

Gideon has intercepted a trans-chronal beacon from the Pilgrim.  She is now holding their loved ones hostage, and will release them if they give her their younger selves.  She shows pictures of Sara’s dad, Martin’s wife, Snart’s sister, Ray’s first fiancé, and has Jax’s dad with her in the camera view.  Rip has Gideon hail the Pilgrim, and offers his younger self in return for the safety of all the team members, their younger selves and the release of their loved ones.  She accepts, and they arrange to meet at an abandoned Time Master Outpost.  Mother comes, bringing the younger Rip/Micheal (Aiden Longworth) with her.  She doesn’t approve, but takes time to assure everyone that their younger selves are safe and sound.  The Pilgrim arrives, Mother tells Rip to give her hell, fistbumps the younger Rip and leaves.  The Pilgrim asks where the rest of the team is, and Rip says that they are around.  She wants the younger Rip immediately but Rory demands proof that she has their loved ones.  She zaps Jax’s Dad into the outpost, Rip tells his younger self that he will be absolutely fine, and the exchange takes place.  The minute that Jax’s Dad is in the clear, and young Rip is talking to the Pilgrim, Ray gives the signal, and everybody attacks.  But the Pilgrim’s ability to micromanage temporally means that everyone and their weapon beams are moving in very slow motion.  Younger Rip stabs the Pilgrim in the leg, distracting her so that the team can converge.  The Pilgrim is destroyed.  Grown Rip says that he knew what younger him would do if threatened, because he had been a cutpurse from the age of 5, who starved more than he ate, and yet survived.

Grown Rory sees that young Rory is still playing with matches, trying to burn his hand.  Grown Rory tells him that they are the same person, that none of it was young Rory’s fault, that he had spent his whole life blaming and hating young Rory for something that he didn’t mean to do.  He tells young Rory that he can’t change what he did, but he can change what he becomes.  He advises young Rory not to be like him, but to be better.

The team members speak with their loved ones.  Jax’s father is astounded at how Jax has turned out, and thinks that is because he did a good job of raising him.  Jax tells him about the IED that will end his life, and begs him to be careful.  Kendra tells Ray that there will never be a right time for them to get on with their life together, that they should stop waiting, and get on with it.  Rip tells Jax that maybe time wants he and his father to be together this time.  Rory says that he has just finished pulling younger him’s head out of his ass and though he is not certain it will stick, he had to give it a shot, since he saw that younger Rip was able to change.  The teams’ younger selves are left at the Last Refuge under Mother’s care. Their loved ones are returned to their timelines after taking amnesia pills.

Rip tells the team that history is starting to set as evidenced by Clarissa not remembering Martin.  No one knows how long they have till the changes stick, but they do know that they have to move swiftly to stop Vandal Savage, because with their younger selves removed from history they have quite literally run out of time.  They need to challenge him at the height of his power in 2166, even though to do so is highly dangerous.

At this point I normally do my favorite moments, and I did have plenty, believe me!  Mostly Rory’s speeches to his younger self.  Rory is developing empathy, and three cheers for that!  Not to mention he has some serious admiration going on for Sara.  And finding out that Rip was a right little bastard as a youngster. However, this time I want to point out the huh?? moments and the timey wimey inconsistencies that left me wondering.

HUH?? Moments:

Snart doesn’t seem to be even a little upset over Lisa being taken.  In spite of the fact that Snart’s love for his sister is FIERCE!  Yes, Lisa is a tough girl, but still.

During girl time with Sara, Kendra reveals that she has not yet told Ray that the woman she met with in the old west was herself because she and Ray are happy together, so they should be able to enjoy that before she drops the doomed relationship bomb on him.  When, since 1958, have we ever really seen any actual happiness between Ray and Kendra?  Their relationship seems to me to be fraught with sadness, anxiety, tension, near death experiences and whipped puppy looks, but not a lot of happy.

Timey Wimey Inconsistencies:

The major one for me is that the Pilgrim only gets one shot at each team member’s younger selves.  I can accept that.  However, if that’s the case, then why was it necessary to take the younger selves after the Pilgrim’s attempt on each was balked? After all, younger Ray was left in the hospital in his time.  And why couldn’t the younger selves be put back immediately once the danger to them was over?  I hope we eventually learn the reason for leaving them at the Last Refuge.

The next one is the paradox prevention step of not allowing Martin or Jax to help abduct themselves.  Again, I can accept that it would be best for grown selves not to interact with young selves, but both grown Sara and grown Rory had helped abduct their younger selves and interacted quite vocally with them. And apparently, Rip has amnesia pills that would by definition cancel out any possibility of paradox.

Well, folks, this post has gone on long enough.  Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to follow all the great bloggers and our vlogger at skatronixxx.com.  See ya next week!

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow SN1 EP11 – ‘ The Magnificent Eight ‘

The Magnificent Eight

When last we left our heroes, Rory was advising them to “Run!”.  And for very good reason.  He knows that the Time-Masters have now sent a trio of mercenaries called the Hunters after them, himself included.  These Hunters will stop at nothing to erase them from the face of history.

The WaveRider lands at the town of Salvation in 1871, an attempt to hide from the Hunters in what Rip calls a “fragmentation”.  Even the geek twins (Martin Stein and Ray Palmer) are stumped by the terminology.   Much to my delight, only Rory understands the reference.    A fragmentation, as explained by Rory, is a temporal blind spot, a place and time where the Time-Masters cannot see.  Pretty smart for a guy with “the IQ of meat”!

The team want to go see the Old West, but Rip won’t go with them, saying that he wants to plot their next move against Savage.  Rory promises that he will behave, and the rest promise to stay out of trouble.  Sure.  Since when has that ever happened??

In the Last Salvation Saloon, Rory, Sara and Kendra belly up to the bar for shots.  Kendra notes that the alcohol tastes like gasoline and walks away, bumping into an older woman, which prompts a glimpse of memory.  Rory tells Sara that time is different in the Vanishing Point, and that it has been years since he saw the bottom of a glass.  She wants to know what happened to him there, because he is different, but she is not sure if that is good or bad.  Rory notes that she can hold her liquor.   She reminisces about other bars, where guys had tried to get her drunk, but laughs that they all ended up under the table.   Rory challenges her.  Meanwhile, Professor Stein is winning at a card table, surprising Len.  Martin tells him that he had watched his father, a degenerate gambler, and had picked up a few things, but then chose a different path.  He tells Len that “like father, like son” is not inevitable.  Meanwhile, a sore loser takes his anger at losing out on one of the saloon girls.  Martin objects, the loser draws, and Snart shoots him.   A man at a different table stands up, causing the patrons to scatter.  Stein tries to defuse the situation, but is interrupted by Snart.  “Your friend drew first, got put down, it was a clean shot.”  To which some smart ass asks “Do we look like we care about clean?” Too funny! And it’s on like Donkey Kong!  Rory doesn’t get to participate as he is asleep face down at the bar.  Sara wins!!  Lol.

A shadowy figure in the corner decides playtime is over and fires into the air.  He introduces himself as Jonah Hex (Johnathon Schaech).  Hex tells them they stick out like a sore thumb, so why don’t they tell him where they are really from, or rather WHEN they are from.  The shock on the teams’ faces is priceless, as they realize that they are not the first time travelers he has run across.  And there is more shock when Jonah wants to know where Rip is.

The team brings Hex to the ship, making Rip wonder what it is about them that they need to pick up strays everywhen they go.  Then he realizes who it is.  Hex compliments Rip on the look of the coat he had given Rip last time they met.

He tells Rip that he got the team out of trouble when one of them shot a member of the Stillwater Gang, which has been terrorizing Salvation for the last 3 months.  He thinks this will bring a whole lot of hell on the town.  Ray doesn’t aim to let that happen. Rip says they’ve already done too much, and they have probably already alerted the Hunters.  Ray argues that they signed on to be heroes.

Kendra wants to find the woman who prompted the memory flash, and so Sara goes with her.  They have some much needed girl time on the way.  Kendra is being drawn to the woman’s home, but is not sure why.

At the Sheriff’s office, the sheriff is hastily packing to get out of Salvation.  As he leaves, he makes Ray the new sheriff.

Stein has gone back to the saloon to buy information on the Stillwater Gang’s location.  While he is waiting for a map, he sees a woman crying and asks why she is drinking alone.  She tells him it is tonic water that she has bought for her dying son, Bertie (Glen Gordon).  He has consumption, and they came west in the hope that the change would help him, but the local doctor says that he has a day at most.  Martin goes with her to see the boy.

The Stillwater Gang rides into town and starts shooting it up.  They rein up in front of Ray, who is standing in the middle of the street.  He introduces himself as the new Sheriff, John Wayne.  Jeb Stillwater (Brent Stait), leader of the gang, explains the arrangement they have with the town.  Ray says the arrangement is over, so Stillwater draws.  Snart is on a balcony with a rifle, and shoots the revolver out of Stillwaters’ hand.  Ray tells him he has sharpshooters posted all around, and they had best get out of town, or the next one will go in his eye.  The gang leaves, and the townsfolk cheer.

Back at the ship, Jax celebrates Ray’s badass actions.  Hex notes that they keep poking at the hornet nest.  He asks if they have thought about what happens when they leave and warns that Salvation will end up like Calvert, with a glance at Rip that speaks volumes.  Rory wants to know about Calvert, Rip says it’s a closed matter, and takes Hex aside for a word.  The team has Gideon show them Calvert, a town that was decimated in 1868.

Martin can’t stand the thought that a child is dying when he could so very easily be saved.  He has Gideon manufacture streptomycin, which is 70 years in the future away from being invented.  Rip points out that he is mucking with the time stream again, but Martin argues that Ray is doing the same.  Rip agrees that he is, but that he is doing so with 19^th century technology.    Martin argues that Rip hasn’t a leg to stand on because of Calvert.

Rip explains that he had been on a mission for the time-masters and when the mission was done, had become so attached to the era that he had begun to suffer from time-drift.  He had to tear himself away.  Calvert had been terrorized by the Turnbull Gang, led by Quentin Turnbull, and Rip and Hex had done what Ray was doing with Salvation.  The day after Rip left, Calvert was destroyed by the gang.  Stein refuses to back down from helping Bertie, because he won’t live with the regret that he sees on Rip’s face.  Hex has found where the gang is hiding, thanks to the information Martin bought.  The team saddles up to go arrest Stillwater, but Rip still refuses to go.

Kendra and Sara find the mystery woman’s cabin.  Kendra realizes that the woman is an earlier incarnation of herself.  She advises Kendra against ever trying to love anyone except Carter, who was Hannibal Hawkes in this life.  After Savage killed Hannibal, any other love she had never ended well.  While they are looking at a sketch of the earlier Kendra and Hannibal, Kendra notices a bracelet in the sketch that she remembers, and asks about it.  The bracelet was present in her first life, but is lost, having been taken by bandits.  Kendra remembers that things present in her first life can be used to kill Savage.

Martin has given Bertie the medicine, and he is rapidly healing.  Stein makes his mother, Sarah Neal (Anna Galvin), promise to burn all of the leftover medicine and the vials when Bertie is better.

At the gang’s campsite, bullets are flying everywhere but Ray arrests Stillwater (and Mirandizes him, lol).  The gang regroups and captures Jax.  However, the team is out of ammo so they beat a hasty retreat, leaving Jax behind but with the intent to use Stillwater as leverage.

Hex suggests a quick draw at high noon.  If Ray wins, they get Jax back, but if he loses, they must release Stillwater, and Ray will be dead.  Rory approves of the plan, since he still enjoys as much havoc as possible.  Hex suggests using future tech to cheat, but Rip will not allow it.  Hex wants to know if Rip would have stayed if he had known what would happen to Calvert, and then punches Rip when he finds out Rip did know. Rip explains that the reason he had to tear himself away was because the era presented too many opportunities to be a hero, he needed to get back to his soon to be wife before he forgot all about her, and if he had stayed he would no longer have been a time-master.  But since he no longer is a time-master, he will be the one to face Stillwater in the quick draw.

At high noon the gang rides into town with Jax.  Snart marches Stillwater out into the street, and gives him a revolver.  Rip and Stillwater draw, and Rip wins.  The gang releases Jax and rides off, just as the Hunters appear.

Rip did bring two new tech revolvers from the ship, the sneak! He gives Hex one.  Ray puts his suit on, Martin and Jax merge, Kendra hawks out and the fight is on. Rory fistfights with one of the Hunters who calls him a traitor.  Rory says not possible, as he was never on their side, he was always on his own side.  Before Rory stabs him with his own knife, the Hunter tells Rory that the Omega Protocol has been initiated and the Pilgrim is on the way.  When the Hunters have all been put down, Hex and Rip talk.  Hex has to leave, but would be okay with meeting them again.  Martin says goodbye to Bertie Neal, but Bertie corrects him.  His last name is his father’s – his mother adds that his full name is Herbert George Wells.  How about them apples?

Back at the ship, Kendra insists that she has told Ray everything, and that the rest is not important since it was just what the woman thought. I am not convinced she told Ray the woman was an earlier incarnation.

So what is the Omega Protocol and the Pilgrim?  Rory and Rip tell the team that she is the time masters’ deadliest assassin.  Snart thinks they can handle her and Rip agrees, but says this is why the Pilgrim will go after their younger selves.

The last scene in this week’s episode is of a young boy, sitting in a field watching a house burn.  Although we don’t know for sure, it is probably Rory, given his penchant for fire.  The boy doesn’t know there is a mysterious and menacing woman stood behind him, with her weapon trained on him.  Fade to black as we hear a shot.

My Favorite Moments:

I didn’t see the Jonah Hex movie, so I can’t compare Johnathon Schaech’s performance to Josh Brolin’s, but I can say that this Jonah Hex is IMHO, perfect casting..  I am looking forward to future guest appearances.  It seems to me that he could even become an addition to the team.

Rory!!!  OMG!!!  The man has definitely been changed by his time in the Vanishing Point, and it is a good change!  Although it seems like he is still on no side but his own, he will be an asset for as long as their interests coincide.  I have hopes that he will eventually become a whole-hearted member of the team.

Sara actually smiles!!!

Ray is a tall glass of water, togged up in Old West gear, and Len looks damn good too. Hey, a little eye candy never hurts!!

Discovering that Rip’s son Jonas is actually named after Jonah Hex.

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow SN1 EP10 – Progeny

Episode 10 ‘Progeny; examines the question “If you could go back in time and kill Hitler before he rose to power, should you?’

In the WaveRider  our heroes are faced with a similar dilemma in the year 2147, in the Conglomerate of Kasnia.  Their despot is young Per Degaton played by Cory Gruter-Andrew, who will in 5 years release the Armageddon Virus which provides the springboard Vandal Savage needs to achieve world domination. Once he has released the virus, Savage will kill him.

The episode opens with Rip apologizing to Mick for enlisting him under false pretenses and in denial of Mick’s true nature.  He confesses that he was the one that asked Leonard to deal with him, and that Mick’s quarrel should be with him, not Len.  Mick tells Rip he wants to kill them both.  Rip feels that he has failed Mick.  He mentions that they need Mick’s help, but what form that help will take is never really explained.

On the bridge, Rip explains that the only way to stop Savage in this time is to make Per Degaton useless to Savage.  Snart catches on very quickly that Rip is talking about killing a child, and offers to do it. The rest of the team are aghast at the thought.  Stein is especially eloquent, presenting the argument that if they do this, it makes them no better than Savage.   They decide that perhaps taking Per Degaton from the timeline will be enough to disrupt Savage’s plans. Ray notes that they have gone from killing to kidnapping, and dryly comments that this is progress.  Kendra must stay with the ship, as her presence could alert Savage that the team is about to interfere with his plans. The rest of the team leave the ship to scout the Conglomerate HQ. Ray is shocked to see that the Atom suit technology has been adapted to autonomous robots that are being used as the peacekeepers of the police state, and not in a good way. He needs to sabotage the robots, not wanting to be the Werner Von Braun of Robotics.

The team is split up into Team Kidnapping and Team Robot Sabotage.  Team Kidnapping consists of Rip, Sara and Len; Team Robot Sabotage is made up of Ray, Stein and Jax.

The conglomerate tracks and monitors all of its citizens through bio metrics.  Rip wears a pair of contacts that allows him to enter a shareholders only meeting at the Conglomerate headquarters. While in the meeting, he discovers that Savage is a shareholder who espouses culling the population outside of the Conglomerate’s borders.  Tor Degaton, (Matthew Harrison), Per Degaton’s father and the CEO of the conglomerate flatly refuses to consider this plan.

Rip covertly follows Savage and discovers that Savage is also Per Degaton’s tutor.  He overhears Savage telling Per Degaton that his father refuses to make the hard decisions. Per Degaton has the idea, actively fostered by Savage, that his father is weak.  Team Kidnapping decides where and how to kidnap Per.  When the child leaves HQ to go to his gymnastics lesson accompanied by a squad of  very Nazi looking bodyguards, Sara snipes the rear guard, which gives Rip the opportunity to disguise himself and join the squad.  Len hits the rest of the squad with his cold gun, and Rip grabs the child.  Surprisingly enough, the gunplay does not attract the attention of the peacekeeper robots.

Meanwhile Ray, Stein and Jax have met with Dr. Bryce, the head of the Robotics Department at Conglomerate HQ.  Dr. Bryce is played by Jewel Staite, the Canadian born actress (woot, woot!) whose previous works include The Killing, Firefly, Serenity, Supernatural and Warehouse 13.  Dr. Bryce is giving them a tour of the department when they round a corner and Ray discovers to his shock that her many greats grandfather, is not only the father of the autonomous robots, but is also a dead ringer for him.  Which leads him to the conclusion that he had a child that he didn’t know about when he left 2016.  They return to the ship, not having accomplished any sabotage.  Kendra senses that there is something wrong, but Ray is not ready to tell her about his descendants.

Kendra, having nothing else to do except stay on the ship, has been having flashbacks of her life with Carter and their son Aldus.  Specifically of an instance where they are having to move again because she has sensed that Savage was close.  These flashbacks serve to remind her that Carter is the only great love she has ever known, and make her feel that she is cheating on Carter with Ray.  She struggles with the question of whether to share these memories with Ray.  It occurred to me that this might be an opportune time for Carter to reappear and rejoin the team.

Per is sedated in the med bay.  Sara is watching him, and wonders out loud what genocidal maniacs would dream about. Gideon tells her.  Sara is surprised and chagrined to discover that Gideon can monitor their dreams. Rip asks Gideon if the kidnapping has had the desired effect on the future.  Unfortunately not as Savage will still rise to power.  Rip reconsiders Plan A.  Stein questions Rip as to whether he thought he would be able to look his son in the eyes if he carries out Plan A.  Jax suggests that just talking to Per might do the trick.

A troubled Sara goes to the brig to talk to Mick.  She tells him that they are considering killing a child to save the future.  She tells Mick that Len doesn’t think he can change, but she hopes that he can.  Mick observes that Len doesn’t really care one way or the other about him.  Sara tells him about the conversation she and Len had when they were trapped in the engine room and thought they were about to die.  She says that she thought he ought to know that Len is loyal to him.  As she leaves the brig, Mick tells her that killing a kid is not very heroic.

At the Conglomerate HQ, Tor Degaton is going over the video footage of the kidnapping. He remarks that for the past 50 years, everyone from the conglomerate has submitted bio samples so that they can be tracked and monitored, but that the three people who kidnapped him cannot be.  Savage tells him that this is because they are not from the conglomerate, or even from the last 50 years.  He knows that they will not kill Per Degaton because he knows them, and so he can get Per Degaton back.

Rip leaves the WaveRider in the jumpship, taking Per Degaton with him.  He turns the jumpship’s transponder off so that the team will be unable to stop him from doing what he feels he must do.

Kendra finally tells Ray about the flashbacks she has been having.  She says they are more than memories, they are feelings.  She feels like she is cheating on Carter.  Ray proves once more that he is her future with his understanding and that adorable puppy dog face. Ray tells Kendra it was his many times great granddaughter who created the robot army, which means that he had a child that he did not know about.

Sara advises Len that it is obvious to her that marooning Mick is weighing heavily on his mind, and that he should stop being an ass and go deal with it.

Rip and Per Degaton have landed at the river.  Rip tells Per that his son never got the chance to learn to swim, because he was killed by Savage.  Per Degaton asks Rip  if he is going to kill him.  Rip says he is not killing him but saving his son. Semantics!   But Per Degaton has been an apt pupil.  Savage has taught him what killers look like. He believes that Rip is weak like Tor Degaton, and is not a killer. Rip tells him that Savage will ultimately betray him.  Per will not believe this.  Rip goes on to say that his reticence to kill is not weakness, it is goodness. Since he has found that there are things he will not do to save his son, there is yet hope of a shred of goodness in Per Degaton.  He urges Per to become the man that his father wants him to be, not the man Savage wants him to be.

Kendra senses Savages’ presence outside the ship, just as the ship comes under fire.  Our heroes suit up and engage the enemy.  Ray unsuccessfully tries to draw the robots away.  Firestorm takes the robots on while Ray and Kendra head for the command centre at HQ.    Dr. Bryce  catches them in the act of trying to override the robots.  Ray tells her that he is her grandfather.  She is understandably surprised to find Sidney Palmer in her command centre.  Ray realizes that it was his “stupid” brother who allowed the tech to be perverted, and that he is not a father after all.  Kendra encourages Dr. Bryce to listen to her Palmer blood and do what is right.  She shuts the robots down.

At the fight scene, Savage has Sara at knifepoint.  HUH?  Okay then.  Rip proposes an exchange; Per Degaton for Sara and the safety of his team.  Per tells his father not to do it, but Tor Degaton pulls the knife away from Sara’s neck and agrees.

Len goes to the brig and tells Mick that people think they should have a heart to heart. Mick points out that they don’t have hearts so where does that leave them?  Len says that they each have reasons for killing the other, so the deal is he will open the cell, they will fight to the death and if Mick wins he can take the jumpship and go.  If he loses, he dies, which Mick decides is ultimately better than being locked up.  They have a bare knuckle fight in the cell which Mick handily wins, but cannot bring himself to finish Len off.

Savage tells Per Degaton the myth of Oedipus Rex, and gives Per his knife.   Per Degaton, now convinced that his father is weak beyond redemption, kills Tor Degaton in his sleep.

Gideon breaks the news to the team that nothing has been accomplished by this venture. In fact, the virus that was to be released in 5 years will now be released within days.  At an emergency shareholder’s meeting, Savage announces that he will be acting as Per Degaton’s proxy, and that population control will proceed.

Rip meanwhile is wondering if he did the right thing?  Gideon assures him that not killing is generally considered the right thing.

Mick tells the team that nothing matters now anyway.  The truth is that they are all dead, himself included.  He failed to bring them in, so now the Time-Masters have sent mercenaries after them.  They have even less humanity than Mick and they will not stop until the team has been wiped entirely from the face of history.

My Favorite Moments:

Professor Steins eloquent speech against killing Per Degaton.  Some days the man could sell ice to the Inuit!

Sara’s discomfiture at being told what her dream last night was about.  Naughty girl!

The fist fight between Mick and Len.  A good brawl always clears the air.

Ray understands Kendra’s position, but he will not give up them, even though the math is against him.  And that whipped puppy face!  Have I mentioned that I would just like to squeeze it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Catch SN1 EP3 – ‘ The Trial ‘

In which Alice takes a trip. We find out Christopher‘s real name; from that point on, I will be referring to him by that name, wherever possible.  Christopher‘s new con proceeds with some twists, and Agent Dao is still after Alice to share information.  We meet Val‘s cheating and soon to be ex-husband Gordon (Alan Ruck) and his sister Susan (Amanda Foreman).

Christopher and his new mark, the Princess Zara, are enjoying a cocktail in the lounge, chatting like old friends, while Qasim and the bodyguards are keeping a close eye from the bar.  The Princess wants one last round, but Qasim tries to break it up, explaining that his job is to see to it that the Princess is not taken advantage of, all the while giving Christopher some serious stink eye.  The Princess orders the round anyway, and Christopher throws down one of his credit cards so as to not take advantage.  Qasim goes back to the bar, and the Princess insists on paying.

Sophie has been tracking the Micheal Thorne name and social security number and has found out that 3 credit cards have been opened in that name.  She calls Alice at home to tell her.  Now all they have to do is wait for activity on any of the cards.  Agent Dao is still camped outside of Alice’s house and is listening in. He has his contacts run the name for bank and card activity.

Gordon, Val’s husband and also a lawyer, shows up at the firm with a case.  The case involves his sister Susan who has MS. The normal medications for MS were not helping Susan, so she had signed up for a clinical trial sponsored by pharmaceutical company Medgenix.  She and 16 other participants had ended up in the ICU after taking the test drug, but Medgenix is claiming no fault because they all signed waivers.  Susan says she signed the waiver based on the claims that there were no adverse effects in the previous trial; and believes that Medgenix has misrepresented those results.  The firm takes the case on.

Meanwhile, the con is on.  Reggie poses as a real estate photographer, and shows up at the Brandeis Properties satellite office overlooking the construction of the Runyon Towers. One thing leads to another, and Reggie steams up the office windows by seducing the real estate agent, thereby getting her access card.

Later, in a conversation between Margot, Reggie and Christopher, Christopher warns that a man like Qasim will require much more detail to convince him.  Reggie thinks he is just jealous that he is not running point on this one.  Margot says neither of them are running point – she is, and tells Ben to stop micromanaging.  AHA!!!  Reggie insists that he is up on the details, so Ben gives him a fun fact to chew on.  Qasim, former Kuroq Major General, beheaded 18 dissidents last year while protecting the Royal Family.

Ben returns to his hotel room where he finds it trashed and Qasim and bodyguards waiting for him.  Qasim has checked up on Micheal Thorne.. He can’t find any record of him anywhere, including at the front desk, online or even in his own wallet, which only contains 3 suspiciously new credit cards. He threatens to find out who Micheal really is, and expose him.  He suggests that Micheal might want to disappear before Qasim sees to it himself.

Alice and Gordon speak after the meeting;  Gordon takes all the blame for his and Val’s breakup. He wants to know how Christopher is and says they should get together.  Alice remembers a dinner party when Susan had told them she was going for an interview at a new job.  Christopher said he would call the boss and tell him to hire her.

Alice’s team discusses how best to proceed with the case.  They decide they need to see the raw data collected by the head of the clinical trials, to compare it with the published data. Sophie and Danny attend a lecture on MS and the clinical trials given by Dr. Watkins (Derek Webster). During the lecture,  and thanks to some quick thinking by Danny, Sophie is able to hack the Doctor’s laptop and downloads the raw data.  It turns out that the raw data and the published data are exactly the same, which means that the drug batch  used in the second trial has possibly been tampered with.  Now they need to figure out who could possibly have tampered with it. Security is tight where the trial is going on, and the only way to get in to obtain a sample of the drug is for Alice to go undercover as a patient.

Sophie has received notice of activity on one of Micheal Thorne’s cards, and gives Alice the address.  Alice runs into Agent Dao on her way to the elevator. Dao wants to share the truth about Christopher Hall, who murdered someone.  That stops her in her tracks.  She sits down with Agent Dao to listen to his story.  It seems that during a previous con, a woman named Natalie was shot in the back on her way home from her job at a flower shop.  Christopher was a regular at that shop.  Dao had convinced Natalie to help him because he had a personal connection with her, so he too has a personal reason to catch Christopher.  The feds do not know this.  Alice considers.  She remembers Susan coming to the door with a bottle, announcing that she got the job.

Meanwhile, Ben is taking the Princess to see the investment property.  The con is being set up in the satellite office of Brandeis Properties, complete with people being brought in to play potential investors.  Ben is also playing the part of a potential investor.  They all listen to Reggie’s spiel, Ben asks questions, Margot turns to Qasim and wishes she could make that idiot go away.  She says that she will take the South Tower, and Qasim jumps in to speak for the other two towers, cutting Ben/Micheal out.

The Princess and Ben have another friendly conversation, during which it becomes apparent to Ben that Qasim is skimming.  The down was $5 million per tower, Qasim has told the Princess it is $8 million per tower.

This could be a way to get rid of Qasim and con the Princess further to pay off all their debts to their mysterious backer.  However, Ben can’t be the one to spill the beans, it has to be Margot.

Alice is at the clinical trial, and signs the waiver to get into the secure patient area.  Dr Watkins informs them that once they have received the drug, they will need crackers or cookies, and juice before they are allowed to leave.  Alice tries to get the drug prior to being hooked up to an IV, but fails.  The nurse hooks her up, Alice pinches the line so that she doesn’t get much of the drug. She receives another card activity alert from Sophie.  Once the nurse leaves, Alice unhooks herself from the IV, grabs the bag and tries to leave.  Dr Watkins catches her, and insists she have juice before leaving.  Outside the clinic, she passes the bag to Val and Danny, and takes off for the restaurant that the credit card has been flagged at.  Meanwhile, Agent Dao is in traffic when he receives the activity alert from his people.

While Alice is busy at the clinic, Ben and the Princess walk into the lobby of the Brandeis satellite office in time to overhear a distraught Margot on the phone, allegedly with her lawyer.  Margot tells them that the real estate agent who took their money doesn’t work for Brandeis Properties, the property company has never heard of him, and they are all out $5 million per tower.

The Princess summons Qasim to meet with her in the hotel lobby.  She confronts him with bank statements and contracts, and tells him he can explain his actions to her brothers when he gets back to Kuroq.  His services are no longer required, and her men will see him to his room.

Alice gets to the restaurant, and sees Ben with the Princess, having dinner at a window table.  She covertly takes pictures with her cell phone, but all is not right. She is experiencing MS like symptoms, complete with limbs not working properly, blurred vision and dizziness.  She drops her phone, but when she retrieves it, Ben has disappeared.  We find him in the bathroom, washing his hands when Qasim enters with a gun, telling him he will now confess to the Princess.  Ben and Qasim fight.  Margot busts in and shoots Qasim.  Reggie and Margot handle the cleanup, Ben needs to get the Princess out of the restaurant.  On the way back to the Princess, Ben sees Alice, and calls her on her phone.  He tells her to leave, it’s not safe in the restaurant.  She runs to the back of the restaurant, and slips in the blood trail left behind by Qasim’s body as Margot and Reggie drag him out to their car, which is parked in the alley.  Alice sees a body being loaded into the trunk of a car.  She rushes back to the front of the restaurant in time to see the Princess and Ben driving away.  She loses consciousness and falls to the ground.  Agent Dao catches her before she hits. When Alice is feeling better, and they are talking- WHY wasn’t she taken to a hospital? – she decides it may be time to compare notes.

Cut to Margot, Ben and Reggie.  Reggie is packing to go to Mexico under the name of Qasim Halabi, wondering how his part of the con could have ended with him burying his mark’s body and having to leave the country.  Using Qasim’s credentials will make the Royal Family think that Qasim has run, diverting attention from their con.

At the firm of Alice and Company, the test results of the IV bag show that it is completely clean, no drugs, no toxic substances.  Alice realizes that the substance she was drugged with had to be in the juice.  They get the police involved, and the samples of the juice turn out to have been doctored with Belladonna, which in small doses will mimic the symptoms of MS.  This means that Dr. Watkins tanked his own trials, because the drug wasn’t working.  Susan and the 16 other participants have a case for a class action suit.

Val excuses herself, not having looked at or talked to Gordon throughout the whole case.  Gordon gives Alice the divorce papers, signed.  And tells her that he will assign an associate to work with them in the future.  Alice gives the papers to Val.  Val is upset, and Alice asks her if this is really what she wants.  Val wonders how she could even wonder after what Christopher has done to her.  Alice says that she needs to believe love is possible especially after what Christopher has done.

Later that night, Alice is in bed, looking at couples pictures of her and Christopher. Ben is in bed looking at couples pictures of them as well.  He calls her to ask if she is alright.  She wants to know who he is, but he tells her she knows who he is. She asks him if he killed Natalie. He tells her not to trust Dao.   She wants to know why he got Susan the job.  He begs her not to come looking for him for her own safety.  She says she won’t.  They hang up, and then she adds that she won’t come looking because she has already found him.

My Favorite Moments:

Surprisingly, my favorite moment this week was all Margot.  This is a character that I would have liked to get to know more about.

That’s it.  That is the only favorite moment I have.  Although this show has so much potential, it just isn’t living up to it, and I am disappointed. There are too many characters running around doing too much stuff that is absolutely not important, and are nothing more than distractions. Regular characters should be developing each and every episode. For instance, Val as partner, going through her own marital difficulties should be more than a by the way type of character. The Danny character also feels totally wasted, in this episode especially.  I had hoped that this episode would change my mind from last week, but it has not.  I will most likely watch it through to the end of season, but I will not continue to review it. There are too many other shows out there that I would rather spend the time on.

Thanks for reading!  And if you enjoy The Catch, it airs on Thursdays.