The Originals SN3 EP18 – ‘ The Devil Comes Here And Sighs ‘

SN3 EP18:  The Devil Comes Here and Sighs

Written By:  Kyle Arrington & Michelle Paradise

Directed By:  Jesse Warn

The backdrop of this episode was the NOLA Jazz & Music festival which added a sense of fun even if The Mikaelsons were dealing with dire straights.  The Win10 hybrid Lucien was trying once again to romance, in his totally unstalkerish creepy way, Klaus’ crazy ex-girlfriend by giving her a jar of blood.  How romantic.

In said jar was the blood of a Mikaelson witch (Freya) and a little extra to make Aurora a Win10 hybrid too.  Aurora totally has him wrapped around her finger, saying she’ll drink the blood if he agrees to save her brother or end his suffering.  Which of course means that Lucien would have to kill Elijah.  Ya know, since his sire bond is still intact.

Klaus goes after Lucien.  Now, you gotta understand here.  Klaus isn’t used to being anything but the Baddest of all the BAMF’s on the planet.  I mean his mantra has always been “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death… blah blah blah… I’m the baddest S.O.B in the valley.”  And shock of all shocks, he gets his BAMF ass handed to him….and Lucien ties him up with some chains and stuff that has come kind of witchy stuff going on so that Klaus can’t escape.  Kinky, I know.

On the Kol front, Davina gets help from Marcel and Vincent.  But, Vincent gets knocked down to size when he finds out he’s no longer The Ancestors’ choice for regent.  He’s been voted out of the cemetery and there’s a new Regent in town.  But, Marcel convinces Kol to “do the right thing” and leave NOLA and get out of The Ancestors’ power range.  As soon as Kol crosses the city limit sign though he starts to desiccate and has to come back into the realm of The Ancestors.

Back across town, Lucien leaves Klaus in the company of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Aurora while he goes off to take care of Elijah.  Now, Elijah has agreed to meet Lucien even though he knows it’s a trap.  But, he doesn’t come alone.  He brings Freya and a whole lot of Strix members with him.  And, although Freya temporarily binds Lucien to a spot on the floor… they eventually have to run for their lives, since The Ancestors like Lucien more than they like any of the Mikaelsons.

In the meantime, Cami and Hayley try to save Klaus.  They have a lot more luck accomplishing their goals than Elijah, Freya and The Strix do.  Before the Cami/Hayley Calvary arrives, Klaus gets Aurora to admit that shes just using Lucien (and his hidden camera catches it all).  Aurora drinks the blood from the jar and hopes that Cami and Hayley will kill her and finish her transformation to Win10 hybrid status.  But, they fool the hell outta her by just knocking her out.  So now she’s playing Sleeping Beauty inside the Mikaelson Compound so that Freya can try to find a cure for her (and Lucien’s) bite.

And the best part?  Klaus knows that Cami really does love him, but we have to wait two weeks to get to see the make up stuff.  Darn it!

The Vampire Diaries SN7 EP18 – ‘ One Way Or Another ‘

SN7 EP18:  One Way Or Another

Written By:  Rebecca Sonnenshine (teleplay) & Penny Cox (story)

Directed By:  Rashaad Ernesto Green

We are now firmly in the “Three Years From Now” story line.  In this episode we got some buddy action going on with Ric and Damon, although Ric really didn’t want to be there.  Ric was grudgingly helping Damon to save Stefan who was still in the body of Marty the drunk driver from E17.  The vamp currently occupying Stefan’s body is a serial killer named Ambrose.

It’s a race against time, because Marty’s way human body can’t hold Stefan for long without breaking down (i.e. what happened early in the season with Jo).  So Damon tells Valerie to set up in a hotel to get ready for the body swapping spell while he tries to get Marty/Stefan and Stefan/Ambrose to her.  Ambrose is inside a frat house in Memphis, a house that Damon can’t enter without an invitation.  But, Ambrose agrees to leave Stefan’s body if Damon will kill Rayna for him.  Sounds easy right?  I mean killing The Huntress now that her sword is gone should be a piece of cake.  Right?

Wrong.  Rayna is in a Uber car headed after one of the vamps that has escaped the Hell of the Phoenix Stone and Enzo hijacks the car and takes Rayna.  He’s trying to find a cure for the poison pills made from Rayna’s blood that he’s been giving to Bonnie to hide her from The Armory.

So Damon has to come up with another plan.  While dealing with Ambrose who keeps compelling college students to deliver messages to Damon and Ric (who is continually telling Damon that he just wants to go home).  First, a college co-ed comes to the car window offering her phone to Damon with the words “He said if you don’t answer it I’m supposed to walk into traffic”.  Damon answers and then keeps the pink sparkly cased phone, which later gives us the best line of the episode when Ambrose calls back and Ric says, “Your Barbie dream phone is ringing.”

In this episode we get to see a frantic Damon who just wants to save his brother.  He really doesn’t want to let Stefan down again…. which has become his default setting.

We finally find out why Bonnie is locked up in a mental institution, and it’s not because being Damon’s best friend finally drove her bonkers.  She’s trying to buddy up to Alex St. John’s (the leader of The Armory) sister, who’s been locked up for a long time. Virginia St. John totally flips out when she finds out that Bonnie is a Bennett Witch.  She tries to kill Bonnie ranting about how Bonnie can not open the vault… the vault has to stay closed or else.  Which left me asking “What’s in the box?  What’s in the box?”

After they save Stefan, Ric tells Damon off … and then tells him where Bonnie is, suggesting that he might have better luck making nice with her.  Damon shows up right behind Enzo, after Bonnie has found out that she’s dying.  Damon even brought flowers.

And, and, and…. Bonnie slams the door in his face!  But, I mean really, did anyone NOT see that coming?

Next week we get to see Bonnie and Clyde, uh I mean Damon go on a rampage.

So. Can’t. Wait.

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?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ian Somerhalder Says Eight Is Enough

At the Walker Stalker Con in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday, Ian Somerhalder announced that The Vampire Diaries will end after season 8.  Somerhalder says that they want to give it their all in Season 8 and with this last season, “To really do the story justice.”

As sad as I am to see the show end, I’m glad that they’re not going to drive it into the ground before calling it quits.  With Nina Dobrev already gone, and Kat Graham and Somerhalder announcing that next season (S8) would be their last, it was time.

The CW has not officially announced the end of the show… they only just announced last month that it had been renewed for Season 8.

For the S8 finale, I think they need to do what Jensen Ackles has stated would be his desired ending for the show.  He has always said that he thinks they should end it with Sam and Dean driving through Mystic Falls in the Impala.

No matter how the show ends, I’ll be there for the finale.  I love the Salvatore Brothers (they’re my second favorite TV brothers)… and they are by far the sexist vampire brothers EVER, hands down.

Klaus and Elijah are a close … and I mean VERY close second.

The Originals SN3 EP17 – ‘Behind The Black Horizon’ Star Joseph Morgan Directs S3E17

SN3 EP17: Behind The Black Horizon

Written By:  Declan De Barra & Diane Ademu-John

Directed By:  Joseph Morgan

I must admit that I didn’t get the memo that Joseph Morgan was directing this episode, so it was a complete surprise when  the opening credits told me so.  He did an excellent job.  I especially liked the shots of Freya’s (Riley Voelkel) face when she was on the ground and the shot of Vincent (Yusuf Gatewood) practically bending over backwards (literally) when The Ancestors were forcing him to help Lucien.

Last episode was all about sibling rivalry, but in this one we learned that even though they may fight among themselves, they’ll band together to fight FOR each other.  It’s that whole ‘I can pick on my little brother all day long, but you better not touch him’ thing that is so very contradictory, but we all feel it.  When Lucien and The Ancestors made Vincent kidnap Freya, all of the Mikaelson Brothers came together to save her.  Even Finn was working with Elijah!  I know!  I’m sure that’s one of the first signs of the apocalypse.

So, while Klaus and Hayley were on a mission to find out what Lucien was up to, searching all of his business holdings, the other Mikaelsons were searching for where Lucien and Vincent had taken Freya (which bt-dubbs was MYSTIC FALLS!  Loved the scenes with Deputy Donovan… and that Matt helped them save Freya).  During Klaus and Hayley’s search is where we got the best line of the episode.  Klaus saying…”Ladies first” right before all Hell and Hayley broke loose was just great.  Hayley and Klaus decimated a whole security detail.  It was awesome.  I love Hayley… she’s the badassiest of all the badasses.  And, you definitely do NOT wanna piss her off.  Nope.

And all along, Lucien was wanting to become an Original.  Well, not exactly an Original, he wanted to be the Windows 10 of Originals.  He said an upgrade… but basically what he did was become that annoying upgrade that nobody wanted but is being forced down our throats.  He wanted to be a hybrid… like Klaus.  Only where Klaus’ bite will not kill an Original, Lucien’s will now.  Finn found that out the hard way.

In this episode, we all found out that “Always and forever” applies to all the Mikaelson siblings.  Even the one that they kept ‘daggered in a box’ for 900 years.  At the end of the episode, there was a touching scene where Finn’s siblings were throwing his ashes into the river after each saying a few touching words about their brother.  Even Kol said something nice.  But, in typical Klaus fashion, his words were merely “Just know that you will be avenged”  That’s Klaus for you.

And see, that’s why today when I saw that meme on Facebook … ya know, the one that says “You’ve been kidnapped and the star of the last show you watched is coming to save you… how screwed are you?”  I was very happy to get to say that Klaus Mikaelson was coming for me.  I’m pretty sure I’m good.

And, if not, I will be avenged.

The Vampire Diaries SN7 EP17 – ‘ I Went To The Woods ‘ Does Some Body Swapping

SN7 EP17:  I Went To The Woods

Written By (Story By):  Julie Plec & Neil Reynolds

Directed By:  Julie Plec

When the Phoenix Stone was destroyed in E16, we were all thinking that Stefan was going to be stuck in Hell.  Right?  Well, at least until we saw the scenes for the upcoming episode…this episode.

The episode started with someone laying in the middle of the road.  And for once, it wasn’t Damon!  I mean, really, I know I wasn’t the only one that said “Why is Damon laying in the middle of the road THIS time?”  I was?  Well, hell.

Okay…on with the review.

In this episode we got to see a Damon that really did care more about his brother than himself.  After Valerie and Damon went their separate ways because they both thought they could save Stefan better than the other one could, Damon found Stefan walking down the side of the road.  Or did he?  It took a little longer than it should have, but Damon eventually realized that it wasn’t Stefan’s soul occupying Stefan’s body.  The best line of the show came when Stefan’s body snatcher realized that Damon knew he wasn’t Stefan.  Body Snatcher tells Damon that he’s not going to give up Stefan’s body, and Damon responds, “Well, I can tell you that hair requires a LOT of maintenance.”  I loved that line a lot… and I especially liked that Body Snatcher agreed with him!

So, if Stefan wasn’t in his body…where was he?  He landed in the body of an alcoholic who caused an accident while driving drunk causing several deaths, including his own.  So, Stefan wakes up in the middle of the road… yeah, that was him I was talking about earlier.  He jumps up and starts saving people from the bus that the previous occupant of the body had been driving.  Understandably, Stefan thought he was in Hell, and aside from convincing the paramedics and the police that he was completely bonkers, kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in Hell.  But, turned out he wasn’t in Hell, and he had to escape custody and then survive a freezing cold night in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. (Yay, for a shout out to my home state!)

As much as I loved the episode, the whole time I was watching, I had the feeling of being rushed.  It felt like they just wanted to wrap up all the loose ends of the “Three Years From Now” story line so they could move on to the next thing and set up a killer cliff hanger for the season finale.

But, they did give us a touching brotherly moment between my other favorite set of CW brothers.  Stefan and Damon talking on the phone about playing hide and seek when they were children, and Stefan explaining that he didn’t believe Damon was going to find him.  I wasn’t crying, you were crying!

If you haven’t seen the episode yet, keep the tissues handy.  You’re going to need them.  But, it’s certainly worth the ride in Damon’s ’69 Chevy Camaro.

Supernatural SN11 EP18 – ‘ Hell’s Angel ‘

 

SN11 EP18: Hell’s Angel

Written By: Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming

Directed By: Phillip Sgriccia

I’ll be honest with you, dear readers, I don’t even know where to start with this one.  I mean, I know it’s my job to break all this down for you, but this one was… well, how does the word “OhmyChuckthey’retryingtokillus” sound to you?  Yeah, you’re right, it’s probably too hard for non-fans to pronounce.

Okay, let me try again.

I have to admit, that at first I was like “Where are they going with this?”  I mean, I love Crowley as much as you can actually love The King of Hell… but I was shaking my head wondering what he was up to. BUT, please take note that is a very big ‘but’, once he had The Horn of Joshua, The Show was off and running.

Last night we saw the return of a few famdom favorites… Mark Pellegrino (as Lucifer), Ruthie Connell (as Rowena, who was presumed dead after Lucifer broke her neck. But as we’ve learned over and over again…nobody stays dead on Supernatural), and more importantly we saw the return of Sam’s ‘bitch face’.  I was so very glad to see Ruthie…uh… I mean, Rowena back.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I had a bit of a fangasm right there on my couch.  Yep, sure did.  So anyway, Rowena was helping Amara (Emily Swallow) heal after that “dreadful smiting” from the Angels.  Then, once Amara aka The Darkness showed off the depth of her power, Rowena was more than a little  … hmm…. frightened beyond belief doesn’t seem to cover it.  Anyway, she changed her mind and decided to try Team Winchester again.  That’s right, she went running to The Boys and their temporary team mate Crowley.

The best line of the night was in fact a line and then a reaction.  Sam is telling Dean that Cas wanted to say “yes” to Lucifer.  And, Dean responds, “Yeah, well there’s times I want to be slapped during sex by a girl wearing a Zorro mask, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.”  Then there’s Crowley’s reaction.  I actually had to rewind and watch that one a few times.  Okay, so many times that Lucy (my BFF that watches The Show with me every week) got a little peeved with me.  It was priceless.  Go watch it; I’ll wait.

Waiting…

See!  Told ya!

There were a lot of tense moments that kept me on the edge of my seat during this episode.  The fight inside Cas’ head was … well… things got broken.  Mark Pellegrino is just the best Lucifer EVER!  But, that ending?  Man, I can’t believe I willingly let them do this to me every damn week.  Seriously.

Source Unknown

Anyway, next week is the first of two weeks off then when The Show comes back on the 27th it’s another MotW episode.  See ya’ll in two weeks!

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow SN1 EP9 – ‘ Left Behind ‘

Welcome back!  Today I am reviewing Legends of Tomorrow SN1 EP9 – ‘Left Behind’.  In this episode, there is a surprise return of a cast member, and an appearance by  Ra’s al Ghul, reprised by Matt Nable.

It is the year 1958, and Sara, Ray and Kendra have been left standing in a field outside of Harmony, Oregon, unaware that Chronos has broken into the Waverider.  They are not sure of what to do. Ray’s Eagle Scout training dictates that they should stay put, but Sara’s League training says they need to keep moving.  Time passes.  Sara wins, because they don’t know where Vandal Savage currently is. They don’t know why the Waverider left, but can only assume that something bad has happened.

They appropriate a car (ah, the joys of a misspent youth, Sara) and go to Hub City where they rent an apartment.  So what do you do when you are stranded in 1958?  Linear time dictates that you move forward, of course.  Ray busies himself building a time beacon, and becomes a college physics professor, Kendra becomes a librarian,  because there really isn’t much in the way of employment opportunites for women in the late 50’s and angst ridden Sara leaves to find someplace where she can belong.

Plus there is the whole awkward third wheel dynamic going on, since Ray and Kendra are developing their relationship.  And time passes.  It is now the year 1960, and Ray is teaching Bill Gates’ father, who sees the potential for miniaturization in Ray’s theories.  After class, Ray and Kendra are picnicking in the park.  It is the anniversary of the Waverider’s disappearance.  Ray has finally given up on ever being rescued, and is about to ask Kendra to marry him with a terrific proposal speech, when the time beacon activates, and the Waverider appears.

Rip opens the door and says sorry they are late.  Understatement of the year!  Kendra gets on the ship, seemingly without a regret or a care for life over the past two years.  Ray is bewildered and hurt, sensitive guy that he is.  Oh, that adorable whipped puppy face!  I would just love to SQUEEZE it!

So where and when was the Waverider? And what exactly were Rip, Leonard, Martin and Jax doing?  For them time has not passed, since they have been outside of time struggling to wrest control of the Waverider from Chronos.  Chronos has fought them off the bridge.  Rip sends Martin and Jax to the jumpship, while he and Len go back to the bridge to stop Chronos.  Martin and Jax hear the resulting carnage, and so Martin decides that danger to the Waverider be damned, they have to merge to save their friends.

Firestorm burns through the bridge door to find Rip lying on the floor unconscious.  There is no sign of Chronos or Len.  Gideon informs them that Chronos has taken both Len and the jumpship.   Excuse me?  And here we thought Rip was the intended target.  Rip realizes that Gideon can’t get control of the Waverider, and must be rebooted.  Rough ride!  Gideon is then able to lock onto Ray’s time beacon signal and voila!  Ray and Kendra are recovered.  Ray has to go back to the apartment to pick up the Atom suit, and is devastated when Kendra tells him that she doesn’t want any of their ‘old junk’ from the apartment where they lived just that morning.

Now to recover Sara.  During a conversation between Ray and Kendra, where Ray persistently misunderstands Kendra’s feelings, Kendra realizes that Sara has probably gone to the one place she always felt she belonged, Nanda Parbat.  It turns out very conveniently that Rip’s graduate thesis for the Academy was on the League, which gives him a fairly in depth knowledge.

Gideon pulls up the Shadow Log, and they discover that Sara has joined (rejoined??) the League in 1958.  The team travels to Nanda Parbat, 1960.  Leaving the rest of the team to guard the entrance, Rip enters Nanda Parbat to find Sara.  She raises the alarm, which results in all of them being captured and imprisoned, to await execution for trespassing.  And of course, Sara has relieved Ray of his suit, and has instructed the guards to keep Martin and Jax separated.  Rip thinks that Sara is suffering from time drift, which essentially means that she has spent so much time in this alien time line that she has lost touch with her former life.

Kendra realizes that this is probably why her powers have gone dormant.  Ray wonders why she hadn’t told him that.  Rip demands an audience with Ra’s al Ghul, intending to avoid execution by demanding trial by combat.  Ra’s chooses Sara to be his champion, since she is important to Rip and the team.  Ray volunteers, but Rip chooses Kendra, over Ray’s objections. Kendra knows why, and tells Ray she’s got this.  Sara and Kendra battle with swords,  Kendra recovers her wings and reaches Sara by reminding her that she is White Canary.  Chronos blasts his way into Nanda Parbat.

So why did Chronos take Len instead of Rip?  On the jumpship, a handcuffed-to-the-railing Len wants the answer to that very question.  Chronos tells him that he should have figured it out already, since Chronos is supposed to be the dumb one.  He takes his helmet off to reveal Mick Rory.

Mick tells him he should have killed him.  Len says that he was always coming back for him.  Mick notes that he took too long.  When the Time Masters found him, he was nearly out of his mind and becoming more animalistic, surviving by eating rats.  YUCKKK!!  The Time Masters had taken him to the Vanishing Point, restored him to mental and physical health, trained him and given him the chance to become Chronos, which he had jumped at.    Len wonders why he hasn’t killed him yet, so Mick tells him vengeance is a much better fit for him than arson.

He plans to get his vengeance by going back in time to kill Len’s sister Lisa in front of Len , over and over again.  Thankfully the jumpship interrupts, telling Mick that Waverider has landed at Nanda Parbat in 1960, which puts him back on task as Chronos.   Once Chronos has left the jumpship, Len manages to free himself in a particularly gruesome method.  He works his way to his cold gun, freezes his hand and smashes it on the floor (OWWW), thereby getting out of the handcuffs.

Inside Nanda Parbat, Chronos is wreaking  havoc on the Assassins.  Rip, with Sara’s help, convinces Ra’s that the only way to defeat Chronos is to release them. A firefight ensues.  Firestorm and Atom are instrumental in taking Chronos down.  Atom is about to end Chronos when Snart staggers in and stops him.  The team are understandably shocked to learn that Chronos is Mick.

They put him in the Waverider’s brig for safe keeping.  Ra’s now understands why Sara had done so well in her training over the past two years.  He tells Sara that there is no place within the league for someone who is conflicted between her ability to kill and her desire to show compassion, and releases her to reclaim her past life and name.  Sara asks him to make certain to send his daughter to the coast of the island of Lian Yu in October of 2008. He is curious as to why he would send Talia, so Sara tells him that it will be his as yet unborn daughter, whom she is pretty sure he will name Nyssa.  

The team demands an explanation from Leonard. Len points out that he never actually said that he had killed Mick, but that he didn’t have to try too hard to let them think he had.  Rip sees this as a unique opportunity to reform Rory.  Kendra objects because he killed her son.  Martin points out that Chronos killed her son, but Rory was fighting on their side that day.

Sara points out that she knows about being trained by an organization to kill, and that she needs to know for her own sake that Rory can be reached.  Martin says that the Time Masters took one of their own and turned him against them.  He wants to undo their handiwork.  Ray remembers that Mick saved his life in the gulag, and feels that he is more than a criminal and arsonist.  Jax agrees that Mick is a member of the team, but Len thinks he is a lost cause. Rip says that miracles abound on the timeship.

In the medlab, we see one of these miracles occur. Rip has Gideon regenerate Len’s hand using genetic samples that he took from each team member at the beginning of the journey for exactly this purpose.  Meanwhile, in Ray’s quarters, he is looking at the ring he bought for Kendra, which he then hides as Kendra enters.  Ray is still misunderstanding Kendra’s point of view, but she finally clears up his confusion by telling him that it was just being stuck in the 1950’s that she wasn’t happy with.  For the first time in centuries, she is able to choose who she is with, and she chooses him.

Rip tells the team that they now need to go to 2147, mere decades before Savage conquers the world.  The team is confused, because they were told that Savage had disappeared from history.  Rip says that he has always known that Savage could be found in 2147. They have not gone there yet because that time is fraught with more peril than he was willing to risk, but now they have no choice.  They must stop Savage in 2147 or die trying.

My Favorite Moments:

Call me sentimental, but I just KNEW that Len could not possibly have killed his long time partner, protector and friend, Mick.

Ray is just so darn cute with that disappointed, bewildered look on his face.  For a smart man though, he really isn’t very bright when it comes to figuring out women, lol.

Jax’s unexpected but totally cool KO of the sentry at Nanda Parbat.

Ra’s has a heart!  Who knew?

 

 

 

The Originals SN3 EP16 – ‘ Alone With Everybody ‘ Is Full of Sibling Rivalry

SN3 EP16 – Alone With Everybody

Written By:  Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Carina Adly MacKenzie, Declan De Barra, Michael Russo & Julie Plec

Directed By:  Hanelle Culpepper

This episode was all about sibling rivalry and a rousing game of “Bullet, Bullet, who’s got the Bullet?”.  The Strix are guarding Elijah and by default the other Mikaelsons.  Well, except Klaus who’s on the run with Hope and Hayley.  The whole Klaus and Hayley scenario gives us our best line of the whole episode.  Klaus asks, “On a scale from 1 to 10, how much am I going to despise this little plan of yours?” To which Hayley quips, “I’d say a solid … 85.”  All Klaus can say to that is, “Oh good.”

There a new vamp on the scene named Sofya (played by Taylor Cole) who is after the last white oak bullet for an unseen employer, and she manages to take it from Vincent.  Later we find out because Josh is so good at computer-techie-hacking type stuff, that there’s an online auction for the bullet.  Through some impersonation shenanigans (and after Josh gets his young vamp butt kicked) Marcel gets the bullet.

Meanwhile, back at the Mikaelson’s home, Kol has a go at Finn.  You see, Kol over hears Finn telling Elijah that he wants to shed his vamp body and take over a witch’s body.  Once Davina learns this, she takes a page out of his mother’s spell book (literally) and locks him in his vamp body.  To say he was pissed is an understatement.  Kol walks in just in time to save Davina and take a few shots at his older brother.  But then, the two of them had been walking around each other with hackles raised the whole episode.  Elijah walks in while all Hell is breaking lose.  The exasperation is plain on his face.  I mean, he’s got 99 problems…

Once the white oak bullet finally ends up in Elijah’s hands, he has Freya start a fire and he throws the bullet in.  However, Finn reaches in to pull it out.  He wants them to use the bullet to end his “suffering”.  After much deliberation and some “I can hide it and keep it safe” promises from Freya, Elijah decides to keep the bullet just in case one of them wants “release” some where in the future… you know, a million years from now or whatever.

Vincent gets a message from The Ancestors and realizes he’s supposed to help Sofya.  So, instead of getting her employer’s name out of her, Vincent helps her escape and grabs Freya as she’s leaving the Mikaelson compound with the bullet.

And, when all the dust clears, we find out that Lucien is the mysterious employer that wants the bullet.  What is he up to?  According to the scenes for next week, he wants to become an Original!

We’ll have to wait until next week to find out if he succeeds.

The Vampire Diaries SN7 EP16 – ‘Days Of Future Past’ Somerhalder Directs

SN7 EP16  – Days of Future Past

Written By:  Melinda Hsu Taylor, Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec, Holly Brix & Neil Reynolds

Directed By:  Ian Somerhalder

With the hashtag #DirectorSmolderhalder, TVD fans hit twitter for a live tweeting/watching with star Ian Somerhalder.  This was the second episode directed by Somerhalder, and once again he hit it out of the park!

Ian had been hinting at some deaths and heartbreak coming up in this episode, and he didn’t disappoint.

Things started with “Today”… that’s right it’s no longer “Three Years From Now”.  That television station studio hostage situation is happening “Today” and everything else is going on “Three years ago”.

In that television studio, Damon was still insisting that he’d take on Stefan’s scar and give his brother a break from running.  That’s when Damon hands out the best line of the episode, “Hashtag you’re welcome.  Are hashtags still a thing?  I don’t know it’s been three years.”

Once he helped Stefan escape, Damon took on Rayna all by himself telling her “Don’t worry about Stefan, I’m just giving him a head start.”  Then once they both regain consciousness, Rayna explains the where to and how fores of wearing Stefan’s scar.  She points out that even if Damon can out run her for the next 60 or 70 years, when she dies (and since she’s human, she WILL die) everyone marked by her sword will die too.  That means that just about the time Elena is waking up, Damon would die.  So, he’d be trading his forever with Elena to save Stefan.  Damon starts to rethink his sacrifice.

Over the course of the episode, we learn that The Armory has poisoned Mary Louise with pills laced with Rayna’s blood (which is poisonous to witches), it was Matt (not Enzo) that let Rayna escape from The Armory, and that Enzo is just as concerned about finding an antidote for those pills as Mary Louise and Nora are.  They never said why.  But, I’d bet dollars to donuts that it’s because BonBon has taken those same pills.

Ian’s promised heartbreak came in the form of Stefan realizing that Damon wasn’t going to take the scar from him, and just giving up and letting Rayna but him back into the Phoenix Stone.  While Damon and Valerie are racing to save him, Damon growls, “I’m Damon Salvatore; I can figure this out.”  Damon decides to take on the scar and has Valerie start the spell…. but she doesn’t finish before Rayna stabs Stefan with the sword.

Nora and Mary Louise manage to hijack the sword and haul ass, but in the process Nora gets marked by the sword.  Mary Louise decides to fix it all.  Nora and Mary Louise go all Thelma and Louise and take the sword and the stone with them, leaving Stefan high and dry laying on the asphalt for Damon and Valerie to show up and find him that way.

But, the big twist is we find out why Matt’s been helping Rayna.  He’s pissed at Stefan and it’s got something to do with a very dead Penny.  Matt says Stefan has finally paid for what he did.

So, my only question is … What the hell did he do?

I suppose we’ll have to wait until next week to find out.