tennisgurl

I think the plot that I felt was most painfully excecuted and dropped was definately the Author stuff, because it was the supposed answer to questions that I always wanted to know since the first episode. How did people in our world learn about the stories of people in this other universe? Why are our versions of the story different than what we see here? Who the heck wrote Henry's book?!?! Then, it all turned out to be...just some loser guy. Henry's book didn't end up connecting to anything (nor did the other books we found) and the whole Author thing raised more questions then it answered, and not in a good way. So, does every single piece of fiction exist in some other, parallel universe, and is just recorded by these Author people? Or just some stories, and others are actually fictional? Can authors create whole people? Does that happen? How does the freaking Land Without Stories fit in? Why are they apparently stuck in stasis for ever, like in the Cruella episode? Because if thats true, we have been watching/ reading about the lives of poor sentient beings that are trapped in a fictional vortex with no means of escape, which is pretty freaking dark, and yet its never really talked about outside of that episode. Speaking of, where does the whole "different cultures, different stories" thing established this season come in? Are there different Authors for every country or culture? Where do they even come from? Whats their actual point in existing? How many of these weirdos are there, playing peeping to all over the fictional multiverse? Are there more like Isaac who mess with people? In fact, WHY do authors have these powers anyway? If they just watch stuff, they should just be able to jump worlds, right? Actually, why the hell are they even called authors then? They should be called, like, Observers or something. The idea of a massive fictional multiverse where all, or even most, fiction exist on parallel planes with the "real" world, has been an idea that the show has been kicking around since day 1, but they never really went there. They just kind of used the author to justify some stupid ret cons, and prop up Henry some more. Seriously, how does this world freaking work? I think we should be more concerned that countless sentient beings are, at best, being spied on and used as unwitting inspiration for a bunch of assholes with hipster writers utensils, and at worst, are the cosmic playthings of monsters who dont care about what happens to them, as long as it makes a "better story". There was so much that could have been done about the relationship between author and creation, Death of the Author, existential questions about existence, and the question of free will. But, NOPE. Just write some Regina fan fic and make Henry your self insert and call it a day I guess. I mean, I guess it doesn't all have to be Animal Man, where shit gets REAL meta when the concept of an author affecting the characters reality is brought up, and it turns into this whole exploration about the nature of fiction and how people treat their own characters, and what the authors owe them or dont owe them, but I wanted something a bit more interesting than millions of creepers running about the multiverse, who may or may not include the most famous authors of our time. Of course, then you can make your brain bleed by trying to figure out why the stories we see in the show in their "real" form are different than the ones we know, but I guess that means it was another author from another culture or from one of a million parallel worlds that all have their own creepers and oh dear now I've gone cross eyed.

I really liked this episode, and that elevator fight was freaking brutal. Ortega isn't the best detective ever (especially in such a corumpt city and police force) but she is a seriously tough hcick. That guy ripped out half her internal organs it looked like, and she still kept lunging at and even biting the creepy assasin guy. Sucks that it looks like her partner is gone. Or maybe not, its hard to tell in this universe. The Ortega/Kovacs hook up was rather out of the blue, but I did see them show some actual chemistry there, beyond Ortega being hung up on her boyfriend, and some of their banter was actually cute. "Well I did the talking Ryker mostly stood around looking angry" "I can do that" "Just cross your arms or something" *Kovacs awkwardly crosses his arms and tries to look EXTRA mean*. See, I can get behind that. If they held off on the hook up for an episode or two, I could have been alright with this hook up. I do appreciate that Ortega finally gets that Kovacs is an actual person who might be worth something, and not just some asshole riding around in the skin of her dead boyfriend. Matt Frewer arrives, and is weird and awesome, and thats exactly how you should use your Matt Frewer. Can he pop back up again for a few scenes?

I so knew that Ortega had some history with Kovacs`s sleeve, and that was why she was so obsessed with him, and touchy about her moms issues with sleeves. Alright, that isn't the only reason she gets annoyed with her mom, but I am sure it plays a part. He was probably her boyfriend or at least a friend or something. The torture stuff was nasty, but it could have been worse. Compared to other stuff I've seen, this was downright tasteful. And it lead to Kovacs finally showing off his badass credentials by killing that whole torture facility (and showing some solid bluffing skills), and we got more backstory on his time with his freedom fighters/terrorists, depending on who you ask. Loved Ortega and her grandma, in the body of the skinhead! This was a really good way to play with the ideas of sleeves, and taking something old and traditional like Dia de Los Muertos, and giving it a sci fi twist (dead relatives can be put in an unconscious body to come visit on the day of the dead) while also adding some good character moments for Ortega, which she REALLY needs. As of now, she is the least interesting main character, but I liked her scenes with her grandma, and some of the conflicts with her and her family have potential. I can see how religion would have issues with using science to create eternal life by essentially hijacking other bodies, and how that would be controversial, even after becoming a common part of life. I like how its being used so far.

I would love it is they call in John to help with what they originally thought was a demon or something...and it turns out to be an alien or lab experiment run amok or something science fiction based. It would be hilarious to see two genres literally coming to a head and trying to deal with each other.

You can run you can die @ParadoxLost but you cant escape this page! I think Snow was badass beyond being a bandit to survive, eventually leading an army with Charming to defeat Regina, retaking her kingdom, which she apparently ruled successfully for at least a little before the curse struck, then managed to find a loophole in the curse to save her family and her people. It was beyond "she has a sword so now she rocks! #feminism", she was shown to be a mature person and leader, who cared deeply for her friends, family, and her people, and, to me, that made her as much of a badass as when she was beating people up as bandit Snow. She could actually beat people up, and yeah that was cool, but she also grew as a person, and became a strong leader while she was on the run, then when she was fighting against Regina. It should have been a story about how a sweet, innocent princess went through horrible things, but became a stronger person who connected with her people in new ways, saw what horrible things were happening to them, and decided to fight both for her life, and for them. She learned to fight, but it could also be a story about learning to be a leader who could make tough choices and lead soldiers into the field, kicking ass and taking names, but also had great love for her people, and eventually, for the friends she made along the way, and her husband, who she learned to connect with on a deep level, and would do anything for. And thats what we got until the season two, especially in the later half. We got more of her toughness at first, but after she came back to Storeybrooke from the EH, and we got that shitty flashback where Snow didn't let Charming execute Regina, and basically sent her away with a slap on the wrist after she straight up tried to stab her right there, and then Snow in the main story became a limp noodle, crying about killing evil monster Cora, and being Regina's cheerleader. She had some good moments after that, and Lord knows Ginny tried for quite awhile (until even she gave up, more or less), but eventually she just became a shell of her former self. She didn't qualify as a badass in a sword wielding way, a leadership way, or in a person way anymore. She was just kind of...there.

@KingOfHearts I literally came here just to post about that song, thats hilarious! The whole time I was like "did A&E write this song?" throughout the whole thing? "Nothing is ever anyone's fault, we`re all victims of jerk parents...." or something, ending with Rebecca and Nathaniel saying that the Big Bang was to blame for everything because he was a bad dad to God. Except that show was being ironic, while Once would have been 100% earnest.

You know, I think the courtroom scene where Rebecca decides to be held responsible for her actions (call back!) would have been a lot more powerful if she was being arrested for something she actually did, and not trying to save someone from her crazy stalker. I mean, yeah it is her fault that she made up a fake boyfriend in one of her Josh related plots and that brought Trent into her life, but its still not fair to blame her for Trent becoming a psycho killer. Which, also, wow did that escalate quickly! Trent went from creepy to murderous in about a day or two, didst he? I like Trent as a mirror to Rebecca, and I guess that still works (she did order a hit on someone for a few minutes), but it kind of seemed contrived to get us to the courtroom scene. Where can this go now? Orange is the New Black, CW style? I did like the songs this week. "The Big Bang is the ultimate bad dad!"and other such things, and Paula is such a good singer, its always nice when she gets something, even if her songs are always weirdly gross. I think Nathaniel is fine as a character, but I dont really like him as Rebecca's main love interest. His character is just rather cliche (rich jerk with a heart of gold and daddy issues) and while that isn't a bad thing, exactly, he gets so much screen time, it doesn't seem as interesting as I think the show thinks he is. He works fine as a supporting character or temporary love interest, but he has kind of been pushed to Male Lead all of the sudden, and it just doesn't really work. I also laughed at Heather being like "I volunteered for this because I`m free spirited, but now that its happening, this might not have been a great idea" right before the birth. What I wanted to know throughout the plot was, if having a kid is so important to Darryl, and having his loved ones/main cast members around is so important, where was his daughter in all this? Doesn't she want to meet her sister? Doesn't Darryl want to be a parent to his current kid even as he has done so much to get a new kid? Did she even get a mention this week? I think my favorite scene was actually when Josh punched Nathaniel out for trying to deport his dad.

What the hell is happening in this show? I just...I have no clue. What is the point of this stupid cult? Why are we doing this "Juliette ditches her family and has to be saved when she fucks her life up" thing again? We`re done this story! Yeah now shes brainwashed, but I cant even feel that bad for her, because this is SUCH typical Juliette at this point, and she continued to not listen to her husbands excellent points before this even got worse. She gets engages in soul searching, ditches her family, blames Avery for existing, then comes back. At this point, as much as I used to Juliette/Avery, I just want the poor guy to get out of this. Even a new rape backstory and cult brainwashing cant get me behind them anymore, Speaking of "what the hell is happening?", how did they take my favorite subplot, the Avery/Gunnar/Will mutual bromance, and turn it into soap opera crap. Alanna is a good singer, but she has no point on this show besides becoming the Gwen Stefanni to the guys No Doubt. This whole thing is a contrived mess, and I cant stand it. Why is everyone drooling over this chick whos had three performances? Why the boring Gunnar romance drama? Why is poor Avery constantly stuck playing mom to everyone in his damn life (I swear, his baby daughter is the least needy person he knows)? Why the Will and the roid rage stuff? What is the POINT?!?! The one plot I do like is the Deacon plot, and, by extension, Daphne and Jessie. I loved Deacon talking to Jessie's son about his (odd) performance, both times he talked to him. He seemed so happy to have Deacon say he liked his music, even if it clearly isn't Deacons thing, and he doesn't really "get" it. Its a really nice plot, that actually involved music, and everyone is acting like an actual person. Plus, Daphne is a really good performer, and I liked her song. Maddies plot is...ok. I like Twig, but he seems too stable for Maddie. It isn't an awful plot, but it isn't super interesting. But at least it has something to do with freaking music, and not steroids and cults.

I can see how Andrew could pretty easily worm his way into peoples lives, and strike without warning. Most people, in general, just arent on the lookout for psychopathic murderers in their lives. And yeah, that sounds silly, but I think theres some truth to it. People could easily see Andrew as a liar and a scumbag, and many people did, but most people probably didn't realize how far he would go until it was too late. The show is clearly taking liberties, and that is always iffy (especially when many of the victims families are still around), but I do at least understand why they're doing it. Unlike last season, where the OJ Trial was painfully well recorded from multiple sources, we dont know much about what happened here. Pretty much everyone involved, even the killer, is dead, and to make matters worse, the perpetrator is a serial liar. Some of the leaps are rather questionable (like Versache meeting Andrew), but others, like speculating on the last days of David, are kind of necessary for the plot. In reality, its possible that David was killed right away, or that he was threatened or in shock, but we had to go with something, so this is basically speculation. The one line I wouldn't want them to cross is trying to make sympathy for AC, or give him a sob story, and they haven't been indulging in that. He has moments where you can see an actual human coming out, but its impossible to tell if those are real moments, or just what he "thinks" people should do, or if that even matters. He can be moved by a song, but he cant be moved by a person begging for their life. We get insight into his thought process, but not in a way that makes us feel sorry for him, but just understanding him, at an extent. Like I said, we dont know how his thought process worked, this is all speculation. But its a decent guess.

And why wouldn't you want to stay in once? I would totally hang out with a snarky Poe AI in my spare time! Banecroft's family is crazy and creepy in the way that only ridiculously rich, powerful, and immortal families can be. The daughter taking moms body for a spin was wild, and I could watch James Purefoy chew scenery all day long. The guy plays ridiculously cocky bastards who are also rather charming so freaking well. I am really liking Kovacs/Vernon dynamic, especially with the addition of Poe as Mission Control. I like seeing Kovacs interact with more people in this time in a less confrontational way, and the acting have good chemistry between them. I hope that Lizzie can be saved, and that we learn what happened. I guess when someones death is super scaring, they cant just be tossed into another skin, or if they do, it damages them even more? So Banecroft wants Kovacs around because he wants to show him off to his rich friends, like a pet cougar or something? Yeah, not surprising Kovacs isn't thrilled. Word on everyone loving his little pink backpack. I am sure he knows it isn't really a "tough guy" piece, I just dont think he cares. Its awesome.

The weird thing was that you could tell that Colin and Josh were doing a traditional "uptight heroic guy and roguish bad boy start out enemies, and then warm up to each other" in a way that was natural, while the writers kept making their relationship skip around all over the place. They had great chemistry, and you could often see them in the background talking, and laughing, and even hugging (!) each other, but then the writers would decide that either A. The relationship wasn't important enough to focus on mostly or B. It only existed for ANGST. Or, momentarily angst anyway. In general, platonic relationships suffered as the show went on. The show started with out with a lot of platonic relationships (parent/child, friends, other relatives, etc.), but by the end, it was mostly all about who can hook up with who, and anything else was kind of shuttered away except for some ANGST for an episode or something.

It is kind of hilarious that, for all that Team Legends is known as the resident screw ups of the Arrowverse, they really do work well as a team. Yeah they have their issues (and occasional betrayals) but, for the most part, they get along really well, work together, enjoy each others company, accept new members quickly, and are understanding of each others quirks and flaws. They really do come across as people that deeply care about each other as family, even when they drive each other insane. I do think a lot of that is due to Sara's leadership, and how far she has come since her introduction on Arrow. Also, with last weeks episode, Sara has now hooked up with a character from every show in the Arrowverse! At least, the live action bits. And while Black Lightening isn't a part of the universe yet, that could change...

Poor Quentin, what a crappy day for him. He already has a history of depression (and its implied he was suicidal) so having the depression version of him following him around telling him how much he sucks is pretty damn brutal. I admit, I snickered at the hair thing though. And it was some good character work for him, trying to overcome the personification of depression, and he seemed to be doing alright, but then poor Benedict got the key. I hope he can get sweet Benedict back from the underworld, as well as the key. Who could hold onto the key now? Maybe Margot, but everyone has some pretty serious issues, I cant imagine anyone not struggling with the self esteem sucker. I love how this show mixes magic, the real world, and a really weird sense of humor. Loved seeing the incubus businessman who sucks life force out of stressed people. And pulls his tail off sometimes. But dont worry, it grows back in the Spring! I also like the Julia and Alice team, with Penny following along, pissed that he can only communicate visa vi singing novelty fish (because Magicians) and being unable to help. Glad that Alice tried to help him, even though it ended badly. As expected. Give me all of the Elliot and Q being cuddly towards each other. I really hope they get to follow up on their life together, and the bond they developed while throughout years. I think I might ship it, God help me.

That was especially hilarious for me, because my sister and I just had this whole conversation with my dad about how he is always liking things on Facebook, even when its really stupid things. "I like to show people that I read their thoughts!" "Dad, you confirmed that you approve of that post our 4th cousin put about how all immigrants have head lice!" Great episode! It was nice seeing Zoe learning a lesson, while not having her whole internship ruined. She is super lucky her boss was forgiving and didn't kick her out right away. I mean, Zoe's clothes are awesome, but still. Nomi hates Anna Kendrick? Girl, you got problems. I loved the gang struggling with their social media lives, and they all seemed pretty realistic, just taken to an extreme. Cracked up at everyone listening to a song together, and waiting to see what Songza said the song was in rapt attention.

Yeah, talk about a good news bad news scenario. "Hey Snow! I've got good news and bad news! On the good side, heres your daughter, your friends, and your actual memories and personality! On the crappier side, here are your last memories, which are of your husband bleeding to death. You take the good you take the bad!" I really have no idea what the original plan was for Snow. Maybe they could have made getting memories back a more bittersweet thing, which they played with a few times but didn't do much with, or would have given her a new romance. They couldn't have given her the same plot in season 1 as she has, because her angst with David was being invested in a comatose stranger, and then her attraction to a married man. The whole tragedy of David Nolan and Mary Margaret was that they felt pulled together, but their love felt wrong, and they couldn't be together without screwing up their lives and hurting people. That was the whole curse. Maybe if they kept the plan of her being a nun, but that doesn't really have the same bite to it.

This show really does do a great job at making the audience feel for Andrews victims, and gives us a really good look into their lives. Poor, poor Jeff Trail. He seemed like such a decent person, and his whole life was screwed up due to bullshit, and then was brutally murdered by some random psychopath who weaseled his way into his life when he was vulnerable. What a messed up series of events. I also like how they show how Andrew operates, and how he reels people in, but has trouble keeping them around, hence both his constant moving around, his crime, and, eventually, will tie into his murderous rampage. He can be superficially charming, and has an ability to be what people "need" at that moment, but its all so thin, and his bullshit becomes so apparent, that most people can see through him pretty quickly, even if they underestimate just how awful Andrew is. It was nice seeing Gianni and Antonio again, and the comparison between Versace coming out in a nice hotel in the light, while Jeff did his interview in a crappy hotel, forced into the shadows, was really effective. Especially knowing that, in the end, they still end up in the same place. Pointlessly murdered by some random asshole as they looked forward to moving on with their lives. Versace and Antonio have nice chemistry, I hope that we get a bit more of their relationship later on. Yeah, that ending, with Jeff's family leaving messages for him (after Jeff was talking about how excited he was to be an uncle) hit me right in the gut. This show has had a lot of those moments. It sucks to have a week off the show, but maybe its for the best. I think I need a break from the constant sadness.

But how could they have time to show that? They had to show Regina scratching her nose or some shit! That is MUCH more important than a major character moment that has been building for several seasons!

It really does seem like the writers had no idea how actual humans actually act around each other, and the Hook and Emma fight after Hook realized he killed Charmings dad is a prime example. They could have made it into a way to explore Emma's issues with abandonment and her insecurity about herself, but instead they just half assed the whole thing and had Emma and everyone being all "well, Hook left all his stuff here and from all accounts he was upset and probably just went off to think after his girlfriend freaked out on him while he was clearly drunk and depressed" even though it made no sense whatsoever. And, worse, it made Captain Swan looked just as dysfunctional and weird as every other couple on this show, and that is unforgivable damn it!

I think it would be interesting if, after Sara tells Mick and Ray that they have to kill her if needs be, that Mick cant do it, after all his angst losing Snart, and then Ray ends up killing her. It would be super depressing and heartbreaking, but it would be really interesting from a character perspective. Even if they dont go that high drama, it would be nice to have the three of them talk about how they're the only ones left of the original crew that was recruited by Rip to take on Savage, back in the day. Of course, no way could Sara actually die. Even in this episode, she was faking out John just for the laughs. Also, can I say that I freaking loved the music this week? The show always has nice music, but I thought this episode was one of the most memorable so far. Not just the 60s style music, but also the extremely mysterious, adventurous music that played while Constantine was doing his thing, and the horror movie style choirs when creepy stuff was going on. Even the Legends theme song to a creepy beat was really cool. It set a great atmosphere.

Wow, a Donald appearance! And references to Callie and Judes backstory! Thats more shocking than a million prison sentences being overturned! I am actually really happy with how the Mothers Day stuff turned out, this show is SO much better when its about the family being a family, and not endless love triangles and issues of the week. It was sweet seeing everyone giving gifts to the Moms and hanging out, and Jesus's paper was so lovely. Its amazing how much more I like Jude when he isn't stuck in plots involving video games and teen love. He and Callie were sweet, and I loved them seeing their dad. It would be nice seeing them connect a bit, even if its just in the background. Graces death is coming closer and closer, and its going to crush poor Brandon. Graces mom might have been a bit harsh, but he wasn't wrong about Brandon being too young to make this kind of choice for someone. I can understand her reasons for not wanting her mom to be the proxy, but this is still going to end in heartbreak. Great seeing Sharon again, and getting some closure with her relationship with Stef. Interesting that Stefs issues seem to be about her divorce and coming out, and not the millions of awful things that have happened to her and her family lately. Or maybe its a combination. That panic attack was just brutal to witness. I am so over Tess, she just sucks and I am tired of her and her drama. If she wants to explore her sexuality, thats fine. If she feels like her marriage is over, thats fine. But she is going about it all the wrong way, dragging Stef into this, and isn't communicating with her clearly miserable husband and confused son, neither of whom did anything wrong. Her inability to just be honest with her kid might end up seriously damaging his relationship with his father, and she doesn't care at all. She is acting like a teenager, not a woman with a career and family. From their perspective, their family feel apart in a matter of a few weeks, and her son has no idea why, and she is handling this horribly. And threatening Mariana was just going way too far. She`s a kid, your an adult! Just tell you son the truth instead of threatening his teenage kinda girlfriend who is trying to help him! Yeah, it will be a tough conversation, but are her issues so deep that she would rather threaten kids than tell her son she might be a lesbian? Stef is gonna be pissed when she finds out what Tess said to Mariana.

Anissas outfit looked awesome! I loved how excited she was to find her outfit, and how much fun she and the guy at the store seemed to have putting the outfit together. "You wanna be a superhero, you cant be afraid of rats..." I dont think Gambi is working for the Whales, but he is definitely hiding something from Jefferson. I dont think he is a bad guy, and it wouldn't surprise me if he thought he was helping Jefferson, but who knows? Maybe it has something to do with Jefferson's dad, who no one likes to talk about, and was friends with Gambi, if I remember right. At least, I hope he has a decent reason for being shady. Him being a secret bad guy doesn't really help the story. Of course Jefferson is having health/power problems, and shit just keeps going wrong at the same time. Gambi is keeping stuff from him, ex wife drama, his daughters are getting into stuff, and he still has to deal with his BL stuff AND his principle stuff. And of course he manages to run into, in the middle of inner city, mostly black, Freeland, a racist, armed redneck complete with serial numbers filled off MAGA hat on. He had to run into this guy, instead of one of the million people in Freeland that loves BL and think he`s basically the second coming of Jesus Christ. Then he gets his ass kicked by a guy named Joey Toledo. What a day. I did laugh at how Jefferson was obviously proud of how Jennifer beat two girls in a fight without a scratch on her, while still trying to tell her that fighting isn't the answer.

It worked for a baby Dominator :)

Avalance is...fine. I dont hate Ava, and I liked her more in Beebo than I did before, but I cant say I think they have much chemistry, and I think Ava has gone from hating Sara and the Legends to being into Sara pretty quickly. So, I highly doubt it will hurt my enjoyment of the show, but I am not super excited about the inevitable hook up. But, if their chemistry grows, and Ava becomes a more interesting character, I`m sure I can get into it eventually, especially if its gives Sara some happy times. Basically, I am neutral now, could go either way.

So, I feel kind of bad. I just tweeted that newest scumbag Joey Toledo looks like the guy who used to set fires in my study hall in high school (because he totally does)...and the guy who plays him just liked and re-tweeted it, and said "Hahahah I`ll take it #getlit" to my tweet. I told him it was a compliment, and I hope he takes it as such :)

Yeah, I dont really like Ava or Avalance right now, even though I thought Ava was better in the Beebo episode. I wish we could have had more of Ava softening towards Sara and the Legends before she got "I am love interest" stamped on her forehead. Shes fine, and I know a lot of people on the internet (including some people who are just super excited about a W/W ship) are into them, so more power to them, but I dont really care either way. I doubt it will kill the show for me or anything, or even really hinder my enjoyment, but its not something I am super interested in right now.