DigitalCount

I'm willing to say it was both. He has that type of mind that would lead him to kill two birds with one stone that way. I thought it was hilarious and pretty dark too, the killing method was funny but kind of gruesome too, so right where it should have been for Gotham. I genuinely like Gordon, though I think he should look more conflicted and angry with Bullock. Maybe he should take to carrying a flask of water with him so that he looks like he actually murdered someone instead of just seeming fine. I also really like Bullock and Oswald, but that's hardly a unique position to hold.

Damon's always been the domestic one (Domestic!Damon is even a thing on tumblr if I'm not mistaken), while I can picture Bonnie not doing a whole bunch of cooking, so this is character continuity for me.

That was the best moment in Smallville. I'm grinning about it just thinking about it right now, sitting on the bus. "How did you survive?" "I don't know." It's like a lead balloon, or a gas tank filled with mustard. This is essentially the Death of Superman arc, and the reason why he lives is...too hard to write. What kind of resolution is that? Who shot JR? It wasn't even the shifty eyed dog, it was nobody! Nobody shot him, he's fine, folks! Seriously, what.

I actually had a great conversation about this episode over the weekend at Pittsburgh Comic-Con, and the guy I talked to agreed it was one of the best episodes. I love it because Dean goes into leader mode and has a plan that takes into account all the varied strengths of the group. In that regard it is perfect.

So I was reading a review of Justice, and the reviewers (who apparently were not Smallville fans, and also thought the ep was bad) made a really hilarious comment about how Yeah...that about sums it up, lol.

THE RETCONS. My goodness. They actually had Jimmy say the line that he'd been in EDLois' shadow ever since arriving at the DP, this despite Jimmy interning there since S2 and working there since at least S6. Did Lois use the Legion Ring to go back in time too far between S8 and S9? Get it together, Smallville, yikes.

I like this idea of Melissa just randomly finding various people who are badly injured and accidentally finishing them off. We know she was on the Halloween train, right? And Garrett ended up dead... (actually that reminds me, did we ever get confirmation of that? I'm pretty sure the only person we really saw as the clown-looking lady was Wilden)

This was actually the season where I feel like I started to become involved in the online fandom, and this was also the point where Smallville started to become less of a show and more of a thing, if that makes sense. I had already been doing get-togethers with my friends where we would watch Smallville in S6, and I read reviews and such during S5, but S7 was really where I started to make the effort to talk about the episodes, analyze the plot threads, and when I found out that Chlois was an actual thing that other people (other than me!) believed would happen. Kara was a good idea in theory, IMO, but it was kind of weird, with the pseudo-incesty vibes and the Karex, and it was amidst all the clones. Also, she should have been more heavily involved in the finale for realsies, but I understand why we got the ending we did. Except they really should have made the effort to end it this season, they really could have, but no. Still bitter we never got a Flana reveal. Also, Stride Gum.

Wait a minute, is Aria actually going to be revealed as A? I've been watching this show basically thinking that while AriA fits and is startlingly sound, it's too far outside the realm of general TV storytelling that it's not actually a viable theory. I mean, I viewed it as a fun diversion, a semi-serious thing, kind of like how I viewed Chlois (Smallville theory) for a while (although at one point I did truly believe that Chloe Sullivan was going to take the pen name Lois Lane). But then Aria actually had a straight-up hallucination of Holbrook looking her in the eye and asking her when the cover-ups, the lies and the murders began, and I watched that and thought, is Aria actually freaking A here? I mean, part of the appeal of AriA, to me, is that it illustrates how bad these people are at writing, that they could have such a bad sense of structure and characterization that the main character is a leading candidate for the evil mastermind, right before the shifty-eyed dog and the butler. But if it's actually intended, then...what? "A for Aria, A for Anonymous." "Miss Aria, you're a killer, not Ezra's wife." "You've made quite a mess of things." Well, I said I was done with the analysis, so now I just have to stay off the computer late at night and I can hold myself to the promise. (also, thanks a lot, PLL...making me go back down that road...frigging Smallvile.)

Yeah, that happened. Well, I can say I wasn't particularly disappointed, mainly because I watched about half of it before reading the forums to get through the second half. I can't imagine watching this fully the whole way through. Eric and Pam: better than this, they didn't have to go there. At the same time, Sarah Newlin is probably the worst character on this show in every possible way and made her own bed, and she got off super easy. All she has to do is charm some older vampire into setting her free, which shouldn't be difficult. Bonus points to Eric, though, for the best scene in a long time: the Roxbury's head bob in the car with the dead bodies. Easily the best scene of the episode, even if it hadn't been so boring. And hey, they suddenly remembered that they have superpowers. Sookie: whatever. Lafayette: ... Bill: seriously? Jason: always entertaining, and still has a truckload of heart. Ryan Kwanten needs a leading role immediately. Jessica and Hoyt: see Sookie Everyone else: see Sookie

How about Monster? It obviously doesn't fit the exact names, but it seems to capture the sentiment pretty well.

There are times when I enjoy Aria's crazy outfits aesthetically, like I can see what is being conveyed and I like it. I don't think Byron is that bad, just desperate and faced with sub-par options after making a huge mistake. And frankly he's barely a blip in comparison with most of these guys. Speaking of, I think this show's portrayal of men is somewhat troubling. When you can count the number of actually good men on one finger, it's saying something. This is part of the reason I would have a problem with a "shocking reveal" that Toby was victimizing Jenna. I...really don't see the supposedly great friendship between the girls that would be ruined if Aria was A. I think all of the Liars are pretty self-absorbed, though less so than at the beginning. They just seem like a normal kinda-sorta clique. This show is actively rather than passively terrible now, although maybe that's not such an unpopular opinion?

I should point out that "the others" doesn't necessarily mean the Liars, but screw that and screw this show. For all we know, the others could be fireflies, ghost ninjas, or the people who were already on the island when the plane crashed.

I'll probably come back to this tomorrow (later today, actually...!) but someone on tumblr pointed out the straight-vs.-wavy relation to AriA coming out to play. The most recent episode had Aria with straight hair telling Mona something that made Mona re-evaluate her danger level, and I distinctly remember that when Aria had that physical altercation with Ezra's NOT!babymama her hair was straight then too. More research is necessary...

Stream-of-consciousness: Is "No one ever tells you anything when you want to know it" the new "I think I still need to be drunk to understand this story"? (Context for nonTVD fans: the latter was said by a character getting an info-dump in the middle of an increasingly dense arc on TVD, making it possibly the most meta line ever spoken on a TV show.) I was about ready to bring out the ruler and rap the writers' knuckles for that one. News flash: it doesn't make it better when you point out the flaws in your own show. DO BETTER. So...up until fleeing in tears, Mona was at maybe S3 levels of ridiculous for me. I can't stand these people sitting on their hands boo-hooing about how there's nothing they can do to get rid of the PREDATOR WHO DESTROYED THEIR FAMILY. GAH. And is Aria A, or am I just imagining things? Byron went to bat for his daughter, which was nice, but he was also Fedora Guy, which explains a lot. I'm not sure if they're actually trying to have Byron and Ella reconcile, but that is what it seems like. I liked the Toby/Caleb bromance, not so much the supernatural elements. You can't just introduce ghosts/demons and then say "But that totally has nothing to do with the mystery here." Ravenswood was a mistake on so many levels. Tanner has officially crossed over for me into negative territory. I feel for Melissa, but we still don't know who hit Bethany or attacked Ali. Are we assuming they're the same person? If not, who killed Jessica? Argh, I'm trying to make sense of this again, when I said I wouldn't; DigitalCount out.

Thankfully, the second head writer for RPM, Judd Lynn, is returning next year as showrunner, so it should turn things around. He's the shot in the arm the show needs right now.

I thought she'd found peace with her mother already, actually. So even if TOS crashed, she'd have been gone anyway as far as I would assume.

But it's his own mother. Klaus did something very personal and very damaging to Tyler, and even if Caroline was no longer involved with Tyler, she still had to consider the fact that this was his last living relative who he loved dearly, who Klaus killed right after killing all his freed followers. Klaus didn't just hurt Tyler, he practically destroyed his legacy. Most people would consider Tyler perfectly justified in doing everything he could to burn Klaus' life down in response, and yet Caroline was physically intimate with him. I mean, think about it that way. Your closest friends and disciples are executed without mercy after you did everything you could to help them. Then, as the cherry on top, your last living relative, someone who raised you and gave you everything you needed, is murdered violently by the same person. And then, someone who you were once very close to, beyond just being a significant other but almost literally a fellow soldier in a war, decides that of all the people s/he can be attracted to, the murderer is a great person to have sex with. I think Cindy put it best when she pointed out that there's really no other way Tyler can take this. If I were in that scenario, I would do my best never to interact with Caroline on any level ever again. Furthermore, this is Tyler we're talking about, of all people. He's the one guy who sees the big picture and doesn't just decide "if I didn't go to high school with you or any of your immediate family, you are not worth my time." But even if he played by the f-ed up Mystic Falls playbook with the sorting algorithm of mortality, even by MF standards this was low. Actually, by MF standards this was probably worse than it would be otherwise, because Tyler is part of the in-group, as was Carol to an extent. And to his credit, Tyler points out that there are thousands of people who have been victimized by Klaus, including Jenna (who he specifically mentions). The only living characters with a higher body count are Elena and Jeremy, and neither of them has hurt anyone in their core group so fundamentally. (Speaking of Jeremy, if Jeremy had stayed dead, it would have been just as disgusting if Stefan had slept with Katherine under those circumstances. Also, when Stefan and Damon both slept with Rebekah, Elena took it as a personal insult for much the same reason.)

Vessel: Clark and Chloe at the DP, Dr. Fine is messing up the entire world's electricity and everything's gone to crap at the same time. Chloe's telling Clark about some crazy stuff happening when he superhears a car coming for the stained-glass windows of the DP, he does one of the most awesome saves ever where he scoops Chloe in one arm while deflecting the car with the other. Then kissytimes were had, but you asked about the stained glass, so... :-P

I go back and forth on AriA. On the one hand, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence for the theory, but on the other hand...since when was explaining discrepancies a strong point on this show? Do we even know what it was that MAYA KNEW yet? I definitely can't even remember, especially since Aria seemingly just happened to forget the message that contained her own name by the time they returned to HQ. But then again, this is the girl who didn't notice she was holding hands with a statue until it was staring her in the face.

TBH, I have to say it's probably referring to male sexuality as inherently dangerous--it's taken for granted in some circles. I don't know if that is what she was intending to say, but it was the impression I got. And frankly it's a bit disappointing and somewhat off-putting to see some of the hyperbole the author of that article engaged in, especially since she makes some good points in it. For example, I don't think Emily or Spencer dismissed Hanna out of hand, but to hear her tell it, you'd think they reacted in the same way Aria did. I don't think they crossed into the shaming or second-guessing Aria did, particularly because Hanna was sober when she showed up at Aria's (right?) when the first time she was pretty drunk and could have potentially misinterpreted Zack's advances. Obviously we know he's scum, but I don't think Hanna was absolutely sure until he got into her car. Speaking of, Aria, that girl? Dead to me. Why would Hanna show up looking like a soaked mess to tell her random lies? Hanna obviously thought it was important enough to drag herself through the rain to get there despite getting all the shade already. Maybe she could have toned down the immediate hostility? At the time, I was mostly surprised that she read her the riot act so thoroughly. So much for non-confrontational.

There's a PR forum?! So this was one of the most fun experiences I've had watching TV, not gonna lie. I loved this season, from self-aware humor to weaponized explosions to freaking psycho twins. There were things I found lacking in some areas, such as Summer's consistency as a character, but overall I can safely say I enjoyed it.

Can I just say I loved John Glover? I mean, that ability to make Lionel so Lionel even when he was indecipherable was perfect. I still love all the little hints that he comes from humble beginnings in his dialect and bedfellows. And of course in Transference when Welling puts them in too, it's pretty astounding to see him playing Lionel that well too (seriously, that part where he says "Shore" instead of "Sure" and the other part where he says "your good friend, Lex" as a laughing aside with the little pause in the jail cell--I just about died). The other amazing thing about Lionel was how he had such a veneer of civility to him, but there were moments where he allowed the facade to drop, such as when Meteor went all stompy on Lana's legs in S3, or when he belittled Lex after his wedding. Of course, there are still things that feel strange about Lionel, even after all these years; why did he deny the murder of his parents post-reform in S4? That one storyline is probably the most perplexing of early Smallville (in comparison, late SV would stymie me in Doomsday with "How did you survive?" "...I don't know"). Every indication was given as time went on that he had done it, Chloe got proof, and he admitted it under a truth-telling geass. So why did he say he wasn't guilty to SPN!Ellen? Was it supposed to be an indication that dark Lionel was always under the surface? I never understood it.

Jimmy and Lois were freaking amazing. Really, Jimmy with pretty much everyone except Chloe seemed to work pretty well, and Chloe with everyone other than Jimmy was pretty good too. I still remember that duckmilkproductions "Destiny" video that got me so pumped for the S6 that could have been. Yeah, there were moments of genuine goodness (even with lulzy moments like Lana shooting a suitcase open on a glass table and nothing happening to the table) but I feel as if that was really the first honest to goodness bait-and-switch season. Yes, S8's bait-and-switch hit me so hard it knocked the Smallville right out of my DVR, but that's a post for another topic.

Sookie threw her phone away in the forest weeks ago, it's actually why Jason had to come over to the house to tell her. He mentioned that her mailbox was full. The funny thing is, ever since she had that super childish tantrum, there's been a point in each episode where it's come back to bite her somehow. Karma indeed.