Cthulhudrew

Is it just me, or did both young Jeffreys have brown eyes, but modern Jeffrey has blue eyes?

"As we continue the Universal Studios Backlot Tour, on your left is the Bates Motel. If the camera were to show the house on the hill behind the motel, you might capture a glimpse of Norman's mother in the window..." Didn't they say they had the solution to bringing Ben back a couple of episodes ago? Why have they apparently dropped that topic for all of these much less important storylines?

"... and up next on your Universal Studios Backlot Tour, a slight flash flood in the sleepy little Spanish town." Did RuPaul do the makeup this episode? So much foundation and eyeliner on everyone (especially that bartender).

So UNIT bought Avengers Tower? Not entirely sure how I feel about the Bi-Generation. It was an interesting twist, and frankly I'd be fine if this is how future regenerations go (leaving the doors open for older actors to return without having to make "timey-wimey" excuses). I feel like if they were going to do this, though, 10/14 should have ended up with Rose (might it have been a little awkward with his other version, but they could always be a throuple). It will be interesting to see who they get to play the Master next time around, although I'd echo the comment above about bringing Missy back. Michelle Gomez was the best version of the character since Anthony Ainley (and I so wanted John Simm to be good, but he didn't get very good material and/or hammed things up too much.) These three Who specials were the most fun I've had watching this show in years.

Add me to the list who felt that the scripting on this episode seemed especially , trite, relying on cliche-ridden tropes of colonial witch trials and shallow characterizations.

I agree with you. Tate's expressions were a giveaway, plus the scene (to me) played out like Donna gently probing because if she just fessed up she knew he'd deflect and change the subject. She even makes a comment to that effect at the end about him finding excuses to "get out of awkward conversations" right as she was about to verbalize something important to him.

This was the most coherent, best paced episode of S2 so far. From a technical standpoint, I thought the extreme long shot of Loki's "we are gods" line was an odd choice. Should have at least been a mid-shot or medium closeup. That's the sort of line delivery Tom Hiddleston excels at, and we completely missed any visual take. I wish they'd give us more character-driven stories again, though. Its hard to care much when the plotline is all this cosmic loom mumbo-jumbo rather than personal stakes.

Season 2 feels like a real mess compared to S1. I'm not sure the writers knew what to do with this show when Michael Waldron passed writing duties on.

Did Ian just triangulate an area with only two coordinates (girls' accident and Ben's sighting)? NGL, when I saw Tim Matheson at the end I was hoping that Ben leapt into Michael "Burn Notice" Westen when he and Dead Larry were still spies together. What a great hook that would be for this incarnation of QL: Ben leaps into other characters in the NBCUniversal realm: Ben leaps into Jim Rockford Ben leaps into The Bionic Woman Ben leaps into Thomas Magnum, P. I. Ben leaps into Law & Order's Lennie Briscoe Ben leaps into Rachel Maddow And of course, the series finale... Ben leaps into... Quantum Leap's Sam Beckett! "Oh, boy..."

Baylan's secret plan was to get to Middle Earth using the One Hyperspace Ring, only he wasn't counting on Ahsoka the White to make the trek, too.

@paramitch That was such an eloquent, thoughtful, and delightful post to read. I can't agree more with any of it. Also, I admit I did not notice the difference in the title card themes, nor how they come together (one more reason to go back and rewatch). Thank you so much for sharing!

Even if the next two episodes don't end up with characters dying as cliffhangers, that still means they have had deaths (or fakeouts) as 50% of the season's cliffhangers. That's pretty lazy storytelling, IMO. 😕

Just wait for the time travel episode where La'an has to ensure the official Starfleet fashion designer survives a Ferengi plot to hijack their brand.

I did not like this episode. It felt like half-a-dozen semi-interesting plot ideas and one good performance in search of a story. It was trying to do way too much (La'an's sense of isolation, guilt over her heritage, a romance, a historic journey into Federation history, a mild retcon, action) and ended up not doing anything at all. La'an and Kirk's "romance" came from out of nowhere and went nowhere, which meant that the viewer wasn't really brought along on the journey with them and couldn't share in the apparent loss that the writers wanted you to have with La'an at the end. Not to mention that "Kirk" didn't feel like any version of Kirk that this viewer is familiar with (even an alternate timeline version). "Kirk's" struggle whether to condemn himself to oblivion or save the future with his brother in it was such a "blink and you'll miss it" moment that his sacrifice didn't mean anything- and he didn't end up living long enough to actually make a meaningful sacrifice on that end anyway, having his life taken randomly by the out of nowhere Romulan villain. La'an's confrontation with her past in the form of young Khan was pretty empty, as it came out of the blue in a last minute reveal and all she does is remark on how young he is. There wasn't any real sense of a morality play of "do I kill baby Hitler in his crib or not?" because it was buried under the rest of the plot mess. Romulan spy girl was a pretty two-dimensional character, and the plot device of having the Lanthanite character who is so ageless that she forms a fortunate link to the past that La'an is able to exploit echoes the use of Guinan in TNG and Picard so much that it comes across as lazy writing. I thought Christina Chong did a good job with the character, as usual, and I continue to like La'an, but I just don't think the writers gave us a thoughtful, well-crafted journey for her in this episode at all. Lastly, can Trek writers stop with all the time travel stories already? You've got the boundless reaches of space and the future to explore. Stop pulling us into the past with tales like this. We have plenty of modern shows we can watch instead. Thank you. Not to mention - wouldn't they have needed some kind of $$ stake to start the gambling with in the first place?

"We could really use... the Flash!" "Hey guys, did you call my name?" "Barry! You got out of there!" "Yes- I only needed to disappear for the cliffhanger of last episode; it really wasn't a relevant plot point." 🙄 This whole finale was really poorly written and executed, but I think they saved their absolute worst material for this episode. Why else would we get such mellifluous lines like: "That's what I call mind over matter." "Thawne - STOP. TALKING." "Just another trick I picked up from my Earth-90 doppelganger." Maybe Barry messed with the timeline and the Writer's Strike happened months earlier in the Arrowverse? ETA: Also. SO. MUCH. YELLING.