SourK

When she said she should have died in the gorge, I agreed. Not because she "deserves" it or whatever -- because that's the natural end for the character's story and now she doesn't fit anymore. The Jordan thing was kind of funny to me, since the lead-in of "I was raised on stories about Clarke" makes it sound like it's going to be a fond story, and then it turns out the family story about Clarke is a cautionary tale about how she killed a bunch of people in Mt. Weather for stealing their bone marrow. Okay. Re: Diyoza, I sense a theme developing this season about second/third/fifth chances for people who did something bad in the past. I'm not mad about it, and it might fit this story about the Primes downloading people into new bodies. How any of this relates to an eclipse that makes everyone kill each other, IDK. This is my guess, too. If they were just transferring memories from generation to generation, it wouldn't seem like a big enough deal to me to warrant a counter-culture that's trying to destroy them. I think it's probably more of a body snatching situation, and they're excited that Clarke is a candidate to get snatched.

I know the last scene was supposed to build How to Get Away with Murder-style suspense (which I'm here for, because the first season of that show was intriguing), but it was also hilarious to just do a hard cut from all of them promising to be normal to all of them covered in blood in the woods. The time lapse footage that carried us to dawn was also funny to me, but I'm curious about that one because I feel like there's a story behind how that choice got made. Like, maybe something got cut, or the shooting schedule got messed up, or some other thing so that the editors were like, "Shit, we have to explain why it's morning, now..." It's really bad at finding something to do with its black characters, and that's something I notice whenever they're on screen. We're now three seasons deep and the writer's room is still acting like those characters don't exist except as accessories to white people, and it's uncomfortable to see. It also really contrasts with the way they've promoted the show -- sending the actors out to press events; featuring Josie heavily in the initial marketing, etc.

The pacing of this season is off and we all know it, but I'm mostly okay with this episode. Things I liked: -- in principle, I like the idea that we're watching the "good" characters "win" but it feels completely terrible, and what they're doing is horrifying. I think that's an interesting way for the show to go and it's something we haven't necessarily seen before in this exact way. -- I get Jaime's story arc now and I'm okay with it. I was confused literally until his final scenes, but the actor made me understand what's happening. He chose defending the north over not defending the north when it made no difference to Cersei's safety, because it was the right thing to do. But he also chose Cersei over not-Cersei when it DID make a difference to Cersei's safety, because he loves her most of anyone. That motivation makes sense to me, and the fact that someone's love for an individual person -- even a very flawed person -- could eclipse everything else and come first in their list of priorities without them being thoroughly evil feels realistic and complicated to me. It wasn't the ending we would have wanted for him, but I found it satisfying. -- it looked really cool to see the city fall down. I'm all right with the episode, but I would have changed one thing. I would have tried harder to crawl inside Cersei's mind and the ugly, helpless, terrifying feeling you would have realizing that you lost the war and that your enemies are about to rip you from your safety and kill you, probably in a horrible way. It's a theme that they've kind of explored before, but, this time it's a major character who's actually going to die, so it would been neat to explore it here and it would have made her final scenes connect more. My bigger thing is that I would have extended the overall arc of this season so that we had more time to understand everyone's motivation, especially Dany's. I feel like everything's being drawn very broadly, and I can kind of guess why Dany might have done what she just did but, for me, it's just a guess. I don't feel like I KNOW what she's about right now in the same way I did when the show moved more slowly. The way I remember it, she always leaned toward obliterating King's Landing, and Tyrion kept kind of chiding her that she needed to leave the citizens alive. She would agree with him, because that was clearly the "right" answer, but I don't think she passionately felt like she DIDN'T want to torch everyone.

I guess somebody must have given them immunity, but Veronica and Archie seemed pretty eager to implicate themselves and their friends in crimes in order to expose Hiram. Also, does this mean there's no more boxing gym and no more Pop's and no more Bon Nuit? This reminds me: there was an aggravating detail earlier this season where it turned out Betty kept a copy of the video of Jason getting murdered. Everyone seemed really sure from watching that video that he was dead, so I assumed it showed his father shooting him in the face or something. Also, wasn't FP involved in that somehow? I forget how. But it seems really bizarre if he's alive somehow. In fairness, in one of the very first episodes -- maybe the first episode -- Kevin told his "best friend" Betty that she and Archie were endgame. I remember because it was the first time I'd heard someone use that expression and I thought it was weird. So, this is an expression that the writers use, though I agree that they're using it too often.

Forgot to comment when the episode aired, but it drives me crazy that no one thought to let Mad Dog audition for the recruiter. It seems like a program he could benefit from, and Archie didn't even want it. TV has led me to believe that, if you've got six heads and you need to ID the bodies, you start by looking at the dental records and stuff. Supposing Hal escaped the bus crash... did he find another person's head to leave a the scene so that they had the right number? Where did that person come from? This crime scene is weird.

I was not a fan of this. I got briefly interested when Clarke, Bellamy, and Murphy chained themselves up in the same room and traded keys, because I thought we were being set up for a thing where, once the madness set in, they'd try to manipulate each other into unlocking them and it would be interesting... but then they unlocked themselves within 10 seconds and went running off. Echo was maybe not the MVP, but she was a VP in my books for actually following the plan. (Though, I allow, no one expected the eclipse to make someone try to kill themselves by bashing their head against the wall. That part didn't seem to be in the book.)

I always think I'm not going to care about the premise of the new season and then it always kind of sucks me in. Creepy planet where everybody kills everybody else during the eclipse for some weird reason? I am in. The only part that sat right with me was Murphy telling her she was on her fifth chance. Mostly because there's a pattern now where it seems like, after every major turning point, we go through the same cycle where people are mad at Clarke and she gives a speech about how she's sorry they feel that way but they have to give her a chance to do better -- and it's nice to hear someone point out that that speech gets less convincing the more often you give it.

Oooooh I'm so stressed about where this is going. I'm on team It's Boring if Either Dany or Jon Ends Up On The Iron Throne, so I'm theoretically in favour of plot twists that set up obstacles for them, but I'm not loving this thing where all the guys pat Jon on the back and tell him what a badass he is for doing the exact same thing Dany already did, or the thing where her own advisors are talking about how he's a better choice for the throne because he's a dude and other dudes will like that. I get that that's on purpose, but I don't know where this plot thread is going yet. I'm also worried because it's starting to look like Dany nuked her own invasion plan by falling in love with a guy. I think maybe we're on a path where Dany murders Jon and then someone else murders Dany -- hell, maybe we're on a path where everyone kills everyone and that's the end. At this point, I would be more okay with either of those options than with her just shooting herself in the foot while all the dudes ignore her and make another dude their leader.

I think Theon is an interesting character, and I feel pity for him because of the way he was tortured -- no one deserves that no matter what they've done. But he also murdered two innocent children just to save face and there's nothing that's going to tip the scales back in the other direction for me and make him a good man. He's a bad man who suffered a lot, and that makes him complicated... but not good. At least not for me. I've never cared about the zombie story and I'm slightly worried that this is going to turn out to be a fake-out and the zombie story will dominate again at the end, but I'd be totally happy to spend the rest of this season wrapping up the political, interpersonal stories, because that's what I like about this show. I don't have a problem with Sansa disliking Dany, but I agree that there's a sharp contrast between that early battle and this one. On the one hand, we had a situation where Cersei was getting drunk and ignoring everyone (and making fun of Sansa for being such a goody-goody) while Sansa tried to comfort the servants and get everyone to pray together. I expected her to do something like that this time, especially since she's the lady of Winterfell, but instead she literally said nothing and turned away from everyone. Full disclosure: Sansa is my favourite character who's not dead and I'm hoping she gets a good ending, but this stuff makes me worry for her. Especially because there have been other comparisons between her and Cersei. So, to see a throwback to that early scene that originally demonstrated how she was kinder than Cersei and have it harshly reversed like that... yeah, I'm worried. Straight-up: part of my less-than-optimal enjoyment of this episode is that I didn't understand the plan and therefore couldn't tell if it was going well or not at any given time. One thing I'll say for the dragon plan, though: from Danny's POV, the last two times she took her dragons into battle, they got hit with missiles. One of them was injured and one of them died. So I'm not sure it would be awesome to just fly up to an army they can't see and see what happens. However, since it appeared that the Night King was in no special hurry to go get Bran, it was also not awesome to sit the dragons out indefinitely while they waited for the Night King to reveal himself. I realize they have a better chance of winning a dragon battle 2-1, but maybe one of them could have been looking for the Night King and one of them could have been helping the army. I'm confused about this, too, and it makes me wonder if maybe the prophecy is about doing something else? I don't know.

I feel like I don't even know what I watched, or who's still alive. Battle episodes are not my fav, but I think this one was paced well in so far as they broke up the stabby parts with slower parts in between. Yeah, when he was just sitting there while Theon & the redshirts defended him, I was like, "He'd better be warging a way to win this battle!" And then it just nothing. Or maybe it turns out it was something next week. I had other nitpicks -- like, maybe, when the dead people are all standing still by the side of the trench, it would be a good time to toast them with some dragon fire. Or, maybe, if Melissandre can light the fires and that's the reason she's going outside, she should run instead of walking slowly. I also felt bad about the Dothraki for the same reasons... just send them into the dark by themselves and watch while they all get killed. And somehow Jorah comes back. What I'm telling myself is that, in a normal battle, the Dothraki would have cut down a lot of the enemies and the army who stayed behind would have attacked the ones who broke through the line, but because they all got slaughtered right away it looked dumb.

Hard agree on Varys, and you guys are bringing me around on Theon. I'm worried for Gilly, because she's the only character we actually know who's in the crypts besides Tyrion and I don't think Tyrion will die yet. I think Davos might bite it for exactly the reason you think he's safe -- because he's all about having a just ruler and being a good guy. I'm not sure that's the direction the series is going. I lean toward thinking Jorah will survive because, if Dany turns out to be evil, I think his destiny is to stick with her until the bitter, bitter end, and then kill her like Jaime did the Mad King. I also lean toward thinking Arya is safe because she needs to use her faceless man powers to become someone else toward the end of the story (maybe Ned). I think Misendei's future involves deciding to go home (maybe because Grey Worm is dead) and then finding out that Dany won't let her leave after all. Ever since she confidently told Jon that Dany would give her a ship and wish her well if she wanted to go home, I've felt like the opposite will happen one day. Depending how long the timeline is for the rest of the season, I could actually see Cersei dying in childbirth like her mom. It would be an unexpected resolution to the prophecy or whatever. But I think things might move too fast for that to happen. I think it's totally possible that rather than getting a "big" death next episode, the horrible surprise will be all the innocent people dying in the crypts, and then everyone left feels bummed about it.

I think something got cut in between Betty asking Penelope to get the twins and Penelope going "We got one of them!" I'm not saying it's a bad cut. Just that it felt kind of abrupt. Also, I 100% forgot the twins existed or what their names were. Also, I don't know why Edgar needs to marry Alice to get hold of them. It would make more sense to marry Polly. I love that Gladys' evil secret came out because she was playing truth or dare inside an RPG and had to take it seriously. If you're a crime boss, that's how you want to go down. I did, I did, I did! That was so fucking funny. I feel like maybe it was a joke they put there just to show they love us. Also the little pause between when he says "your best friend" and then specifies that it's Kevin. Was Kevin even in the shot? I didn't notice. Here's my thing: based on looking at Evelyn's school records, Betty was able to track down ten years' worth of schools she'd been enrolled in. I'd be willing to say that maybe she got some of the school names from other schools she phoned, except it looked like she was working her way down a super long list that she'd already made. Wouldn't someone notice at some point that this file just kept getting bigger? Wouldn't it be more expedient to say you'd transferred from some other country or something and didn't have school records? What do the Twilight vampires do? Can Evelyn not do that?

One of my soft predictions for the ending was that Theon and Sansa would get married for political reasons (uniting the north and the Iron Islands again). Maybe that will happen? Especially if something bad happens to Yara while she's doing whatever she's doing off screen? They're reunited and they like each other, so it's got that going for it. I... doubt most of the main characters will actually die next week. I feel like we've moved into a story-telling zone where the creators are taking a lot of joy in having everyone be alive -- almost as much joy as they used to take killing everyone off. It's interesting to see Dany in a situation where she's not the most special, important person in the room and where she's dropped into a bunch of politics she actually has to care about (as opposed to just conquering everyone and forcing them to change their way of life). I've also noticed that she looks a lot less sympathetic when she's being mean to characters we actually know.

Ugh. The first half of this episode had me. I was like, "Wow, this is a surprisingly satisfying explanation for most of the mysteries," and then the second half just straight-up didn't make sense again. The whole reason they're going to the future is to save the data from Control, so the fact that Control is on the ship with them seems like it should be a pretty big deal. Especially since nobody seems to know how things are going with Georgeiou and her attempt to kill him until they're in the process of going to the future. And then, when Georgeiou kills him, Control is disabled so there was no reason why they still had to go to the future right then. Also, I realized part way through the space battle that Enterprise could just destroy Discovery to stop Control from getting the data. And then I wondered why nobody considered alternate ways of destroying the ship after the self-destruct didn't work. Also Pike had a really good point about knowing that he couldn't die if he stayed with the torpedo, because he has to be alive later to get blown up. It's like when a witch tells you how you'll die and you know nothing else can possibly kill you. Also LOL at Michael telling Spock to run straight into Kirk's arms because he's annoying. That was so funny. After all this build-up about how they're totally going to make the timeline make sense and explain how this is happening in the Star Trek universe the solution is that everyone promises to never, ever mention any of the characters again. It's actually more stupid than inventing a magic slime pod to bring Culber back from the dead, and I didn't think that was possible. I actually found that a confusing way to end the season, since it almost seemed like the show was going to be about the Enterprise, now. Also everyone who knew one of the crew members who stayed behind and got a cryptic letter from them last week saying they were going on a long, long mission and wouldn't be back. Plus everyone who evacuated the ship because it was being sent to the future. I had the same question, and it was important to me because she's the main reason I watch the show at this point. Apparently there's an interview floating around where she said she's filming Discovery season three before whatever the new thing is, so I guess there are more plot points before she goes off to her own show.

LOL. The first time someone on this show "has to go to school" and it's an excuse to leave her mom tied up in a bunker somewhere. Also... it's more annoying to divorce someone if they won't sign the papers, but it's not impossible. Plus, didn't Alice already forge his signature on the papers she used to liquidate Betty's college fund? FP is a super sad character to me and, I think, not always for reasons the show intends. In this case, he's obviously not qualified to be Sheriff, and so he asks his teenage son to come interrogate suspects for him, and then his son is like "Who sold you this stuff? Is it the exact guy I already believe sold you this stuff?" And the suspect's like, "Sure." *sigh* Imagine if you were just a normal person living in Riverdale and every key position in your community was held by one of these bozos. Imagine what you would have to resign yourself to. I love that Jellybean was just like, "Nobody remembers I exist or cares about me!" as the day just went longer and longer and the sun set and she followed some random kid out to the woods. Way to turn your oversights into a plot point, show.

I love that Michael was like, "I'm going to go to the future like my mom!" and everyone else was just like, "Obviously that won't work and you'll get marooned in time somewhere." I'm interested to see where Discovery ultimately ends up as it sets itself up for season three, and I... am willing to go along with this plot contrivance where the important characters all stay on the ship because they love Michael so much or whatever. But, normally you'd need a full crew to man a ship that size, wouldn't you? And why did random characters who barely know Michael stay behind? And LOL at Michael's parents saying they'll take care of Spock while Spock turns around and stays on Discovery with her (I think something will happen to separate him from everyone else in the season finale, but still). Final question -- is Georgiou taking Tyler and Culber to her new show with her? I'd be down, if that's what's happening.

This wasn't as fun for me as the first season, but I liked that it changed direction a few times and went some places I wasn't expecting. Yeah, that was weird. On the AV Club that asked what kind of deal Netflix has on music if they're using Phantom of the Opera here and on Umbrella Academy, and I wonder the same thing. I love Phantom of the Opera but "we should perform a big group number from a musical to confuse the villain" is a pretty wacky plan. At first, I thought it was BS that so many of the characters, especially Zelda, didn't want to help the Dark Lord, but the more I thought about it, it kind of made sense. What most of them care about is preserving their power structures and traditions and that doesn't directly involve interacting with Satan. Plus Zelda's been on a journey where we saw that she wasn't stoked to have sex with the devil on her wedding night, and Father Blackwood ended up abusing her as soon as they were married, so the idea that she's ready to flip on the Dark Lord to help Sabrina might not be far-fetched. There are a lot of things this season that I think can make sense if you want them to, but they rushed by so fast on screen that it feels like people just randomly kept changing their goals and allegiances. I completely forgot about that, but, yeah -- I'm confused, too.

I never knew Leviathan existed, and then he was dead in Ambrose's stomach, and then he was alive and cute and my new favourite character, and then he was dead again. It was a real whirlwind. The single most stressful moment of the season for me was when he screamed on the stairs and Sabrina was too busy talking to hear him. Leviathan!

Okay, so, when Hilda poisoned what's her name, did she also bury her in the magic garden and bring her back to life or was that a serious murder? Because, in this universe, sending a ghost to bug someone doesn't seem like a reason you need to die.

Also, it's dicey to create a body horror story about a trans person. I understand why it seems like the opportunity is there -- it's a situation where somebody already doesn't necessarily feel comfortable in their body and may want to change things -- but, "Something awful will happen if you try to do gender confirmation surgery (or the magical equivalent of that)" isn't a super uplifting message. The episode in general reminded me of Night Gallery, which I never cared for, but that story in particular felt weird and uncomfortable. No, that's only normal. She's the best one. :)

The detail that I liked most about this episode is that Roz already lost her virginity and has thoughts to share about it. Often, in these kinds of shows, the lead character is the first person to do everything important, so it's nice to see them break that pattern. And it's nice to see two people actually be friends. It was very pretty, but it seems like everyone arranged things to end up with the partners they already had and/or wanted so... why not just do that? Why not let it be a thing where you can bring a date, instead of pretending to pick one at random?

I found the parallel competition stories kind of interesting this episode. Theo probably didn't have a shot at making the basketball team, because he's not good at basketball, and Sabrina probably didn't have a shot at winning the school competition because she's brand new and hasn't studied anything yet, but both of them were initially denied the right to even try because of their gender, which is where it becomes gallingly unfair. And, once you've been honest about that -- once you've come right out and told somebody to their face that the possibility that they could succeed is so disgusting to you that you won't even let them compete -- it makes the question of whether it's okay to cheat a little more complicated. I think the discrimination stuff was heavy-handed in this episode, but there's also something annoying accurate and lifelike about the ultimate outcome of the magic competition, where Blackwood would rather pick a random adult who doesn't even go there than a female student. My explanation for this is that, if Sabrina's a beginner, the safest thing for her to do is stick to simple, obvious rhymes rather than trying to use weird ones. But maybe if you're good at doing whatever this is, part of your skill can be going for unconventional rhymes? I don't know. Me, too. I also wondered why Prudence wasn't stepping forward, and then they reminded us part way through the episode that she wants to stay on Blackwood's good side so that she can get the family name. But, 100%, if I was going to nominate a student who should be Top Boy at the Academy, it would be her.

I binged the whole season, so maybe that's making the story feel accelerated to me, but I don't get how Lilith went from "Who's this random dude?" to "I love him like whoa" in such a short span of time.

I've lost the thread of what's happening with these signals. However, one thing I hadn't thought about that I found interesting was the suggestion that whoever's sending the signals wanted Saru to change for some reason and, if the person sending the signals is an enemy, it might be a bad reason. Relatedly, if anyone wants to re-explain what's happening with the signals, that would be wonderful. :) I like Reno, too, but I don't understand why every single person on this ship wants them back together, still. And I'm starting to feel a little bullied on behalf of Hugh. If he wants to break up with Paul, he's allowed to do that. It doesn't matter if it makes things sad and uncomfortable. I laughed out loud when Pike said it was too hard to explain how he met their son. The explanation is literally, "He's a time wizard, now, and I met him from thirty years in the future." I also laughed because: imagine if you could dump your kid somewhere and have them instantly turn into an adult who's processed his feelings about you and decided to remember you fondly.

Props to the actor playing Michael's mom. I don't recognize her, so I don't know how she normally acts, but it looked like she pitched her performance to match what Sonequa Martin-Green was doing. Either it's super good casting or good acting, but the two characters seemed like they were related. Honestly, no offense to anyone with dyslexia, because I know that's a hard thing to deal with, but I find it really funny that they're trying to make this his super power. It's kind of like that one episode of Misfits where being lactose intolerant suddenly saved the day -- it's funny because it's such a mundane, ordinary thing and it's getting blown up to epic galaxy-saving proportions. (Also, don't get me started on why the Vulcans would be so mean about dyslexia rather than just appraising the situation logically and coming up with some alternative reading device for him or something). While I was watching her cooperate with Tyler, I started to think it would be fun and/or funny if they got together romantically. Mostly because Michael would hate it so much.