Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3x10 "Maveth" (Be Careful What You Wish For) [Contributor: Alice Walker]

"Maveth"

Original Airdate: December 8, 2015

In a follow-up episode that would have played out a smoother arc had it aired back-to-back with last week's "Closure," we pick up right where we left off: at a perilous crossroad. Ward is dragging Fitz through the alien planet on the hunt for the Evil Alien. Maybe named Death? Creepy Man? For now, let's just call him Death and keep it simple. Coulson is hot on their trail and psyched to kill Ward for murdering Ros. Meanwhile back on Earth ,we've got Director Tank... I mean Director Yum... I mean Mack, gorgeous righteous Mack, in charge, trying to sort out how to: save a rouge Director and technical wiz, prevent Death from coming to Earth, stave off HYDRA, and keep all of his agents from killing themselves in an attempt to save one another.

I had exceptionally high expectations for this episode, largely because I am guilty of letting the marketing hyperbole get to me. But S.H.I.E.L.D. usually has killer midseason finales, and while it was nowhere near as good as season two's "What They Become," a game changer that saw Raina and Skye go through Terrigenesis, it does rank higher than Season 1's "The Bridge," a forgettable episode where Mike Peterson had a fake-out explosion death. Second place is nothing to sneeze at, and this episode had a few good things working for it. Let's dive in.

THE GOOD

Everything about Mack today and every day. Was it really just a year ago he was possessed by aliens and we had all written him off with a shrug? We were fools. This man is a gem and if he jumps ship with Bobbi and Hunter for Marvel's Most Wanted, I don't know what I'll do with myself.  Coulson left him with a mess and he does what it takes to handle it. He made the hard call to send away all backup with orders to blow them up if Coulson and Fitz didn't make it through the portal, pointing out that they couldn't lose their best agents in one fell swoop. It was tough, logical, and the opposite of what we've seen Coulson do. Not bad for his first week.

Daisy finally launched her task force of Inhumans, which went fairly smoothly considering they were going up against HYDRA and parts of the ATCU. Mixing powers in with regular operatives is smart, and it's nice to see this storyline unfold so organically. Unfortunately, Jemma did not get the message that the Power Rangers were on the way to rescue her, and she released a very reasonable sounding Andrew Gardner out of his containment unit to keep HYDRA away from her. He does, then proceeds to brutally murder all of the other Inhumans in sight. It's ugly but Jemma makes it to safety, along with May, Bobbi, and Hunter.

THE BAD

If it was disappointing to see Rosalind getting shoved into the refrigerator, this week was even more of a bummer as she embodied the tropiest of dead girlfriend tropes — visiting Coulson in his dreams to give him a pep talk. Still, it works, and he wakes up on the alien planet... and this is where logic is stretched mighty thin.

Fitz leads Ward on the worst field mission ever, but not even the darkness or the foreboding atmosphere can keep his sass at bay. He's running his mouth right up until he finds Will's secret bunker and dives in. So, somehow when Simmons was giving him the planetary rundown, she mapped out where the secret hideout was, and he managed to find the right rock on the first try? Okay, sure.

Ward interrupts their awkward hello and we get our first warning signal when Will intones, "it feels like I've been here forever." No hun, you've been here 14 years and no leg injury would make you forget that! Fitz convinces Ward that they need him as their spirit guide, and they make their way through the No Fly Zone. This is the point where Ward apparently forgets that he is a super spy and lets the two men walk shoulder to shoulder out of earshot, letting them plan their escape. We already know Ward is the second coming of James Bond, so why did he make such a rookie mistake?

... For plot purposes of course! Fitz and Will need to break off from the pack (warning sign #2 when Will unflinchingly kills the HYDRA agents) so that Fitz can discover the awful truth — saving Jemma cost Will his life. Death now inhabits his body. I knew it was coming, but man, that stung. Fitz blows up Death and his promises to Jemma are nothing but dust in the wind.

THE "PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS GOING SOMEWHERE DELICIOUS"

Folks, it's time to talk about Grant Ward. It's been a long road and we've known it couldn't go on like this forever. Ward had been pushed to the limited of a supervillain; the show either needed to let him go or find something new to do with him. As it turns out, they did both.

Coulson somehow tracked him down, but instead of killing him straight away he instead lets him act as guide (not 100% following the logic here) and it does give them a chance to chat. It seems that seeing that HYDRA-shaped altar (that looked straight out of Neverland) on the new planet gave him some clarity and purpose. Ward felt part of a bigger picture and could finally let go of his quest for revenge and closure. He admitted his shortcomings and admitted he was really just looking for a father figure. He sounded at peace, and while it came too late, I hope it was genuine.

Coulson is unmoved and after they grapple, he straight up crushes Ward’s windpipe with his bionic hand. I repeat — Director Coulson crushed Ward to death. Big time. It was intimate, personal and shocking. I expected Ward to die, but I didn't expect it to be so brutal or cold blooded. Neither, it seems, did Fitz, who watched from the sidelines.  When they returned back to base for hugs, kisses, and grief, the look that Coulson leveled at Fitz was unreadable but filled with foreboding.  Has he finally gone dark? In killing Ward did he become like him? I don't know, but I am excited to find out.

And then, just when you thought you lost Will and Ward - two of the broodiest, hunkiest men on the show - in one hour, we get our Marvel special. At the very end we see Gideon Malick's car ride get interrupted by... Ward. Except this isn't Ward any longer; this is Death inhabiting his body.  Dalton is again asked to flip this character on its head, as an ancient zombie version of himself, and he seems up to the challenge (that head tilt though!). Death had Will's memories so it seems likely that he will have Ward's now as well. What will he do with them and how will these two bad guys join forces? Intriguing questions that need answering when the show returns. 

Highlights and low lights:

• "I'll be damned. Tatooine." Never without a snappy one-liner, are you Coulson? 
• Despite the fact that we ended with a Lincoln/Daisy kiss, this episode was all about Mack/Daisy for me. Between her refusing to leave her partner then passing out from the vibration stress oh-so-gracefully into his strapping arms... the potential is almost too much for my shipper heart to take. More please. 
• Was the castle explosion supposed to kill Andrew? I honestly couldn't tell, but I feel as though we haven't seen the last of him 
• Ward's subtle nod to Garrett when he was explaining Inhumans to Death/Will was a nice touch: "I don't like it, but that's the way the wind is blowing."
• At some point Jemma has to realize that she got a TON of Inhumans killed because she didn't think she could protect herself, right? 
• Joey is showing signs of being a real person and I'm interested to see who they pair him with and how he develops.

That's all for now everyone. The show is on hiatus until March, with Agent Carter stepping in for the next ten weeks. Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you in the spring. Until then, let these Mack GIFs be my holiday gift to you.

     

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The Vampire Diaries 7x08 "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" (Linked and Unlinked) [Contributor: Megan Mann]

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

Original Airdate: December 3, 2015

After last week’s wild ride of attempting to kill Julian, Lily finally coming to terms with the horrible monster that he is and agreeing to do whatever she can to help bring him down, so long as she’s the one to come up with a plan, I can only imagine what the residents of Mystic Falls have in store for us this week.

Damon sits under a spotlight, chained to a chair in the TV studio three years from now. A woman’s voice surrounds him and it sounds like — is that Lily? Is the woman who has everyone running scared in the future Lily? He asks the mystery guest to come into the light so he can see her and it really is Lily! We finally have an answer as to who has been on the hunt for Stefan: their mother. ... Or is it? Before passing out, Damon is as shocked as we all are and gives us the impression that they haven’t seen each other in quite some time. What could have possibly happened?

Back in the present, Stefan and Damon are explaining the plan to Enzo as he very clearly wants to see Julian dead as well. They need to employ one of the remaining heretics to unlink Lily and Julian, but Enzo doesn’t buy it. Valerie walks in and says that if they want them on their side, all she has to do is tell them the truth.

“Dear Elena, I’m pregnant.”

Writing in her journal, Caroline still finds it hard to wrap her brain around the situation she has found herself in at the hands of the Gemini coven. Her entry is cut short as her phone rings. Matt tells her that the people Julian had in a trance have mysteriously vanished. That seems like a pretty big problem with a hint of foreshadowing.

Enzo finds Lily in the bookshop as she looks through the now dusty shelves for a gift for Nora and Mary-Louise. She’s looking for a specific poem, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” and as Enzo starts to recite it, Lily turns to him and the two share a sweet moment together. However, he remains unconvinced that finding this sentimental book of poetry won’t be nearly enough to sway them to side with her over Julian. Enzo offers to run away with her, but Lily knows that that’s not an option. He grabs her and they share an intense, albeit quick kiss for luck.

Blindfolded and entering what looks like Tyler Lockwood’s old home, Julian has Nora and Mary-Louise on his arms and as he removes the scarves, an explosion of confetti welcomes them to their anniversary party. One would expect nothing less for 133 years together. But it seems that the guests that are dancing about the room are the missing people Matt had mentioned earlier. Julian says that he’s been collecting them just for this party. Lily is clearly furious, but changes her tune when she sees the girls get upset with her.

Things between Stefan and Caroline are slightly awkward. She went to his house hoping to talk to him about her current predicament, but Lily has just texted their location and Damon and Valerie are ready to go. The Salvatore brothers can tell Caroline is hiding something, so to ease the tension, Valerie elects for her and Damon to go on ahead of them. What Paul Wesley does so well here is let the emotions Stefan is feeling play across his face. He’s shocked while sad and confused. Instead of continuing the conversation, Stefan says he needs to use this small window to kill Julian. Not exactly how the conversation should have gone, but that’s Mystic Falls for you.

At the party, Mary-Louise pulls Julian into a quiet room and presents a ring. While he’s excited for the couple, he knows that Nora won’t like how small the ring is and offers the ring of a French princess. Obviously this sort of gesture is going to stick with Mary-Louise and make it difficult for Lily to gain their allegiance. But outside on the deck, Lily presents Nora with the poetry book to show all that they have been through as a family just as Julian surprises her. The two go back inside to share a dance to a song that slightly stuns Beau. As he watches them dance, Lily says that Beau used to sing so beautifully. It still makes me wonder if we’ll ever find out what happened to him.

What seems like a lovely dance turns into a harsh speech about how Lily won’t engage in the real fun of the party, enjoying the compelled party guests, because she’s afraid she’ll go too far. He finds it absurd that she still holds out hope that Stefan and Damon will join them as one big, happy family but that won’t ever happen. Her hopes are causing unwanted friction and she needs to accept the love that surrounds her instead. Knowing she’s a ripper, he encourages her to drink from a guest and she obliges, only to quickly back out when she sees Damon walk in.

Lily runs down the white steps out front to a stoic Damon. She reminds him that the plan was to remain inconspicuous; she had no choice but to feed. He doesn’t buy it and postpones the plan. Desperately, Lily reaches for him and says that she can’t spend another moment with him. “Julian dies tonight,” he says finally. The two exchange heated words that result in Lily slapping him. It’s clear that no matter what happens, Damon will never forgive Lily for leaving them and allowing them to believe her dead for so long.

Nora finds Mary-Louise surrounded by flowers by the lake, each bearing the gift they were given to sway them. Nora accepts Mary-Louise’s proposal and as the two rejoice, Valerie offers her congratulations. The girls are shocked that she would even show her face during the best moment of their lives. “We need to talk about the worst moment of mine,” she says.

At the Grille, Matt finds Enzo feeding on someone and asks what his problem is. Enzo is still clearly reeling from the encounter with Lily and Matt’s extra sassiness clearly isn’t helping the situation. He walks out of the grill and is shot with vervaine by a group of men clad in black. As the rain soaks the ground, he’s tossed into the back of a black truck and driven off. Who are these people and how did they know Enzo was a vampire? Moreover, why are they looking for vampires?

Valerie and the girls are joined in the greenhouse by Beau as he needs to hear the story as well. The girls suggest waiting for Julian, but Lily says he won’t be joining them. As he feeds on a helpless woman in the house, Stefan and Damon corner him. Valerie tells the group the truth as Julian asks what they’re doing there. The heretics refuse to believe Valerie, but Lily tells them that she would have never fled to Europe and abandoned her grandchild, something Julian knew. It was a calculated move and when Valerie took her own life, she became the first heretic. Julian saw the power of being a witch/vampire hybrid and created an army masked as a family. They ask Lily if it were true and although they’re shocked, Nora points out that they need to stick together.

Lily sits down and asks Beau to hold her hand. She’s bracing herself for the pain her sons are about to inflict on who she thought was the love of her life. When a dart hits his neck, Lily’s head rocks back and her neck starts to bleed. Mary-Louise points out that she’s bleeding and she says, “It’s only going to get worse.”

Stefan meets Lily outside to tell her that Damon is tying Julian up and that he has the dart with his blood on it. In a bit of a twist, he chooses that moment to confide in someone, strangely his mother, about the news of Caroline’s pregnancy. Like everyone else, Lily is confused as to how that’s possible but assumes he’s overwhelmed. He knows he didn’t handle it well, so he asks for advice. She gives  sweet advice on making sure Caroline is okay and to understand what she’s going through, but she doesn’t think she’s the best person to be asking. Staring at the ground rather than her son, she says that so much time has been lost that she doesn’t know where to go after Julian. It’s clear that the two want to mend fences, especially with Damon.

A pinball whizzes across the board as Julian tries to egg Damon on. If he kills him now, Valerie points out as she walks in to hear these taunts, he’ll always be the man who killed his own mother. The shiny veneer that Julian had plastered on is clearly gone and references the unborn child. Valerie spits in his face as Mary-Louise comes in. Damon asks if she broke the bond yet, but she remains skeptical about the validity of Valerie’s ill-fated pregnancy. Before she can hear another word, she spells Damon and snaps Valerie’s neck. A tear rolls down her cheek as Julian laughs in the background. Is she upset about what she did or is she too confused to know what the right thing is to do?

Stefan calls Caroline to apologize for his behavior earlier in the day. Instead of saying anything or, more specifically, the wrong thing, he chose to say nothing and bailed. Of course Caroline is understanding and allows him a reprieve should this prove to be too much for him. Ever the white knight, Stefan reminds her he’s not going anywhere because he loves her. Did you read that? He loves her! He finally said it! In the midst of a very intense episode, their relationship proves to be a sweet spot.

The camera sweeps across the grand staircase as Nora chases Mary-Louise down the steps. When she catches up to her, she asks Mary-Louise why she’s been crying. Lily walks in to discover why. Julian has been set free and Damon and Valerie now sit chained and unconscious. He says he can’t let them go because he loves her and their family too much to let the cycle continue. Between the two chained, one can live and one must die; their fates are up to Lily. It’s time she understood the pain she’s put them all through. It’s time she chooses to be a Salvatore or a member of their family. She can no longer be both. He hands her a stake and demands that she choose.

Nora doesn’t understand the choice that Mary-Louise has made in helping Julian, but Mary-Louise stands firm. She thinks that Valerie is lying based on her previous lies and doesn’t understand why Nora won’t side with him. Nora doesn’t understand how she could side with someone who not only did that to Lily, but who stole the life of a child from its mother. It’s clear that Mary-Louise is on the wrong side and Nora removes the ring that doesn’t stand for their love but for the manipulation of Julian and quickly exits.

Lily tries to bring Julian back, to remind him that it was the shock of no longer being in that hell he was placed in that is making him this way. Damon stops them all and says she needs to stab him already. She chose the heretics before, so why wouldn’t she do it again? Lily walks over to Valerie and strokes her hair while saying she’s sorry she didn’t see how strong she was sooner. She asks for Damon’s forgiveness and turns to Julian to say that he was wrong, she can have them both. He doesn’t know what she means until she stabs herself in the chest, not knowing that they’re unlinked. Julian flees as the others rush in.

Enzo awakens in a dark cell. Matt opens the door and reveals that he knew he couldn’t protect Mystic Falls on his own, so he made some friends and slams the door. Nora flails over Lily as she tries to fix the wound, but she can’t. One by one, the group says their goodbyes. When Stefan sits down, she reminds him to use all of his time the right way. Julian smashes everything in his path as Mary-Louise walks in and asks what’s wrong. She realizes that it’s partially her fault that this is happening as she unlinked them.

Valerie says her goodbye and demands Damon make the most of Lily’s last moments. Lily sincerely apologizes to him and all he can do is stare. Instead of letting go of everything that has happened between them, Damon is cruel as her skin turns gray. Three years from now, Lily begins to release Damon from his chains and stops. She can’t save him. He’s been poisoned with werewolf toxin. It’s then that he apologizes to her.

But it’s not Lily! Of course it’s not! She just died. How could she have come back to life? He realizes it’s not her and sees a blurry image of this villain before she kicks him square in the face. So, if it’s not Lily, WHO IS IT THEN?

Will we find out who the mystery woman is in next week’s mid-season, Christmas-themed finale? Or will we be stuck mulling it over until new episodes return in the new year?

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Jessica Jones 1x04 "AKA 99 Friends" (The Burden of Consequences) [Contributor: Lynnie Purcell]

"AKA 99 Friends"

Original Airdate: November 20, 2015

Consequences are tricky. They are not static, nor are they as simple as the choices that often led up to them. They breathe, move, and are determined by the people who have to live with them. Unintended consequences have been the bread and butter of stories for thousands of years. Greek playwrights knew the humanity and tragedy in consequences that people did not see at the time they made their life-altering choice. It remains a constant in movies and televisions, with good reason.

In "AKA 99 Friends," Jessica and the people around her must learn to live with consequences of the previous episode’s decisions. It revolves around the fallout of doing what is necessary or the utter hell of being Kilgrave’s victim. It is a tribute to the messy question of, “What now?”

Jessica’s method of convincing the cop to leave Trish while on a Kilgrave bender was absolutely necessary and definitely the result of quick thinking, but it drove the cop, Officer Simpson, towards a brief madness entrenched in guilt. He tries to break down Trish’s reinforced door, only to have Jessica answer it with all the nonchalance and confusion you would expect in someone who is having their door being attacked by battering ram. She tries to comfort him, seeing herself in the man after the murder reveal last episode, even as she feels responsible for the state of chaos of his mind. She encourages him to leave it alone — to leave Kilgrave to her.

He sort of does by going back to Trish’s apartment and repeating their first meeting, only he has a present of an unregistered pistol for her and Trish is less trusting when she takes it from him. The pistol endears him to her and, through the safety of the door, they begin to talk and reconcile. It is a conversation both of them need in order to reclaim a moment that changed everything for them. Trish’s confidence in her abilities was shattered at the attack. She was certain she could handle herself. Officer Simpson’s determination to help people and be the hero went against what he believed was the murder of an innocent person. They are bonded by the experience, the consequences of Jessica’s choice to call out Kilgrave, Kilgrave’s choice of sending Officer Simpson to kill Trish, and Jessica’s means of dealing with it all.

Trish is faced with more reality of choice when Jessica realizes that there is only one way to get Kilgrave to leave her alone, which is to have Trish apologize on air to the very man who tortured, terrified, and abused Jessica. Trish is yet again faced with the reality of dealing with a man like Kilgrave. Strength and the ability to fight are not enough. He creates enemies out of the innocent. He is a shadow that needs to be dealt with smartly and with respect to his ability — something that only Jessica understands fully.

Jessica’s attention is divided three ways this episode. She is dealing with the spy she discovered last episode — a spy that is following her everywhere and taking pictures that are then given to Kilgrave. Hope’s case is also a priority. Dragon Lady Lawyer Hogarth has assembled people who claim to be victims of Kilgrave, and Jessica is tasked with weeding out the liars and the insane: a task that proves to be a lengthy and sometimes an amusing process. Her third (and final) task is a case brought to her by the instantly suspicious and cleverly unassuming Audrey Eastman.

The thing about Eastman is that it’s clear there’s something up with her the moment she walks in Jessica’s office. Jessica immediately doesn’t trust her. Her reasoning is Kilgrave. She is paranoid and determined to learn from her past mistakes. Being aware is better than letting anyone else get hurt. So she follows Eastman around to ensure that Kilgrave doesn’t have his mind in hers and sees her shooting a pistol. Jessica initially thinks that the woman intends on murdering her cheating husband. The truth is that Eastman blames Jessica for her mother’s death during the alien attack on New York, an attack that Jessica had nothing to do with. Eastman wants someone to pay, and Jessica’s lie to the man she gave a subpoena to in the pilot told Eastman that she was special and gifted.

Sometimes consequences are not even really the person’s to bear, but they suffer them all the same. Eastman shoots Jessica in the arm for what happened to her mother, and Jessica loses it. She tears up the room in a bout of fury. It is here that Jessica’s view on her own trauma comes rushing out of her. She doesn’t believe in sharing, choosing to deal with her demons quietly. That other people do not deserve to suffer for the things she has gone through. She harbors the storm though it rattles her foundation, takes it all in firmly, a great, big ball of emotion settled in her chest, and ends up only torturing herself. Only she tortures the people who love her as well. She matters to those closest to her, which means her method of dealing is not nearly as effective as she hopes, but at least she doesn’t kill people or harm them in an attempt to release the burden. She doesn’t blame strangers for what happened to her, unlike the Eastmans. She has control, but it is slipping. Her rage is growing louder and her heart is bursting closer to the edge every day. She threatens the Eastmans a moment later, scaring them off with the threat of more special people like her — 99 of them, in fact. It feels like this moment might have further consequences later on, but, for now, they are gone and the truth that Jessica is cracking around the edges has never been clearer. It does not help that the pain and suffering is close to her in a way it has not been before. She is hearing other people’s stories for the first time since Hope, leading her to relive the trauma and the fact that there is no choice if Hope is ever to be free again.

Jessica listening to the people who claim to have been Kilgrave’s victims was both heartbreaking and funny. Some of the people were clearly looking to be pardoned from their bad choices without the burden of consequences, while others are genuinely affected. Krysten Ritter plays the scene with a repressed compassion and a hard-won stoicism that is hard to forget. The comedy balances with the pain perfectly in a way that makes it feel all the more real. Jessica’s pain is extended when Jessica quietly sulks into the support group she helped arranged. She is clearly uncomfortable as she listens to the people lay out what has been done to them and the results of Kilgrave’s control. Her body language is tense. The panic and anger are looming. The goodhearted person is at war with the victim and the hardened hero who knows wallowing will not solve the problem. She does not do well with dealing. It guides her alcoholism and isolationism. Compartmentalizing helps her be the hero the people in the support group will ultimately need. She cares more about catching Kilgrave then laying out what happened to her. All this is seen through Ritter’s reactions and the way the scene is shot. It’s brilliantly done.

The mood in the group shifts as she realizes one of the men has information that she can use. He was Kilgrave’s driver and potentially has seen the spy that has been taking pictures of her. After some prodding and chastising from the rest of the group, she finally has a description she can track on the police video tapes that Officer Simpson helped her get earlier on.

It is within those scenes of humanity that a very personal and definitely unexpected consequence of Kilgrave’s evil is revealed to her. A man that she has come to care about deeply, snark and outward indifference aside, a man that she quietly looks after, has not been as disconnected from her world as it seems. He is being used and has been changed completely by her torturer.

Kilgrave has Malcolm — her neighbor and a full-time junkie — under his spell. He is Kilgrave’s spy. He is the man that Jessica has hunted.

And, with a single tear of anguish, it is shown that Jessica is not prepared for the consequences that are sure to follow the revelation.

Stray Thoughts

• Kilgrave is winding her up still. He’s getting under her skin. He’s guiding her thoughts without actually being in the room with her. This is what real stalkers do all the time.
• “Men in power. It is seriously a disease.” — Trish gets it.
• Jessica can’t delete the picture of Luke. She can’t let go the way she thinks she needs to after killing his wife. She has those things... what are they called? Feelings?
• Being wedged in the alley while tracking Eastman is an awesome shot. So casual and cool.
• Hogarth took her honey-boo to the spot she proposed to her wife. Not cool, Dragon Lawyer. Not cool.
• Eastman murders lots of mannequins. She’s super good at it.
• An eight year old curses like a sailor and berates Jessica. It is equal parts awful and awesome and is part of the extension of Kilgrave messing with Jessica.
• Officer Simpson gives the gift of a gun. It’s every post-strangulation apology a girl needs.
• I am not a fan of Officer Simpson. I have a hard time not writing Officer Whatever instead. I really want to call him that because he’s just so... Alpha Male. Also, is he supposed to be Australian or American in this show? I’m having a hard time deciphering.
• “You shoot that at me, I’ll pull the bullet out of my ruined jacket and shove it up your ass with my pinky finger, and who do you think that’s going to hurt worse?”
• Police footage is the worst binge-watch in the history of binge-watches.
• When Jessica cries, we cry.
• I gasped at the Malcolm reveal. I just want to give him all the hugs.

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The Force Has Awakened... And So Have the Theories [Contributor: Melanie]

It’s very nearly time to return to a galaxy far, far away. Now that December 2015 is officially here, I, like Charlie Sheen, do not sleep. I wait. I was first introduced to Star Wars a long time ago, when it was first announced they were going forward with the prequel trilogy. My parents decided that if those were going to be the Star Wars movies of my generation, I was going to get a proper education first. And so, they borrowed the trilogy (on VHS no less) from our neighbors and spent three nights giving me a crash course in the most important film franchise of our time (and a lesson in OH @#!& plot twists). Then I bought some toy lightsabers, started whacking my friends in the backyard [Assistant editor’s note: And, as an adult, scared her poor roommate by attacking her with her lightsaber at 3 AM – Jaime, aforementioned roommate], pretended I was using the Force to open automatic doors, and slogged through some interestingly executed backstory for Darth Vader in the early 2000s.

And now, here I am, 23 years old, stocked up on merch, and prepared to storm the theatre on December 17th at 10:35pm for amazing seats (jk, my theatre has assigned seats), and some overpriced Force Awakens-themed adult beverages that hopefully light up (my theatre also does that). And as excited as I am by the prospect of crying as the familiar blast of music and the title crawl appears on the screen, I was not always so hyped up for this movie. In fact, I initially hated the idea (and who knows, maybe it’s garbage and I’ll hate it again). Though Disney is in fact my former employer, I was annoyed at the idea of them cashing in on three more movies in a film series that I felt, narratively speaking, was complete and as near perfect as it could possibly get.

This all goes back to an old debate: is Star Wars the story of Darth Vader or of an entire family? I always fought hard to defend the former and shot down anyone who tried to tell me to watch the movies in the Machete Order because, by my analysis, all six Star Wars films follow a nearly-perfect Greek tragedy narrative structure. This is done purposely, as George Lucas heavily utilized Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces (a heavily marked-up book on my own shelf) in the creation of the initial film we know today as A New Hope to guide the developments of the screenplay and Luke’s story. However, it became an overarching plotline once Anakin’s story became the center of attention, and reshaped the traditional steps of a "hero’s journey" into something closer to a modern Greek tragedy: the story of a hero from childhood, into adulthood, downfall, and death. Sure, it’s messy and Hayden Christensen is annoying, but as a whole, Star Wars is an awesome piece of narrative heft. And for many, many years it remained the six-movie story of Anakin Skywalker.

But then it was announced in 2012 that a trilogy was in the works, focusing on a new set of characters and a new story. Thus, my beautiful saga of Anakin Skywalker was destroyed and morphed into the second argument I mentioned: the story of the Skywalker family. And that mentality has driven a lot of theories I’ll talk about below. While I eventually got over losing my "hero’s journey" lens on the films, there was another issue that arose out of this that was probably a lot more important to most audience members: the multiverse. Because Abrams chose to create his own story, decades of work in the canonical Extended Universe became simply one facet of the Star Wars multiverse. Personally, it doesn’t bother me, considering I never really delved too deeply into it beyond some novelizations of the movies and in-between graphic novels and the like, but I had friends who lived by the contributions to the EU, and were quite heartbroken to find characters and stories they’d been attached to for years become second fiddle to a blockbuster level story. Because let’s be real, as beloved as the EU is by cult audiences, history will likely remember the story we’re about to see on screen.

Multiverses aren’t bad, of course. Comic books have utilized them for years without too many big incidents. And recently the Marvel Cinematic Universe proved you could jive with the canon of your source material pretty fluidly. But, on the other hand, Spectre, the newest Bond film, generated a lot of dialogue on whether or not multiverses, specifically the Bond one, were something that couldn’t continue without irritation. Luckily, this particular case seems fairly easily remedied, as the EU wasn’t something the public widely consumed. That’s not to say the hard work of the EU writers and artists should just be tossed to the side because no one’s making a huge stink, but at the very least they can exist along side each other without too much friction from audiences.

But, back to the story of The Force Awakens itself. A story about which... we know nothing. We know Rey (Daisy Ridley) is something of a scavenger on the desert planet of Jakku. We know Finn (John Boyega) is a Storm Trooper deserter. I have no idea who Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is beyond being a pilot. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is Dark-affiliated Force sensitive with the world’s most non-logistical lightsaber.  Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) are around, and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)... exists... maybe? Basically, it follows a bit of the EU where the Empire makes something of another go at it, this time as the First Order, led by another Dark-affiliated Force sensitive Supreme Leader Snoke. And that’s really all we know.

But, my sweet summer children, that is where THEORIES come in. And here they are, the most prominent theories the Internet has collectively wrestled up:

Rey is a Skywalker

This is possibly the only thing every corner of the Internet unanimously agrees on. Like, everyone collectively decided it and just ran with it. People have accepted it as canon to the point where there are some pretty popular posts on Tumblr including Rey in the Skywalker family tree. Why does this make sense? Well first off, like I said, if this isn’t the story of the Darth Vader, then it’s the story of his family as a whole. And why else would we care about a rando girl wandering the desert unless she fits in with our previous canon of main characters who are all, in some way, affiliated with the Skywalker family?

Furthermore, she was abandoned by her family as a child with no clues to their identity or where they are. CONVENIENT. Not to mention she looks enough like previous Skywalker ladies (Leia, Padme, Shmi) that I’m willing to buy it. Most people assume she is Leia’s daughter, but if Luke is MIA at the beginning of the film as the synopsis suggestions, then that jives with her abandonment. Also daddy issues are a running thing in this family.

Kylo Ren is a Skywalker

This is the second most proposed theory out there. A fair number of people tried suggesting Ren was just Luke gone bad, but considering there are set photos of Adam Driver sans mask, that has been debunked.

So what’s the evidence here? Well, we were explicitly told Ren is not Kylo’s real last name, but a title from the Knights of Ren, an order to which he belongs. So, that’s suspicious. And after the second trailer portrayed him worshipping Vader’s armor and promising to “finish what [he] started,” many people assumed he was referring to the one goal Vader had from the beginning: establish himself and his family as a ruling power in the galaxy. And in the EU (and in general science) twins run in families. Leia had a pair of twins herself, and some of Luke’s descendants ending up being twins. So, he’s possibly the literal evil twin brother of Rey. The struggle over there is real.

Rey is a Force-sensitive

While Finn is the one shown in trailers and posters to be wielding Luke’s old lightsaber, I will note all those images are from the same scene. Which tells me, and others, it might be a fake-out. Especially since Rey seems to be the one all that Force talk in the trailers is directed to. And one Duracell ad showed a young girl dressed as Rey wielding a green lightsaber and taking on some Storm Troopers. SUSPICIOUS. And if Rey truly is a Skywalker descendent, there is like a .00006% chance she’s not a Force-sensitive, but what do I know about Punnett Squares?

Vader’s relics are important

Not sure to what end, but we’ve seen some focus on Vader’s goodies throughout the trailers and tidbits of information. One theory tried taking a crack at the plot and suggested that after Finn obtains Luke’s old lightsaber (separated from him along with his hand in Empire Strikes Back), he and Rey work to return it to him while Kylo Ren, a collector of Vader items, hunts them down for it (since it was Anakin’s before it was Luke’s). The movie, if nothing else, seems to use Vader as a shadow throughout from Ren’s obsession to Luke’s peace out into obscurity.

A character from the original trilogy will bite it.

Star Wars thrives on narrative symmetry and, of course, the rules of the "hero’s journey." This means — like Qui-Gon Ginn and Obi-Wan — a mentor figure will be kicking the bucket at some point to give our hero the tools to move forward toward their destiny. If we’re following the hero journey arc directly, it’s got to be some kind of Jedi character (though that’s not necessarily a rule). Anyone from a previous trilogy who now serves as a mentor figure is fair game. And right now, that looks like Han. This is further worrisome if you factor in Ford’s repeated wish to George Lucas to kill Han off in the original trilogy. He may have gotten his wish.

Those are the big theories at the moment; there are certainly a spattering of fan crack theories all over the Internet, but these are the big ones everyone seems to be debating. I’m excited to see how these pan out, but mostly I just really want Rey to get a lightsaber and kick booty. And, you know, hopefully I can avoid having all my hopes and dreams crushed in the meantime. Maybe both will happen and then we’ll all go home happy.

Look for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in theatres December 18th!

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Series: This Week's TV MVPs - Week 23

Welcome back, friends and readers! After a week on hiatus, I'm sure you are just as eager as we are to dive back into the immersive world of television. And luckily for all of us, it's midseason finale time! (I'm not sure HOW because I still refuse to believe that this month is actually December...)

Because we are moving ever closer to the winter finales of some of our favorite shows, the acting and writing quality has been rising to the occasion to meet us. The stakes have never been higher for some of our favorite couples, while on other shows, characters are literally facing life and death decisions. There are pregnancies and scandals, first kisses and final goodbyes. December is the time that television shows bring out their A-game, and we are more than happy to meet them as they do. With that in mind, let's kick off this week's series with some of the best acting on television that we watched this week.

Joining me today are my following wonderful Christmas elves:

• Lizzie
• Megan
• Lynnie

Here we go!

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American Horror Story 5x08 "Ten Commandments Killer" (Little Did They Know it Was ME All Along) [Contributor: Melanie]

"Ten Commandments Killer"

Original Airdate: December 2, 2015

We’re on an exposition streak here for American Horror Story apparently, because this week’s episode was all about recounting (or retconning?) the episodes up until now, revealing how Lowe was actually the killer all along. 

.........

Wow, how will I recover from the shock?

Most of the episode gave us off-screen moments that reveal how Lowe committed the murders, but most of these moments happened before the events of the show even began. It wasn’t some cleverly grand reveal, detailing what had been happening in the background the whole time that we, the audience, missed. It’s a serious cop-out in terms of the writing, and it’s starting to feel like Hotel is falling into the same traps that Asylum encountered.

Asylum started out awesome, few people deny that. It was set in a Catholic-owned mental health facility in the 50s and featured insanity, demon-possessed nuns, and unethical medical experiments, with a loose serial killer to boot. But apparently that wasn’t enough to mine for Ryan Murphy, who decided to also throw aliens in the mix. It was already a delicate balance, and just like that, it all came crashing down. Coven rectified many of those mistakes by sticking to a singular concept and exploring naturally-associated themes. I didn’t watch enough of Freak Show to form an opinion in how it handled its story, but I can certainly form one for Hotel, which now has done a breakneck 180 mid-season.

The first few episodes of the show seemed to suggest our focus would be on the hotel (and its ridiculous Shining rip-offs that somehow magnified this week) and the vampires who seemed to run it. Now it’s suddenly all about serial killers and rewriting history to fit Murphy’s weird little narrative. There’s also the hovering idea of the hotel’s inherent evilness and status as a “haunted house.” And like Asylum, it’s all becoming too much, especially since Asylum covered the serial killer topic extensively. This rehashing is more in bad taste than anything else at this point, with the shameless use of real killers and romanticizing their stories with scenes of them worshipping March and hosting dinner parties where the favors are more victims. I’ve used this before, I think, but...

With that aside, here’s what happened this week.

The episode opens on Lowe, seconds after Wren jumped in front of the car. Recalling seeing her among the glass coffins in the empty pool, he returns to the hotel and accosts a heartbroken Liz for information. Sally reluctantly takes him to room 64 where he finds the preserved body parts of the Ten Commandments Killer’s victims stored behind the armoire. Sally insists that March — the original Ten Commandments Killer— was waiting for a successor and that Lowe was in fact the killer all along. Oh no, what a shock.

Lowe then visits Wren in the morgue, where he meets Detective Hahn and confesses to being the killer. He realized he’d been to the Hotel Cortez years before, which is what started his killing spree. In a flashback to 2010, Lowe gets served drinks in the hotel bar by Sally and Liz, and Donovan invites him to a party upstairs.

Elizabeth and March are having dinner upstairs when Donovan brings Lowe to meet them. March is immediately taken with Lowe, and he gets the detective drunk on absinthe before launching into a very lengthy conversation about the difference between right and wrong, and murder, and all sorts of philosophy student garbage, before Lowe finally passes out. March then insists to Elizabeth that Lowe is a perfect candidate to be his protégé, and Elizabeth agrees to kidnap Holden to help push Lowe over the edge. Lowe returns home hung over, and Alex is unnerved that he was off drinking for two days. To help the situation, they decide to have a family day, which is when Holden is kidnapped.

When he and Alex started to lose hope in their search for Holden, Lowe began to crumble. He constantly returned to the Hotel Cortez’s bar, where he’d drink and talk to March, and had an affair with Sally. At one point, March suggested to Lowe that perhaps he was in pain from a lack of justice in the world, and his inability to seek it as a detective. March then revealed his trophy room, filled with both hunted animals and heads of human victims. Lowe is unimpressed, insisting he’s going to report it, but later realizes March was correct about the lack of justice Lowe is able to bring after a murderer he investigated gets off on a technicality.

He returns to the hotel in 2015 on his son’s birthday, and March tells him a story about a former guest who molested a ten-year-old boy (the same age Holden would have been). Lowe goes after the pedophile and beats him to death with an Oscar award the man was selling. He then attempts to kill himself before Sally arrives and cuts him down.

March and Sally try and help Lowe through the aftermath of his actions, keeping him from trying to kill himself again. It’s also revealed that March is protecting Sally from an “addiction demon” conjured up from her activities. In the present time, Hahn insists that Sally has been dead for over 20 years and that Lowe is hallucinating and confused. Lowe insists it’s true, recounting a time when Sally informed him that the Cortez forces him to forget the things he’s done while he’s there when he leaves. Lowe had also revealed to Sally and March that he loved killing the pedophile, which March says is because using his pain was better than letting it sit. He then shows Lowe the work he did as the original Ten Commandments Killer, a job Lowe agrees to continue.

Lowe continues his affair with Sally while planning out his murders. Sally provides him with an adulterous couple as his first victims, and Lowe uses their phones to text each other a location, and then murders the woman and mutilates the man’s body. He then insists the suspect he thought he saw the night of another murder was actually himself as James March. When he concludes his story, Hahn still doesn’t believe him, insisting that he feels responsible for not catching the real killer. Lowe then stabs Hahn, insisting that he has broken a commandment by “coveting thy neighbor’s wife,” which Hahn does not deny, and kills him.

Lowe returns to the hotel with a bloody bag and informs Iris he remembers everything, She’s relieved that she no longer has to play games and dance around him. Iris insists Lowe leave the hotel and forget, but he demands the key to 64. There he presents March with Hahn’s severed genitals, which March applauds.

There's two more episodes of American Horror Story: Hotel left before we take a break for a bit, so stay tuned and see if you can't guess anymore obvious "reveals"!

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Jessica Jones 1x03 "AKA It’s Called Whiskey" (A Target On Your Back) [Contributor: Lynnie Purcell]

"AKA It's Called Whiskey"

Original Airdate: November 20, 2015

What’s better than whiskey, you ask? Luke Cage, of course! Jessica and Luke start of the episode where the last one left off –– discovering that they are both special and that their abilities happen to mesh. Then they have a competition to see who is stronger, which leads to them boning against a wall. As you do.

This episode’s theme can be summed up in a piece of dialogue spoken by Luke Cage as he and Jessica are out for some post-coital food:

“Being a hero puts a target on your back.” 

Jessica doesn’t want this target. She’s been there, done that. She’s tried to be hero and ended up a prisoner of Kilgrave. She knows the true meaning of the phrase, “The road to hell is paved with the best intentions,” without it being a cliché. She’s fought to do some good in the world, to make a difference, and it ended with misery, with PTSD, with alcoholism, and with a murder that she cannot forget.

This episode shows Luke and Jessica in the lusty honeymoon stage of their relationship. Only Jessica is keeping a rather profound, rather serious secret from him. The picture of a woman in Luke’s medicine cabinet is shown once more. As uncertain as his reason for keeping the picture there of all places, it is clear by episode’s end why Jessica was stalking him in the pilot and why she looks conflicted every time they are together.

A flashback reveals that Jessica is the one who murdered Cage’s wife. She was coerced into it by Kilgrave for an as of yet unknown reason, which adds layers and complications to the burgeoning relationship she has with Luke. There are two scenes that resonated emotionally about the night everything went sideways for Jessica.

The first is when Jessica is testing out Luke’s opinions on the idea of someone like Kilgrave existing. He is adamantly against the idea, not believing it to be real, but she is desperate for him to believe in the possibility. It’s played quietly, but you can feel her burning for that belief above all things. The reason is that she is also desperate to tell him the truth about his wife, and about her. Jessica's guilt and her experiences are eating away at her. She knows that sleeping with the man of the woman she killed is wrong and that she needs to stop, but he’s an addiction for her –– even as she tries to keep her distance. Luke understands as he has the same barriers up. He has his demons the same way she has hers, as seemingly impenetrable as Luke’s skin. This is why, when Jessica breaks it off between them, he doesn’t put up a fight. It’s better to let go and prevent more pain than to face the reality of the emotions.

The second scene is the actual moment where Jessica kills Rachel, Luke’s wife. The emotion of that scene is complex. She’s ordered by Kilgrave to do something that she would never do. She is told to end a life for nothing more than Kilgrave’s vicious need. She does, and immediately a part of the old her sparks to life. She moves without a command; she hears without obeying. It is the first time in months that she’s been free of the voice in her head that belongs to her tormentor. There is a buzz, a whine, as her focus remains fixed on the woman whose life she just ended instead of the man trying to call her attention back to him. For that moment she is free –– burdened, distraught, and shocked beyond belief, but free.

Then, her freedom is extended as a bus hits Kilgrave and his hold on her finally releases. His voice flutters away and the trauma and the pain hits her. She is free. She is a swirling mixture of anger, sorrow, guilt, and hope, and it is a turning point that carries the series forward and reveals the gritty, hardened person that is the new Jessica. It was played and shot excellently and with tribute to Jessica’s ongoing PTSD, her guilt, and the literal blood on her hands.

In contrast to Jessica’s determination to avoid the target on her back, via testifying in court about Kilgrave to help Hope and to fly under the radar as she tries to secure the drug she needs to knock him out, Trish actively seeks out the target. She is determined not to rely on Jessica, or anyone, ever again. She wants to master her own body and protect herself. “No one touches me anymore unless I want them to,” is her mantra. A hint of a backstory with an abusive mother is briefly played, but Trish brushes past it and shows Jessica with a well-executed throw that she is not the victim any longer. It is a moment of both confidence and arrogance. Her training makes her bold without her considering the consequences in a way that Jessica has to after what she’s experienced. She has skill but she does not have experience. She is innocent and the arrogance sees Trish calling out Kilgrave before she is truly ready to face him. The result is an attack in her home, in the place she feels most secure. She nearly dies in the fight, her new skills not enough to save her from a man emboldened by a sociopath’s command to kill.

The only reason she doesn’t is because of Jessica’s exceptionally good timing.

This attack, done by a cop you knew was evil when he threatened Trish’s reputation, leads Jessica to a seriously gorgeous apartment and to Kilgrave, after a bit of quick thinking and coldness on Jessica’s part. (She puts Trish to sleep and allows the cop to believe she’s dead, then plants a phone on him.) And there Kilgrave is –– watching sports as he calmly tells the cop to kill himself.

The following is a scene straight from directorial and writer heaven. Jessica rescues the cop by hitting him in the head –– a lot. Then, she chases after Kilgrave, only to encounter the family he was using try to kill her. This shot through the apartment and down the stairs is gorgeous. The entire sequence is unexpected, the angles and cuts of the scene set up the suspense and carry with it the space and the sense that there could be someone out to kill her around every corner, and the music that slowly builds increases the dread. The fact that normal people are attacking her is also something you see very rarely in superhero shows. It’s always men in dark clothes. These people are real, and feral, and it adds to the horror of a man who can control anyone at any time.

The fight ends with Jessica finding Kilgrave’s serial killer wall. Instead of the people he’s killed, though, there is only one face –– hers. He’s been tracking her for a while. His focus has been singular. He wants her the way most people want a work of art or a car.

And now she understands that she has not been without that target after all. It has been there on her back all along.

Stray Thoughts

• Jessica has no time for shirts. Why have super strength if you can’t rip off a shirt in one go? Meanwhile, the creepy neighbor with a creepy crush on Jessica sees her and Luke boning. I want to punch him. 
• Jessica not coming clean about Kilgrave and Luke’s wife will not end well. I’m sure of it. 
• “Good and bad –– most people have both, just depends on what wins that day.” I love this quote. 
• Alcoholism is consistent and not just a plot point for the pilot that never gets seen again. Yay for consistency. 
• The search for Sufentinal is underway. Jessica is ruthless when it comes to getting that magic anesthesia. She contemplates knocking out a pregnant woman, uses Hogarth’s wife’s impending divorce against her, and, finally, uses poor drugged up Malcolm as a distraction. It shows how much Kilgrave is under her skin. 
• FYI, Sufentinal is hard to type. 
• Hogarth and Jessica exchanging jabs reveals their contempt but necessity in each other’s lives. Hogarth’s using of Trish to get the mind control theory out there is so mean and terribly awesome. Dragon lady lawyer strikes again. 
• “Graduated from alcoholism?” –– Trish to Jessica. Best friends don’t mince words. 
• “Can you back off? You’re scaring me a little.” “I’ll make sandwiches.” This was the best moment. 
• The doors in the hospital opened without her pushing the button. She officially has super powers. 
• Pilates. 
• I love how the show allows Jessica to sleep like a real person –– messy and hair in the face. 
• Hope describing the control of Kilgrave is played beautifully by Krysten Ritter. Her reactions as she listened to her experience through the lens of another is perfection. 
• Trish’s blue shoes are amazing. 
• Jessica strangles a ginger. 
• I would hate to have to wash all that glass in that apartment. 
• Are those kids from the previous episode still in the closet? What’s going on there? I have so many questions. 

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