Penny Dreadful 3x04 Review: “A Blade of Grass” (The White Room) [Contributor: Rae Nudson]

“A Blade of Grass”

Original Airdate: May 22, 2016

Penny Dreadful’s biggest asset has always been Eva Green, and this episode shows why. In a flashback that focuses entirely on Vanessa’s inner life, Green shows off her skills and carries the episode on her performance. In Dr. Seward’s office, Vanessa undergoes hypnosis to learn the first time she met Dracula. Vanessa becomes trapped in her own mind, and the viewer is trapped with her. It’s claustrophobic and terrifying in the white room that has no day or night, and the only salvation comes from a familiar orderly.

STUCK IN THE PAST

Vanessa is remembering her time in an insane asylum after she betrayed Mina and became possessed. Season one had an episode that focused on Vanessa’s memory of this time, which seems to be where all of her trouble with the underworld began: from the loss of her innocence when she slept with Mina’s fiancé and lost her best friend.

She is depressed and feels unworthy of life because she has been touched by evil, and no treatment from the hospital will help. It won’t help, of course, because it’s torture disguised as science in an age that treated anyone outside the boundaries of normal just as they would treat a rat in a lab. Vanessa is held in solitary confinement in a room with no windows. She is fed by a man who isn’t supposed to speak to her. She has no blankets or pillows, and she has no way to change her situation. The same doctors that put her in there are the ones in charge of allowing her out, and they won’t deem her healthy until she becomes a meek, compliant woman who fits into her role in society.

But Vanessa will never fit in — even if she tries, even if she pretends to do as they ask.

Her only contact with the outside world comes when the orderly enters her room and gives her a meal. In a brilliant bit of storytelling, the orderly is John Clare, from when he was alive, before Frankenstein turned him into what he is today.

John Clare has always had a sensitive heart, and he has always had a strong connection with Vanessa. Now we see it’s because their relationship began long before they met under the streets of Victorian London. Over his time feeding Vanessa, he begins to see her for the person she is. This is Vanessa’s story, but John Clare’s journey is important as well. Through Vanessa, he comes to realize that the hospital isn’t treating her with science, it’s using barbaric methods to torture a person deserving of love and respect.

In touching scenes, he sits with her. He gives her the honor of conversation. He feeds her with a spoon he brought from home. He brushes her hair and reminds her of what it feels like to be cared for and to be respected. Vanessa and John Clare find themselves in each other, and their friendship changes both of them for the better. In each other, they find grace.

John Clare’s backstory was a delight to finally learn, and it makes all his previous actions have more impact. He told Vanessa how he explained to his son about explorers in the Arctic, which puts his journey at the beginning of the season in a new heartbreaking light. He also tells Vanessa that his son is sick, and he fed him with a spoon. (I’m guessing that the people he was watching last week were his wife and son, since the woman fed a sick child with a spoon.) To learn what John Clare had in life makes his afterlife mean more.

John Clare was also the conduit for both the devil and Dracula. Lucifer makes frequent visits to Vanessa in the hospital by speaking through her only friend. It’s cruel that the one person that gives her hope is also the person that brings her greatest fear. But the devil is pretty effective like that.

As he visits Vanessa, he makes it clear why he is so interested in her: he loves her. The devil himself has chosen Vanessa as his beloved and wants her to give her soul to him. This is made all the more complicated when the devil’s brother, Dracula, decides he wants Vanessa as well. (A bit of sibling rivalry, I expect.) Dracula says he doesn’t need her soul, just her body. But Vanessa says her body and soul are promised already to God.

In telling Lucifer and Dracula no, Vanessa takes control of her power and begins speaking the language of the witches. She forces the evil brothers to leave, and God’s power is working through her — God has not abandoned her.

Vanessa’s faith has always been a large part of her life, and this season she is coming to terms with her loss of faith in God. Under her hypnosis, she goes back to a point in her life where she felt distant from God and then reaffirmed her commitment to him. I don’t know if her hypnosis will make her feel closer to God in the present time, but remembering a difficult time she overcame seems to wake her up with more faith in herself.

POWERFUL PERFORMANCES

There were only three actors in this episode, and all of them were just amazing. Eva Green is chilling, powerful, and heartbreaking. She communicates so much with her movement and with her eyes, and she portrays emotion even when her arms are in a straightjacket and her mouth in a gag. She is amazing to watch.

Rory Kinnear as John Clare also got to stretch himself, and it was wonderful to see him not just as Frankenstein’s monster, but also as a wonderful (alive) human and two evil brothers playing off each other.

Patti LuPone as Dr. Seward was Vanessa’s only friend in the present. Their connection has grown stronger, and Dr. Seward draws on Vanessa’s relationship with the cut wife in the past to be a good friend to her now. When Dr. Seward realizes she can’t wake Vanessa up from the hypnosis, she says she won’t leave her for anything in this world.

Two of the biggest players in the underworld want Vanessa, and Vanessa will fight them with everything she has. But she can’t do it alone. Vanessa needs her friends, and her friends need her. Now that Vanessa knows what she’s fighting, hopefully she gathers her loved ones once again to do battle.

Post Script:

• I want Eva Green to be in everything. 
• Traditionally bottle episodes, where the episode is in one place with one or few actors, were created to save money on sets and keep from paying extra cast members. But this episode used an entirely new set, and a gorgeously creepy one at that. (I don’t expect this episode was a money-saving tactic, but rather a way to explore Vanessa’s mind.)
• Vanessa scratching her legs in the hospital the way she is scratching her hands now was a great touch.
• I cannot tell you how relieved I was that when Vanessa kissed John Clare, he stopped her.
• We also learn more of Vanessa’s love for Joan of Arc.

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Game of Thrones 6x05 Recap: “The Door” (Hold the Door and Break Some Hearts) [Contributor: Melanie]

“The Door”

Original Airdate: May 22, 2016

Season six of Game of Thrones just continues to up the ante episode after episode. I’d argue that we’re in for the best season of the show since the first, and at this halfway point, I think I’d have a pretty strong case. Though it hasn’t broken any new viewership records for HBO, the last two episodes have each earned a 100% from Rotten Tomatoes, with the first three earning well into the low and mid-90%s. Plus there’s the general wham factor of watching live as characters get killed off week-to-week and things get revealed.

My theories that this would be the week we learn about Lyanna Stark were dashed and easily set back many more episodes as Bran is now on his own learning how to navigate his warging into the past without the help of the Three-Eyed Raven. That is possibly my one criticism so far, that Max von Sydow’s Three-Eyed Raven ended up being a fairly pointless character for all the build-up, unless he’s brought back sometime in the future. Meanwhile this episode overall felt like a set up into our next arc of the season with people generally talking strategy and moving out rather than facing action (though the final scenes were nothing but consequences realized).

RECAP 

The episode opens with Sansa confronting Littlefinger, with Brienne as back up, after he sends her a letter from Mole’s Town. He informs her the Knights of the Vale are waiting to come to her aid and her uncle Bryndyn has retaken Riverrun and garrisoned forces there which she could also use. She refuses direct help from Littlefinger and interrogates him about his foreknowledge of Ramsay’s cruelty before ordering him to return to the Vale. Jon and Sansa weigh their odds and what houses remain possible allies to them. They identify House Manderly and House Mormont as their best options when combined with the Tully forces. As they depart the castle, Sansa sends Brienne to Riverrun to recruit her uncle, not trusting a raven to get past Ramsay.

In Braavos, Arya is given a second chance at an assignment: the assassination of a local actress named Lady Crane, whom Arya suspects has been marked for death by another actress in their troupe who is jealous of her status. Jaqen informs her it is not her place to question the who or why of assignments. She is also disturbed to find the play in question is a comedic retelling of the events of the first few seasons of the show, which casts her father as a power hungry and unintelligent man. In Vaes Dothrak, Dany consolidates the khalasars and Jorah reveals his greyscale to her. Tearfully, she orders him to find a cure so he can be at her side when she conquers Westeros. In Meereen, a Red Priestess named Kinvara meets with Tyrion and Varys to pledge her support of Daenerys. She explains Dany is the Lord of Light’s chosen one that they have been seeking but Tyrion and Varys are skeptical. She unsettles them, however, by revealing intimate knowledge of their past and claims that while humans (Melisandre) can be wrong, it was fate that Varys and Tyrion underwent so much duress to end up in Dany’s service.

In the Iron Islands the kingsmoot is held and it initially seems like Yara will be proclaimed queen with Theon’s support. But their uncle Euron appears and wins over the undecided men of the island who are wary about being led by a woman. He then proclaims his plan to offer his fleet to Daenerys and her dragons in exchange for marriage and the conquest of Westeros. Theon and Yara take the Iron Fleet and flee while Euron is ordained and he vows to build another one to track them down.

Up beyond the Wall, Bran continues his training with the Raven and learns the White Walkers were the creation of the Children of the Forest, who turned the First Men into soldiers to help fight back the invasions in Westeros. Later, Bran enters a vision without the Raven’s guidance and finds himself surrounded by wights and the four horsemen, one of which is the Night’s King (revealed to be the first White Walker). The King touches Bran who awakens screaming, now bearing an icy handprint on his arm. They’re forced to flee as the King’s mark means he can enter the cave. Before leaving, Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven enter a vision of young Ned heading off to the Vale to transfer knowledge so Bran can become the Three-Eyed Raven himself, but the army of the dead appears outside before they can finish. Several Children of the Forest, Bran’s direwolf Summer, and the Raven are killed to buy Meera time to get Bran, who wargs into Hodor to help escape. As they escape out the back and try to bar the door, Bran, still in his vision, wargs into the young Hodor who suffers a seizure and hears the echoes of Meera’s command to “hold the door.” Bran watches as he slurs a repetition of these words while convulsing on the ground until all he can say is “hodor.”

SECONDARY MATERIAL 

So, as it turns out, Hodor’s backstory is one of the very specific things Martin informed showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss about. Which is crazy. However much else of this came from directly from the future book remains to be seen (chances are it’s a lot more than what HBO and Martin want to admit is the case). To be fair, the show is its own entity in a lot of ways at this point, but something as gutwrenching as Hodor’s backstory has now been revealed via the show and rather than the books. And you can take that how you will.

Euron’s story was basically the last one left behind in the minor Dance With Dragons catch up and is now essentially to where it is — ish — in the books. So from this point on things are pretty much completely blind after Euron winning the kingsmoot. Some characters could still pop up to fill in missing roles but for the most part we seem to be charging ahead, well into Winds of Winter territory. The character of Kinvara may be taking the place of Quaithe, another Red Priestess from the books (seen for a hot second in season two) who offers Dany support (or tries to). Or maybe she’s a new character entirely, as she does seem to have a malicious and/or eerie feel to her that Quaithe lacked.

THEORIES 

So, no idea where Bran is going or what he’s going to be doing. Without the Raven and with only Meera as an ally I’m not sure he can delve too deeply into visions of the past on his own and may be unwilling to after the incident with the Night’s King. It may be possible he’s still on the run from this guy for quite some time. And this is a good time to talk about something the show hasn’t mentioned yet: the Great Other. This guy (or gal, or whatever, it’s basically just a force for evil) is the antithesis to our Lord of Light, R’hllor. His true name is never spoken (Voldemort style), but it is the god of darkness who seeks to drag the world into eternal night. Considering “night” is a synonym for winter in this world, it’s seems our NIGHT’S King is a likely candidate for this. Further, in the book Melisandre has a vision of Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven together and believes them to be “champions” of this Great Other.

If that’s true it would have to be unwillingly so, considering Bran’s efforts to put a stop to the White Walkers. But with the King’s mark on Bran’s arm, it’s possible he may find himself an unwilling ally to him and his army.

As for Theon and Yara, it’s possible they’ll sail their fleet up North to Sansa and deliver what aid they can there. They may make good on Euron’s plan and try to get to Dany first (as in the book Victarion Greyjoy sailed with the Iron Fleet to Meereen to find her). In the North I’m not sure rallying troops will be so easy but the Battle of the Bastards is imminent and hopefully so is Ramsay’s slow and painful death. One interesting thing I’m wondering is what retaking Winterfell will gain Jon and Sansa in the long run? They’ll have their home back and regroup their forces but it is doubtful the Lannisters at court will allow them to simply retake their ancestral titles back. It also offers little help in forming a defense against the White Walkers. But home is certainly a start for them.

Check back every week for more recaps!

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The 100 3x16 Recap: “Perverse Instantiation-Part Two” (One Last Chance) [Contributor: Laura Schinner]

“Perverse Instantiation-Part Two”

Original Airdate: May 19, 2016

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s read my reviews that this season has been a disappointment to me as a fan of The 100. Among my biggest complaints were the character assassination of Bellamy during the middle of the season and of course, the removal of agency for so many of the main characters as they were taken in by the City of Light. But it wasn’t all bad and the season finale was actually quite exciting to watch, as the group of delinquents finally managed to succeed after episodes of failing to take down ALIE. While it took a long time to get here, the way the season ended was promising and proved that the writers still do know how to write this show in an engaging and captivating way, something they’ll hopefully manage to do more of next season.

Having spent the last three episodes implementing plan after plan only to be foiled at the last minute, the group had one last chance to stop ALIE in the season finale before all hope was lost. Naturally, it was our beloved leader Clarke who came up with the newest idea, as she decided to once again put herself at risk to save everyone. Her idea was to transfuse Ontari’s nightblood into herself and then take the AI, giving her the opportunity to stop ALIE. After having accepted the A.I., Clarke quickly realized that she too would need to enter the City of Light to actually find the kill switch and end ALIE — a sacrifice she was willing to make. With Abby’s help, who they had managed to extract the chip from, and Bellamy’s faith in her, Clarke took this big step, making her their last hope.

Problems arose once in the City of Light however, as Ontari’s body in real life began to fail and the protection that the A.I. gave Clarke also began failing because she wasn’t getting enough nightblood. Losing her invisibility to those in the City of the Light and losing steam herself because her normal blood was rejecting the A.I., it wasn’t looking good for Clarke. This was the perfect opportunity for the show to give closure to a fan favorite character by bringing back Lexa, who was connected to Clarke through the A.I., and have her fight off everyone in the City of Light until everyone in real life could figure out how to get Clarke going again. Seeing these two connect once again and allowing them to have a real goodbye was much needed for the show and it was fantastic to see Lexa have one last shining moment.

While all of this was happening, Raven and Monty were back still trying to figure out how to help from afar while also having to deal with Jasper. They managed to trap him, Monty going so far as to shoot Jasper in the leg in order to stop him from hurting Harper. With Jasper neutralized, they were able to focus on helping Clarke, and Raven played a big part in aiding our heroine once she realized that she was in the City of Light. It was Raven who gave Clarke the tool she needed to enter the room where the kill switch was located, proving herself once again to be one of the strongest characters on the show.

Once in the kill switch room, though, Clarke had a major choice to make. ALIE found her there and informed her that within six months, the Earth would no longer be inhabitable and the only hope for humanity's survival was to stay in the City of Light. Destroying her would destroy the human race eventually. ALIE’s creator was also in the room with them and explained to Clarke that ALIE has only simply been following her one core command — to make the human race happy. She truly believes that the City of Light is the only way to do this and would not ever give free will, the pain, and the memories back to the people there because she believes this is what’s best for them. For Clarke, it came down to deciding whether all that pain living in fear for their own lives would be worth it. Of course, she decided it was, having tried to run away from the pain in the past and not finding happiness by doing that. She finally succeeded in killing ALIE, releasing everyone from the City of Light, and putting an end to the frustrating storyline once and for all.

Where does this leave us going into next season? Many of the characters are going to have to deal with the horrible things they did while under ALIE’s influence — things that they will have trouble forgiving themselves for. This very well could bring Kane and Abby closer as they find forgiveness in each other. For Jasper, this is already starting to seem like a good thing, as it forced him to take a step back and realize that he’s been a jerk all season. We finally got a heartfelt and real apology from him to Monty, setting their important friendship back on track.

And as the season ended, one more surprise was in store for us, as Octavia — who had been working with Pike to save everyone — could not let go of the revenge she needed for Lincoln’s death and ended Pike’s life. She’ll have to struggle with this decision and more as we pick up again next season. Finally, everyone will need to come to terms with the fact that their lives are still in danger, once Clarke informs them that the Earth will be uninhabitable in just six months. With everyone in their right minds again and some of the nice character development in this last episode, I’m optimistic about where the show is going next season. Hopefully the writers will be able to return to the show we all fell in love with.

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Series: This Week's TV MVPs - Week 39

Welcome back to the second-to-last TV MVP Series installment for this television season! We've been graced with some amazing performers over the last few months, and as our favorite shows are winding down, we're still celebrating the best of the best. This week, it was all about emotional female performers and their dramatic moments.

Joining me this week are the following writers:

• Julia
• Lizzie
• Jon

Let's get started!

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Grimm 5x21 Review: “Beginning of the End, Parts 1 and 2” (A Battle for the World) [Contributor: Alisa Williams]

“Beginning of the End, Parts 1 and 2”

Original Airdate: May 20, 2016

“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”

The finale is here! After a season full to the brim with meandering subplots that included werewolves, Elder Wands, babies, ex flames, kidnappings, overseas excursions, and name changes (to name a few), let’s see where the Grimm writers have brought us — and where they’ll leave us hanging until season six.

HATCHING A PLAN

We pick up right where the penultimate episode left us: Nick is hanging out at the Hadrian’s Wall compound with Hank, Eve, Trubel, and Meisner. They discuss what Black Claw is planning — Renard is only the first step. Positioning him as mayor of Portland will allow them to infiltrate other areas of power, slowly moving up the ranks until they’re controlling everything. Meisner tells Nick this isn’t a fight he can win alone, but that friends make him vulnerable. Super helpful, buddy. Thanks.

Eve has just finished interrogating Zuri, who gave up her handler’s name — Conrad Bonaparte. Not only has Meisner already heard of this guy, but he informs the team that Bonaparte is one of the founding members of Black Claw, so if he’s here, he’s running the operation.

STIRRING UP TROUBLE

Meanwhile, Rosalee and Monroe are watching Renard’s mayoral victory speech at home on television, furious that Adalind is standing at his side (not realizing she had no choice in the matter). Monroe gets fired up about the whole thing and looks out his window, only to find that Black Claw still has some henchmen watching their house. This infuriates him more and, despite Rosalee’s protesting, he heads out there to confront them. The Black Claw members take off in their truck when Monroe starts shouting at them, and after they’ve gone Rosalee starts shouting at Monroe. In what may be their first fight ever, she loudly reminds him that antagonizing Black Claw and getting himself killed are not exactly a solution to this situation.

Once they get back inside, Rosalee starts feeling unwell. She has to sit down and says it’s just from the stress, but Monroe is worried. He feels her forehead, and declares it’s warm, but she brushes this concern aside stating that her head is warm because she’s angry. Fair enough. While Monroe was busy shouting at the shadowy men in the truck, Rosalee managed to get their license plate number, which she gives to Monroe. Chagrined, he admits he was being stupid yelling at them and is glad one of them was thinking straight. Monroe calls Hadrian’s Wall with the info and they immediately track down the address attached to the license plate.

ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY

Renard and Adalind return home after his victory speech. Adalind heads upstairs to put baby Kelly to bed. She calls for Diana to head up, too. Before joining her mom, Diana catches Renard and Rachel Wood sharing a romantic look in the foyer, and gives them a deadly look of her own. Seriously, Rachel, you might want to give up on the whole idea of a relationship with Renard now that his Hexenbiest daughter is in the picture, because something tells me she has no qualms with killing you slowly and painfully. The girl wants her parents back together and you are getting in the way of that.

After Adalind puts Diana in bed, she goes to have a conversation with Renard. Unbeknownst to them, however, Diana is working her creepy purple-eyed powers on two doll replicas of Adalind and Renard. She forced them to hold hands in the last episode, but now she’s taking it up a notch. As Diana has her dolls kiss, Renard and Adalind start making out. Unfortunately for Diana, Adalind is a Hexenbiest too and realizes what Diana’s doing. She wrenches herself away from Renard, who’s confused and disappointed. He really thought Adalind was just finally coming around to making their fake relationship real. Adalind has to remind him again that that is never going to happen, and any romantic signs on her part are solely the work of their conniving and powerful daughter.

After Renard storms off, Adalind goes to have a talk with her daughter, who she finds wide awake, sitting up in bed. Adalind finds the dolls and explains to Diana that she can’t force mommy and daddy to be together. Diana admits that she doesn’t like Rachel Wood because “she likes daddy.” Adalind tells Diana she doesn’t need to worry about Rachel. Something tells me Diana remains unconvinced.

Meanwhile, Renard has gone over to Rachel’s house to uh... satisfy his needs. After they’ve finished, Rachel tells him they won’t be able to see each other anymore. Renard protests, saying they can still have their relationship, even if in public he has to pretend to be one big, happy family with Adalind. But Rachel says no — Black Claw believes in real family values and wants Adalind and him to be a real family, and she knows she’s getting in the way of that. When Renard tries to protest again, Rachel tells him to get out. Poor Renard. His fake wife doesn’t want him and now his mistress has broken up with him. What’s a guy to do?

The next morning, Bonaparte has a pointed conversation with Adalind. He tells her she needs to try harder to be happy with Renard. She says she is trying, but he tells her she better try harder or things will get painful for both her and her children. To prove his point, he grabs her hands, woges into one extremely creepy skeletal looking wesen, and turns her to stone. While she’s in her stone-like state, he explains that he means business and she needs to fall in line. Once he’s turned her back to normal, he produces a gigantic wedding ring which he slides onto her hand. He explains that if she removes the ring, it will be extremely painful for her children. Adalind says she understands.

HANK’S HOUSE AND A WESEN PRECINCT

Dispatch calls Hank about a crime scene at a local residence — his residence, to be precise. He and Nick leave the rest of the team at Hadrian’s Wall and head over to find two dead bodies at Hank’s house that were definitely not there when he left. Turns out these are the two Black Claw members that were following Nick the other night, and that Nick killed. Hank’s clearly being set up but the detectives running the case aren’t buying his innocence. These two detectives are from the “north precinct” and claim they got a 911 call from Hank’s long-time neighbor, the elderly Mrs. Miller, who heard gunshots and positively identified Hank fleeing the scene hours before. Nick tells them this isn’t possible; Hank was with him all evening, but they don’t listen, and immediately take Hank’s gun and badge and put him in the backseat of their car. They head off, presumably back to their precinct to question Hank, leaving Nick there to figure out what just happened.

Personally, if I were Nick, I would have been asking a whole lot more questions about two detectives we’ve never seen before from a neighboring precinct we’ve never heard of. While Nick heads to his precinct to find out more information, the two mysterious “detectives” drive Hank to an abandoned part of the woods and threaten him. They are, of course, Black Claw agents. Hank puts up a valiant fight but they’re Wesen and he really doesn’t stand a chance. They knock him out and take him to a house, where they discuss among themselves how they won’t need him alive for much longer.

Nick and Wu pay a visit to Mrs. Miller’s house to find out why she called 911 and ID’d Hank when he was nowhere near the crime scene. Unfortunately, Mrs. Miller isn’t there, but there are signs of a struggle. Next, Nick heads over to the north precinct to find his partner and talk to these two detectives. What he finds instead is a precinct full of Wesen police officers who have absolutely no interest in helping him.

Nick gets back to his precinct, where Wu informs him that he’s been through all the 911 calls from the night before, and Mrs. Miller never made one. Furthermore, the detectives never filed a report about the crime or booked Hank, so whatever they’re doing is completely off the books. Nick is still holding Rosalee’s creepy ex-boyfriend, Tony, in custody and at this point he’s their only hope for finding out where Black Claw might be holding Hank.

Nick hatches a plan — Rosalee will come in and identify Tony as the guy who attacked her and tried to extort money from her a couple months ago, and then Monroe will come in and threaten to kill Tony for hurting his wife. Not the best plan Nick has ever come up with, but it will have to do. Fortunately for them, it works. They get an address out of Tony, which just happens to be the same address Hadrian’s Wall got from the license plate Monroe called in.

HADRIAN’S WALL FALLS

Nick gets permission from Meisner to take Trubel and Eve with him to check out the address. Eve decides to rock a platinum blonde wig for the occasion and it practically glows in the dark. Why, we can only speculate. They easily take down the two Wesen detectives guarding Hank. It all seems a little too easy and that’s when they realize they’ve been set up. Hank’s kidnapping was just a diversion to lure them all away from Hadrian’s Wall, which is currently under siege. Black Claw makes quick work of destroying Hadrian’s Wall, and only Meisner is left standing.

Renard walks in and tries to recruit Meisner, who reminds him that Black Claw only takes Wesen and he’s human – not that he would ever accept the offer anyway. Renard says they would make an exception for him, but just then Bonaparte arrives, too, and says there are no exceptions. Bonaparte begins killing Mesiner in a slow and excruciating way. Renard tells Bonaparte that’s enough and yells at him to stop but he won’t. Finally, Renard shoots Meisner so he won’t have to suffer any longer. Bonaparte tells Renard his compassion is weakness and walks out. As much as Renard may long for power, he and Meisner were once friends, and seeing his new boss murder his old friend is not sitting well with him.

Nick, Hank, Eve and Trubel arrive back at Hadrian’s Wall too late. They realize that Black Claw must have found them through Zuri. Black Claw must have been watching when they brought Zuri there and were just biding their time until they could lure Eve away from the compound and attack. While the team mourns Meisner’s death and the fall of Hadrian’s Wall, they realize that they are all that’s left to go after Portland’s Black Claw syndicate.

LOOSE ENDS AND TEMPER TANTRUMS

Back at the mansion, Bonaparte has a conversation with Rachel. He encourages her to spend more time with Diana and befriend her. Unfortunately for Rachel, this little heart-to-heart is too little, too late. Diana is listening in from the staircase, and the last thing she wants is to be friends with her father’s mistress. When Rachel heads to bed that night, Diana does her little teleporting trick and suffocates Rachel in her own bedsheets. She then proudly tells Adalind what she’s done, exclaiming that now Rachel can’t take daddy away.

Meanwhile, back at the precinct, Renard is strutting around like a peacock, talking to reporters and getting standing ovations from his employees. Nick arrives back after finding Meisner’s body, and completely loses it. He attacks Renard in his office and they have it out. I guess this gives Renard a good excuse to charge the city for any office redecorating he was already planning on. Nick loses the fight when Renard throws him through a window and demands his arrest. Hank and Wu have to stand by and do nothing or risk being thrown in a cell with him. When Nick gets to the cell, he discovers that Black Claw’s mark has already been left on the wall for him. He tells Hank and Wu to gather the whole team at his house and move forward without him.

Back at Monroe’s, Rosalee has some exciting news to share: she’s pregnant. That’s why she’s been feeling sick lately. But before she can tell Monroe, he sees that the Black Claw agents are back to staking out their house. He flips out and is about to go attack them when they hear someone breaking in through the back door. Fortunately, it’s just Trubel, who has come to tell them about Nick’s plan and Meisner’s death. While they chat, Eve takes care of the Black Claw agents by burning them from the inside out and making them explode. Gruesome, but effective. There’s no time for Rosalee to share the news now – they have an evil organization to take down.

They all convene at Nick’s loft to discuss next steps. Eve, Hank, and Trubel will try to break Nick out while Monroe and Rosalee head back to the spice shop to try and hide all the Grimm books and weapons, including the Grimm genealogy book that lists all of the Grimms who have ever lived and their family lines. Meanwhile, the precinct is being slammed with 911 calls that have completely cleared the precinct of all officers except Wu and a couple desk cops. Wu calls Hank to give him an update on the situation. Clearly Black Claw is trying to clear out the place so they can swoop in and grab Nick.

Just as Wu is about to lock down the precinct, he sees that Adalind is calling Nick’s cell phone, which is still sitting on his desk. Wu picks it up and Adalind asks Wu to get a message to Nick – that she loves him and that Kelly is doing fine. But just as Adalind is about to say more, Renard walks into her bedroom and she quickly ends the call.

Renard has just come from Rachel’s house, where he discovered her suffocated to death. At first he suspected Adalind, but Bonaparte tells him Adalind doesn’t care enough about him to kill his mistress, and that the most likely culprit is Diana. Renard tells Adalind that they need to have a conversation with their daughter about not killing people. 

RESCUING NICK

The Wesen officers from the north precinct arrive to take Nick. From the looks of it, they sent the whole squad down to transport him. Nick cooperates, but Wu isn’t about to let them leave without a fight. He tells them to let Nick go and when the wesen cops woge, so does Wu, who makes quick work of killing two of them before Hank arrives. Hank is able to calm Wu down and get him to un-woge. The rest of the Wesen cops escaped with Nick, who is now in the north precinct surrounded by evil Wesen and face-to-face with Bonaparte.

Bonaparte tells Nick he wants the Grimm genealogy book. They’ve tracked it from Prague to Portland and he knows it’s in Nick’s possession. After playing some serious mind games with Nick, making him hallucinate about Adalind and Kelly, Bonaparte tells Nick that if he ever wants to see Kelly again he will tell him where the book is. Before Nick can answer, Eve, Trubel, and Hank arrive to save the day. Bonaparte takes off but Eve follows him and they have the epic showdown we all knew was coming. Unfortunately, Eve loses her first battle ever when he causes a huge shard of glass to imbed itself in her stomach. Bonaparte flees as Nick and Trubel rush to Eve’s aid. She confirms that Bonaparte is a Zauberbiest, which is probably the only wesen in the world who could have taken her down.

Back at the mansion, Adalind wakes up in pain. Her psychic link to Eve is telling her that Eve is dying. Just then, Bonaparte arrives back at the mansion and tortures Adalind until she finally gives up Nick’s address, which is something she’d been successfully resisting giving him for several episodes now. “They all die tonight,” Bonaparte tells Renard and Adalind as he walks back out.

SAVING EVE

Back at the spice shop, Rosalee and Monroe have just finished hiding all the books and weapons, including the genealogy book Bonaparte is so desperate to have, in the old sewer line in the shop basement. Hiding everything was their only choice — trying to get the books out with Black Claw always watching would have been more of a risk. Now their only hope is that Black Claw won’t think to look in a musty sewer line for 800-year-old books.

Trubel arrives to get Monroe and Rosalee to safety and they all head back to Nick’s loft, where Nick and Hank are trying to save Eve. Nick heads down into the cave beneath his loft to get the Elder Wand, knowing it’s probably Eve’s only shot at survival. He lays the wand on her stomach where the puncture wound is. It does the trick and heals her, but then she woges, has a seizure, un-woges, and passes out. They’re not sure what happened but she’s definitely down for the count.

Just then, Adalind manages to get a message to Nick and the team through Diana. Using her teleportation powers, Diana tells the team that Bonaparte knows where they are and is coming for them. The 15 seconds or so head’s up this gives them is just enough to lock themselves in the loft. Black Claw has already surrounded the building.

Nick tells the team to get down in the cave tunnels. Just as he’s putting Eve down the tunnel, she comes to. Only she’s not Eve anymore. She’s Juliette. It seems the Elder Wand did more than just heal her fatal wound. It “cured” her of her Hexenbiest-ness, too. But there’s no time to dwell on that now, because Black Claw is breaking in. So, Nick locks the team down in the tunnels and faces off with Black Claw alone. Always trying to be a hero.

NICK VS. BLACK CLAW

Nick takes on a dozen or so Black Claw agents, taking them all down until one of the north precinct Wesen cops shoots him in the back. Nick goes down, but manages to throw a knife straight through the Wesen’s eye socket as he does. The gunshot to the back doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much, because he takes down another couple Wesen before one of the other cops shoots him several times in the chest. But even that isn’t keeping him down. The Wesen cop has just enough time to call Bonaparte to tell him it’s finished before Nick is back on his feet and kills him. I guess it’s a good thing Nick stuck the Elder Wand in his jacket pocket after healing Eve.

Meanwhile, down in the tunnels, the team splits up to search for an exit. Rosalee and Monroe take off but only find a dead end. Rosalee finally has her opportunity to tell Monroe about her pregnancy, which he is thrilled about. Did we ever think he’d have any other reaction?

Back upstairs, Nick looks at the massacre around him. He pulls the Elder Wand out to examine it. It still just looks like an ancient stick, but clearly it saved his life multiple times tonight. Just then, Bonaparte and Renard arrive. Nick quickly hides the Elder Wand. Bonaparte gets to work choking Nick to death, but before he can finish the job, Renard stabs Bonaparte with a sword. Or, to be more accurate, Diana causes Renard to stab Bonaparte with a sword. She wasn’t happy with Bonaparte for his earlier torture of Adalind. As Bonaparte falls, Renard and Nick are left face-to-face, Renard holding a giant sword and looking very confused about what just happened. Nick is a little confused too, as he’s completely in the dark about the extent of Diana’s powers. And that’s where the Grimm writers leave us – a confused Renard holding a sword and a confused Nick with a pocketed Elder Wand. The end.

The two-hour finale was certainly entertaining, but I feel like we were just left with more questions than answers after all of that. With Bonaparte out of the way, what happens now? I think Renard technically just became the leader of Black Claw. He and Nick are still standing in Nick’s apartment, Renard holding that giant sword and Diana possibly still controlling him. And we know Diana wants more than anything for her parents to be together, and Nick is a complication to that. Will Diana use Renard to try and kill Nick, too? Will Hank, Wu, Rosalee, Monroe, Eve/Juliette, and Trubel ever find a way out of the tunnels or do they just need to give up and start a new life down there as cave people? Is Eve truly back to being Juliette now, and does that mean she’s also back to being useless and kind of whiny? And will anyone ever find a cure for Wu’s werewolf virus? So many questions. But it looks like we’re going to have to wait until the season six premiere to get any answers.

Bonus Musings:

• “I’ve gotten as much out of her as I could.” “Is she...?” “She’s not dead.” “Good. I think.” 
• “So, Mr. Mayor, how does it feel?” “Sudden. But somehow well-deserved.” “Nothing like standing on a dead guy’s shoulders to get there.” 
• “I want him to know this is personal.” “Oh, it’s personal.” 
• “How’d you hurt your hand, Tony?” “Tripped.” “Over a Hexenbiest?”
• “You okay?” “No. I’m pissed!” “Good. Let’s go.”

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The Destruction of Bellamy Blake [Guest Poster: Ilene Friedman]

The CW’s mid-season sleeper hit The 100 has just wrapped up its junior season and what a roller-coaster it has been. As Emma Caulfield so artfully put it, “The 100 was a smart, original, and created a world that artfully side-stepped any attempt to limit its intentionally broad scope.” So, what happened? Starting with minor pacing issues to fans boycotting the show because of the overuse of the dead lesbian trope, The 100 writers and producers have not had an easy year in the fandom.

This is not to say they do not deserve the obvious fan backlash. And, in fact, I am going to add to it throughout this piece. One of the biggest transgressions the show committed is the absolute obliteration of its male lead — Bellamy Blake — and his characterization. There are currently hundreds of articles out there addressing the disastrous handling of Clarke/Lexa and their relationship (including Lexa’s death), but I don’t believe enough attention has been brought to Clarke’s co-leader.

Inspired by Caulfield’s EW article in which she summarized the issue with season three as: “BELLAMY, Mr. American Apparel villain, turned hero, turned awesome, turned possible quagmire. The mess of him has been so pervasive, he can be described as both an adjective and a verb,” I have decided to write my own little addition to the backlash.

WHAT MOTIVATES BELLAMY BLAKE?

We are taught in school that good storytelling absorbs us into the world and takes us away from reality. Well, every decision Bellamy Blake made this season threw me back into reality and then slammed my brain against a wall repeatedly. At some pints, I didn’t even know what show I was watching anymore. Maybe I was spoiled in seasons one and two. The characters were three-dimensional, the plot had barely any holes, every act and reaction in the world made sense — so maybe my expectations for season three were too high going into it. But to spend more than half of this season asking: “Bellamy, what are you doing?” is a problem. I should know why a character as well developed as Bellamy Blake (and as pivotal to the story) is doing what he is doing. He’s not just some good-looking side piece, after all. The only way the fanbase was even able to justify this breakneck reversion in character was to see him as a completely new character: Borus Blake.

Let’s begin with what we know about Bellamy’s core motivation: Octavia. Season one Bellamy Blake was a douchebag. We were not meant to like him right off the bat, but we did understand him. Everything he ever did or has done has been for the safety of his sister. That is who Bellamy is, as Clarke pointed out. Season two Bellamy had become a co-leader of the 100, and at the very end of the season he repeats his mantra, “my sister, my responsibility” before decimating an entire population. In two seasons, we have now established that Bellamy Blake will do anything and everything to protect his sister.

That is, until season three. Pike — oh, how I loathe him — threatens to “deal” with Octavia multiple times. Remember, Octavia is Bellamy’s core, the thing that we have learned makes him who he is. And how does Bellamy react to those threats against his sister’s life? CRICKETS!

How did we go from Bellamy Blake shooting the chancellor and boarding a potentially toxic drop ship to Earth and killing over 600 people at this point to make sure his sister was safe, to barely batting an eyelash when Pike threatens her life? I get that Bellamy endured tragedy. The girlfriend that we hardly knew died. Lexa left them all for dead, and Clarke just left. But one of his friends was Lincoln, a Grounder, and he knew and cared about Indra. Where is the connection between Bellamy’s motivation to murder Grounders, and his central motivator (Octavia)? Have I misunderstood who Bellamy is this entire time? Did I get rose-colored glasses implanted on my face? Bellamy isn’t perfect, but his motive has ALWAYS been the safety of his sister first. So what happened?

THE DISCONNECT

Now that everything we know about what motivates Bellamy Blake has been set on fire by angry elves, let’s get down to the trainwreck that was his alleged characterization for season three. In order to do that, let’s first briefly talk about his character in season one. In season one, Bellamy was a jerk (as stated above), but he was a jerk with a heart — a really big heart. Exhbit A: “Day Trip” where Bellamy almost gives up living because the guilt of shooting the chancellor. The guilt of what he’s done almost destroys him. He basically collapses in on himself as he confides in Clarke that he is a monster. This was a huge turning point for the character. Look at that growth. Wasn’t it beautiful? This concession lead to a wonderful field of character development where Bellamy slowly became a hero of sorts. Now we meander onto season two, where Bellamy is starting to develop hero-like qualities by volunteering to go into Mount Weather and sacrificing himself for the good of his people (and Echo! Remember that? His willingness to be tortured instead of her?). Then a storm approaches: season three.

Bellamy suddenly gets trigger-happy once again. It’s as if he didn’t learn from the culling. We knew that he feels things deeply. No one hates themselves as much as Bellamy Blake hates himself. But somehow this is all overlooked. He is now fine will killing an entire innocent Grounder coalition meant to protect the Arkers. But, wait, didn’t Bellamy save the Grounders in Mount Weather? Now he wants them all dead? Isn’t his sister pretty much a Grounder? Bellamy Blake is a lot of things, but to be an equal to Clarke, he can’t be stupid. He has been portrayed as hot-headed, but also tactful. And yet, all of this was all erased. Sure, in some world Bellamy Blake siding with Pike might make sense. But thanks to lazy writing and lack of apparent understanding in the writers’ room of how Bellamy Blake can go from hero and protector to trigger-happy child, the show effectively glazed over and justified his regression. This story made zero sense.

ATTEMPTED REDEMPTION: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

The last five episodes of the season attempted to redeem his character — to bring him back the tortured and morally conflicted leader we know and loved, rather than a directionless and heartless, genocide-committing character. But these episodes were just damage control. As a fan, they were proof that the writers actually did understand Bellamy Blake, and were capable of writing him well. These episodes proved what I suspected all along — the writers created conflict this year with his character just for the sake of it, and not to move the story or develop his character deeper. The writers were just being plain sloppy. They didn’t want to show us Bellamy’s regression or why he would do these terribly out of character things; they just wanted us, as viewers, to blindly accept it. And that is not fair to Bellamy or to us. It is almost if the writers intentionally wanted the viewers to hate him because he had become so popular. Maybe it’s because something within his core character resonated with us and they felt Bellamy had become too predictable. Maybe the world will never know why they chose to write him that way this season.

These final episodes had Bellamy “redeeming” himself, something he already had to experience in seasons one and two. But this time, the fans couldn’t keep up. Instead of following the journey of Bellamy Blake, we were forced to break our necks trying to keep up with his erratic characterization from one scene to the next.

I love Bellamy Blake. I love The 100. I, of course, am going to continue watching the show until the day it dies. But speaking as a fan, for a moment? Please writers, don’t betray us like that again. I mean, you can’t have a character homicide on such a grand scale and not expect a ripple effect throughout the rest of the season. Bellamy Blake is the main male lead. He is connected to every single character on the show, which means his actions will impact every character on the show — for better or worse. And this ripple effect almost killed the entire season. Because of course Bellamy’s storyline is going to color every plot point and character. He’s Clarke’s co-leader, after all. The heart to her head; the yin and yang.

So let’s bring back some balance to season four, and maybe learn from the mistakes of three. And fans? Let’s cross our fingers that Borus never returns again!

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Outlander 2x07 Review: “Faith” (Tragedy) [Contributor: Rae Nudson]

“Faith” 

Original Airdate: May 21, 2016

In an affecting episode, Jamie and Claire endure more tragedy and come out the other side broken, but surviving.

This, along with the episode last season where Black Jack Randall tortured Jamie, was one of the toughest episodes of Outlander to watch. The episode was stunning – visually, emotionally, and even in the way it used sound. It was the culmination of Jamie and Claire’s time in Paris and, like them, I am ready to go home to Scotland by the end of it.

Humanity’s capacity for suffering – both inflicting it and enduring it – is astounding. And this episode contained so much suffering. It opened with Claire in the hospital, where her baby was stillborn. She woke screaming for her child, and Mother Hildegarde had to give her the terrible news. With Jamie in jail for dueling, she had to go through this tragedy all alone.

After some complications with the birth, Claire came down with a deadly infection. With Bouton the dog by her side, she sunk in and out of a fevered sleep. And deep in the night, she got a visit from her friend Master Raymond, who was able to use his magical abilities to heal her.

I’m gonna be straight with you all: I personally do not like when TV shows include storylines of losing babies. I find it almost unbearably sad. Having said that, I embrace the telling of women’s stories, and unfortunately, losing a child is a story in real women’s lives far too often. I think a lot of time there is not enough talk about what it is like to go through this experience – so real, live women are often left alone with stigma and shame. Likely you know many women who have experienced the death of a child, and you may not even know it because they haven’t talked about it. To those women, I love you, I see you, and I see your pain.

Now, this television season – on Outlander and on other shows – women’s suffering has been featured heavily. Women are raped, women mourn deaths of their loved ones, and women have been killed off so often it’s hard not to think that the writers and networks see them as expendable. In a real world that often doesn’t take women’s pain seriously, their suffering is frequently used as narrative fodder. I believe this episode focused on Claire’s pain in a beautiful and tragic way. It didn’t minimize her pain, and it allowed Claire complicated, human emotions, and she is a fully formed, complex character.

But how much capacity you have to watch women suffer is deeply personal. I wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to see one more woman raped, to not want to see one more woman killed, to not want to see one more woman go through one more tragedy on their television screens. I get that sentiment completely and would not judge you for it. Women’s pain should be taken seriously, but it is not the only thing women have to contribute to a narrative. Even though Outlander handled Claire’s tragedy with respect – and I believe it did – it’s impossible to completely divorce Outlander from the rest of television and the rest of our culture. I don’t have any answers here, and I don’t think it’s black and white. But in general, I believe the more that women are involved in making stories, the more varied, complex, and respectful their stories will be. (It's worth noting, perhaps, this episode was written by a woman: Toni Graphia.)

Caitriona Balfe did have a wonderful performance, and you could see so much anger, heartbreak, and despair in her eyes and the way she held herself. You could see her body change when she was filled with rage at Jamie and soften after she talked with Fergus.

After Claire returns home, Fergus finally tells her what actually happened in the brothel and what led up to Jamie’s duel. After Fergus went into an open room in the brothel to try to steal perfume, he was trapped and raped by Black Jack Randall. Unfortunately, this story seemed glossed over on the way to get to the rest of the episode. Also unfortunately, it seemed like it was inserted as a convenient plot device: BJR had to do something bad enough to get Jamie to break his promise and bad enough that Claire would understand his betrayal. After Fergus tells his story to Claire, he is not seen again. I wonder if Jamie and Claire will take him with them when they leave Paris.

Another thing that Fergus’ story does is give Claire focus again (possibly making it more about Claire than Fergus). She was living in a deep depression after the death of her baby, but Fergus’ story woke her back up and allowed her to understand Jamie’s point of view, even though she was still mad at him for going to the duel. Her first point of action became to get Jamie out of jail.

To do this, she makes a private appointment with the king. Mother Hildegarde warns her that the king will likely expect to bed Claire if she asks for any favors. Turns out he does expect that, but first he enlists her to help with a trial.

The trial takes place in rather impressive chambers off the king’s bedroom. Claire enters, unsure of what she is supposed to do, and sees the king’s executioner at the ready. He is on hand because the king is trying two people for doing dark magic: the Comte St. Germain and Master Raymond. (Hm, Claire’s biggest enemy and best friend, how perfect.)

The trial was impressive to watch, but more impressive was Claire acting the part of La Dame Blanche. The king asked for her help because he heard the rumors of Claire’s abilities and thought she would be able to spot any dark magic inside the men. If she did, the king was going to execute him. Claire immediately assumed the persona of La Dame Blanche and expertly manipulated the situation. She came up with a plan to try to spare both men’s lives by giving them a poison – really a non-deadly concoction she could whip up – and saying that if the men survived, they weren’t evil. She gave it to Master Raymond first, who then put something in the mixture that turned it deadly. The Comte’s turn to drink was next, and he was dead after one sip.

After the trial, the king said he still needed payment from Claire for freeing Jamie. When the king asks you to do something, there isn’t real choice. If everyone is living at the pleasure of the king, that means your death could be the pleasure of the king as well. And a choice of having sex with a king to save your own life and the life of your husband is not a choice at all. The king had power over Claire, and when he raped her as payment for getting Jamie out of jail, it was rape, not a voluntary, consensual transaction.

The king was good to his word, and Jamie was let free. After visiting their daughter’s grave, Claire and Jamie head home to Scotland, carrying the weight of their tragedies together.

Un Petit Mot:

• This entire episode reminded me of a Game of Thrones episode (throw the Comte through the Moon Door!), and BJR is reaching Ramsay levels of sadistic evildoing. 
• “If it comes to sacrificing my virtue, Mother, I’ll add it to the things I have already lost in Paris.”
• The way this episode used sound was wonderful. The sounds of the city were completely silent, muffling the life of the city just as Claire felt her life was muffled.
• The set and costume department should get a raise. Both were beautiful, especially the room where the trial took place and Claire’s dress and veil when she visited Faith’s grave. Just stunning. I also love that Claire wore a Scotland-inspired gown when Jamie came home.
• Oh yeah, the episode checked in with the future for a second, showing Claire with her daughter in the Boston in 1954. I wish there was more time spent in the future, but it was good to see the show hasn’t completely forgotten about Claire in America.

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