5 Reasons You Should Binge-Watch Sweet/Vicious ASAP [Contributor: Jenn]

I trust recommendations from friends when it comes to television shows I should binge-watch. It was Anne who told me to give Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend a chance. It was Jaime who pressed me to start watching Community and Sherlock. And my Twitter timeline got me into Arrow. So when some of our writers attended the Sweet/Vicious panel at Comic-Con this year and talked, in the months that followed, non-stop about the show, I grew curious. Admittedly, I didn't know much about the show — it aired on MTV, had two female lead characters, and dealt with them becoming vigilantes. Not much to go on, really. It's a testament to their influence that I started watching (I generally don't watch anything on MTV... at all), but it's a testament to the incredible writing and acting of the show that I stuck around.

When I was home sick last week, I finished my binge-watch of Sweet/Vicious' first season. And man, it was an incredible ride from start to finish. At only 10 episodes, the series is a quick watch and will have you begging for more. (As of right now, the show has not been renewed for a second season.) It is witty, dark, the epitome of #LadiesSupportingLadies, and such an important piece of art that illuminates the current state of campus assault.

In case you're curious about the show and why you should watch it, here are five reasons to do just that!

Note: minor spoilers included throughout.

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The Bachelor 21x05 Roundtable: Love is Kinda Crazy with a Spooky Little Girl Like You [Contributors: Patti Murin, Chelsea, Rebecca, Alisa, Rae]

This week on The Bachelor, the producers do some real mental gymnastics to host a date at a plantation house without ever mentioning its sordid history, Corinne and Taylor finally face off, and Rachel outshines everyone. See what Patti, Chelsea, Rebecca, Alisa, and Rae have to say about this week’s haunted dates.

Who would you have sent home: Taylor or Corinne?

Patti: Uh, both. I respect Taylor’s career path of being a mental  health counselor, but that doesn’t mean she has to be a smug bitch about it when dealing with the other women. Studying in school does not diminish the fact that she is 23 YEARS OLD, and has much less actual life experience than, say, Rachel. Also, she was having this argument with a 24-year old. I mean, Corinne’s still a moron, but, man, is she a smart moron. Does that make sense? Anyway, Taylor is boring and Corinne is not, so I think he (see: the producers) made the correct decision.

Oooh, one more thought. I think Corinne is a good one to keep around, as a sort of test for the other women left. Like, who is going to fall prey to her crazy next? Because that girl probably shouldn’t be who Nick picks in the end. Know what I mean?

Chelsea: I agree. Honestly, I’m super annoyed by Corinne and she is manipulative... but Taylor is 23-years old and must have just gotten her Master’s degree. You’re no better for engaging the toddler and starting drama. You could have been more straight with Nick about how Corinne is, and try to rise above it. Corinne is good to keep around because she’s good television, and I’ve only seen Taylor talk like twice this season. Corinne hasn’t had an actual meaningful conversation with Nick, so you know the producers are keeping her around so we can see that nanny. I don’t think she’ll be going home next week. Nick has done this a hundred times, and he isn’t stupid about what’s going on with the girls and the character Corinne is playing.

Real talk though: the most important things to happen this week were Corinne’s room service order — because that was just goals — and her asking how to make a voodoo doll. Girl got her cheesy noodles, hot wings, a steak, dessert. Gotta give her props for that and knowing how to play the game on this show.

Rebecca: I would have sent them both home, too! They’re both annoying and immature. I loved the conversation they tried to have at the beginning of the episode — I literally could not follow a word they said. They try to act so mature and wise, and they’re FAR from either of those things. I definitely loved the drama, but man, I won’t miss Taylor a bit and I won’t miss Corinne when her time is finally up.

Alisa: Both, definitely. Corinne is super annoying and Taylor is super irritating and neither are “here for the right reasons,” whatever that even means. I have to agree with Chelsea on the room service order. Corinne is clearly learning how to navigate the world without her nanny because all that food was really everything I’ve ever wanted in life but didn’t want to pay for myself. Corinne is the girl on every season that the audience loves to hate because she’s great to watch but you’d never want to spend five minutes with her in real life. She can stay on my TV as long as she wants to. As for Taylor, bye girl.

Rae: Definitely, both. They are both too immature for this. Taylor may be a better person than Corinne, but she was so focused on talking about emotional intelligence, she forgot to have any fun. Nick wasn’t into it, and neither am I.

Was the haunted house super lame or super cool?

Patti: This was the worst date I’ve ever been on, and that’s saying a lot. Like, you’re in New Orleans — one of the most unique and exciting cities in the U.S. — and you go to a tourist plantation that doesn’t even advertise on their website that it’s haunted? Dude, they have weddings there. It was kind of hilarious to see how drunk the girls got though. But seriously, go eat a Po’ Boy or cram into Preservation Hall to see some jazz. Take the trolley through the Garden District! Go shopping on Magazine Street! Can you tell I love NOLA?

Chelsea: It was a terrible place for a date, but it was super fun to watch. I don’t necessarily believe in ghosts or haunted houses, but I wouldn’t want to test anything. YOU NEVER KNOW. But it was a lot of fun seeing the girls get super drunk and wander around, and this show really needed some fun. It was nice seeing Nurse Danielle, Raven, and Vanessa just embrace the area.

Rebecca: I didn’t mind it. It was definitely weird, but I didn’t think it was as bad as some of the other dates this season. Jasmine totally was bumming me out, but Raven and Alexis were so fun to watch. They got really into it, and I always like when the contestants (pretend to) have fun on the group dates. The haunted house is definitely something I’d be down to try, but a bit weird for this situation.

Alisa: Well, first I have to agree with Patti that NOLA is amazing and has such a rich and interesting history and I would’ve been bummed if I was there and all I got to see was some lousy “haunted” house. At the same time, my boyfriend and I kinda have this running feud about ghosts. I don’t believe in them at all, not one bit, and he does. He watches all those paranormal, ghost-hunter type shows. But I’m the one who gets easily scared and freaked out by literally everything, and he’s super chill in scary situations. So, I feel like a haunted house date would actually be pretty awesome for us. But as a group date on The Bachelor? Meh, maybe not so much. I definitely preferred the zombie shooting on Ben’s season to this date. And also, how did all these girls not realize that clearly the caretaker stole the creepy doll while they were all downstairs and had that chandelier on a pulley system to drop it at just the right moment? These girls need to get out more.

Rae: Leave it to The Bachelor to have an entire date on a plantation, say it’s haunted, and not once mention slavery. Like, “hmm, who may have died here who would have a reason to be angry? Whatever! Bring on the mimosas.” I can’t. It’s so representative of the shiny image the Bachelor franchise paints without ever delving into historical context and problems that made it possible.

For the record, if we're voting, I do believe in ghosts.

Do you think Rachel can win this thing?

Patti: Nope! But I hope she doesn’t, because I WANT HER FOR THE NEXT BACHELORETTE!

Chelsea: No, but she’s gonna be the next Bachelorette and I CANNOT WAIT. She is way too good for Nick and I can see her being so much fun this summer.

Rebecca: I hope not because she’s too good for Nick! I also want her to be the next Bachelorette.

Alisa: Can she win it? Yes. Will she? No, because Nick is a moron. But as the other girls said, I’m all about her not winning because she is the Bachelorette this show needs but doesn’t deserve. Can we get #RachelForBachelorette trending? Please and thank you.

Rae: Okay, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say... maybe? I have her in my final four but not getting the final rose, but Nick does seem super into her so maybe I am wrong! But, like everyone else, I’m already dreaming of Rachel as Bachelorette.

And as we do every week, here are the current Bachelor Fantasy League standings:

1. Chelsea (420 points)
2. Patti (360 points)
3. Rae (280 points)
4. Alisa (280 points)
5. Rebecca (250 points)

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Supergirl 2x10 Review: "We Can Be Heroes" (Just for One Day) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

"We Can Be Heroes"

Original Airdate: January 30, 2017

Even though this week’s episode features more Mon-El than my patience can generally handle, I found it a lot more enjoyable than last week’s episode. Maybe it was the straightforward plot, or maybe it was the really fantastic J’onn J’onzz stuff, or maybe it’s because the title borrows from one of my favorite David Bowie songs and I sway easily with my pro-Bowie bias. No matter what, though, “We Can Be Heroes” was a fun bit of superhero TV, and I hope more of this sort is in store for the rest of Supergirl’s second season.

WE CAN BEAT THEM, FOREVER AND EVER

First up on the list of people who think they can be heroes: Mon-El, who has been training with Kara since the last episode, I guess. I’m sure Kara is pleased, since she was excited about having a superpowered buddy back when Mon-El was more obviously selfish, rather than stealthy-selfish (we’ll talk more on that later). Things seem to be going well, too, since Mon-El graduates from training and gets the all-clear from Kara to costume up and get to savin’ people.

Of course, then news that Livewire — the electric-powered villain and Supergirl-hater who definitely does not want to be a hero — has escaped her prison cell reaches Kara and they have to deal with that. When Livewire attacks some NCPD officers, Mon-El proves that he’s not ready to fight by Kara’s side when he ignore Kara’s order to protect the normal people (who were trained police, granted, but still significantly more killable than either Kara or Mon-El) at all costs. Also, Mon-El’s costume is a complete disaster. How can Kara team up with someone who decides a hero costume is a black coat and ugly, yellow-tinted sunglasses? Disgraceful.

And here’s another wannabe-hero of the episode: James, whose identity as Guardian is revealed during the Livewire/NCPD kerfuffle. Kara is, of course, angry that James kept his superhero alter-ego a secret from her. She’s doubly angry when she learns that Winn and Alex both knew about his hero hobby, and that Winn even helped James regularly and made his suit.

The team learns through security footage that Livewire hadn’t escaped prison — she’d been kidnapped out of it, to be used as an energy source for some mad scientist dude’s evil schemes. Winn keeps yet another secret (such a good idea, Winn! Totally not making things worse!) about being able to track the villain down so that he and James can go alone, in order to prove that Guardian can be a useful ally. Mon-El tags along and, because they’re idiots, all of them get captured by Mad Scientist and have to be rescued by Kara. Of course. Kara needs smarter friends.

The big finale has Kara imploring Livewire not to kill Mad Scientist despite all the evil things he did, and then letting Livewire go when she doesn’t choose to murder. I... guess that’s cool? It’s very obvious that Livewire isn’t going to turn to the side of good, but Kara’s an optimist to the core, so I guess she still has hope. Good for her.

And the last could-be hero of the hour (yes, there’s three!) is my favorite and the highlight of the episode, in my opinion: J’onn J’onzz. M'gann M'orzz, the imprisoned White Martian, starts the episode by shouting things about blood and death and “beautiful war,” then falls into a coma that seems to be slowly killing her. There’s a chance that J’onn could save her with a Martian Mind Meld (you know, like a Vulcan one, but with less Spock) but he has to put aside his deep-seated hatred of White Martians first. He has to accept the idea that melding with her means sharing his memories of his family with someone he can’t help but see as an enemy.

In this situation, J’onn is a reluctant hero — but he is (more than the others of the episode, perhaps) most certainly a hero. He saves M’gann’s life with the meld, going into her mind and seeing one of her last memories of their home planet. She confesses to him that she killed the other White Martian guards after they ordered her to kill a Green Martian child, and that she was certain she’d never make it out alive. J’onn tells her that she makes it out, that she gets to Earth, and that the two of them can work on being friends.

Then she tells him that her whole scream-induced coma deal was because the White Martians had found her and are on their way to Earth, so that puts a bit of a damper on things. Whatever, it was still a wonderful plot and I want a significant increase of J’onn J’onzz on this show, pronto.

MAYBE WE’RE LYING, THEN YOU BETTER NOT STAY

Bring on the lies and deception! What’s a superhero show without some lies and deception, right? (Answer: a better superhero show, but let’s just sigh and get on with it.) This week, it’s James and — to a lesser extent — Mon-El who are caught up in some tangled webs.

James, as we all know, has been keeping his role as Guardian a secret from Kara since the beginning. We learn that it’s been months since James got found out by Alex and he hasn’t made any effort to confess to Kara outside of his faltered attempts during Thanksgiving dinner. He makes a halfhearted effort in this episode, but gets all mopey when Kara starts going on about Mon-El’s hero training. Look, show: is Kara/James still going to be a thing? Credit to you for giving James a little jealousy, here, since the abrupt end to their romance and zero hints at lingering feelings has made no sense, but... I just don’t know.

So anyway, James never tells Kara the truth and when she does find out, it’s an accident — he gets unmasked during a fight. That’s a point against James. Personally speaking, I think James makes up for it (just a tiny bit, mind you, since I am endlessly frustrated with people lying to each other on these kinds of shows) when he tells Kara why he wants to be Guardian: James doesn’t want to be a hero for glory, or for feeling powerful, or to even out the moral playing field between himself and his superhero BFFs. He wants to be a hero to help people, period. He knows that he’ll be putting himself on the line, but he wants to do it anyway because he feels like he should do his part to keep people safe and help where he can.

It’s the purest hero-motivation a character could possibly have, but Kara doesn’t accept it. No powers, no training, no Supergirl ally. She doesn’t want to stand by and watch someone she cares about get hurt, and the fact that he’d kept it from her is a pretty strong indication that he knew what she would say about it. Now, I’m not sure how differently things might have played out if James had been honest with Kara about what he was doing, but I suspect the truth would have softened her at least a little.

And finally, Mon-El. Hey, you know who doesn’t have pure motivations for being a hero? Mon-El. His incentives are a stark contrast to James’s, as it finally becomes clear to Kara that her new superhero buddy is a lot more interested in spending time with the pretty Kryptonian than he is in actually keeping people safe.

I kind of like the contrasts of James and Mon-El in this episode, actually: Mon-El’s lie about not remembering kissing Kara, about having feelings for her, is a pretty innocent one, while James’s lie is a lot bigger but a lot more sympathetic. Mon-El’s motivations are selfish, while James is propelled by a selfless desire to do good. Kara supports the selfish Mon-El’s heroism because he has powers, while she denounces the more pure intentions of James because he doesn’t have powers.

In the end, though, Kara seems pretty fed up with the both of them. And they have a White Martian invasion to worry about now, so...

Other Things:

• Nervous Kara was a lot nerdier in her mannerisms than Regular Kara, which I enjoyed a lot.
• "What is that, a toy?" "No, it's expensive." The simple delivery of that very simple line was absolutely hilarious. It doesn’t even really sound like a punchline, but it was so good.
• James Olsen: Professionally Handsome Desk Person.
• Oh, yeah, and Kara/Mon-El stuff happened. But Kara seemed unhappy with it, so I thought it was safe to ignore.
• I miss Lena Luthor.

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Grimm 6x04 Review: “El Cuegle” (All the Better to See You With) [Contributor: Alisa Williams]

“El Cuegle”

Original Airdate: January 27, 2017

“Foretold our fate, by the gods’ decree, all heard and none believed the prophecy.”

I don’t know about you, but I sure am loving that Grimm is back for another season. Er, half a season. Uh, well, let’s just not talk about how this is the last season, okay? We’re on episode four, which means we’re about a third of the way through their 13-episode final season and as such, the Grimm writers have been packing each episode with so much crazy, twisty drama you’d think Shonda Rhimes was writing it now. But I guess they do have a lot of subplots meandering all the way back through season one to wrap up, don’t they?

The latest episode picks up in Renard’s mansion, where he’s just come home after an unsuccessful fistfight with Nick. Meisner is there waiting for him, but is it Meisner? After all, Renard killed Meisner — shot him in the head — and you don’t really come back from that. But here he is, looking pretty solid and un-ghostlike and lecturing Renard about choosing the wrong side.

Before Renard can do much more than argue with Meisner, he has to field an angry phone call from a Black Claw member and try to explain how Nick was able to shapeshift into a Renard lookalike and wreak havoc in the span of 30 minutes or so. When Renard gets off the phone, Meisner has disappeared again. So, still looking like Meisner is just a hallucination Renard’s mind has thought up to torment him. As long as it gets us more Meisner screentime, I’m okay with this.

Back at the spice shop, Diana is demanding a few answers about why Nick showed up looking like her daddy. The team’s answers aren’t really cutting it with her, nor is the explanation that she, baby Kelly, and Adalind are all going to go live with Nick now. But before a huge blow-up can occur, Diana gets distracted by Rosalee. She can tell Rosalee has a baby inside her, but she has a bombshell for the group: Rosalee is pregnant with more than one baby. This is news to everyone and when Monroe questions just how many constitutes "more," Diana says she’s not sure. This could get interesting.

Meanwhile, a new desperate-looking Wesen has arrived in Portland and is busy googling “Portland babies,” which leads him to a website with a bunch of newborns and their parents’ addresses, because that seems like a real thing one could stumble upon? He pays a visit to one of the houses and successfully kidnaps the child. When the mother tries to interrupt the kidnapping, he woges, sprouts a third arm out of his back (his original two were busy holding the baby, naturally), shoves the mom out of the way and runs for it. The husband comes in too late and all he sees is his wife on the floor, mumbling something about someone taking their child.

Back at Nick’s loft, Diana is having a hard time settling into the new home. Who can blame her when she’s just gotten used to living in a mayoral mansion? Plus, she can tell that “lots of people died here,” and not just because of the blood stain on the floor. After she falls asleep, Nick and Adalind discuss her future and we see that Eve/Juliette is still hanging out in the tunnels and can hear every word. She’s more than a little uncomfortable overhearing them and just as she turns to go deeper into the tunnels, she spies the place where Nick hid the Elder Wand. This doesn’t seem good.

The next morning, Nick, Hank, and Wu are all back at work. Nick is greeted with a round of applause, which is nice considering it was only a few hours before that he was at the center of a massive manhunt and had a shoot-to-kill order on his head. Renard calls them all into his office to lecture them about not getting in his way and then dismisses them. After they leave the office, Meisner suddenly appears, lounging in one of Renard’s chairs. Renard starts shouting at him. This does not go unnoticed by Hank, Wu, and Nick, who are still standing just outside the door. From their perspective, Renard is talking to himself, ranting and raving at air.

Nick and team don’t have much time to speculate because they have a kidnapping case to look into. They deduce the kidnapping is Wesen-related due to the hysterical mother who claims to have seen a three-armed, three-eyed monster take her baby. The husband thinks his wife has gone crazy, but Nick, Hank, and Wu believe her. They’ve seen stranger things.

The monster seems pretty harmless so far, though. At his hideout, he’s taking good care of the baby. So, at least he’s not the type to eat babies. Or is he?

Back at the precinct, Wu has discovered a pattern of missing children from all over North America – all from social media-addicted parents who post way too much info online. They head out to gather more info, but as Nick stands up he gets lightheaded. Turns out, Eve/Juliette is down in the tunnels right now, where she’s nabbed the Elder Wand from its hiding spot. It doesn’t like being held by her, however, and does its quavering thing before knocking her backward and leaving her with a red welt on her hand. A red welt that soon turns into a symbol she’s seen before: on the dead guy who tried to drag her down to hell with him.

At the spice shop, the team is pouring through books looking for a three-armed, three-eyed monster, when Hank stumbles across the drawing and description of El Cuegle. According to the book, El Cuegle stalks mothers and steals their newborn babies then, well, eats them during the "hours of dread." This riles the team up — especially Monroe, who gets very upset whenever kids are in danger. Of course, this gruesome description of El Cuegle doesn’t really jive with what we’ve seen of this dude so far. Especially because he’s currently at a pharmacy purchasing cold medicine for the baby, who has a slight fever. Unfortunately, his simple shopping trip goes awry when he suffers what looks like a terrible headache, uncontrollably woges, and terrifies the shop clerk. Then he bolts from the store with his cold medicine and not long after, Nick, Hank, and Wu are called to the scene.

They’re able to track El Cuegle’s car from the pharmacy to an apartment building, where they bust in and find him with the baby. Fighting a dude with three arms is as tough as it sounds and it takes all three of them to take him down. El Cuegle’s panicked when they take the baby, but they just chalk this up to him being upset about missing out on his midnight meal of newborn baby.

Over at the mayoral mansion, Adalind has dropped Diana off so she can spend some quality time with her daddy. While Renard and Diana make dinner, he questions her about how Bonaparte died. She cheerfully tells him that he killed Bonaparte because Bonaparte hurt her mommy. She doesn’t admit that she was the one who forced Renard to kill Bonaparte but it’s probably as close to a confession as Renard is going to get from a child. Renard then subtly encourages her to hurt Nick if he ever does anything to hurt Adalind. Diana says that if Nick ever hurt her mommy, he’d be very sorry. This pleases Renard, who is clearly hatching some sort of plan in that evil head of his.

Back at the precinct, El Cuegle is schooling Nick on why he does what he does. He says his three eyes see the past, present, and future, and he is compelled to take babies based on the visions his future eye shows him. He claims the children he takes are all destined for evil. And he has proof — one of the babies he took years ago, he returned unharmed. And then the baby grew up and murdered 10 innocent people as an adult.

As they’re verifying his story, El Cuegle has another vision — of the baby grown up and murdering his parents. In the vision, the teenager has wrapped a gun in his old baby blanket to silence it and shoots both his parents.

The vision causes El Cuegle to start seizing and foaming at the mouth. He then woges, knocks out a guard, and escapes the precinct. He makes his way to the baby’s house. Nick and Hank aren’t far behind though. El Cuegle breaks into the house and knocks the father out, who again doesn’t see him in his woged form. The mother manages to run into another room with the baby and lock the door. Nick and Hank arrive just in time and scuffle with El Cuegle, who’s thrown down the stairs and dies. As he’s dying, he mumbles something about “the bears.”

Nick and Hank can’t figure out what he means until a little while later. The parents are arguing again: the husband still doesn’t believe that his wife saw a monster. He thinks she’s crazy. Nick tries to assure him that she’s not, but he just sneers in disbelief and storms up the stairs to continue yelling at her. That’s when Hank spies the baby blanket on the table. The same blanket that was wrapped around the barrel of the gun in El Cuegle’s vision. The blanket is embroidered with teddy bears. I guess they should have believed him after all.

As much as I love Grimm getting back to doing what it does best — which is the serial format of introducing a new Wesen mystery to solve each week — trying to do that AND wrap up the ridiculous number of unresolved subplots is a bit too much. The episode felt jarring, cycling between its procedural roots while still trying desperately to wrap up subplots involving Elder Wands, Diana the demon child, the Adalind-Eve/Juliette-Nick love triangle, and more. I wish they could just go back to a weekly procedural with interesting new Wesen each week, but they’ve gone too far down the rabbit hole of meandering subplots to do so effectively. The writers need to focus their attention on wrapping up all the loose ends that have been collecting over six seasons and give us a solid conclusion by season’s end. I just hope they can pull it off.

Bonus Musings:

• “Look, if this is some kind of revenge haunting, don’t forget I shot you to put you out of your misery!” “Yeah. Thank you for that. Really. But, don’t forget you betrayed us all. That’s the real reason I’m dead.” 
• “How many babies can one guy eat?” “Is that a real question or a riddle?” 
• “I’ve got three arms and two cuffs!”
• “Anything you say or eat will be used against you in the court of law!”

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The Man in the High Castle 2x07 Recap: "Land O’ Smiles" (Family Men) [Guest Poster: Stephanie Coats]

"Land O’ Smiles"

Original Airdate: December 16, 2016

Most everything on The Man in the High Castle comes back to family. Bad men kill to protect their families. Good men kill to avenge their families.

Frank falls into the latter category. Having gone from an artistic factory worker to a member of the Resistance in a matter of weeks, it’s sometimes easy to forget his motivation. A startling dream reminds him and us. He sits with his sister and her children around a dinner table. As gas starts to pour in from above, Frank tries to block it and screams to his family, “Don’t breathe! Don’t breathe!” Having your family killed like that is enough to motivate almost anyone to do almost anything.

BOMBS AWAY

The Resistance wants to use their new bomb to take out high-ranking Japanese. Doing recon to figure out where to place the bomb, Frank and Sara argue over whether being Japanese or Jewish is a worse sin in the eyes of others. “It makes no difference to me who you are,” Sara says. “But you can’t say the same about me?” He can’t. But she still saves him when he’s nearly shot scoping out a warehouse that Frank realizes is where the Japanese are building an atomic bomb.

Now, the Resistance is in a bind. If the Nazis discover the bomb, they’ll destroy it and everyone else. So where then should the Resistance plant their own bomb while also preventing the Japanese from continuing their work? Frank has an idea.

ED IS THE BETTER MAN

At Childan’s shop, Ed helps sell two counterfeit cufflinks by weaving a darn good story about them to the potential buyer. Once they have the money in hand, Ed offers to make the drop to the Yakuza himself but Childan decides to accompany him. He wonders when Ed will decide to be his own person rather than continue on as just Frank’s friend, essentially. He also tells Ed than he and Frank are “uneven,” and though he means it as a jab at Ed, it really ought to be the other way around. Frank’s entire character turned on a dime whereas Ed has remained steadfast and loyal.

While making the drop to the Yakuza, Ed and Childan are forced to hide when the Kempetai show up. Kido knows the Yakuza were at the barn where the films were burned and sees this as proof they are working with the Nazis. He shoots Okamura and the rest of the Yakuza present. When his Sergeant finds Ed and Childan, they are allowed to leave before Kido sees them. They’re pretty excited to be a) alive and b) free from the Yakuza, but Frank, too busy brooding, does not join in their celebrations. He and Ed are “uneven,” for sure, but one thing they do share: a love for Juliana. Ed hints at his feelings when he tells Childan about a girl who was “special” but “had to go away.”

A GOOD NAZI

One of the most awkward parts of killing a family friend is attending, and being asked to speak at, the funeral. That’s exactly the position in which Smith finds himself. He gives a stirring speech about why the doctor was such a good Nazi, perhaps even hinting to those who know the truth (just Helen and the viewers) that the dead man was a better Nazi than him. When Smith speaks about the doctor’s devotion to his family, it’s clear he’s really talking about himself and his willingness to do anything for his own family.

Juliana is at the funeral as well. She had helped the other ladies arrange the flowers into a nice swastika. She witnesses Thomas having an “absence” seizure, but Helen quickly ushers her son away. Later, the two women have a loaded conversation about the incident wherein Helen urges Juliana not to jump to conclusions because of the “consequences” such conclusions could carry. Juliana swears all she saw was Thomas getting emotional, nothing more.

Every time the Smiths sigh in relief that their secret is safe, something else happens. In addition to Thomas’ seizure, the doctor’s wife is asking questions. She wants an autopsy for her husband because she thinks he was murdered. That evening, Smith asks Helen if anyone else saw Thomas’ episode and she says no. Before he can even question her answer, a call comes from Himmler. Hitler has collapsed.

Final Thoughts:

• A church funeral for a Nazi seems hugely contradictory 
• Lucy tells Juliana she’s on a litany of medications, including cocaine. For her sinuses, of course. 
• Watching John Smith get ready (for the day or for bed, I’m not picky) is reason enough to watch this show. The most problematic fave there ever was. 
• Childan: “The devotion you and Mr. Frink have to each other would be touching if you hadn’t so thoroughly ruined my life.”
• Inspector Kido continues to be very layered. On the phone with his wife, who is in Japan with their children, he tells them the Pacific States are no place for them. He clearly misses them and cares about them. Even though it put under scrutiny, he placed his family in protective custody before taking on the Yakuza. 

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Arrow 5x10 Review: "Who Are You?" (I Really Wanna Know) [Contributor: Jenn]

"Who Are You?"

Original Airdate: January 25, 2017

Our identities are often wrapped up in what we do. So when people ask you about yourself, your first response, generally, is to tell them what you do for a living. You'll say, "I'm a mom" or "I'm an accountant" or "I'm an artist." We place an enormous emphasis on figuring out exactly who we are. There are tons of self-help books out there that discuss the topics of finding your purpose and your worth in your identity. In an extremely literal sense, asking the question, "who are you?" will earn you the answer of someone's name. In a metaphorical sense, it begs the answer of what is most true about us — our passions and our fears and our triumphs. In Arrow, there has always been the central question of identity: who is Oliver Queen? Is he a vigilante? A hero? A killer? A regular guy?

What's refreshing about "Who Are You?" as an episode is that it doesn't tread the same worn-out roads of self-actualization that other episodes have in regards to Oliver as a character. Rather, we get a glimpse at a few different characters and journeys. Because whether they're ready for it or not, the back half of this season is going to catapult our characters into some pretty rocky terrain, and how they respond will define who they are and who they become.

EMBRACE THE MIRACLES (OR THE CRAZY)

I will admit that when I saw the promos about Laurel's return, I was skeptical. After all, the team seemed to readily believe that the real Laurel Lance was alive and well. But only Oliver really seemed to want to believe Laurel's story about being rescued by Sara and the Waverider. Felicity, on the other hand, hosted a welcoming party for the former Black Canary for the sole purpose of getting the woman's DNA. When not!Laurel almost reached for a glass of champagne, Felicity's suspicions were heightened further. And thankfully, within the next few minutes, Black Siren got tired of her charade and revealed herself to Oliver and Felicity.

Prior to this, though, Oliver talked about embracing miracles because they don't happen often. It was an interesting sentiment coming from him — you know, the usual King of Doom and Gloom — but it makes sense: Prometheus is trying to wreak havoc on Oliver's life. His primary goal is to turn everything and everyone Oliver loves into a memory. But as Oliver goes darker in the flashbacks, in the present-day, he's desperate to cling to hope. Felicity makes note near the end of the episode of the fact that Oliver being inspirational and uplifting is odd, but welcome, and I tend to agree. Everyone who reads my reviews knows that I'm not the biggest fan of Oliver Queen a lot of the time. But I do tend to believe that he has the potential to choose hope and life and happiness instead of clutching to lying and darkness just because it's an easier retreat.

I think there's a part of Oliver that always knew Laurel wasn't really Laurel. He wanted to believe it though — he needed to believe it. Oliver needed something good and hopeful to happen to prove that there is still reason to be surprised by life. As Felicity points out to Black Siren, Oliver is seeking redemption in trying to rehabilitate her — he's trying to save one version of Laurel because he couldn't save the other. I love that Oliver goes about this in a semi-healthy way in "Who Are You?" because normally Oliver's crusades are one-man missions that get everyone around him in trouble.

Actually, that honor belonged to someone else this week...

A NEW KIND OF FELICITY

Dear Arrow writers, I missed this Felicity Smoak. Give me more of her, please. And sprinkle in some more darkness so that Emily Bett Rickards can continue to shine. Love, me.

But seriously, friends, I think that this is the first episode in a while in which I've really felt like Felicity was well-rounded and on a good trajectory for the rest of the season. Picking up where I last left off though, Felicity actually begins to let recklessness infiltrate her life in this episode. When Black Siren and Oliver have a meet-up — with the rest of the team standing by in case he needs back-up — Felicity makes an executive decision to take down the female villain when it appears she might be a threat. Make no mistake about it, Felicity knew that Black Siren probably wasn't about to attack Oliver. But she needs an outlet to channel her grief and anger into, and currently it's this. Why, you ask? Because when you feel helpless, there's nothing that you crave more than a little bit of power.

I mentioned that Oliver mostly is healthy in his pursuit of helping Black Siren heal and become a pseudo-Laurel, but Felicity continually points out in this episode that Black Siren is not Laurel Lance. At all. And Oliver needs to stop pretending that she is. But Felicity isn't issue-less in this episode either. It's clear she's projecting her anger at Prometheus and her grief over Billy's death onto Black Siren. She jumps the gun, desperate to take the villain down. Why? Because Felicity needs SOMEONE to pay for what happened to Billy. Oliver assures her that Prometheus will be brought to justice but it was really nice to see Felicity facing her own demons in this episode in her own way.

Make no mistake about it: I'm still mad at the writers for the way they handled Havenrock and Felicity's paralyzation. It's absurd to me that it takes losing her boyfriend — a guy we and she barely knew — to send Felicity down a path of self-actualization. But honestly, at this point, I'll take any story about Felicity that I can get that isn't related to her relationship with Oliver, directly. Because this week's story isn't rooted in their feelings for one another at all: it's rooted in their mutual grief and feelings of helplessness.

Felicity throws all of her energy onto Black Siren, even going so far as to let her escape so that she would lead them to Prometheus. She risks her life in the attempt to get justice for Billy's death. It's not something she did lightly, but when Felicity decides to do something, there is no stopping her. And there's an incredible scene between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards in the Arrow Cave, where he begins to chastise her for letting Black Siren go and almost getting herself killed in the process. She, meanwhile, tells him that he needs to stop projecting his helplessness onto Black Canary. He's seeking redemption for Laurel any way that he can get it, and it's putting their lives at risk. I don't think Oliver realized how far he was willing to go for this redemptive crusade until this episode.

But then again, neither was Felicity prepared for how far she might go to get justice. In a face-off, Prometheus challenges Oliver to choose between battling him and saving Felicity, who is being threatened by Black Siren. When Oliver attempts one last-ditch miniature monologue to sway not!Laurel to the side of the light, it fails and he shields Felicity as Black Siren does her siren thing. But Felicity put her life on the line because justice was more important to her than anything else. It's interesting to consider how far she might go to do this. She went behind everyone's back at the party to swab DNA, didn't tell anyone about her plan to let Black Siren escape, and also commanded Rory, Curtis, and Rene to do something without Oliver's consent.

A reckless Felicity is an interesting one, and I want to see more of her.

MY KIND OF OLICITY

I'll make this short and sweet: I need more Oliver/Felicity scenes like the ones in this episode if I'm ever to believe that these two crazy kids can make it work. I need Oliver being the hopeful one, and Felicity delving into darkness. I need them to challenge each other, to fight and then walk away (but stay in the same room). I need Oliver to be upfront about his crusades, and for Felicity to tell him when they're not working. I need Felicity to push Oliver to become better, and I need them to teach one another things constantly — to never stop learning, because that builds a relationship whose cornerstone is trust.

If this continues — which I know will be short-lived since Annoying Reporter Chick is still existing, after all — I might finally return to being aboard the Oliver/Felicity train. Until then, I'll sit back and hope that Oliver is beginning to learn his lessons.

Overall, "Who Are You?" felt like it resolved a number of loose strings while also giving us new threads to tug at (do we really need someone filling the Black Canary role, show? And what is Prometheus' actual endgame here?). But as far as episodes are concerned, this one actually managed to hit the mark. Kudos, show! Don't make this short-lived for me.

And now, bonus points:

• (Yes, I kept getting The Who's song stuck in my head. Hence this week's subtitle!)
• Thank you all for being patient and waiting for this review. As it turns out, having a birthday that falls in the middle of the work week really messes with your television watching/reviewing schedule!
• I love that immediately, Felicity is skeptical of Laurel's reappearance.
• "After the past four years, it's just hard for me to accept good news."
• I'm a huge fan of evil!Laurel (also known as Black Siren). She's a lot more fun, for me anyway, than regular Laurel Lance.
• I missed Thea.
• So there was a Diggle story this week, because if you'll recall, he's been arrested. Evil General Dude is planning to have him killed, but thankfully Adrian Chase is able to find a way to get Diggle to remain in Star(ling) City custody and prevent that from happening. Adrian Chase officially became awesome in this episode.
• Rory remains the cutest and the best character for levity at the moment.
• "Every meta gets a nickname."
• "We get to choose what we are. We get to choose WHO we are."
• I kind of like the fact that Curtis and Rene had a conversation of substance. Also, another character facing an identity crisis? Curtis. He laments the fact that he's not as good in the field as everyone else and feels like he's failing. Rene, however, reminds him that there are things he IS good at and a reason he was brought to the team in the first place. He doesn't need to fixate on what he can't do well, but rather what he can do well. It was nice for them to have a story, and I find that Curtis being a bit more serious is actually nice sometimes. He gets a little too cartoonish otherwise.
• "When did you find the time to get a PhD in psychology?"
• "Do you have a sister? I hear he LOVES sisters." Okay, props to the person who wrote that line.
• "Can we have the room, please?" "Seriously? This is getting good."
• I'm still not paying attention to the flashbacks. I had hoped that the Russia ones would be interesting, since we waited for them/Bratva for a while now. But sadly, they're not compelling to me at all. I'm actually rather bored while watching them. Bonus of this week's flashback, though? We got introduced to Talia al Ghul!
• "You really need to shut your damn mouth" is literally the best one-liner said to a villain in recent memory.
• Felicity got to punch Black Siren, which is officially awesome.

What did you all think of Arrow's return? Sound off in the comments below!

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Scorpion 3x14 Review: "The Hole Truth" (I Don't Have Time to Babysit that Emotionally-Stunted Genius) [Guest Contributor: Yasmine]

“The Hole Truth”

Original Airdate: January 23, 2017

In this week’s episode, Sylvester struggles in his election campaign, Paige tries to find some closure with her mother, and Walter reaches a whole new low. Oh, and the members of Team Scorpion accidentally find themselves involved in creating a sinkhole in California. Just another day at the office for this team of geniuses.

At this point, I think Team Scorpion should know that there is no “routine check-up” job when they are involved, and this week’s case was another one of those situations. A simple engineering job with the Army Corps of Engineers turns into an ecological and humanitarian disaster. It also didn’t help that Paige was off helping Veronica, which meant the team was left without a buffer between them and civilians. And more importantly, Walter was left without a buffer, and that is always a recipe for things to go bad.

And if alienating the chief at the site of the job wasn’t enough, the team detected tiny leaks in the tunnels they were inspecting a little too late, which led to a collapse and the creation of a sinkhole. A sinkhole that wouldn’t stop growing. And of course, that wouldn’t be enough of a challenge for the team, so to make things more exciting, a silo of toxic chemicals sitting at the periphery of the growing sinkhole was threatening to fall into it. That meant poisoning the drinking water for millions in Southern California.

The team split up, with Cabe and Sly teaming up with one of the workers — one who made it clear early on he was not a fan of Sly and his attempt to run for office — in order to slow down the sinkhole. Walter, Toby and Happy worked with the chief to drain out the silo.

Eventually, the team saves the day with a series of unorthodox methods, including but not limited to turning the silo into a version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, building a giant trampoline, and getting inspired by yogurt to stop the flow of the toxic material. But unorthodox is just their style, after all.

While the team was trying their best to prevent the disaster, Paige was dealing with her own human version of a disaster — her mother. Veronica came back last week and when she appeared on the news report on TV, the men who were after her for the money in episode nine reappeared in her life. And of course, who would she go to other than Paige and Team Scorpion? Veronica doesn’t seem like a woman who takes no for an answer — not the first time and not the tenth time. She promises Paige that this would be the last time, that she needs her help to retrieve the money she buried, and that would be it.

Paige agrees to help her mother one last time, and together they pull off a con that allows Veronica to retrieve the money. But the con didn’t stop there: Paige also finds a way to get those men off her mother’s back forever by helping her fake her death. Paige proves this week that, while she might have her mother’s conning and acting skills, at least she knows better than to choose that life. It is interesting watching the parallel between the two women — one choosing the easy life of crime and money, while the other puts her son and her family/friends above everything.

Veronica did not do much this week to change who she is, even if she claims she wants to have a better relationship with Paige and Ralph. However, the day spent together did bring the two women closer, and — for once — made Veronica seem slightly more likable than all the times she had shown up. Veronica leaves once again, but something tells me she will be showing up in the future — if only to check up on whether Walter had made a move to ask Paige out (yes, she is still the biggest Waige shipper that there is).

Someone else who wasn’t having a great week is Sylvester. His opponent is crushing him in the road to elections and it’s all because Sylvester has embraced the fact that he is different. Apparently voters aren’t too excited about being represented by a man wearing a cape. And you can’t blame the public. For anyone who doesn’t really know Sylvester, this all does look like a joke. And it is highlighted when one of the workers on the site lets Sylvester know what he thinks of him and that he is not voting for him.

But Happy was right: by being himself, Sylvester can win over the voters; they just have to see how amazing he truly is and the amazing things he does every day. After spending the day with Sylvester, watching him save Cabe and help save the day, the worker is able to see past the cartoonish version Sly’s opponent is painting of him and truly appreciate what he is capable of.

Finally, there’s Walter. He started the day with one black eye and ended it with two. At the beginning of the day, Happy and Toby warn Paige that her new approach with Walter is not working, and that he is quickly spiraling back into his pre-Paige days when his EQ was drastically low and he would get into fights with people all the time thanks to his complete lack of people skills.

Walter is not doing well at all — not since Tim left and not since Paige decided she was taking a step back. And it shows. He is getting into fights and jeopardizing jobs by infuriating people he should be working with. And with Paige out of the picture, Happy and Toby take on the task of keeping him in control, playing babysitters to the genius, but even they can’t help him. Walter’s steady growth in the first half of the season is facing its biggest trial now and he is in danger of slipping back and losing all the development he went through.

Paige’s decision does make sense, because she cannot continue to hold his hand through this, especially when he seems to be reeling against the idea of becoming a better person. I think at this point Walter is going to have to come face to face with a huge loss — or a potential huge loss — because of something he does, in order to have reason to start fighting for himself again. Because, at the moment, he does not seem to truly understand the severity of his decline.

I think that was another great episode, perfectly balanced between the case of the week and Paige and Veronica’s story. Walter’s journey continues to be the backbone of the character-driven aspect of the show, as we alternate every week between Quintis and Sylvester’s stories.

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