Category: General

Travelers Season 2 Episode 10: 21C Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 4 Comments

Trav110OrderlyMarcy&Vincent

In this episode, Marcy takes drastic steps to bring back the memories she lost in the reset, and the show does a drastic retcon of her origin story. While Marcy is taking her ice bath through memory lane, the rest of the team is charged with helping to protect future POTUS 53, currently a sweet little girl under attack by the Faction. When you’re an evil death cult, it’s never to early to assassinate a president.

Marcy begins her ice bath ritual with a quasi suicide note for David, because this show loves to torture him. Not that I mind all that much, since David’s happiness is frequently based on guilting people into doing what he wants. He’s one of those guys whose excessive sensitivity makes every situation about him, and Marcy’s need to recover her past is, of course, actually about his needs instead of hers.

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Marvel’s Runaways Season 1 Episode 8: Tsunami Recap

~ Metacrone

MR108Pridew:Victor

In Runaways episode 8, Tsunami, the cast plays Survivor: Pride edition, while Victor Stein bleeds out on the floor. They prove to be as inept at life saving as they are at parenting and loyalty. The kids are also confronted with life and death issues, as Chase faces losing his father, Nico and Alex explore Amy’s death, Molly receives a message from her long dead parents, and Gert and Karolina try to help Chase while dealing with their own messed up families.

The episode picks up right where episode 7 left off, with Victor having been shot in the chest moments before by Janet , who managed to wear fabulous shoes to the occasion, because a woman has to some talents, and chic but understated dressing is one of hers. You’ll never catch her coming to the murder party underdressed, even if she was just lying around her bedroom when she heard her husband firing the fistigons at her son. We can also add stepping up when it matters to her list of talents, and pretty good aim with a handgun.

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Metawitches Guidelines for Spotting Misogyny vs Female Equality in Entertainment and Media

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment
Jane The Virgin –“Chapter Four — Image JAV104A_155 — Pictured (L-R): Andrea Navedo as Xo, Gina Rodriguez as Jane and Ivonne Coll as Alba — Photo: Danny Feld/The CW — © 2014 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

This is the basic list of questions we ask ourselves while consuming media to help us determine if we’re seeing women being treated fairly or not. It’s not a yes or no checklist, or an easy, one sentence test, like the Bechdel test. But then, Alison Bechdel never meant for her test to become a widely used standardized instrument. This test requires some thinking about what you’re viewing. Misogyny is often subtle, and it’s pervasive. It’s easy to miss with one, casual viewing, but the message still gets into our heads and affects us.

That’s why these are guidelines, rather than a test. Some of these answers will be subjective, and reasonable people can disagree. We’re talking about art and the interpretation of art, after all. It also takes practice to start seeing things like camera angles and positioning, rather than letting it fly by. Hardly any of us can always spot gaslighting, especially when it’s being done by the writers and producers instead of the characters. These guidelines are just aspects of entertainment to keep in mind while viewing, to become more aware of what you’re seeing.

I (Metacrone) started working on this list in the late 80s, and it’s slowly grown. It’s still a work in progress, just like the entertainment industry. There are very few works that would pass every question with flying colors. Figure out how much you can live with watching, and the level that makes you take action. It’s okay to just watch and enjoy the show sometimes without feeling guilty, too. But, the more you can recognize the issues with entertainment and speak out, even if it’s only to one person, the more of an effect we all have on the entertainment industry.

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Travelers Season 2 Episode 9: Update Recap

~ Metacrone

Trav209PhillipatUpdate

The travelers move on from the machinations of the Faction in this episode, once again settling into the business of long term life in the 21st century, with all of its risks and rewards. Phillip is given his first historical update, restoring his function as the team’s historian. Trevor and MacLaren face personal tragedies. Marcy and Carly help Phillip rebuild the team’s investments.

Phillip picks up his swag bag as he enters a mostly empty movie theatre and finds the seat labeled with his traveler number. A young woman sitting a couple of seats away asks him if it’s his first time, to which he replies, yes. She tells him it’s her second, and points out a man who’s there for the third time. The man’s face is filled with dread. Being a historian is not for the faint of heart, but we already knew that.

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Travelers Season 2 Episode 8: Traveler 0027 Recap

~ Metacrone

Trav208GraceTrevMac

This episode is a big one for the season and the series, with the trial and vindication of Grace/0027, the rushed discovery of the real traitor programmer, the dismantling of the quantum frame (for real this time, it appears), and our first peek at the face of God the Director, through the almost forgotten super secret two-way communication that Ellis made possible.

It’s a lot to pack into one episode, so let’s get started.

The episode begins with the Faction on vacation in the country, taking full advantage of the opportunities now available to them in the 21st century. The team is observing the rebels and their lakeside cabin hideout, while Phillip uses some fancy new software to establish TELLs for the two guards who are easily visible. As they’re overwritten to become travelers, a third rebel comes around the corner, ready to shoot, so that one has to be killed instead of overwritten. MacLaren sends the two new travelers into the cabin, where they force the three rebels who are eating lunch to surrender. Why fight when it would make you spill your delicious 21st century soup?

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Travelers Season 2 Episode 7: 17 Minutes Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 8 Comments

Trav207TrevPhilMarcy

In 17 Minutes, we try something a little different from the intensity of last few episodes. So much so, in fact, that Brad Wright, credited writer on the episode, forgot to include most of the plot. It’s a classic repeating time loop episode, this time combined with the goal of preventing the massacre of the team at the hands of the Faction.

As we begin, Katherine receives a giant, gorgeous bouquet of roses from her mother. It turns out it’s her and Grant’s 10 year wedding anniversary, and he hasn’t acknowledged it yet, even though it’s already 7:00 AM!! She sends him a pointed text to remind him that he’s a lousy husband and that she was bussed in from the 1950s.

Meanwhile. the team gathers for a road trip to a lake in the mountains where a meteorite is about to crash that’s crucial to the science of time travel. While they prep, we get some more misogynist dialogue about the “girl’s” training in “21st Century Female Behavior” letting Mac know that Kat is right, he’s a failure as a husband. It must be 8:00 AM by now and he hasn’t even sent flowers, never mind bought her diamond jewelry.

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Travelers Season 2 Episodes 1-6- Review and Analysis of the First half of the Season

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

Team&Frame

 

The Travelers season 1 finale left the show set up with several crises waiting for season 2. Marcy had been rebooted and we weren’t sure how she was. The Director had been rebooted and was under attack. We weren’t sure how it was, and there was the possibility that it wouldn’t win against the Faction. Grace and Trevor had been shot by Ellis, who’d then been killed by a messenger from either the Director or the Faction. Something was downloading into the quantum frame. There were conflicting messages about whether to kill MacLaren or destroy the quantum frame. Forbes and a strike team were staring at the group in the barn, ready to arrest them all.

It sounds like the set up for an exciting season, but they’d taken care of most of these issues by the end of the first episode, using deus ex machina once again. Everyone who was hurt is okay, thanks to deus ex nanites. Time travel seemed to be working fine. The quantum frame was being dismantled. Most of the FBI agents in MacLaren’s office were now travelers, including Forbes, so everyone was set free and forgiven any crimes.

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Travelers Season 2 Episode 6: U235 Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

Trav206GanginNavalBase

This episode brings the plague and Faction civil war arcs to a close with a giant hand wave from the Director and a whisper from Grace. It’s all very Deus Ex Director Machina. As with episode 6 in season 1, Helios 685, the team spends the episode doing Very Important Things that mostly don’t matter, because the Director will eventually manage to pull off the save.

The episode picks up back at headquarters, with Jenny being moved onto a gurney. They toss her on it instead of placing her gently, then start questioning her again. Carly brilliantly holds her at gunpoint. I don’t know what happened to her IQ this season. Jenny tells her to go ahead and shoot, she wants to die anyway (They brought her back from a suicide attempt 5 minutes ago in their time, FFS.)

Jenny won’t tell them where the frame is or how many Faction members are in the 21st. Grace reminds them that there could be thousands more in the frame. Trevor says it could be anybody they meet.

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Travelers Season 2 Episode 5: Jenny Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 8 Comments

Trav205JennyMarcyCarly

As with season 1, this season’s episode 5 is a game changing episode that reveals what the future world is like, and just how dangerous the 21st is for the Travelers. This time, Travelers inadvertently start a plague instead of preventing one, and realize that they’ve been used by the Faction for months.

Almost everyone’s life is at risk from the new plague. Victims bleed from their eyes before they die, so you know it’s bad. Global pandemic stories are the best.

Part of me feels like this recap should be a transcript of the entire episode. There are a lot of important facts thrown out at a rapid pace, so it’s easy to miss some. I’ll try to control myself.

We pick up not long after 11:27 ended. Jenny commands Phillip/3326 to access memory chain 71985VX and write the information down on her white board. He does so silently, as if he’s in a trance. When he finishes, Dr Derek/D13, the Director’s favorite super doctor, arrives to get a copy of the formula. Jenny told Derek that she would send him a copy, but he was so excited that he wanted to see it for himself. He says that parts of the formula will be difficult to reproduce, takes photos of the whiteboard, and leaves.

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Travelers Season 2 Episode 4: 11:27 Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

Trav204BishopMac

The team is ordered to take part in not one, but two terrorist attacks this episode, occurring simultaneously, against a thinly veiled version of agribusiness conglomerate Monsanto and MacLaren’s old friend Congressman Bishop. They are forced to improvise, as always, with the usual mixed results, but this time the Director is watching them closely.

Carly buys a bomb from a guy at a preagreed spot next to a dumpster in an alley, using codewords and a text conversation on her phone to identify herself. She tells the guy they shouldn’t have any more contact, now that their business is concluded.

Trevor delivers a bomb to a woman using the same code words and text conversation as identification. The package is a different size than the one Carly received. The team has inserted themselves as a middle man in this transaction to make sure that the woman (Abby) is successful with her bomb.

She asks Trevor questions about the safety parameters of the bomb, and he gives her some very specific warnings, including telling her she shouldn’t take it through a metal detector, or blow herself up trying to get through security. Guess we know what went wrong the first time.

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