Category: Women

Castle Rock Season 1 Episode 8: Past Perfect Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 3 Comments

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Episode 8 of Castle Rock season 1, Past Perfect, is the beginning of the third and final act of the season, and it asks a very important question: Is it better to bury the memories of traumatic events, or to dwell on them? The show has a firm opinion on the matter, in the form of Jackie Torrance, taxi driver, real estate assistant, local history buff, and ax aficionado.

While Henry has buried his memories, and new Castle Rock resident Gordon has become obsessive and angry about his, Jackie uses history and her past experiences to inform her decisions. The memories aren’t dangerous if you’ve made your peace with them, as Jackie has. We’ve seen this throughout the season with other minor characters as well.

Kid isn’t turning anyone evil, he’s bringing out whatever demons were already there. The characters are doomed when they become emotionally involved with a situation and lose perspective, or don’t pay enough attention to a situation until it’s too late. They haven’t learned from past experiences. As long as they maintain their balance and sense of self, they can withstand the evil in the town, wherever it comes from.

Except for Henry, who walks around half awake, with no sense of self, ends up a damsel in distress on a regular basis, and has an entourage of heroes who save him: Molly, Kid, Ruth, Alan, now Jackie. You have to wonder why they all want to protect him so badly.

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The Innocents Season 1 Episode 4: Deborah Recap

~ Metacrone

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This episode, we get some back story on the beginnings of Sanctum and more insight into Ben’s relationships with Steinar and Runa. As Sigrid inches closer to leaving Sanctum, her confidence grows and so does her willingness to engage in harem rivalries. Ben loses control of his harem, proving it’s probably not the best place for a teenage shifter.

Steinar and Alf have a misunderstanding that leads to a major falling out between them. Alf finally calls Sanctum what it really is, a cult.

John is proven incapable of sharing information, no matter how vital. Probably because it would require him to speak in full sentences, possibly even paragraphs. Christine starts to put together some old and new puzzle pieces regarding Lewis’ case, even though Doug still wants her to drop the matter.

Harry and June figure out some of the basic rules of shapeshifting, while June takes a brief excursion away from reality. Ryan proves to be the best once again. And Harry and June reach a major new milestone in their relationship.

It’s a very productive episode.

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The Innocents Season 1 Episode 3: Bubblegum & Bleach Recap

~ Metacrone

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Best episode title ever.

There they go again. With so many people chasing them, June and Harry are always moving from place to place, trying to stay once step ahead. It’s a stark contrast to the Norwegian portions of the show, which are based on the subtle, slow moving character arcs of the people living in the Sanctum compound. You can’t help but compare June and Harry’s youthful exuberance to the damaged, uncertain middle-aged adult shapeshifters at Sanctum. Is June doomed to also lose her confidence and identity, or will Harry’s love and a supportive community help keep her psyche intact?

Harry gives Christine a rare chance to parent him without any interference in this episode. With just a few words she shows what an impact a supportive community can have. He’s overwhelmed by the ramifications of June’s shapeshifting, and not sure he can cope with how huge the whole thing is, plus he’s worried that he’ll end up injured by one of her shifts. When he tells Christine this, in very general terms, she says that’s how love works. Things change, but it’s still the same person.

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The Innocents Season 1 Episode 2: Keep Calm, Come to No Harm Recap

~ Metacrone

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Episode 2 of The Innocents picks up roughly where the pilot left off. After June (as Steinar) has forced her way back into their hotel room and shown her boyfriend, Harry, that Steinar reflects her image in the mirror, Harry does the only sensible thing and makes a run for it. He runs for freedom, through a field of wheat, in an image similar to images from earlier this year in The Handmaid’s Tale, season 2.

June Osborne ran through a corn field toward freedom in one episode and then a grassy field in a later episode. She didn’t make it to freedom either time, and neither does Harry. His June, June McDaniel, follows him, still in Steinar’s body, trying to convince him that she’s herself, not the Norwegian henchman. She flails and cries, and finally quotes one of his love letters, which makes Harry stop and really look at her. “You told me that you kept all my letters and that you weren’t embarrassed. Harry, I don’t know how, but it’s me. It’s really me.”

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The Innocents Season 1 Episode 1: The Start of Us Recap

~ Metacrone

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Metawitches full review of The Innocents is HERE.

The Innocents is finally here. It’s time to go on the run with June and Harry, a teenage shapeshifter and her stalwart sidekick devoted boyfriend, who leave their home and strict families for something better, only to discover that it’s a cold, cruel world out there, and everyone has been lying to June about who she is for her entire life.

Except June isn’t secret royalty or a mob princess, she’s a werewolf shapeshifter, whose body takes on the form of the first person she touches during stress-triggered shift-states. June discovers this accidentally, when she’s alone with an unconscious man. Later she has to convince Harry that she is who she is, despite the way she looks now. Love and mirror reflections (see the photo at the top of the page) conquer all, eventually.

It’s Twilight meets Orphan Black, with some Altered Carbon thrown in.

This show is for fans who’ve missed classic supernatural teen romances set against the background of larger mythology and ideas, like Roswell and the early seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Vampire Diaries. The soulmate aspect is important, and as the season goes on, it’s explored not just through June and Harry, but through other couples as well.

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The Innocents Season 1: Review of Episodes 1-5

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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Tonight Mr Metawitches and I spent the evening binge watching episodes 1-5 of Netflix’s new supernatural teen romance, The Innocents. Y’all don’t know him as well as you know me, but believe me when I say that the fact that he stayed awake through 5 straight episodes (of any show) is a massive complement!

The Innocents follows June and Harry, 2 British 16 year olds who have decided to run away from home, rather than continue to live with their parents’ oppression. June’s (Sorcha Groundsell) father is moving her to a remote, isolated island that probably doesn’t even have internet and Harry’s (Percelle Ascott) father is severely disabled, requiring constant caregiving. His mother, Christine (Nadine Marshall) expects him to pitch in when she’s busy. Since she’s a cop, she’s very busy.

At the start of the series, they’ve kept their romance a secret from everyone but June’s agoraphobic brother, Ryan (Arthur Hughes), who lives semi-independently in the garage. Ryan is also physically disabled and devoted to his sister. He brings moments of charm, silliness and outright comedy to the series.

The secrecy means that June and Harry really are innocents, as the title suggests. They communicate by secret love letters (handwritten on paper!) instead of by texts, and haven’t gone any further than kissing. June’s stepfather, John McDaniel (Sam Hazeldine) has always been strict and overprotective with the two children. Harry’s been kept busy with responsibilities at home, and has a strong moral compass.

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The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2 Episode 3: Baggage Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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In episode 2, Baggage, June reflects on her complicated relationship with her own mother, Holly, as she faces leaving her daughter, Hannah, behind in Gilead when she escapes. June is moved from the Boston Globe offices and makes her way closer to freedom, so the reality of what she’s doing hits her in this episode. In Canada, Moira’s already physically free, but she and the other refugees must grapple with the lingering effects of what Gilead did to them and what it forced them to do.

June jogs through the Boston Globe building on what looks to be a well-traveled route. She’s been hiding there for two months and is still maintaining her shrine to the executed employees, with candles burning in remembrance. The employees must have loved candles. You’d think she’d have run out a long time ago. It’s a freedom of speech miracle.

She remembers her mother saying that women are so adaptable that they can get used to anything, and wonders what she’s gotten used to without realizing it. This mirrors Aunt Lydia’s statements that normal is just whatever you’re used to, and things in Gilead would begin to feel ordinary and normal to the handmaids before long.

Moira also still jogs, but she jogs through the streets of Toronto. Her route takes her past the refugees’ shrine for their lost American loved ones. It’s not so different from June’s shrine, except it’s outside.

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The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2 Episode 2: Unwomen Recap

~ Metacrone

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Episode 2 is Emily’s episode, the episode of the Unwomen, the gender traitors, the sinners and the resisters. We follow Emily and Janine to the Colonies to get a look at what Gilead is like in another part of the country. And we watch Emily’s back story as a wife, mother and university professor. Emily fights for freedom of expression and sexuality, while June is taken to stay at the former offices of the Boston Globe newspaper, where the entire staff was executed for their part in maintaining the American right to freedom of expression. They each deal with the enormity of the loss of this freedom in their own way.

June rides to freedom, or at least her next hiding place, in the open flatbed of a delivery truck and muses about the meanings of freedom, both symbolic and practical. She wonders whether the Resistance can really get her out, or if the infection that is Gilead is so deep inside her that she’s no longer capable of escaping it.

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The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2 Episode 1: June Recap

~ Metacrone

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Welcome back to Gilead! Things are still as much fun as ever, as you can see from the photo above. June is on a roller coaster ride this episode, going from punishment for standing up to Aunt Lydia during last season’s finale, to special treatment because she’s pregnant, to barely being tolerated by Serena (so, back to normal), to a sudden chance at escape. As always, June is never sure where any of this is leading, but she’s not the kind of gal to stay home and knit sweaters, so she jumps into every opportunity, feet first.

“Whether this is my end or a new beginning, I have no way of knowing, and so I step up into the darkness within. Or else the light.”

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Kiss Me First Season 1 Episode 3: Off the Rails Recap

~ Metacrone

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Leila is further drawn into Adrian’s machination’s in episode 3 of Kiss Me First, as she tries to save Tess from herself and Denier from Adrian. She learns more about Adrian’s methods and begins to work with an important ally. Adrian and Leila’s interactions begin to turn into a very intense chess game when he starts to figure out that she isn’t as predictable as he thought.

March 2005- Azana Planet Launch

Ruth Palmer: Welcome to Azana Planet. Friends, colleagues, gamers, the wait is finally over. My name is Ruth Palmer, and today I’m going to change your world. You’ll decide what it becomes.

Newsreader: The wait is finally over for gamers around the world with the release of the widely anticipated Azana Planet.

Ruth: We’ve created it with a morphable engine. It’s scaleable, immersive. A whole planet of experience with no boundaries. It can become literally anything.

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