Hanna Season 1 Episode 3: City Recap

~ Metacrone

Hanna S1Ep3 Erik & Marissa 2005

As befits an episode called “City”, episode 3 of Hanna picks up the storytelling pace and keeps the characters in motion. Hanna and Erik are reunited and must work together against their nemesis, Marissa, who finally gets enough screen time in this episode for character building and to reveal her backstory with Erik. The episode also has some parallels with episode 2, as Hanna is thrown into another established, troubled family. In this episode they work with Erik’s old Army gang, where she’s again relegated to the role of child, even though she’s much more than that.

Recap

Hanna’s train pulls into Berlin, as Jacobs visits Sophie’s family to question them about her. He falsely claims that Hanna’s mother is alive and has asked him to find her daughter, because Hanna’s father, who she’s been staying with, is dangerous and unstable. Then he shows the family a photo of the two guards Erik killed on the Polish-German border.

Since the family don’t know they’re in an action-suspense series and this sort of thing is to be expected, it’s very upsetting for them. Jacobs and the family all keep pushing Sophie for any information she might be holding back, out of loyalty to Hanna.

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Hanna Season 1 Episode 2: Friend Recap

~ Metacrone
Hanna S1Ep2 Sophie & Hanna in the Morrocan Desert
Sophie & Hanna in the Moroccan Desert

My recap of episode 1 is HERE.

I knew episode 2 would be very different from episode 1, Forest, since Hanna’s previous life has been broken beyond repair. But after waiting a month and a half for the next installment, the image that was stuck in my mind from the first episode was the tall, forbidding forest and dark, imposing cave Hanna was raised in. I expected episode 2 to show her escape and the beginning of her education in the wider world.

And it does. It’s a splash of immersion into the life of a typical 21st century teenage girl, which only serves to highlight how out of touch Hanna is with not only her peers, but everything in our busy, urban, mechanized world. You know from the moment you see Hanna’s future friend, Sophie, covered by a dog filter app, that there’s no way Erik Heller could prepare Hanna for this. She’s on her own in the modern world, and will have to sink or swim based on how quickly she can adapt.

Sophie looks like she’ll be an excellent wing-girl to Hanna as she adjusts.

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The OA Part 2 Episode 3: Magic Mirror Recap

~ Metacrone

The OA P2Ep3 Message from Rachel

The OA takes a break from…the OA in this episode, in order to revisit the home dimension and check in with Betty and the boys. Rachel leads the way on a transformative road trip whose purpose hasn’t become fully clear yet, but with this show, it’s best not to rush things.

Distorted images of the OA’s drawings of Betty and the boys decorate the opening credits. They fade to show Prairie’s body in her coffin, ready for her funeral. When OA jumped to another dimension, the body she left behind, now without its soul and gravely wounded, died.

Steve drives Jesse down a country road, as fast as he can manage without losing control, way over the speed limit. A cop pulls them over, but lets them go when he realizes that they’re the kids who stopped the school shooting and that they’re coming from Prairie’s funeral. He even tells them they’re brave and to get home safely. They don’t know what to do with authority figures who are nice to them.

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The OA Part 2 Episode 2: Treasure Island Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 8 Comments

The OA P2Ep3 Rachel, OA & Scott

With episode 2, we move from the Angel of Death to Treasure Island, which makes it sound like the OA is staying on a pirate ship instead of in a mental health facility. I suppose, with Hap in charge, that’s basically true. Will there be buried treasure in this episode?

Homer’s alarm wakes him up in the early morning by saying, “Good morning, Dr Roberts, you’ve had 56 minutes of REM sleep.” Alarm lady repeats the message until Homer turns her off.  Interesting that Homer likes to be called Dr Roberts when he’s off duty, too, and he keeps track of how much time he spends in a dream state. Maybe the Homer from the other dimension visits him in his dreams, and he’s trying to maintain the separation by using his formal title.

Homer Dr Roberts gets up, does some pull ups, then eats breakfast while watching a video on shared psychotic disorder. When he’s done, he rides his bike to work.

Prairie, who is now in a straight jacket, is taken to see Hap again. She has to climb a spiral staircase to get to his office, which looks like a room at the top of an old tower or a ship’s captain’s office. It has 360 degree windows with a view of the bay. Hap apologizes that Prairie has to wear the jacket.

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The OA Part 2 Episode 1: Angel of Death Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

 

The OA P2Ep1 OA & HR

Recaps of The OA Part 1 can be found HERE.

Welcome back, kids! Are we all ready to ride along with The OA as she questions the nature of reality and causes chaos in the world around her? Part 2 continues where Part 1 left off, with no time jump, though the extended opening segment introduces viewers to the new character Karim Washington, so it takes a while to find out what happened to the OA. Most of the rest of the original cast returns in some capacity.

While part 1 explored the interior of the mind, with themes of reality vs fantasy, the darkness inside, free will, captivity and willing sacrifice, Part 2 expands those themes, taking the dreams, visions and stories of Part 1 and turning them into an interdimensional reality where the boundaries between the dream world, the real world, and other worlds barely exist. It’s not quite as mind-bending as Part 1, but it’s still fun, with new ideas to ponder.

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The OA Part 2: Spoiler-Free Review

~ Metacrone

the-oa-season-2-complete-poster

If The OA Part 1 was about Near Death Experiences (NDEs), then Part 2 is about dreams. The NDEs become another kind of dream, of which there are many, all of which can be examined for important information about ourselves, our culture, the future and reality itself. Part 2 takes the concepts introduced in the first part and deepens them, turning dichotomies into continuums and turning movement into quests.

The OA remains a mysterious show that needs to be approached with an open mind and a willingness to follow the spiritual metaphor, not the need for logic and continuity. Metaphorically, this is a world of magic and spirit, and our rules don’t apply. We learn the rules of the universe with the characters, and they are applied logically once introduced, but they are complex. I’m not sure that any one character has all of the information in Part 2.

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Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 9: Songs About Texas Recap

~ Metacrone

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Before we get started, let me state my bias, straight out. Maria DeLuca (Heather Hemmens) is the best character on this show. No contest. If the writers disappear her again, or mistreat her too badly (that includes retconning her character to ruin her), I may riot, then stop watching.

Back to your regularly scheduled recap.

This week’s episode of Roswell, New Mexico, titled Songs About Texas, moved several giant steps closer to getting its Scooby gang together. Episode 9 was directed by Shiri Appleby, the original Liz on original Roswell, and was filled with callbacks to its predecessor.

Max, Michael, Liz and Maria accidentally end up together on a road trip to Texas to check out potential clues to an alien mystery. Relationship progress ensues. A Native American elder tells them about an alien who once lived on the reservation. These points are true of the current episode Songs about Texas, and the original series episodes 285 South and River Dog (S1 Eps 6&7).

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Always a Witch Season 1 Episode 3: Ouija Recap

~ Metacrone

Always a Witch 103 Johnny Ki and Carmen.png

Episode 3 begins with Johnny Ki explaining the threat he made to Carmen at the end of episode 2. He shows her a video his mom made the last time he saw his parents, then explains that his parents were killed in a boating accident. He was learning to drive and lost control of the boat, so he blames himself for the crash. He wants Carmen to help him talk to his dead parents so that he can get their reassurance that they don’t hate him and that they forgive him.

Carmen can’t speak to the dead, so she can’t help him. But she assures him that real love is unconditional, so, wherever his parents are, they still love him and have forgiven him.

Carmen tries to leave, but Johnny questions why she can levitate, but she can’t speak to the dead.

Because those are two really different powers?

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Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 8: Barely Breathing Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

Roswell, New Mexico 108 Michael and Max Visit Isobel in Psych Ward

Episode 8, of Roswell, New Mexico, Barely Breathing, is a very different episode from episode 7. In episode 7, characters and relationships broke down, and secrets took their toll. In episode 8, secrets are revealed and information is shared. New alliances are formed and characters begin to let their anger go. Isobel hits rock bottom, but is given a chance for rebirth. Alex Manes finds something he’s wanted for many years, but it may not benefit him in the long run.

And we finally meet Mama Evans, played by scifi veteran Claudia Black.

Recap

Isobel gets the opening voiceover this week:

“Safety is so easy to take for granted. Especially when you grow up loved, cherished, protected. Safety is a feeling you only value when it’s been stripped from you. When someone you trust spills your secrets, when someone invades your home, or when you’re a little girl staring at the stars in the desert one night and the devil tries to drag you into hell. Or worse, when the thing that makes you unsafe isn’t an invader at all. What do you do when the evil you fear is inside your own mind? When there may be no way to kill it without killing yourself?”

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Netflix’s Bodyguard Season 1: Review

~ Metacrone

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Bodyguard is a 6 episode BBC crime thriller that’s been released globally as a Netflix Original. Created by Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty) and starring Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) and Keeley Hawes (The Durrells in Corfu), Bodyguard has no connection to the 1992 Whitney Houston/Kevin Costner movie The Bodyguard. Last fall, Bodyguard became a ratings sensation in the UK, where it was shown as a weekly series and broke viewing records.

There is good reason for that. The show is gripping and intense from the first minute, when we meet main character David Budd, an Afghanistan veteran with untreated PTSD who is currently working for London’s Metropolitan Police Service as a Principal Protection Officer (PPO), or as we layman think of it, a bodyguard, for important members of the British government. He’s traveling on a train with his two children and discovers a suicide bomber, Nadia (Anjli Mohindra) hiding in the bathroom at the end of their car. In the powerful opening sequence, David takes it upon himself to talk Nadia down so that everyone comes out of the situation alive, disobeying orders from the bomb squad as he works with Nadia to ensure that she’s captured instead of killed.

After his heroic success on the train, David gets noticed by his superiors, and promoted to protecting the controversial, right-wing Home Secretary*, Julia Montague. Montague is pushing for legislation that would allow increased surveillance by law enforcement agencies, an idea that’s unpopular with many in the public and in the government. She’s also ambitious and widely believed to be considering an end run around the usual channels in order to become Prime Minister.

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