The Defenders Season 1 Episode 4: Royal Dragon Recap

~ Metacrone

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This is my favorite episode of the season. Most of the episode takes place in the Royal Dragon Chinese restaurant, which is filled with neon light, like above, that’s used beautifully. The four defenders, and their signature colors, are brought together to hash out whether they’ll work together or not, and to compare notes to figure out what the heck is going on.

The restaurant itself adds noir elements like a certain grittiness, deep shadows and Venetian blinds. The party is eventually joined by the darker, more ambiguous members of the cast, Stick, Alexandra, and Elektra, to fill out the range of shadows and colors along with the range of possibilities the characters can choose to go.

The camera pans down the dragon sign and into the restaurant in a single shot, showing a quiet, empty place with an owner who’s closing up for the night. Suddenly, the camera movements become fast, jerky, and unpredictable, as the Defenders burst in through the front door. They take over the restaurant as their temporary hideout from the Hand.

As the camera jumps and swings between characters, we get to know each Defender, their relationships with each other, and they get to know each other a bit more. Danny is impressed with Jessica’s strength as she tips a bureau up on end in front of the door. Jessica is surprised that Danny knows Chinese. Luke can’t figure out how someone can hear neon lights (I have that superpower too!). Matt is mostly just paranoid and authoritative. He’s the one who secures all of the entrances.

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 2: To Josh, With Love Recap

~ Metacrone

This week, Rebecca continues her revenge campaign, doubling down on the darkness and recruiting Nathaniel to add in the Machiavellian twist that she can never quite muster. Tim from the office also gets some devastating news about his wife’s electric toothbrush, and Josh tries communicating directly with God because reading textbooks for 4-6 years wasn’t part of his plan to become a priest.

And we have our new theme song, You Do/You Don’t Want to Be Crazy sung by a girl band made up of four Rebeccas! We have Carrie Underwood Rebecca, Taylor Swift Rebecca, Eminem Rebecca, and KD Lang Rebecca. The theme song and the episode are full of references to Taylor Swift’s song and video Look What You Made Me Do.

There’s also emphasis on the theme that Rebecca tries to be whoever she needs to be to get what she wants, or whatever she thinks other people want, instead of who she actually is. She probably has no idea who she actually is, beyond the parts of herself that she hates.

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Marvel’s Inhumans Season 1 Episode 5: Something Inhuman This Way Comes… Recap

~ Metacrone

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This week on The Inhumans, the Royal Family, or most of it anyway, finally find their way back together. Little sister Crystal needs to work on her punctuality. Meanwhile, back on the moon, and on the earth, Maximus’ minions aren’t finding him to be much better than Black Bolt, and nobody remembers to call him “My King” consistently. Since he’s gotten rid of the rest of his family, he has no one who is his equal to commiserate with. It’s lonely at the top.

Karnak wakes up still in the arms of his drug-growing paramour, Jen. He marvels that she’s still there, because most of his dates slip out well before dawn. It’s her house, using the term loosely, so of course she’s there. Then Karnak does something like his usual analysis of his flaws, her flaws, their flaws as a couple, and the potential flaws of their continued relationship, only his power is still broken, so he has to wing it. Jen starts to consider leaving anyway. Lucky for Karnak, he’s cute in a hapless kicked puppy way, so she let’s it slide.

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Riverdale Season 2 Episode 2: Chapter Fifteen- Nighthawks Recap

~ Metacrone

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The Jingle Jangle comes to Riverdale this week, the serial killer’s pattern becomes more baffling, the Scooby gang keeps themselves busy, and so do their parents.

Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe has been renamed Death Diner by Riverdale residents with a sense of humor. With or without a sense of humor, no one is visiting the Shoppe since the shooting.

Betty decides to spearhead a campaign to save Pop’s. She’s enlists V and Kevin at school. Juggie is there for some reason, even though he attends school across town. Probably can’t stay away from his girl. 😂

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We Take a Break from Our Normal Programming for an Important PSA from Samantha Bee about Sexual Harassment [Updated]

~ Metacrone

Important News for Men

Anyone who has actually listened to actresses and other women in the entertainment industry knows that the sexual harassment that’s currently creating a scandal in Hollywood and (hopefully) ending careers of powerful executives has been going on since the film and music industries began in the early 20th century.

BUT MEN DON’T GET IT.

10/20/17: There have been several new developments in this story. More after the jump.

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Score Card: Riverdale and Diversity

~ Metacrone
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Some not so subtle racism in those costumes. Too bad they couldn’t be updated the way virtually everything else in the ‘verse was.

Last season, Riverdale was criticized about the lack of diversity in its main characters. Even though there were many people of color and a couple of LGBTQ characters on the roster, they weren’t given much screen time, and barely spoke when they appeared.

So, this season, Riverdale brought in and/or increased the screen time of the people of color and the other diversity characters. Two episodes in, let’s take a look at how that’s working out.

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The Defenders Season 1 Episode 3: Worst Behavior Recap

~ Metacrone

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In this episode, all 4 Defenders’ finally come together and cross streams… Um, that didn’t come out how I meant it. All 4 Defenders are finally in the same place, at the same time, blending their signature colors, which should make brown, but mostly just makes Elektra turn up again.

But that’s not until the end of the episode. Let’s start at the beginning, with the sublimely cultured Alexandra. In a scene from months ago, She’s dining alone, as always, in a little out of the way Turkish restaurant. Alexandra tries the food and asks the proprietor to tell his wife that she makes the dish even better than they did in Constantinople. He informs her that she must mean Istanbul. Constantinople is the ancient name. Alexandra smiles her enigmatic smile and says, “Of course.”

Just how old are the members of the Hand?

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The Gifted Season 1 Episode 3: eXodus Recap

~ Metacrone

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Welcome back to the Mutant Underground! Let’s see what those crazy mutant kids are destroying this week, and whether Reed is swinging toward the Vampire Bill or the Captain von Trapp end of the scale.

In a flashback to three years ago, Lorna and Marcos, who don’t seem to know each other well, are taking a walk outside of the compound. She explains that the building was condemned after the Oakwood riots. The National Guard stormed a nearby mutant orphanage and scared a kid into letting his powers get out of control. It destroyed the whole area.

Marcos wonders what he did in a past life to deserve the punishment of being a mutant. Lorna says she wouldn’t change the way she is for anything. She asks him what he did the first time he used his powers just for fun. Marcos tells her that he was homeless in Bogotá, he wasn’t doing anything just for fun.

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Episode 1: Josh’s Ex-Girlfriend Wants Revenge Recap

~ Metacrone

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Rebecca’s back, or well, theoretically she’s back. Right now, the ensemble has put on their Renaissance Faire costumes to pretend they’re the gossipy small town in Beauty and the Beast and wonder what happened to her and how she’ll recover from her latest disaster. Rebecca hasn’t been seen since Josh drove past the wedding venue and straight to the seminary. Bex will be so sad that she missed getting to play Belle!!

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Marvel’s Inhumans Season 1 Episode 4: Make Way for… Medusa Recap

~ Metacrone

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Greetings, Earthlings! Guess what? This episode of Inhumans wasn’t…terrible. It was a C, maybe a C+ if I’m feeling generous and watching Maximus pine for his powers while Auran pines for him. It does make my shipper heart beat faster.

It’s a classic love triangle after all- 2nd in command > leader > ambition & power &/or saving the world. It’s one of Marvel’s favorites, though we’re usually supposed to pretend that those gay couples are just best friends. Peggy’s looking at you, Bucky and Steve. You’re setting a bad example for the kids. Stop denying your true emotions.

Maximus isn’t ready to settle down with the only warrior who truly loves and understands him yet, either. He’s gotten the caste system and the mines under control for the moment, and is satisfied with Auran’s progress with her (inhu)manhunt, so he has a little time for self-improvement this week. Specifically, he wants to go through terrigenesis again and see if it’ll come out differently.

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