Tag: recap

Travelers Season 1 Episode 6: Helios 685 Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

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The foreshadowed Helios event is upon us. Or, the travelers’ solution to the event is, anyway. It turns out that the helios event that’s been mentioned a couple of times in previous episodes is an asteroid that will hit Earth in 18 months. It causes an apocalyptic level of disruption and natural disasters. 21st century scientists won’t detect the asteroid for 2 more months. By that time it will be too late to stop it, so the travelers have cooked up an elaborate scheme involving a cult of old people literally drinking the poisoned kool aid in Canada, a giant roof top laser, a stoned chief engineer, and a clueless antimatter scientist. What could possibly go wrong?

Almost everything, of course, or that would be the end of the series, as the characters helpfully point out, just in case you thought this might work. Because if this works, the timeline will be drastically altered, and most, if not all, of the travelers will never be born. Might be a reason to sabotage the plan, hmm? Or for warring factions to form amongst the future people, some of whom may have traveled back to our time to try to maintain the timeline as it was meant to be.

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Travelers Season 1 Episode 3: Aleksander Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

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Marcy and David set off for the doctor visit Marcy agreed to in the last episode, but when Marcy realizes that she’s already had an MRI, she backs out. David is still confused by the changes in her. Later in the episode, Marcy asks Philip to hack into the hospital’s records and retrieve her MRI. We don’t see the results in this episode.

Philip is back to using heroin, ostensibly just enough to keep him functional as he weans himself off the addiction. It ends up being too tempting to also use it to deal with his guilt over the deaths they aren’t allowed to prevent, though, and he increases his use. As the team historian he’s memorized the death dates of hundreds of host candidates, and every death weighs on him. Marcy notices his condition and calls him out on it, but he’s out of control.

Philip goes to Stephen’s funeral. He’s overwhelmed with guilt for not saving original Philip’s best friend. Traveler Philip is a sensitive soul.  He gives his condolences to Stephen’s parents, but they blame him for their son’s death. He has Ray, his lawyer, make more winning bets, then distribute the money to Stephen’s parents, and Gower’s family (the cop he watched die of a heart attack in the pilot). He also begins calling in anonymous tips based on his memorized knowledge, to prevent a few more deaths. The FBI tracks the IP that the tips are coming from, but McLaren intervenes in time to stop the FBI from finding Philip.

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No Tomorrow Season 1 Episode 10: No Soup for You Recap

~ Metacrone

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We start where we left off in No Truer Words, with Evie confronting Xavier with an X about the hidden past that Timothy dug up while researching his article. This deep, dark past consists of changing his name from Hamish Stegner, Jr to the much cooler Xavier Holiday (wouldn’t you?), and having been arrested 8 times in 5 months for trespassing, public nudity, and disorderly conduct. Xavier explains his crimes away as normal youthful rebellion where he comes from. Honestly, it was not that unusual where I come from, either. He didn’t commit any violent crimes, it was a long time ago, and they haven’t been dating that long. I’m not sure he owed Evie every single detail he might have forgotten to mention yet. One of their first dates was helping a cousin (that Xavier had just broken out of prison) to flee the country, so I’m not sure why him having a bit of a history himself would be such a shock. Seems more like an excuse for cold feet to me.

Eventually, Evie realizes that Xavier’s arrests all happened right after his mom’s death, and he changed his name because of his issues with his father. She points out  that Xavier avoids his own issues, while making everyone else confront theirs. Evie breaks up with him until he can live an honest life, be his whole self, and deal with his shit, since he lied about his debt and other things too.

Xavier is floored that Evie broke up with him. He has a hard time with consequences. But he did listen to Evie, and considers what she said. He decides to go through with it and calls his dad.

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The Man in the High Castle Season 2 Episodes 9 & 10 Recap: Detonation and Fallout

~ Metacrone ~ 4 Comments

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We start episode 10, Fallout, with the only cold open of the season, maybe of the entire series so far. It’s December 11th, 1945. Smith and Helen arrive at a small cottage outside of Washington, DC. Helen is very pregnant with Thomas, who she says is kicking up a storm. As they’re settling in, an atomic bomb goes off in the distance, seen behind them through the cottage’s picture window. They realize the Nazis have bombed Washington. As we know from watching the series so far, this is the event that caused the Americans to surrender to the Nazis.

This little scene is one of my favorite things they’ve done so far. It’s so brief, but it tells us so much, and reminds us of so much. And it’s shot gorgeously. We start out watching the couple from inside the cottage with the camera at a slight distance, framing the room as if it were a family portrait or a painting. There’s even a Christmas song playing in the background. Everything is perfect for them, despite the war. The room is dark, and the sky is graying outside the window as the sun sets. They are in the dark about what is about to happen. Change is coming. John turns on the lights, and they discuss his work at the Pentagon and the baby, with Helen telling Smith that she thinks it’s a boy. They are working to keep their situation happy and normal, despite the war. As they’re talking, a loud rumbling starts, along with a flash of light. For a split second, you think it could be thunder and lightning, but the flashes and crashes continue. Helen and Smith turn toward the window, holding hands. They, and we, realize something is very wrong, but they are in this together. The camera pulls closer and closer to them, then finally between them, up to the window, where we finally see the red sky and mushroom cloud from the atomic bomb in the distance. This is the event that will eventually come between them. This is the episode where that comes to fruition. They walk toward the window, and the camera pulls around in front of them. Now the camera is outside the window, looking in. We’re in the Looking Glass world now, no longer the world that made sense just 5 minutes ago. We see the mushroom cloud reflected in the window while we see Smith and Helen at an angle and shadowed, through the window. Everything in their world and their futures is now off balance, askew, dark.

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Travelers: New Sci Fi Series from Netflix: Pilot Recap/Review

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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Fair  warning: Stargate SG-1 was a big deal in our house while my kids were growing up. We watched every single one of its 214 episodes, both made-for-TV movies, and the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis. I am predisposed to like anything Brad Wright does. Travelers was created by Brad Wright.

And I really do like the pilot of Travelers, even without knowing Brad Wright was involved. Pilots are tricky things. They often feel forced, since they have to cram character introductions, world building, and a plot line that hooks viewers enough to make them want more, into their 42 minute time frame. Travelers manages to avoid making the viewer feel like piles of exposition are being thrown at us all at once. The action and the characters keep moving, and we find out enough about each character and their lives by being shown their environment and the people around them, not just told. I feel like I understand the basic premise of the story, but there’s still so much I don’t know, which is where you want to be after a pilot.

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The Man in the High Castle Season 2 Episode 8 Loose Lips: Recap

~ Metacrone

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There were indeed a lot of loose lips this episode, affecting every plot line the show has going. Most importantly, Joe’s father’s agenda was finally revealed, Hitler died, and the Reichsminister was named Acting Chancellor. I knew Sebastian Roché hadn’t given up his evil ways just because he was being nice to Joe.

Joe has finally decided to stay in Germany and work with his father. The Reichsminister was picked by Hitler to be Acting Fürher if Hitler became incapacitated, even though he is “just an engineer” (ha!), and, in a classic play, he now wants Joe to leave for his own safety. This, of course, makes Joe want to stay even more. He’ll be in place as our point of view character to see what happens in the government’s inner circles now that Hitler is dead, and to lead the fight against his father once he realizes how evil his father is.

Juliana continues to grow closer to Helen and Lucy. From them she learns that Dr Adler was cremated against his wife’s wishes (3 guesses which high-ranking Nazi probably made that secret call). Lucy tells her that Hitler is in serious condition, but Helen stops the gossiping immediately. Helen runs a tight ship. Thomas is packed and ready to go on his trip when Juliana arrives at the house, but Helen quickly shoos him upstairs. She doesn’t want Juliana having enough contact with Thomas for her to figure anything out. Later, Smith tells Helen that events are moving too quickly and the trip is in jeopardy.

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Sense8: A Christmas Special Recap: The Cluster Celebrates Together in Their Own Special Way

~ Metacrone

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We start off this return with the cluster in the water, together in spirit, communing (not quite sexually) and enjoying each others’ presence. There’s an awesome version of Feeling Good playing that I need to find immediately. Everything is momentarily perfect, if you don’t look too closely.

 

If you do look closely, you might notice that Riley is preparing a dose of heroin for Will, who doesn’t look so great. Wolfgang is drinking alone, without Felix by his side. Sun is also alone, in an isolation cell in prison. The ghost of Angelica haunts the group, even during good times. Life is still complicated within the cluster, but they still offer each other safety and comfort within the midst of it all.

The show teases us with a coy reveal of the new Capheus, now played by Toby Onwumere, who is replacing Aml Ameen. They kept him backlit while talking about how much everything has changed and how different he looks for a few minutes before the reveal. Toby is cute but HUGE compared to Aml. Capheus must have had the Captain America supersoldier serum over the hiatus since he’s grown about a foot taller and in shoulder width. But, are they trying to hide his height? He walks hunched, with his knees bent, like he’s pretending to be the height of the original actor. Just own the change! He’s Van Damme! He can do anything!

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The Man in the High Castle Recap Season 2 Episodes 6 & 7: Land O’ Smiles and Kintsugi

~ Metacrone

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After the slow-building tension of the past two episodes, the pace starts to pick up again with episodes 6 and 7. The characters are starting to put their plans into motion.

Joe talks with his father’s housekeeper, Frau Silva, and discovers that his father had a wife and two sons that he lost in the war. She refuses to answer any further questions after that, but otherwise continues to be ridiculously worshipful and kind of a stalker. Joe escapes her the first chance he gets and goes with Nicole to a Lebensborn overnight drug orgy in the country. While he’s stoned, he sees himself dead, and says goodbye to Juliana and his old life. When he wakes up in the morning, he tells Nicole he’s ready to go back to his father. That seems to mean he’s also ready to embrace being a Nazi, since he puts on the suit Frau Silva had left out for him the morning before, complete with Swastika armband. The Lebensborn appear to have organized themselves into some kind of Aryan superbaby cult. All it took was an orgy and a few hallucinations to convert Joe. Seems like the guy who went through that whole season 1 cross country ordeal and stood up to the great Obergruppenführer Smith multiple times might be able to hold out longer than one debauched night, but I guess he discovered it’s good to be wanted.

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 7: Who’s the Cool Girl Josh Is Dating? Recap

~ Metacrone

This week, we all learn some lessons in relationship maintenance and proper pet care. Neither exes new girlfriends nor pets should be followed too closely with a car.

Mostly random observations and meta this time, because most of my week has been taken up with musical theater fun (Hedwig!). Next time, a review and analysis of the first half of season 2. I’ll try not to linger on Greg’s departure too long, or embed every song he sang.

Josh is really needy, desperate, and looking for love. He’s in awe of Anna, who just might be taking advantage of the fact that he thinks she’s out of his league. I still don’t trust Anna, even if she’s not a drug dealer. What does she need from Mexico? But she’s Brittany Snow, who I’m preprogrammed to want to keep around as long as possible, so this sets up mixed feelings about their relationship in my mind.

Poor kitty. Bad owner, leaving the door open.

Frida Kahlo foam drawings. Coffee made from mixing individual beans. I think my son goes to that coffee shop. The metawitches drink more tea than coffee. We’ll compare chai blends with you anytime.

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 6: Who Needs Josh When You Have a Girl Group? Recap (VIDEO)

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

Tonight, Paula feels trapped..Oh wait.

While we wait for the firefighters to get Paula out of the bathroom, let’s recap episode 6. After burning down her old place (along with Josh and Greg’s stuff), Rebecca has moved into a new place. But, whoops, she didn’t notice that underneath that very thin new layer of plaster, she’d chosen an infamous murder scene for her home. The renovations that hid the crime scene start crumbling and falling down around Rebecca just as fast as they were put up. Sort of like Rebecca’s life. Nearly everyone in Rebecca’s life ends up at the apartment before the night is over. It was an intense episode as the characters faced some hard truths about themselves.

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