The Musketeers 3.4 "The Queen's Diamonds" Review

                                         
A woman is robbed of her jewels, who turns out to be Henrietta Marie (Olivia Poulet) Louis's (Ryan Gage) sister and Queen of England, as she's in France raising funds to fight Cromwell in the civil war, but can't do that now until she gets her jewels back.  The task given to the Musketeers.  Sylvie (Thalissa Teixeria) is angry that Athos (Tom Burke) has to find them whilst the poor people can't even feed their own children, but those are his orders.  Which puts a dampener on their impending relationship, which really seems to be based on mutual attraction (lust) rather than anything meaningful.  He can't condone what she's doing as she still continues with her meetings advocating liberty and egalite which the Musketeers see as sedition and treason.  However she doesn't and still continues with it.  She wants him to attend a meeting but he can't do that and put himself in   the middle of it all.  His allegiance is to king and country.  She finds it difficult that she can't get to know him until he gets to know her.  Also he has to leave before they get to be together.
Porthos: "Only an idiot would stay in Paris after robbing the king's sister."
D'Artagnan: "Two words: needle, haystack."
Athos: "...move now."
Aramis: "I've got two better ones: coitus interruptus."

They find that the thief is Emile Bonnaire (James Callis) who they give chase to through the marketplace and find him in a wagon carrying the dead, where he dumps his pouch.  Having to go on a jewel hunt with him as he's sold the jewels to several people.  The first one is a rich woman who as D'Artagnan finds out plaits the jewels into the tail of her horse who is named Serena, after she's introduced all her daughters to him, he asks if she has anymore and is slapped.  A bit like the scene were the prince searches for Cinderella using the slipper.  They have to ensnare the horse and get the jewels out of the tail, but none of them can manage it.  Athos suggests they shoot the horse and D'Artagnan stops him and puts the rope around his neck, forgetting he used to be a farmer, which is what I said.  Bonnaire cuts the hair from the tail and Porthos (Howard Charles) throws a diamond into the field where the poor workers are toiling, saying they'll find it.

Henrietta is ungrateful as it's not much and she has to meet the Dutch financier, Van Laar (Allan Corduner).  Louis suggests Feron (Rupert Everett) go instead and tell him she's been delayed, where he hatches his own plot to get a loan for himself under Louis's name, saying he wants to buy Anne (Alexandra Dowling) a necklace, as Feron has his own debts to contend with.  The next set of jewels aren't so easy to gather and the man isn't very reputable.  Bonnaire has a plan to use some English phrase if things go awry.  Which they do and we have the Musketeers having to fight for the jewels.  D'Artagnan is gotten the better of after the man's stabbed and thrown Bonnaire out of the window.  But manages to fire a shot saving D'Artagnan.

They take him before Louis after Porthos tends to his wound and he escapes his chains, after telling Constance (Tamla Kari) he was a gardener and he loves his wife.  He asks Henrietta not to kill him cos he can double her money, which Louis thinks is a good idea, as he has the money he was paid for the jewels.  This means her money's doubled already and she finds out that Caroline (Sarah Smart) is his wife, Henrietta's Lady in Waiting.  He'll get the money if she agrees to let them go, which she does, as long as he never returns to France.  Yes but this isn't her country now and she's not ruler of it to send him into exile.  At the pit where the bodies are buried they find his pouch and each of the Musketeers must decide if they will let him go and they do.

Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) meets someone, Pauline (Laura Haddock) he used to know from his past, as she's with another man on the street.  She hands out money to a former soldier and says they must if they can.
D'Artagnan: Once day you [Aramis] will write your memoirs and there will be a woman's name on every page."  And Pauline's name will be on the first page as he tells him.
She's engaged to St Pierre (Paul McGann) and later she tells Aramis that she's being blackmailed.  He tells Constance that Pauline was a prostitute, just like his mother and they grew up together, who did her best for her children.  Telling Constance that his mother, was his mother and nothing less. She takes him back to meet St Pierre and to find the blackmailer, telling her fiance Aramis is going to give her away.  Aramis spots the stable boy as the blackmailer and tries to reason with him.  But he's protecting St Pierre.

Pauline refuses to come clean about her past and doesn't listen to Aramis.  As the others arrive to retrieve the blue diamond which is still missing and is given to Pauline in a ring, by St Pierre.  He refuses to give it up. She later kills the stable boy and still wants Aramis to give her away with blood on her dress, as they realize what she's done.  It was all so pointless really and hiding her past too, having to resort to murder now.
Pauline gives them the ring as Aramis tells Athos not to order him to take it cos he won't follow orders, Porthos walks off to let them sort it out and Athos says Aramis is his penance, with Porthos agreeing, he's his penance too.

Feron and Grimaud (Matthew McNulty) still plot some more as Grimaud sneaks around the place, Feron calling him "a serpent in the night."  As he also tried to give money to Sylvie for her cause and for the people.  Telling her he knows what it's like to have nothing, but she refuses to take it.   Was that another way of getting into her good books, or just a way to trap her for what she's doing, like I said she gets around.  Don't; think Grimaud has it in him to give away money out of the 'goodness' of his heart, no good and no heart!  Ha.

Supernatural 11.23 "Alpha and Omega" Review (Of Sorts)

                                       

Sam: "...anything is better than this."

Supernatural always has the same finales which always leave you gasping. It's been the same over the ten seasons.  Dean (Jensen Ackles) saving Sam (Jared Padalecki) and vice versa, getting saved by others, suffering the car accident, losing Dad.  Yet season 11 was altogether different, now that the Darkness was unleashed at season 10's end, it was now on the brothers to end the reign and save the world once more.  However this finale seemed a little bittersweet.  If it was so easy for Amara (Emily Swallow) and Chuck (Rob Benedict) to just make up cos Dean talked about family and how he and Sam always fight, but make-up, then how easy would it have been to end that storyline quicksmart, instead of it wavering for an entire season.  Granted there were stand alone eps, as there always were and have been, but it's surprising it took love of her family for Amara to wake up to herself.  The bottom line is always love in this show and always has been.  No matter if it's for mother, father, brother or any loved one.  Yet whilst Dean got to play hero and save the world, he was the bomb and only him, though it did get to a point where it was pointless, since she already knew why he was here. But he also got to see Mom (Samantha Smith).

That was foreshadowing since they don't and have never visited Mom's grave in a finale, ever.  Yet this time Dean and Sam wanted to go there, one last time perhaps and this from Dean who didn't even want to go there in the ep 2.4 Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things yet he did and here they did so.  Also the way in which Sam touched her headstone, as if that would help her, little did he know she would be back since Amara tells Dean she'll give him back something he needs, as he gave her back Chuck. Instead of Dean saying goodbye to Sam in the Impala and talking as they always do, Dean was having a heart to heart with Cas (Misha Collins) when he was going for the beer run.  So Dean found Mom and how easy was it for Amara to bring her back for him.  Yet once again put upon Sam didn't get his wish for Mom to return (he must've wished this a thousand times and prayed for her since he didn't know her and prayer was his personal salvation) and helping Chuck, who when he recovered could've been the one to grant this.  Is there some underlying reason for this and is Mom really Mom?

What did Sam get, Sam got that insufferable Valerie from The Vampire Diaries!  Huh just when I thought she'd gone for good, we have to see her in my fave show as a Woman of Letters: The London Chapter!  What does she do, she shoots Sam cos she was ordered.  NO ifs no buts (hope she gets a good hiding next season and is sent off packing very quickly.)  Okay she's a woman and we all know how a lot of us hate the female characters (most of them at least) but she wasn't necessary.  It's like an injustice Dean gets Mom, Sam gets some lead.  Come on the writers must've learned their lesson with Bela! These sorts of characters don't work and shouldn't last long at all.  Toni (Elizabeth Blackmore) seemed as cliched as they come, yes she has a kid, mom has a secret, in her time off/spare time whatever she works for or is a part of the Men Of Letters.  Don't get me wrong, nothing against women, but she seems so arrogant and uppity.  Delphine Seydoux (Weronika Rosati) in the submarine ep The Vessel was also part of the Men of Letters and I'd rather see someone like her, or even her than another bureaucratic stuck up Brit!  UGH!

Instead of their lives being in peril, the tables were tuned, it was Dean who was going to explode and Sam was going to be left alone again, that wasn't new.  Yet it turns out Sam is the one in mortal peril (once more.)  But Dean didn't call him or anything to tell him he was safe and all's well with the world and with him.  Yet Sam, dutiful Sam, selfless Sam, Sam who sprang everyone into action one last time, has yet another mishap befall him, or so it seems.  Sometimes I just wish we can now end this never-ending angel arc and go back to how it used to be.  Just the two brothers on the road, no mention of other hunters, no turmoil in heaven and all the rest of it.

The Chuck/Amara story was doomed from the start since it didn't really have anywhere to go, either one gets killed, or the other or both, so where would that leave the world.  Probably where it was when Chuck did a runner and let his creation fend for themselves, his big word "freewill" shouldn't have emulated and applied to him.  He should've been there, especially to ensure there was no war in heaven, what sort of an example did that set.  Sure the angels were not meant to be subjected to their own freewill.  I mean look at Lucifer and what happened to him with his exercise of free will; he was cast out from heaven.  Instead Chuck says the earth will have Sam and Dean as it always did, so God does another runner.

Let's go back to basics for season 12, like I've said already and stop pandering to the whims of fans. Sorry if you don't want to hear that, everyone has their own ideas and stories of where they'd like to see the show go, or what should be included, characters, plots etc; but writers of a show are there to do exactly that, to write and to create their own vision of where they want the stores to go.  It was like that at the beginning, now let's get back to that! It is after all, "saving people, hunting things, the family business!"  Let's make it so!

https://www.amazon.com/Dudes-Demons-Unauthorized-Unofficial-Supernatural/dp/1326608266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466473088&sr=8-1&keywords=mila+hasan

The Musketeers 3.3 "Brothers In Arms" Review

                                               
The Musketeers are ordered by Louis (Ryan Gage) to bring his brother, Gaston, Duke of Orleans (Andre Flynn) to the court but on the way, he pretends to fall off his horse and they take him into an inn to recover.  Here an incident ensues between the soldiers and Gaston, as he shoots some of them and has his money stolen, at least he insist it's his money.  Louis wants the men brought to justice and the thief caught, but apparently no one admits to being the thief and if the soldiers, former soldiers who fought for France are brought in and attacked as they don't surrender, there'll be more uprising as Treville (Hugo Speer) warns Louis.  They fought for him but aren't paid in kind by him, as they're left to fend for themselves.

Gaston strikes up a friendship of sorts with Feron (Rupert Everett) and tells him what was stolen wasn't money, but important documents, letters between Gaston and other men plotting the downfall of Louis.  If he found out then he'd hang him for sure.  Feron getting Grimaud (Matthew McNulty) to retrieve the documents, which could work to their advantage as they'd have the men in their pockets with leverage to use against them.  The documents were stolen by Josephine (Lisa McGrillis) the wife of the inn keeper, Christophe (Richard Dormer) and as the Musketeers return, she leaves a note on their horse telling them she'll give up after the funeral.

At the funeral, Feron sends the Red Guards to arrest the men and bring them in, but the Musketeers are there.  As Christophe finds it difficult to speak, Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) takes over the eulogy for the men and Georges Marcheaux (Matt Stokoe) tries to fire on the men, shooting one of them for treason.  He's called off by Treville, his minister and again he tries to reason with Louis; that soldiers all over France will raise up and this will only lead to more death.  Christophe is adamant and refuses to give up, as he takes Porthos (Howard Charles) and Treville hostage as he tries to talk to the men, setting up a siege situation.  Athos (Tom Burke) has no choice but to set up the cadets in defence and Christophe wants his demands met by Louis, give up Gaston, or at least they try to get him to publicly apologize or he'll kill them.  This giving Feron the chance to plot again with Grimaud, if they can ensure the Musketeers fail.  Athos thinks he can break them out and he tells Porthos of  a battle they went through, giving him a clue what to do.

Aramis asks D'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino) about the battle and he tells them when they were under siege by the Spanish, they got in through tunnels under the building.  Which they manage to do, but are caught again.  This time the Red Guards arrive and they all have to fight together against them, again it seems hopeless and Josephine finally gives D'Artagnan the documents she stole, saying she's to blame for all of this.  D'Artagnan thinks this will bring down Gaston once and for all.  Constance (Tamla Kari) arrives with reinforcements and so does Sylvie (Thalissa Teixeira) impressing Athos once more.

Louis sends Gaston to the Bastille for the documents and Feron signs his warrant.  Even though he doesn't get a hold of the letters he still thinks he can get Gaston on side against Louis.  Constance confides in Anne (Alexandra Dowling) that she doesn't want children cos she doesn't know if she can bring them up without D'Artagnan, she doesn't want to be a widow or raise orphans.  "It's one thing to be a Musketeer's wife.  I don't think I'm brave enough to be a Musketeer's widow." Anne is lonely and she knows that Georges is spying on her.

The banter between Georges and Constance is funny cos it seems they always end up meeting each other, ever since she humiliated him and his men in when she took their clothes from the bathhouse and made them run naked through the town.
Georges: "You are interfering with the king's orders."
Constance: "A coward hides behind his orders.  A man steps out in front of them, you're not a man are you."  Which was kind of a silly line if you think about it, considering Athos is giving orders all the time, just as he did when Aramis told him not to order him and he had to walk out, as did Porthos. Later on in the next episode and Athos saying that Aramis is his penance and Porthos agreeing with him.

The Musketeers 3.2 "The Hunger" Review

                                           
Feron (Rupert Everett) plots against Louis (Ryan Gage) once again, this time by stealing the grain and attempting to sell it back to Louis for an extortionate price, again getting Griamud (Matthew McNulty) to help him.  Feron puts the blame on the refugees of the war, taking shelter in Paris.  As one of their own, Leon (Duran Fulton Brown) is part of the conspiracy.  The refugees are arrested as the Red Guard opens fire on them, including D'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino).  Treville (Hugo Speer) tells Constance (Tamla Kari) that he will be released, but the others will be hanged, as he tries to get justice for them.  Magistrate Bellavoix (Crispin Letts) says Feron doesn't have evidence that the prisoners stole the grain, having Grimaud use the traitor Leon to plant the empty grain sacks in the refugee's wagon. He's tortured as Georges Marcheaux (Matt Stokoe) pretends to interrogate and Hubert (Francis Magee) tells D'Artagnan they will break him easily.

As the others search the refugee's camp for the grain, Athos (Tom Burke) finds a leaflet dropped by Sylvie (Thalissa Teixeira) which highlights her sedition and treason.  She attempts to shoot Athos, but he tells her at that close range, the bullet will go clean through him, as she gives him her gun. Obviously she didn't burn the documents as she was told to do, she didn't even hide them properly.  D'Artagnan comforts Hubert and we later find out he's Sylvie's father and he wrote those leaflets, but he dies in prison.
Athos: "Who taught you how to handle that?"
Sylvie: "I taught myself."
Athos: "Then you are not a bad student, merely a poor tutor."  Clearly he's smitten by her already and who can blame Athos, it's been a long time since he's laid eyes on a woman!  Even if this one will lead him to be conflicted and their relationship too, conflicted in the sense of he's a Musketeer and she's a potential rebel and traitor.

Once again Feron pleads for the execution of the prisoners and again Treville says he doesn't have any evidence.  The Magistrate tells him to get evidence as all men, ministers, or the poor will be treated equally under the law.  Athos finds the grain sacks in the wagon with Sylvie and also they find the murdered woman  and again are attacked by the guards.  Feron once more doesn't get the evidence he was so certain would be found and again thinks something will turn up.  Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) and Porthos (Howard Charles) find a man selling grain in the market and bearing the king's mark on the sacks.  He says he bought it from another man and this leads them to the stables.  Nortier (Andy Linden) tells them he doesn't have any wagons to hire and Porthos notices limestone dust on the wagon, as well as the Andalusian horse tied up.  Porthos has a hunch which he follows.  Aramis telling the others he has a good hunch.

Porthos finds the grain and he brings it back, thus foiling Feron's plans again and not being able to profit from it.  More dark conversation between Grimaud and Feron as he remarks on maintaining control at all times.  Grimaud thinks suffering is the better option than to lose his judgement.  Also saying how he grew up following the troops "across every stinking battlefield there was, fighting for scraps just to survive."  Think he's got a monopoly on the use of "cess-pit" as he repeats it again in 3.4 The Queen's Diamonds; saying he "sees no God in this cess-pit of an earth."  I somehow don't think Grimaud is much of an adversary for the Musketeers, though he keeps getting away with murder and everything else and all his plotting, he's no match for them.  He's more a pot luck kind of a mercenary since none of his plans seem to work out, which says more about him and who he is, than about being clever or getting by in this "cess-pit of an earth."

Longmire 4.9 "Shotgun" Review

                                                  
In the aftermath of Tyler's (Nick E Tarabay) shooting, Vic (Katee Sackhoff) and Walt (Robert Taylor) take him to hospital but he's in no condition to answer who shot him.  Everyone disperses and Laila (Alicia Urizar) vanishes too.  Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips) takes the gun and Gab (Julia Jones) as they flee the scene too.  As Tyler's operated on we get to see the contrast between him and Henry, as Henry has to pull the slug out himself, whereas a rapist and general all round bad guy has a doctor operate on him in the hospital.  Gab's unable to help Henry with the bullet so he does it himself in agony, I was about to say Henry caught with his pants down, ha!  Sorry.

Next day Walt gets everyone to work leads, Eamon (Josh Cooke) recalls the faces of the men at the Rez party and will track them down before he forgets, as does Vic with the women there.  They talk with Archer (Lew temple) who has nothing to say and leaves after adding that Trot (Aaron McPherson)  punched him cos Eamon locked him up in the same cell, well they really only have one cell.  Walt says they must call Mathias (Zahn McClarnon) and apologize cos they were on the Rez and didn't inform him.  Henry takes Gab to hide her and tells her she can't go back, guess it would've been easier if she had gone back, but where's the story in that.  Cady (Cassidy Freeman) passes Henry and Gab on the road as she's looking for a road for an appointment with a client and tells Henry she can help Gab pro bono if she needs help.  Henry making himself look obvious and suspicious in front of Cady again, after also having to dump his truck.   He also gets to dig himself in deeper as he takes Gab to a Crow medicine woman (Tantoo Cardinal) who's on a Rez which abhors the Cheyenne, but he doesn't see he has any choice.

Linda's (Stefany Mathias) gone missing as has Sam Poteet (Hank Cheyne) as Zachary (Barry Sloane) can't find him at the casino.  He thinks he's being paranoid when a car follows him and he stops to confront the driver, who backs away.  At the hospital, Vic spots Walt with doc Donna Sue (Ally Walker) and she's there with a patient who attempted suicide.  She cancels their date and he's glad she did it first cos he can't make it either.   Later she tells him the patient was suffering from transference, when the patient has feelings for the doctor and she asks if he's had any suspects do that, Walt replying, "I hope so."  Well he must've had some suspects he fancied then ha!  He also brings her a book, John Donne, on the second visit cos he figures she'll be there a long time and she says she read it in college, so he decides to take it back, but she holds onto it cos it's hers now.

They return to the campfire and find a trail of blood, again not good for Henry as Mathias will get it tested and Henry's in the system, or was it Walt getting it tested.  Anyway the slug ricocheted off the rock and hit him.  Ferg (Adam Bartley) says he can follow the trail and they also find the bullet that was used to shoot Tyler, from a snake slayer.  Mathias says it would've been helpful if he'd called him and he needs to release Trot cos Walker's (Callum Keith Rennie) been complaining and he was arrested on the Rez, Walt has no jurisdiction, as we know.  Walt shouts to Ferg to release Trot and then re-arrests him again cos he's in Absaroka county now.  Which won't last long.  They think perhaps the oil company's behind the shooting of Tyler too, but Walt thinks it's personal cos of the gun used.

They can't find Sam but he turns up at Linda's and says he was picking up his sister from a bar.  She has a gun, the same snake slayer that Gab used, which makes her a suspect.  Should've got another gun!  Sam has a bandage on his arm and Ferg confirms it was from Linda's bite and not a gunshot wound. Also Gab gets a car from Mandy (Tamara Duarte) threatening that if she doesn't give it to her she'll tell them there were three attackers involved.  They drive to the medicine woman's place and Henry's called by Walt who asks if he's seen Gab.  He replies he saw her yesterday and he also tells him about Tyler being shot but he doesn't know who did it.  He later asks Cady about Henry and she said she saw Gab but she doesn't know where she was headed, she was just on the Rez, as Cady gets her suspicions about Henry now too again, cos she thinks he's lied to her twice now, maybe.  Henry tosses the gun over the bridge and wouldn't it have bee better if Henry hadn't said anything about Gab knowing Cady's seen him with her and that sooner or later Walt would ask Cady, or they'd talk about it.

Vic gets hurt when she chases after Laila after locating her and she tells them she saw a man dressed in black, it was Hector and he wore a red ribbon round his neck.  Mathias tells Walt about the new Hector and the note he found calling for the execution of the two rapists.  Vic is picked up by Eamon at the hospital and she takes him back to Cady's place where she can't keep her hands off him. Clearly she's trying to move on from Walt in some possible way, though not sure that's possible, who could move on from him!  Tyler dies and Walker says he's not doing anything to help find who did this. Zachary sees a reflection from the hotel window and finds Monte (Stephen Louis Grush) inside.  He calls Zachary a psychopath and he's got photos of the entire sheriff's staff and him.  He takes some of them and then punches Monte threatening him if he doesn't stop it.  Monte takes a photo of his bloody nose.

Henry reaches the medicine woman's place and Gab thinks cos she kicked a rock from the medicine wheel she's been having bad luck ever since.  Henry tells her she's not to blame for what happened, as he's knocked out by the medicine woman.  Poor Henry he goes from one problem to the next and it's like he's the one having all the bad luck ever since he picked up Hector's mantle.  Somehow I don't think he'd have it any other way.  So as we head into the season 4 finale, it's a case of will Walt find Henry and Gab and figure out he's Hector and his part in the shooting.  Will Walt and the doc get together, which doesn't look like it with their schedules.  What's Cady going to do as she doesn't want to get Henry into trouble and she doesn't really know what's going on.  At least the show keeps us coming back from more instead of being stagnant and stuck in the moment or drawing out storylines far longer than they need to be.

The Musketeers 3.1 "Spoils of War" Review

                                            
Series 3 began with the Musketeers still fighting against the Spanish and the usual battle scenes we've seen before.  This time Athos (Tom Burke) notices a hooded man upon the battlefield and it appears he's the new baddie who kidnaps General Lantier (Terence Beesley) and the plans for the route the weapons wagon will be taking, lopping off the general's hand as he doesn't oblige him.  The three give chase and the new baddie, aka mercenary Lucien Grimaud (Matthew McNulty) gets his chance to hijack the weapons shipment.

We get to see Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) in his monk attire as he takes back some orphans to the monastery and one of them, Luc (Sam Clemmett) pretends to be a soldier and play acts fighting.  Of course Aramis won't hear of it and Luc comes across the raid.  Aramis must protect him from the mercenary and tells him they're only children and won't remember anything.  Grimaud wants the wagon taken to the monastery where they can hide it until the Spanish arrive to pick it up.  At the monastery the Abbot (John Woodvine) tells Aramis he's not ready to take his vows, all he does is tend to his beard, which funnily enough he does again as soon as he remarks on it.  Obviously the Abbot, stubborn as he was, was going to end up fodder considering he wouldn't listen to Aramis when he told them they must leave before the mercenaries get there.

Too late as they arrive and lock up the monks and the Abbot is stabbed by Grimaud as he attempts to close the gate himself and get the men out.  Aramis takes the children into the cellar in a bid to get them out through a secret tunnel but looks like he took a long time getting them ready.  And yes I know I tweeted this but it did look The Sound of Music, what with him hiding out in the cellar like they did with the children in the Abbey and then leading them out into the woods, only this time they'll be caught.  Okay jumping the gun a little.

As the Musketeers approach Luc gets out and rings the bell for help, which they hear and head for the monastery as Luc escapes through the secret exit into the woods and brings the other three back.
Whislt D'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino) and Athos are happy to see him, Porthos (Howard Charles) holds a grudge cos Aramis wasn't there to watch his back and really isn't in the hugging mood.  They devise a plan to wait until dark and get the children out.  As night falls, they lead the children out, The Great Escape style by getting them to follow a rope even though the monastery is surrounded.  As Porthos and Aramis are left to take the wagon out after they fight the men at the monastery and also free the other monks.  They explode the wagon and the Spanish flee.  Athos also having recognized Grimaud as the man he saw on the battlefield.

As Aramis takes the children away, after praying and realizing that God has chosen this destiny for him after all, he is tracked by the men and must fight them off, showing once again as D'Artagnan reminds us earlier, that he's the best shot out of all of them.
Aramis: "I thought I understood your plan.  Now you seem to be showing me another path.  In the middle of all the excitement today, you were closer to me than any time in all my years here.  I've never felt so alive.  This is what you made me a Musketeer."  As Athos listens to him.
They head for Paris and Treville (Hugo Speer) introduces the three to Feron (Rupert Everett) and he thinks they're a bunch of old men who've had their day.  As D'Artagnan reunites with Constance (Tamla Kari).

So we now get bastard brother of Louis (Ryan Gage) and new governor of France with his dastardly plot to overthrow Louis no doubt, but Treville stands in his way as does Constance.  Who stops one of the cadets from being beaten up in a fight with the Red Guards.  Feron calls him a wimp and sends him home.  As Treville seeks audience with Louis to tell him what's really happening but Feron stops him and brings a pony for the dauphin so that Louis will be distracted.  Meanwhile Feron's in league with Grimaud.  Who gives him some drug to ease his pain, as well as saying he's sticking around in Paris too.

This was an episode which promised much in its opening and seeing as this is the final season, it has plenty to deliver and live up to.  The new villain seems a man of few words, but plenty of venom and I can't help but think back to The Paradise and Jamaica Inn when I see Matthew McNulty in anything, with varying degrees of characters in both shows, he still manages to seem the same to me in his portrayals and playing a baddie here doesn't do much for me I'm afraid.  Also he rather reminds me of a poor Sir Guy of Gisborne from Robin Hood (played by Richard Armitage) or the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, yes I'm into cliche territory here, but that's my opinion.

It was good to see the comrades reuniting and Porthos finally putting aside his grudge with Aramis for not being there for him, though we all knew Aramis was not destined to be a man of the cloth and he finally sees that for himself.  It's no surprise, once a Musketeer, always a Musketeer.  With Porthos even having to get in the, "one for all" line (yeah BBC One for all with the licence fee still being forced upon us!  ha)  Plenty to look forward to, so just sit back and enjoy the final series, let's hope it goes out blazing! But the BBC took along time screening it cos usually we get shows here first, it's ten months since I talked to Luke Pasqualino about the show and it's taken this long for it to air!!

Longmire 4.8 "Hector Lives" Review

                                                  
Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips) sets up a punching bag and boxes, aiming to prepare himself for taking on Gab's (Julia Jones) attackers.  As one of them is found dead at the oil rig after drowning in 3" of mud and being hit by a pipe.  It could be an accident or it could be Henry, or someone else of course.  At the office Walt (Robert Taylor) gets messages which we know are from the doc, with Vic (Katee Sackhoff) being nosy and asking Ruby (Lou Anne Stephens) who they're from.  She tells her to mind her own business and so she should, but later on when she's in his office she finds a note in the bin and looks through his drawer, finding post-its with a message saying the doc called.  Of course it was obvious Vic wouldn't and couldn't leave things alone.  I mean she should face it, he doesn't want her or is interested in her so don't prolong the agony.

Zachary (Barry Sloane) thinks maybe one of the law officers could be behind it whilst going through suspects and Ferg (Adam Bartley) thinks it could be the man who found him if he lost out on a promotion.  Walt and Vic drive to Cumberland County to view the DB and Sheriff  Jim Wilkins (Tom Wopat) allows them to question the workers and Walt will owe him two favours.  The foreman, Walker (Callum Keith Rennie) tells them he was promoted and he was only working as a roughneck before. Eamon )Josh Cooke) who accompanied them for good will thinks that Vic should investigate the trailer and they find Archer (Lew Temple) who was the man that had the DB of the woman in his bag is missing.

Walt wants to find out if Gab's father, Sam Poteet (Hank Cheyne) will speak with him and if Nighthorse (A Martinez) will give him permission to talk with him as he's doing things the right way, after getting Ferg and Zachary to draw up a list of Gab's relatives.  Nighthorse thinks that Zachary's influence is rubbing off on him, at least his calmer nature.  But he won't let him speak to Sam cos whenever something happens the Cheyenne are always accused and they don't get any justice, so he's looking out for the little people.  Walt telling him that's new cos last week he was handing out loans to people via Malachi and then beating them up and stealing their money back so they can't pay them off.  Nighthorse doesn't deny so much knowing what's happening, whether it's with his approval or not.  He tells him to leave.

Walt having paid a visit to Gab with Henry to inform her finds that her mother's gone on holiday and bought her a TV.  She asks which one is killed and she doesn't know he's dead.  Cady (Cassidy Freeman) catches Henry washing mud off his clothes and his truck at work and he says it's car trouble.  She's got  a job helping someone on the Res and it was silly of Henry to make himself so obvious when there must be a thousand deserted and off the track places where he could've washed the mud away, wherever it came from.  Which will have ramifications when later Cady finds out from Vic that the rapist was found in mud.  She loses her temper at Henry and accuses him of the killing. He denies it and tells her once again that he had car trouble and after everything that she and these people did for him when he was in prison, he wouldn't throw it back at them and she thinks the same.

Ferg is jealous of Zachary and the fact that he gets a promotion in that he's able to ask his questions and put forward ideas.  He decides to change the order of his name on the board outside.  As Vic catches him but then he catches her in Walt's office, each agreeing they didn't see anything.  Zachary and Walt get into the casino to question Sam and he tells them she is his daughter but if Hector did do it then they need an army to settle the scores and the injustices against the Cheyenne.  Malachi's security throws them out.  Walt also having words with Henry about 'Hector Lives' after he sees the graffiti on a burned out car.  Telling Henry he doesn't look too surprised and Henry replies that is his surprise face.  That Hector living is an idea in peoples' minds and he lives in that way.  Don't think Walt bought that but he had no reason not to believe Henry.

Eamon brings by the report saying the sheriff ruled the death an accident and especially since the oil company was putting pressure on him.  On top of that, he adds that he did have a tooth missing as Ferg asked him.  He'll fax over the coroner's report.  Walt also telling them he and Henry used to work on a rig in Prudhoe Bay (Ice Road Truckers territory, ha) and he wouldn't have been promoted already, it'd take at least three years or more.  Vic goes looking for Archer and spots a hit on an online escort agency.  He calls her to arrange a meeting and she arrests him.

Archer reluctantly tells them he knew Will had spoken with Walker and he was promoted but he thinks he was killed for what he knew about the company and they'd probably be after Archer now for what they think he knew about the company.  Walt knows where he'd find them and sends Zachary to the casino cos he hasn't been drinking alcohol whereas Ferg has, just as Ferg's been trying to make amends for his treatment of him.  Zachary saying it's hard for him to fit into their family.  At the Res party they arrest Trot (Aaron McPherson) cos he killed Will.  There were traces of mud in his throat and lungs which means he was still alive when he was killed.  Also Henry shows up to exact his revenge on Tyler (Nick E Tarabay) which as know involved tooth pulling and not murder.  None of the acts he carried out on behalf of Hector involved any killing.

However Gab turns up with a gun and shoots him leaving the gun behind when Henry tells her to run. They hear the shots and Walt checks it out.  He fires at Henry running away, obviously not knowing it's Henry.  Leaving up yet more possibilities of whether Henry has actually been shot or not, where he'd go for help, obviously the Res perhaps, or whether Walt will find out what he's doing as well. Seems Henry's always caught in the middle and can't seem to get things going his way ever since he returned from prison, such as losing his bar and having to work as a lackey for Malachi.  Now he's picked up Hector's mantle, things have gone from bad to worse.

Once Upon A Time 5.22 "Only You" 5.23 "An Untold Story" Review

                                              
Emma (Jennifer Morrison) wanted to tell the world about Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) so after some snogging, she changed her mind cos she wanted to break the news to Regina (Lana Parilla) first. She'll be upset that she can't have Robin back ever, but Hook returned from the underwrold.  Well that's hardly his fault, blame Zeus.  As Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) and David (Josh Dallas) try and comfort her over losing Robin.  Zelena (Rebecca Mader) tells them she only needs her sister. Rumples (Robert Carlyle) has the crystal and heads to the clock tower, where else, to harness all of its power to make him even more powerful and in essence removing all of magic from Storybrooke. There's an earth shattering explosion and in walks Hook asking what the bloody 'ell that was.  Regina a little shocked, but tells Emma she was wrong to worry about her and they need to see what's happening.  At the tower the find it had to be Rumples and Regina tells Emma that she wants to help and shouldn't just sit this one out.  Which is right, I mean Emma may be the Saviour, but she's not exactly perfect at using her magic and knowing what to do.  Henry (Jared Gilmore) thinks he knows of a way of getting rid of magic once and for all and he finds that Violet (Olivia Steele-Falconer) is now talking to him again.

He plans to go to New York to find out what Neal was looking for when he wanted to do the same thing. They eventually find he's gone and try to track him before Rumples does.  Henry putting money into the safe in the pawn shop, well it looked like he was but of course he was being light fingered and also taking the author's pen, cos this will help him as he writes on the page and gets the crystal in his hands.  Violet goes with him as they head ot the bus stop.

The stragglers remaining behind in Storybrooke want to get back home before all magic disappears and Zelena uses her wand to open up a portal for them to leave.  Little John (Jason Burkart) wants to take Roland too but he's worried he'll leave without saying goodbye to Regina.  Zelena tells him she would want him raised in Sherwood Forest and Roland leaves an arrow tip for her which belonged to Robin.  As the last of the people go through Zelena finds she can't close the portal as something's stopping her, that was a Stargate moment and they're all swept into the portal, with Granny (Beverley Elliott) left holding the baby this time.  The crystal having an effect on magic already.

They end up in another land where there's a building which looks like an asylum (cos it was River View, the asylum building from Supernatural and other shows)  They also see a man outside and they ask him for help, but he's afraid of the Warden.  A man dressed in a strait jacket, it was a strait jacket shows up and zaps them all.  They find themselves in a cage and Zelena can't use her magic.  The Doctor aka the Groundsman (Hank Harris) tells them he can't let them out as he doesn't have the key and will come back later.  Zelena tells him her wand is broken and she needs to fix it.  The potions are in the lab which the Warden (Sam Witwer) keeps.  He will try and takes the wand.  They were trusting seeing as it's the only thing that'll get them back.  In said lab the guard feeds him his serum and he transforms into Hyde.  Of course we know it's Jekyll and Hyde and the Doctor is the one and the same.  Hyde pays them a visit and has a diabolical plan to get out of this realm.  Yeah another villain with delusions of grandeur and setting his sights on Storybrooke.

In the lab the guard and Hyde try to fool Jekyll into thinking he actually foiled his plans and he takes the wand to them and lets them out.  He wants to go with them and he's finally found a way to separate the two personalities inside himself, with the flowers he was collecting.  He injects himself and is released into two, as the others are told to run.  Apparently Hook hasn't heard of Jekyll and Hyde as Snow figures out that's the book he's from.  As he tries to kill Jekyll, they return and Zelena zaps him with her magic.  But Hyde also opens a portal later and takes Pandora's box from Gold.

They end up in a place which looked like the market place cum tavern from other seasons and Jekyll tells him this is a land where all gather from different realms.  They find they can't get out and Hyde catches up with them. It's the land of untold stories.  Okay so guess we all saw the separating the good and evil sides as applying to Regina coming, since she's talking about the Evil Queen again and that foreshadowing always has to take place.  It's like they're going round full circle cos that's how we started out in season 1, with the Evil Queen.

How could Emma not realize Henry would head to New York and not Boston, as she put GPS on his phone which leads them to Boston.  Regina gets frustrated and fireballs his phone, Emma thinking her feelings about her were confirmed and that she is still raw after Robin.  Regina does a location spell using some of Emma's blood and by the look on Emma's face you'd think she wasn't able to stand a pin prick!  They locate him in New York, seems Emma doesn't know Henry as well as she think she does.  Regina realizes the crystal has made it possible for magic to exist outside of Storybrooke, but it did anyway didn't it.  Zelena was using magic when she was Marion, and she used magic when Gold was in hospital.  Anyway minor plot hole aside, Emma and Regina trail Henry back to Neal's apartment which it seems hasn't been cleaned out, but Robin had it, so unlikely it would've been.

Regina still ruing Robin and finds a Robin Hood Myths and Legends book she gave him which he had brought here with him.  Emma searches on the computer and Regina finds a letter from Robin telling her how proud he is of her embracing the good life and the good within her.  So she begins to doubt if she really is cos she has a dilemma, if she becomes the Evil Queen again then she'll lose Henry and her friends, but being good hasn't helped her much, especially in the true love stakes. Emma traces Henry to the library and even has to say the name out loud cos she's just saved Gold the trouble of finding him.

At the library Henry finds there are plenty more storybooks written and there are many worlds out there.  Which shouldn't have been anything new cos they already knew there are other magical realms.  He finds one which shows where Snow, David, Zelena and Hook are right now, but no one pays any attention of course cos they don't know.  Henry gives up and then Violet spots the grail and tells him about how it might help.  Too late though as Gold arrives, puts them to sleep and takes the crystal.  When Emma and Regina arrive Henry tells them he didn't find anything as he's hidden the grail and still wants to remove all magic.  Gold returns to the hotel and orders food but he only wants the sterling silver tray for his spell.  You'll recall, Belle in the box (ha) was taken through the portal and ends up with Hyde in the same realm as the others.

Regina and Emma spot the big storm cloud surrounding the hotel whilst the people didn't give it a second thought, must be global warming.  They hatch a plan for Regina will distract him and Emma will steal the crystal.  Regina and Emma have lost their power.  Emma only now reading Granny's message about the others being in another realm, which means they need magic to get them back. Regina thought she fooled him in to thinking he needed her help but he realized Emma was after the crystal and magicked it away from her.  Too late cos Henry shows up and in the middle of it all he zaps the crystal into the grail, thus destroying all magic.  Oops he didn't listen about the others being trapped!  Emma spoke to Henry about how their lives were perfect here but then Hook found them and brought them back.  As Regina and Rumple head to the Dragon's (Tzi Ma) shop, you know the one August went to see.  He tells him he won't help him but will help Regina cos she's good now and has overcome that evil struggle.

Henry figured out if they made wishes in the fountain by throwing pennies in then they could make the portal appear, only it didn't work, so he got everyone there to throw in pennies and suddenly in the other realm is was raining pennies and hey presto a portal opens and gets them all back to New York,  of course no one noticed Gold going through the portal and Hyde was too late to come through.  They make a deal Hyde'll give him info on how to get Belle back if he gives him                 something in return.  Oh and apparently the crowd think Henry is some crazy magician who was playing a trick but Emma tells him for one moment he had them all believing in magic.

As Regina wallows some more, Snow brings her coco and adds some magic ingredient, probably stole Hook's flask!  ha.  She tells him Hyde and Jekyll separated so there's some serum left over and she can destroy the Evil Queen from inside of her once and for all.  Emma helps and after much soul searching she brings her out.  Being threatened she's too cowardly to go through with it.  But Regina does grab her heart and turns it to dust, only nothing is permanently destroyed as we'll see.  So it was back home and Emma finally telling Hook she loves him before there was anymore drama and cue wedding dress in ye old shoppe window behind them, hint hint.  Violet tells Henry her father's still here cos he was the original Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court! So she'll be here too, kiss kiss!

Also Hyde is in Storybrooke cos guess what, he got it from Gold in return for Belle.  Hyde telling Regina "evil is not as easy to destroy as you think."  Which is what, an oxymoron or some silly statement cos they have destroyed evil, that is the crux of all fairytales: to destroy evil and to 'live happily ever after.'  Only in this show it ain't!  Suppose that's why Jekyll wanted to separate Hyde from himself cos he couldn't very well kill him or destroy him, perhaps the same with Regina. With the amount of times they mentioned happily ever after it was bound not to happen, cos at the end of the day or the book, the show's better with evil and since Zelena also reformed, they can't really have her go back to that again, that'll be too much of a repeat of Regina and the Evil Queen.  However Regina will always have that streak in her, even if she's removed it from her.  Also the entire premise of the show was the Evil Queen, so they won't do it any justice by having her killed.  Wonder if they'll still do flashbacks next season.  Oh I should add Zelena was more "wicked" than evil!

Still we got plenty of violins in play everytime they showed Hyde, it's not like it was some hopeless romantic scene, oh wait the Evil Queen can get together with him and not just as a powerful ally, maybe romantically.  Ha.  They'd have plenty of enemies to destroy.  Love it whenever they get Regina to say "destroy", oops I mean the Evil Queen to say it cos once again that's how we came into season 1, she was out to "destroy you if it's the last thing I do!"  As she kept threatening Snow et al.  Also it seemed David was the only one who openly welcomed Hook back, maybe it was their heart to heart talk they had in the underworld when they decided they would get Snow back by chnaging the name on the headstone.

Oh I think it strange (not really) that when I wrote my Quantum Leap book, I wrote about references to Alice in Wonderland and Jekyll and Hyde and lo behold I see the same transpiring in OUAT!  Some kinda coincidence that or what?  Ha.

http://www.amazon.com/Leaping-infinity-Unofficial-unauthorized-articles/dp/1291438289/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463621184&sr=1-10&keywords=mila+hasan

Mysteries Of Laura 2.16 "The Mystery at the End of the Watch" Review

                                              
Jake (Josh Lucas) rushes to find that Laura (Debra Messing) is okay and Santiani (Callie Thorne) was the one who was killed.  She has to break the news to Justin (Lewis Grosso) Santiani's son and also Meredith (Janina Gavankar) finds the bullets could have gone either way cos the killer didn't compensate for windshift.  So they think Laura is the target, as Jake watches the video of the shooting over and over.  Laura tells him the only one that is the possible threat is Chun (Louis Ozawa Changchien)  At the holding cells, they find Chun escaped by swapping his ID bracelet with another prisoner, Calvin Wo (Jake Choi).  He tells Meredith he was scared and when he asked he just went ahead with it, cos the last person who argued with him, his wife, got killed.  He doesn't know where he is or wants to know.  Laura recalls Chun's baby photo on the phone and telling her he's ten days old.  As well as knowing that each hospital has different blanket designs for babies.  This one belongs to Brooklyn.  Max (Max Jenkins) checks out all births within 12 days and they narrow it down to one woman who hasn't listed the father's name, which also gives them an address..

Meredith tells Laura she and Billy (Laz Alonso) will go cos they can't let her out.  When they arrest him, Chun tells him he didn't order the hit on Santiani but there was a hit on her, which leaves Laura in the clear.  Meredith worries about Max cos he hasn't cried at all or shown any emotion.  Jake thinks she doesn't have many cases here so maybe the case goes back to Santiani's old precinct as well as it being personal, putting her ex, Vince (Scott Cohen) into the picture.  Laura and Billy go to Justin's grandmother's (Mercedes Ruehl) house to speak with him but find he's missing.  Probably been kidnapped by Vince as he's left his phone.

                                         
Jake tells Laura to go home cos she's been awake since the press conference.  She needs to see the kids and spend as much time with them as possible.  Laura tells him Santiani had tickets to Florida for Justin to see the space centre and now she won't get to take him.  Jake tells Billy he's going to take the plunge and ask Jennifer (Jenna Fisher) to marry him, life's too short and especially after his health scare, he doesn't know how long he's got but he was honest with her.  Billy thinks it's too soon to ask but he understands.  He could be next very soon.  Lucy's (Debby Ryan) been looking after the twins and has them ready for school as well as keeping the house in order.   Laura's grateful for her being here.  She's so sad and then recalls that Santiani kept tabs on Justin at all times with his bracelet.  She tells Meredith to access Santiani's computer, but they need a password.  Laura thinks she still kept the password she was issued with and she finds Justin's location.

Jake goes in as a gas man checking the meter and Vince tells them he didn't do it.  He was worried about Justin so he had to take him.  Justin tells Laura he's here voluntarily.  His father loves him and wouldn't hurt him.  Also at Vince's apartment they find a payment plan for 300K which they think could have been for the shooter he hired.  Laura's comment on whether Jennifer's seen his bachelor pad yet.  Jake tells him to take a polygraph and Laura tells him they're asking the wrong questions.  Jennifer personally accompanied their own polygrapher and she tells Jake she was worried when she heard an officer was shot and blabs a lot.  As Laura watches them.  Laura asks Vince if he feels guilty about his wife's death and he does.  He used to watch out for the Nolan brothers at the docks and he missed a shipment on his watch they used to skim from, so he owed them and they       demanded it now.  They had a relative on the NYPD who got a payment and death benefits and so they hurried along the process, threatening Justin next.  He loved his wife and loves his son.

Max finds info on the brothers and they make Vince wear a wire and lure them in when he pays them a percentage back.  Laura recalled Santiani's words and made him wear a wire where the sun don't shine, arresting the brothers.  Justin's grandmother agrees to let Vince look in on Justin cos she doesn't want him losing another parent.  As the precinct says farewell to the  Captain with a radio call to "Captain Santiani; Central to Captain Santiani...Captain Santiani end of watch.."  As Josh said that's how they say goodbye to a captain in real life too.  All very poignant, just as she and Laura were becoming friends.  Laura hated how she did things like her too, which is why they didn't get on.

Jake asks Billy to wish him luck and Billy also tells Laura what he's going to do.  Laura goes home and cries and Lucy tells her to "seize the day by the balls!"  But sadly, the day has ended into night and when she gets to the NBC Observation Deck (obviously) she finds him already at dinner.  She tells him that he treated her like hell and well she's sorry as she did the same but she's still in love with him.  He tells her she took this long to tell him.  Laura wants him to throw the ring out of the window and come home to her bed and never leave!!  They kiss and what an awful long kiss that was, phew...!!  Jennifer walks in asking if there's anything she can do and we spot the ring on her finger, he's already proposed, wow thought he would've waited til later, you know the night was still young and all that!

No to nitpick but, er, Jake you kinda 'cheated' on Jennifer already by kissing your ex after you're already engaged!  So it was with great trepidation that we heard on 14th May that NBC had cancelled the show!!  Spoilt sports and all that, to put it mildly!  How the hell do you not renew even just to give fans closure.  We didn't want blood, just a few eps like 6 even, to finish off and give the show a perfect ending we always wanted, after the actors and fans invested so much emotion into the show. Seems no other Network wants to pick it up and finish it off either.  Hey Netflix how about it??  Just so we fans can have some closure!  It was sad wasn't it, they lose a Captain, say goodbye to her and then we have to say goodbye to a show we love!  A double whammy for us!

Would've been good to see what would've happened next, would Jake leave Jennifer, would they walk around each other's feelings again, would Jake take over as Captain once again...oh NBC how we hate you!!

Debra Messing tweeted: "Let's just say Jake called off the engagement and ran to Laura and lived happily ever after."
Josh Lucas: "..and that Jake and Laura then retired from the NYPD, sold the house, moved to a small cabin where the twins fish daily."  And they make dairy product!!  @Jake and Laura's Ice Cream Perfection.'  What I had to say that to stop myself from blubbing!!

On the cancellation Debra tweeted: "My dear Diamonds our story has ended but it was a joyous story to tell. We are all so grateful to you for your love." #DiamondsForever

Josh: "Truly I'm grateful to all the friends and supporters of @NBCLaura  @DebraMessing is an amazing costar our cast and crew were blessed Thank you!"