The Vampire Diaries 8.11 "You Made A Choice To Be Good" Review

                                           
Damon (Ian Somerhalder) tells Stefan (Paul Wesley) how he will get him back and he's on his redemption bit after getting his humanity back and is enjoying it.  Whereas Stefan just wants to get him back on his killing spree arrangement.  He's in such a good mood that he's going to make pancakes, cos Stefan needs to be left alone doesn't he otherwise nothing will work!  Cade (Wole Parks) comes to the Mystic Grill and stands behind Bonnie (Kat Graham) where he talks of the numbers of coffees available and then when she leaves he talks of how the worker is having an affair with the employer's wife and where they go for lunch on certain days. Which we later see Matt (Zach Roerig) and Caroline (Candice King) speak of since Matt had to break up the fight.  As Caroline and Matt speak at the Mystic Falls Founder's Day Time Capsule unearthing.  Matt being a little nervous as he's the speaker.  She finds the capsule she, Elena and Bonnie buried when they were 11.

What's the betting Matt's heirloom necklace is a key to beating Cade aka Arcadius!  Otherwise there was no point in Darius (Demetrius Bridges) giving it to him cos it'd just be an ordinary necklace and clearly it's not since everything else is somehow all connected.  I liked how Caroline told Matt everything bad in this town was already going on before all the darkness Matt makes reference to happening now.  It's just they were children and the adults didn't want them to know.  Of course she's right and there's no amount of thinking otherwise that'll change that.  Just look at Matt and his own family.  Matt refers to her darkness.  Darius decides he doesn't want to be immortal after what he's seen and wants to live a full life, or as far as he can in this place.  He heads back to research some more on the code cypher that Matt found in the capsule.  Again that'll help them with Cade as he finds something in a different language he hasn't come across.  Naturally Alaric would tell him about vampires and everything else supernatural going on cos someone had to take his place.  Matt's credited for the past two eps but hasn't appeared.

Darius says he thought his family was cursed, it's what the family thought and also how they beat it, until they had a fire and his father and sister died.  Now he just wants to get on with it as Caroline offers him an alternative, becoming a vampire by drinking her blood if the worst comes to it.  After offering the same to Matt before, but he doesn't want that either.  Matt'd prefer to go up in flames with Mystic Falls than survive.  There must be some humans and humanity left in a town overrun with all sorts of spooky elements.  I liked the contrast here between the two humans, Matt and Darius who choose to remain as they are and would rather die than become unnatural beings.  As opposed to Damon who wants the cure when Elena awakens and also Bonnie wanting Enzo (Michael Malarkey) to become human too.

Of course the other killer in this ep (sorry no pun) was how they killed off Enzo.  Now the bucket list: foreshadowing if ever there was any.  Uh-oh do you think Bonnie set off that chain of events by wanting him to do everything humans would do whilst he's still immortal.  Just incase...well the inevitable did happen and she's going to have a hard time dealing with Stefan being human now and doing what he did.  More importantly Stefan will also have an even harder time now dealing with everything cos it'll be too painful for him.  Just like it was for Damon when Sybil gave him back his humanity.  Enzo's bucket list consisting of drag racing, with the cliched "fast cars and beautiful women."  Or as I like to say fast cars and even faster women!  Ha.  And sky diving, seems he was into the extreme stuff so why didn't he do all that before.  But he had a blast in that racing car, who wouldn't?!  Or poignantly carrying Bonnie over the threshold cos he's never going to do that.  SO there was their trip to Paris which was all they ever had together after everything they went through.

Then Bonnie telling Damon she'll go ahead and get the cure cos at least people will be saved at the expense of her own happiness once again, how her words rang out to be true! (Okay no pun again in reference to the bell) so what good is that pesky bell now that they were hiding it still, it already kinda served its purpose with Cade making an entrance into the world.

Also can't say Stefan getting the cure from Bonnie was a shock, saw that coming as soon as he was headed to the house.  Cos he definitely didn't want to be human.
The other kicker here was how Bonnie was on the phone to Damon when he was telling her he needs the cure for Cade so that he becomes mortal and they can kill him, cos he can't die by fire or removing heart.  It's a wonder he has a heart!  But Enzo could hear her with his heightened sense of hearing.  They were taking an awfully long time to get the blood from Elena, yeah let's mess around as they've got all the time in the world.

Ah Stefan you have a lot to answer for.  Compelling the estate agent (Reece Odum) to buy the house back in her name and inviting him in.  Why didn't he get the house in his name instead, it's not like they don't know where he was headed.  Then Bonnie bringing Elena here without telling anyone didn't help.  It was like sending Damon on a wild goose chase and wasting time.  Cade reading her thoughts was too easy even if he does have psychic abilities.  Wouldn't she have bought the house in a different name and just leaving the coffin there in an empty house where anyone could've come in freely.

The conversation with Damon and Stefan in the car was also an interesting one, Stefan just wants to get rid of Damon for good so he doesn't have to help him or rely on him anymore, which he says he'll do.  But how much does Damon really rely on him and anyway they're brothers, it's what they do and have always done.  Also Stefan was the one who brought him into this life by turning him, so maybe he was the one who couldn't live without Damon and his interfering all along.  Thinking that Elena is the one who weakens Damon and gets between them.  Was there a hint of jealousy there in Stefan. He saw her first, loved her first and lost her first and to Damon of all people.
There was a bit of Alfred Hitchock's Strangers on a Train going on here with Stefan opting for Damon to kill Caroline or the hundred people cos as Cade reveals to Damon his choice was to kill Elena and not the hundred souls.  Which Damon opted for instead of Caroline and he can't go back and change his mind now.  Obviously Cade kept that quiet and should've known he couldn't bargain with the devil.

Anyway is Stefan meant to age prematurely now and die sooner rather than later, of course can't Damon or Caroline just turn him again and well probably he and Caroline will get their happy ending.  Again Damon's plans falling to pieces as always on this show, seems Caroline's plan to make Cade human didn't work out either but they weren't really sure it would.  Damon killed Tyler, Stefan killed Enzo, at least there's no ending in sight as to what the Salvatore brothers can do.  Really maybe I'm the only one but I don't want Damon and Elena to get their happy ending cos Damon's too good for her. Okay I said it!  Also Bonnie will get her powers back and what will she do with Enzo's blood?

The title is a reference to Elena's line to Stefan from 1.20  Blood Brothers and amazingly it resonates here with perfection since he is now good as a human again and ironically it wasn't by his own choice and he certainly didn't want to be good.  He wanted to remain a Ripper but not have Damon in his way or life. Though removing Enzo's heart from behind was also a cowardly act on his part.  In this season 1 ep Alaric also asks Damon if they always have to be invited in, being a bit of an iffy question where there aren't private houses, however both Enzo and Stefan here showed again that they do.  Elena and Damon also speak of having to lock up Stefan so he didn't go around 'chewing up' the people!  Again ironically it's exactly what he does as the Ripper.

Another line from Blood Brothers which has connotations on the conversation Damon and Stefan have is where Damon says to Stefan: "you brood too much.  Everything on the planet's not your fault. My actions what I do, it's not your fault, I own them.  They belong to me.  You're not allowed to feel my guilt."  There are some things on the Vampire Diaries planet which are their fault!

This season is much better than last one I mean that was dire, leaping back and forth three years, days, whatever!  At least the final ever season will go out with a bang!  Maybe no one should get their happy ending!! Hey even more poignant if they had Michael's Scars song in this ep, but alas that's what Bonnie et all will be left with !

Longmire 3.9 "Counting Coup" Review

                                             
Walt (Robert Taylor) questions Travis (Derek Phillips) along with Vic (Katee Sackhoff) since they haven't been able to get hold of Branch (Bailey Chase) on his phone. Travis tells them he's afraid of Branch and there's no telling what he might do, especially since he threatened him after he found out he told Vic everything about kidnapping Sam (Hank Cheyne).  Branch gets a call from David Ridges (David Midthunder) telling him to leave the past alone, the ghosts and there's no record of it again on his phone.  Branch gets to the bridge and Ridges's tells him he will kill Branch next time and how his soul is his.  His jumps off the bridge, where Branch shoots at him several times and Ridges still gets the last laugh by taunting him several times that he managed to get away.

Walt and Vic speak with Sam and ask why Branch kidnapped him.  He burns sage and tells them his office needs some cleansing.  Sam thinks Walt is protecting Branch and Walt assures him Branch will face the consequences of his actions.  Sam says that Branch no longer has a soul, echoing the sentiments of Ridges's who told him he owns his soul and he won't have any piece of mind anymore. Ferg (Adam Bartley) is angry that no one's told him what's happening over the past and he still doesn't know.  Saying he's done so much for Walt and he's always in the dark.  He doesn't even get his own desk, which Walt remedies now by throwing off Branch's things and name plate and puts Ferg's there instead.  Frankly it wasn't a good time to confront Walt, cos he still doesn't know what's happening.

Cady (Cassidy Freeman) finds out the court date has been moved up to two weeks.  She will try for a continuance.  Cameron (Nick Gehlfuss) looks at the file the prosecution has sent over and says it's a bit thin.  Ruby (Louanne Stephens) gives Walt an envelope from Sean which contains divorce papers for Vic, so deliver them yourself, what a loser he really was!  But then Vic has a knack for finding those.  Branch rocks in and doesn't make any sense about the bridge incident and Vic doesn't help when she mentions how crazy Branch is acting.  He grabs her by the neck and pushes her towards the window.  Walt breaks it up and locks Branch in the cell.  Branch tells her he doesn't harbour any ill will and thinks Ferg should follow up on his lead at the bridge.  However Vic says she'll go cos she doesn't want to stay here with him.  Barlow (Gerald McRaney) arrives and demands that Ferg let Branch go.  He refuses but then he threatens Ferg's father.

Walt arrives to find Branch gone and Ferg tells him about Barlow's threats.  Walt drives to the bridge and Vic finds a phone tucked into the seat which belongs to Ridges.  She then finds Branch's number was dialled.  Branch is told by Barlow that he''ll be there for him and he then locks him into his room, after showing him the business cards he had made up for him, hoping he'd join him.  Walt and Vic turn up to rarest Nighthorse (A Martinez) and when he says Ridges isn't alive, he tells him he made 17 calls to Nighthorse.  In the cell Nighthorse wants a deal and agrees to arrange a meeting with him next time he calls.  In return he wants all charges dropped.  Also saying Ridges told him he was going to kill Branch, but he advised against it.  He doesn't listen to him anymore.

Walt hands Vic the appears and admits he didn't say what he should've the other day.  That he values her as a worker and doesn't want her to resign.  She signs the papers.  Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips) calls Malachi (Graham Greene) and tells him if he doesn't tell him about Darius's whereabouts when Walt's wife was killed, he's going to set the bar on fire.  If he tells him then he can have the deed. Malachi thinks he's bluffing and Henry throws the lighter onto the fuel.  Walt arrives as the fire is put out and Henry tells him he set it on fire.  Darius was in Connecticut and this is confirmed by Cady. Barlow finds Branch gone as the alarm sounds and finds a gun missing.  Nighthorse calls Walt telling him where Ridges is and as Walt drives there, he finds that someone had already warned him as he drives off in his truck.  Then Ridges appears dressed as a White Warrior.  Branch threatens Travis but says he won't shoot him, he wants his truck and also takes the radio, listening to Walt on there as he tells Vic he knows where Ridges is.

As Ridges rides towards Walt and knocks him down several times with his spear, he finally goes for Walt and Walt stabs him with his knife.  Finally he gets the man and finding that Branch was right after all and wasn't hallucinating.  Yet he doesn't get any credit for this, not that he wanted it, but seems everyone just deserted Branch in the end.  Nighthorse telling them that Ridges actually was playing counting coup, he wanted to get close enough to touch him.  He shot Branch instead.  But it had to be Walt who brought down Ridges and had been gunning for him for a long time (no pun) but it was the knife that got him in the end.

A long series with so much going on though.  At least the stories will be wrapped up even if not to our satisfaction, still leaving open some loose ends for season 4.  Clearly Barlow has an agenda and doesn't even appear to want Branch working with him, especially since he locks him in his room like a little child.  Where he could've done some harm to himself if he wanted to and how was that looking out for his son.  He was more disappointed in him than anything else and of course this was a result of the election and losing, then going back to work for Walt!  His nemesis.  And there goes Henry's hopes of getting the murder charges dropped when eh finds out it wasn't Darius.

Paranormal Lockdown 2.7 "Statler City Hotel" Review

Buffalo's haunted Statler City Hotel, boasting 18 floors and approx 950,000 square feet, also heralds more than just lavish decor and exquisite chandeliers.  It has a bleak history of mob involvement and deaths, as well as the suicide of Mary.  Nick and Katrina investigated the downstairs Turkish baths with the pool, the Terrace, the Nightclub.  To me that meat locker was always on the cards and one place that warranted investigation from the name itself, but it was more than just a 'meat' locker, if you catch my drift.  Most of them always are, especially in a place with so much history of any sort, not just the bad stuff.

The sound from the drum barrel was an immediate clue as to being led there and not only cos of the EVP captured by paranormal investigator, Dan.  But also since it kept coming up in their own EVPs through the Geobox and the spirit being "stuck" there.  Clearly there was enough evidence of wrongdoing and crimes unearthed there by them, that they even had to refrain from mentioning the names in the EVPs they captured, for legal reasons.  A shame since the criminals were already convicted.  A barrel murder was used by the American mafiosi as early as the 1870's and the earliest were found to have taken place in 1875 and 1900 in New York.  Where the Vic was shot, stabbed or otherwise killed and 'stuffed' into a barrel.  Left on a street corner or shipped somewhere which didn't exist.  Again that leads me to the "man on the edge of the street" voice coming through.  Okay not adding anything else to this without having heard any of the EVP names; cos that'll just turn out to be hearsay on my part.

Nick saying he has to "go down there and face that Turkish bath" sounded so torturous! Ha.  But it was with that dirt and dust, not just with what was lurking!  That ITC device looks like it has yellow hands on the screen waiting to grab onto a communication/capture!

That was the sound of a chair being dragged in The Terrace dining room when they were in the pool, which is what I said it was as soon as I heard it.  Also given some validation of a chair being moved when Nick caught it in the night on the 360 degree camera, no doubt the spirit wasn't pleased with Katrina messing up their well ordered surroundings.  That camera's amazing though!
At 31.05 sounds like "Lucas."
At 31.13: "...You actually don't hear that I was swallowed by the drum."  And says it again after Katrina gets that pain in her head.   (Does sound like 'swallowed' to me.)

(Hint: Lip reading is a good thing to do! Katrina!)
Some strange stuff coming through like, "shall I take him off that meeting list" [A meeting being more likely in reference to a Mob meeting.]
Nick asking if he died down here and replies, "yeah man."
Then the boss line.
As well as, "they going to believe us now."

As for "the man on the edge of the street" voice.  The certain family in New York had a title of 'front boss' so attention would be diverted from the main man in charge and later this was revived as "street boss."  Wondering if this had anything to do with the man on the edge of the street coming through, but the revival of this term was rather recent in 1992.  (Associated with a certain crime family.)

I did read about how some sceptical article in a paper stated how Nick and Katrina managed to stir up a murder mystery, but until you actually know everything they uncovered, you can't doubt what they uncovered and secondly that area and the hotel does have a history and a reputation!  Nothing is set in stone one way or another!

There's plenty I'd like to write for this ep, re the names, but other things too but can't cos it's too public a forum, naturally and there's some questions I'd like to ask Katrina and Nick as well, regarding a few issues!  Darn it.  However this remains one of the best investigations to date, in season 2, if only more was able to be shown.  But agreeing with Nick, they need to go back again soon.  The place is too big and active to miss up another opportunity like this.

The Vampire Diaries 8.10 "Nostalgia's A Bitch" Review

                                                
Bonnie (Kat Graham) arrives with something important she wants to speak with Caroline (Candice King) about and needs her advice regarding Enzo,even if she has to make her breakfast in bed.  Only they don't get to talk since they find Damon (Ian Somerhalder) in the chair, out of it, after Sybil (Nathalie Kelley) got her hands on him.  As well as finding Sybil in the dungeon.  She says she can help him but wants the bell in return.  Obviously she was the one who gave him back his humanity and made him remember the hell he's in, as Bonnie says it's painful for him.  She lets Bonnie and Caroline into his head but through the backdoor, with Bonnie remarking how the inside of his head is the same as the outside of his head.  They meet with Vicky (Kayla Ewell) Matt's (Zach Roerig) sister who's still alive, but nobody has heard of Damon Salvatore.  Even the man he rescued from the Civil War, Henry (Evan Gamble) only knows him cos of that but tells them that Damon is dead and died in the Civil War, which is why no one knows him.  Apparently Damon didn't see himself as a vampire and no one else did either, so they don't know him.

Caroline sees her mother, sheriff Forbes (Marguerite MacIntyre) and has to chat with her telling her how she'd forgotten how beautiful she is, as Bonnie sets out to chat with Vicky, but finds Vicky's plaster was actually covering a hickey.  Caroline tells her she's looking for Damon and he's the one who attacked the people, not the animals, but she doesn't know him.  Even when they became good friends and is only helping find him cos he was the only one who understood what she went through after she died.  Her mother tortures her with the light and Caroline tries to convince her of this, as she finally leaves her alone.  She comes back out and also needs Matt to bring the bell back.  As Matt meets with his father (Joel Gretsche) at Vicky's grave, he says he prefers not to remember her cos he failed her.

However Seline (Kristen Gutoskie) also turns up as does Stefan (Paul Wesley) and he tells Caroline he's here to get married.  Then laughs it off.  He tells them Damon needs forgiveness but obviously it's Stefan's forgiveness he needs.  Seline tells Stefan she can can make a better deal for him, if the bell is struck, not only will the sirens be destroyed, but also every soul in Mystic Falls will be destroyed too and that's more souls for Cade (Wole Parks). Which Stefan is happy to make a bargain over since he also needs Damon back so they can get on with their soul collecting.  He compels Matt by removing his vervain bracelet and tells him he must strike the bell twelve times before 9, otherwise he needs to find a way to forgive Damon.  Which he won't do.  So Matt wants his father to kill him, cos either way they're all dead.

Bonnie goes home to Gramps (Jasmine Guy) and asks her for a locator spell for Damon, who's a vampire and tells her about Enzo since he's a vampire too and she's so happy right now and wants to return to it.  She has Damon's letter cos she knows Damon wants her to find him and forgive him. Damon's going to be the only one who will read that letter to her.  She ends up at the crypt where she finds Tyler (Michael Trevino).  Who convinces her Damon's a monster and she can't help him. However she works out what that place means and what she must do.  When she returns she says they need Stefan back here, which was obvious.

So Damon finally meets with Stefan in his head, just as we thought he was going to have a cushy ep where he didn't get any lines, ha; and tells him he figured out who the vampire is in his head, it's not him, but Stefan and it's not he who needs forgiveness but Stefan needs Damon to forgive him for turning him.  He's done that and he forgives him several times over.  As Matt and his father fight each other as he tries to stop Matt from ringing the bell, which he does.  Matt tells him to kill him.  Damon arrives in time and stops him, striking his head against the bell, hoping that one doesn't count.  Peter takes the bell away and Damon apologizes for Vicky.  Which he should've done years ago.  Matt doesn't forgive him and he knows he's got his humanity back, but Damon's been friends with the sheriffs and as Matt is going to become sheriff of Mystic Falls; who knows.  Of course Sybil blabbed to Caroline about Bonnie wanting to use the cure for Enzo, but they didn't even get to talk about that.  She just seemed to be driving a rift between them anyway.  Which was like saying she's not her bestie after all.

Damon hopes he's not interrupting something reflective for Bonnie.
Damon reads the letter to Bonnie from his head:
"Dear Bonnie
I am a coward.  I should be saying this to your face, not writing this letter but I know if I do, you're gonna talk me out of running away from all my problems.  You're gonna make me face a future without Elena; then you're gonna help make me the best man that I could possibly be.  The same way she did and I'm absolutely terrified of failing you both.  So I'm leaving because I'd rather let you down once than let you down for the rest of your life.  And I hope it's the happiest life because you Bonnie Bennett are an amazing woman.  A mediocre crossword puzzle player and my best friend. With great love and respect,
Damon."
Ahh Hugz!  He's sorry he left and it won't happen again.

Then Caroline's promise to Stefan cos it was exactly that, was even if it takes Damon to get Stefan's humanity back, or even if he doesn't, they're go get it back.  Then they will either be friends and get married or they won't, but she's not giving up on him.

I think this by far was one of the best eps this season, as it reinforced what the show was mostly about.  Not just vampires, but two brothers and their friends.  How Damon learned life lessons and how he's changed so much over the years.  When their mission now remains to rescue Stefan and rid the world of Cade.  Who appears for a while on the earth again since the bell was struck eleven times. As Sybil and Seline try to maintain a truce following in the footsteps of Damon and Stefan, they fail miserably and still blame one another for what happened to them.  Cade appears and sets them alight which was such a joy to watch!  Finally the sirens are gone!

Damon's birthday is 18 June 1839.  Damon says the title to Anna in 1.19 Miss Mystic Falls.

Paranormal Lockdown 2.6 "Bellaire House" Review

                                                    
Bellaire House stuck a chord with me as being part of the same or similar exponent or paranormal activity as that experienced in 1.6 Kreischer Mansion of Paranormal Lockdown.  The one where Edward Kreischer's brother Charles conducted the seance after Edward committed suicide.  I mean even here they kept getting the name 'Ed' and Edwin was the owner of Bellaire who conducted the seance after losing his sister: a twin.  Of course opening up untold doorways and portals into the dark and allowing anything negative and evil to come through.

As with Kreischer Mansion, there were rooms and the attic that they were drawn too, as Kristin Lee, the current owner of Bellaire and her children suffered bad paranormal experiences here.  There was a negative presence in wanting Nick back, Kristin's son and all the EVPs such as 'the blood of the child, precious, the child flies', all caught by Steve and Nick in the attic.  As soon as I saw that attic and those windows outside, had an ominous feeling about it, as I tweeted.  Hate when I feel such things and know that happens quite a bit to me over the years.  Well quite a lot.  That's also where Nick said he felt the most uncomfortable.  Yet more uncanny synchronized moments.

See Katrina feeling the badness from the room before even walking into it.  Nick's room.  And the noise on the attic stairs.  When Katrina asks who lives in the attic, sure you can hear a child's voice say, "me."  It's said twice.  At 13.16 "secret" is heard when Katrina asks if there's something not so nice here?
Nick was using Realtime Paranormal Communication to get EVPs with the multiple spirit voices.
Who's Patrick?? as this comes through after, "leave" and then sounds like: "stay in my room..."

The experiment conducted by them with Steve Huff's Wonderbox and George Brown was amazing since they were basically getting the same results in all the different rooms with "sleep, precious, send the child."  At 22.52 "sit next to him" is heard, when "dead" comes through for Nick.  30.46 "enter" is heard.  Followed by "she'll hear us." At the part with the dresser door, was all definitely weird.

Sounded like "puussh" in the attic and also plenty of manipulation going on here with the "jump, Nick, jump" like they were playing a dangerous game, especially after Kristin returns and tells them they had to put locks there since her son ended up at the window and wanted him to come onto the roof.  Destructive, evil spirits here playing their own paranormal games.
Other voices:
"do you think he can see us"
"push."
"slip."

In a weird turn of events I was going to say Nick and Katrina dressing like twins in their leather jackets, but then thought that sounded a little spooky, given the actual twins in the house.

Eliza actually died on the dining room floor, also explaining why Ed conducted the seance there, but why communicate with a child, instead of leaving her to rest in peace.
I had a weird dream with a little girl in period dress, saying she knew there was a baby, her mother didn't want her to know but she knew anyway and all in a confined space, so could've been an attic or crawl space.

Kristin has written two books about her experiences at the house, with the second one out in October 2016.  Bellaire House was also the subject of a My Ghost Story episode.

https://www.amazon.com/1699-Belmont-Street-Portal-Hell-ebook/dp/B00B5WHEYC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1452271880&sr=8-4&keywords=portal+to+hell

The Vampire Diaries 8.9 "The Simple Intimacy of the Near Touch" Review

                                                
As Stefan (Paul Wesley) continues on his blood drinking spree, or spillage, Damon (Ian Somherhalder) still has flashes to Elena and his humanity.  Only Sybil (Nathalie Kelley) is still inside his head.  Which has gotten worse cos of the necklace.  Sybil calls him and Stefan tells him not to pick up.  He's losing his brother from the task at hand and killing people for Cade.  Sybil tells him to return to Mystic Falls and give her the ball he retrieved from the garage.  To which he agrees.  Stefan tells him not to go, but Damon can't help it.  He was meant to refuse but it ended up being a resounded yes.  She's still inside his head somehow.

Bonnie (Kat Graham) returns from Paris with gifts galore for Caroline (Candice King) and one of them is a wedding gift.  She shows Caroline the necklace Enzo (Michael Malarkey) gave her containing his blood as a token of his love.  They prepare for the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, the same one where Damon took Elena to the dance.  As Stefan later tells him it was only cos of his desire for blood and Damon blabbed to everyone that he needed a blood bag.  All to get Elena away from him and that necklace was something he gave Elena, not Damon.  Stefan needed him but he wasn't there for him, instead taking his girl from him.  Sybil finds this out by going in his head and we get flashes to the dance with Damon and Elena together.  She also sees him hitting her and he really doesn't know where that came from.

When Stefan arrives and sees Caroline, there's no moments between them even if there was for Caroline, one of shock to begin with since she doesn't know why he's here and she's not expecting to see him a year later.  He has his own agenda, along with Sybil and Damon.  Sybil wants to see this turn into a bloodbath and gets inside the competitor's heads.  If she doesn't get the bell striker from Damon.  And he manages to tell her no, he won't give it to her.  Caroline tells him about the necklace which is meant to be magical and remind him of his love for Elena.  Which Sybil will manipulate against him at the end.  Stefan also realizes he's got the necklace still and takes it throwing it away at the hall.  Where it stayed, begging the question of why he retrieved it last ep?  Damon still getting flashes of his dance with Elena.  The moment where he did steal her from Stefan and everything went downhill.

Caroline tells Damon she wants it cos the striker as it's a weapon for destroying the sirens and it forms part of the bell.  Which she sends Matt Zach Roerig) to search for as they distract Seline (Kristen Gutoskie) using Dorian (Demetrius Bridges) who she thinks is here for revenge for Georgie, which he is, as he brings the tuning fork with him.  She knows Matt is searching for the bell and also that there's something she needs to tell him: only a member of the Maxwell family can use it. However Sybil's one step ahead as she's tasked the police to kill Matt when he mentions the "bell" as a trigger, but just as well he gets to get the better of her and manages to take the bell with him.

As Caroline and Damon dance she talks of how he can get through this and then Sybil takes over from her a little more subtly than the dance scene in Grease!  Ha.  Again telling him about Elena and how he's going to give her the striker.  He decides his will but has another plan.  Oh no Damon another plan that backfires.  Enzo tells Bonnie the necklace has his blood cos he wants her to spend an eternity with him and turn her.  She thought about how Caroline and Elena handled it and thought it was too hard.  She gives him back the necklace (boy what is it with all these necklaces?)  She can't become a vampire cos of Elena, they're linked and she has to be here for her.  He loves her and can't think about spending an eternity with anyone else cos he waited an eternity to find her.  She asks him if he'd be willing to spend 60/70 years with her and take the cure.

Caroline finds out that Stefan is going to savagely massacre the contestants, as Sybil tells him about turning angels into demons under Cade's orders.  Only he compelled them to become vampires instead as he plans to turn everyone.  It's much easier and will get more Vics for Cade.  Which is what Damon told him when he said he's lost his brother and they're no longer in this together, he's going to go it alone.  (In another Winchester moment when Sam and Dean parted company quite a few times in Supernatural.)  Seems Damon's fine with that as he gives Sybil the striker and really gives it to her, he knocks her with it.  However that's shorlived as Stefan stakes him with a hanger and takes it.  He'll give to Caroline and tells her he's in it for the long haul, as he kills one of the contestants, Violet (Sammi Hanratty).  Cade was right being a Ripper is fun.  She tells him it's not fun but they need to find their happiness and even if they are in this together and she's a part of the killing; she accepts when she wakes up and she's told she's a vampire but she can survive like Caroline did.

Damon chains up Sybil but she still gets one over him when he tells her how he'll torture her.  She tells him he'll remember his humanity and no one will forgive him.  She's not the one he has to fear inside his head, but it's Damon himself.  With flashes to killing Tyler and how he warned him not to do this.  Cos Elena will never forgive him and flashbacks to more killings.  As once again we have Damon regressing inside of himself.  Oh why does this always happen to him.  He always turns out to be the weaker brother at such times and he's always so easily taken in by chicks! (To use Dean's word!)  Caroline recalling how she won the pageant as Miss Mystic Falls but Stefan was too busy chasing Amber Bradley in the woods.  As if that would mean something to him.

Obviously the title is a reference to the dance performed at the Mystic Falls pageant.  Only it's not so simple having underlying repercussions and rifts between families and brothers.  Once again events repeat themselves as Damon and Stefan fall apart and their roadtrip was shortlived.  A harkback to season 1.19 Miss Mystic Falls and in the scene between Enzo and Bonnie, which was a rehash of the one between Jeremy and Anna telling him he was using her to turn him into a vampire, but so he could be with another.  The title is a line Caroline says to the pageant's entrants at a dance rehearsal.

Damon tells Caroline " he's ripping again Caroline and this time it's guilt free."  She did know that cos that's how he operates as the Ripper.  Best moment was Damon making Sybil cry, but then she gets her own back - again!

Paranormal Lockdown 2.5 "Waverly Hills" Review

Waverly Hills Sanatorium: excessively haunted and amass with shadow figures.  Katrina's first visit here and as she said she wanted to be here for the past ten years and finally got round to it and what better investigator to go here with than Nick.  Though activity is rife in this location, the spirits appeared to be a little shy with Nick and Katrina around, at least from this edit.  But at least they got some responses with the Wonderbox, as well as the lights on the motion activated LED panels in the body chute.  Had a fair idea Nick would spend the night there before it was mentioned.  With Ben warning him of the dangers.  Again with the lights coming on when Nick was asleep.  As if they were curious in approaching him until he couldn't sense their presence whilst asleep.  Love the Wonderbox, it's so clear and easy to hear the voices coming through!

Fun moment when Katrina had to wake up Nick and also Rob should spend the night more at locations!  Cos each of them bring their own energy with them and the spirits would certainly have a different reaction with each of them.  Also it was a shame the shadow figures couldn't be caught on camera and were only seen on the periphery of Nick's eyes. It was his third visit here, maybe the spirits and entities were a bit too familiar with his presence.  I don't mean that in any bad or condescending way, as you know.  Thinking perhaps they just felt comfortable with seeing a familiar face around.  Since Katrina appeared to get a brush with a spirit or some sort of an encounter, when she felt something on her face, a sharp pain and Nick thought she was going to pass out and he'd have to catch her.

At 13.13 the voice Nick heard was like a scream, sort of like when the wind whistles and it was near the surgical room as he said.  17.23 the voice, sounds possibly residual, saying, "the nurse will help you out," when Katrina gets out of bed and then returns, there's a voice heard that says the above.
The noises  in the chute Nick heard, were they like bodies being moved?
In the morgue, there's a woman's voice saying "there;" before the creepy voice says "die."
28.16 was a kind of  faint 'hum' heard, like a child or a woman.

Wouldn't it be cool if the shadow figure heard Nick speak of the thermal camera and made an appearance, as if to either taunt like 'catch me if you can' or that it was there all the time Nick was seeing it but couldn't capture it on camera.
That find by Rob with the thermal drone was amazing.  Was it coincidental that the 'figure' he caught appeared when Nick walked onto the floor above in view of the camera and then quickly vanished when Rob told them what he'd seen!  Should use that drone more often.

But Rob left ASAP when Nick said he could go!  Ha.  Nick thinking Katrina and Rob were in front of him when they weren't in that place, did he manage to see doppelgangers, which Waverly Hills is notorious for.

Agree with Nick about finding information on shadow figures, how they manifest themselves and also how it's necessary to think outside of the box and particularly how the investigation methods improve and are rigorous, instead of doing the same old thing over the years.  I said that too about "thinking outside of the box" and "outside of the spirit box" in one of my reviews and a review for a certain person's book going back two years.   Not mentioning any names!!  Sufficed to say he blocked me!!  Which should answer many queries of who I mean!! Ha.
Love it when Nick and I are on the same wavelength!  Also love writing about Nick and Paranormal Lockdown.  Look out for something from me about Nick in the future!

Sherlock 4.3 "The Final Problem" Review

Contains Spoilers

The Final Problem did indeed pose a final dilemma and a final possible outcome and solution.  With Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) having to come clean about the Holmes family having a sister and how Sherlock's memories were altered to make him forget.  As Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John (Martin Freeman) engage in an elaborate plan in his home to make him see this and bring in a girl and a clown to scare Mycroft into confessing the truth.  All John's idea, as he tells them about John being shot by his shrink with a tranquilizer.  John telling him if he wants to be safe he knows where to come: 221B.  Which he does and Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) says if he wants them to listen to him he has to sit on that chair, even if he's not a client, as he says.  Which he does and if he wants a cup of tea, Mrs Hudsona advises the kettle is over there and he should make it himself.  During all this taking place, is the plane in the air with the little girl, who really wasn't so little, so how come she didn't know a pilot flies a plane, not a driver.  Anyway she's the only one awake and everyone else is knocked out.  She needs help and hears a phone ringing which she picks up and hears Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) introduce himself.

Mycroft tells them about Sherrinford, being a place where she's been locked up all these years.  How there was seven years between Sherlock and him and a year between Sherlock and Eurus.  John a adding that makes Sherlock a middle child, which explains a lot.  She was clever and as intelligent as them, as Mycroft sates it, but she was merely a thinker, unemotional and having no concept of right or wrong.  She used to sing a song.  Which they didn't understand.  Taking his dog Redbeard and causing Sherlock to search for him.  But he couldn't find him.  Mycroft also mentioning the cemetery with the funny graves where Sherlock was fascinated as the dates were all wrong.  The window crashes and a drone flies in with a bomb that Mycroft says they manufacture.  It's armed and the motion detector is set so they can't move to get it.  Mrs Hudson vacuums and they need for her to finish as she puts it away it the shed.  John mentions that the quote Mycroft stated about how "the truth is rarely pure and never simple" is from Oscar Wilde's, The Importance of Being Earnest, again as we know and they both studied it at school.  Mycroft played Lady Bracknell in the production and Sherlock thought he was rather good.  As Mycroft also tells him Eurus wasn't right in the head and she burned down their home and had to be taken away.  She also cut herself to see how her muscles worked.

Sherlock says he and John will jump out the window and Mycroft has to take the stairs and rescue Mrs Hudson too, cos he's the closest, which is what they do. The bomb explodes.  John and Sherlock then end up on a fishing boat and take it over, with Sherlock adding he's a pirate.  They take the boat to Sherrinford and are held there by the governor (Art Malik) who runs the place.  Of course Mycroft isn't really injured in hospital and is with them, as Sherlock disguises himself as one of the guards and is taken to see his sister.  With Mycroft being dressed as the old fisherman.  He could've dresses as Lady Bracknell.  Also making a reference about dressing up in clown suits cos that's what the staff at this facility have ended up as.  Just as Sherlock bought the clown to Mycroft's home.

Sherlock sees her and she's playing a violin with the sign reading 'Stand Three Feet Away From Glass' - perhaps that should've been in metric measurement!  Sherlock puts pieces of his memory together and she makes him come closer, as the others watch the tapes of her sessions.  She mentions the song and also Redbeard and flashes of how they used to play at their home, Musgrave.  We thought Moriarty was bad.  Sherlock edges towards the glass and mentions she was at his house and they had chips, asking how she escaped.  They touch the glass and their hands intertwine.  There's no glass and she's taken over the facility by talking everyone round.  The governor is the man in the taped sessions and she talked him round too.  As John goes outside and tells Mycroft to listen to the tapes.  They're all subdued and end up in her cell.  Sherlock again adding that it's not Moriarty, he's dead.  That much we'd gathered by now.

She has the governor's wife and she wants Sherlock to pick between Mycroft and John as to who will shoot him and save his wife.  Of course it was pointless listening to her, since apparently she'd have done it anyway.  He gives the gun to Mycroft but he refuses.  He's one of those people as we know who give orders to kill, but can't pull the trigger himself and she wouldn't ask Sherlock, cos Sherlock would be capable of doing it as we know from killing Magnussen.  He then gives it to John who takes the gun and there's a long, drawn out scene where he speaks with the governor who insists they must do it in order to save his wife.  Asking if John's married.  John refuses to kill David and he grabs the gun, shooting himself instead.  Again pointless as she shoots his wife anyway.  She tells Sherlock to pick up the gun.  She dials the phone and allows Sherlock to listen to the girl and speak with her.  If he wants to save her, he'll have to play her game.  Yeah the game is on but not with Moriarty at the helm.

Then sends them on a series of puzzle games.  One where he must solve who killed some woman out of three brothers and Sherlock deduces which one it was cos of the type of gun, which John examines and since there aren't any crosshairs the shooter must've had to have good eyesight or worn glasses, only one of them could have done it, yet she suspends all three outside so they will all fall into the sea.  'Sink or swim.'  Again it was apparent she wouldn't let any of them live.  Even the innocent ones. It's not about being guilty or innocent to someone like her.  John says they must do this cos today "we must be soldiers."  Who don't ask questions, only obey and do their duty.  Oh you know the saying, "ours is not to question why but to do or die."

She then sends them to a room with a coffin and Sherlock deduces its height is 5' 4".  So it was made for a woman, not a child since it would've been better quality for a child.  The top of it has a plaque with "I love you" written on it.  Obviously the person who loves him would be Molly (Louise Brealey) and not Irene as John thinks.  She calls her and wants Sherlock to make her say those three words to him, otherwise she'll explode the bomb.  Obviously Molly wouldn't pick up.  Molly it seems when she's at home is not the Molly we see at work.  Living in her own despair and misery and ruing her unrequited love for a man she can't have!  Yeah sure we've all been in that position at some time or another in our lives.  She finally picks up and then Sherlock tells her he's doing an experiment for a case and she must tell him those words.  After a drawn out attempt to reason with her, she agrees to say them if he says them first and mean them.  Which he does, eventually she does too.  He's tricked since she wouldn't have planted a bomb there and Molly is the only one who's spared.  The only one of the outsiders I should say.  But here you can say Sherlock was pleading with her using his heart and not his cold calculating mind.

Finally there's the crux of the entire 'game.'  Sherlock must choose which one he will shoot cos he can only continue with one of them.  Mycroft attempts to talk Sherlock into shooting him and not John cos he's trying to be the better man.  Obviously Sherlock plays her and says he'll follow the same route as David, holding the gun to himself.   During this time we get the flashback to Moriarty: Five Years Ago Christmas Day when he flies to the island. This time his song being Queen's "I want to break free."  He's her Christmas present and she wants to spend five minutes alone with him unsupervized, where they hatch this plan.  Or rather she does.  Sherlock saying that's all it took her; five minutes.  Well who knows how long she was cooking it up and no matter how much of a genius she's perceived to be, probably took her longer than five minutes.  Mycroft was impressed with how she could hep them out with terrorism and other matters.  Being Mycroft, would've thought curiosity would've got the better of him and he would've listened in, suspecting the game was afoot!  Or at least she was, in not trusting her.

She tranquilizes him and John and he ends up at the bottom of a well and Sherlock in a room surrounded by photos.  All the while speaking with the girl on the phone.  He tells her they're going to land the plane and she has to go to the front of the plane and radio in.  As he also speaks with John who tells him of bones he's found in the water.  But they're no dog bones.  Sherlock senses air through the wall and since they were only recently painted, he knocks them down and finds they're at Musgrave.  She wants him to solve the Redbeard puzzle.  He realizes that Redbeard doesn't exist. They didn't have a dog cos of their father's allergies. Instead Redbeard was his best friend when they were little and John finds his skull in the well.  Saying Mycroft lied to him.  Sherlock recalls his best friend and he rushes outside to the gravestones, working out the words of the song.  As he must save John from the well and the water filling up.  She says he didn't have a best friend and she wanted to play with them too but couldn't.  Thus putting John in the same well she put Redbeard, his friend.  He solves the code in the song and finds Eurus in her room.

She's taken back to the island and Mycroft must come clean with their parents about their sister, their daughter and they wanted to know she was still alive.  Sherlock pays her a visit with his violin and they both play together.  As they redecorate 221B Baker Street and John finds another DVD in the post from Mary.

Mary: "PS I know you two and if I'm gone I know who you could become because I know who you really are: a junky who solves crimes to get high and a doctor who never really came home from the war.  Will you listen to me, it doesn't really matter who you really are, it's all about the legend, the stories, the adventures.  There is a last refuge for the desperate, the unloved, the persecuted.  There is a final Court of Appeal for everyone...when life gets too strange, too impossible, too frightening, there is always one last hope when all else fails, there are two men sitting arguing in a scruffy flat like they've always been there and they always will.  The best and the wisest men I have ever known.  My Baker Street Boys: Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson."

All's well in the land of Sherlock as John and he move on, putting everything behind them and carrying on as usual.

Of course it was all a metaphor of sorts for Sherlock being on the plane: actually at their home and the girl was his sister, who couldn't cope with her emotions.  Locked up in her room.  Nemo Holmes in the cemtery wasn't so hard to work out, we, most of us, do know that Nemo means 'no one'.   Forget about Redbeard being a red herring, what about the fact if the plane was real someone would've noticed its course or seen a rogue plane in the sky flying towards a city, it stands to reason, to an extent.  As well as the cockpit not being open to the general passengers on the plane.  Sherlock hating water and always being surrounded by water.  I said that too, that he's always around some form of deep water, the swimming pool, the waterfall, the swimming pool again this season, some sort of river or the Thames.

All was an elaborate plan by their sister to finally reveal the truth now, question being why wait so long.  Of course there's not a real answer to that aside from the story being played out now at the end of the series.  However there were some parts of this episode which could've been excluded and the thrill of the chase wasn't as interesting as other episodes have been.  As Lestrade (Rupert Graves) takes her away and Sherlock actually calls him "Greg."  Not to mention everything being business as usual, even for Molly.  We don't get to see any reaction or fallout from her, even if it was meant to be an experiment on Sherlock's part when they declared their love for each other.  Admittedly didn't it appear as though Sherlock was being very sincere when he said, "I love you" to her, as if he really did mean it.  Or was he putting everything into a contextual emotional context.

The Musgrave Ritual is alluded to in the ep and it too was based on a riddle that Sherlock had to solve whilst investigating the disappearance of two staff members from the home of a university acquaintance, Reginald Musgrave.  "And so under..." appearing in the song...in the well, where John was now.  Sherlock's oldest enemy it appears was his own sister.  The trauma of losing Redbeard was so much for him that he shut away those memories, but now as he recalls them, we also see Sherlock's emotions come to the surface, once again a more humanization takes place.  This being something he needed to come to terms with, emotionally, and for him to dredge those painful memories up in order to save his best friend and in some ways himself.
Thinking out loud, that means Moriarty killing himself was dreamed up by Eurus talking him round when he came to her, if he couldn't get Sherlock to do it to himself.  She had to have known Sherlock would save himself.

Steven Moffat said they had Mycroft make a reference to "my sister..." as early on as the opening pilot episode The Great Game, but edited it out cos no one needed to know that just yet, or where they had planned to take the series.  The scene with the coffin was there but not written in that way and not about Molly and Sherlock, people hated the first scene and so they re-wrote it to what appeared in the episode.

Mark Gatiss: ‘I think what’s actually happened is we’ve now done the story of how Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who we’ve always known, became those men. It’s actually weirdly a backstory. We never intended that to be. But the reason we leave it at Rathbone place, is that actually if we do come back, and we’d love to come back, you could absolutely very easily start it with a knock on the door and Sherlock saying “John, do you want to come out and play?” They’ve become the two heroes we always knew them to be, and we’ve accidentally done their backstory. That wasn’t the plan.’
(From Metro.co.uk)

The final shot of Sherlock and John running from Rathbone Place (alas a tribute to Basil Rathbone, not really) but showing their escape from the public eyes and fandom for the foreseeable future!  But it can't go for good, it's one of our best drams as I said last ep review.
Thought of how if there was a remake of Remington Steele, Bene would be perfect for the title role. When he exited the lift for the first time to see his sister, and at the end, it just sort of came to me!
Ha.  He seemed to have a look of Pierce Brosnan about him!

Okay moving on...awaiting the next instalment...waiting...Miss me will apply to Sherlock now! Missing You...!

Yeh shamelessly plugging the book again!!
https://www.amazon.com/My-Continuing-Letter-Benedict-Cumberbatch/dp/1326198017/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1484527971&sr=8-9&keywords=mila+hasan