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Friday 3 November 2017

Longmire 5.8 "Stand Your Ground" Review

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Walt (Robert Taylor) confides in Vic (Katee Sackhoff) about the whole Irish mobster confrontation after Knighthorse (A Martinez) shows him a stake and an IRA flag at his house reading
"Tiocfaidh ar la" meaning, "Our day will come."  With a trail of $100 chips leading to it.  Walt thinks Knighthorse is covering his back but he insists he's got nothing to do with them and now they're out to get him.  Walt thinks he may have set himself up as a target along with Knighthorse when he spoke with Shane Muldoon (Dylan Walsh) and told him to stay out of his county.  Knighthorse adamant he does not do business with Manifest Destinations and he cancelled their contracts and ended any dealings with them.  Knighthorse says Walt told him that his land is bordering in his county so that's why he called him and not Mathias (Zahn McClarnon).  Besides what can Mathias do against the mob when the drugs are affecting Absaroka, even though they did find their way onto the Res cos of Malachi (Graham Greene).  Walt tells Vic he took time out to go to Boston and confronted Muldoon to either get outta his county or he would turn him in to the FBI.  But he can't follow through on that cos there's leak in the FBI. 

Walt gets a call on Vic's phone and obviously it's about Cady (Cassidy Freeman) and the shooting.  She and Asha (Chelsea Kurtz) are taken in for questioning by Mathias.  Cady warn Asha not to speak without a lawyer and Mathias tells her they're not suspects or arrested, it's not an interrogation, they're only making a statement.  Cady asks for a phonecall and later Kevin Morris (Currie Graham) turns up, Knighthorse's lawyer.  He asks what happened and reluctantly she relays the facts to him and cos JP was a white man, as was she, white that is, not a man; then the 'king of the castle' defence will come into play.  Even though the shooting took place on the Res and the house did belong to someone else, it was still seen as a residence.  He asks if Asha will back her up and Cady says she will.  Adding she saved her life and let's not forget she saved her own life too, more than Asha's. 

Walt wants the fingerprinting and swab taking to be stopped and tells them she doesn't have to do that.  Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips) tells Mathias they went to the hospital cos Walt thought Cady had been shot and he could've told them that.  Mathias's excuse of having so many things to do.  Walt takes Cady home and isn't happy that Knighthorse's lawyer is representing her.  He says it's Knighthorse's fault this happened and if she didn't work for him and listened to Walt this wouldn't have happened.  But Cady's in no mood for a lecture after what she's been through and Walt should've just been a father in that moment and comforted her.  Morris tells Cady that the DA accepted the defence and he's that good, so she won't be charged.  Also Asha won't be a witness cos JP died.  At the office she finds a line of people wanting her help and Mandy (Tamara Duarte) takes it upon herself to act as her assistant and took $20 retainer from them all.  She shot a white man so she can't be all that bad is their thinking.  Cady can't deal with them now and walks out.  Wanting to speak with Asha who wants nothing to do with her.

Walt tells Vic and Ferg (Adam Bartley) to find any new people coming into the towns from Boston and Vic and Ferg divide the areas up after Vic loses her cool with Ferg, over not knowing if she's pregnant or not.  As they follow some men they find out about, Vic buys a pregnancy test.  Yeah could that shop keeper be any louder!!  Ain't it always the way.  They do the same thing with sanitary products, when they're the ones who get embarrassed by them also! 

Walt returns and tells them about Cady and looks at their photos.  He tells Vic he's hired Eammon (Josh Cooke) to look out for Knighthorse and he sees the photo of a man's back.  Obviously that was Muldoon and he's checked into the motel under the name of Knighthorse's business partner before he killed himself and used Knigthhorse's old name before he changed it.  He gets into Knighthorse's motel room and someone slips a note nunder the door.  Meeting Shane, he thanks him for the trout and says he should've bought lobsters with him.  He says he and Walt had an understanding, informal and he weighed it up and the profits aren't enough for him to stay in Absaroka, so he's taking business elsewhere.  Also showing him a photo of Eddie, whom he says he took care of and he can't squeal to the FBI now.  Walt mentions being the target and Muldoon says he'll leave him alone, mentioning Cady and Vic, who he says he probably left the envelope with.

Henry calls Cady and says he wants to see her and give her something if he can find it.  Stroke of genius luck, he finds the eagle feather, but also the ledger when he sees the painting is hanging crooked in the Red Pony office.  Here he finds the ledger choc full of Manifest Destinations entries and others too.  He goes to see Knighthorse and Eammon accosts him cos he won't tell him what's in his bag.  Henry tells Knighthorse, "I've been racially profiled."  He shows him the ledger and now they have Malachi where they want him.  However Malachi tries to get one better on them when he tells Walt it was all Knighthorse and although he told the mob he wouldn't deal with them, he sent Malachi back to make a deal.  Walt doesn't know what to think now and he tells Walt to meet him later at night and he'll give him proof.

As Walt confronts Knighthorse again and accuses him of mob dealings, they're shot at and Eammon is shot in the knee.  With Walt getting wt having to get him out of the pool!  Ahh a wet Walt and still with his shirt on!!  Ha.  Knighthorse pulls out his gun and he goes after the shooter.  Ferg finds bullet casings in a patch nearby.  As Walt says when Ferg was shot there were plenty of casings scattered everywhere, but here they're all in one place.  He doubts if Knighthorse is lying after all.  Henry is given a gun by Knighthorse as they confront Malachi and he tries to convince Henry it was all Knigthhorse, as he tried with Walt.  He's more Indian than the two of them put together.  Knighthorse talks of banishment from the land for wrongdoings and tells Malachi not to return here.  He cuts Malachi's face so everyone will know what he's done.  Henry finally gets him to sign the Red Pony back over to him.  As Walt gets ready to meet Malachi.  He puts on a vest and Vic follows him too, telling him he should be careful and with the mob after him, he didn't notice he was being followed.  Walt says he's doing things differently now cos the old ways and doing things the same way doesn't work anymore.  She grabs a vest and comes with him too.

Henry asks Mathias for the gun and says he's done him enough favours and wants this one in return.  Mathias adding he owes him another favour now.  He puts the eagle feather on the gun and returns it to Cady.  Saying that in his tribe feathers are handed down to families and he wants her to have it cos she's his family.  I said that, he's there for her more than Walt, as he doesn't let her be her own person.  Yes he cares and he worries but sometimes that's just not enough.  As she tells hims he wanted him to help her serve the order on JP but he didn't help her.  Vic speaks with Eammon and he's looking for other work.  She wants to know what he thinks about them and you know she wants to tell him about the baby. 

Well everything was happening in this ep and even if it seemed like things were moving too fast, you did get satisfaction at Malachi being sent packing and Henry getting his place back.  But wondering what Walt will do now as he told Henry he wouldn't wait long for this to happen.  He can't get hold of Malachi now can he.  What's the mob going to do with Malachi, if anything, since he didn't deliver on Hector and ridding him.  But can't help and think Muldoon isn't really gone like that.  Still two more eps to wrap things up for this season.  Still have Walt's lawsuit to go yet.  But Walt seems to dredge up trouble wherever he goes, even if he doesn't go looking for it, he finds it anyway.

Wednesday 1 November 2017

Once Upon A Time 7.4 "Beauty" Review

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Where we find what happened to Belle (Emilie De Ravin) and where it all comes together for Rumples, finally being able to be a match, or more than, for Victoria (Gabrielle Anwar) and she can no longer threaten him and have a hold over him.  Following on the heels of my last ep review, where I said he knows much more than is going on here and with the curse, which was kinda captured here in this episode, where there were still moments where you thought he actually did know.

It's Hallowe'en and Jacinda (Daniela Ramiriz) drops off Lucy's (Alison Fernandez) costume and wants to go trick and treating with her, but that's been tasked to Ivy (Adelaide Kane) who really doesn't want to go but is lumbered cos she doesn't want to face Victoria's wrath.  Of course Lucy manages to trick (no pun) her and run away from her.  Jacinda can't go find her but Henry (Andrew J West) offers to if she texts him her fave places.  Of course that wasn't the reason why Henry was there, it was to ask her out since Ronnie (Lana Parilla) gave him some words of wisdom and encouragement, dressed as Marilyn Monroe, if that don't beat all!  After Henry tells her about his family and finding their graves in the cemetery.  She says you don't forget the dead, but then again you've got to live too.

Sort of summed up this ep really especially as far as Rumples (Robert Carlyle) and Belle's story was concerned.  We find them in the other realm bringing up Gideon from a baby, to teen, to adult, as he shows his love of books like his 'scholarly' mother and heads off to find his own way in the world.  Belle telling Rumples they've go to let him go, even if Rumples wanted him around for longer.  They had him for 18 years and how those 18 years went on in years with Belle getting older and ageing, whereas Rumples staying the same, being immortal.  He tries to rid his dagger so that he too can grow old with her, but finds it returned to him .  Of course Rumples gave Belle a book of travels cos he wanted her to travel as a family and keep a record of their memories.

Back in Hyperion Heights, Weaver gives Tilly (Rose Reynolds) an orange marmalade sandwich, she wears a rabbit's mask, so tea party must be involved (treading into Paddington Bear territory.)  It's Hallowe'en and she tells him how everyone's wearing masks.  He doesn't get it or the allusion.  Tilly then does a silly thing by hiding in Victoria's car telling her the jig's up and about them not belonging in Hyperion Heights.  She leaves her backpack behind, which Victoria shows Weaver, as well as the pill she's not taking.  Pills that Tilly tells Weaver later will shrink her.  (As she shrunk when she drank the drink in Alice in Wonderland.)  Victoria wants Weaver to make sure she takes the pills otherwise he'll pay, but he says she's his informant.  Yeah well he will, but Victoria'll be the one getting payback later.

He meets with Hook Rogers (Colin O'Donoghue) who tells him he doesn't care about anyone anymore not even wanting to deal with Tilly.  She shows him the Rubik's cube which she has peeled stickers from it and she says she'll show him why they're all wearing masks.  Taking her there, he tells her to eat and she eats the sandwich which contains her pills.  Getting to the place before she's affected by her pills. She shows him the teacup which means nothing to him.  Of course it's also significant for Alice too, re the tea party.  Rumples doesn't recall and she reminds him he was the one who told her about the cup and said she should let him know about it.  It's not the chipped cup, but Chip the cup!  At least it appeared to be.

Belle says she came across something in a book about the edge of the realm where the sun sets and they go there.  This is where she wants to build her home, which they do over the years and live their lives.  Eventually Belle grows older and dies, telling Rumples he will find her again and she will wait for him.  Thus he's the way he is now as Weaver.  He tries to take her back but she pulls out the gun and shoots him.  She didn't tell him the meaning about what she found; but it wasn't to find the setting sun but the brightest sun and that was Belle herself.

Ahh Belle tells him he will get rid of the dagger one day and she'll be waiting for him.  Telling him the story of their love and how she fell in love with the Beast.  Ah, did anyone miss Rumple's long hair and Rumples as Rumples, dearie?!!  Tilly even calls him Rumpelstiltskin.  In the other realm as Gideon (Giles Matthey) returns home; he wants to take the dagger from him and become the Dark One, but Rumples knows of a guardian who can take it from him and that's who he must find.  Guardian?  Then of course Gideon did become the Dark One in Storybrooke.  Rumples leaves the realm and presumably enters the other realm, but he runs into Alice, as Henry speeds by on his bike.  That wasn't some foreshadowing moment since Rumples just mentioned the Guardian?

Ivy cries at not being able to find Lucy and how Victoria will be angry at her.  Henry telling her he's lonely too and they both find Lucy, who lets Jacinda have Hallowe'en with her and Henry too, Lucy wanting them to paint her face and Henry will help as it's a family tradition!  Funny line Ivy says to Henry about being self-published and he says he was actually paid for the book!!

Hook Rogers playing chess with Alice at the hospital and when he picks up the chess piece, another clue but he's forgotten about that.  Obviously Tilly/Alice isn't his daughter, but was just some more for us to ponder.  But hey 'Hook Rogers in the Twenty-First Century' could catch on.  Yeah my very bad joke!  I miss the way he used to say "luv and bloody hell" needed that added and said a few times.  Rumples doesn't want Tilly arrested and puts it down to an armed robber, he needs her to find Belle and he sees Belle as he lies unconscious, then waking up.  As for Victoria he calls her 'dearie' but she doesn't really react to it, either not giving herself away that she knows who he is, or more that she can't control him anymore.

Ivy buys Henry a drink at the bar and thanks him for helping her.  Henry didn't go out with mother and daughter, is there hope for Ivy or is she making a play for Henry, well, gotta ask.

So that was our fond farewell to Belle, sad but a way to get Weaver to realize who he is and find a way to get them out of the curse and away from Victoria's evil scheming.  Maybe we'll get to see what happened to Snow and Charming too as they were main characters for 6 seasons.

Saturday 28 October 2017

The Halcyon Series 1 Episode 5 Review

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September 1940

Garland (Steven Mackintosh) traverses the streets.  Yay it's legal London again with Garland walking on what is Middle Temple Lane and round the corner to his left, as we see his back, is Inner Temple! To his right is Middle Temple Library.  I should take some pics of where they filmed these scenes and post them sometime.  Alas I wasn't around when they filmed this!!  Darn it again!!

Retribution for the Great War as Freddie puts it at the end: the way they were attacked during the day by the bombing and later again.  Which could sum up this episode in many ways.  We get to see Garland's past as he has flashes back to his time in the First war and how he saved a deserter from being shot by his superior.  The only thing he thought he could do.  Which coincided with this episode in particular and his day off which he chooses to spend by firstly fixing Peggy's (Annabelle Apsion) leaking sink and giving her water on tap.  That was a pointless task for the events that followed and he sees her daughter, Dora (Bella Padden).  Who shows Ada (Joann Condon) the neighbour looking after her, and Garland how she hides when there's a raid, under the table.  Though not much practical use.  Of course that was only foreshadowing of what was to come.  Garland and Peggy leave as she buys a present for Dora's birthday at the post office.  Garland's past catches up to him.  As the many faceted character we learn is actually named Sam and the man he rescued, Douglas (Tim Plester) meets him outside.  Garland denying who he is, stating his name is Richard.  Obviously Douglas wasn't going to take that from him considering he would remember the man who saved him.  As said, not a coincidence this happened in this episode the way it did.  This one clearly being a Garland episode.

There's a wedding at The Halcyon and Emma (Hermione Corfield) is left to deal with it, as well as the fall out from her own life and fall out there was, literally and otherwise.  Priscilla (Olivia Williams) feels Toby should get acquainted with Lady Teresa (Alice Bailey Johnson) as he was always awkward around girls and spelling it out, they'd be a perfect match.  As once again she dresses for the wedding, she invites D'Abberville (Charles Edwards) as her guest and even if it wouldn't be appropriate as he says people will think he's after ere money, she insists.   Especially as she has money, plenty of it.

Freddie (Jamie Blackley) is best man and he confides in Toby (Edward Bluemel) about being hit during a fight and how his plane was being downed and all he could think of was Emma, luckily he caught some wind and returned.  Now he thinks they shouldn't be together as it will only bring them hurt, especially Emma but it should've been her choice to make, whether he's part of her life in the romantic sense or not, she will still think of him and be hurt by him no matter what happens, since she does love him and that's the sort of person she is.  But Daddy Garland threatens Freddie at the end for what he's done to her and treated her that way, so if he ever comes near her again he'll deal with him, regardless of status or his position.  And you know from his past, he will put his words into practice.

Betsy (Kara Tointon) finds Sonny's (Sope Disiru) pawn shop receipt in his tux as he puts it around her shoulders as the air raid siren sounds.  He wasn't even wearing his tux so why even put it in there.  It would've been safer in his other suit instead of carrying it around, where she conveniently finds it.

Peggy decides she can't stay in the air raid shelter and needs to find Dora, he'd do the same for Emma.  Also as a way for viewers to see some of the tragedy on the streets.  But not before Douglas speaks with Garland in the shelter and asks if he still thinks about him.  The officer (Jonathan Christie) he shot, but he doesn't.  He wouldn't.  But Douglas does.  He doesn't like how his life's turned out, even if Garland saved him, he's not knocking that, but Garland's a manager and he's nothing really and he wants Garland to help him.  Why?  He saved his life, he doesn't owe him anything to live it for him or what he does with it.

As Garland passes when a bomb hits, he recalls they covered the officer with leaves and took their chances as deserters.  They'd be seen as MIA, or dead but it would be a new start for them and they had to get back.  Peggy manages to find Dora as her house suffered from the blast and she manages to free herself from under the table with Garland's help.

As the air raid sirens blast Joe (Matt Ryan) asks if Emma's not going down into the shelter, she replies anyone who wants to go can.  Joe adding it's business a usual then and she tells him of the story of the boy who cried wolf.  Joe recalls the wolves entered the village.  She sends the staff down and Chef (Gordon Kennedy) and Max (Nico Rogner) don't go.  Instead Max has a panic attack, or fit as Chef tells him he know 7 September is his daughter's birthday and he lashes out, until he gives in.  As they bond over icing the wedding cake, he thinks his family may be interned on the coast like everyone else and so he needs to find out.  Apologizing for losing it.  Toby tries to escape the advances of Teresa and ends up with Adil (Akshay Kumar) in the pantry, as Toby covers his mouth and hides behind the wall. Cue Adil kissing him.  Later he says he will resign f he wants him to, but Toby, who can't tie his tie now, says he's meant to be clever and now he understands everything, as they kiss some more.  No class distinctions there like Freddie made excuses to Emma about.

Freddie is paid a visit by Celina (Georgia Maguire) Stanislav's widow and she says he's not gone but he's dead, as Freddie uses the phrase of being gone.  Thinking what he did was worthless.  She gives him Stanislav's cross and later this makes Freddie think of the futility and uncertainty of what he does and how he can't keep Emma hanging on that way.
Freddie: "love doesn’t change.  It will last no matter what obstacles face us, because it is ours and ours alone.  We are defined by those who love us and whom we choose to love in return."

The wedding guests are perturbed at having to sit in the shelter for the reception and Lady Ashworth (Fenella Woolgar) tells Priscilla that D'Abberville is too young for her.  Also letting slip how she knew about Lord Hamilton's dalliances and didn't say anything.  Well the wife's always the last to know.  This makes her determined to 'get it on' with D'Abberville and they share a bed together, as well as a dance at the reception.

"The Emma and Joe playbook on pick up lines and dating."  No, seriously there'd be something in that especially as how she comes up with those one liners, as does he and that much more.  In the final scene with Emma as she watches Freddie drive away and Joe saying how he even thinks Freddie looks good in a uniform.  She replies it's not like that and then he mentions the disaster bit.  And her retort of how it  must be good being so all-knowing.  See it's that love/hate thang going on already.  Yet you know Emma will always have eyes and heart for Freddie.  Regardless of being worlds apart, the world was changing and especially for people who were young like her and Freddie.  As Peggy tells Garland, she envies Emma as she's got more choices to make, war aside and not just the ones of getting married and having children as soon as she was old enough.  As Joe can't believe "the bastards came back, using the fires as goddamn guidelines."  Referring to the Germans attacking again of course, not Freddie!  Ha.
Joe says she's gonna miss him.  She replies, "no, they're not suited."
Joe: "guess not, he's an aristo, you're staff it's a dictionary definition of a disaster waiting to happen."
Emma: "it must be wonderful being so wise Mr O'Hara."
Joe and the looking good in uniform remark, ha, kinda flashback to Downton Abbey and Thomas! If you get my meaning!!

No radio broadcast for Joe this episode and you'd have expected it especially since they were bombed twice in the same day/night and Joe saying it was really bad out there, terrible, even the sky's on fire."  Yet his words didn't light up the airwaves this episode particularly as he's "seen nothing like it" before.  Alas that was left to Freddie to say in some ways as he talks of  love during the best man's speech.  Yet at this point he's broken up with Emma.  Who does a lot of turning around and walking out of and away from rooms.

As for the break-up speech it's more along the lines of how their worlds are different and it wouldn't work out between them, he can't tell her the truth.  Though he could say how they have to be honest with each other.  He wasn't and she didn't do anything about it, but just accepted it and gave up.  As if it was easier to move on to bigger and better.  Not that that's a bad thing as far as Joe is concerned (my bias aside) but she should've fought for her feelings and not get trampled on by him cos he's suddenly discovered status.  That was even before Garland told Freddie he'd threaten him, irrespective of Freddie's status and boy would he, especially when he didn't have any remorse over shooting that officer.  Who also had status!

Friday 27 October 2017

Longmire 5.7 "From This Day Forward" Review

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Walt (Robert Taylor) piles Rainier cans on top of one another building a tower as he and Donna (Ally Walker) ponder the next step of their relationship, which I wouldn't really call burgeoning!  As he says the cans will warn him if anyone opens the door or breaks it down, in the throes of passion, somehow I don't think so!  As they make their way into the bedroom, he forgets the rifle and then leans it against the bed, so it falls and goes off.  He then decides he'd have more luck acting like a teenager and takes Donna to a secluded patch in the Bronco, where the view has more exciting prospects on offer.  Another awkward moment as there's not enough room and no one can get a leg over.  Guess that idea was abandoned then.  As Walt is called to a CS or potential CS.

Two treasure hunters have found a DB in the hollow of a tree and they think he was there hunting for treasure as written in a poem, which is available on line and it mentions Absaroka County.  Walt is shown the poem by Jim (Don Swayze).  As the DB is pulled out there's no treasure or ID and Walt notices the tattoo on the DB's arm, "Tizz."  Vic (Katee Sackoff) arrives eating a bagel and says they finally have a bagel shop.  Walt recognizes the name and questions Tizz, who is Elizabeth and was given that name in college.  He was her husband, Tony and her mother, Nancy (Bess Armstrong) basically says good riddance to a gold digger, as she should never have married him to begin with.  Vic feeling queasy now and somehow you know it's not cos of the bagel either!  She later gets lots of ginger ale and a pregnancy test which she throws away.  After she throws up on Spence's (Jake B Miller) sandals.  Eeww when will they stop having those scenes, I mean there was a river right behind her.

Walt does a search on the two treasure hunters, one's a professor of modern poetry, Tom (Mike Damus) and Jim is in a newspaper headlines.  His investigation leading him to some firemen, Raul (Joey )Abril who the treasure hunters mention.  He was in a gang and they're all from LA so that they keep out of trouble by learning something.  Raul says he was also part of a gang and he reformed after he came here.  Which should've sent flashing lights to Walt but didn't.  His boss, Hal (Matthew Alan) mentions Tony and he kinda knows him cos he was worthless and no good to his wife.  They had a party at the house and Raul recalls that too, the rich people.  Again it was pretty strange that they both know him but wouldn't really say much, though Raul kept giving lots away by being a little too helpful and also he knew too much about the hollow tree and how they must've lowered ropes down to put the DB in.  Just like he was giving a play by play account of something he'd dome.  So immediately you get Nancy and him as the suspects.

Walt sends Ferg (Adam Bartley) to Colorado Springs to check out Tony's house and he takes Meg (Mary Wiseman) with him, buying her a Colorado Springs watch, which she loves.  At his house he breaks the door down (show off ha!) and the place is completely empty aside from the bed and Ferg finds a mini Eiffel Tower.  He also tells Walt he should've told him about Meg but he didn't spend the County's money on her.  Walt also mentions to Vic that he's settling the lawsuit (guess his attorney hasn't broken the news to him yet - what's he doing?) and she tells him that's not like him. 

The Eiffel Tower is a charm from a bracelet and Nancy was wearing that so she was either sleeping with him, which she resents, cos she hated him, well you know what they say about love and hate being close emotions, or she got someone to do the dirty deed, which is more her style.  She tells Tizz that Tony told her he'd take her inheritance and had hired a lawyer and she couldn't let him do that, even if Tizz still loved him.  He didn't want her and Spence told Vic that Tony was nothing more than a gold digger and was having an affair, that's how he met Tizz in the first place.  He went after her.  Walt arrests Raul who says that was him all those years ago but he's changed now.  Yeah a little too late.  As for the treasure Walt tells that there's some mountains called the same, Absaroka, but they're pronounced differently, so there's no treasure in the county and the poem had more syllables in that line.

Walt organizes another date with Donna and she invites shim to her place cos they'd have more room.  Walt spills wine and she should've got beer.  He says it's corny but he and his wife waited til they got together and he'd rather just watch a movie.  So what's with the Bronco scene and re-living his teems.  Hmm so he was reckless as a teen, but when he met his wife he wanted to wait until marriage.  Well okay it would make it that much more special then.  Donna understands and he mentions she just got him here to get him drunk.

Cady (Cassidy Freeman) has her own problems with Asha (Chelsea Kurtz) and JP (Roderick Hill) and he doesn't stick to the restraining order.  As he calls her and leaves a message saying he's sorry and wants her back.  Cady gets clothes from Asha's house and under the pretence of telling him what he shouldn't do.  She then sees booze bottles around the place and he gets violent after she leaves.  He later comes for her and he shows her a pin from AA showing his sobriety.  Cady tells Asha that it's a one year pin and you don't get it until one year has passed.  What was he doing trying to fool a lawyer. 

She asks Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips) if he had a woman stashed here when Walt came to search for her and he asks how she knows that.  It was when her and Walt used to talk.  Cady wants him to look after Asha at his apartment since she wants a new start and wants to feel safe, which as Hector he would offer but he can't tell her who he is.  Later JP returns with a gun after drinking and threatens them.  He disconnects the landline and Cody manages to load the rifle Nighthorse gave her.  Yet she didn't expect trouble from an outsider rather than Natives on the Res.  She manages to shoot him once and then he comes at her again.  More shots are fired.  I was thinking Henry would've come and rescued her.  But as 911 wasn't available she should've known to call Walt before 911.

Didn't much like this ep and it ranks as my least fave out of all 5 seasons which must be saying something.  It was kinda routine case with obvious suspects and you knew JP would return and show what he's like again, which Cady should've been more observant of.  How come that kitchen didn't have another door or a window they could've gotten out of, well a window big enough, sure there was one there.  Seems like Walt and Donna aren't destined to be together since there doesn't appear to be much chemistry there any longer.  The title referring to JP telling Asha what she vowed and also kind of an allusion to Walt and Donna and yet...

Sunday 22 October 2017

Once Upon A Time 7.3 "The Garden of Forking Paths" Review

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Cinderella (Daniela Ramiriz) is caught by a guard who says she's a murderer and leaves behind her slipper so she can be rescued by Henry (Andrew J West).  As her fairy godmother, Princess Tiana (Mekia Cox) arrives to save her.  She says she left her slipper behind and they make their escape on Henry's motorbike.  Tiana takes her back to their camp where Cinderella changes to more appropriate low cut attire and a man, Jeremiah (Richard Newman) comes by with a pair of boots for her as he was once a cobbler.  He is a true believer.  Henry arrives with Reggie (Lana Parilla) and Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) introducing Reggie as his mother and she assumes Hook is his father.  Hook kinda took a shine to Tiana didn't he, the way he looked at her.  Tiana's ears perking when she hears Reggie knows magic cos Victoria (Gabrielle Anwar) is amassing magic of her own.  Cinderella sneaks out to Victoria's mansion and is curious to see what is in the box there.  As Cinderella confronts Victoria over killing her father and saying what happened wasn't her fault.  Victoria opens up the coffin and shows her Anastasia inside.  She has one last breath left which she wants to use to bring her back.  She needs the heart of a true believer and this is Henry.  She enchants Cinderella's hand so that she can pluck it from his bosom.  Well I had to try and be poetic in some way!

Back at camp, Cinderella tries to take his heart but she can't.  Instead she tries to take the heart of  Jeremiah who is also a believer and Reggie stops her.  Telling her own story of how she was like that once and she learnt to overcome it.  No life is worth the sacrifice, whether innocent or not.  She tells Cinderella to forgive herself for what happened to Anastasia.  (Think Snow here and how she gave away Reggie's true love, Daniel and her mother killed him.  Similar parallels here.) Reggie warns Tiana of Victoria's trap and she's waiting them saying she used a spell to find this out and so they can't attack her.

Back at Hyperion Heights, Ronnie, Hook and Henry plot against Victoria some more.  But you know their plans will always backfire for the foreseeable future at least it seems that way.  As Hook says he will see what Victoria is doing and stake her out, after Ronnie tells him she overheard a crooked city planner talk of something Victoria is planning.  Ronnie will continue listening to her customers as is a bartender's lot and Henry's never been on a stake out and wants to go with Hook.  However Hook tells him research will come in handy.  On his stake out, he sees Victoria hand over an envelope to the man, yeah cos out in public was the best place to do this.  But it's okay for her since no one is going to challenge or accuse her of anything. 

Hook (Rogers) finds the man at the restaurant and brings him taking the envelope from his pocket.  Liked the way he flashed his badge ha!  However when he returns he sees Weaver (Robert Carlyle) giving him his card and letting him go.  Weaver tells Hook he's got him working for him now so when Victoria's up to anything new he'll tell him.  Dealing with Victoria requires some "finesse."  Hoping Hook will enjoy his day off.  So much for the 'being at court and dealing with parking tickets' story.  Still can't see if Rumples, er, Weaver is weaving some evil or not yet. 

Jacinda finds that Victoria intends to bulldoze the garden and build condos and Lucy isn't happy about it.  So Jacinda takes Ronnie's idea of seeing how they can challenge any building plans by getting a petition signed.  Noticing Henry at the bar as an afterthought.  However Victoria shows her the development and says she can have a condo too with Lucy if she gets rid of the petition, which she does.  She burns it and Lucy tells her she's a hero and is meant to act like one.  She doesn't want to be with her.  At the site, the bulldozer hits solid ground and Lucy tells Henry that Victoria must be after something more.  Jumping into the newly dug hole, Henry has no choice but to follow and she finds a piece of glass which she says belongs to her mother.  Again telling Henry about the curse. 

Lucy later gives Henry the slipper after Jacinda gets people to sign the petition all over again saying she made a mistake and now she wants to save the garden.  Lucy also telling Henry he didn't find his family at the cemetery since they're right here in front of him.  Henry later visits a cemetery and finds a grave belonging to Abigail Mills.  Victoria has the coffin here and she has a woman in chains in
the building.  That lift reminded me of the lift at the library in Storybrooke.  She's a witch (Emma Booth) and she wants her to bring Anastasia back to life.  She asks her about using Lucy to get her back and says she will still answer to her for this.  Thought hey, she can't be Hook's daughter can she?  Well the thought crossed my mind seeing as she was meant to be kept captive in chains somewhere. 

This heart mythology sure does get around doesn't it.  It's a wonder Victoria didn't rip Cinders' heart out with the magic, instead of getting her to take Henry's.  So isn't Cinders' a true believer, even if Henry is purer than her.  Missing the days when Reggie used to do that though.  Cinders now takes over as the idealistic Snow, but somehow Snow had more going for her in that department!  Reggie and Hook in colour co-ordinating tops!!

Friday 20 October 2017

Longmire 5.6 "Objection" Review

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Walt (Robert Taylor) is called about Ferg (Adam Bartley) and as he talks with his lawyer, Milgrom (Patch Darragh) he has to leave.  He finds Ferg's abandoned car and also blood on the bonnet, bullets strewn across the ground and nothing else.  He heads back and he finds the FBI agent Towson (Noam Jenkins) at the station telling Vic (Katee Sackhoff) how stupid it was to transport Eddie (Dan Donohue) like that.  He's part of the Irish Mob and Vic tells him it would be helpful if he had told them before.  Also that Ferg is a damn good officer.  Walt then gets a call as Ferg is at a diner and he tells Walt what happened, as we flash to the events and the gunman telling him if he wants to live, he'll forget their faces, with a gun in Ferg's mouth.  Ferg tells Walt he can't recall what they looked like and Walt says he took a while to call him.  At the station, Towson accuses Ferg of taking a bribe and why it took him so long to call after the event.  He didn't have a phone and he had to walk five miles.

As Ferg leaves, he recalls the number off the side of the truck.  Walt says if he did consider taking money, he won't hold it against him.  They check out the trailer and find it belongs to Manifest Transportation.  The same outfit that is booking rooms at the casino and that Henry (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Nighthorse (A Martinez) know of.  Walt tells Nighthorse about encouraging students to not go to college and to work at the casino instead.  As well as telling him about the trailer and the drugs.  Nighthorse denying everything.  Anything else he can discuss at the deposition for Walt's civil suit.

Walt asks Henry about Eddie and the friend that he was with, as Henry cleanses himself, or tries to.  He recalls he paid with a credit card in the name of Connor O'Brien and what he knows of the Irish mob.  Vic checks out the name but he's been dead forty years.  Ferg thinks he should retire and tells Vic this.  However she says it could've happened to any one of them, especially since Walt's methods of transportating prisoners isn't exactly convenient.  She's heading to the deposition.

At Walt's deposition with Nighthorse, Tucker (Brett Rice) questions him over Nighthorse and how he was almost shot at by Walt and then he also shot Barlow too.  How he was arrested and released after they came to a deal.  Walt loses his anger which Milgrom tells him is exactly what Tucker wanted him to do and he played right into his hands.  Since he accused Nighthorse of using Cady (Cassidy Freeman) against him.  At the deposition with Vic, Walt says he's going too and she says Walt is ethical and a good boss.  She's asked why she was hired by him and his methods of hiring aren't very ethical.  She blew the whistle on a corrupt cop so it's unlikely, she replies, that she would've been hired by another one.  Before they leave, Tucker brings up Vic being seen all over Walt in the hospital and asks about their relationship and her divorce.  Which again catches them by surprise.  Knew that'd come back and bite from the first ep.

Walt thinks they can get Eddie's fingerprints and match them to the syringe and then they'll have a case against him, but he wasn't printed cos they didn't process him before he was transported.  As Ferg gets a flashback to Eddie ripping off his badge and throwing it away.  Ruby (Louanne Stephens) tells Ferg the phone company located his phone and it's the same place where the charger was dumped.  Ferg heads out and finds the badge and tells Vic they have a matched print now.  Which Walt and Ferg take to Twoson and tell him they've made a case against Eddie now and when they locate him they can use it as leverage against the Irish mob.  Also adding that Walt didn't tell anyone they had Eddie so there's a leak in the FBI.  Walt talks with (Shawna (Beau Garrett) who is a prostitute working for the same company but she wasn't really much help.

Henry delivers Nighthorse his burger and lets slip about Shane Muldoon and he thinks he's been talking with Walt.  He replies he hasn't but he's got too many puppet masters telling him what to do.  He can't wait to get back his bar and also his integrity and dignity.  Henry tells Walt the man's real name is Shane Muldoon.  He is helping Nighthorse who's going to get his bar back for him and Walt says he can't wait very long for this to happen before he acts.  At the deposition, Tucker calls Browning (Callum Keith Rennie) as a witness who tells him Walt shot at him when he was hiking with his buddy.  They were carrying guns cos of grizzlies and Walt says he's lying since he was protecting his men against the rape charges by going after the Vic.  Walt has had enough and says hr wasn't elected by the people to defend himself and wants the lawsuit settled.  But you know it wouldn't be that easy and the settlement is refused cos it's worth far more than the $250,000 that Absaroka County has in insurance.

Cady hides out Mandy (Tamara Duarte) as she's chased by a man and she took back her necklace from his wife, Asha (Chelsea Kurtz).  Later Asha comes to the Red Pony and takes back the necklace, Ferg breaks up the bar fight as he's there with Mary (Meg Joyce).  She tells Walt he broke it up.  Also telling Ferg he did alright cos he survived.  Mandy finds Asha passed out and gets Cady to help her against her husband.  She says there's a new law where a white man can be arrested by the police if he assaults his Native wife or girlfriend.  She doesn't want him imprisoned but she just wants him dealt with and to be safe.  Cady has a restraining order against him and wants Walt to help her serve it for more clout, but he's got other things to do.

Walt goes fishing and takes some fish to the mobster at the bar where Vic found te picture of it on streetview.  He gives Muldoon (Dylan Walsh) he fish and tells him to stay out of his county and take his drugs with him.  Otherwise Eddie will be found and he'll speak out against him.  Muldoon thinks he's telling him to kill Eddie.  However he also has a gun on Walt courtesy of the bartender and he threatens Walt, who replies he's got people back home who will send the evidence to the FBI with his name.

Well Walt's getting it from all angles and everyone.  Nighthorse, Muldoon is going to be after him now too and that civil suit.  Is his lawyer as good as he says he is, especially since he encouraged Walt not to settle now they know where Tucker is coming from.  Of course if he settled there'd be no story to continue, but Walt can't give in that easily without a fight, as he did nothing wrong when he shot Barlow.  We know he's better than a civil suit against him!  Also he'd prefer Cady to leave her job and why didn't she ask Mathias to deliver the restraining order with her.  He's Res police after all.

Tuesday 17 October 2017

The Halcyon Series 1 Episode 4 Review

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Joe (Matt Ryan) is offered a lucrative contract back home by Delane (Matthew Marsh) he'll be working out of New York with a new show called 'Joe O'Hara Eyes Over America.'  (Ah just send him this way!)  Which is his dream career and what he's always wanted to do.  At the same time he's conflicted about leaving, but not at first.  Even if there'll be no one replacing him here.  Which means the war will go unreported, at least by a correspondent of his calibre.  Also meaning that Britain will be on its own without any hope of any help.  As Delane tells Joe, they got involved in the last War and so many Americans died.  Joe trying to convince him they don't have to strap on arms and fight, but will just be reporting.  Emma (Hermione Corfield) is disappointed in him too and as he gets his bar bill he can't believe the final number on it.  Actually he shouldn't be, Jim Beam doesn't come cheap and there's a War on!  Getting a final drink on the house, his mind's made up.  Until Emma takes him to see Freddie's (Jamie Blackley) friend and fellow Pilot Stanislav (Joe Phillimore) who was shot down and found by a freighter.  He was in the Polish air force until they were defeated and found a new home here and he's also married.  He's heard of Illinois and the Black Hawks, the ice hockey team as Joe tells the others and Stanislav loves vodka too.  Emma thinks this will have an impact on Joe by seeing him and what he's doing in the war.

Joe takes Stanislav a bottle of vodka but he goes into convulsions and Joe tells Freddie that he died.  Freddie can't have a drink as he is back at the airfield later on.  So Joe decides to have the drink (or several) himself, as he writes about the pilots and what they do, risking everything.  As was shown earlier by the dog fight with the Messerschmidt which was shot down.  Delane calling it 'a war zone' with people standing by looking.  Which makes Joe see the real story and how it's here with the ordinary people and those who give their all.  Delane should recall America entered the War due to Pearl Harbour being attacked and not cos of any reporting that was done.

At the end of the day what happened to Stanislav did impact on Joe and he changed his mind about leaving, determined to report what was happening in a nation alone.  How Stanislav was a pilot with a wife and only 21, who won't go down in history or even be remembered, so they need to remember them all and what they do.  Also mentioning Freddie and how he scrambles with his squadron to fight the enemy.  Joe returns to The Halcyon looking for a room for £2 since his salary's been cut and Garland (Steven Mackintosh) asks Emma what she recommends, 201.  Which he can't afford: as Garland says again; "we look after our own."  Accepting him as one of their own, or perhaps in some ways looking ahead to how he can be helpful to Garland as well.  In the longrun it pays to have a correspondent on your side, don't know when he may need to throw his name and occupation around again.

Good to see this episode mostly devoted to Joe and the work of correspondents during the War.  The only way for people around the world and especially in America to hear firsthand what's going on.  Delane asking Joe if what he said about the pilot was true.  And having a change of heart, well would it really matter to him if it was true.  Though Emma was harsh when he said he's never been to a pub, before and she replied they don't serve Martinis.  Martinis also being mentioned in ep 3.  (See, see that's why I said Matty would make the perfect James Bond: shaken and not stirred!  All the way back when the show aired in the UK and even more recently.  So how did Joe have his martinis, seeing as he was more into his bourbon.
Joe: "you know I never went to a pub."
"I don’t think you’d like them. They don’t serve martinis."  Maybe he was looking more for pub fare (or affair!)  Yes that's me pun-ing again.
Okay so Joe wanted Emma to come to New York and be assistant, but not as though she would've gone and of course we knew he wouldn't leave either.

Elsewhere Betsy (Kara Tointon) and Emma watch Gone with the Wind and Betsy calls it a 'drip.'  Yeah not her cuppa obviously.  "If anyone told me he didn’t give a damn, I’d frankly clip him round the earhole."  Yes Bets, Scarlett was more refined than that.

Where Priscilla (Olivia Williams) is later taken by D'Abberville (Charles Edwards) as she's never been to a picture house before cos it's full of "people, people."  And not aristocrats like her.  Asking Toby (Edward Bluemel) for his opinion on her dress since he's into that sort of clobber that ordinary people wear.  Yeah her dress matched the curtains behind Toby!  (Probably innuendo for he's gay and would be good at that sort of fashionable stuff.)

Emma and Freddie fall into bed together after Toby finds out that squadron 392 has suffered casualties but news is sketchy.  Toby tells Emma not to tell their mother and tries to get info on who is missing.  Adil (Akshay Kumar) sends him up some coffee cos he works hard and he later admonished him for doing so.  So that moment they had in the previous episode meant nothing to him, when their hands touched over the glass.  Funny in that both Freddie and Toby are carrying on dalliances with the staff then, or least Toby will be too later.  Garland warns Emma about Freddie and how he doesn't want her hurt and she'll be watching out the door for him too, as she did now as the telegram arrived; but it wasn't for them.

Betsy's mother arrives making a nuisance of herself in search of money and Sonny (Sope Disiru) sells his trumpet for her so Betsy won't have to give her money.  She overhears Betsy saying she "bloody wished she wasn't even born."   But later tells her that she didn't wish that.  Sonny doesn't want Betsy to know he paid her and it wasn't about "dropping her knickers for him."  She already did that in episode 1 in the bath scene!  Ha.

Priscilla gets rumbled at the cinema with Billy (Ewan Mitchell) Kate (Lauren Coe) and Robbie (Gordon Kennedy) in the row behind her and leaves at the interval.  She later invites them to tea and tells them she's getting to know her staff and how careless talk is dangerous.  Also asking how the film ended.  If she wanted to hid, why didn't she sit in the back row?  Well it ended with Rhett not giving a "fig..." as Billy tells her!

There was Bellyard at Lincoln's Inn in the shot where Sonny sold his trumpet and it was in the shop window!  Great places to film in and around legal London!

This ep as I said last time, was definitely a Joe ep and can you just stop calling him "cheesy" you reviewers; cos he's not!! He's a correspondent who does his job, does it well, hence asking if his numbers are rising, but he also cares deep down.  He's softened plenty and is someone who would fight for this country, even if only with his poetic, sombre words and resounding voice!  No fake news here!! This episode also being very topical to current offers across the Pond as Joe says, "they say you’d rather be spoonfed mindless entertainment.  I say you’re better than that. Take care, America!" 

Supernatural/Constantine Cross-Over

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My Supernatural/Constantine Dream!!  Aka the power of dreams! (Here's hoping!)

Someone from the Constantine show said Matt had given the show details/plots away and I had to find Matt to tell him before someone else did and how it'd be all over the press.  So I took the plastic pieces of the puzzle and said I would tell Matt - as his character of Constantine.  But Matt was elusive and wasn't at his assigned desk for the Con.  (ha Con & Constantine - okay no one gets my jokes/puns/sarcasm!)   So I gave away magazines for free and there was a Supernatural one with Sam (Jared Padalecki) on the cover, so I picked it up.  Saw some old cast around and told them they needed Constantine in Supernatural, before they drove away in an old pick-up.

Finally saw Matt as Constantine and spoke with him about spells and magic.  He was going to perform one spell, thus I was tasked with writing the Latin and what would happen with some sort of ink.  Later we were chased by some couple's pet lion cubs which were gigantic.  When I returned the spell was gone and the pages and ink had also vanished.  Dean (Jensen Ackles) said he would have done the Latin bit, but I told him he wasn't ready for it.  Yeah get me!!

Saw Matt outside some creepy building as Constantine again - as had lined up earlier to meet him, but everyone said it was too early and they wanted their bags which I had to get for some reason, but saw there was something moving inside and Dean, Sam and Constantine had to join forces to vanquish the evil creatures.
Spoke of Supernatural again and how it's the show to appear in!  At least until a more permanent Constantine series revival!!!!

Guess this is mostly a case of be careful what you wish for and this cross-over (of several eps) has to happen.  I dreamed it after all, even if I have mentioned a cross-over over the years and tweeted it too; as soon as I saw the first episode of Constantine.  It struck me how there were so many similar plots/stories that could and can be carried over into the show with Constantine playing a pivotal part!!!

Hey there could even be  clash of the trench coats!! ha.  Who wears it better Cas or Constantine??

Anyhoo my dream was so surreal, as my dreams are always so vivid; lucid and intense and this was no exception, except when you write it down, it doesn't feel the same as being in the moment!

This was my third dream with Constantine and you know my very first one was back even before I had watched the episodes of the show!!  That was some powerful mojo going on here, or perhaps something uncanny as always.

Anyway since it was all centred around Constantine as I said 'til purple in the face: THIS HAS GOT TO HAPPEN!!  Along with a Constantine series proper!!

Can I also add with my pun on Twitter; if it doesn't, then there's no Justice League Dark in this world.  (Yeah it was a take on 'there's no justice in this world' phrase!)

And no I don't normally write about my dreams!

Also if you're into books: check out Matt Ryan
https://www.amazon.com/Matt-Ryan-Behind-Becoming-Constantine/dp/0244677557/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1537665657&sr=8-22&keywords=mila+hasan

https://www.amazon.com/Constantine-Colouring-Master-Petty-Dabbler/dp/0244646007/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1537665687&sr=8-17&keywords=mila+hasan

Monday 16 October 2017

Once Upon A Time 7.2 "A Pirate's Life" Review

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Storybrooke's Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) gives Henry (Jared S Gilmore) (the younger Henry) a bottle where he can speak into it, thus becoming a message in a bottle if ever he needs help.  Obviously it will come in handy later on.  Hook needs to be able to maintain his presence as the guyliner-ed hero we've come to know and love in his leathers!  Here that was shown many times over, as well as the producers/writers being clever in finding ways for Hook to hang around Hyperion Heights, as well as being able to go away with Emma (Jennifer Morrison).  Henry needs it now cos Victoria (Gabrielle Anwar) accuses him of killing the prince and he asks for help from Regina )Lana Parilla) Emma and Hook.  Henry senses something's up with Emma and Reggie tells Hook to tell him but he decides against it.  Talk about making a big deal here, I mean if she's pregnant Henry has a right to know.  It's not as if he wouldn't be happy for them.

Back in Seattle, Hook as Rogers, wants to know about the woman in the book.  Henry says he made her up and she's just a character.  However  Hook recalls her from somewhere so how can she just be made up from his imagination.  Which Henry really has no answer for and see again at the end when Hook recalls her.  Still Henry doesn't make a point about her not being real.  Agghh plot point!!  He asks about Lucy (Alison Fernandez) and Jacinda (Dania Rameriz) but they're separated and not so good.  Jacinda has to buy a ballet ticket to see Lucy as Victoria won't let her in for free.  Harsh seeing as she is Lucy's mother and what does Victoria care about her for anyway.  So she tries to find ways to be there.  Not accepting Henry's apology or help.  So he comes up with the idea to cater for the do and it's on the proviso he can hire his own staff, thus she can earn some money and also see Lucy in  the ballet (which quite frankly wasn't much to write home about!)

Hook isn't too enamoured with his new partner who it seems is under the beck and call of Victoria who wants Henry gone from Hyperion Heights no matter what it takes.  Thus Weaver (Robert Carlyle) takes her bracelet in an effort to plant it on Henry and accusing him of theft.  Hook and Weaver break into Henry's place and he sees Hook open the light the same way Henry did by unscrewing the bulb in the shade.  Thus getting him to help in the dastardly framing deed.  Before Hook leaves he takes the swan keychain hanging by the door.  Weaver asks Ronnie for any help with Henry but she refuses and warns him of who he's getting involved with.

In the other realm, Henry is imprisoned and Drizilla is tasked with finding where the glass slipper is.  Cue Reggie with her magic hand swoop downing Drizilla and Hook takes care of the guards.  Reggie tries to do a spell on the slipper which doesn't work.  However Hook gets the scent of seawater and thar be pirates so he thinks he can get info on Cinders that way.  Leaving Reggie to catch up with Henry.  Hook comes to the port where he's encountered with his other self.  The portly pirate with the beer barrel, or rather the rum belly and Hook thinks he can't be real since he was just a wish from a non-existent realm.  He wants Emma and he will get her any way he can.  Thus knocking out Hook and hiding him the wagon.  He tells Victoria he has Hook's blood and is transformed into his former, younger self, i.e Hook.  He heard Hook's voice in the bottle since the bottle apparently transcended all realms and wants to be him cos he's suffered nothing but misery.

In return for his Hook body he will help her with Henry.  Luckily Victoria has the fairy godmother's wand and transforms him.  Hook returns with a forged note from Cinders telling him she doesn't want anything to do with him and he should go back home to Storybrooke.  Emma appears and tells Henry about the baby news and how happy she and Hook are.  Thus the second Hook is overcome with emotion and heads back to put things right with the actual Hook.  But they get into a fight and Hook is stabbed.  Hook the original wants Emma to help him as he tells Hook about his daughter and he lost her, she's imprisoned somewhere.  He gives Hook a chess piece and he should find her.  Emma works her magic and his wound vanishes. 

Hook is tasked with putting the bracelet in Henry's pocket and as the reveal takes place Weaver only finds Henry's keychain in there, which Henry doesn't remember taking.  Hook tells Weaver he doesn't want to separate Jacinda from Lucy, just as he did back in the other realm, thus this isn't Hook the original but Killian the pot bellied pirate Hook and Emma just saved.  Weaver returns the bracelet to Victoria saying he doesn't work for her.  As well as wanting to work with Hook as he has a "moral core."  But hey as Weaver is Rumples, then surely he must have his memories intact from that curse.  There's certainly more going on with him than meets the eye, as always.

Jacinda forgives Henry with a bottle of beer and he, Hook and Ronnie come up with a plan to find out everything on Victoria so they can sort her out.  Henry can write about it and could maybe even get two books from it.  In the other realm, Reggie is persuaded to stay there along with Hook, as the original Hook returns home with Emma so they can enjoy the perks of parenthood together.  Changing nappies and all the rest of it which she didn't do with Henry.  Thus "Operation Next Chapter" is on...  It was a nice touch though where Hook recalls he was shot in an alley and a woman looking like Emma rescued him.  Planting some faint flicker of a memory where he was actually saved by Emma in the other realm... 

Sunday 15 October 2017

Once Upon A Time 7.1 "Hyperion Heights" Review


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Season 7 of OUAT returned and it was all change for some characters and yet the plots somehow remained the same.  Instead of Snow and Charming, this time round there's grown up Henry (Andrew J West) and Cinderella (Dania Rameriz).  Now no wonder there was a ratings drop, it somehow didn't capture the essence and atmoshere of the 'original' show and characters.  Yes Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) is there as a policeman (now if that ain't a reversal in characters with Emma) oddly enough his name is Officer Rogers.  Which rang bells for me, yeah when I figure out why I'll let you in on it!  Ha.  Then we get Weaver aka Rumples (Robert Carlyle).  I mean, first he spun gold and now he weaves (intricate plots - no not really.)  Reggie, I mean Ronnie (Lana Parilla) is also back as a bar owner, hmm, what else.  There was that bar scene in the episode when she and Emma all ventured to the bar where they encountered Belle as Lacey.

This time round it's Henry's story, at least he tells Reggie he wants to find his own story as he leaves Storybrooke.  As the curse is carried over for the residents of a small town In Seattle, rather a small suburb of Seattle, Hyperion Heights.  Where there's the wicked step mother of Cinderella's known as Victoria Belfry (Gabrielle Anwar) (prob has bats in her belfry) as she is the new big bad in this show.  Even if Cinderella's story has been done before.  Here Cinders is known as Jacinda and has a daughter Lucy (Alison Fernandez) who is also Henry's daughter and he can't recall Cinders as his one true love.  As Henry is now the non-believer, even if he wrote Once Upon A Time, he's now suffering writer's block.  Lucy telling him how Victoria's taking all the people from Seattle to live there.

As we get flashes to:
The Other Realm
Years Earlier

Henry rides on his motorbike and crashes into Cinderella's carriage as her horse runs away, she refers to him as her steed and his bike as headless.  He offers her a ride but she kicks him off and steals his bike for herself.  Well in Seattle, Henry has his car stolen, so he's a bit careless with his modes of transport and that's only so he can meet with Hook.

In Seattle Cinders/Jacinda works at a chicken take out place and gets fired again cos she calls her boss a jerk even if he is one, but that firing doesn't last long as her mother practically owns the place.  Lucy wishes in the well she found and hopes things will change around her.  However Jacinda dreams of a new life for them on the island across the way.  As Victoria threatens to take her daughter from Jacinda, she runs away with her, only for Henry to spill the beans (no pun) and tells Hook where to find her.  Ivy the dutiful daughter turns over the book for Hook to dispose of and he flicks through it finding the pic of the woman he recognizes.  That we know as Emma. Hook/Rogers is promoted and his new partner is Weaver, that was obvious.

Victoria also wants to buy Ronnie's bar, but she won't give up without a fight as she decides she's no longer selling her bar.

The Other Realm we see how Cinders stole Henry's dagger which has his initial on it and she plans on killing the prince who took everything from her including her father.  Henry tells her she can't think of revenge and carry this out, but Alice drugs him and he passes out.  Waking up in a cave, tied up, she doesn't want to be known as from Wonderland and he sees the label, "Drink me" realizing who she is.  That was reminiscent in some ways with Reggie and her lost love Daniel, as well as Snow, with Reggie as her step mother.  Not surprising that Victoria wants her daughter to marry the prince's brother who is more the wicked type, like James was.
Cinders draws the dagger on the prince who is grateful that she didn't kill her, but Victoria does it instead and promptly calls the guards to arrest her.  Before we get a sword fight that was remarkably similar to Snow and Charming.  Even the jacket Henry sported was akin to something Charming would wear!  Henry wants Cinders to meet at his portal at midnight but she doesn't show up and Henry doesn't go through it either.

Henry of course tells us there are alternate versions of all the characters in other realms, but there's only one of him.  Also calling Lucy, 'kid' like Emma used to. "I'm the only me, it's time to figure out where I belong."  Yeah as a taxi driver in Seattle, though he does sport a fancy keychain with a swan on it.  Appears Henry is also affected by the curse and that keychain was seen in season 2.  Then we get Alice (Rose Reynolds) too as she frequents the roof of Ronnie's bar and she's in league with Weaver.  As for Henry's bike, that's kinda a homage to Pinocchio/August who was a writer too and rode around on his bike and that's how he drove into Storybrooke. 

Victoria 2.8 "The Luxury of Conscience" Review

                                              Image result for victoria series 2 episode 8 review
Well it was all happening in the series 2 finale as Vicky got struck down with fever, highlighted by Lehzen (Daniela Holtz) and Albert (Tom Hughes) being at odds with each other and Victoria (Jenna Coleman) being caught in the middle.  Lehzen believing fresh air is good for her, Albert saying it's too cold and Victoria compounding matters by taking her for a carriage ride in the park.  Of course it has to come to a head since Lehzen and Albert were always at odds with each other.  As Vicky's fever intensifies, the doctor is called.  With Albert issuing an ultimatum, "either she leaves or I will."  Of course we know Victoria always depended on Lehzen as a young child and as a princess, but she knows she doesn't need her anymore or her protection.  Even if it does appear she was trying to come between her and Albert, Lehzen says it was cos she was protecting her, even from her own husband.  Victoria saying she doesn't need protecting as Albert loves her and would do anything for her.  Also since Victoria is older now and must make her own decisions, as she has proven she is more than capable of making in the past and now.

Elsewhere Peel (Nigel Lindsay) in trouble at Parliament with his repeal of the Bill of the Corn Laws.  He believes free trade is the only way forward for the country and for those who shouldn't have to pay taxes on food.  His party is against him and particularly the member for Lincoln.  Albert tells him he has strength even if they appear to be weak.  And that rest assured the Bill will go through.  Wellington (Peter Bowles) is behind Peel telling him that he must do what is best for the country irrespective of what his Party may tell him.  As well as telling Victoria that Peel is doing the best possible and she tells him he should talk to the dissenters.  However he says if they were his soldiers he would have them flogged for their attitude.

Leopold (Alex Jennings) returns again to see his family with a gift for Albert's birthday he missed, a portrait of himself so he will remember him.  Albert accepting it and then leaving the room.  He thinks he shouldn't have said anything to Albert and was hasty in doing so.  Drummond (Leo Suter) and Alfred (Jordan Waller) have dinner, with Drummond saying he doesn't want to marry anymore and will break off the engagement.  Alfred disagrees since he will make a remarkable politician and he needs a wife to stand behind him.  However Drummond doesn't want Alfred to tell him what he should do or the decision he should make.  Thus leaving without dinner.  Wilhelmina (Bebe Cave) reads about David and Jonathan in the Bible and tells Alfred about how he loved the other as a woman's love.  Thus showing she knows how Drummond and Alfred feel about one another.

Leopold wants Earnest (David Oakes) to marry the Princess back home but he refuses.  He has other plans on his mind, especially as the doctor gives him a clean bill of health thus far.  As long as his symptoms don't reoccur he is able to marry.  He even gets Harriet's (Margaret Clunie) hopes up and she knows what he is going to ask her, even if he drops clues about it and hasn't had the chance to propose.  Leopold is concerned however since it's not a good match.  However Albert tells him he's more concerned with honesty than hypocrisy and at least Earnest is honest about his feelings.  It appears Earnest's feelings will remain exactly that, as Brodie (Tommy Knight) notices a rash on his back.  His symptoms have returned.  And he is unable to see Harriet in person.

Vicky recovers and everyone is grateful,  But not before Albert and Victoria argue over Albert's support for Peel and how he should support him in Parliament.  She demands he doesn't go since it will be seen as though she is supporting Peel and in Parliament the Lincoln member, George Bentink MP (Roger May) accuses him of needing royalty to support his position.  Peel is livid and thinks he should challenge him to a duel but that wouldn't achieve anything as Drummond tells him.  Lady Peel also tells him that he thinks before he acts.  Drummond ironically warning him about Spencer Percival (the only British PM to actually be assassinated) and what happened to him. Which Peel says won't happen to him.  As the Bill is passed by 98 votes, Peel faces assassination by a disgruntled farmer and Drummond steps in to save his life.  Thus ending his plans to meet with Alfred who has a change of heart and didn't have any right to tell him what to do with his life.

As the news breaks, Peel and Alfred are inconsolable and the Duchess of Buccleuch (Diana Rigg) tells Alfred he must be strong and take deep breaths.  She's not blind and she knew what was happening between them.  But that the funeral and grief belongs to his mother and his fiance, Florence (Grace Link).  Victoria asks Lehzen to return to her family as she no longer needs her and reluctantly she leaves.  As Penge (Adrian Schiller) gives her a bottle of Maderia for the journey and she will miss him.  Francatelli (Ferdinand Kingsley) asks Mrs Skerrett (Nell Hudson) for a boat ride on the Serpentine and he's made strawberry tarts for her.  He is good with his tarts.  Yes quite!  Ha.  As they share their first kiss.  Leopold gets a pony for Vicky and all's well in their royal world, at least for Victoria and Albert for now.

The Corn laws were taxes/tariffs on any food that was imported into the country particularly on grain and were in force to enable heavy prices to be levied on corn so that the farmers and landowners were the ones who prospered from them.  In force 1815-1846.  As Albert says it was a "time of enlightenment" for the country after the repeal, but Peel was in no mood for this as he barely kept his emotions together over Drummond.  Historically Drummond was actually shot in the back three years before the Corn Laws were repealed in a case of mistaken identity at the age of 51 in 1843.  As for Alfred in real life he became equerry to Victoria in 1846, married and had 14 children.  He was also younger than Drummond.  AT the funeral, Florence tells Alfred how Drummond spoke a lot baout him and Alfred says they had a lot in common.  As she breaks down and Wilhelmina must offer Alfred a hanky.  Obviously you knew once they got togetehr with their little indiscretion" as Alfred put it, in Scotland, something was bound to go wrong.

For those missing, or will miss their Victoria fix, it will return for a Christmas Special later in the year.  Well it's not like ITV have anything else in the works they could drum up for a special. 

But if you're missing earnest catch David Oakes in Venus In Fur at Theatre Royal Haymarket.  There's nothing like the thrill of a live performance!!