Sherlock 3.2 "The Sign of Three" Review

                                           
Yes More SPOILERS in this too.

Lestrade (Rupert Graves) and Donovan (Vinette Robinson) are the on the case of a criminal gang of robbers who get away every time. As we are shown, Eighteen months Earlier  Twelve months earlier they still manage to elude the police and Lestrade gets angry kicking his BMW tyre over and over.  I see Donovan is still around and wasn't booted off along with Anderson since the two of the were adept in calling Sherlock a fake and a fraud.  She even went as far as saying one day he would actually commit murder.

Six months earlier it's the same and finally Yesterday he decides the only way to nab them is when they're actually committing the act.  Lestrade is texted by Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) saying he needs help now at Baker street and Lestrade thinks he's in real danger and orders police back-up.  Obviously he needs help with being the best man and writing the speech.  Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) laughing her head off, or "torturing an owl" as John puts it when she realizes Sherlock  will have to write the speech!  We're shown the six months earlier since it's been six months since The Empty Hearse and this episode.

Once gain this episode is more character and relationship orientated as we get Sherlock practising his
 dancing which Mrs Hudson catches him doing, as well a playing one of his own violin pieces which he has especially composed for the happy couple.  Bringing him his usual tea, she mentions she'd like to meet his mother and he agrees.  His mother being mentioned now since we've met the parents.  Also he notices there aren't any biscuits and sends her out for some.  Not that we'll see you eating Sherlock.

We go back and forth to the wedding and then jump back into various cases Sherlock mentions he and John solved.  Which in turn leads to the main case of murder and yes there is one.  It's very complex in places, jumps in and out of scenes, throwing in some fun moments, laugh out loud antics and some serious and emotional moments too.  One that definitely needs to be viewed many times over just to savour it all.  Also again many people will be divided in its delivery and content, as in The Empty Hearse, there's no apparent case, not one that is apparent from the outset at least.

                                           

There's more repetition of Sherlock's character of how he's tall, nice-ish, clever, all seen, er, in a scene where Sherlock and John try to guess the person they are.  Sherlock has Sherlock Holmes stuck onto his head and John is Madonna.  Which is all very amusing especially for Sherlock since he's drunk, yes Sherlock actually drunk, all John's fault of course.  Yes you've guessed it, John's stag night organized by Sherlock consists of just the two of them on a pub crawl of sorts!  Sherlock asking Molly (Louise Brealey) about drinking and him suggesting she drinks a lot as she puts it.  She adding that her and Tom see a lot of each other and have plenty of sex too!  To which he has nothing to say.  He uses large measuring cylinders to measure out the right amount of beers to keep them both under the limit.  That is until John drinks on the side, adds a shot to one of the cylinders and then hands Sherlock the wrong on, of course it was the one in your left hand John, the right drink for John that is.

SO we get to see Sherlock drunk and lose his inhibitions in almost getting involved in a punch up with some bouncers, ending up home early and lying on the stairs together.  They've only been out for two hours Mrs Hudson tells them.  That's where the guess who game and more drinking comes in.  Sherlock confessing he doesn't know who John is since he just picked the name from the paper.  John asking if he's pretty, Madonna, that is and Sherlock replying it's a state of mind.  Well you know his usual long winded explanations!  So Sherlock gets a client.  A nurse who tells him about how she dated a man for one night, had dinner, went back to his place, nothing happened, but then he vanished.  Sherlock and Watson both asleep at this point.  Sherlock waking John up telling him it's very rude.

They go to the man's place and Sherlock in a comedy routine extraordinaire, looks for clues with his magnifying glass.  He can't seem to put two words together, so his mind is all garbled thingys, which is how he labels the furniture etc.  He looks for clues and gets down on the floor looking into the rug.  No clues there but he does throw up. The nurse calling John by his middle name, Hamish.  Clue for later.  Of course I noticed that too.  They both end up in a police cell and Lestrade has to get them out.  Sherlock admitting this case was interesting, the ghost case.  Thus his must solve it.

We get the wedding photos being taken with Sherlock not being in the one with the bride and groom, as well as meeting some of the guests.  An old friend of Mary's whom Sherlock had words with before the wedding, telling him he can't see her alone and not more than a few times.  Since he's so hung up on her. Another one is the page boy whom he gets to come out of his shell as his mother says, who doesn't know it's by showing him photos of his past cases.  Promising to show him some beheadings.

Jumping back to planning the wedding Mary (Amanda Abbington) can see Sherlock is too involved and is going to miss John around here, or so she thinks.  Thus John is looking for a case for him from his blog.  Sherlock asks about invites and wedding serviettes, Mary preferring the Sydney Opera House design.  He learned napkin origami on Youtube.  So Mary pretends to get a call from Beth which is their code word to be alone, she convinces John to get him onto a case.  By this time Sherlock has sat on the floor and created many more napkins!

John picks the case of Bainbridge (Alfred Enochin) an Elite Guardsman and though he's used to having his photo taken, he is being stalked by a hooded man who takes photos of him.  Sherlock and John stake out the scene on a bench whilst they have time to chat more.  When John tries to tell him he's his best friend and all the emotional stuff, Sherlock has disappeared.  In fact he's wearing a bearskin for himself and has entered the premises.  Er, a bit easy to get in wasn't it, what with the need for added security and all that.  Still no one notices him around and by the time they do it's a bit late.  Cos if Sherlock had been the one who attacked Bainbridge in the shower then he'd have been well away by now.  As it happens John uses his credentials, rather his older credentials now since he's retired to ask Bainbridge's CO some questions, but he doesn't answer anything.

Sherlock is found (bit late now) and brought to the showers where John wants to examine Bainbridge, but can't.  Sherlock convincingly saying if he was the killer he'd have a  weapon, not really, he could have disposed of said weapon since he wasn't at the scene.  Though his clothes show he's not wet and so couldn't have been in the shower. He's still alive and John has to save him, getting Sherlock to part with his scarf and play nurse.

By now we're onto the best man's speech and Sherlock having to read out telegrams, adding they're not really telegrams.  Doing away with most of them as they all say, "love, love, love..."  He talks about John and really about himself too.  John being an influence in his life, being his best friend.  With a hilarious flashback to the time John asks him to be his best man, whilst Sherlock is dissecting an eyeball, which he drops into his tea when John asks him, or should that be, pops the question.  Clearly not knowing what that means, being a high functioning sociopath, he drops the eyeball in his tea and is speechless.  Of course relaying to the guests that he was happy and expressed this in a long conversation.  Also taking a sip from his tea.  Later adding he didn't know what to say.

Sherlock asks the wedding guests how they think the man could have stabbed him and gotten away, even asking Lestrade the same, who thinks the man could be a dwarf so could have go in through the vent. Sherlock saying he's right, but not really. Infact he confesses he is miffed and hasn't solved the case, but that's of no import.  Oh but it is!  You know foreshadowing and all that.  If it wasn't relevant he'd never have mentioned it!  There's more reference to other cases John and he have solved and particularly there's a scene where he and John chase a giant, who is really a dwarf in the 'Poison Giant', 'The Mayfly Man', which is the one with the so-called ghost; 'The Hollow Client', which was an empty suit on the chair; 'The Matchbox Decathlete', one where there's only one matchbox which is full and Sherlock opens it to reveal a light and laughs. As well as 'The Elephant in the Room'.  Joke there, cos really his entire speech is meant to be one big elephant in the room. Ha.  Maybe even the entire ep!

Another aspect of the wedding and guest is John's friend, Major Shalto, who is a wounded officer and responsible for deaths in his regiment. Sherlock happens to be jealous of him.  Mary knows of him but says he won't attend cos he's a recluse and he actually shows up.   John knew he would.  Showing more insight into Sherlock and how once gain John's been an influence on him.  Like the poignant scene where Sherlock looks at John's empty chair with a sigh, well I included the sigh part.  He will miss him even though he reassures him that nothing will change and he will still be here to help him out and 'do their thing' together.

Sherlock is a hit with the bridesmaid since she remarks about not having sex, which is what the bridesmaid and best man do.  Everyone talking about sex to Sherlock now, since he's been 'humanized' a little.  He tries to pick out men for her but each one of them has some flaw.  Except for one who she likes at the end which is the one he picks out would be perfect for her.  Continuing with the speech and having everyone in tears at how John is a great friend and doctor, how he always helps others, was a soldier too, was injured.  Until finally he realizes there's going to be a murder here.  He drops his glass when he sees the photographer and it crashes to the floor.  Sherlock must find who will be killed and by whom and John must save them.  As he's saved his life on many occasions (such as their first meeting in A Study In Pink).

He walks round the room deducing who the Vic could be, as we get Sherlock in a room full of women who the Mayfly Man went out with and why.  He asks them questions trying to find what they have in common and actually he's really on his several laptops asking them questions.  But it's portrayed in such a visual way, with not so much the writing being projected onto the screen, but him standing there with them.  He finally figures out they have a secret, everyone has secrets and they all leave.  Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) appears to him telling him there's criminal intent and this leads to murder.  Sherlock thinks they all work for one employer.  Then recalls the nurse saying John's middle name, so she had to have seen the invite, since John hates his middle name and it took a long time for Sherlock to find out what that is, even after he guessed many of the 'H' names.  He saw his birth certificate and found out it was Hamish.  John also revealed it to Irene Adler (Lara Pulver) who appears to Sherlock naked and he tells her to get our of his head, not now, he's busy! Showing he still thinks about her too, even if only in his head and that he doesn't know where she is.

The nurse must have seen the wedding invitation which means the Vic is the Major, that wasn't too hard to work out.  As well as working out Bainbridge had already been stabbed and this was done through his belt that's why he didn't feel it.  That his stabbing was a rehearsal for the real murder.  The Major leaves the room and waits with his gun.  He tells Sherlock to solve the case and he'll unlock the door, which Mary tells him to do.  John says over several times, "the game is on" this episode and it matters now.  Sherlock tells him not to remove his belt cos he's already been stabbed.  The Major doesn't listen until he tells him it's something they both wouldn't do and not at John's wedding of all places.  Working out the photographer did it.  He's always at weddings but never seen or have his photo taken so no one knows his face.

Sherlock dances with the bridesmaid and tells her he loves dancing, as he teaches her to dance.  John adding he's actually pulled.  Back to the dancefloor and Sherlock plays his composed piece for the happy couple as he is left without a partner to dance with.  That was sad. After all that everyone just forgot about him!  He leaves them the composition, dons his coat and exits stage left!  Something you'd see in a Doctor Who ep! Think of Amy's wedding.  No really just like Sherlock slapping himself on both sides of his cheeks to pull himself together and deduce the Vic!  We've seen that plenty of times with Matt Smith as Doctor Eleven. Hey even expected a bit of a dance from Sherlock on the old dancefloor Matt Smith as the Doctor style, though he did a pirouette/mid-air twirl earlier on!! Bravo and encore!

One moment I think is relevant when at the dance at the end he promises he won't make anymore vows, that he will always be there for the three of them, he means both, before he announces Mary is pregnant.  John being shocked he knew before he did and he's a doctor, it was the signs: she didn't like the wine she picked out, was eating a lot and was sick which didn't amount to nerves. Yes getting back to his vow and promising not to make anymore, leading onto next weeks finale of the series, entitled His Last Vow, where we have to meet his nemesis at last.  SO maybe the fun, comical side will be put on hold for that.  Here's hoping we don't get anymore deathly cliffhangers, or a death, that would be too much, especially if it turns out to be someone close to them.

Couldn't help get the feeling that as Sherlock has been firmly established a firm favourite with fans now, hence giving Moffat, Gatiss and co, more leeway to do other things with the show, as far as cases and characters go.  Don't really think we'd be getting such comedic eps last series or even during the first season, but now they're able to let loose and 'experiment' in a way, with alternatives.  Which works for the majority of fans.  Still there must be something a little more of the old Sherlock around still, just to ensure we don't lose all touch with the Sherlock that was.  You know, selfish, kind of self obsessed, aloof.   If nothing else it shows us what good comedy Benedict can do, he's just not a serious Sherlock but one that can laugh, at himself, after criticizing people for all those years and putting them down!

Sherlock referring to himself as an 'arsehole' at one time in the speech, something he wouldn't do, John might and would, but Sherlock, never. We get to see Mycroft work out as Sherlock deduces he wouldn't be out of breath cos he's engaging in other activities, one in particular.  Sherlock throwing his flower to the bridesmaid, aww! Mary didn't throw her bouquet.  Also John mentions his sister Harry wouldn't be coming.

 Is anyone having doubts as to whether John is the baby's father?  I mean the wedding was hurried and everything and did Mary really not know, or could be, pregnant, you know time of the month and all that! Other funny scene was Sherlock saying he's envisioned the deaths of John and has killed him in his mind using poison on him.

I don't know, I'm still suspicious of Mary, she was pushing John to make Sherlock investigate cases, some reason behind this?  Knowing full well John may be in danger too cos he helps him out, would any wife want to see her husband in such imminent danger, always?  She wasn't particularly interested in the message from Cam either, in the sense of wanting Sherlock to skip over it?  CAM = Charles Augustus Magnussen?  Or am I being paranoid? Overly protective in the wake of Sherlock's last vow!

As for the original Sign of Four and of course this could not even be described as being a loose version of it.  In the original book, Mary is Sherlock's client and Major John Shalto does feature.  It centres around a peg-legged man who is the villain and has a dwarf for an assistant, perhaps Sherlock's reference to the poison dwarf case.  Mary consults Sherlock over her missing father who was known to Major Sholto.  The Major being afraid for his life.  He is poisoned by a thorn in his skin.

The dwarf being the one who shot the poison dart, as shown here in the chase on the rooftop when Sherlock alludes to the case of the Poison Dwarf.  SO in a roundabout way, some names and plots were kept from the original, though not in as great detail as before.  Perhaps a parallel here and with the original novel was Sherlock saying he will always be here for them, whereas in the book, the men who hid the body and stole the treasure swear an oath they should all be there for each other and themselves, the oath known as The Sign of Four.  John gets engaged to Mary at the end of the book.

Did feel like Sherlock's speech was a love letter to John to say sorry for the past, kind of, but to show how much he really means to him.  As opposed to the 'Dear John' letter he was actually given in The Reichenbach Fall, when Sherlock died and left John alone.  Basically giving him the cold shoulder! Ha. Mrs Hudson telling Sherlock, "marriage changes people" was right, except it wasn't John who was doing the changing, but our Sherlock!

We find out Mrs Hudson's first husband was executed and he headed a drug cartel before she found out about the cheating.  That their relationship was physical and hands on, which John doesn't want to hear anymore of.  Apologies if this review, like the ep jumps all over the place!

Perhaps we'll see a return to the norm for part 3: less comical more dark.

Sherlock 3.1 "The Empty Hearse" Review

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

At least I warned people which is more than what happens for other shows on Twitter and other sites!!!  You meanies!! Ha

So Sherlock lives should I write that as a hashtag; but have to say it wasn't quite what I expected, especially in the sense of Moffat and co having two years to come up with how Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) survived and they pretty much go for the conventional, 'what everyone already talked about' explanation.  Was that how it all transpired, he used an inflatable schmatable!!??!!  Unbelievable and like Watson (Martin Freeman) at the end, I have to ask, is that really how he did it, or just one explanation out of 13 that Sherlock was teasing Watson with in the tube.  Since we know of course he would have 'diffused' the bomb.

We see events replayed from the series 2 finale and Sherlock calling Watson to say goodbye to him, leave him his note whilst behind the scenes, so to speak, his homeless network (or Holmes-less network as you know I call them) get to work in performing the trick!  As Sherlock tells him it's just a magic trick.  Yes trick of the eye, sleight of hand.  Sherlock jumps and has a bungee rope behind him coming through the window and kisses Molly (Louise Brealey).  Some hypnotist who turns out to be Derren Brown hypnotizes Watson so he's delayed in getting to the scene.  Cue DB of another planted and so on.  Then we jump to Anderson (Jonathan Aris) telling Lestrade (Rupert Graves) this is how it really happened! As outside the courtroom the news reporter says how Moriarty was real and was John Brook, that Sherlock wasn't a fake and was vindicated, but it comes too late since he's dead!

If you read my tweet about Sherlock and the headline in Mycroft's (Mark Gatiss) paper in the season 2 finale you would have seen I wrote, the headlines should not be be read as, "Suicide of Fake Genius," but as, "Fake Suicide of Genius"  much more interesting and apt!  Mind you I was right about the bungee jumping almost, since I also tweeted some days ago about Sherlock bungee jumping from St Bart's!!  It just kind of came to me whilst I was thinking of abseiling.  SO how does it feel to be kind of right?  Oh genius me!  Ha.  But then it was one of Anderson's scenarios so I don't know how that makes me feel, er, not on the same wavelength as him, huh?!!  Nooo!  Nah more like thinking like Mark Gatiss since he wrote the ep!

We see a man being chased in the woods and then he's being tortured by foreign captors who turn out to be Serbian.  Apparently the man is Sherlock, f course, since we don't get to see his face but he convinces his torturer that his wife is having an affair and if he goes now he can catch them inflagranto.  Thus left with another man who speaks Serbian and turns out to be Mycroft.  Sherlock hates how he couldn't have saved him sooner and let him endure the torture, whilst getting a shave.  Mycroft doesn't know the language but it's easily picked up being a cross between several others.  Anthea (Lisa McAllister) walks into with a shirt and suit for him to wear and of course his trademark coat!

Watson returns to 221B Baker Street probably to take one more look at it, final farewell before he gets married.  He's engaged or about to be as he tells Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) who's upset he didn't even call her once in two years!  Not once after everything they went through.  Mrs Hudson asks his name.  But she's happy it's a woman, though to each his own, and again he shouts Sherlock "was not my boyfriend...I'm not gay!!"    So at this point Sherlock has a conversation with Mycroft which is meant to kind of resonate or follow on from what Watson is saying in a bout of comedy.  Sherlock thinking he'll still be at Baker Street and he's moved on Mycroft adds, but he can't Sherlock responds, he wasn't there.  Showing him Watson's file, he notices his moustache, caterpillar, hair growth or whatever you want to call it, above his lip and tells him he looks old.  Which is what Mrs Hudson tells him too.  Sherlock is adamant he needs to shave it cos, "I don't want to be seen with an old man."

Sherlock thinks he should surprise Watson and spring it onto him, that he's still alive.  I mean how would you do that to a friend.  Finding out he'll be at a restaurant, he turns up there without a tie or anything but gets the notion to dress as a waiter, speak in a not too convincing French accent and throw in a few choice phrases such as, "old face.  But of course Watson doesn't get the hint, not until Mary (Amanda Abbington) returns from the loo and Mary as we find will be his fiance, since Watson has brought her here to propose to her. Watson finally sees him and is livid after the shock wears off.  Sherlock isn't given time to explain but Watson manages to control his temper, barely and bangs his fist on the table.  Sherlock removing his eye liner moustache with water and commenting on whether he can do the same as easily.

The three end up at a cafe/diner together and Watson isn't interested in knowing how he lived but how many people knew and where he's been.  Well Mycroft since Mary adds he'd need a confidante and Molly too cos he'd need a DB, as well as his homeless network, 25 of them no less.  He finally punches Sherlock since he doesn't believe he could keep it a secret.  If Sherlock doesn't want anyone to know he's still alive, then why does he just walk around London without a disguise, though he's not really into those.  He's here to foil a terrorist plot to bomb London and he could use Watson's help.  Ooh Sherlock is headbutted this time round, that's military training for you I guess! As Sherlock tells Watson at the end, he mentions he's a soldier enough times.   Mary says she will try and get him to help him again.  Sherlock looks at her and ascertains everything about her in about 2 seconds, maybe even less! ha.  She's shortsighted, loves cats...Oh and Sherlock tells Watson that Mary doesn't like his 'tache either.

Later Watson shaves and Mary is a little perturbed that he didn't shave it for her all this time but he does for Sherlock, which he denies!  Mycoft and Sherlock play games, chess at first, or so it seems, as they talk about themselves and childhood.  How Mycroft would tell him he's smarter than him and Sherlock mimics him as a child. They decided to make friends and well, Mycroft doesn't have any friends even now.  Next it's Operation and Mycroft isn't able to remove the heart!  Afraid to give his heart.  Mycroft tells him he had a client who left his hat behind.  So they deduce traits about him, such as he's nervous and so bites the left bobble of his hat which also makes him obsessive and he's got short hair.  Sherlock adding women also have short hair. It's a Peruvian hat and by now we're back to Mycroft being alone and lonely again.  At which point he's had enough and leaves.  Sherlock even sporting the hat, he's into hats now! Ha.

Watson is at his surgery, seeing all sorts of mundane patients with common ailments and Sherlock is helped by his network to take photos of his rats, cos he knows if any one of them changes their habits then something is happening.  While he too is getting boring clients.  Sherlock appears to Mrs Hudson of course and she thought he was an intruder, now who could mistake that profile and outline; not to mention Lestrade as well who can only hug him!  Thus it comes to dawn that Sherlock is alive and Anderson talks with some of his like-minded individuals who have theories on how Sherlock survived.  The Empty Hearse he calls them explaining the title.  But of course we know the truer meaning of it.  One of his number has a flashback to Sherlock throwing off a dummy with his photo mask on the front of it and then sitting and joking over it with Moriarty, as they're about to kiss!  Er, not likely! Ha.  Which is why we know it's not real.  Anderson being right after all about Sherlock being alive, as was shown in the Sherlock minisode, Many Happy Returns.

Lestrade calls upon Sherlock for help in a skeleton that's been found and he calls upon Molly to help out since Watson's no longer around.  Deducing that the skeleton was a hoax since he was dressed in clothes from a fire damage sale, and he finds a book, "How I Did It, by Jack the Ripper."  All the time, Sherlock mentions John and makes reference to him a lot.  He then takes her along to house, the one with the hat man.  He tells him he works on the  tubes, he's a train enthusiast and he found footage of a man who got onto the tube at Westminster in the last carriage, the last passenger, but didn't get off at St Jame's Park, the next stop.  There are no places in between where anyone could have got off and the train doors wouldn't open.  Sherlock thanks Molly for helping out and for helping him out in the past.  He couldn't have done it without her.  He asks if she wants to go for chips since the owner gives him an extra portion, whilst she thinks of dinner.  But she's engaged and he hopes she'll be happy.  We even get to see Sherlock eating those chips when Mary comes to him for help.

Watson comes to see Sherlock finally and is abducted.  Mary gets a cryptic clue and runs to Sherlock who knows he's in trouble.  She doesn't have a car so he hails a motorbike, yes something that was a little too close to home (or Holmes) to Doctor Who 7.7 The Bell's of Saint John.  Watson finds himself inside  a bonfire and bait to be lighted.  Obviously that was karma for not giving a 'penny for the guy' to the boys in the beginning. Ha.  The fire is lit but Sherlock arrives in time to rescue him.  Sherlock doesn't know why Watson would be kidnapped.  He finds out the man at the station is a Lord since his face is familiar.  We also get to see Sherlock's parents who Watson describes as, "ordinary."  Knew they were his parents and he also realizes they also knew he was alive and weren't at his funeral.   Okay I got it was about blowing up Parliament when his mother mentioned they were having an all night session, though it did appear Sherlock was a little off his game and slow off the mark in this ep, which we can put down to being absent for so long!

He also sees that the tube carriage is missing one, there's six instead of seven that's why the man wasn't seen getting off.  There's a hidden train line which was never used as a station.  So they find the missing carriage and Sherlock then deduces the carriage is the bomb.  Got that too when they got on there!  Sherlock claims he doesn't know how to diffuse the bomb and Watson is sure he does, urging him to go into his "mind palace."  He gets down over the bomb as if he's in real agony and despair, that's when it's obvious he's disarmed it, or at least stopped the timer, cos he wouldn't tell Watson his version of events with only a minute and a half to spare.  He wants Watson to forgive him and explains how he 'lived.'

That he made sure Watson's view was obscured.  He jumped and his homeless network and Mycroft all helped him.  When he sent 'Lazarus' text to Mycroft.  His men took care of Watson's assassin and Sherlock jumped onto a giant inflatable.  The DB was placed there and then he placed himself on the ground with the blood effects around him. Watson was hit by the cyclist, but he managed to get there and felt for a pulse, Sherlock resorting to using the old rubber ball in armpit ploy!!  Noo So not original and has been done before so many times.  More recently in The Mentalist.  That's why like Watson I also said I'm hoping there's more of an explanation to how Sherlock really managed to survive, since this is such a disappointment.  I mean we wait two years and this is all that was adhered to: an inflatable and a rubber ball!

Watson celebrates his engagement and Molly arrives with Tom who is a carbon copy of Sherlock, right down to wearing a coat and scarf and similar shoes!  Molly has fallen for a copy, or rather transferred her feelings onto him.  Maybe I got the feeling she made him dress like that.  Sherlock doesn't want Watson to say a word!  Sherlock doesn't know why Watson was kidnapped and by whom and he hates that.  As a bespectacled old man watches Sherlock rescue Watson.  Here we go, a new nemesis for him who also resorts to filming him and watching his foe at work, just as Moriarty did.  Let's hope he doesn't turn out to be a copy of Moriarty, or someone who got away from his network and is continuing on for him.

Oh and I didn't mention the pleasure Sherlock took in tormenting Watson with the bomb since there was an off switch, "there's always an off switch."  Which is what made Watson and me wonder if Sherlock's version of events is what actually transpired.

 It was good to see Sherlock back after a two year absence and somehow it wasn't quite what I expected, some areas were a bit of a letdown.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Sherlock as much as any fan, but I couldn't help but think it could have been a little more exciting, so it seemed less contrived.  Kind of felt a tad cheated with the ploy as I said of saving Sherlock, but hopefully I'll enjoy it more when re-watching.  Maybe we were meant to see it as a new beginning, yes but in some ways perhaps just have to get back into watching it.  By the time we do get used to it, the other two eps will be over! Ha.

There are those who have hated it and those who have loved it but since it moved on from Sherlock being 'dead' and The Reichenbach Fall, it gave the show more of a chance for purely character interaction and re-introducing Sherlock to London, the "cess pool" as he describes it.  So in that respects it may not be to everyone's taste.

Some best parts were Sherlock tormenting Anderson with the news he was alive and he was right all along, with Anderson wondering why he's telling him that, as well as Sherlock knowing it was him with the skeleton, so he wasted police time, obstructed justice.  It felt good to torment him in that way!  Sherlock's back but Anderson won't be returning to policework.  As for Anderson leaving the Jack the Ripper book, it may be a bit relevant here, or not, but Robert Anderson investigated the Jack the Ripper case as he was chief inspector with Scotland Yard at the time of the murders in Victorian England.  Perhaps Anderson here thought he was being a bit clever in choosing this book to leave there.  It is elementary (had to use that once) Sherlock would have made the deduction and connection.

Sherlock donning his deerstalker which apparently Mrs Hudson kept or he did, since he takes it off the hook and wear it before greeting the press!

Also Sherlock's parents were played by Benedict's real parents, Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham. So another in-joke there.

I will probably be back with some more thoughts on this ep after I've watched again and re-analyzed it a thousand times over! Ha.

Doctor Who "The Time of the Doctor" Review Christmas Special 2013

                                           
Touche Matt!
SO here it was the final episode with Matt Smith playing the elusive Doctor Who and my final review with him in the title role.  Which brings a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye.  What can you write about an actor who came and made the part entirely his own and put so much into the role that you really laughed, cried, and so many other mixed emotions into the fore.  The Doctor said all things must come to an end but not in this way.  Some things you wish would go one forever and Matt in the role was one of them!  My wishful thinking.

This episode Matt's final swansong had to be different to the one with the Tenth Doctor and it was with so many references and answers to questions that were raised over the almost four years Matt played the Doctor.  The Silence, the Church of the Silence and how they fought with him, the message coming through the crack in the wall, were the Time Lords waiting for him to answer the question, "Doctor Who?"  The question that can never be answered.  He ended up back at Trenzalore, the future that he and Clara saw. River Song was a psychopath and he married her, he wouldn't be here without her he replies, again that was true continuing on from the last episode of the last series.

Then there were the emotions with Clara (Jenna Coleman) summing everything up for us and going through the pain and heartache of losing him, that face, that chin, that wig! Ha.  Well I had to get a funny line in there somewhere.  Just like the 'knock knock' joke he wanted from the cracker but never got.  Then there was the bell, the Bell of St John, or rather the bell of the church of the silence, whatever it was, it didn't signal the end of the Doctor but the start of his regeneration, of the introduction of the Twelfth Doctor, yet for some of us time will stand still at the Eleventh Doctor's final moment, cos right now, couldn't really care about the next one!  The Time of the Doctor will always be Eleven O'clock!

The Doctor has a Cyberman head who he calls Handles and this helps him with information he needs.  A message is being transmitted throughout the universe and all of his foes have gathered, the Daleks, the Cybermen, Sontaren and he must find out what he means.  He must also patch the phone into the main console, which he tells Handles' to remind him 'when.'  Clara calls and invites him to Christmas dinner with her family and he's her 'pretend' boyfriend.  When she arrives and finds him in the TARDIS, he's naked since he's going to the Papal Mainframe, well church.  She takes him home and he hasn't programmed them into the console so they can see him as naked.  The turkey's not cooked but he can cook it in the TARDIS.

He takes Clara to the church and she must get naked too by swallowing a pill.  Here he meets Tasha Lem (Orla Brady) the Mother Superior who has been protecting Trenzalore. Handles tells him Gallifrey has been found but he knows Gallifrey is gone.  Handles deciphers the message as being from Gallifrey.  The cracks in the wall were the Time lords who were hidden on the other side and trying to break through,  But it didn't explain why they seemed so sinister when we first met the crack in Amy's house and throughout the fifth series.  Clara got her first encounter with the weeping angels who were also buried in the snow, is this where they were all this time that we saw them after the episode in New York, or did they come here through the crack, where the Doctor dispelled them in season 5.  Also why the Silence were in pursuit of the Doctor back in series 6, to protect him from River.  As well as the line "Silence will fall when the question is asked."  Which is why Tasha silenced everyone.

                                                   

Thus the Doctor ended up on the planet where he was always destined to be, the planet where he meets his end.  The Time Lords must have the Doctor say his name so they can come through the crack, but it's a bit of a stalemate as Tasha warns him, if they do, a war will succeed and this world "will burn."   Kind of like damned if you do and damned if you don't.  Hence if the Time Lords break through when they find out his name the planet will die and if he doesn't tell them his name then he will die.  So it was left to Clara to come though with her own answer to this.  As we remember Clara saw the book and found out what his name was.

The Doctor sends Clara back to the TARDIS for a charge for one of his devices and the TARDIS takes her back home.  He's saving her and doesn't want her here.  He becomes "the sheriff" of Christmas and is here to protect it, fighting off Cybermen and Daleks.  Cue a wooden Cyberman which destroys itself cos the Soinc is useless on wood.  Three hundred years pass and he begins to grow old.  As he later tells Clara when she returns, he finally found a place where he could stay and never leave.  The Doctor will die here and he's resigned himself to that fact and that the Twelfth regeneration will be the last since the War Doctor was a regeneration even if he didn't call himself the Doctor.  But she tells him to fight it and change the future since he has his TARDIS now.

Some of the mid-point of the ep felt a little repetitive and tedious since the Doctor wasn't doing much.  Also have to mention the scene where he gets back to the Mainframe to find Tasha died several times over and is assimilating into a Dalek but he tells her to fight it.  The Doctor also has a penchant for pink marshmallows now and he has been getting them from his supplier, Tasha of course.  A nice moment, very touching when he sits and waits for the sunrise which only appears for a brief incidence.  A chance to reminisce and talk, grow even older for him and to showcase Handles's end, showing a similar fate awaiting the Doctor.  He reminds him to fix the phone and dies.

Clara makes him promise to let her look into his "sad eyes" that he will never leave her again.  A promise he can't really keep since he is leaving, okay not the character, but still...yet he lies to her as we all know in his own words, "I lie."  She ends up home again but the TARDIS finally gets back with Tasha at the helm and she wants her to be there for the Doctor, "you can't let him die alone."  They pull a cracker with some help from Clara for him and finds a poem which is apt for his transition and farewell.  "And now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now, the clock is striking Twelve's."  
Which the Doctor claimed he didn't know the meaning of!

He must go and do battle one last time as the Daleks request the Doctor and Clara tells the crack the Doctor's name is the Doctor and if they love him, they will help him.  The Doctor now looking as if he's in a homage to William Hartnell, it seems, rings the bell as he's given a burst of energy from the Time Lords, allowing him to destroy the Dalek ship this time round (whereas last time the regeneration from the Tenth to the eleventh had the Tenth destroying his TARDIS) and so the regeneration begins.  The enemies are   defeated and he returns to the TARDIS.  Clara goes in and finds his clothes on the floor and a bowl of fish fingers and custard.  HE appears but only for the briefest of moments.  He sees Amelia as a little girl and then Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) the elder as she too vanishes after saying her goodbye to her "raggedy man." One second he's walking and the next minute he's zapped into the Twelfth Doctor, who says he has kidneys and doesn't know how to fly the TARDIS.

Nice touch with The Eleventh removing his bow tie, cos "bow ties are cool" but bow ties are no more!  I'm not going to get into the arguments I've read on other sites about the end of the episode and who (no pun) did whatever better, sufficed to say everyone will have their own thoughts and theories on the ending and how Matt was written out as the Doctor, or go into comparisons with the Tenth Doctor's departure.  Cos it's done now and there's no way it can be changed.

Some comedy in this episode also included the Doctor going onto the Dalek ship with his cloak and a "Dalek part in my hand."  But it appears there was too much going on here and we never got to say a real farewell to Matt and his Doctor.  It could have been extended for over an hour cos it seemed like he was here and he was gone.  At least David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor got to say goodbye in a more casual and slow paced way, seeing all his friends.  Here Matt was gone in a second, what he didn't have any friends aside from Amy! Yes he sees Amy and Clara is forgotten, they (Matt and Jenna) had so much chemistry and she even blurts his feelings for him when they arrive at the town and the Truth Line, but no more is made of it!  Why? Yet he kisses Tasha in front of her and comes up with the comment, "now that is a real woman." Again leaving Clara with nothing to say, er, wouldn't he have said that about River too.

We also get to see that what the Doctor saw in season 6 ep The God Complex behind door number 11 was the crack, but it seemed to be tacked on here like there was no idea of what to do with the crack and any explanation for it.  Very amateurish!  To be honest and don't all shout at me at once, the Tenth and Eleventh were my Doctors and I can't say I'm enthused or looking forward to number 12.

Perhaps the town called Christmas could have been given a reprieve this year and though it was meant to be a Christmas special it could have foregone the festivities cos we knew what it really was and given us the proper goodbye to Matt we deserved!  Clara's parents were rather boring and standoffish, I mean yes they were old but was her mother really like that.  The woman her father met with the maple leaf was stuck on the face. She deserved a much better family than that.  Aside from her gran who recalled her husband and how she met and remembers him, something much more closer to home for Clara, "my Impossible girl."  That's all her Doctor could call her.

Episodes alluded to here were: The Wedding of River Song, The Big Bang, The Day of the Doctor, The Name of the Doctor, A Good Man Goes to War, where River was engineered to kill him as Tasha explains when she calls her a psychopath;  The God Complex.  The seal the Doctor places on Handles's head to decipher the message he stole from the Master in the story with the Fifth Doctor, The Five Doctors.

As I tweeted, "Matt Smith may be the Eleventh Doctor, but to me he will always be my number one!" Enough said!

Doctor: "I will not forget one line of this.  Not one day, I swear.  I will always remember when the Doctor was me!  And so will we, well I will at least, ha!

Atlantis 1.13 "Touched By The Gods" Part 2 Review

                                          
Jason (Jack Donnelly) is determined to rescue Ariadne (Aiysha Hart) as the three of them watch preparations being made for her to burn inside the bull.  How the person is placed inside the belly of the bull is explained and Hercules (Mark Addy) keeps making foody references to cooking and roasting when he's describing what happens.  Pythagoras (Robert Emms) adding the horns make a sound when the person screams inside which sounds very ominous, he thinks it's a veritable piece of genius, of course not choosing the best place or time to make this known. Hercules won't let him do this alone since has become fond of him but only marginally better than he likes Pythagoras whom he likes only marginally better than wine. Jason will succeed or die trying.  Which pretty much becomes their motto.

Jason visits the Oracle (Juliet Stevenson) who tells him he should head for the tin mines where he will be safe amongst the dead.  Wonder why he needed counselling from the Oracle at this point in time.

Ariadne is visited by Melas (Ken Bones) in her cell and can't come to terms with her sentence.  He goes to see Jason and the others as they prepare the rescue and will help them get into the grounds.  Hercules turns up to the spectacle and pretends to be drunk, spilling wine near the fire which happens not to be wine. Ariadne is dressed in white and Jason lights an arrow which he releases into the wood and starts a fire.  They head into the sewers as Melas shows them a way out into the woods and he's been injured in the fighting. Hercules pulls apart the bars since he won't able to fit through them with Pythagoras adding he would have gone through.  He holds down the fort as the others leave and Heptarian (Oliver Walker) finishes Melas off.

They are followed into he woods with Pasiphae (Sarah Parish) in pursuit and Jason and Hercules can't help but turn around to see Ariadne changing, er, there were tress there you know!  Pythagoras not being able to look either! They arrive at the mine and find they are surrounded by lepers.  A man greets them and Pythagoras now understands they were to be helped by the "living dead."  The soldiers follow them, seeing as Pasiphae has brought a legion with her and Jason talks with Aeson (John Hannah).  Hercules feeds and tasting their food calls them all good people now but before he didn't want anything to do with them.  Aeson knows Jason has feelings for Ariadne and he can't really express them, also noticing his necklace.

Heptarian attacks and the others escape into the woods.  More fighting as Jason is knocked out.  Ariadne is taken back and Pasiphae is about to kill Jason in a reverse of the last episode where Jason stood over her with his sword and couldn't go through with it.  Pasiphae was his wife and he tells her Jason is their son, well that was obvious.  One reason why he couldn't kill her.  Jason doesn't know and he promises he won't know.  Wonder if Heptarian heard them talking since he turns up but is finally taken care of by Jason.

Aeson knows she can't kill her son.  The priest sees Ariadne's servant putting the poison into Minos's (Alexander Siddig) drink and administers an antidote.  Jason still wants to rescue Ariadne and they return to Atlantis but find that Minos is well.  He confronts Pasiphae and she's shocked to see him well. Seems like she's an outcast now, would have thought Minos would have been much more angry with her. She asks the Oracle what will happen in her future and that she knew about Jason all along.  She warns her to be careful of her own future.  Minos tells Jason he can't be with Ariadne since she's a princess and he's so beneath her status.  Jason refuses money from him and Hercules would have preferred he took it.  Jason and Pythagoras talk of being fond of him too aside from his annoying habits and Hercules mentions being a "legend amongst my people."  As Pasiphae watches them.

But fear not as Atlantis will return next year!  Well we knew that weeks ago of course.  So in the final episode we had to meet Jason's father since he was mentioned from the outset and is long lost to Jason, as was Merlin's father to him.  Some were amazed and surprised at Pasiphae being Jason's mother but it was quite apparent if you think about it.  It was easier to kill Circe than Pasiphae and as his father tells her he's her flesh and blood and she won't kill him.  He also hid Jason somewhere she wouldn't find him after she carried on with Minos.  The question being where did Aeson go with Jason and was this with help from the Oracle as when we met Jason he was living in modern times and with a man he referred to as his uncle Maguire and Jason found his father's submarine with the name "The Oracle" on its side.

As for Jason being warned off Ariadne will this happen, oh let's hope so we can do with a break from her, she wasn't the best of heroines and rather feeble, granted she did live a sheltered life for a princess.  Pasiphae had to be caught out otherwise the three couldn't return to Atlantis.

Death Comes to Pemberley Part 3 Review

                                                         
The trial is set for Wickham (Matthew Goode) and Fitzwilliam (Tom Ward) can't see why Darcy (Matthew Rhys) had to hire Henry Alveston (James Norton) to defend him.  Lizzie (Anna Maxwell Martin) gets Louisa (Nichola Burley) to come clean about the baby and her meeting with Denny (Tom Canton) and the woman in the bonnet. She met with her to hand over little Georgie but had a change of mind thinking the woman was too overly excited to have the boy and Denny put his foot in it by handing over the thirty pounds.  William Bidwell (Lewis Rainer) tells Louisa to tell the truth and she confesses Fitzwilliam was also at the abbey. Lizzie tries to tell Darcy of this and he will not believe his cousin is such a man, capable of doing such things. Still thinking Georgiana (Eleanor Tomlinson) has found a good match in him.  Indeed Fitzwilliam proposes to Georgiana and she has to accept him.  Though he says his pride and brotherly feelings are turning to love for her.

Lady Catherine de Bourge (Penelope Keith) calls on Lizzie with the intention of staying here and sees that Darcy attending the trial is dangerous to his reputation and he shouldn't be there.  Lizzie has also called Lydia (Jenna Coleman) back to Pemberley so Jane can have some rest from her but also cos of the trial.  She arrives shouting and being loud as usual and how the women in the shop shunned her when they found out she was Lizzie's sister.

A good portrayal of trials back then and how justice had very little do with it.  Darcy tells Wickham he should place his desk by the window in his cell,  but Wickham is loathed of the view, the gallows being constructed outside.  He plans to leave for America when all this is over, trying to convince himself he won't be found guilty.  Hardcastle (Trevor Eve) talks with Mrs Piggott (Teresa Churcher) the inn keeper's wife who tells him she overheard the argument between Denny and Wickham and repeats what she said.  She's to testify at the trial in Derby and needs a new hat.  Alveston later asks why she didn't come forward at the inquest and she states that she was on the privy and people would have laughed at her, as they do now.  She doesn't think Denny would have been afraid of Wickham since he had his gun and they wouldn't have been violent in front of Lydia.

Alveston, trying to set a precedence here on how to cross examine witnesses and raise objections doesn't really succeed when he's shot down by the judge time and again.   Darcy testifies he heard Wickham say he was responsible for his friend's death but wasn't a confession.  Instead he was distraught and if he hadn't argued then his friend wouldn't have been here, but he still stands by Wickham's innocence.  Darcy spots the bonnet woman at the trail and knows her as Mrs Younge (Mariah Gale).  She was the one who informed him of where Lydia and Wickham were when he searched for them, for a high price.  She tells him she's Wickham's sister and they have strong feelings for one another.  That's whys he met with Fitzwilliam in the inn and was talking about her brother.  Darcy is angry that he could do such a thing and doesn't want him coming to Pemberley anymore and calls off the engagement.  He tells Georgiana she should marry for love and stand by her heart's desire and always trust the one she loves.  Finally taking a leaf out of his own book and admitting Lizzie was right.  Thus they spend a night of passion together.

Darcy feels Lizzie should tell Lydia the truth about Wickham as it will be easier to hear from her sister, but Lydia refuses to listen, leaving it to the gossips so she can treat them with contempt.  Hardcastle is called to testify but omits the part about Wickham's affair with Louisa and the baby.  Which comes as a shock to Darcy.  He later tells him he knew Wickham was to be hanged so he didn't want to ruin Darcy's reputation further.  No matter what people think Hardcastle's not his father.  SO the jury returns a verdict of guilty as to be expected and Mrs Younge couldn't take the news, running out and the sight of the gallows leading her to run in front of a horse and carriage.  It was death by carriage here.

Lydia is distraught but stands by him still knowing he didn't kill Denny.  Wickham telling her he's, "lead her a merry dance."  But they've had fun she tells him, cos that's what it's all about and no doubt Darcy will pay for their going to America.  He wants her to remember him by his brightest memory.  Wickham is to hang in two days.

Lizzie at church speaks with the Reverend who mentions William's illness and how it was serious after the murder and how he hasn't been to see him since, nobody has.  Giving Lizzie an idea of going about solving the killing.  Of course, William was the only one left who could have possibly done the deed whilst defending his sister's honour.  He saw Denny and confused him for Wickham.  He hit him with his stick and ran after him but he headed towards the gully and fell, hitting his head on great grandfather Darcy's headstone in the woods.  Showing he was still causing mischief from beyond.   Wickham arrived and shot at William so he ran away.  Lizzie gets him to sign a confession and his father wants forgiveness for not being here for him. William dies and Lizzie must rush the confession to the judge, with Bidwell taking her.

It was a sight seeing Wickham being lead to the gallows, he was to be hanged with the common riff-raff and it has to be said his reputation as a soldier that kept him in stead as he didn't falter at all, not until the last moment.  Lizzie gets to the judge and at the last moment the hanging is stopped, with Wickham falling to his knees.  He and Lydia head to America with Lydia showing off Wickham as they leave.

Alveston proposes to Georgiana and Lizzie tells Darcy she's expecting a baby but can't promise it will be a girl. He thinks Louisa should keep her baby and Pemberley should take care of its own.  So ends the saga and it's happy families for all.  Not much of a murder mystery since there weren't that many suspects left and William all but gave himself away when he said Louisa should tell Lizzie the truth about seeing Fitzwilliam at the abbey, trying to avert blame onto him.  He conveniently dies so doesn't have to face the hangman's noose.  Thought Matthew Goode would have made a good Sidney Carton in an adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, you know stiff upper lip and all that.

All 'n' all though this could have been much better and seemed everything was solved and resolved within the last five minutes of the three episodes and still no ball! We was robbed!  It was fine as murder mysteries went, but wasn't that big a mystery and would have been more interesting had it not contained characters from one of our fave serials.  Fitzwilliam's secret wasn't that huge either since he was paying off Wickham and Louisa to protect Darcy.  Which is why Darcy was angry since he doesn't need protecting.  Fitzwilliam still maintaining even if Wickham is hanged he will still take Georgiana since no one else will.

Tom Ward was in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as Captain Chamberlayne in one episode.

Death Comes to Pemberley Part 2 Review

                                               
The morning after the night before and we pick up with Lizzie (Anna Maxwell Martin) and Darcy (Matthew Rhys) still not quite on speaking terms, well okay, they are speaking but it's so very routine and dull, like they're just holding on for the sake of reputation.  Shown when Lizzie tries to hold his hand in church and he pushes it away. Oh he'd have died for that hand a few years ago!  The ball is cancelled and is announced to the staff by Bidwell since the Lord and Lady are not up to the task until later when they summon the staff and Darcy announces, "Death has come to Pemberley."  Like 'it' was some uninvited visitor and all cos Wickham (Matthew Goode) brought it upon them.  Yes Wickham you cad.  As Darcy puts it, he keeps changing his character as did this version, first he's a bounder, then Lydia's (Jenna Coleman) suitor before marring her for money and then war hero.  Oh and Lizzie thanks the staff for their hard work and guarantees them no one at Pemberley will go without and always have a place here, which Darcy doesn't really stand by.

As I said, trouble in paradise and Lizzie confides in Jane (Alexandra Moen) as she arrives, that she fears their marriage is over.  She has flashes to when he proposed to her and how he mentioned their family and how it was all "beneath him" and pained him to propose.  Also recalling the ball when the locals were talking about Lydia and Wickham and the shame of it all.  Jane tells her it's not the case and I have to say Jane's arrival was a breath of fresh air, but didn't last long, as she took Lydia and Mother Bennett (Rebecca Front) home with her. Since she's in the way and a constant reminder of Wickham.  Especially as she talks of Darcy and how Lizzie only really married him for his money which he overhears.  Well she was loud!

Hardcastle (Trevor Eve) interviews the witnesses and staff and the servant girls tell about Mrs Reilly's ghost and how she lost her bonnet, which Lizzie tells him she also saw and that the mysterious woman was quite alive.  Hardcastle thinking she was trying to appease his sensibilities on ghostly apparitions.  Fitzwilliam (Tom Ward) visits Wickham in prison and Wickham demands better food, it appears he doesn't really like him and has his own secrets still, as does everyone.  Lizzie confides in Darcy about Fitzwilliam burning the letter but Darcy can't think he'd step a foot wrong since he's known him since childhood as he later tells the same to Hardcastle.

Jane and Lizze along with Darcy at church where Darcy is disgusted he has to take Lydia inside who almost feigns a fainting spell.  They later pay a visit to the Bidwell's after church and Lizzie sees Louisa (Nichola Burley) nursing the baby which was meant to be her sister's.  Lizzie later asking Mrs Reynolds (Joanna Scanlan) if she's aware of anything troubling Louisa, as in man trouble.  Louisa cries in the wood and carves the initials 'FYD' onto a tree, which Hardcastle chances upon.  Of course red herrings since the initials could stand for Darcy, Denny or even Fitzwilliam.  Lizzie also finds Darcy at the grave of another Fitzwilliam Darcy and has to ask Georgiana (Eleanor Tomlinson) who it belongs to and why it's in the woods since Darcy only told her it's a "discredit."  He was their great grandfather, a gambler who almost set Pemberley to ruin and their father had to sell land to gain Pemberley back.  Something Darcy has kept from Lizzie so who knows what other secrets he has.

Fitzwilliam asks Darcy for permission to wed Georgiana and he agrees saying he also has Lizzie's blessing. She of course does not give it since Georgiana is in love With Henry Alverston (James Norton).  They then have an argument over love and how Fitzwilliam will provide security for her since they don't know the future of Pemberley.  She calls him a hypocrite which he has to utter for himself as he married for love.  Maybe he regrets that too.  Since it was going against every bone in his body and against all his sensibilities and pride and prejudices.

Louisa tells her of a Freddie D in the army and how he's disappeared.  He went into London to get money and he's vanished.  Of course that's cos Freddie doesn't exist which was obvious.  Fitzwilliam comes clean about his whereabouts on the night in question and did not want to ruin a lady's reputation, the lady being the 'loony' in the woods or so everyone perceived her but he doesn't reveal her name.  She was enquiring the whereabouts of her brother and needed his help.  Hardcastle has already checked this at the inn  and he also adds he gave Wickham the thirty pounds he asked for.  He couldn't refuse him since he helped bring him his godson after he was killed in the war and made sure his mother could bury him.  Darcy agrees he did a good thing.  So this money was it for Louisa?  Oops gave the game away here.  Since it wasn't difficult to work out Wickham is Freddie, who else would be such a womanizer and why Denny would be angry with him. Perhaps he was going to pay her off.  He clearly wasn't going to set up home with her, was he?

Darcy pays a visit to Wickham and he shows him his memoirs which Darcy thinks would serve him in good stead as an honest living.  He needs money when he gets out of here and so he can leave Pemberley, which Darcy promises him.  He once again pleads his innocence since he's guilty of many things but not murder.  Darcy believes this.  The murder weapon, a stone is found in the woods and the inquest is held.  Yeah inn full of bawdy and drunk men!  Hardcastle wants only the facts from the coachman and after various testimony.  The men retire to consider their verdict.  Alverston helps out even though he didn't do much and Georgiana rejected him.  She must do her duty as she tells Lizzie as the family have all done so in the past for the good of the estate.

Seems unbelievable, but even Fitwilliam has good things to say about Wickham at the inquest.  Lizzie arrives with lunch for Darcy and sees Louisa.  She runs out of there after seeing Freddie.  She points out Wickham as he is found guilty.  Still plenty of suspects since we know Fitzwilliam is still hiding something and the letter. Which must have more to do with the estate since it mentions Darcy in it.  Who is the woman in the woods looking for and how does she fit into all of this.  It would be a turn up for the books if Fitzwilliam turned out to be the killer but he was alibied.  Perhaps he knows who it really is.  Don't think Wickham is guilty since he just wouldn't kill Denny like that, as he states he was his only friend who accepted him for who he was until he found out about the baby.

Suppose we'll get a happy ending in the final part with Lizzie and Darcy playing happy families and all will be forgiven.  be good of it wasn't.  I mean he doesn't call her Lizzie and she calls him Darcy what happened to dear or some other pet name?  Funny moments were provided by Lydia of course and how she thinks Denny may have had a crush on her and wouldn't do anything about it which is why he avoided her.  More he like he knew what Wickham was really keeping from her.  His guilty secret.  Perhaps the killer will turn out to be some complete stranger.

Death Comes To Pemberley Part 1 Review

                                              
Not exactly what a lot of you may be expecting especially if you were hoping to see Lizzie and Darcy as we recall them from our fave 1995 Pride and Prejudice adaptation with the delightful Jennifer Ehle and gorge Colin Firth.  Seems like this adaptation, written by PD James in 2009 as a sequel, time and characterization has passed them by.  Lizzie (Anna Maxwell Martin) seems aloof from her sister, Lydia (Jenna Coleman) and appears to be distant from Darcy (Matthew Rhys) too, perhaps there was just not enough chemistry between the leads to do our indubitable characters justice.  Everytime I saw Matthew I was constantly reminded of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and his brooding sense of lurking with menace.

The scene begins with two servant girls and one of them claiming she's seen the ghost of the cook/servant/housekeeper explains it's an old wives's tale which is what Lizzie leaves it at.  She's busy arranging a ball to which she hasn't invited Lydia or Wickham (Matthew Goode) since he's not to set foot at Pemberley.  So Lydia seems to have cut ties with her sister but it more comfortable accepting Georgiana (Eleanor Tomlinson) as her own flesh and blood.  Georgiana has two suitors now, one in the form of Henry Alverson (James Norton), a man of law and Fitzwilliam (Tom Ward).  Who aims to propose to her after he speaks with Darcy and thinks love will follow.  Lizzie doesn't believe this is so and is a stern believer in love coming first. Georgiana however wants Henry.

Lizzie meets a woman in the woods whom is believed to be mad, just to add some more mystery to proceedings.  We see Lydia and Wickham who argues with Capt Denny (Tom Canton) telling him he doesn't know how women think.  In the carriage, Denny leaves and Wickham follows into the woods. What we see next is Lydia in hysterics and arriving at Pemeberley.  The Bennetts have already arrived and father Bennett (James Fleet) prefers to hide himself away in the library whilst Mrs Bennett (Rebecca Front) finds  a portrait of Wickham hidden in a closet.  Everyone preferring to change the subject.  But we're reminded of how Wickham was favoured by Darcy's father.

Lizzie has a flashback to meeting Wickham for the first time where he tells of how he was wronged by Darcy who drove him away from Pemberley.  As she mentions her line of his showing his prejudice wherever Darcy goes.  Lydia needs to be slapped by her father before she tells them what happened, how two shots were heard and Wickham must be dead.  The men arrange a search into the woods accompanied by the coach driver and find Wickham with Denny, dead, and exclaiming how he killed his friend, it's all his fault.

Darcy must go for the magistrate Hardcastle (Trevor Eve) since he is too close and under the law Wickham is seen as his brother, they must do the right thing.  Appears he is loathe to do this as Hardcastle is not really favoured much.  They ride back to Pemeberley and takes statements from the witnesses who all tell him the same thing.  Wickham is sedated by the doctor as is Lydia and Hardcastle finds Wickham has been cleaned and the blood washed.  Doctor Belcher (Kevin Eldon) tells him there is no way to ascertain whose blood belongs to which man.

The doctor examines Denny and finds he was hit on the head first by some object like a cosh and then struck at the back of the head.  Wickham gives his statement of what happened and claims he wouldn't kill his friend.  Doubt and suspicion is also placed on Fitzwilliam as he was out riding alone and Lizzie spies him burning a letter, fragments of which read how he needs support and needs to meet Darcy.  Hardcastle finds Wickham's hat with thirty pounds hidden inside.  The issue of poachers is raised and Darcy has a flashback to a boy who poached on Hardcastle's land and his father sentenced him to death without being lenient.  Darcy and Wickham, as boys, sneaked away to see him hanged.  Which is why Hardcastle isn't liked.  Later his mother hanged herself in the woods and Lizzie realizes that was the ghost they were talking about earlier.

Hardcastle arrests Wickham since he confessed in front of witnesses and Lydia is hysterical once more.  She has to be consoled by Georgiana, whereas her own sister just looks on, wasn't much of a sister then was she.  Seemed like there was trouble in paradise between the two since Darcy didn't come right out and tell her he loves Lizzie but had to write to down, though he appears to be a doting father to their son.  Though why did Lizzie mention "all good things must come to an end."

Seems this production was aimed at the darker sides of all concerned, I mean who would expect Col Fitzwilliam, Darcy's cousin of harbouring secrets and Lizzie snooping around as if she's some sort of eighteenth century detective.  Lydia was as close to the 'original' Lydia from the book and the first BBC adaptation as they could get, as she's brought her ballgown and wants it removed from the trunk, also eating when she has no appetite.  But the others were as far removed as possible.  Plenty of suspects abound though for the next installment.

There was plenty that could have been done with this drama but alas I found myself not really caring for the characters at all, except Lydia and Jenna gave a good performance and as for the plot, well it's apparent Wickham didn't do it, since we have to find out who the loony in the woods is and what she was doing there.  Also why Wickham fired the gun and at whom?  Let's hope Part 2 is more interesting or enough to keep me interested.

Downton Abbey Christmas Special 2013

                                               
It's Rose's (Lily James) coming out and the family and staff are packed off to London for this leaving plenty of turmoil in their wake.  The Levinsons also arrive, Cora's brother Harold (Paul Giamatti) and her mother, Martha (Shirley MacLaine)  Though she's without a lady's maid and so Baxter (has to help her out for now.  Also with them is Ethan Slade (Michael Benz) Harold's valet, though why an American would need one is quite surprising seeing as Martha isn't into all that.  Slade makes a play for Daisy (Sophie McShera) in the sense of showering her with compliments and wanting to be with her, which Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nichol) thinks is nice for her as she tells Carson (Jim Carter) it's nice for a woman to be showered in such a way even if it is a little risque to others.

Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) asks Anna (Joanne Froggatt) for some old clothes for the Russian refugees and she gives her Bates's (Brendan Coyle) overcoat which she wants him to throw out and get a new one whilst in London but Mrs Hughes tells her he's a man so not one for shopping.  Apparently Anna hasn't checked his pockets and neither has Bates, I mean why would he keep his ticket to London still, especially with news of Green being thrown in front of a car and all that!  Anyway Mrs Hughes finds the train ticket and wants Mary (Michelle Dockery) to handle it, a bit of a mistake since Mary isn't very good at that kind of thing.  Mrs Hughes thinks if he avenged Anna then she won't "condemn him for that."  So why not discard the ticket and not tell Mary. Mary's view seems to differ as she later tells her it was a man's life and she can't go along with it.  SO what was she going to do confront Bates.  She later not too subtly mentions London and how people can get up to all sorts of things here, which Bates doesn't reply to, but looked rather guilty about, she has to be rescued by Mrs Hughes.

Edith (Laura Carmichael) isn't to happy with her conversation with the Dowager (Maggie Smith) as she keeps calling her baby an 'it', she'd rather call her 'she.'  As Edith mentions having to be fitted with new clothes and she had to stay on to wean the baby too.  So it's 1923 now and we've moved forward a year as Edith has had her baby and given it up to a Swiss family.  The Dowager knows it isn't easy for her but she flippantly comments that at least Edith's French ill have improved.  Right about now, Edith must have been thinking of the expletives!

There's not enough room at the London house for everyone and Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) thinks they may have to share with the servants, the men that is and Mary may need to share with Edith.  Mary would rather be on the roof than share with her.  Mary is so suck up still isn't she, even if she doesn't like Edith she still isn't very sisterly towards her, not even after Sybil said they should be more like sisters a while back.  No she's still raving on about Charles Blake (Julian Ovenden) being beneath (no not int hat way!) her and wanting to do away with 'her kind.'  As she comments, 'her lot are going out and his lot are coming in'. She meets him at a gallery with Tony Gillingham (Tom Cullen) who has been invited to supper by Cora but Charles hasn't.  Rose meets Madeleine Alsop (Poppy Drayton) at the Embassy club and she introduces her father Lord Aysgarth (James Fox) as well as Edward, Prince of Wales (Oliver Dinsdale) and Freda Dudley Ward (Janet Montgomery).  Rose and Freda talk about  a letter the Prince has given to Freda.  probably a reference to Wallis Simpson but more like a letter to Freda.

Before Daisy leaves for London Thomas (Rob James-Collier) gives her  message for Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) that she should tell her he's waiting to hear all the stories she's got for him.  The house is turned upside down and Cora tells Carson she'd like the servants to have a trip and a day off before they leave for home after the ball, but Carson isn't too sure about where they'd like to go.  He thinks the science museum or the Crystal Palace at its new site, yeah cos these lot are all into science and architecture, ha!

Edith tells Rosamund (Samantha Bond) she's a kind of editor now since Michael Gregson left his power of attorney to her.  There's no word on him and she regrets giving up her baby.   Rosamund wants her to forget but if he did leave a will then she wants their baby to have half, it's what she deserves.  She's had news of Michael being in a fight with some Brown shirts and being Nazi's of course, which Downton does not know about yet, of course, it's highly unlikely Michael would have fared well.

At the Embassy club the next night, Sampson (Patrick Kennedy) is also there, the card sharp from series 4 and he overhears them speak of that letter.  Whilst the others are dancing he steals it from Freda's bag. Though it's a wonder why she's carrying it around.  Rose has to tell Robert about this and he thinks they should steal it back, it's not stealing if it's already been stolen.  He thinks if they have a distraction someone can sneak into Sampson's place and steal it back.  He suggests a card game and the ladies could go to the theatre.  He asks Bates if he knows a good forger as they can give the note to the porter and be let into his place.  Mary's brought in too since she'll have to help and they can't confide in the Dowager cos she won't be able to keep it to herself.  Robert knows Sampson can make a lot of money out of it and Robert is a monarchist, he knows the sort of trouble it can cause the Royal Family.  Bates forges the letter himself cos we know he learned all sorts of things in prison and is only too happy to help Robert.

Rose is now out as the family arrives at Buckingham Palace and is taken out by her sponsor Cora.  The Dowager will join them for supper afterwards as will Harold and Martha. King George V (Guy Williams) knows about Rose's father, Shrimpy and helped out the Prince in his tour of India.  Queen Mary just sat there looking as stern as ever.  Odd that the King should have spoken to Rose at all.  Harold tries to introduce himself to the Prince who wonders why he's calling him Harold.  Lord Aysgarth meanwhile tries to latch onto Martha as he's interested in looking for a rich woman who's after a title for herself.  He thinks she'll be hard pressed to resist him.  Harold has a liking for Madeline but tells her all the women he's met just wants him for his money and a good time, expecting a diamond bracelet by way of goodbye.  Little do they know they aren't that rich and mind you he doesn't want mention of that scandal Robert helped him out of. He and Martha are touring the Continent.

Sarah Bunting (Daisy Lewis) drops her books like a right proper commoner, ha and Branson (Allen Leech) just happens to be it the village to help her pick them up.  She tells him he hasn't been to see her and thinks he's avoiding her, well who'd blame him, she's not very appealing or exiting.  TO put it bluntly, you're no Sybil, love! Ha.  The Dowager drives past to wish him goodbye incase she missed him since the others are in London already and tells Bunting she's been invited to supper at the palace.  Bunting, as boring as her name, then invites herself to lunch with Branson at the pub, having a change of mind and also wants a tour of Downton.  She goes upstairs to the gallery to look at the view and Thomas finds them there, Branson leaves thinking he's been sprung and that they were in the bedroom!  Branson having to explain himself to Thomas the next day, why bother, it's Thomas and we all know he'll twist whatever he sees into whatever he wants. Just as he tells Robert when he arrives in London about Branson and Bunting being on the bedroom floor. Branson tells Robert she's just a friend.

Seems everyone still wants Branson to fit in and as the Dowager later tells him, this is his family and these are his people.  He's not sure about the people but it is his family.  As he asks her to dance at the ball.  Mary, sneaks into Sampson's place with Charles and Rose but they don't find the letter.  Sampson mentions Michael and how he doesn't think they were playing above board last time but since he's missing he'll say no more about him, of how charitable.  Edith thinks they should speak out more about things that matter and shout if they want to.  Mary saying in her monotonous tone, that she's not "quite sure how one would get it back in." Agh sometimes she's just so annoying.

So there's a picnic with the Dowager and Isobel (Penelope Wilton) also in attendance and Lord Merton (Douglas Reith) she feels is chasing her, so why does she encourage it.  Isobel and the Dowager still having their delightful conversations but this time round, the Dowager has Martha  to aim her venomous insults at, as she talks of how she needs to change out of her outfit when they're attending the theatre and then at the ball she tells her how she's barley able to look in the glass at herself.  Martha replies she can look at herself in the mirror cos the future it's all how she wants it to be and not like the good old days the Dowager wants to hang onto, all aristocracy and stiff upper lip.  Also telling her that she doesn't want Aysgarth nor a title but she tells him she'll introduce him to wealthy American women who do.  Harold has a good effect on Madeleine as he makes her see what her father's really like and she doesn't want to be like that.

Thomas complains of how Branson would be under him, a chauffeur and how he has to serve him now.  Er, Thomas lets a Freudian slip there, ha, since it feels like he's got a thing for Branson the way he's always complaining about him, not to mention how he said he'd have to sit in the back seat with him since there's no room for the baskets and Thomas at the front.  Thomas also badgering Baxter for news and knows she's holding back on him.  Molesley (Kevin Doyle) stops him but he tells her she needs to stick up for herself irrespective of what Thomas has over her, which is definitely not his leg, ha!  Which she does do at the end and tells Molesley he made her strong and she stands up for herself against Tomas, but he'll probably get round that, being Thomas.  Hey Thomas making a fist when Branson was speaking to him.

Charles makes it obvious he's jealous of Gillingham and he can't stop watching Mary as she dances with him and then leaves the room with him.  She says she thought she'd be alone a year ago and now knows she has a destiny not full of loneliness. But she has to fight and protect Downton for George against Charles and people like him.  Gillingham hates himself for telling her but Charles is titled at least he will inherit the title of Baron from his cousin, which is news to Mary but now she knows he's not against her but is one of them. That was snooty of her since hearing this she thinks Charles may have a chance and she dances all night with him,  Gillingham wanted it to be a fair fight and Charles didn't want to tell her of the title due to her prejudices.  He wanted to win her for himself by being himself.

Bates thinks Sampson has the letter in his coat and takes it back for Robert after the card game and tells him if it was so important he wouldn't keep it in his home.  Sampson finds the letter gone when he finds some paper on the floor in his room, knowing someone has been there.  So that's another one up on him.  Don't know why he even bothers.  

Edith decides to get her daughter back and asks the pig farmer if he will take her in with his wife.  Pretending it's a friend's baby and her parents won't let her in the house.  He knows it's really her baby and swears it'll be a secret between the two of them and no one will know.  Of course anyone can tell it's her baby.

Carson finally gets the hint from Mrs Hughes and agrees to an outing to the beach.  Daisy doesn't want to be Harold's cook in New York but is flattered Slade wanted her so and wanted to court her.  She thinks Ivy (Cara Theobold) should go in her place cos she wants to go to America.  Mrs Patmore thinks she did a good deed for her.  Carson dips his feet into the sea and Mrs Hughes tells him to take her hand to steady himself and he can feel free to "take my hand anytime to steady yourself."  Which he thinks is risque too.  Carson tread the boards but has never waded in the sea!

SO the mystery of why Bates was in London still stands but Mary burns the ticket cos he helped out with the letter, even though she calls herself a "realist monarchist."  Also we get the battle between Charles and Gillingham next series.  This Christmas special was just normal Christmas fare since nothing interesting or exciting really happened, it was just like watching a normal episode of the show.  It was funny having Rose and Mary rummage through Sampson's belongings, surprised Mary agreed to it with her morals, ha. As for the Prince carrying around that letter or rather Freda, what was the point of it all and who cares if the Royalty would be all aflutter, apparently the Crawley's did.

As for Mary's suitors, Evelyn Napier was a no show and there wasn't much an amusing scene between Charles or Gillingham, though he had to even the playing field by revealing Charles's secret as if it was his to do so.  Also Slade providing some laughs when he tells Carson Levinson is his employer not him and when commenting on the nibbles he was serving and how good they are, only to be shot down by Carson    again.  Jimmy (Ed Speleers) complaining about only being the footman for the umpteenth time.  And Daisy mentioning Alfred is hired by the Ritz as an under chef, well he had to be.

Bates telling Anna at the end, "you could always buy me a penny lick!  That'd get Carson's ears on risque alert if he heard it!  Only for Mrs Hughes to reply they're getting on a bit now so...it's okay.
The Dowager speaking some French in an attempt to put one over on Harold: "I've fallen through the looking glass into Dejeuner sur l'Herbe."  The Dowager being big on looking glass comments this ep.  Seems Martha had the last laugh though.  Robert telling Cora he can't wait for Branson to arrive and her thinking it's nice of him to say that, no it's cos "I miss Isis."  The Dowager commenting it's like being in a whodunit and Robert adding no one has, that's the problem!  Referring to the letter of course.  Perhaps if they had a good old fashioned murder that'd liven things up and I don't mean the continuation of whether Bates did or didn't off Green!

Still plenty to keep fans happy for series 5!

Atlantis 1.12 "Touched by the Gods" Part 1 Review

                                                 
In this ep we finally get Jason's (Jack Donnelly) promise to Circe (Lucy Cohu) catching up with him as sees a dead Hercules (Mark Addy) in his dream and has to kill Pasiphae (Sarah Parish) as he promised in order to save Hercules and Pythagoras (Robert Emms) from dying.  He reminds the others and they devise a plan to sneak into the palace, which Hercules manages to orchestrate with a little tipple or two of wine with the help of the wine merchant.  As they are smuggled into the palace in wine barrels, thought the one with Hercules was recognizable since it had lots of room for him to hide in, but not so as he gets stuck.  Shouldn't Jason and Pythagoras have helped him out instead of watching the barrel roll.

Before reaching the palace of course Pythagoras finds a way of knocking out the guards, with the use of seaweed which releases a substance capable of rendering the inhaler unconscious, but the right amount or it may not work or the person may die.  Hercules choosing Pythagoras to test it out on, well who better, ha.

Lots of laughs in this episode to counteract from the serious nature of murder even if it is of the evil queen. That's right whenever royalty is involved the written or unwritten rule is that there must always be an evil queen in the mix.  Pasiphae, or Pacify as I call her, though it really isn't in her nature, ha) continues to poison Minos (Alexander Siddig) as he is now on his last legs and still no one notices, shouldn't he have a royal physician at his side.  No, let's just have him take another sip! She tells Heptarian (Oliver Walker) how Ariadne (Aiysha Hart) will become ruler and since he was not able to gain her hand in marriage, she must find a way to neutralize her.  Heptarian offers to take care if her, but he wouldn't be able to handle that if he couldn't get her to marry him.

Jason and the others reach the palace and eventually Hercules lowers, or rather drops Jason onto the correct floor.  As he stands over her with sword in hand, he's unable to kill her.  Anyway question I want to ask is why Circe could not kill her own sister and she had magic too.  Easy solution would have been to get Medusa to turn her into stone!  No one thought of that!  Problem solved, but then they'd have no plots for season 2!  Ha.  SO he stands over her and can't do the dreaded deed cos he's not really  a cold blooded killer.  Pasiphae wakens to find an intruder and screams.

Jason is wounded by an arrow as he escapes and ends up, as we all guessed, in Ariadne's room.  She's happy to receive him and shelter him as she helps bandage his wound.  Which was just another shameless moment for him to remove his shirt for the countless time.  Ariadne says she would kill her but wouldn't be able to and if she was in their place Pasiphae would not spare a thought about having them killed.  Jason shares her bed, but not in that way! Aridane was up all night counting the hairs on his chest, ha.  She lets him leave by a secret doorway known only to a chosen few and particularly the royal family.

Alas Ariadne doesn't have her head screwed on straight cos she didn't think of getting rid of the evidence, Jason's bloody rags!  No, 'I'll let the maid take care of those' and then she trusts that maid/servant!  She's really naive and hopeless too.  I have to say Ariadne comes across as rather wooden and boring!  Hercules could have got a new table out of her, ha!  Oh Hercules and Pythagoras made their getaway through the rubbish chute when the alarm was sounded, with Hercules landing on Pythagoras.  As well as Pythagoras being the one who was given the task of taking care of the bigger and taller guard.

Jason arrives and tells them he couldn't do it and Hercules it reminded it's his fault they're in that position to begin with.  Ep 1.6 The Song of the Sirens when Hercules wanted to win Medusa's heart and turned to Circe for help.  Jason renders them unconscious with the seaweed chloroform, or chlorophyll (ha, bad joke) and leaves to confront Circe.  She is expecting him, well looked that way and tells him he is truly blessed by the gods.  He fights her and she becomes three but doesn't notice the reflection she casts in the water.  Thus he stabs her and ends it all.  It was easy killing her but not so Pasiphae, was it cos she was scarred?  She throws a few bags onto the ground which are buried before she dies and they think it's all over.  But out pop some skeletons in a homage to the movie Jason and the Argonauts (1963) as they fight the bones.  Only to find the bones get back together and fight again.

Ariadne's servant betrays her to Pasiphae and she is arrested for treason, tried before Poseidon's court which has Pasiphae presiding over it.  She admits she helped the 'nameless' assassin and would do so again. Thus being sentenced to death.  Reminding me of Gwen in Merlin all over again.  Only she had more oomph when she was pleading against Uther for her life.  Jason returns home with food and wine and Hercules's pies to be given the news.  SO last ep will be about rescuing Ariadne.  Think it could be much better spent with a different plotline! Ha.

Blooper where Ariadne sits with Minos and holds his hand, she puts his arm by his side but in the next shot with Pasiphae she puts his arm over his chest and his right arm is already there.  When Ariadne leaves and Minos wakes, his right arm is by his side again.

Well Jason and Ariadne steal a kiss and he tells her this is the best night he's spent with her, (yawn.) Suppose one saving grace for many would have been Hercules's latrine jokes interspersed throughout, when he said Jason "should have got her on the latrine."  It's easier to kill someone on the loo!

The Vampire Diaries 5.8 "Dead Man on Campus" Review

                                                  
Now Bonnie's (Kat Graham) the anchor and all supernatural beings must pass through her to the other side it kind of interferes with her life, not to mention getting it on with Jeremy! (Steven R McQueen) SO imagine if someone walked in in the middle of it, like Jesse (Kendrick Sampson) almost did! As for her mentioning consequences suppose there's an even greater one for her, something along the lines of feeling all of their pain until probably it will get too much for her like Amara, which is why she wanted out.

Speaking of wanting out, seems Katherine resigns herself to that same fate too.  First she gets Matt (Zach Roerig) to give her drinks at the bar and then she offers to help him translate the Czech from Gregor that he taped.  Explaining he's been taken over by travellers.  She also drinks it up with Stefan (Paul Wesley) who was in no mood to attend Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Caroline's (Candace Accola) party as he's still suffering from nightmares about dying in the safe underwater (that sounds like an oxymoron).  To the point where he rips Damon's (Ian Somerhalder) favourite reading chair!  Yeah Damon and reading! Ha.  Elena and Caroline decide to throw a party for new roomie Bonnie and she makes a call to her mother saying she's back from Summer vacation.

Jesse escapes Dr Frankenstein, I mean Maxfield (hey didn't I mention Frankenstein as soon as he graced the scene in my reviews!)  Yeah get your own mad scientist!  Jesse calls Caroline for help and wants her to get here before his roomie does who happens to be Aaron (Shaun Sipos).  She arrives after he's already taken a bite out of him and stops him from killing and now he has to learn to be a vampire too, but not for very long. Elena brings blood supplies and Caroline wants Jesse to heal Aaron.

Katherine wants to help Stefan since she tells him he's destined to be with someone who looks like her and that could be anyone.  She calls Nadia (Olga Fonda) and Matt shows them the knife Gregor wanted kept hidden.  Katherine knows what to do with it  since they find out Gregor and the travellers need to kill Silas and then her, which she didn't know.  She stabs him with the knife as it's the only weapon capable of being used on the travellers and frees Matt from his spirit.  Nadia is angry she killed Gregor and Katherine tells her she deserves better.  Also revealing to Stefan that Nadia is her daughter.  Stefan making the biggest faux pas going when he asks which one of them is older, you don't ask a lady her age. What lady? Ha.

Katherine helps Stefan when he has a another nightmare moment and he chokes her, telling him to recall all the names of his kills beginning with the first one of Giuseppe Salvatore, then Thomas Veil and so on until he conquers the fear.  She tells him she could help and just did.  Nadia storms off apparently and Katherine leaves a suicide note for her which Stefan finds and saves her as she jumps from the clocktower.  She admits the cure had a side effect and she's ageing prematurely and he tells her, "you're Katherine Pierce, suck it up."

Damon intends on interrogating Maxfield (Rick Cosnett) and injects him with all sorts of diseases since the only thing that will save him is vampire blood, that was kind of an understatement.  He tells him about the experiments and that Jesse will feed on other vampires, that's what the experimenting was about, to stop them feeding on humans.  Jesse has the urge to feed on Caroline and then runs back to the lab where he encounters Damon, especially after he's cut his hand to heal Maxfield.  Damon would rather kill him but Elena calls him not to since he's Aaron's guardian and she tells Aaron about losing her parents too.

Damon and Jesse fight but Jesse's no match for him.  Elena turns up and stakes Jesse to the chagrin of Caroline, or more aptly dismay.  Caroline forever telling Elena that Damon's dangerous and that she shouldn't fear the outside world, but should fear the vampire she shares a bed with.  Damon finds a numbered blood bag and recalls his own number.  Damon was an Augustine vampire and he hasn't heard that name in a long time.  He turns his back and Maxfeild has the chance to escape and hits the atomized vervain panic button, knocking Damon out who ends up captive in the same cell again.  With his carved initials on the wall and 53.

Everyone's got their own angst this episode especially the Salvatore's, but just as Stefan seems to have conquered his fears for a while, Damon's nightmares are only just beginning.  Leaving us with questions of how he was an Augustine vampire, in which case he didn't really have the urge to feed on fellow vampires. Maybe he got out before then.  SO what's Katherine going to do make another play for Stefan.  Bonnie has to tell Jeremy what she really is, thinking that spending smoocho (my word) moments with him will make the pain go away.

Elena just relished being a vampire as she tells Jesse and with that she throws her humanity out the window, oh sorry am I not meant to refer to that word again?  As she so readily stakes Jesse as Caroline tells her the old old Elena would have helped him and given him a chance.  Oh dear is she implying that Damon's bad habits are rubbing off on her, since she just made a choice of killing instead of injuring.  It's true though, Elena just doesn't care anymore unless it's about Jeremy or Damon and though she may have had a caring moment with Aaron, it didn't really last long and that's probably cos he's in a similar predicament to her as far as having no one but Maxfield.  Though she wanted him spared, but not Jesse, her best friend's would be new guy.

Let's hope we get more of a Damon storyline without any interference from Elena, a long time since he's been the centre of the show!  But blast we won't get anymore eps until next year!  So Matt's storyline being forgotten for weeks is resolved so easily.