Downton Abbey Series 6 Episode 2 Review

A letter arrives from Rose in New York and Mary (Michelle Dockery) thinks Rose may be pregnant since she's coming down in August.  Edith (Laura Carmichael) adding she puts two and two together and comes up 53.  Mr Finch comes to Downton, looking for the agent and Mary surprises him that it's her.  She aims to put the prize pigs from the Drew farm into the show and decides they should have a visit since George insists on seeing the pigs and she thinks Marigold should also go.  Edith doesn't want her to cos she'll be in London dealing with the sexist, sniping editor.  Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) suggests she will take her.  Really it's as if everyone in Downton is under Mary's thumb and as if she runs the place.  To add insult to injury she also gets in between Carson (Jim Carter) and Mrs Hughes (Phylis Logan) telling him he should have the wedding here in one of the halls, after Robert (Hugh Bonneville) suggests they should hold the reception in the servant's quarters and they could jazz it up!  Yes, the servants quarters.  It's no wonder Mrs Hughes has a bee in her bonnet, it's her wedding day and everyone wants to tell her where she should hold it.  She also tells Carson she doesn't feel she should have it at Downton since they work here and aren't really a part of it.

Mary insists they should use the hall as Carson's been here for so long and it wouldn't be right.  He doesn't want it in a school or anywhere else and since they don't have any family, Downton's as good a place as any!  And on it went.  No resolution to this since Mary decides she'll have words with Mrs Hughes and she'll deal with it.  Mary the cause of yet further trouble, as Mrs Drewe Emma Lowndes) arrives at the farm when they're there with the children and can't leave Marigold alone.  Mary thinks there's nothing wrong with that but Cora and Drewe (Andrew Scarborough)  know she needs to let go.

Mary also tells Anna (Joanne Froggatt) she will help her with her pregnancy woes and takes her to see Dr Ryder (Richard Teverson)  who helped her.  He manages to diagnose the problem ad tells Anna when she's pregnant and reaches twelve weeks he'll come and carry out the procedure at her home, which will involve the cervix being sewn with a large stitch.  She cheers up after that when she returns home and Bates (Brendan Coyle) thinks the trip to London did her good after she'd been moping around.  He tells her they could adopt but she calls him "tribal" and that he won't be happy unless he has his own children and she's right as he doesn't disagree with her.  Bates's line to Anna, when eh catches her crying, "you're married, that means you never have to cry alone."  She must've felt reassured after that.  Especially as Mrs Hughes tells Carson she wants one day to herself cos they'll be doing things his way for the next 30 years.  Hmm, wonder what she was implying when she uttered, "things."  Hope that wan't talk from last episode about the wedding night and thereafter! Innuendo alert, Ha.

Thomas (Rob James-Collier) still wonders about the job position and when they'll get notice of who will be fired.  Seems Carson has the boot in for him, since he says he'll be given notice and in the meantime he searches for another job.  Which he finds isn't easy and applies for a position as 'assistant butler' in Ripon.  The interview doesn't go too well and after getting time off from Carson, who seems happy he's looking for alternatives, the interviewer doesn't seem too happy with him. They invented the job and it involves doing a bit of this and a bit of that, valeting, chauffeuring and whatever else needs doing.  He also tells Thomas to drop his high and mighty notions and isn't interested that he's been doing the job for 15 years (not to mention his time in the war.  The less said about that the better.)

Seems everyone is ignoring Thomas and especially Andy (Michael Fox) who feels he's capable of doing everything by himself, like winding the clocks, his last job, to Carson asking him to help with the tea when the others go to the show.  Carson telling Thomas he won't be needed.  Andy is also ignoring Thomas for some reason.  Maybe his reputation proceeds him, as he doesn't let him come for a walk with him too.  Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) is the only one who tells him not to give up hope and at least he'll be given time to find another position.  But why did they need Andy anyway, he's not really doing anything Thomas can't do and he's an extra hand to pay.  It appears Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol) also gets the wrong end of the stick, thinking that Thomas is chasing him to get involved with him and he tells her she couldn't be more wrong.  As was that interviewer asking him why he's not married yet.  Thomas making excuses about working hard and he adds that he's married.  

Daisy (Sophie McShera) wants to help Mason (Paul Copley) retain the tenancy but Cora is adamant Henderson will do what he wants and no one cam make him change his mind.  Cora allows her to speak to her and then Cora comes up with an idea which she'll try, it may work.  Molesley (Kevin Doyle) gets some past exam papers for Daisy to look at and if she passes her exams she'll be in a better position to help Mason.

Edith has problems with the editor back in London and can't believe he is so stubborn.  Rosamund (Samanatha Bond) tells her to come back after lunch and try again, but he's set in his ways.  Edith tells her she's also worried about Marigold and Mary taking her to the farm, who like Robert thinks she should just come clean and tell her.  Why didn't Edith just bring Marigold with her.  Robert wonders why she doesn't just tell Mary about her, but she knows Mary will put her down.  They're both getting the same train back from London.  At the show, Mary seems to impress everyone with her pig knowledge and Drewe brings Mrs Drewe, which was a stupid idea cos he knows the family will be there.  In a moment where everyone loses concentration, Marigold walks off and is taken by Mrs Drewe.  Drewe knows she's taken her, back to the farm and won't hurt her, but Robert knows it's for the best if he leaves the tenancy.  Mason probably can take it over now.  See all cos of Mary again, Drewe has to leave the farm.  Guess she'll make a big deal out of that too when she finds out.

Elsewhere we still have the Dowager (Maggie Smith) and Dr Clarkson (David Robb) taking sides against Merton, (Douglas Reith) Cora and Isobel (Penelope Wilton) over the hospital merger.  As Isobel knows it will bring in vital equipment and machines, but the Dowager thinks the level of care will suffer.  Robert seems to agree with the Dowager, but Cora doesn't and everyone's still at loggerheads.  Merton is still lamenting over Isobel not accepting his proposal.

Downton really seems to be clutching at straws for its final series, there doesn't seem to be that fire and oomph from past series which made this show so likable and watchable the world over.  Seems with change in the world, has come change in the show as a sign of the times.  As there's less need for hired help, the less there is to watch as the aristocracy reaches its end.  It could have been a little more exciting instead of just focusing on the family's problems and Mary appears to be the centre of it all.  Like her insufferable line to Anna when she tells her she won't have to pay for the doctor, since she's kept her secrets including having to take Pa

muk out in the "dead of night."  Which can all get repetitious.  Why use the phrase "dead" here, seems he's just become one laughing stock in the household, after she had her way with him.  Let's see where it finally leads us.

Doctor Who 9.2 "The Witch's Familiar" Review

                                               
The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) has a plan up his sleeve as he watches Davros (Julian Bleach) hooked up in the infirmary.  Which he needs to survive, he soon plans an escape with Davros demanding to know what he's doing.  Then all you hear is Davros shouting that the Doctor's escaped, as we see Davros wheeling around as a dot on a map.  The Daleks exclaiming they must get him to the infirmary.

We find Missy (Michelle Gomez) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) out in the desert, with Clara dangling upside down, so where'd you get the rope Missy.  She sharpening a stick as she needs to hunt for food.  But Clara's tied up cos she might not find any.  Clara asks how they got here and Missy tells her to picture the Doctor surrounded by androids chasing him, what does he do, he takes the android's own energy and uses a transporter ring.  Falling into a pit of vampire monkeys.  Then he transports himself.  That's what the two of them did using the energy from the exterminator beam and transporting themselves into the desert.  At the planet, the door opens and we see the Doctor sitting on Davros' wheelchair.  Obviously that would be him.  He wheels in and says, "admit it, you've all had this nightmare.  Anyone for Dodgems?"

Missy knows they have to get back in and rescue the Doctor and the only way to do so is through the sewers.  The Daleks don't expel waste in that way as she prods the slimy matter inside the sewers with the stick and you hear the Dalek's scream.  Their sewer is also the Dalek graveyard, as she explains their word for sewer is the same as graveyard.  She manages to get Clara to look into the observation eye and they see an intruder, then sending down a Dalek to catch her.  But Missy uses the decayed Dalek slime to overrun the Dalek.  Then gets Clara to get inside it.  Telling her to say "I love you" which comes out as "exterminate" in Dalek speech.  She then says her name but it doesn't come out as Clara and she makes her get emotional which fires the gun, but also makes it exterminate.  She has to think what to do to operate the Dalek.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to interject here and ask what happened to Clara on the planet when we first met her in 7.1 Asylum of the Daleks and she was a Dalek and all that stuff with the souffle girl.  Was anyone satisfied that we didn't really have a proper ending to all that and get all the answers to "the impossible girl."  Not to my satisfaction anyway.

The Doctor leaves the wheelchair in a certain spot and the Daleks find they can't exterminate him. However Davros, lying on the ground complete with his screw thingy visible; sends Colony Sarf to retrieve his chair and he uses his snake 'agents' to wrap around the Doctor.  Bringing Davros back his chair and he Doctor is a prisoner once more.  They have a conversation about how the Doctor stole a TARDIS and ran from Gallifrey and he tells him he's not a Doctor. The Doctor says there's no such thing as a Doctor.  I'm just a bloke in a box telling stories."  Davros reaffirming he's a Time Lord. How he's compassionate and he helps people through that compassion.  The Doctor came cos Davros is sick and he asked him.  Compassion will be his downfall he tells the Doctor.  Also telling Davros he brought back his people and Gallifrey is out there, but even he doesn't know where it is.  He sees Davros has his confession box and also his sunglasses, which he reaches for and finds there's no scratch on them.  But he doesn't take the confession box.
Once again we get the Doctor flashing to Davros as a boy who asks for help.

Missy pretends to be a Doctor as the Dalek Clara takes her back to the Dalek base and she greets the red Supreme Dalek by whispering it's her favourite.  She tells the Dalek she has two hearts and the Dalek recognizes she's a Time lord, she's a woman now and can upgrade.  "The bitch is back," she adds.  Hmm, see the Beeb left that in!

Davros tells the Doctor that he's dying and asks him to come closer again so he can observe him with his own eyes, which he manages to open.  The Doctor is fooled into believing that he's really dying, or so we think.  "I am dying Doctor."
Doctor: "You keep saying that and you keep not dying."

He also tells the Doctor to look at the cables  he was hooked up to, cos we know that Sarf is in there somewhere.  Davros wishes he could see the sunrise for himself and the Doctor enables him to do that but he doesn't open his eyes now, oh it was such a struggle was it.  He asks if he is a good man, Doctor?  He then proceeds to give Davros his regeneration energy and that's what Davros intended all along.  This will regenerate the Daleks and they will be more powerful.  The Doctor can't stop it but Missy is on hand to destroy the connection.  Something the Doctor expected all along.  It seems the Daleks are flawed in their design as they have respect for Davros, intertwined with compassion and perhaps mercy.  Also they talk of Dalek hybrids.

Apparently when the Daleks say 'exterminate' they're just reloading, according to Missy.  The Doctor sees the Daleks from the sewer oozing in and bringing the planet down and the Daleks along with it. The Doctor and Missy make a run for it after he's rescued and he wants to know where Clara is. Missy tells him she's dead as Clara stands before him in the Dalek shell.  Missy tells him to kill it as Clara tries to tell him it's her, but it comes out as "I am a Dalek."  Which then turns to, "mercy."  The Doctor finds it strange that the  notion of mercy should find itself into the Dalek DNA.  As Clara keeps repeating mercy.  He tells it to open up but she doesn't know how.  She needs to think it and it will open.  Didn't Missy tell her she needs to think when she operates the Dalek.  He tells Missy to run.

Outside they see the planet being destroyed by the 'dead' Daleks.  Oh and the TARDIS is also back since he says it never really was destroyed.  As he and Clara escape in it.  The Doctor heads back to the planet where he rescues the boy.  He shoots at the Hand mines instead.

Perish the thought that Missy would ever have become soft as she tried to get the Doctor to kill Clara and that's as cruel and evil as you can get.  Oh and the Sonic, well he came up with new hardware and turned that into Sonic sunglasses!  "I'm over screwdrivers, they spoil the line of your jacket.  These days I'm all about wearable technology."  Ah but the sonic was a classic!  Who wants a pair of shades?

This second part was all about mercy though and a concept that found its way into the Daleks.  Davros is far from meeting his end as he takes what he told the Doctor about his own compassion being his downfall and uses that to his advantage.  There was still life in the old crafty codger yet with his ability to deceive even whilst dying and playing on the Doctor's compassion, in contrast to the boy genuinely asking for help, which was a nice touch.  Then the boy asking if the Doctor is the enemy?  As for the Doctor with the gun and toting it around, would he really have fired at the Dalek and killed it, or even killed the boy, it's all about compassion as we learn and it's obvious no matter how dark he got he wouldn't kill.  Also the Clara/Dalek if it was going to kill him, wouldn't have stood by so long and waited for the Doctor to kill it.

Funny line has to be when the Doctor finds himself back with Davros in his chair and he tells the Doctor, it's "the only other chair on Skaro."  Where'd that come from then?  Ha.  Also what was this about Missy mentioning a daughter, when she brings out the brooch to pierce the Dalek's shell in the sewer.  Not to mention the line of the present for the Doctor, canned.   If Clara was Missy's familiar, you know the bitch's er, the witch's familiar, then who was The Magician's apprentice last ep, Davros?

Eye Candy 1.3 "HBTU" Review

                                          
Lindy (Victoria Justice) and Tommy (Casey Jon Deidrick) head over to Reese's apartment after finding out he's a Vic and not the killer in last week's ep.  Where Lindy manages to walk into a mobile made out of human teeth as well as a mannequin.  She feels guilty, as she should, that's three that have been killed cos of her.  Though I have to ask why the killer hasn't made a move on Jake (Ryan Cooper) he's been getting away for a while now.  I know he's their number one suspect, but to me that's all he is.  Even if they did try and make you think otherwise.  The DNA on the teeth comes back to female and that of Julia Becker.  Lindy recalls her mother reached out to her after filing a missing person's report and the police did nothing.  Tommy can't find a report in their database.  This means Reese is still alive, for now and Lindy feels relieved.

Connor (John Garet Stoker) is at work and his boss asks who filed the 'fluff' piece 'Pets on Vine'. Connor admits it was him cos it was fun at the time and if he doesn't come up with anything better then he's fired.  He says he's working on something, that being the photos he swiped from the CS board last ep.  He also texts Sophia (Kiersey Clemons).  Tommy and Lindy break the news about Julia to her mother and Lindy just stands by as she breaks down.  Yeah don't help her.  Lindy heads for the shower when she gets home, whilst someone appears to be watching her though the window. She hears a noise but it's Sophia, who is planning a girl's night in for both of them at the weekend. Was it just me or did Lindy suddenly lose her black slippers?? or was she wearing them when she imagined she saw someone sneak past behind her.  Cos next minute they're gone.

She finds a birthday card in her mail which she disregards, guessing it was from her father and then a white envelope with "surprise" written on it.  I can't fathom that Lindy is a hacker and yet she just throws her mail into the bin without even tearing her name and address up.  Yet she was worried Jake found her address when she only gave him her phone number.  Anyway, she finds a picture of her and Sarah in the envelope and there's blood on her clothes.  Tommy thinks he can analyze it using pixel programme and Catherine (Melanie Nicholls-King) has a word with Lindy.  The photo was taken on Sarah's birthday a few weeks before she was abducted.  She asks why Sarah's bracelet is missing in the second photo.  Lindy says she lost it so she was angry with her.  Tommy gets a hit on   the photo which were all put together from three other CS.  One where they thought it was a mob killing as the man had his fingers removed.  Another one a woman had her breasts cut out and in the third the Vic has his eyes gouged out after a mugging.

Lindy finds they were all on the Virtual website so he was an "equal opportunity" killer as Tommy puts it.  Connor asks Sophia for info on the case as they're both involved and were at the station.  She can't tell him but writes it down, "they found teeth."  Jake calls Lindy but she ignores him.  Funny they had garlic and onions in their kitchen and they don't even cook.  Lindy is angry when she finds out that Connor posted the story as his blogger name is "insomnia."  She heads down to his boxing class and she brings him down.  He's not sorry but his boss, Hamish (Eric Sheffer Stone) says he made him do it.  He knows everything about her cos he claims to have Googled her.  So is this another suspect in the mix then.

George (Harvey Guillen) covered for Lindy at work and she asks George if he can pull a background on the photo.  He finds it's static but the type from a TV.  She thinks it's from Reese's apartment.  So they break in when George uses his fancy gizmo.  Funny Reese's bananas haven't rotted either in the bowl.  They find a list of Italian movies and she gets the notion that the first words of each film makes up an acronym, "Myperfico" meaning perfection.

Lindy tells the others and that she thinks that the killer is killing cos of the Vic's flaws they all tried to hide them online and when he found them out he killed them.  The first man used to bite his nails, the woman had her breasts done and the third wore contacts.  Julia had crooked teeth which she hated and never opened her mouth and their latest Vic had her face disfigured as she had skin blemishes. Tommy sees Jake at the station and he's filed a report cos someone put malware on his phone. Tommy thinks he might suspect Lindy.  Sophia calls and asks if she remembered the egg rolls which she goes back to get and meets Tommy.  He was trying to call her.  When she enters everyone shouts, "surprise" as Sophia's thrown her a birthday party.  Which she hates.  Tommy tells her he hated his too.  She's thinking of Ben and he says it's better to think of such things than to keep them in.  Jake arrives as Tommy leaves since they've found Reese's clothes.

He gives her a present, his fave restaurant menus, yeah that was original, look a cheap lawyer!  Ha. Yeah I know it's cos they don't cook.  He tells her he found her address cos it's easy with a number and he probably creeped her out.  Someone starts a fire in the bath and Lindy feels faint.  Jake leaves to get water and she's taken away by the killer.  Jake is arrested since the clothes were found in his apartment.  Lindy wakes and sees Reese with the killer who slits his throat, as he dies, he drops a gift onto the ground.

Tommy tells her they let Jake go cos she was with the killer at the time and he was in custody.  She's sad and knows that the killer is after her cos he thinks she's perfect, but she's not.  She has so many flaws and asks what will happen when he finds that out.   The gift contains the bracelet that she gave Sarah.  Wasn't it just half of the bracelet.  I still say that the killer's voice sounds like Ben and should I stick my neck out by adding it sounds like a put-on accent.  But then we're also meant to think it could still be Connor cos he's disgruntled about the piece he wrote and Sophia doesn't want anything to do with him.  So as he was told to leave, maybe he's meant to have come back for Lindy, but who spiked er drink cos he didn't come into the apartment.  Unless it was done beforehand.  Of course we all know what 'HBTU' means! ha.  Happy Birthday To You, just incase you didn't.

Downton Abbey Series 6 Episode 1 Review

The final series of Downton Abbey opened on a note of merriment for the social classes heading out for the hunt again.  Though really it was Mary (Michelle Dockery) who was being the prey this time again due to her dalliances with Tony Gillingham in Liverpool last series.  A mysterious woman with a Liverpudlian accent turned up at the hunt, so it was no surprise where she was from.  Carson (Jim Carter) telling her to follow the others if she wants to watch it all.  Robert (Hugh Bonneville)  tells Mary that side saddle would've been more graceful and she replies dangerous too.  Of course someone made the comment of Mary having a leg over on the horse.  In more ways than one shall we say! Ha.

There's a meeting of the hospital board underway where the Dowager (Maggie Smith) tells of how their hospital will be taken over by the larger Yorkshire hospital.  This will mean their patients will suffer and Dr Clarkson (David Robb) is in agreement with that, he's seen it happen.  Isobel (Penelope Wilton) is in agreement with Lord Merton (Douglas Reith) however and thinks it will mean more equipment, as well as more up to date procedures, which can only benefit the patients.  The Dowager found out by a friend who is on the board and Isobel thinks as she's in charge of their hospital she should've been told beforehand.  The Dowager adding they will all be informed in due course.  Seems they've both got a fight brewing over the hospital which will no doubt take up much, if not all of the series.

Carson and Robert discuss the downsizing of the staff and how they have already lost a lot over the years as he discusses the possibility of letting more go since they simply won't have enough money to pay that many, especially in 1925.  To back this up we're told of the Darnley's selling their house and moving to London as they can't afford to maintain it.  Thus they're having an auction and Mr Mason (Paul Copley) is in fear of his job as continuing tenant on the land.  Asking Robert for help in seeing if he can get the owners to keep him on.  Robert wants to attend the auction since his father was a friend of theirs and he may find something belonging to them and Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) feels they should all go.  The Dowager later confides in Denker (Sue Johnston) about the staff being reduced and asks her to keep it quiet.  Perhaps confidence wasn't a good word to use, cos of course she rushes straight over to Downton announcing their jobs are in peril.  Thomas (Rob James-Collier) attempts to ask Carson about this, but he fobs him off as this not being the right moment to discuss it. The new servant, Andy (Michael Fox) thinks he'll be first out as he was last in.  Yet nothing is certain.  Can't trust Denker with anything.  Also she's still snooping around the Dowager's desk.  She also tells Spratt (Jeremy Swift) of the same and that she won't have any use for a butler.

Mary is spooked by Miss Bevan, the woman at the hunt and she falls off her horse.  As her ego takes a battering and she gets muddy, but nothing's broken.  Bevan is here to blackmail her and has the page of the register from the hotel showing she was there with Gillingham and demands £1,000 for her silence or she'll take it to the papers.  Mary is insistent she won't get a penny and confides in Anna (Joanne Froggatt).  Who tells Mary she shouldn't give in and pay.  Bevan later sneaks in again and this time is taken to Mary's room by Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) under the pretext of being the Dowager's new maid and having a message only for Mary.  Wouldn't think she'd have been allowed to go to her bedroom, maid or no maid.  She tries her best to blackmail her again and Anna has to drag her out.  Why didn't Mary just ring the bell instead of asking Mrs Hughes to get Anna.

Edith (Laura Carmichael) can't decide what to do with her life and the editor at the paper is having trouble dealing with her cos she's a woman.  She thinks she might move to London as Michael's flat is still there.  Then she can treat Marigold as her own and no one will bat an eye or ask awkward questions.  Mary still sniping at her when she later tells Robert that Edith will get up to all sorts of mischief by herself in London.  Yes, like you in Liverpool, oh wait, there was also mischief right under the very roof of Downton in series 1 with Pemuk.

Mrs Hughes has worries of her own and a delicate question she needs to ask Carson, but takes Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol) under her wing and gets her to do the dirty work for her.  Viz, will Carson want a "full marriage" or will he be happy in a companionship/relationship where they abstain.  She hasn't let a man see her in years and he might not like what he does see.  Mrs Patmore suggests turning the light off!  Ha.  Also that he wouldn't exactly have taken his togs off for anyone in a while. She tries to ask Carson but it doesn't go quite so well, until the second attempt, where he replies he loves her and he does want that sort of a marriage, where a wife performs "wifely duties."  Well now that we got that sorted, he even thought Mrs Hughes might call the whole thing off, which she doesn't do.

Spratt blabs to the Dowager about wanting sufficient notice before he's let go and adds how Denker told everyone of this.  The Dowager later thinks Denker should be leaving since Isobel doesn't have a lady's maid or a butler.  Denker can't believe she'll be fired, of course as the Dowager tells Isobel, it doesn't hurt to rule with some fear.  They think the fight over the hospital is about power and she's even at odds with Dr Clarkson about this, who thinks that she must've got lots of advice from Merton about it.  Isobel still thinks it's best for the patients.

At the auction Darnley (Adrian Lukas) says they hung on too long and now they have no choice but to sell everything, including all their furniture and ornaments.  Daisy (Sophie McShera) is appalled by Mr Mason's treatment, especially after he shows her a trinket box which he had to pitch in half a crown for.  She's very vocal with the new owner Henderson (Rick Bacon) that she's disgusted how Mr Mason can be just gotten rid of so easily, particularly after his grandfather and great grandfather farmed the land for so long.  Henderson's  disgusted at the impertinence and won't consider keeping Mason on now.  Even when the others told her not to say anything, she ignored them without thinking as usual.

Bevan returns again when Mary's out and goes into the library after she sees Robert to spill to him. When Mary arrives s sees him give her a cheque and tells her to leave.  Bevan adding Mary's luckier than most.  He gave her £50 and also got a confession from her which she signed, or no money.  If she reneges on it she'll be prosecuted.  Mary is pleased he did that for her, well he would wouldn't he but also asks why she did it.  Since they were going to get married and he thought he could convince her of this.  He reminds her that Tony and his wife were also involved in this.  Mary doesn't think she'll find anyone who's right for her and how she'd "rather be alone than with the wrong man."  But Robert  wants to see who she will eventually find.  Which means now that he's said it, she will find someone.  He can also see how his daughter has grown up and can handle things so well.  Yeah it looked like she could.  Mary also wants to take over Branson's job and manage the farm.  He's mentioned as doing fine over in America and Isobel says there's plenty of Irish people over there too. Robert deciding to raid the fridge and feasting on a rather scrawny drumstick.  The remains of which is then placed by the fridge and then finds itself back in Robert's hands again!

Anna is moody cos she can't have children and thinks they won't ever have a family.  Especially when she hears about Marigold after Molesley (Kevin Doyle) mentions how she was a farmer's daughter and has it made after Edith took a shine to her.  She's also given news that a woman confessed to pushing Green onto the road after an argument.  He was horrible to her and a witness is found to corroborate that they met in a pub earlier on.  So she's no longer a suspect.  She asks the Sergeant to convey her forgiveness to the woman for not coming forward sooner and how Green has ruined lives.  Mrs Hughes adding that hers is no longer ruined.  Robert decides they should celebrate the news with champagne and Daisy still has her job, only cos Cora didn't want her fired as Carson intended.  Now I said that about Bevan when Mary asked what they should do about her.  Throw her under a bus!  Ha.

A rather boring start to the final series with not much going on.  Downsizing and firing the staff who aren't needed and the homes being  mere institutions in later years has all been mentioned before. If this was what's left of the stories them I'm not surprised they called it a day on Downton.

Doctor Who 9.1 "The Magician's Apprentice" Review

                                              
The season 9 opener was rather dark for a Doctor Who ep, but then that's no surprise going along with the more darker Doctor territory, started by Doctor Eleven.  As men run from laser firing planes, one of them chances upon a boy and tries to help him.  He asks if he's heard of the 'hand mines,' that's a new one on landmines, obviously. as these grab your leg and swallow you whole into the ground. The boy stands still and shouts for help.  Cue our time travelling Doctor (Peter Capaldi) who throws him his screwdriver, enabling them to communicate.  The boy needs rescuing and the Doctor is all for it until he hears his name, 'Davros.'  Alarm bells blaring...
The Doctor then goes off the radar as we travel between planets anywhere from the Maldovarium Shadow Proclamation, to Karn where he's hiding. as Colony Sarff searches for him as he has a message from Davros, " Davros knows, Davros remembers."  That's not all that was strange as Clara (Jenna Coleman) notices a plane frozen in the sky.  It's the same all over the world and she rushes to UNIT and Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave)  where they detect with the use of an algorithm, the number of planes that are stuck in one place.

Finally they get a message from Missy (Michelle Gomez) who wants to meet in a hot climate with eight snipers cos otherwise no one will meet her.  She tells Clara she's the one freezing the planes as insurance.  The Doctor's sent his friend his confession dial, sort of like a last will and Clara thinks it's for her, but actually it's for Missy.  She calls them enemies but that's why she should have it. Clara asks where the Doctor would go if he didn't have long to live.  The algorithms changed and he's located in Essex 113AD.  Where he rocks up (no pun) on a tank playing an electric guitar.  Then spots Clara and Missy on the balcony of the castle.  Promptly playing 'Pretty Woman.'  Clara asks how he could've seen her and he hugs her.  A lot can be hidden in a face with a hug.

Colony Sarff turns up too and unleashes his 'dress of snakes' as the Doctor calls them, which doesn't frighten him.  He wants to take him to Davros (Julian Bleach) and he agrees.  Only Clara and Missy accompany him too.  On the space station, the Doctor is taken away and tells Missy "gravity."  She jumps around after some singing and tells Clara there's no gravity since they're not in space, "this is a space station so the gravity should be artificial and coppery-smelling and a tiny bit sexy." As they head outside where she says they're on ground.  It's a planet.  The Doctor meets up with Davros (who seemed to be doing a lot of Columbo acting with his hand.  He recalls the Doctor on the planet and questions his compassion for saving him.  As we get to hear Doctor Four (Tom Baker) ask, "if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you, and told you that the child would grow up totally evil, be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives , could you then kill that child?"  As well as Doctor's Five, Ten.

The planet is revealed to Clara and Missy who recognizes it as Skaro.  The Doctor pleads not again and also pleads for them to be spared.  The Dalek's having also "procured" the TARDIS.  They are going to destroy it.  Missy tells them they can't and they need her to go to other times and planets and can cause destruction forever.  She's exterminated and then Davros mentions  that the Daleks kill people when they run from them, which is what Clara does and she too is exterminated.  The Doctor returns in the TARDIS back to Davros as a boy and points a weapon at him, saying he's going to exterminate him.

Of course that's the age old question for the Doctor and he thinks if he'd known what Davros would do and become, as well as taking his people and put them into a tank, he maybe would've not saved him as a boy.  That's the novelty of hindsight that he's got.  Maybe not exactly novelty, but the ability to go back and change things.  Time can be altered.

For any Doctor Who fan and aficionado, this episode would have reminded them of the ep, Genesis of the Dalek's with Doctor Four.  Who was sent back to the civil war being raged on Skaro and that's where the clip of Doctor Four and his question came in.  Could he kill a child?  But what is Davros's real plan with the Daleks once again and of course why did he take so long in remembering.  Did the Doctor heading back to that time trigger his memory, was it the screwdriver that Colony Sarff throws at the Doctor could have made him remember?  The Doctor also says he no longer carries a screwdriver, which probably leaves him a little naked and inadequate.  Or is it cos he knows he hasn't got long to live, hence the three week party he threw himself.  But even then there was a traitor in the midst, int he form of the Dalek who steals the TARDIS.   They 'procured' that pretty easily, isn't it meant to be invisible.

Clara's funny thought of their relationship that Missy mentions and then having to put her right, "we're Timelords not animals, try nanobrain to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little foodchain and contemplate friendship."  Apt line when you come to think of it, you know these days with people and their one track minds.  Clara knowing she's the Doctor's greatest enemy and can't be trusted.  Yet there's a thin line between hate and love.  Especially as Clara reminds her she keeps trying to kill the Doctor and Missy replies with, vice versa, he's trying to kill her.  But Clara does manage to get those security men killed when she has the gall to utter that Missy's "turned good". Perish the thought as she so aptly demonstrates.

So why exactly the need for the Doctor's Confessional Dial, which suggests he's going to do something more daring than he's done before and thus the need to bring it up now.  But also give it to Missy.   The Maldovarium was seen in The Pandoria Opens as River Song stole the Vortex Manipulator here.  The Shadow architect (Kelly Hunter) from The Stolen Earth was seen at the Shadow Proclamation, as was a Judoon.  And Ohila (Claire Higgins) the Sisterhood of Karn.  We even got to see an Ood or two.

The hot country filming took place in Tenerife, well you'll be a little lost for finding anywhere to film here that's hot.  Ha.  Clara telling her class in the beginning that, "Jane Austen was a great kisser."  So she's experienced that and Missy's traps are her way of flirting.  Missy also telling Clara to "look for anachronisms" in the Doctor, cue tank and guitar.  Then they managed to squeeze Sylvester McCoy's "unlimited rice pudding" into the ep too.  

Eye Candy 1.2 'BRB' Review

                                           
Lindy (Victoria Justice) speeds up the process of finding out who killed Ben, as we're subjected to yet another murder from the killer's point of view.  This time it's another blonde at a spa who has bad skin.  She's always had imperfections.  Uh-oh, as the killer seeks to perfect that by pouring industrial strength paint stripper on her face.  Claiming another Vic.  Hey looking at Lindy, she's not that perfect, she was out on her left side and has not so perfect teeth, but who's looking, right?

Tommy (Casey Jon Deidrick) wants to stop her from putting herself in danger after she meets Reese (at the club, date number 2 she met last ep and he slips her a pill, as they dance and kiss, which she throws away.  She's watched by Sophia (Kiersey Clemons) and Connor Jon Garet Stoker) and she tells him Lindy's out to catch a killer.  Tommy tells her it's not her fault since he saw his mother at Ben's funeral and she looked at him with regret.  Lindy says she got blame.  Cos he was on her roof and with her before when she sent him back to her apartment for Sophia.  She cools it with Reese who wants to 'date' her, and wanting to get hot and heavy, as Tommy calls her and she says it's her mother.

Next day she moves on to the Aussie, date number 1, Jake (Ryan Cooper) and sits in the coffee shop watching him.  The woman asks her if she's drinking coffee, but she replies it's Bolivian.  She tells Lindy she's been staring at that apartment across the road for two weeks and she knows all about Jake.  He's got a record for sexual assault but the charges were dropped, obviously cos he's a lawyer (sleazy?)  We have yet to decide.  I did have my eye on him, no pun, in terms of a suspect and nothing more!  Like his Aussie accent though.  But with this show just when you think you have a suspect, they add more twists into the mix.  Knew it wasn't Reese since he was too obvious.  He's just broken up with his girlfriend and he really only wants fun.  Said woman is Sgt Catherine Shaw (Melanie Nicholls-King) and she hires Lindy to work for them since they could use her at the Cyber Crimes Unit (very CSI:Cyber, maybe that's why Eye Candy didn't catch on.  Would've rotted the brain with two such shows on the air.)  Though have to admit after watching ep 2, Eye Candy does have a certain futuristic vibe to it.  She also hints that working for the police, Lindy can use their resources to find her sister, whom she's sorry about.

Jake comes to her apartment, but she was meant to meet him at a restaurant and asks him how he found her address.  Which he neglects to answer, well he's a lawyer isn't he.  He's brought groceries and wants to cook for her.  She watches him cook and how he's adept with the knife.  She says it's the first time the kitchen's been used for cooking and he thinks living in New York is why.  She just replies she can't cook, but he's very delicate. He asks if she means he's delicate.  Why, is that such a crime?  Ha.  Sophia and Connor arrive and they haven't eaten either.  Cue Lindy and Sophia in the bathroom where Lindy lets on about how he turned up.  Connor arrives and calls him "beautiful" and warns not to eat the food, which may be poisoned.  They drink more than they eat and Sophia recalls how she met Lindy in the bar and looked across at her, knowing there was something about her, so   she just had to invite her to live with her.  It was like having a past life.  But Connor is day to day.

Jake leaves after a call and they survive the night.  Lindy doesn't believe he's the killer and still goes with Reese.  Outside Reese spots them and wants to know what that is when she kisses him goodnight, only on the cheek.  Lindy asks George (Harvey Reyes) to hack the cameras on the street and notices that Reese could've skipped into the spa. She knows his car now and she takes it to the others. Tommy is angry Lindy's here cos she'll put herself in danger some more.  Lindy thinks they can hack into his car as it'll contain all the info on where he's been, thereby blowing his alibi.   Catherine warns Tommy not to question her motives for having Lindy work for them since she'll remove him from the case.  They agree to surveil Lindy as she goes on a date with Reese.  As she sits at the desk, belonging to Ben, she finds where he wrote her number on the desk and has a flashback to calling him.

On her date with Reese, he scuppers the restaurant plans and heads away knowing he's being followed, well she wasn't so subtle in looking over her shoulder when she was in the car.  But he didn't peg her wearing a wire.  He drives to a junkyard and talks cars and how people do so much in them and have so many memories and then they just trash them.  He tries to get it on with Lindy, but she's not biting and so he gives her the car keys, going for a pee was he, after drinking beer beforehand.  Tommy's found the car but couldn't jimmy it open, before he's conked out.  Lindy arrives and gets locked in, the car being automatically driven away James Bond style.  She hacks into the computer with her phone and Tommy manages to tell her he's in the back, as the car heads for lampost.  Lindy manage to stop it in time and they suspect Reese is guilty.

Sophia and Connor have to stay at the station cos they're involved with this and the suspect's been taking pics of Lindy and following her.  So how come we didn't see any pics with Tommy on that dummy left in the car?  She gets a call from Reese, turns out he's a Vic.

Okay, suspects: there's something about Tommy that is a bit strange, can't put my finger on it yet, aside from finding Lindy beautiful, we know he coveted his partner's girl, so his feelings weren't so pure.  But later he tells Connor that he's into blondes, when he questions Connor about whether he's flirting with him.  Connor is anaother one who's hard to pin down, taking the CS photos on his phone. Does he want to steal them for a story, put them online, just collect them, or would he be a suspect.  I also got the feeling about there being something about Ben, he just didn't seem dead to me, but guess that can't be faked, cos the killer's voice sounded a little like Ben to me.  Anyway we shall know when we get to the end, for those of us who haven't seen it yet, but it's good to speculate and lay suspicions onto others.

BRB meaning 'Be Right Back' of course.

Eye Candy 1.1 K3U Review

                                             
So with a name like this I had to check out this show, which all seemed standard fare.  The Internet how we're all potential Vics of hackers, stalkers, sociopaths, psychopaths and the list is never ending. This one turned out to be routine, Lindy's (Victoria Justice) sister, Sara (Jordan DiNatale) is abducted right in front of her on a rainy night after using the loo at a drive thru.  Couldn't she walk back to the car.  Which made me think was this just a Vic of opportunity, or was this planned.  Did this particular psychopathic serial killer reel Lindy into his 'dirty Internet' stalking game, whilst he's looking for his "ideal;" preying on dating websites which her friend, Sophia (Kiersey Clemons) signs Lindy up to. Under the name 'Eye Candy', hence the title.  Which also happen to be based on the novel by RL Stine.  Remember him, re Goosebumps.  If I wrote one, I'd call it Mind Candy (for obvious or not so obvious reasons!)

Lindy's a hacker, on parole and her current love interest/beau, Ben (Daniel Lissing) is a cop who was the one that arrested her.  They still have feelings towards each other, as he removes her ankle monitor, more like leg monitor and a chance to get all touchy-feely with her.  Ben still has feelings for her as I said which is why the chemistry didn't last long.  Or should that be relationship.

This also reminded me of Dark Angel in a futuristic sort of way, though it was only the present, the filming, use of music and just general atmosphere reminded me of something more futuristic, more technological.

Lindy meets up with the mother of missing Julie Becker, but it's a meeting in a virtual sense, as she works on the missing problem from her IT company with a friend, George (Harvey Gullien) who helps her out.  So that's her niche established.  Cue killer talking about what he does and how he's looking for the perfect one, but they all fool him with the pictures they post.  Julie happens to have crooked teeth so she's not right for him and has to go.  But isn't discovered until along while later. Lindy hacks into the NYPD computer but doesn't find any files on her.

Meeting those three men at the club, she gets a message on the phone on her way home, who lets on he's watching her.  Also through her webcam (hey I haven't covered up my webacm on the laptop, have you?)  She thinks she can get him back by watching him, but sees gory images of bloody women.  She doesn't make the connection though and puts it down to him expecting her to hack him back.  So at the club she meets the three potential dates and hacks their phones.  Sophia having called Ben, who doesn't want her doing this.  Yet he's the only one who can help her stay safe, or so he thinks.  On the way back home, Lindy realizes she's picked up the wrong phone as she can see herself on it.  When she meets up with him, he's dead with the phone shoved in his mouth and a message comes up reading, "I thought we were exclusive."

Ben is going to stay with her and whilst in the shower, Lindy sneaks away to the roof.  He follows her in just his pants, so what was the point of the shower.  Hey naksed man on roof, call the cops! Ha. Where they get intimate and she tells him that she imagines one of those stars is her sister.  You see, it's been three years since she vanished.  Ben says she's done enough.  So wasn't anyone perving on them on the roof?

Later she sees Sophia at their apartment  and the killer too, calling her there's no answer but she calls Ben.  Then gets her Sophia on the line who says she's at work.  Oh come on, wouldn't you know if your friend is working or not.  It was a trap for Ben and she made him walk right into it.  That's two she got killed, seriously.  She finds him gone and the mannequin dummy holding a laptop where she sees and talks to Ben for the last time.  The message telling her to say it so he can hear it or he won't know.  She tells him she loves him and Ben tells her about the one star again.  She works out he's on the roof, but it's too late.  Where else would he be considering that's her domain, so to speak.  Giving Lindy more motivation to catch the killer.  Now that's why they had their final fling together and what's the bet I was right and they were being watched there too, never mind the apartment having cameras in it.

As for the message 'Miss Me?' That was straight out of Sherlock and Moriarty!  Very predictable in a lot of places and could have been better done!  Most will enjoy it though as it's got some twists and turns to keep you entertained.  Though the show was cancelled after 10 episodes, it does have its fans.
As for Daniel Lissing who played Ben, I hadn't realized he was in Home and Away back in 2006.  he doesn't even look the same after nine years.  He was also in Hallmark's When calls The Heart.

K3U meaning 'I love you.' I <3 U

Nowhere Man Rantings

                                                             
Watching the show, Nowhere Man again is really frustrating I mean it's just like ep 6, The Spider Webb, predictable.  You know Tom's going to end up in the same place, scenario, situation as all the eps before and you just can't help wondering why he falls into those traps and pitfalls that are just ready and waiting for him.  Was it written like that, did they deliberately make his character so 'predictable' at times, all the time?  Why does he miss the obvious 'clues' or set ups/traps that are right before his eyes.  He has such dreamy blue eyes! To digress!  Did anyone actually think, this show is really going nowhere, man!  Ha.

Hey I know it's only a TV show and those pitfalls are needed or viewers will switch off and the ratings will bomb, but sometimes, just once, you wish they'd do things differently and no disrespect to anyone associated with the show and Bruce Greenwood made it what it is.  Will love the guy in anything he comes in, cos yeah I think he's a brilliant actor and an even greater guy in person!  Love him plenty! But I got a little annoyed with what they had written for him, script-wise, in some of the eps. Especially looking back at them now and re-watching.  As I said can watch him a million times over in the same show and each time will get something different out of it and him!

Then was it just me or the glasses smashing and the trays falling in almost all the eps!  What was that, some kinda clue, warning for everyone to take their places and their cue in the episode, not whilst filming is what I mean.  Not to mention all the bad guys or those involved in chasing after him, luring him, etc, they all drink water.  "It's in the water dude!"  ha.  Seriously though.  maybe someone somewhere has written this before, but I wasn't blogging when watching this first time round and of course, there's a little thing such as the Internet not being around.  So we only had papers and magazines to rely on and they're not going to give anything away!

Watching ep 6 especially had this whole feeling or sense of deja vu, not only in terms of, yeah he's going to find some clue, then he'll follow it up and in the end, it'll get him nowhere.  It was like the entire ep was meant to be like the entire show, just one big stage and everyone was just play acting. Like they're just making one big movie in 25 eps.  Even the bus at the end, "Evergreen Stage" Lines!! Stage!  Acting, studio, act!

Ep 5 Paradise At Your Doorstep, though and Eagle Flight Centre, wasn't that meant to be from the  ep  1.3 The Incredible Derek with the psychic boy, Derek, who wasn't really psychic or blind.  Shouting at the scene, he's not really blind Tom!! How'd he see your hand when he took hold of your fingers! Then that other ploy where he wanted to see the negatives, 'it's okay I'm blind.'  Yeah aren't you.  Then there was the water and spilling the glass over in that ep too.  Didn't hear anything break in the diner though! (Also in ep 5 we had the photoshop called 'Corey's' completely unrelated to this show, but that was Bruce's character name in the Pilot film Destination America which wasn't picked up! Everyone called him Cinqo.)

Though in ep 4 Something About her, Karin (Carrie-Anne Moss) did break a cup and she fell in the water taking him with her.  No one actually drank any.  Would he really have forgotten about his wife and spent the night with Dee in ep 5, so easily.  Which took me a back to the conversation he had with Alyson (Megan Gallagher) in the Pilot when she tells him she was easy!  Linking that with Nancy in ep 6 saying she didn't know if Nancy could be trusted.  I thought the same.  The way she turned on him so easily when he followed her.  Maybe she was just a plant all along.  He did say they were only married two and a half years.  If she really loved him and was on the level, wouldn't she have given him some clue, some indication of why she went along with them.  Then there was that scene with the shrink, Bellamy.  She was so at ease with him too (sorry to use the word ease a lot! ha) like she was a part of the whole conspiracy.

I must admit in ep 6 I thought Tom would've let the ending of the script on the floor and not picked it up.  Yes he was predictable, but then he read Nancy's script ending.  Was this the same ending in the script smarmy Max gave him.  Never trust a producer/writer.  They will have your heads spinning with their twisting plots and predictions.

IN ep 7, The computer screen smashing twice, well just the sound and Scott with his 'close but no cigar line.' So what did he find in that file that he couldn't tell Tom about.  That what, it's not real, none of it is real and he's going on a wild goosechase, or they were using him for some covert operation?

Ep 8 The Alpha Spike, the alias of Jack Griffin was there an in-joke here, a secret one, Jack Gage was Bruce's name in Legman and Seth Griffin was his name in St Elsewhere. ha.  I know, let's combine the two! ha. Here was the pot plant falling, now who dropped that in the headmaster's office. Then the cigar smoking man at the end.  So no glass shattering in ep 9 You Really Got A Hold On Me, but we did get some water glasses and even Tom drinking water, as well as the customary cigar at the end.  But Gus (Dean Stockwell) smoking one would've been more in character, especially since it would've been in character with Al in Quantum Leap.  Not to mention Tina and how he was always in love with Tina!! So why did Tom call them up and turn in Gus, it wasn't to save him and that gun shot in the end, was that really Gus exiting stage left??

Then there was rather a bit of a turn around in this ep, Father, when Tom found his father, now we had Tom coming down with something and he was the one doing the smashing of things, the glass, the Christmas decorations and how he heard the glass smashing still in the doc's office.  Of course what made his father's cigar smoking different was using the cutter instead of the pencil.  But we had to get one other cigar in it.  Can you believe the photo was behind the sofa, no, neither can I.  though I did say that his father looked younger than his mother when we first see him.

Ooh here we go again, more love interest, don't ya just hate it when they have a woman in the show and you know why and what's going to happen, as if you wrote the script yourself.  Wait, if I wrote the script I'd have to put myself in every scene! ha. So we get a reference to steel, glass and concrete in ep 10 An Enemy Within and that was just from Tom, including the shop owner breaking something early on.  This one was a bit of a shattering ep, or sacrilege, I mean to get Tom to give it all up, his life his past.  His past is his life, it's what makes him who he is.  Come to think about it, if he wasn't in dire straits he wouldn't be where he was so Emily, ya didn't think of that, did ya?!

He can't give up, it's not in him and he needs answers and more importantly the truth.  He can't pretend he has no life, had no life and give it all up and give in.  In some way's what's probably why he used his real name here, forgetting the fact it was a hick back own.  He did use his own name most of the time anyway.

It's Not Such A Wonderful Life. So if this was such an elaborate ploy, why leave the tape behind. Yes I thought that, not another hoax, but they had Tom falling for it everytime, the lies, the big happy family, cos deep down they know it's what's he wants and that they can convince him it's real too.  Would he really have turned over the negatives anyway, that's the first thing I thought when the woman mentioned how she was needing his testimony and then the clinker, or sinker, was wanting the negatives to authenticate and prove beyond a reasonable doubt the photo was real.

So how did he figure it out and why is he never one step ahead of them, especially since they always find him and he's meant to be on the run and what better time to dupe him then at Christmas.  It's always about trust, he has trust issues and yet they always find him.  Including the file, with all the photos, of course they'd have it, they're everywhere.  Tom belongs nowhere.  I tell you I'm having serious trust issues behind Alyson too, she's always in the thick of it, lies and then deserts him.  When she mentioned they've had the photo before him, three years earlier and they were married two and a half years, it seems there was more to their 'marriage' and Alyson than meets the eye.  Was her cooking turkey the clincher??

Then there was the over turning table with the glass smashing and the bottles too and Alyson just drops the, well throws, the perfume bottle down.  That'd do it and the smashing in the kitchen, or was that just the turkey baster!! ha.  Also when he was asked if he wanted any water in the interrogation at the beginning.  Especially since there was no mention of cigars that'd been too easy.  NO angels got wings this ep and Clarance where were you when needed.  As the title suggested It's Not A Wonderful Life!

SO he gets these tidbits of information and doesn't know what to do with them, so many questions and no answers. Ep 13 Contact had the same predictability again, he'd take the file cos in the end he can't resist it.  This one did have a future Dark Angel ep feel about it.  You know with chimera and the motorbike messenger job he had, just to find some info in the place.  But how does he get his leads and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time all the time.  This time the glass shattering effect was through Tom's eye.

Ep14 Heart of Darkness was run of the mill, army recruits fighting for another man's vision of a truer America and what it should be.  Though Tom does seem to get into a lot of jams and has to talk his way out by telling them who he is and they don't want to kill him, if they value their own lives. Only cigar in this one smoked by Quinn, but plenty of water.  Do you see the aurora borealis? Ha. Yeah, where the sun don't shine.  Or as I would've had Tom saying in true Prisoner fashion, "I am not a number, I am a free man."  Seeing as he was Number 6!  Freedom being relative.  I thought that anyway.

Ep 15 Forever Jung and the old folks' home was the forerunner to Dark Angel, spot a young Zoe McClellan making an appearance as an assassin at the end.  Yes, Dark Angel, genetically modified soldiers, here in much the same way, we had genetically enhanced old people being used as assassins. Women of course cos they can get away with more, especially if the target is male.  Yet no glass shattering, only some water when Tom meets with the younger Pauline.  But he did manage to find out that either Alyson was enhanced in the same way, just think Tom, you may be married to an older woman, or she had the implant and was made to do what she did.  I on the other hand always preferred the notion that Alyson was all bad to begin with and just seduced him for getting what the Organization wants.

1.16 Shine A Light On You, finally got a cup falling when Tom sees Helen, or rather the other way round, we get the cigar with Bud, so no obvious giveaway as to who he is. Then there was some glass shattering at the end.  Plus the Barbershop sign which seemed a continuation from the previous ep where he was told he needs to cut a haircut.  Suppose their purposes behind the UFO sightings made for a novel and different idea.  But Tom's just not anywhere near finding out what's going on and getting his life back.  He has these near pangs of revelations  when he's on the right track, gets close but things go awry and he's back to square one.  A little like Helen here who seemed to come out of her traumatic state of believing in UFOs, and lucidity when she saw her father, but after losing him, she goes back into that same shell again, which Tom finds difficult to believe.

Ep 18 Hidden Agenda so it appears the glasses breaking and falling started way back when he was in Nicaragua, does this mean they were after him from the outset and not just the photo, especially since it seems they're always around or something happens when the china crashes.  Even now.  Then his contact brought the entire table down with him.  As for all of this not happening, that's what I thought too. That all of this was just some elaborate game, act and wasn't true.  Why would anyone want to do this and why choose Tom for this big ploy?
Hidden Agenda being right, what was their hidden agenda behind all of this.

Ep 19 Doppelganger had lots of glass shattering effects and not a broken glass in sight. I don't know maybe it's me but this show was getting a little predictable for me at this stage, watching it first time and second time round.  No offence to Bruce, who was perfect as always!  Rather everytime something happens, he meets someone or they find him, it always boils down to the negatives and wanting their hands on them and he comes so close to losing them.  Like his newfound ally, who found them in his motel room and took them cos Tom predictably put them in a silly place and then took them out to check if they were still there without drawing the blinds.  They always have him 'trusting' people so naively and that just doesn't go with his character of photo journalist.  He can't be that gullible.  Like this one with the negatives once again coming down to having them and needing them to save his skin.

Of course what was missing was his doppelganger and luckily enough I liked how we didn't get to see his face and him having to do a double role on screen.  Now that would've been predictable.  Glad he got fed up with the palm pilot, but that PD, Jane (Mia Korf) was shifty wasn't she.  If she had been on the real Tom's side, then fake Tom wouldn't have let her go, especially since they killed Claire (Jamie Rose) and then took her body.  SO they knew nothing about negative numbers until Tom told them, but it was obvious that wasn't the real Tom at the pier, they had him do a swagger and walk differently to the real Tom.  Not to mention the strawberry birthmark, that's all we needed for the distinction.  Which explains why Jane asked him to repeat himself when he mentioned it.

Thinking real Tom called fake Tom and told him to turn up at the pier.  Maybe it's what he says in
the intro that his diary/journal is to record events and they're not real.  But they have to be.  Are they?? I've doubted that for quite some time and his line here of going through the looking glass which was getting much more elaborate in some ways.  So I' also thinking did they need the whole story from Tom in ep 18 Hidden Agenda cos they needed the double to know everything, but then he didn't seem to know anything at all.

Ep 20 Through A Lens Darkly was one of those 'out there' eps where he gets an old flame out of nowhere.  Yes we've seen it all before and through everything they put him through they still don't get their negatives.  We get the customary glass shattering, camera lens breaking and he even smashes his own camera, but at the end of the day, he didn't really need Laura's words of wisdom to pull him through.  He already had the noble pursuit for the truth within him, which is why he did what he did and never gave up on being a photographer.  Just like he's not giving up on his search for the truth even now.  Predictability in this ep, that Laura would get blown up somehow, somewhere. Just happened to be there.

So ep 21 The Dark Side of the Moon turns out to be a karma ep, if you can call it that.  Cos everyone got what they deserved except the gang of course.  Bu then anyone Tom has run into or come into contact with ends up dead.  Yeah guessed the radio broadcasts were just a commentary on Tom, his life, what's left of it and his quest for the truth.  Hence the cigar at the end.  First we had shattering glass etc, now it was the clocks and those chimes everywhere.  That darn negative is still intact ha!

There's that clock again and how he'll cease to be and to breathe, he'll turn into a pumpkin at midnight.  Or as good as considering they used electro chemical therapy on him.  So the Agenda is mind control and once again it's all politically motivated.  Guess this started out good but somewhere some plots were lost along the way.  Going from a photo to this.  So if that photo isn't relevant why the need for the negatives, I mean it doesn't prove anything, or have anything to do with mind control does it?  Are they instilling that everything that's happened to him was all in his mind and was all controlled by them.  An experiment, if so all they had to do was control his mind, make him forget everything and he wouldn't remember the negatives or the photos.

Guess by the time we reached the end of this series, we'd have questioned our own sanity.  Real, fake, going round in circles.  How Tome ended up where he did, hospital, coma, probable road accident. Ep 23 Zero Minus Ten another one where his actions were predictable, as Larry said, finding the negative was exactly what they wanted him to do, he risked it, took the chance and once again Larry paid the price, or did he even this time?  Though glad I was right and Alyson was behind it after all. She was too predictable too.  The wife who betrayed him, but didn't really love him.  Well she wasn't a wife at all, like I said they got married before all of this supposedly started.
So if he worked at the newspaper office, why didn't they know that and search his locker.  They seem to know most everything else.  Hmm guess that wasn't predictable enough for them.  But how do they, did they end up finding him everywhere he went and he ended up in their clutches.
Had the glass shattering sound effects here, no cigars, but Tom reeling or getting the earth shattering revelation about Alyson which he should've believed all along.  She wouldn't have done all this if she did love him, as for saying she loves him as much as life itself, well that'd be her life then, not his.

He finally prints the negative and finds what he was missing; the real reason for everything that happened to him.  The secret radio frequency and Heritage House.  Meeting Robman (Nicholas Surovy) and finding out about the mind control experiments, which he knew about anyway.  Creating perfect assassins.  So what's the info he's going to find in the safety deposit box about him.  Covert secret organization, conspiracies and everything, kind of in the X- Files territory.

Going back to episode 7 A Rough Whimper of Insanity I want to know what was in his file and what Scott said it contained in there, that it was all what...?  Still it seemed kinda easy for him to get to where he is and find out what was really in the photo, that it was altered and the disappearance of the senator, why?

Ep 25 Gemini no cigars I should say for guessing or working out what was really going on, but if you managed it that was great.  Yeah I did, should've realized it was all about doubles when there was that double of Tom floating around.  The title to this episode was also a big clue and the voice on the phone telling Barton to destroy the Gemini files, well that sounded just like Bruce even if he was kept in the shadows.  Government conspiracies, showing how they can manipulate freedom, people and eliminate was the mainstay of this show and all that water drinking.  Boy would've needed it by the end of this.  It appears the truth was not all it turned out to be and for all of Tom's pursuits in learning it, it just led him round in circles.  He really didn't want to end up where he did and learn what he did. He was Gemini and he thought every bit in the same way as Tom did.  Did Tom Veil even exist as a person.  Wait, if Tom was Gemini and also the other double, then that means there were three of him.

Going back to the ep where found his file and said there's nothing in there, that's what he meant.  The file would've only contained info about Tom: the Tom that they made up and brain washed/mind controlled into existence.  So they had him chasing ghosts and all the while they were conducting their own experiments.
Had to say that in the beginning though, why did he he just take everything out of the file, now he wouldn't be stupid enough to actually drop it right into their hands from the fire escape.

So how satisfied were you with the show and the ending and did you feel cheated, or where you right there working everything out and what was really going on.  These were just my rantings (of a mad woman!! ha) but I've found if you read too much into the show or try to work things out logically, you'll just end up getting more confused.  Think it's just a show you watch for the sake of it and leave the pitfalls of making actual sense of it in the background and to those who actually came up with it. Truth is, logic will take you round in circles.  Maybe if the series wasn't cancelled, then we'd have taken it slower and gotten some revelations which were logical or made sense. But we enjoyed the ride along with Tom!

I noticed the North By Northwest references and when Tom finds himself at the crossroads in the Pilot ep.  My sis even mentioned it.  Also to The Prisoner, The Fugitive and The Manchurian Candidate.

The title of the show could've been taken from The Beatles song Nowhere Man?  But alas that was based on a novel about something completely different.  Some appropriate lyrics though.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 Perdita was lost in the amulet forever.  That’s how Phoebe chose to remember the event. Rather than the bleak picture painted by Perdita being sucked into the shattered mirror glass.  There had been too much mist and smoke to see what happened clearly anyway.  Perdita was a part of that amulet now, just as it had been a part of her for so long.

 Phoebe felt guilty.  But worst of all, Prue had feelings of sorrow and disgust.  How she had envied her and treated her appallingly all because of a man.  A man who was non-existent of all things. Perdita was a complete stranger who had been so selfless.  Prue was rueful.

 “I should have done more for her.  At least I wish I could have."  Phoebe remarked with hesitation.

Don’t punish yourself Phoebe honey.  It wasn’t your fault.  Our destinies are already written.  We can’t really change them.  We can try that’s all.  I didn’t know Perdita and I wish I could change that but I think she believed that strongly about destiny.  Anyway she wouldn’t want us to be sad.  Least of all you Phoebe.”  Prue was trying to comfort her.

 “No that’s my line Prue.  After seeing the sorceress.. She told me to protect her and I stood there like a stuffed dummy.  Helpless!  In an instant she was gone.  Taken from us.  Snatched by unrelenting, cruel fate.  She was one who died young.  Before her time and that’s always sad.   More than that, it’s wrong… The other night I thought about her and then I dreamed about her.  Does that make sense?  As if there was something my subconscious must be trying to tell me..or my conscience. Perdita knew the risks – I know that but to be locked somewhere, forever trapped in a lowly place.  Like purgatory.  She didn’t deserve that sort of an end; that cruel a fate.  I can’t help but feel guilt.  Remorse.”  Phoebe was inconsolable.

 “Here honey.  Take this.”  Piper handed Phoebe Perdita’s book of spells.  Phoebe stepped back.
 “I don’t want it.”

 “Keep it safe like the treasure that it is.  Perdita wanted you to have this just incase...well, just incase.  She gave it to me that night we all rowed with Prue.  It’s rightfully yours.  She didn’t have anyone else.  She wanted you to have it.  Only you.  So one day you’d look back and think of her fondly...  Sometime.”

 Phoebe glanced over at the book again and picked it up.  She gave out a cry.

 “What is it?” Prue asked.

 “Nothing. I didn’t see anything.  All I felt was a sudden, brief glimmer of happiness.  Good vibes.  When I wanted to see something, nothing came.  But I don’t feel so sad anymore.  I feel like Perdita touched me herself in the flesh and told me not to worry but to go on and be happy.  Her spirit dwells within her book still." Phoebe smiled.

 “Maybe that’s what we all should do.  Remember her as the good friend she was and even the greater friend she would have been.”  Thought Prue.

 “There wasn’t anything you could have done honey,” Piper was so reassuring and so clinically right as usual.

 Nothing could have been done to save Perdita.  They had yet to learn Perdita had been there to defeat Sabroh.  The only one who could have.

 “Then somewhere along the way, my visions must have got confused with Perdita’s.  Where I saw Prue she must have seen herself or something along those lines.  It’s confusing I know, but it’s the only reason I can come up with.  The only thing that sounds plausible to me.”

  Phoebe showed them the amulet.

 “It’s our symbol.”

 “She was a part of us after all.” Prue admitted ruefully.

  Tears welled in Phoebe’s eyes.  For days she had been confused, angry. Thought wildly.  Erratically.  Knew she could have been more helpful.  Then reality would set in again.  Cold, frozen and permanent.

 They both crowded Phoebe and hugged her tightly..

 Time heals.  But something like this would always be at the back of Phoebe’s mind.  Imprinted forever like a story on a sad, sallow page.  Tedious though the aftermath had been.  Phoebe kept busy.  She had to be in control.  Rebuild her shattered life from losing a new friend, a cousin. Losing a part of her heart.

 Phoebe placed the amulet around her neck.  A permanent remainder of what could have been.  All the fun they would have had.  Perhaps Perdita’s favorite lines from her favorite book, A Tale of Two Cities would have served as a fitting epitaph  to her memory, her life.
“It’s a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done.  It’s a far,far better rest I go to than I have ever known.”

 That night she had another dream. Minah appeared to her.  To thank her for her quick thinking spell.  With her brave act she had saved Perdita’s soul from the inescapable horror that would have been.

 They were parted now, but one day would be together again. Reunited in a happier, mystical plane without earthly barriers to prevent their friendship from beginning anew.  In a spiritual place without fear, anger or tears.

  A smile lit Phoebe’s face as she tossed the covers back and turned over; back in her own room; with her sisters in the safety of Halliwell manor.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 The cloaked figure emerged from the raging, fiery shadows and fell into a heap on the cobbled, sandy ground.  It was Prue.  Miraculously Sabroh’s downfall and return to the prism’s confines enabled Prue to be released from the hourglass and enter back within her own body.  She was no longer astrally projected but could sense everything and everyone around her.

 Expressing relief at seeing Piper, she was still a little hesitant, cautious about emerging from the small obelisk that had been her prison for two days and two nights. Piper was relieved and rushed to greet her sister.

 “Boy am I glad to see you.  Are you all right?”

 “I’m glad to be back believe me.  I never thought I’d get out of that hell.  Where’s Phoebe?  I‘ve got so many apologies to make to her and to Perdita.  I’ve been such a fool.  I could kick myself.  I guess I probably left my brain at home because I wasn’t thinking straight.  It sure wasn’t the jetlag.”

 “She’s with Perdita. They went on to look for your captor.  Oh by the way good news, we managed to vanquish Kane.  You wouldn’t believe who he was.” Piper was happy.

 “After what I’ve been through I’ll believe anything.  So who was he then?  Something dead and horrible?”

 “He was a real-life body snatcher.  Well he was once alive.  Sabroh bought him back to life to help him with his evil plans.”

 “You mean I fell for a dead guy?  I figured as much when I saw him as his true self.”  Prue felt embarrassed.

 “Hmm, it’s not the first time you know Prue.”

 “Yeah, right? What’s Perdita doing here?”

 “She helped us figure out stuff.  Where Kane was and who he was and we ended up here.  You know for someone who we don’t really know so well, she‘s not such a monster after all.”

 “Maybe.” Prue sighed. “For the record I never said she was a monster.  Just Miss Goody Two Shoes.”  Joked Prue.

 “Come on let’s find the others.  Can you walk?”  Gestured Piper.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 16

Chapter 16

 The passage was long, entwining, as they ran through the open doors, passing stairs of iron rungs.  Long, twisting and spiral.  A familiar aroma of candle smoke choked their surroundings.  Muddled with the reeking stench of mildew and moss.  The gray-glacial walls were all sewn together with cement and grilled openings on the roof through which they could glimpse bluish-purple light pouring down in a patchy, misty mire.

 Upon climbing the coppered steps, they heard soft, musical chords playing in the distance.  Some sort of classical, chamber music.

 “For a djinn,” whispered Phoebe.  “This demonic force sure has weird taste in music.”

 “Yes, perhaps the death march would be more to his liking.” Answered Perdita vapidly.  “Well here goes nothing.”  Perdita hugged Phoebe.

  Together they stood motionless for a second.  They knew this meant goodbye.  At least for now.

 “Let’s do it.”  Phoebe whispered.

  Sudden fear held Phoebe motionless and silent.  She knew dark, primitive fear had her now.  It was something strange and energy zapping.  A new experience she’d never felt before, even when vanquishing all those demons that had come before.

  This feeling was unnerving, a feeling of helplessness wrapped with hope.  Why weren’t Prue and Piper here?  Together they could come up with a spell to protect Perdita.  With them out of the picture, Phoebe had to act fast, think fast; think alone.

Powers of light
Forces of good
Illuminate a path for your servant so true
Keep her, protect her
From all that will ensue.

 Phoebe hoped it would work.  She wished she had some silvery, sparkling moondust to throw at her for added good measure; or could see some fireflies sparkle.  Wait fireflies were supposed to signal romance.  Not good luck.  Well it was the spell that was important no matter how it was sealed.

 They found Sabroh wanting. Embers of light enthralled their surroundings as Perdita began to chant.  The air was shrouded in mist and dry ice.  Phoebe called out to Sabroh,

 “Hey you scary djinn over here!”

 “I’ve been expecting you.” He grunted.

 He turned to catch sight of her dashing towards one of the silk screens.  She did her best to distract him as fireballs and flames from Sabroh’s palms marred her every movement.  Shooting like lit arrows in all directions and angles.

 “Hey over here!”  She called out.  Ducking and diving behind rock formations, pillars and columns.  The whole room came alive with dancing shadows.

 “Hurry Perdita.”  She whispered.

  Perdita placed the spherical prism on the ground behind Sabroh to form a right angle in direct correlation with the amulet around her neck, as she glanced Phoebe running around from the corner of her eye.

 As she chanted more mist gathered and soon the whole cavern was in vapours.

Perdita’s chant was a beautiful resonance of a soothing melody to human ears.  A variation on old Castillian Spanish and Persian Farsi.  But to Sabroh’s ears it was a mesmerizing din.

 Phoebe understood what was being said as another voice, that of Minah, seemed to be translating and repeating the chant into English for Phoebe’s ears.  It was as though music was being broadcast simultaneously on two distinct, yet separate radio stations.

 Beneath gilded embers
 Crystals twisting, precious, strong
 We are the children of a forgotten past
 A future – that lies forward – less beauty has its strong hold overcast
 And left us with dreams.

 Our desires fade as the last remnants of a distant meteor shower;    
 Whilst he grows.
 Pull away this chilling entity, foreboding the holy and divine
 Fine line betwixt evil and good
 Emprism this djinn’s legacy within your dome-encrusted structure
 Leave this earthly plane
 Return it from whence it came.


 Perdita could feel herself being drawn inwards towards the mirror as it began to project strange illuminations.  She thought she was hallucinating as she saw white figures flying inside the mirror.  Fierce wind blew from every direction, as her chanting grew stronger.  Uncannily Sabroh couldn’t hear Perdita, it was as though he was oblivious to her presence.

 The fire escaped from his body then suddenly the light went out.  He could feel his strength, his power being drained, ebbing away into an abyss.  Sabroh knew he must fight back.  Then it dawned.  The eerie memory.  This had happened once before.  Minah.  But she was dead.  Had she been playing tricks?  Lying dormant somewhere ready to awaken when the right moment was at hand.  His mind began to wander and finally from over his shoulder he turned to hear strange chanting again.  This time it wasn’t Minah’s heavenly chords.

 “Cursed it. It is Perdita. I must destroy or be destroyed!”  He shook his fiery fist of rage, attempting to release his presence from the numb dawning of the real truth.

  Perdita chanted. The wind enraged and howled stronger; a whirlwind began spinning around the room, gathering momentum.

 Sabroh wavered.  Shivered against the dry ice.  He was being vanquished. Impossible for a djinn.  Resistance was useless.  He failed in every defeated attempt to free himself from the cataclysmic vortex parring, gathering immense speed with each syllable she uttered.

 Perdita stood, reflected in the glorious flicker of light and shadows, arms reaching out, extending, in angelic fashion.  Eyes closed as in deep meditation.  Her hair flying loose and care free against the torment of the gusting wind.

 Phoebe ran for cover behind a marble post.  The first force of the circling vortex knocked her off her feet but she clung onto the post by the skin of her fingers and the end of her nails.  She was nearly pummelled by the spasmic, cosmic veils of the inflating gale.

 Sabroh was sucked into the prism’s cold, icy glare.  Echoes of his screams, wild animal cries, resounded and rebounded against the hollow walls.  Long, icy hands reached out from the crystalline prism to grab him.  Pulling him, dragging him mercilessly. Sabroh clung on.  His claws screeching, marks patterned the floor. In an instant he was gone.  Finality had returned.  The prism, containing Sabroh’s inflammable remains had melted to ripples of glassy water.  Then vanished.

 There was no escape from the tyranny of the tumultuous ending Perdita knew was about to abruptly mark the end.  Her end.

 The mirror crashed to the floor as shards of blue halos radiated around her.  In the blink of an eye she’d disappeared too. It seemed she had been sucked through the depthless glitter of the broken mirror.  Only her amulet remained heaped within a pile of sand and dust.

 Daylight blistered the torn walls of the vacant room.  Perdita’s destiny had been fulfilled.  Phoebe’s vision had proved hauntingly harsh and ghostly true.

 Phoebe didn’t have an explanation for what took place.  It was beyond words.  She picked up the amulet and turned it over.  In the back she saw a symbol.  It was their sign.  The symbol of the Charmed Ones.