Supernatural - "The Foundry" - Season 12 - Episode 3 Review

October 28, 2016

It didn’t take long to realize that this episode was starting with a case, finally! A crying baby in an abandoned house is enough to grab most people’s attention. But to run into said house not knowing what lies behind the door? Not too smart. I mean, have you ever encountered an angry crackhead? I have, and it’s not as funny as it may sound. But, I digress. Unfortunately for this well-meaning couple it didn’t take long after discovering the baby wasn’t a baby, but a creepy doll, that they met their demise.

We also see Mary decide to make a big change as she chops off her hair. And as we all know, when I woman cuts off her hair, 99% of the time she is about to make some major changes. Change your hair, change your life. But I don’t think the guys caught on to that hint. Or perhaps they just don’t want to see the truth for themselves, their mom is struggling, big time. Castiel surprisingly caught on to her struggle after a simple late night conversation with her. Shocking for the man who seems to always be clueless. And it seems that perhaps Sam isn’t as clueless about her struggle as it first seemed. However, Dean doesn’t seem to want to admit anything is wrong, after all it was his dream to have her back.

While the boys head out with Mary to take on a case, Castiel follows a lead on Lucifer. He feels that it is his responsibility to get him back to Hell since he is the reason Lucifer was back in the first place. Little does he know, he’s not the only one on the search for him; Crowley is already there. I have to admit, Castiel’s choice of names always cracks me up, especially this episode when he chooses to go by Agent Beyonce. Crowley being too scared to go after Lucifer himself, and too proud to admit it, pushes Castiel to join forces in the search for Lucifer. I’m sure at some point this is going to blow up their faces, as it always seems to do.

The one thing I found quite frustrating this episode, was how dismissive the guys seemed to be of their mom. After all, she was a hunter way before they were even thought of, so it was quite surprising to see them not trust her instincts about their case. She was the one with direct contact with the spirits, so I would think they would have listened. But, I suppose if they had, it wouldn’t have been as interesting an episode.

When Mary was touched by the little ghost child, I felt bad for her. She was already going through so much transitioning from the afterlife and being back with her boys. And being injured by a scared looking ghost child Lucas, I’m sure didn’t ease her anxiety. After all, in her mind, her boys are still little, and Dean was still the child’s age.

While the Winchester’s are busy with their case, our angel, demon duo is working on their leads as well. They track down the sister of Lucifer’s new vessel Vince (Rick Springfield). And it didn’t take Castiel but two seconds to know Lucifer had already been there. He sensed that the sister Wendy was recently healed. The wheelchair in the room drove that point home. And the good cop bad cop routine worked perfectly to get her to cooperate. Crowley, always the jerk, threatens to undo the healing that had been done; not cool Crowley.

Speaking of Crowley, the look on his face was priceless when Castiel realized the true reason he was so hell bent on getting Lucifer. He has his mother, Rowena. And right now, he was trying to get her to use a beauty spell, to reverse the aging on his rock star vessel. It’s quite amusing to me that Lucifer is using the vessel of a rock star, seeing how many once thought and some still think that rock and roll is the devil’s music.

One thing I thought was interesting was the way they had Mary have a vision. It made me wonder if she was given this ability from being touched by the child Lucas, thus giving her a connection to him, or if she was able to have the vision because of her connection to the other side? I mean being dead for 30 years must give you some kind of connection to the spirit world, right? In my opinion, it was a jerk move for the guys to treat their mom like they had to baby her. But it gave her the opportunity to do things her way, which as we saw, ultimately solved the case. We get to see how similar the guys are to her in this episode more so than the first two episodes. Like Sam and Dean have done many times in the past, she went solo into the house with not much more than a gut instinct and a bag of weapons. And like Sam and Dean, this decision nearly cost her her life, again. She was able to fight the possession long enough to communicate with Sam to let him know just what to do to save her. Something we have seen her boys do quite a few times before. Also, her emo tendencies in this episode mirror that which we have also seen in Sam and Dean in the past. Both of them have also chosen to go off on their own to collect themselves. Let’s just hope her leave of absence is temporary and she comes back stronger than ever.

Speaking of strength. How in the heck has Rowena not learned her lesson yet? Screwing over and tricking Lucifer has never worked well for her. I don’t understand why she thinks it will be different this go around? He asked her to restore his vessel, instead she sped up the decaying process. Why he thought he could trust her is another question I have to ask myself. Wishful thinking perhaps? Once weakened she sent him to the bottom of the ocean. This is not going to be good for anyone when he returns, as he always does. And it seems by what Rowena said to Crowley and Castiel when they found her, she knows it too. I have a feeling Rowena will be the first to see Lucifer again, regardless of what she is hoping. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Written by Kaylynn Kasandra. Awkward hippie who enjoys helping people, creating things, reading, sci-fi, fantasy, and Thor. Find more from her at kaylynnkasandra.com and
http://www.youtube.com/c/tiedyesmurf

The Walking Dead - "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" Season 7 Episode 1 Review

October 25, 2016

This is the chilling response Dr. Jenner gives Rick when he says he’s grateful, way back in season one. This is the most poetic and haunting thing about the season seven premiere. The rest, well…

So Negan is an asshole. Not an average asshole, an exceptional asshole. He’s king asshole. As a matter of fact, he displays traits of every kind of asshole you’ve ever known in your life. That’s what makes him so loathsome, and what makes seeing him with the upper hand so gut wrenching. When we last left our heroes, they were kneeling in front of him and wondering who was going to get a thumping from Lucille.

As it turns out, it was Abraham. I was figuring this for a while now, only because of how chipper he was about life after getting things going with Sasha. I always found Abraham to be a confident and capable character; a little too redneck for my tastes but ultimately a likeable and a loyal member of the group. Michael Cudlitz is a great actor and there was a lot of potential for his character so it was sad to see him go. Then again, us comic nerds have been salty about him going out for a while now.

Of course the scene was brutal and sad but after the initial blow and Abraham’s final words of defiance, it was just a lot of off screen smashing. For something that was teased up and down and discussed in every dank corner of the internet for months, it seemed a bit...tame. But then Daryl decides to sucker punch Negan and that’s when I realized I spoke too soon.

Glenn’s death in issue 100 of TWD comic will go down in modern pop culture history as one of the biggest “Oh Shit” moments. It was cruel and heartbreaking and pretty damn graphic. It painted Negan as a much darker villain than the others, and it really drove the point home that even the most good and right things like love and family and new beginnings can be destroyed on a whim in this world.

And that point was made again when Negan made Glenn pay for Daryl’s little tantrum. One particular image stood out in the comic and they did it justice in this episode, and that’s the only good thing I can say about it. I was kicked in the stomach all over again, regardless of how much I had a feeling this was going to happen. And to add insult to grievous injury, Negan parades about with his bravado and bad jokes and they just have to sit there and take it.

After the blood was spilled, Negan takes Rick on a ride and the episode takes a bit of a nosedive. Their little roadtrip was supposed to be Negan breaking Rick down and making him realize he’s not going to be the hero or win this time around. But really, Rick just rolls around on the floor with some walkers while Negan talks shit, and we are tortured (as is Rick) with the idea of the rest of our heroes getting clobbered in the dome. I thought maybe they were going to triple down on the shockers and have Negan chop Rick’s hand off, but that was a red herring for when they got back to the others.

As if killing off two major characters and ending a handful of possibly engaging storylines wasn’t enough, Negan wants Rick to chop off Carl’s arm in a sadistic God and Abraham moment. It was intense and wholly unnecessary but I did like seeing Carl throw shade at Negan and when the moment came, he was ready to lose an arm for his people.

At this point, Rick is thoroughly broken and agrees to Negan’s terms, which were kind of nebulous but the gist was that both Alexandria and Hilltop would produce for Negan. Everyone packs up their stuff and leaves our heroes to ponder their ruin. This is the first time in nearly an hour that any emotional weight began to settle. Even though we all saw some beloved characters go out in a cheap and violent way, we were too busy watching Negan strut around and loudly crack wise. It’s only in his absence that the characters start expressing emotion, even though the episode was full of reaction shots.

Maggie, probably another Carol in the making, wants the group to get ready for war and she’s going to drag Glenn’s headless body to Hilltop alone. Of course, they won’t let this happen and in solidarity, collect their dead and console each other. It’s here that we realize who we lost. If it wasn’t for Glenn, there would be no Rick. He was there from episode one, and we watched him grow from an unsure kid to a loving husband and a capable fighter, someone who saw good in people and believed in the idea of home and second chances. Abraham was an angry and broken man without a sense of purpose, but after joining the group became a tireless warrior, a loyal ally, and someone who also believed in second chances, who hoped in his last days at another chance at love.

We understand all this, so I’m not sure we needed to see an alternative vision of the future, with all our heroes sitting at a table together in Alexandria. It feels like just a LITTLE too much salt in the wounds.

But that’s it. That’s the whole episode really. Just a whole lot of brains and barking Negan, with a few extra kicks in the nuts in case the first two weren’t enough.

We saw nothing of the Kingdom or Morgan and Carol. The deaths of Glenn and Abraham are what’s going to motivate our heroes, but the Saviors also have Daryl, so they need to be careful with their war plan.

But at this point, I think Daryl’s gotten off too easy because of his popularity. He’s essentially responsible for Glenn’s death so I would say to Rick, go hog wild, and if they kill him in retaliation so be it.

As always, I’m onboard to see how all this plays out, even if the fanboy in me is sad and the TV viewer in me is upset. See you next week...

Written by A Play On Nerds contributor, Jerry Herrera - Lover of horror, sci fi, and fantasy in that order. Semi-permanent Disneyland resident. I'm at least one of the droids you're looking for. Twitter: @FrankenJerry - Instagram: @GeraldoPedro

Supernatural - "Mamma Mia" - Season 12 Episode 2 Review

October 21, 2016

Having watched the show as long as I have, I knew that something was up with Sam being in bed with his captor when the episode began. I figured it was some kind of hallucination, and I was soon proven right. I have to say, I did like this creative approach to torture. And as always with Sam, by figuring out her scheme, he seemed to have worsened his fate. Toni, the British Men of Letter’s woman, had chosen to go a more violent route in the interrogation process, again.

Mary, the Winchester’s mother seemed to be adjusting with being back, though riddled with guilt over the yellow eyed Demon and what had transpired because of him. Though the conversations she and Dean were having were heartfelt, I couldn’t help but find them quite invalidating as well. She seems to have wanted a better life for her boys, yes, but by implying she didn’t want them to be Hunters, that invalidates most of what they have lived for. It should be interesting to see if this will create some kind of tension later in the season, as I predict it will.

As for mother/son friction, Rowena and Crowley are always at the top in that category. Rowena didn’t seem too thrilled with their reunion, seeing how Crowley had pushed his way into her date. And I’m sure I wouldn’t be either. I mean, he came to her for help to go up against the Lucifer, whom she fears most. And that never ends well.

And as a native to the great city of Cleveland I can’t decide if I am offended or flattered Lucifer decided to take up residency there. I did however appreciate the Spinal Tap reference and homage to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And I was almost proud of Crowley when he thought to damage the vessel in which Lucifer was occupying, even if I knew the plan couldn’t work. Fallen or not, Lucifer is an angel, and that trumps demon and witch power any day. So it wasn’t surprising to see Lucifer take Rowena captive; it’s what I expected as soon as Crowley had asked for her help. I have a feeling a seed was planted by Crowley when he suggested Lucifer take over Heaven and leave the demons be. But I don’t think it will go down as Crowley wants, at all. For as smart as Crowley can be, his plans always seem to blow back at him.

Another, not so thought out plan: Dean and Mary’s rescue mission. Which as always, was successful, but messy. Though the look on Sam’s face was quite classic when he first learned his mother was back. I have a feeling we will be learning a lot more about Mary than we already know, and it may not be all positive. She seems to have some skeletons hidden in her closet.

Mick, one of the mystery British men haunting Toni was also revealed. It should be interesting to learn about his true intentions, not to mention his true power, as well as hers, since it’s obvious they don’t fall too high on the chain of command. And it seems the real threat was called into action by Mick. I’m hoping the pace will pick up within the next few episodes, as it’s not as attention-grabbing for me thus far this season. I know there is always a buildup, but for me, leaving the format of having a case and subplots running simultaneously may be what’s missing. The idea of a fresh case each episode, with an ongoing storyline just works better, it seems to keep it interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing if next week it will return to that, or if we will continue with the storylines they’ve got.

Written by Kaylynn Kasandra. Awkward hippie who enjoys helping people, creating things, reading, sci-fi, fantasy, and Thor. Find more from her at kaylynnkasandra.com and
http://www.youtube.com/c/tiedyesmurf