Game of Thrones S05xEp06 – UNBOWED, UNBENT, UNBROKEN
Arya is finally getting in the mood of the work she’s doing for The House of Black and White. She seems to enjoy this ritual of washing the bodies, although she still doesn’t know what happens to them afterward. When the other servant girl told her a fabricated story about also being from Westeros and also being the daughter of a lord, Arya believed her lie, proving that she wasn’t yet ready to pass through the next door. When Jaqen asked her to relay her own story, he whipped her with a switch every time she lied…mm..euh..ooookay…Then came this moment, after Arya told a similarly fabricated story to a sick, dying girl, easing her to her final rest, Jaqen took Arya down to the third level. There, walls and walls of faces lined the shelves of an enormous cavern. To become a faceless man, does one have to give up their own face? Jaqen said she’s not ready to become no one, but is ready to “become someone else.” Look, Arya learning to become a faceless man is cool and all, but what does this mean for Maisie Williams if Arya eventually has to have her own face cut off?
The disgraced knight and Tyrion are still where we left them, Jorah with the disease he contracted in his battle with the Stone Men of Valyria. Tyrion still talking too much for Jorah’s liking, he also lets it slip that Jorah’s father, the former Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, got killed. Something that Jorah didn’t know. Ouch! . They still chat on the road to meet Daenerys, and Jorah shares with Tyrion why he has come to believe in something greater than himself: witnessing Dany emerge from a fire bearing three baby dragons. Tyrion, though, is still skeptical about Dany potentially ruling. But before their debate can continue, they are grabbed by slavers. The slave traders decide to kill Tyrion since he is worthless except for his … uh … private parts. They listen to reason and decide to keep him alive until they meet a, uh, merchant who sells, um, private parts. In a last-second gambit, though, Tyrion talks the slavers into taking them to Meereen so Jorah can fight in the recently reopened fighting pits.
And, Well Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones ended with one of – so they say – the more disturbing moments we’ve encountered the entire show. It may not have been as shocking or out of the blue as the Red Wedding or Ned Stark’s death, but Ramsay raping Sansa Stark on their wedding night while forcing Theon/Reek to watch comes pretty close. Ramsay is basically what Joffrey could have been if he’d lived just a little bit longer and had even fewer moral and behavioral restraints. It’s almost as though Joffrey’s death was meaningless. It’s hard to see this done to Sansa, who has already survived so much tragedy and trauma and cruelty. Who just barely escaped Joffrey, only to fall into Ramsay’s clutches.
Grey’s Anatomy – S11xEp24 – You’re My Home
This wasn’t the season finale we expected. But then again, the extreme got reached earlier in the season with the death of Derek. For a change, it showed how everyone was moving on. To my taste, it seemed like a series Finale…let’s hope we’ll find them again for a 12th.
Richard and Catherine worked out their problems thanks to some advice from Meredith, and the episode ends with a wedding. Richard deserves that kind of happiness, and it’s always nice to see everyone get together and celebrate a happy occasion.
“You drive each other crazy. And you yell, and you argue, and you fight… none of those things are reason enough to not be with the person that you love. There just isn’t enough time.”
Bad news though: Jackson and April are on the rocks. Remember when she was, as Bailey puts it, “all pigtails and bunny rabbits”? Ever since she got back from serving in the Army, April has a new toughness im her—and a new desire to get back to the military. Jackson knows this, and he confronts her about it in an extremely supportive way. She admits that, yes, she does want to get on a plane and go back to the Middle East. “When we lost Samuel, a light went out in you,” he tells her. “And whatever it was over there, whatever it is, it got re-lit.” He’s happy she’s found it—but he also has limits. If she does decide to go, he doesn’t think he can be there when she returns.
Alex and Jo are making some progress. They weren’t doing so well at first because she was upset about him letting Meredith and the kids move in, but then he saved the day with a romantic speech (okay, romantic by Karev’s standards, at least) that includes a line about how he wants to have “someday a dog, maybe” with Jo. Aww. Jo decided that she wants to be with Alex… to the point that she found a home for them to buy so he could sell Meredith his place.
And, at the finale’s conclusion, Mer and company danced it out, shaking off their tears.
It’s pretty much like Derek never existed, huh?
“You can build a house out of anything. Make it as strong as you want. But a home is more fragile than that. A home is made of the people you fill it with.And people can be broken, sure. But any surgeon knows, what’s broken can be mended. What’s hurt can be healed. That no matter how dark it gets, the sun’s gonna rise again.”
BATES MOTEL S03XEp10 – Unconscious
Unsconscious is how we left Norman. Everything Norman had done prior to this last episode, had a glimpse of innocence wrapped around it, but something about Bradley’s murder just felt different.
During their runaway, They had barely crossed the White Pine Bay border when Norman began to hallucinate Norma. He forced Bradley to pull over because “Norma” needed to talk to her. Bradley quickly realized that something wasn’t right with Norman. He began to talk as “Norma,” saying Bradley had her “hot little sex kitten routine” down and that she was trying to play her as a fool. “I practically invented the routine,” Norman/“Norma” yelled at her.
The heart wants what the heart wants and Romero protected Norma by shooting to death Paris. So mostly, it turned out that the Arcanum Club turned out to be lots of fuss over nothing. Completely pointless through the whole season.
Dylan was understandably upset about his daddy leaving town, but he had happy news to balance the disapointment. A set of lungs has come in for Emma and despite some of her darkest fears coming to light, she knows she has to take them. Seeing them finally kiss after a season of waiting was enough to put a giant smile on my face.
Norma was looking to give her son a better life. She visited a facility called Pine View that helps people with mental issues. But of course, everything Norma does is unconventional. A doctor usually refers a patient to Pine View, which allows insurance to help cover the costs. Norma didn’t have that – she didn’t even have an official diagnosis for Norman. And although she wanted to get him the help he needed, she couldn’t afford the steep price of $20,000 to $40,000 a month for live-in treatment. Despite the cost, Norma told Norman that she was worried about him and that they needed to get him help. Needless to say, Norman didn’t take well to this. He accused his mother of giving up on him and took off upstairs to pack his things. But Norman wasn’t packing to go get treatment – he was packing to run away with Bradley.
The good news is the series is definitely going in the right direction, and if the PSYCHO influence gets even more present in the narrative, I’d love to see if the show goes to bizarre places its relatively straightforward presentation would never initially suggest.
Game of Thrones -S05xEp05- Kill the boy
On this 5th Episode, we got to know the Boltons through the eyes of Sansa — who along with us is getting a clearer view of just what kind of fucked-up family she’s marrying into.Remember at the end of Season One, when Joffrey proudly showed Sansa her father’s head on a spike ? People keep showing her horrible stuff and all she can do is nod and smile. Is she ever going to do anything about it?
Daenerys hasn’t spent much time in Westeros, but the best way to secure an alliance — and often, achieve a measure of peace — is with a wedding. She announced her wedding to Hizdahr while he was on his knees in a prison cell. And let’s say that this has got to be one of the all-time best Daenerys Targaryen executive decisions of all time.
As they approached Valyria, the attack of the stone-men was a great moment, one of the best of the hour. It was interesting to see how Tyrion survived the attack, while Jorah found himself hurt and contaminated.
Revenge S04xEp23 – Two Graves
Revenge‘s days are officially after already four years , and although I would have wished it kepy airing , this last season wasn’t the best and the perfect finale would have been at the end of the 3rd season, after Emily finally successfully took down Conrad and had Victoria committed to a psychiatric hospital. The relationship between Emily and David Clarke—which worried us with his reappearance that had the potential to ruin all of Emily’s hard work over the years—turned out to be one of Season 4’s greatest strengths, and it was also what eventually saved Emily’s life when Victoria shot her in the back during their final showdown. But “Two Graves” was too busy, too fast and too omplicated to top the amazing finale from a year ago. And even worse, it was a little too cheesy for my liking.
Revenge was fun to watch, it wasn’t just about vengence, it was also a story about fancy people wearing fancy clothes in a fancy location while doing some despicable things (fancily). But the happy ending that Emily got still felt out of place. Emily ruined the lives of countless people, and yes, there’s the argument that she was only getting the revenge, giving them what they deserved, but Emily was not a good person, no matter how hard the series wanted us to believe it. It’s obvious she was a much better person than Conrad, but she was not necessarily much better than Victoria, which is why the happy ending in which Victoria died while Emily and Jack literally sailed away from the Hamptons and into their new future felt a bit unfair. Emily was the show’s hero, but did she deserve a hero’s end?
Since Emily first arrived in the Hamptons, it almost felt like one woman couldn’t exist without the other, which was made even more obvious by the fact the show even had them dressed in black and white for their final showdown. As they both lie dying on the floor, with Emily’s head near Victoria’s feet, the yin and yang of their relationship was more obvious than ever. They lived to ruin each other’s lives and they would die together. But then Emily didn’t die.
David stated that people aren’t born bad; it’s the choices they make that define who they are. That idea played out in the last episode of “Revenge” as each of the characters attempted to figure out who they were and what their morals were. “Confucius was right,” Emily said, acknowledging the quote from the pilot episode that stated revenge would end with two graves. “The second of the two graves was meant for me. I was saved by my father’s love. I know now revenge only brings darkness.” Although Emily was drifting out to sea with the man of her dreams, she acknowledged that Victoria would forever haunt her.
To also add something about Jack & Emily’s happy ending… Yes, they have a bond. They’ve always had that bond. But that’s not the sort of thing that makes a marriage, you know? Just before sleeping with him for the first time she even acknowledged the fact that Aiden and Ben got in their way and that whole “but I always felt safe with you…” line was sort of crap.
This is definitely a bitter-sweet way to end “Revenge” after four seasons, but having Emily saved by her father’s love was a great feel-good note to go out on.
P.S. If you’re wondering about Nolan, it looks like he’s going to live life helping others get revenge. Like a boss!
P.P.S. Hands up if you think Victoria’s heart is actually in Emily’s body?
Grey’s Anatomy – S11xEp23 – Time Stops
Another episode post-Derek’s death and Meredith is obviously still dealing with her loss, but she’s moving forward the only way she knows how.
Case of the week: A tunnel collapse traps a victim in his car and causes massive destruction
Amelia finally confronts Meredith, asking questions we as an audience have been pretty curious about ourselves. Why in the world did Meredith not call Derek’s sister? – Meredith should have called her. It doesn’t matter if there was nothing she could have done, she needed to see that for herself and there’s no rush to pull someone off of life support. People wait for family members to fly in and say their goodbyes. They left Mark on it for thirty days because that’s what he wanted. Meredith could have waited for Amelia.
“What if I could have helped him? What if I had a chance? I pull off miracles for a living! I have proven that I can reverse the impossible. I should have been there! – Amelia”
Since April returned from combat, April is not the woman Jackson married. Work seems to come between more than a couple of relationships. Richard, yet again, takes stock of his life and realizes the same pattern is happening with Catherine that happened with his other two marriages. Work wins over romance.
New fresh batch of baby chicks and ducks (surgical interns) enter the Hospital and begin their journeys behind their resident surgeons. Webber takes the baby-faced interns into the OR and gives them the speech that most Grey’s fans can recite from memory. “Today you are the doctors.”
We are also introduced to the hunky new surgeon in town, Dr. Andrew DeLuca, when he brings in a pregnant patient from the accident, the fiancée of the accident site victim. When the patient has a crisis because of some very dumb, over-eager interns, it is revealed that Dr. DeLuca is also in fact, an intern. The ignorant interns are asked to leave, and Edwards, Callie and Arizona have to deliver this woman’s baby while she has a fractured neck.
Owen is contemplating making a change after returning from combat as well. He no longer wants to be Chief of Surgery, preferring to let Webber or someone else hold the position indefinitely. Webber recommends his best man, Bailey; it’s about time !
Bates Motel S03xEp09 – CRAZY
This episode threw off some overload on sexual chemistry with the Dylan/Emma and Norma/Romero pairings, that in a way could be frustrating, but kind of works. However, I feel the success of the show’s romantic moments is mainly because there just isn’t that much else going on.
Dylan and Emma were cute, Norman imagined his mother telling him to do things and Norma and Romero argued over that damn flash drive while Bob Paris acted vaguely threatening. By the end of this episode, none of those various points really felt like they’re going anywhere.
There was also Norman facing his old flame, Bradley. “Bates Motel” fans last saw the troubled teen at the beginning of Season 2 when she killed her father’s old partner. Dylan and Norman helped Bradley fake her death and leave town – but she’s back. Norman found her in the middle of the road with a new look, dark hair. “My life has been a living hell since I last saw you,” It’s been difficult living without any money or parents and that she’s ready to come home.
Game of Thrones S05xEp04 “Sons Of The Harpy”
It kind of kills me to have to admit it, but I honestly think that this episode was the worst one in the show’s history. They killed off a major character for no clear reason. Daenerys doesn’t have a ton of advisors, for her to be well aware of what’s going on in Meereen. Now she’s on her own. Did it shock me? Yea, a little. But mostly it annoyed me.
Of course, this is “Game of Thrones,” and after all this is the show that brought fans with the death of Ned Stark in Season 1 and the Red Wedding in Season 3. As a wounded Grey Worm is surrounded by the Sons, there’s a glimmer of hope when Ser Barristan shows off his skills. Luckily, Grey Worm has enough energy to kill the last Son, but is it too late? The episode ends with the two men on the ground among the dead.
Speaking of Tommen, King’s Landing is spinning out of control now that Cersei sits on the Iron Throne. Oh sure, she isn’t actually ruling, but she rules in the king’s name. And without Tywin around to be smarter than her, Cersei is already making a mess of things even though she thinks she’s being rather clever. She’s armed the Faith Militant, placing enormous power in the hands of the High Sparrow. She’s done this out of petty vengeance in an attempt to weaken Margaery Tyrell, Tommen’s wife and queen.
Worse, Cersei has Margaery’s brother, Loras Tyrell, arrested by the Sparrows and locked up in the dungeons. For the crime of being gay, something we’ve seen plenty of tolerance to up to this point in Westeros. So Margaery persuades Tommen to rescue her brother—he is the king after all—but she hasn’t realized yet just how weak this kinder younger brother of Joffrey truly is.
Elsewhere, in Dorne, Ellaria Sand, Oberyn’s paramour, and his bastard daughters the Sand Snakes, plot their own revenge. They want a war with the weakened Lannisters, and they aim to use Tommen’s sister Myrcella, who Tyrion sent to Dorne a while back, to spark that war. Oberyn’s brother, prince Doran, wants neither war nor any harm to come to the girl. Or, at least, that’s what he’s told Ellaria. The Sand Snakes are also introduced, and while we get a good picture of just how ruthless and badass these ladies are, we don’t get much more than that…for now. I’m really curious to see how this new, altered version of Dorne and the events in Dorne play out.
The last mention goes to Melissandre who tried her womanly tricls on Jon Snow. Is actress Carice van Houten contractually obliged to disrobe at least once each season? It’s certainly starting to feel like the case. The Red Priestess uses her sexuality to get her way but Jon Snow was having none of it. He’s still in love with Ygritte
Revenge S04xEp22 “Plea”
The episode started with Amanda being in Jail, but gets out with a $2 million bail as long as she stayed on house arrest. But of course, Amanda’s not one to stay a good girl. Instead, Nolan created a duplicate ankle bracelet and somehow transferred the signal from the real one to the fake one. Amanda stuck the fake one (with the signal) on David’s arm and set out to find Mason Treadwell. Ben, who assigned himself to Amanda’s case, soon found out her tricks. Amanda was busy snooping around a trailer park that Mason seemed to be hiding in when cops showed up to arrest her again. This was after Amanda talked to some neighbors in the trailer park and found out that a man, who she assumed was Mason, left in a hurry with a “regal”-looking “lady friend.”
The best moment was where Amanda was joined by a very special cellmate: Miss Margaux LeMarchal! (Jack had her framed by an old friend from the police academy, or someone he connected with on LinkedIn. I forget.) We didn’t get to hear what Margaux told her, but it must have been friggin’ crazy, because Amanda’s confidence in Victoria’s alive-ness finally took shape. “She read up on how to fake one’s own death and get away,” she assured Ben, as if that’s something one just Googles and pulls off flawlessly.
In the end, Amanda’s “crazy” theory turned out to be completely true — which proved most unfortunate for Detective Ben, who was stabbed in the back of the neck (yay!!!) by none other than Courtney Love ( who resurfaced ), upon finding a very-much-aliveVictoria in New Jersey.
I loved that we got Emotional Amanda tonight in the scenes between Amanda and David. She does love her father and it finally seems like everything she did, she did for him and not for herself. She’s more emotional around him than she is around anyone else. More vulnerable. It’s such a break from her typical calm, cool, and collected exterior.
Bates Motel S03xEp08 : The Pit
On this episode we got some of the best performance from Freddie Highmore, who is becoming more exiting to watch and at the same time more terrifying with each episode, but we also had to deal with the still boring to my taste of Caleb and Dylan’s gun running adventures. Oh sure, they were fairly tense and I even wondered if Caleb would die now.
On another hand, the Arcanum Club plot seems like it’s going somewhere at this point, even if that destination hardly promises to be especially interesting.
In some ways the episode even set certain things back. The suggestion last week that Norman wanted to have sex with his mother for exemple… I don’t for a second think the show is going to drop it, but Norma’s words had enough impact on Norman to make it seem like he is at peace with those desires for now, or at least willing to pretend that they’re totally normal.
But also, tension is also built elsewhere in the show: After a near-romantic experience, Romero seems to have turned his back completely on Norma after catching her in a lie, while Bob Paris’ desperation has tortured James and bringing out one of the shows most explicitly violent scenes in quite some time.
Season of Bloom 