This year marked the 20th anniversary of the release of the original Pokemon games (Red and Green) in Japan, and to celebrate Nintendo re-released the Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow to download via the Nintendo eShop.
The beauty of Pokemon Red and Blue (slightly improved versions of the original Red and Green that were released outside of Japan) are that their sheer simplicity and streamlined version of the franchise that fans have become used to over the last twenty years is so well put together that it still hold up today as an engaging and entertaining gaming experience.
For those not in the know, Pokemon is a game that lets you take on the role of a young, first time Pokemon trainer. You are tasked with picking your first Pokemon, one of the original three starters, Squritle, Charmander and Bulbasaur, before setting out on a journey to collect every single Pokemon and become the greatest trainer in the land.
From here you're free to tackle the adventure in relative freedom. You can capture new Pokemon after battling them and add them to your team of six monsters. With 151 Pokemon available there are plenty of combinations you can build your team around, with each Pokemon having their own type, move set and statistics that give each Pokemon their own advantages and disadvantages.
Where future games in the series have altered the stats for the creatures, introduced new monsters, abilities, natures and special statistics called IV's and EV's, generation one keeps things simple, and you can see where the groundwork for many of these future innovations came from.
It's not just the gameplay that's a simplified version, but the graphics also. Being two decades old and made for the original Game Boy the graphics are basic at best, and a lot of the time many Pokemon struggle to look like the creatures we're used to, with a few brilliant exceptions.
The gameplay is simple, and in a few places buggy, and the graphics take a little suspension of disbelief that what you're seeing really is the Pokemon the text says it is, but the core gameplay that has created the second highest selling game series of all time (yes, it's a better selling series than Call of Duty or GTA) is still here and means that a game two decades old is still engaging enough to keep you playing for hours and hours.
The main criticisms would come more from a place of having played the newer games and missing some of the features introduced later in the series. Without the experience share it takes much longer to train up and evolve your Pokemon, having to do so one at a time. Certain moves aren't typed the way we're used to, such as Gust not being a flying move.
Whilst these might make parts of the game a little more frustrating, it's only because we've become used to the way the series has progressed. Taken on it's own Pokemon Red and Blue are still solid games, with strong gameplay and a fun open world adventure.
The transfer of the original titles to the download store means that many fans of the franchise who never had the opportunity to play the games when they were first released can experience the games that started it all for the first time, as well as giving those who remember the original the opportunity to go back and relive a massive part of their childhood.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After the intense and disturbing events of the last episode of The Walking Dead it would have been very easy for the show to let the pacing slow down for a moment and give audiences a break, instead 'The Same Boat' just kept on piling up the pressure and kept asking the question of is our heroes have gone too far in their actions.
After the focus on Carol last week I was genuinely worried for her chances of getting out of this episode alive. It's become a bit of a pattern on the show that when a character begins to develop or become a focus something really, really bad is going to happen to them and I thought that was going to happen here.
With Carol and Maggie taken prisoner by a group of Saviours it seemed highly unlikely that Maggie would be killed, the show has done some brave things over the years, but executing a pregnant woman might just be too far even for The Walking Dead, which left Carol up for most likely to die.
The fact that Carol seemed to be breaking down added to this. At first when Carol begin to hyperventilate and cry in front of the Saviours I thought that it was all an act, this is Carol after all, she's a killing machine, these can't be real tears. But over the course of the episode you begin to suspect that it might not all be an act, maybe things have just gotten too much for her.
The acting by Melissa McBride in this weeks' episode is fantastic, and she sells the idea of a woman who has seen and done too much and whose conscience is finally starting to break. The Carol from seasons one and two was beginning to show through again, the soft and caring woman afraid to take action.
Carol has had some of the best character development on the show, and having her now beginning to feel the weight of her actions, of not wanting to kill anymore is a great new direction to take her. She won't stop killing, as with the events of this episode, when push comes to shove and she has to protect her own she will take up arms and kill, but she doesn't enjoy it. Where in the past she's shrugged off a lot of the lives she's taken as being necessary, each and every one of them are going to haunt her now. In the scene where she tells Maggie that she has killed eighteen people, then corrects herself to twenty you can see the pain it is causing her.
Maggie has a few moments to shine in this week's' episode too, her kill crazy rampage shows a side to the character we rarely see as she sets up a walker to bite on of the Saviours before proceeding to beat the woman's skull in with her weapon. It might be the mother coming out in her, fighting desperately to protect her unborn child, or it could be a further sign of the ever loosening morals of the group and their further willingness to kill.
The shift in the group is brought to the forefront more than once by the Saviours, who very much treat Carol and Maggie the way out group has treated villains in the past. They see them as a group that has come out of nowhere to attack and kill them. And for the most part you can see why they'd think that way. One of the Saviours tells Maggie that our heroes weren't the good guys in this scenario, and they might be right.
The episode shows us that despite what we've seen and heard of the Saviours maybe not all of them are cold blooded killers. They do nothing to harm Carol and Maggie, they stop one of their own from attacking them, we even see that some of them have been through very similar journeys to our heroes. Negan might be a monster, he might be the horrible person we're told he is (as someone who knows him from the books he really is!), but maybe not everyone who is with him is as bad.
Could it be that the Saviours are more like the residents of Woodbury than those of Terminus? Could some of them be people like our heroes, trying to survive but not knowing how truly evil their leader is? If so, then how many 'good' people did our heroes kill in their sleep?
The lines between good and bad, hero and villain are becoming very blurred in this half of the season, and only some of our characters are recognising that. Maggie wants to fight to the death and kill everyone as Carol just wants to escape or give the Saviours the chance to run away and live. There are divisions forming between members of the group over what is and isn't the right thing to do.
'The Same Boat' is a great episode that keeps the tension turned up throughout, and on paper was the episode I expected Carol to die in. The constant fear that one of the best characters in the show was going to be killed created such an intense viewing experience that it made for a great hour of television.
Whilst a lot of this tension will be lost on a second viewing where you know the characters are going to make it out alive there's enough great character development and interesting dialogue to maintain it's place as a great episode of The Walking Dead.
'Can't even shout, can't even cry, the Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors, they need seven and they might take yours. Can't call to mom, can't say a word, you're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard.' Plot Summary: The episode begins with Buffy asleep in her college lecture. In her dream she and Riley kiss, before the two of them are interrupted by a young girl, holding a distinctive wooden box and singing a creepy nursery rhyme about 'The Gentlemen.' Buffy is broken from her dream by a frightening white faced man with an evil grin and metal teeth. After class Buffy and Riley speak and are close to kissing, but neither are able to stop their awkward talking.
Buffy calls Giles to tell him of her dream, worried that it might be one of her prophetic dreams. Xander and Anya argue about their relationship as Anya tries to get Xander to tell her what she means to him, with him unable to put his feelings into words. At college Willow attends a Wicca group, hoping to meet other witches, but is instead disappointed to find that she is the only witch, and gets chastised for the stereotype of witches performing magic. A shy woman in the group, Tara, begins to speak up for Willow, but falls silent when attention turns to her.
That night white wisps of smoke like substance leaves the mouths of every resident of Sunnydale as they sleep, making their way through the town to an old belfry where they are collected into the box seen in Buffy's dream by skeletal white men with grins and metal teeth, the Gentlemen.
The next day the residents of Sunnydale discover that none of them can speak, leading to large scale panic and depression. That night both Buffy and Riley are patrolling the streets, trying to keep residents calm. The two of them meet, not knowing that the other is doing the same, and share their first kiss.
Elsewhere in town the Gentlemen leave their belfry, accompanied by their Footmen, and float their way through the streets, searching. The gentlemen eventually find what they are looking for and knock on the door of one of the college students. When he opens the door he is grabbed by a pair of Footmen and held down, unable to scream as the Gentlemen cut out his heart with a scalpel.
The next morning, with the aid of the local newspaper reports and a drawing made by his girlfriend Olivia, who saw one of the Gentlemen, Giles is able to piece together the mystery and uncover the creatures identities. Using an overhead projector Giles is able to brief Buffy and the gang, telling them that the Gentlemen steal all the voices in a town so that no one can scream whilst they gather the seven hearts that they need, as only a real human scream can kill them.
That night, whilst at Giles' home Spike is drinking from a mug of blood whilst Anya is asleep on the sofa. When he bends down to pick up a dropped book Xander enters and thinks that Spike is drinking from Anya and attacks him. Anya stops him and the two kiss passionately, before Anya indicates that they should go home and have sex.
At the college Tara has found a spell to get the own their voices back and goes to show Willow. On the way to Willow's dorm she finds the Gentlemen, and they begin to chase after her. Tara manages to find Willow and the two of them flee from the Gentlemen, locking themselves in a laundry room. They try to barricade the door with a vending machine, but it is too heavy for them. Willow tries to use her magic to move the machine but it fails, having seen what Willow was trying, Tara clasps her hand, their eyes meet for a moment, then the two of them send the machine hurtling across the room to block the door.
On patrol, Riley sees something suspicious in the belfry and enters to investigate. Outside, Buffy finds two of the Footmen and fights them, she manages to kill one, but chases the other into the belfry. Inside the belfry Riley is fighting against the Footmen when Buffy crashes through the window. The two are shocked to find the other in the belfry, but fight side-by-side against the Gentlemen and the Footmen. Buffy sees the box from her dream and gets Riley to destroy it, returning her voice and allowing her to scream, blowing up the Gentlemen's heads.
The next day Tara tells Willow that she is special and has more power than she realises. Riley and Buffy meet to discuss the events of the previous night, but find themselves unable to say anything.
Analysis: 'Hush' is without a doubt the best stand alone monster of the week episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a simple story, frightening monster and amazingly executed gimmick that make it a truly stand out piece of television.
The central idea of this episode, of no one being able to speak, came from series creator Joss Whedon being told on multiple occasions that the primary reason for the show's success was due to the dialogue. Whilst most writers and directors would take that as a compliment, Whedon saw it as a bit of an insult. He stated in interviews that he felt he was becoming stagnant as a director and wanted to avoid falling into the trap of creating only formulaic episodes. Thus 'Hush' was born.
The episode stripped away all of the dialogue that the series was being praised for, and aimed to not only tell a compelling and well crafted episode well, but also drive the characters forward and allow them to develop.
Whilst most shows would have done a straightforward episode without dialogue where the heroes overcome the foe and that's it, Buffy allows its characters to grow without dialogue. Before the Gentlemen even arrive on screen there is conflict in this episode, a foe to beat, and it's language. It might sound crazy, but it's people using language that are causing so many of the characters problems at the start of the episode.
Buffy and Riley can't admit that to each other that they are attracted to each other because they can't stop talking long enough for something to happen. Xander and Anya are having problems in their relationship because Xander can't speak out his feelings and Anya, who is still getting used to human interaction, often says the wrong thing and comes across as blunt or rude.
Without language to get in their way Buffy and Riley are able to act on their feelings and kiss for the first time, Xander is able to show how he feels for Anya, confirming that despite her fears their relationship is clearly based on more than just sex. It even allows growth in the same episode that introduces Tara. Whilst she is incredibly shy and quiet when first introduced, being unable to speak allows her to find the courage to reach out and touch Willow, an act that not only gives them both the strength to survive, but goes on to be the start of the shows most important same sex relationship (sorry Kennedy, but the fans just don't love you as much as Tara).
It says a lot for a show that had thus far been praised so highly for its dialogue is able to deliver real character development and lasting changes that would carry on for seasons without relying on dialogue for 27 minutes of the episode.
It feels impossible to talk about 'Hush' without mentioning the Gentlemen, possibly the most frightening villain to ever feature on Buffy. Whedon references Pinhead, Nosferatu and even Mr Burns as the inspiration for the visual design, and it's clear to see where each other these played a part in the creation of the monsters.
Whilst many of the creatures in both Buffy and Angel are large, monstrous foes that have a real physical threat to them, the Gentlemen are one of the rare exceptions to this rule, skeletal and corpselike, with slow and elegant movement that takes away from physical intimidation, but adds so much to the fear factor.
Even after fifteen years the scene where Olivia is looking out of Giles' window and one of the Gentlemen suddenly comes floating past, smiling at her, gives me the creeps in a way that no other Buffy creature ever has. It's appropriate that Whedon received the inspiration for the creatures from a childhood nightmare, as many of the scenes with them feels like a nightmare scenario.
The scenes with the Gentlemen are beautifully added to by the direction and use of haunting musical score. The almost fairytale like music, mixed with haunting vocals makes every moment with them scarier and heightens the tension as they glide through Sunnydale, searching for their next victims.
The fact that the Gentlemen glide rather than walk is a great choice for them as characters, increasing the creep factor and the nightmare like feel, but also means that they have to be shot a certain way as to hide either the wires holding them up or the dollies that move them around. Certain angles and shots we're used to seeing are changed ever so slightly to hide these technical pieces, and makes things feel ever so slightly wrong and out of the norm.
Despite being one of the creepiest episodes in the history of Buffy 'Hush' is not without its light moments, providing some laugh out loud jokes, once again without the need for dialogue. The episode uses the lack of dialogue for some great visual gags, the way Xander and Buffy's faces simultaneously fall when they try to talk to each other on the phone, or the way Forrest waves a pad with 'come on come one' written on it as Riley tries to override The Initiative's voiceprint security (it's the second come on that really makes it funny).
The most brilliantly funny part of the episode has to go to the scene where Giles is using an overhead projector to brief the scooby gang. Yes, his childish (and at one point disturbing) drawings give the scene a visual comedy, but there's so much comedy in the scene that comes down to characterisation and misunderstanding. Anya's blatant indifference to the whole thing as she eats popcorn. Xander being stuck thinking about sex, thinking that the Gentlemen want 'boobies'. Everyone's reaction to Buffy making a staking gesture whilst sitting down that makes it looks like she's suggesting masturbation. Buffy's protest of Giles' drawing of her. It's all stuff that feels real to all of the characters and works to create one of the best laugh out loud scenes of the show.
With fantastic visual storytelling, great comedy, wonderful dialogue (for as little as the episode has it) and the creepiest Buffy villains that will stick in your nightmares, 'Hush' is a near perfect example of what makes Buffy The Vampire Slayer an enduring classic piece of television and a must watch.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After two weeks in the future Legends of Tomorrow heads back into the past with a trip to 1950's small town America in a slick and stylish episode that captures the feel of both Back to the Future and cheesy 50's monster movies.
With updated info on where they can find Vandal Savage the Legends head to Pleasant Falls in 1958, where they discover that not only are there a series of bizarre murders and disappearances, but Savage is living as a citizen of the community and working as a doctor at the local psychiatric institute.
The team split up to investigate the murders, with Jax trying to find out information from the local teens, Stein and Sarah getting jobs at the psychiatric institute as a doctor and nurse respectively, Ray and Kendra pose as a married couple moving into one of the murder victims homes and Rip and Snart pose as FBI agents.
These splits of the team are good for not only giving each of our characters the chance to do something that adds into the whole of the story, but lets us take a look at the culture of 1950's America from multiple sides.
There's a line that sums things up brilliantly, Stein is talking to Jax and Sarah about how wonderful the 1950's are 'Even someone as jaded as yourself can't deny how idyllic this time was', at which point Jax responds 'Yeah, if you're white', with Sarah adding 'And a man. And straight. And...'.
It's a point that a lot more people are beginning to talk about now that we can look back with a modern sensibility, and the characters in the show not only know this, but butt heads against these walls of racism, sexism and homophobia.
Jax is met with anger and open hostility by the local teens, who feel that a black man has no right to be openly talking with a young white woman. Kendra is met with the assumptions that she's Rays maid rather than his wife, and once corrected the two of them are encouraged to leave town because people in Pleasant Falls aren't accepting of interracial couples. Sarah comes up against both sexism, and homophobia as she finds friendship in a nurse who is fighting her own homosexual feelings.
The episode sets up the idea that beneath the white picket fences and friendly faces there are horrors hiding in the suburbs, both in the inequalities of the time period and in the literal sense as monsters stalk their victims.
Having found another Nth Metal meteorite in the outskirts of Pleasant Falls and using it to experiment on local teens. Rather then granting them with extended life like Savage it turns them into hawk monsters, creatures that take aspects from several creatures featured in the DC comics.
Savage captures Jax and experiments on him, turning him into one of his hawk creatures. It's not clear exactly why Savage is conducting these experiments, whether he's just looking into the nature of the substance that made him immortal, or if an army of hawk monsters is part of one of his plans for world conquest, but seeing him playing mad scientist is great. Casper Crump has been criticised for a lack of charisma in past episodes, and in some ways I have to agree, he doesn't come across as a huge tyrant or the lead figure in a cult, but he's very believable in the mad scientist role.
Luckily for Jax the team arrive at the institute in a dual rescue mission and an attempt to kill Savage. Kendra manages to get in close to Savage, playing on him thinking she doesn't know who Savage is, but Savage gets the upper hand and a fight breaks out between the two of them. Kendra manages to put up a good fight, but despite all of her training it's still very evident that she's not a match for Savage yet, and only avoids being killed by the timely intervention of Ray.
In the facilities basement Cold and Stein come across the hawk creatures and have to fight for their lives. However, when the monster Jax arrives Cold refuses to turn his gun on his teammate, even trying to appeal to his humanity instead of attacking. Cold manages to incapacitate Jax without hurting him, allowing Stein the opportunity to cure him of his mutation.
This is an important moment, as during the whole episode Jax had been openly critical of Colds actions in the previous episode, and for 'killing' Heatwave. He makes the point that none of them can trust Cold, but then Cold puts his life on the line to save him. Not only does Jax end up reversing his thoughts on him, saying that he understands that Cold turned on Heatwave because he was a threat to the safety of the team, but Stein also calls Colds actions heroic.
Captain Cold has always been one of the most interesting characters in the show, and his transformation from villian to hero one of the most compelling arcs, and this week's episode goes a long way towards having the other characters acknowledge that. It'll be fun to see just what kind of person will be returning to Central City after the series has ended, Captain Cold the criminal, or Captain Cold the superhero?
The episode ends on a cliffhanger scene as Kronos once again arrives out of the blue in order to move the plot forward (please go use him as something else than a plot device for once!) and attacks the Waverider, forcing Rip, Jax, Stein and Cold to escape on the shuttle, just as the rest of the team arrives in time to watch the Waverider enter the timestream, leaving Kendra, Ray and Sarah stranded in 1958.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After more than two months off our screens Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns in an episode that might not be the most action packed, but is definitely one of their most well rounded and strongest episodes in a long while.
The main focus of the episode follows Daisy, Mack, Hunter, Bobbi and Joey in South America, on the trail of an Inhuman who stole a shipment of weapons from local police. Mack quickly stumbles across Elena Rodriguez, the Inhuman in question, who has the power to move at super speed for the length of one heartbeat before snapping back to where she was. Elena uses her powers to quickly overpower Mack, showing that she could end up as either a powerful foe, or a valuable ally.
Whilst being held captive by Elena Mack manages to make a strong connection with her, and we start to see the beginnings of what could be a strong friendship in the future. When Daisy and the team track them down and capture Elena they come to realise that she might not be the villain they first thought, as they discover that Elena stole the weapons in order to destroy they, rather than use them.
The team discover that not only are the local police corrupt and acting outside of the law, but also have an Inhuman of their own, one that can paralyse people just by looking them in the eye.
With the weapons back in the hands of the local police, and Elena's cousin murdered, the team decide to launch an assault on the police. Whilst the action is up to the usual S.H.I.E.L.D. standards, the real treat was watching Daisy, Joey and Elena working together to take down the enemy in the first real display of what the Secret Warriors could actually be. Yes, we've seen Daisy and Lincoln do stuff on screen before, but this is the first real time that we've seen multiple Inhumans working together like this and it was great.
Whilst fans of the comics will have known who Elena is from the beginning, and knew that she was destined to join up with the good guys, it was still enjoyable to watch that story play out and see the journey the characters went on.
The episode also gave some time over to everyone's favourite S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Agent Coulson as he meets with the President of the US, played once again by Iron Man 3's William Sadler, who helps to clear up just what kind of organisation S.H.I.E.L.D. is now. We at least now know that they're a secret but official organisation, and the ATCU will be acting as their public front.
It might not be to everyone's liking, but personally I'm glad to see that our heroes are part of the government again, even if they're not officially recognised. It means that they don't have to be secret agents on the run anymore, and it means that there's hope somewhere down the line for S.H.I.E.L.D. to come back properly, or at least be the beginnings of a new organisation.
Elsewhere in the episode we also catch up with Grant Ward, or at least the body of Grant Ward. As we saw in the mid-season finale, and had confirmed by producers, Ward's body was taken over by the Inhuman, Hive, and is currently in the care of Gideon Malick, the last leader of Hydra.
Hive is a creepy guy, not just because he looks like a walking corpse, but the way he moves and the way he talks exudes discomfort. For those questioning if Hive was still going to be Ward in some way it's safe to say that he's not. I saw nothing of the passionate, reckless man we'd seen for two and a half seasons in the scenes we had with Hive. He might be wearing Wards face, but this is a very different character.
It might not have been the flashiest or most shocking episode in the shows history, but 'Bouncing Back' gives us a well rounded and solid episode that manages to introduce some new characters as well as carrying on some long established plot lines.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
Considering the short length of the first season of Legends of Tomorrow I was surprised that the show would do another stand alone episode after last week's one off trip to the future Star City, but taking the time to stay away from the main Vandal Savage story to focus on our core characters proves to be a wise move as we're given some of the best character moments in the series yet.
When the Waverider receives a distress call from another time ship Rip suggests answering the call so that they can get access to updated information on the time line in order to help track down Vandal Savage.
Despite expecting a trap Rip takes a team consisting of Mick, Jax and Professor Stein over to the other ship, leaving Ray in command of the Waverider. Once aboard the other ship the team, minus Stein, are beset by time pirates and taken captive.
Sadly this is another example of how questionable Rip Hunter appears to be as a leader, as yet again he leads his team into an obviously bad situation, leaves some of his biggest guns behind on the Waverider, and even separates Jax and Stein so he doesn't even have Firestorm with him. I know that it must be hard to manage such a varied and clashing team such as the Legends, but so far Rip has displayed very poor judgement as a leader.
He manages to redeem himself a little over the course of the episode, using voice commands over an open channel to get the Waverider to take action against the pirates, but it still doesn't do enough to make him seem like the leader the team deserves as much of the events of the episode could have easily have been avoided with better decisions on his part.
With the Waverider damaged in the attack by the pirates Cold and Sarah become trapped in a compartment on the ship that was damaged and are slowly freezing to death, leaving Ray to modify the Atom suit for space flight in order to repair the damage to the ship.
The scenes with Ray in space are interesting, and show the versatility of the Atom suit, but also manage to walk a fine line of not making the suit too powerful enough to be an answer to every problem the team has by having Ray almost die in the process.
Aboard the other time ship Mick makes the decision to join up with the pirates, having lost all faith in the team and their mission since the events of last week's episode. With the fight that Mick and Cold had in the last episode, and his distance from his friend at the beginning of this episode, it's not a surprise that Mick finally decides that he's had enough and wants to go home.
Heatwave has been one of the more complex characters in the whole show and his presence has been questionable at best. Whilst Captain Cold has been gradually turning towards the path of a hero, and clearly wants to be a better man, Heatwave has never changed from his original outset of wanting to steal things and watch the world burn. This week we find out exactly why Rip brought him along, because his inclusion was the only way to get Captain Cold.
It's the final straw that breaks the camel's back and drives him to turn on his friends. It's a ad moment, especially considering how much growth he displayed in the episodes set in 80's Russia, but his true nature just can't seem to be changed and he's no hero.
The confrontation with Mick leads to the rest of the team having to decide what they can do with him, considering that the Waverider has no long term holding facilities aboard. Some members of the group initially suggest just sending him home, but Cold warns them that Mick has gotten to know the team over the last few weeks, and will use that knowledge to go after their families. Cold tells them that there is only one way for them to deal with Mick that keeps them and their families safe, and volunteers to kill his best friend.
The final scene is one of the best of the series to date, as Cold wakes up Mick in the middle of some woods, somewhere in time and space, and appears to kill his oldest friend. It's a hard scene to watch, even if like myself you don't believe that Cold actually kills him, as their friendship finally falls apart to the point where there is no way of putting it back together.
Whilst most of the episode is fairly throw away the breakdown of the relationship between Cold and Heatwave is the heart of the story, and the culmination of seeds that were planted way back in the first episode.
Other than Cold and Heatwave we also see much more of Rips past then we have to date, with extensive flashbacks to his time training to be a Time Master, These flashbacks are good for not only showing us the internal politics of the Time Masters rather then just telling us, plus we get to find out that Rips wife was, in fact, a Time Master in training herself.
It might not seem like a big thing, but these flashbacks don't just set up the story of how Rip comes up with the idea of how to beat the pirates, but avoids some clunky conversations where Rip has to go into the history of him and his wife by just showing us the audience instead.
'Marooned' is a fairly formulaic space adventure episode, but thankfully gets around being dull by having the characters point out a lot of space tropes with pop culture references that most of us would make in the same situation, and by giving us a fantastic conclusion to the Captain Cold/Heatwave story.
News has been breaking this morning that acclaimed filmmaker Lilly Wachowski has come out as transgender, joining her sister Lana, who came out in 2012. The two directors are perhaps best known for The Matrix trilogy, as well as having worked on films such as V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas, Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending, as well as the hit Netflix series Sense8.
Lilly released a statement through her local Chicago newspaper, Windy City Times, addressing her transition following threats from several news outlets, particularly the British Daily Mail, to publicly out her against her will.
Her statement reads as follows;
'SEX CHANGE SHOCKER - WACHOWSKI BROTHERS NOW SISTERS!!! 'That's the headline I've been waiting for this past year. Up until now with dread and/or eye rolling exasperation. The 'news' has almost come out a couple of times. Each was preceded with an ominous email from my agent - reporters have been asking for statements regarding the 'Andy Wachowski gender transition' story they were about to publish. In response to this public outing against my will, I had prepared a statement that was one part piss, one part vinegar and 12 parts gasoline. 'I had a lot of politically relevant insights regarding the dangers of outing trans people, and the statistical horrors of transgender suicide and murder rates. Not to mention a slightly sarcastic wrap-up that 'revealed' my father had injected praying mantis blood into his paternal ball-sac before conceiving each of his children to produce a brood of super women, hellbent on female domination. Okay, mega sarcastic. 'But it didn't happen. The editors of these publications didn't print a story that was only salacious in substance and could possibly have a potential fatal effect. And being the optimist that I am, I was happy to chalk it up to progress. 'Then last night while getting ready to go out for dinner my doorbell rang. Standing on my front porch was a man I did not recognise. ''This might be a little awkward', he said in an English accent. 'I remember sighing. 'Sometimes it's really tough work to be an optimist. He proceeded to explain he was a journalist from the Daily Mail, which was the largest news service in the UK and was most definitely not a tabloid. And that I really had to sit down with him tomorrow or the next day or the next week so that I could have my picture taken and tell my story which was so inspirational! And that I really didn't want to have someone from the National Enquirer following me around did I? BTW - The Daily Mail is so definitely not a tabloid. 'My sister Lana and I have largely avoided the press. I find talking about my art frustratingly tedious and talking about myself a wholly mortifying experience. I knew at some point I would have to come out publicly. You know, when you're living as an out transgender person it's...kind of difficult to hide. I just wanted - needed some time to get my head right, to feel comfortable. 'But apparently I don't get to decide this. 'After he had given me his card, and I closed my door it began to dawn on me where I had heard of the Daily Mail. It was the 'news' organisation that had played a huge part in the national public outing of Lucy Meadows, an elementary school teacher and trans woman in the UK. An editorial in the 'not-a-tabloid' demonised her as a damaging influence on the children's delicate innocence and summarised 'he's not only trapped in the wrong body, he's in the wrong job'. The reason I knew about her wasn't because she was transgender it was because three months after the Daily Mail article came out, Lucy committed suicide. 'And now here they were, at my front door, almost as if to say - ''There's another one! Let's drag 'em out in the open so we can have a look!' 'Being transgender is not easy. We live in a majority-enforced gender binary world. This means when you're transgender you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you. 'I am one of the lucky ones. Having the support of my family and the means to afford doctors and therapists have given me the chance to actually survive this process. Transgender people without support, means and privilege do not have this luxury. And many do not survive. In 2015, the transgender murder rate hit an all time high in this country. A horrifying disproportionate number of victims were transgender women of colour. These are only the recorded homicides so, since trans people do not fit in the tidy gender binary statistics of murder rates, it means the actual number is higher. 'And though we have come a long way since Silence of the Lambs, we continue to be demonised and vilified in the media where attack ads portray us as potential predators to keep us from even using the goddamn bathroom. The so-called bathroom bills that are popping up all over this country do not keep children safe, they force trans people into using bathrooms where they can be beaten or murdered. We are not predators, we are prey. 'So yeah, I'm transgender. 'And yeah, I've transitioned. 'I'm out to my friends and family. Most people at work know too. Everyone is cool with it. Yes, thanks to my fabulous sister they've done it before, but also because they're fantastic people. Without the love and support of my wife and friends and family I would not be where I am today. 'But these words, 'transgender' and 'transitioned' are hard for me because they both have lost their complexity in their assimilation into the mainstream. There is a lack of nuance of time and space. To be transgender is something largely understood as existing within the dogmatic terminus of male or female. And to 'transition' imparts a sense of immediacy, a before and after from one terminus to another. But the reality, my reality is that I've been transitioning and will continue to transition all of my life, through the infinite that exists between male and female as it does between the binary of zero and one. We need to elevate the dialogue beyond the simplicity of binary. Binary is a false idol. 'Now, gender theory and queer theory hurt my tiny brain. The combination of words, like freeform jazz, clang disjointed and discordant in my ears. I long for understanding of queer and gender theory but it's a struggle as is the struggle for understanding of my own identity. I have a quote in my office though by Josa Munoz given to me by a good friend. I stare at it in contemplation sometimes trying to decipher it's meaning but the last sentence resonates: ''Queerness is essentially about the rejection of here and now and an insistence on potentiality of another world. 'So I will continue to be an optimist adding my shoulder to the Sisyphean struggle of progress and in my very being, be an example of the potentiality of another world. Lilly Wachowski.'
As Lilly has stated, this is not the first time that the media outlet The Daily Mail has attempted to publicly out a transgender person, and in the past it has lead to people's deaths. Luckily for Lilly she had the strength and courage to break the news herself before the media took that right away from her.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
The stakes are raised in 'Taken' as Damian Darhk reveals the kidnapping of William to Oliver and Felicity in an attempt to derail his mayoral campaign, and the team turn to a friend for help.
One of the best things, or problems depending on your point of view, with Arrow is that a lot of bad stuff happens to Oliver, but the majority of the time it's stuff that he's brought on himself. Ever since discovering he has a son in the Flash/Arrow crossover episodes we've known that this particular storyline is going to blow up in his face, and it was time for that to finally happen.
With William in the possession of Darhk Oliver is given an ultimatum, give up his bid to be mayor of Star City and endorse Ruve Adams or lose his son forever.
As to be expected the revelation that Oliver has a son and has been keeping that information from Felicity does not go down well, but she at least puts most of that aside to help find William and stop Damian Darhk. Having been unable to stop Darhk in the past Ollie decides to call in another hero to help them take down the magician, the magic totem wielding Vixen.
For those unaware Vixen is actually the star of her own Arrow spin-off show (yep, there are four shows as part of the Arrowverse, not just three), with an animated series having begun last year. In a neat twist Megalyn Echikunwoke, who voiced the character in the animated series, reprises the role for the live action counterpart.
With the help of Vixen the team realise that Darhk must be drawing his magical powers from a totem in a similar way that she does, and using intel provided by Captain Lance are able to identify the object.
The team launch an assault on Darhks home and Vixen is able to steal the totem and destroys it, robbing Darhk of his powers. Oliver is able to defeat the villain and save his son, though loses the relationship with his fiance in the process.
For the most part 'Taken' feels like the culmination of a lot of stories we knew were coming, Felicity finding out about William, the breaking up of Felicity and Oliver, the downfall of Damian Dark. The only thing that really made the episode stand out and become something a little more interesting was the inclusion of Vixen in the episode.
With Flash and Legends of Tomorrow getting the live action treatment Vixen could have been one of those shows that could have very easily been forgotten and relegated to a one off, and most fans of the Arrow/Flash franchise probably weren't even aware of the Vixen spin-off, let alone having seen it. By bringing her into the live action universe we not only get reminded that her character exists, but it also gives us another potential addition to Legends of Tomorrow at some point (I'm hoping season two will include Connor Hawke, Constantine and Vixen).
Echikunwoke continues to play the character well, and is given plenty of opportunity to portray the character as a bad arse hero, delivering one liners as well as getting to show off the diversity of her powers. It's also nice to see someone who had provided the voice of an animated hero bringing them to life in live action (why hasn't Clancy Brown or CCH Pounder played Lex Luthor or Amanda Waller in real life yet?).
As good as Vixen is in the episode the rest of Team Arrow are fairly weak, leaving Vixen to not only carry a lot of the plot forward for them, but to do the heavy lifting (literally) and take out Darhks power source so that they can beat him. I can't help but feel that without Vixens help in this episode the team would have struggled to get William back at all.
The ending of Ollie's mayoral campaign is a bit of a shame, as like in the comics as Green Arrow mayor could have been entertaining to watch, but they we'd have to watch Ollie trying to juggle his job as mayor around being a super hero, and that would have gotten boring pretty quickly.
What does this episode mean for Darhk and the rest of the season though? Has Darhk been permanently depowered or does he have another totem as a backup? Or is Darhk going to be sidelined for the rest of HIVE to step in and prove to be a bigger threat for Star City?
The producer of the show have said that they were planning to do something new and unexpected with their villain this year, so maybe the foe who has plagued them for the whole season won't end up as their ultimate villain, the man who we see Felicity urging Oliver to kill in the flash forwards to the funeral scenes. Personally I think Merlyn is going to step in and take over HIVE and be the final villain for the season, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After the setup of last week's episode it's time for Rick and the gang to launch a preemptive assault on Negan and the Saviours in one of the most intense and violent episodes of The Walking Dead to date.
The first half of the episode dealt with the build up to the assault, with the residents of Alexandria discussing the proposed action, the planning of the assault and some character building moments. In previous seasons the whole episode would have been given over to this, but it would seem that despite taking some time to prepare for the climax the show runners are staying true to their word about wanting the second half of this season to move at a faster pace.
The pre attack scenes play out as to be expected, Morgan is still preaching a message of peace and nonviolence even after making some incredibly stupid mistakes with the Wolf leader earlier in the season, but this time he's the only one who's thinking like this. It's amazing how when Morgan was first brought back a lot of fans thought that he might start a power struggle with Rick, with people siding with him for a less violent way of life, yet here we are with him being the lone voice of peace and once non-violent people such as Aaron advocating killing.
I don't know about anyone else, but Morgans attitude is really starting to bore me now. I think it's about time that he either ends up having to kill someone himself and changing his view, or gets killed because of his pacifist views. I know it sounds mean, but I just can't see his attitude being successful in the long run. Plus he's just generally annoying me now.
Elsewhere in Alexandria the Abraham story finally reached a boil as he decides to leave Rosita. It's very close to the comic counterpart, though in the book it's Rosita leaving him after discovering he's been having an affair, but the general feel of the scene is very much the same. They even use some of the same dialogue where Abraham tells Rosita he was only in a relationship with her because he thought she was the last woman on earth and that now that she's not he's leaving. It's hard and it's a horrible thing to say to her, but it shows a side to the post-apocalypse relationships we've not seen yet.
It's a very believable situation, and one that you can feel for both characters in. I'm not condoning the way Abraham ends their relationship, he was incredibly heartless in his approach, but you can understand his original motivations for dating Rosita when he thought she might be the last woman he'd ever see, and why carrying on a loveless relationship with her when he actually has feelings for another woman is tearing him up inside. Considering most relationships in the show end because someone dies it's a nice change of pace to see a relationship end for other, emotional reasons.
The majority of the first half of the episode's air time seems to have been given over to one of my all time favourite characters in the show, Carol, and this has me very worried about her chances of surviving the next few episodes.
The episode begins with Carol as she's gathering supplies to bake cookies for the residents of Alexandria, taking the time to visit everyone and making sure that everyone gets something. She even leaves a single cookie on the grave of Sam, which is the least she can do considering it was her scary monologue to him that helped push him over the edge and got him eaten.
You can see that the death of Sam has affected her, despite sending a season and a half pretending she didn't care about the kid at all. Tobin (who she gets to share a kiss with!) even points out to her how she is still a mother despite the loss of Sophia, a mother to the whole community, one who will bake them cookies and make sure everyone is okay, and murder anyone who threatens them.
Carol is definitely the 'mother bear' of the show, and has repeatedly put her life on the line for the people she cares about, and crossed a line many wouldn't in order to keep them safe. But this is the first time we've begun to really see the emotional toll that it has taken on her.
She complies a list of people that she has killed over the course of the show, and it's fairly accurate (as long as you only count direct kills, she may have only killed a handful of people at Terminus herself, but her actions led to walkers killing many more). She puts her human kills at 18. Now, in the context of the show most of these were understandable, most of them were killing people who were going to kill her or her friends, but that's still a hell of a big total, one that would make her a mass murderer in regular society.
With so much time given over to Carol, with her budding romance with Tobin and taking the time to explore the effect killing has had on her I'm starting to worry that it might be Carol becoming acquainted with Lucile later this season. Losing moma bear would be a massive blow to the community. I hope I'm wrong, Carol has some of the best character development in almost any show I've seen and I don't want her to die, but the way the episode ends doesn't make it look good for her.
With the first portion of the episode given over to character development the second half was devoted to the assault on the Saviours. Using a walker head made up to look like Gregory they plan to infiltrate the outpost at night and kill everyone before they even know that they're there. It's a ballsy plan, and as soon as it starts it's incredibly tense. Whether you know how things play out in the comics or not you know something bad is going to happen, you know Negan is bad news, and you can feel that dread of impending doom hanging over the whole scene.
The attack is brutal, and really starts to blur the lines of right and wrong for our heroes. They say that they need to attack the Saviours before they get attacked themselves, which is just a vague possibility because they don't even know about Alexandria. They choose to sneak in when people are sleeping and literally kill them in their beds. These are not the actions of people who are the heroes of a show, this is the kind of thing villains do.
We do root for Rick and his group during all of this though because we know Negan and his men are all sorts of evil (hell, one of them sleeps with Polaroids of people with smashed in faces above his bed) but we shouldn't feel good about it.
One of the parts that showed just how far over the line the group have gone this time was the moment when Glenn had to stab a man in the head whilst he slept. Glenn, the man who tries to save people even if they've tried to kill him, the man who has never taken a human life is forced to murder a man in his sleep. It isn't self defence, it's just plain murder. You can see that realisation on his face, you can see the pain the action causes him and it breaks your heart a little.
It wouldn't be television if a plan went off without a hitch, and as to be expected one of the Saviours hits an alarm and the sneak killing turns into all out gun warfare as our heroes make their way through the compound amidst a hail of gunfire. This feels a little better, with an enemy actually trying to kill our heroes it feels a little better to root for them, but it doesn't take the bad taste of what they've already done out of your mouth.
With the compound captured and everyone dead the group are preparing to leave when they capture an escaping Saviour. About to execute the man a woman starts talking to Rick over his walkie-talkie, telling them all to lower their weapons. Rick asks them why exactly he'd do that, and the woman tells him that they have Maggie and Carol prisoner.
It looks like Rick and the group may be facing a very, very high price in the coming episode for their evil deeds. Will the show have the nerve to kill a pregnant woman? Probably not, but they won't hesitate to kill off someone like Carol, or possibly another member of the group who tries to save them.
Our heroes crossed a line this episode, they started to turn into the very same kind of people they've seen as evil in seasons past. This won't go unpunished, the show won't let the heroes murder sleeping men without some kind of retribution, and whatever form that retribution takes it's going to hurt everyone, even the viewers.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After a somewhat light episode that introduced Jesus to the show 'Knots Untie' goes into the business of world building and raising the stakes as Rick and the other residents of Alexandria learn that their world is much bigger than they thought.
The episode picks up where we ended last week, with Jesus (having easily freed himself from Alexandria jail and found Rick's house) wakes up a post sex Rick and Michonne in what has to be one of the ballsiest moves possible. Of all the people's bedrooms to sneak into Rick and Michonne's is probably not the smartest choice.
Rick gathers the core cast as they group talk with Jesus, who tells them that when he stumbled across Rick and Daryl he was out on a scouting trip to find other communities to trade with. Jesus comes from a settlement called Hilltop, and the community has been actively trading with other settlements around the area.
Since the show began it's been very isolated, it's followed this one group of survivors as they travel from place to place trying to find shelter (Atlanta, the CDC, Hershel's farm, the prison) and the only settlement's they've found have all been bad news (Woodberry and Terminus), so this is really one of the first times the show is changing the way it's done things and expanded their world. In seasons past the group would have abandoned Alexandria after the horse broke in, instead they've taken it back, and now it looks like they're introducing other 'good' communities too.
Despite some reservations it's a prospect that the Alexandrians can't afford to pass up. They have weapons and ammo, but their food supplies are running low, so when Jesus tells them that trade can be possible Rick decides to take a small group to Hilltop and see if they can work out a deal. Rick and Jesus are joined by Glenn, Maggie, Michonne, Daryl and Abraham and set out on the days journey to Hilltop.
Along the way the group come across a crashed car that Jesus recognises and manage to save several members of the Hilltop community from walkers and take them home. Once they arrive at Hilltop the group are stopped by a pair of guards armed only with spears, at which point Jesus reveals that Hilltop has no weapons other than the ones that they can make themselves and that most of the community can't fight.
Hilltop itself is an old colonial building that was converted into a museum, and comes complete with working sawmill, blacksmith and some small farmland where they grow crops and raise animals. Hilltop is run by a man named Gregory (played by Xander Berkeley so you know he's a dick) who seems more concerned with keeping his house clean then meeting with any of the Alexandirans.
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to spend more then a few minutes in the mans company before hitting him Rick sends Maggie in to be their representative and discuss trade terms with Gregory. Gregory immediately tries to use leverage to try and get a better deal for Hilltop then they deserve, and generally acts like a dick to Maggie, to the point that it looks like negotiations are going to break down.
Before Jesus can attempt to talk some sense into Gregory though a small group returns to Hilltop after going on a supply run to a man named Negan, a name that instantly catches the attention of Rick and co. Nathan tells Gregory that their supply drop was too low, so Negan killed two of the group and is keeping another hostage. Nathan is forced into doing something drastic to get his brother back, and pulls out a knife and stabs Gregory.
On any other day his assassination attempt would probably have worked fine, but he picked the day that Rick was visiting and sadly ends up with a knife in his neck for his trouble, courtesy of Rick Grimes. The moment when Rick turns to the stunned Hilltop residents, covered in Nathan's blood and asks 'What?' genuinely puzzled is darkly comedic and shows just how commonplace killing has become to him.
Maggie tries to talk to Gregory a second time, this time using her own leverage on him, making him see that even if they keep giving supplies to the Saviours there will come a point where Negan will want more then they can give and will kill everyone at Hilltop. Reeling from the attack Gregory agrees to let the Alexandrians kill Negan and his Saviours in exchange for half of their supplies.
Taking one of the people who has been to the Saviour compound in the past, and Jesus with them Rick and the team head back to Alexandria with their payment to plan their assault on Negan and his men.
Whilst not a great deal happened during 'Knots Untie' the episode began to lay the groundwork for the coming conflict between Rick's group and Negan's, and with readers of the comic knowing how that conflict will end it certainly starts to build the tension for next week's violent encounter.
During the episode we also get to see just how much Maggie is growing as a leader too, with her expertly dealing with Gregory in a way that Rick could never have done. Is the show setting Maggie up to become the new leader of Alexandria, or at least one of the important voices in the community? Probably. She's pregnant now and will soon be at the point where going out on missions or fighting walkers will be beyond her, so setting her up in this kind of leadership role not only makes sense from a character development standpoint, but also keeps her involved in the over all story.
The only other development of note this week is the fact that Abraham is still struggling with his feelings for Sasha, despite Sasha appearing to have given him the hard shoulder. He has a relationship with Rosita, who does genuinely appear to care for him, but now that she's not the only woman in his life maybe he's looking at their relationship very differently.
Despite taking the time to build up the world and raise the stakes 'Knots Untie' proved to be a fairly enjoyable and engaging episode of The Walking Dead.
