Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Bouncing Back' Review

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.


Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

Legends of Tomorrow 'Marooned' Review

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.

Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

The Matrix Filmmaker Lilly Wachowski Comes Out As Transgender

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.


Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

Arrow 'Taken' Review

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.

Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

The Walking Dead 'Not Tomorrow Yet' Review

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.

Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

The Walking Dead 'Knots Untie' Review

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.

Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

Star Wars Rebels 'Shroud of Darkness' Review

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 several weeks focusing on the individual members of the Ghost crew and exploring their pasts 'Shroud of Darkness' heads back into the main story of season two and the fight between the Jedi and the Sith in spectacular fashion.

The episode opens with Kanan and Ezra scouting out a planet to see if it can serve as a base, but instead of finding a new hiding place they find the Inquisitors.  Despite having improved in their combat skills and developing some cool dual fighting techniques the two of them are forced to flee.

Despite the viewers having not seen the Inquisitors for a while it would seem that they've been more active off screen as Kanan and Ezra say that they've been encountering the two of them regularly, and come to the conclusion that if the Inquisitors are tracking them their presence within the rebel fleet might be putting the whole rebellion in danger.

The two of them meet with Ahsoka to discuss the problem.  When Ezra arrives Ahsoka is using a Jedi holocron to watch some pre-recorded lessons from her former master, Anakin Skywalker.  This little inclusion of Anakin is great, as it not only gives us a look at the former Jedi in the Rebels art style, but it goes to show that even after leaving the Jedi order Ahsoka cared deeply for him and saw his teachings as being important.  With the show seeming to be building to a confrontation between Ahsoka and Vader this makes this scene especially poignant.

Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka discuss the problem with the Inquisitors and decide that the advice of a much older and wiser Jedi is needed, and as such set off to Lothal to try and make contact with Master Yoda in the Jedi temple there as Ezra did in the previous season.

Once the three of them reach the temple they begin to meditate together and each have a very different experience.

Kanan meets with a Temple Guard in a training room (that feels very similar to a Star Wars version of the Matrix construct training area where Neo and Morpheus fight) and receives a warning that Ezra is edging closer to the dark side, and will soon be tempted to turn against Jedi teachings.  Kanan refuses to accept this fate and enters into a fight with the Temple Guard.

Ezra manages to make contact with Yoda, this time being able to see the Jedi Master thanks to having increased his abilities.  Yoda laments at the fate of the Jedi, and their involvement in the Clone War, raising questions for Ezra as to whether fighting, even for the right thing, is the best thing that a Jedi can do.  Ezra passionately defends the idea of using his Jedi abilities to fight against the empire.  unable to reason with the young man Yoda simply tells him to seek Malachor for answers.

Ahsoka's vision is perhaps one of the most important and packs the biggest emotional punch.  Having come close to Vader in the season opener Ahsoka was left with the troubling suspicion that Vader was in some way connected to Anakin, this time the Force chose to reveal the truth of that connection.  The moment is well acted and choreographed, and the pain and guilt that Ahsoka feels is evident, giving the show one of it's most emotionally impactful moments since Ezra learnt of the death of his parents,

All three of them are broken out of their visions at the arrival of the Inquisitors, who are trying to break their way into the temple.  It is then that the Temple Guard Kanan is facing remove his mask and answers one of the mysteries the show has had since its very first episode.  The Temple Guard is the Grand Inquisitor, revealing that before the rise of the Empire he was a member of the Jedi order.  He knights Kanan, then tells him to flee, promising to buy him the time he needs to escape.

The Grand Inquisitor, and several other Temple Guard spirits confront the Inquisitors and distract them long enough for the three Jedi to escape.  The episode ends with Vader arriving at the temple, and states that the Jedi's growing power will be their downfall.

'Shroud of Darkness' is one best episodes of Star Wars Rebels to date and gives us a closer look at our Jedi heroes, as well as giving us hints of things to come.  The episode is all about the lure of the darkside, from the warning by Yoda and the Grand Inquisitor to Ahsoka learning the truth about Vader, it's everywhere in this episode.

At this point I wouldn't be surprised to see Ezra end up going to the dark side at some point, and I'm both excited and scared for the possibility of an Ahsoka Vader fight.  There have been fan theories that Ezra will be in Episode Eight as a member of the Knights of Ren (that's who a lot of people are suggesting who Benicio Del Toro will be playing) and this could very well be the groundwork for that.

Malachor has been mentioned in Star Wars lore in the past, mainly with connections to the dark side and the Sith.  Is this the place we've seen in the trailers that has the Sith temple?  Will this be where Ezra finds the cross-guard sabre?  Is this where we will see Darth Maul again?  I think there's a very strong chance that the answer to all of these questions will be a yes.


Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

Legends of Tomorrow 'Star City 2046' Review

This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be reviewed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.

After several episodes exploring the past of the TV DC Universe 'Star City 2046' (as the title may suggest) takes a lengthy look into a possible future for the franchise as the show jumps forward 30 years into the future.

With the Waverider damaged in an attack from Kronos (is that guy ever going to be used as more than a plot device?) the ship has to set down in Star City in the year 2046.  The team leaves the ship to have a look around to find a very different Star City to the one they left behind.  The city is in ruins and gangs of criminals rule the streets, with a new Green Arrow the only one left to stand against them.

Comic book fans were already excited to see this new version of Green Arrow, and based on his costume fans guessed correctly that he was Connor Hawke, though to change things up a little for the television universe the show had him be the son of John Diggle rather then Oliver Queen.  This change worked well in keeping a connection to one of the shows more popular original characters, but it also instantly told the audience why he was fighting for Star City without having to go into deep back story.  He's John's son, that's all we needed.

In this dark future we also get to meet an older Oliver Queen, sporting his much beloved pointy beard and moustache combo and, in a nod to The Dark Knight series, missing an arm.  In this version of the future Ollie lost his arm, and the city, to Deathstroke.  This future Deathstroke isn't Slade Wilson though, but his son Grant Wilson (the first Ravager in the DC Comics universe).

With the ship needing repairs and a piece that technology that Ray believes can be found in the old Palmer Tech building (now Smoak technologies) Rip, Sarah, Captain Cold and Heatwave set out into the city to find the parts they need.  Sarah and Rip end up running into the new Green Arrow and have to tag along with him when confronted by Deathstroke, whilst Cold and Heatwave end up taking over a gang of criminals.

Whilst at first the idea of Cold and Heatwave running off and doing their own thing might feel a little pointless and possibly even stupid, it's probably one of the best aspects of the episodes.  We've seen over the past few episodes how Captain Cold has been affected by his time with the team, and how the idea of being a hero appeals to him, and he doesn't want to give up on that chance, Heatwave on the other hand just doesn't care.  He doesn't want to be a hero, he doesn't care about stopping Vandal Savage and the idea of living in a world where criminals rule Star City is like Disney World to him.

This vast difference has been building for a while, bu this is the first episode where the wedge between them really falls, with violent results.  Cold and Heatwave have had some of the best moments of characterisation in the series so far, and this episode is taking that development to the next logical place.  Thankfully it would appear that whilst Cold won out this time it might not be the last we've seen of this particular disagreement.

Whilst Rip is initially reluctant to get involved in the events of the future Star City, even stating that it's only a possible future and may not even exist if they succeed in their mission, Sarah makes the argument that if the team really are going to go on to become 'legends' they have to be willing to stand up for what's right and fight evil wherever and whenever it is.

Sarah's argument wins out and the whole team turns up to help her, Connor and Ollie to take down Grant and his army.  The final action sequence isn't the best one the show has done (I still think that that title goes to the arms deal fight in the second episode) but it still delivers and looks very cool.

Some of that could come down to the visual design of the episode, where with the roving gangs, burning streets, boarded up buildings and piles of broken cars the whole episode has a very Escape From New York kind of feel to it.  Having watched that film only days before seeing this episode it was actually one of the first things to jump out at me.

The main two weaknesses that the episode has are that they didn't take enough time to show us more of this future world and the pasts of both Connor and Grant, along with a rather forced romantic triangle with Kendra, Ray and Jax.

With so many flashbacks in the main Arrow series it would not have felt out of place at all for the episode focusing on the Green Arrow part of the shared universe to feature flashbacks too.  Showing us the downfall of Star City, Ollie losing his arm, the deaths of the other main characters and the war between Connor and Grant would have all added to the story of this future world and given us a bigger sense of triumph when the good guys won.  It would have also let the show runners have a little bit of fun of killing off a lot of main characters without having to undo those deaths.

The biggest flaw had to be the romance plot that crashed into the episode out of nowhere.  With no previous set-up we suddenly find ourselves watching both Ray and Jax trying to flirt with Kendra in order to pursue a romantic relationship with Professor Stein stuck in the middle.

I might be alone in thinking this, but this was not needed at all.  It added nothing to the characters or the over all story, and if anything if felt very uncomfortable that two of the men on the ship would try to become romantically involved with a woman who has just lost the love of her life (and all her other lives over the last 4,000 years).  Neither character has had much screen time with Kendra in the previous episodes, and neither have shown any real romantic feelings towards her.  It feels like the show runners forced it into the plot because they feel all television needs romance, and it feels like the characters are only interested in Kendra because there's only two women on the ship and Sarah scares them more then Kendra does.

The unwelcomed romance story aside this is one of the more fun episodes of Legends of Tomorrow that we have had so far, and some of that must come down to the fact that we're getting to see a future setting for the first time and the Vandal Savage story gets put on the backburner for a while.  Whilst the show is telling some great stories centred around Vandal Savage I hope we get some more of these adventure of the week style stand alone episodes every now and then.


Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

Trans Woman Takes Her Own Life - More Media Misgendering

A young transgender woman named Lucia Anderson, 22 years old, died last month after taking her own life.  It is only now that the news of her death has hit the media, after her mother spoke out about the incident.

Lucia, who had only recently come out as transgender and expressed the wish to transition to female, was the victim of bullying and hate on line and at school, and took her own life with the use of a seed from a Pong Pong tree.

Lucia's mother found her daughter laying on the bathroom floor after being sick for hours.  Lucia was struggling for breath and told her mother that she couldn't feel her heart.  She eventually revealed to her mother that she had taken a Pong Pong seed.  She was rushed to hospital but later died.

The Pong Pong plant seeds, which can be purchased on line for less that $5 contains a powerful toxin that blocks the calcium ion channels in the heart muscles, causing disruptions in the heartbeat with fatal results.

Natosha Anderson, Lucia's mother, spoke about the incident (using male pronouns to describe her daughter) 'I'm pretty sure he thought it was going to be easy, but it wasn't.  He died in pain.  It was slow, and it was painful.'

The tragedy of Lucia's death has been added to as a large number of media outlets have reported on the incident referring to her as male and using her deadname.  Making this another in a long line of incidents where transgender people are disrespected and have their identities denied by the media.

It's very likely that Lucia took her own life because of bullying and harassment aimed at her because she was transgender, at the very least it cannot be completely ruled out.  When someone has suffered through bullying and harassment to the point that they take their own life to end it and the media continues the abuse after their death by disrespecting their gender and their identity it's heartbreaking.

Just some of the articles that have denied Lucia's identity include, ABC7 News, Q13Fox News, and Milwaukee Community Journal to name a few.

Yes, Lucia's mother referred to her daughter using male pronouns but that does not mean the media should not respect her identity.  My parents still sometimes accidentally use the wrong name or pronouns, this doesn't mean that they deny my identity or that I am trans, but comes from a place of being so used to saying something else.  If Natosha says her daughter was trans, but accidentally calls her 'he' it's not reason enough for the media to report on her death as a male.

Far too often the media misrepresents or falsely reports on trans people to the point where trans identities are forgotten or even disrespected.  Media influences the way people think, and news reports play a large part in that, as such they have the responsibility to report the truth rather than what they feel comfortable reporting.

The loss of Lucia Anderson is a tragedy, the media reporting her death as a male is a crime.

#HerNameWasLucia


Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook

Retro Review: Star Trek Deep Space 9 'The Siege of AR 558'

Plot Summary:  Captain Sisko takes a small team aboard the Defiant to bring supplies and medical aid to the planet of AR 558.  Sisko is accompanied by Worf, Dax, Bashir, Nog and Quark, who has been sent along by the Grand Nagus on a fact-finding mission on the war for the Ferengi government.  When the senior team (minus Worf) beam down onto the surface of AR 558 they find a group of starfleet officers who have been under siege from Jem'Hadar for five months as they try to maintain control of a potentially important Dominion communications array.

Bashir treats a number of the wounded and tells Sisko that both the physical and mental state of the soldiers is precarious.  The troops, first numbering 150 but now down to less than 50, have seen their captain and commander killed, were supposed to have been taken off the planet two months before and are under constant threat of attack from both enemy troops and subspace mines that can appear at any time.

When a Jem'Hadar ship attacks Sisko orders Worf to take the Defiant out of orbit to safety.  The Dominion lands ground troops, forcing Sisko to take command of the situation on the planet and engage with the Jem'Hadar troops.

Sisko sends Nog on a recon mission with two of the personnel stationed on AR 558, but when the group is attacked one of the team loses their life and Nog is injured, resulting in Bashir having to amputate his leg.  Meanwhile Dax is able to make the subspace mines visible and is able to reprogramme them to be used against the Jem'Hadar, who are approaching their position.

The mines manage to kill many of the Dominion troops, but dozens still make it through to the Starfleet camp, resulting in a bloody battle that costs many lives on the Starfleet side.  Sisko manages to lead his troops to victory and they hold out until reinforcements arrive, but it leaves Sisko, and several others, wondering if the victory was worth the price they payed.

Analysis:  'The Siege of AR 558' has been called one of the best episodes of Deep Space 9, and one of the best episodes of Star Trek ever, but it's divided many fans, as some feel that it's too dark in tone and shows the horrors of war in a way that is far removed from Gene Roddenberry's optimistic and peace loving vision of the future.

Deep Space 9 took a brave approach to the Star Trek franchise, it gave us a space station instead of a ship, meaning that events unfolded over the course of multiple episodes and seasons and decisions had lasting consequences, rather than the shows usual adventure of the week format.  They also took the incredibly risky step of showing a darker side of the Star Trek universe, one that dealt with oppression, terrorism and war.

The Dominion War was one of the most impactful story lines in the Star Trek universe, and no other episode in the whole Star Trek catalogue goes as far to show the horrors of war than 'The Siege of AR 558'.

In the episodes leading up to this point we'd seen huge space battles, secret missions behind enemy lines and even prisoner of war camps, but we hadn't seen the reality of the ground troops during the Dominion War.  For a television show of the time when DS9 was made to put their main cast in genuine risk and actually kill them off was virtually unheard of, so this kind of episode couldn't be done with just the main cast, which is one of the main reasons for the introduction of the troops on AR 558.  It gives the episode disposable characters to kill.

Despite being made purely for this episode, and made to be expendable, the four main characters found on the surface of AR 558 are all surprisingly well rounded and represent different effects of war on soldiers.  Larkin is the junior officer forced to step up to command responsibility when her commanding officers are all killed.  Reese is the hardened veteran who takes trophies from dead Jem'Hadar, yet turns out to have surprising depth and compassion.  Kellin is the quiet and almost peaceful engineer working in an impossible situation.  Vargas is the damages soldier who has seen too much war and is close to breaking point.

They're all stereotypes and tropes we've seen before, but the way they are used is fantastically effective.  From the first time we see him Vargas is made out to be an antagonist.  He's angry, he's quick to violence and he resents the crew of the Defiant because they get to leave.  When Doctor Bashir treats him though that we get to see why he's the way he is as he breaks down telling Bashir how a man he hated patched him up and saved his life moments before he was killed in front of him.  We see the conflicting emotions of that moment for Vargas, the relief that a guy who annoyed him by constantly talking finally shut up, the anger at himself for not feeling sorry for the loss of a fellow soldier, the pain of having someone save you but not being able to save them, but above all you see that this man is seeing horrors every single day and doesn't know when they will end.  It's a shocking moment, and has impact because you never expected something like that to come from the most closed off and aggressive person.

As much as you grow to like the four characters in a relatively short space of time they were created to be killed off, and three of them do die, with each death serving a purpose.  Larkin is killed in an ambush, the same one that costs Nog his leg, but because Reese is so busy trying to save himself and the injured Nog there's no time to make anything of it.  It happens and then it's moved on from before you can even register it.  It shows that in war death isn't always a big, dramatic or emotional scene, it just happens.  It comes out of nowhere and there's nothing others can do except pick themselves up and carry on the fight.

Vargas and Kellin both die during the final battle with the Jem'Hadar.  Kellin dies in a moment where he protects Dax's life, but it leaves him open to attack from behind and it costs him his own life.  Whilst his death was possibly the most predictable, the fact that the last time you see both him and Dax on screen in this episode is with her cradling his body leaves a lasting impression.  Vargas is killed in one of the bloodiest moments of the episode, being stabbed in the back by his enemy.  His body hits the ground with the blood covered blade still sticking out of his back.  It's one of the more openly violent and bloody moments in any Star Trek episode, and shows the level of bravery that this episode took in pushing the boundaries of what was normally acceptable for the franchise in order to tell a truer and impactful story.

Whilst the troops on AR 558 were the only ones to die, the DS9 crew didn't come out of the episode unscathed.  As stated before, Nog ends up losing his leg in this episode, and it's something that the show would go on to explore in subsequent episodes as we see the physical and psychological impact that the loss of a limb had on the young man.

What's not as obvious at first glance though is the mental effect that this episode, and the war in general, has on a number of our main characters.  During the course of the episode Bashir talks about how he joined Starfleet to save lives, whilst field stripping and readying his phaser rifle without having to even look at it.  Ezri Dax opens up about how she has the memories of battle from her previous lives, but hasn't any firsthand experience on the battlefield herself.  The episode shows her with a strange mix of confidence and level headedness that we've come to expect from the previous Dax, yet a timidness and fear of someone who is still fairly inexperienced.  Dax is definitely forced  to mature during the course of the episode, with the trauma of the battle clear on her face at the end.

Most surprisingly it's Quark who has the most to say about war during the episode, as he continually questions everything.  It's not unusual for Quark to be at odds with most of the other characters, and in most situations he's used as an opposing voice to just about anyone, even if it's right or wrong.  In this episode though all his views have weight to them and come from a very valid place, and not one of selfishness or a quest for wealth.

Quark raises criticism of the choices Sisko makes that he sees as putting Nog in more danger than some of the other soldiers, and he constantly questions Nogs unquestioned love of soldiering and the admiration he feels towards the veterans.

The questions Quark raises, about the sense of going to war over trying to negotiate, of people fighting without questioning the reasons why or the effect it could have, they're all valid points to raise, and none of them are completely right or completely wrong.  There's no one view in this episode that's right or wrong.  It's not a pro-war or anti-war, it raises arguments on both sides of the debate without saying whether they're right or wrong.  It leaves those decisions open.

Quark also raises a point about humanity in this episode that Star Trek rarely likes to highlight, that despite how civilised and progressive humanity is every single human has the capacity to perform terrible deeds.  This fact is highlighted in this episode when Sisko has the option to turn the subspace mines against the Jem'Hadar.  A weapon that up until that point they all said were horrible and evil to use suddenly becomes acceptable when it can be used to their benefit.

War forces people into positions where they have to make impossible choices, where people have to chose whether or not they will compromise their morals and their ethics in order to survive horrors.  Sisko has to make that very choice himself, and whilst he may dislike using the very same technology that killed so many Federation troops, he has to weigh that option against losing even more troops.

No one is immune to these tough choices and having to cross lines that they wouldn't normally, even Quark who is so against the war and against fighting is forced to draw his weapon and kill a Jem'Hadar soldier in order to protect his nephew.  It's the first, and only, time Quark kills during the entire seven season run.  He doesn't want to kill, he doesn't want to be a part of the war, but he crosses that line to save his family.

There's an air of sadness and strain hanging in the air throughout the episode, there's pain and anger and no time to process any of it.  There's no glory in any of the fighting, there's nothing in this episode to take away as being enjoyable.  It's just grim and dark in a way that Star Trek has been unable to capture in their other episodes.

Perhaps part of this is down to the director, the late Winrich Kolbe, who himself lived through the horrors of the Vietnam war.  Once you find out that the director lived through war himself suddenly the episode begins to make a lot more sense.  The ambiguity as to whether war is right or not, the different effects it has on soldiers, crossing lines you don't want to.  This might be fiction, but it's using sci-fi to tell a very real story.

I can see why some people will turn around and say that the episode goes against the vision of the future that Roddenberry created, and you can't argue with the fact that no other episode is so much a polar opposite to the original series than this one, but I believe that it tells a very important story for the Star Trek universe that makes a statement on real war.  No matter how enlightened a society we have, no matter how much we advocate peace and cooperation there is always a capacity for war amongst any civilisation.

'The Siege of AR 558' is not only a great episode of television, but an example of just how amazing Star Trek can be.

Amy.

xx

Go to Amy's Blog
Follow Amy on Twitter
Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Join Her Fans on Facebook