#(he proceeds to poison an entire country's water supply)

[seepingfrommyskin]

i really like how looking at kefkas design (in both the game and in the concept art) at first glance it's like oh! what a cool fun guy! and then you play the game and you're like oh okay so he's genuinely the worst

[esonetwork]

Timestamp #TW34: Dead of Night

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Timestamp #TW34: Dead of Night

Torchwood: Dead of Night (1 episode, s04e03, 2011)

The people of Earth have nothing and everything to lose.

Late at night, Brian Friedkin finds that his television is not only turned on, but that it’s also tuned to an Oswald Danes interview. When he switches it off, he is confronted at gunpoint by Rex. The agent is angry that the CIA is poisoned against him. Friedkin explains that his mysterious bosses have been around for decades and communicate on a single phone.

Rex secures the phone and rushes out to a car where Jack is waiting. Esther is on comms and Gwen is standing by with a spike strip to disable police pursuit. The raid is a victory.

Sometime later, Gwen watches a parade of masked people – the Soulless – who believe that the Miracle has robbed people of their souls. Gwen is both shocked and confused. She takes her groceries back to the hideout but laments that all she could find are bags of crisps.

Or chips, as she’s corrected by her new American comrades.

Jack informs Gwen that Rhys and Anwen are in a safe house under Andy Davidson’s protection. Gen worries about emptying Jack’s bank account, but Jack doesn’t think that it’s possible. He’s been gathering interest there for 109 years. Esther and Rex reveal they cannot trace the phone since the signal branches out repeatedly to prevent it.

The American members of this new Torchwood aren’t quite used to how Jack and Gwen operate. Jack decides that they should investigate the morphic fields since he feels a universal consciousness driving the world’s immortality. Esther finds out that Friedkin has blocked off a warehouse in Washington, DC, prompting the team to steal a car. After Gwen’s blunt approach (and Rex’s thievery of their victim’s dry cleaning), they’re on the road to the warehouse.

Gwen concusses the guard. Jack, Rex, and Gwen break in to find shelves upon shelves of non-narcotic painkillers. All of them are from PhiCorp. The warehouse is stuffed to the gills with the pills.

At the emergency panel meetings, the doctors realize that aborted pregnancies and miscarriages are impossible, and some countries are considering contraceptives in water supplies. Vera is also perplexed by the new definition of murder since people can’t die but the motivations to kill still remain. Later on, Jilly Kitzinger convinces Vera to visit PhiCorp.

Jack believes that the team needs to take on PhiCorp, so Rex leverages his CIA contacts for resources and allies. He discovers that his contacts are ready to betray him, so the team is on their own. A frustrated Rex argues that Torchwood is dead and that Jack got his team killed. Rex takes the car and leaves Jack, Gwen, and Esther standing in an alley.

On the way back to the base, Jack finds a bar and leaves the ladies to get a drink. Esther contemplates turning herself in because she’s not cut out for the Torchwood life. Gwen convinces her otherwise and they keep walking. Meanwhile, Jack gets his drink – a bowl on the bar is full of sobriety chips – and a companion for the night with bartender Brad. Of course, since a lifetime of regret just got a lot longer, Jack wants his encounter to have protection.

Vera returns home to find Rex asking her to dress his wound again. He collapses and she tends to him. They end up having sex despite both of them being exhausted. Afterward, they discuss PhiCorp’s connection to the Miracle. Vera explains her regret at letting her mother die a year ago, the tells Rex about Jilly’s offer. Rex asks Vera to spy on PhiCorp, but he botches the request.

In Atlanta, Georgia, Oswald Danes sneaks away from his protective custody to enjoy a slice of pie at a local diner. A couple ambushes him and is sent home by the police, but the officers take the matter into their own hands by beating him before dumping him at his motel. Jilly approaches him one more time, and this time he takes her up on the offer.

Jack calls Gwen and has a long discussion about their relationship and Torchwood. The call is interrupted by Esther, who has established a secure video connection to Rhys and Anwen.

Come the morning, the team gets back together. Vera agrees to be their eyes in PhiCorp, so Gwen introduces Rex to the Eye-5s. She also lies by telling him that the lenses are isomorphic and tuned to her biology. Everyone but Rex knows that she’s fibbing.

When Vera arrives at PhiCorp, she finds an auditorium full of medical professionals. Vera meets Gwen, who proceeds to Jilly’s office while Vera keeps Jilly distracted. Gwen spots Jilly escorting Oswald to a special meeting which piques Jack’s interest. As the main presentation commences, Vera broadcasts it on speakerphone to Torchwood.

The presentation is a video by a United States Senator who is pushing legislation to make all medicines prescription-free. Jilly leaves the auditorium and almost finds Gwen in her office, but Rex is able to pull Jilly away through Vera. Rex and Esther are surprised when the strange red phone rings, but the phone shuts off without a word when Rex answers it.

Rex and Esther pack up the operation as Jack sneaks away to meet Oswald Danes. At gunpoint, he asks Oswald why he met with PhiCorp and if they mentioned the name Jack Harkness. When Oswald would talk about it, Jack switches to his burning question: Why did Oswald lie about feeling forgiven?

Oswald exposes his most repugnant sociopathic self, praising his motivations for killing the young girl because she flaunted her innocence. She bruised so easily that Oswald imagined that he was “painting” her with each strike. He felt ecstasy as her life force drained away.

Jack recorded the entire conversation and threatens to publish it, but Oswald calls in the protection that he arranged from PhiCorp to seize it. Jack knows that Oswald’s life will never reach the high of murdering Susie Cabina, so now the murderer and rapist wants it to end on that high. The hired goons beat Jack and toss him on the street while Oswald attends to his interview.

Oswald endorses PhiCorp. He asks the world to join him as he offers solace in the storm.

Jack can only watch in disgust as Oswald Danes wraps the planet Earth around his finger.

The story continues to develop as the world’s sense of order has dismantled by the chaos of immortality. In a land of such confusion, people seek stability and PhiCorp is offering it in spades. What could make this even worse? Using a complete sociopath with absolutely nothing to lose as the messiah of this movement.

Oswald’s revelations about his despicable acts were chilling. He enjoyed the atrocity. He’s a sick and dangerous man.

There wasn’t much development for Gwen and Jack, but Esther’s decision to dig deep and stay the course after Gwen’s pep-talk was a great bit of growth for the CIA analyst. Despite the lack of character development, the story advancement was superb. I’d expect nothing less from writer Jane Espenson.

I wasn’t quite sure if Jack was being sarcastic about the warehouse being “bigger on the inside”. We’ll have to wait and see if dimensionally transcendental technology is in play.

Finally, there was a lot of sex in this episode. The fascinating angle was how it was treated in various broadcasts. The United States, Canadian, and Australian markets had no problem showing the scenes, but the UK took a different approach by editing Jack’s encounter and completely excising the scenes between Rex and Vera.

It was also the first time in Doctor Who history that a woman’s bare butt was seen on screen. It had to happen on Torchwood, didn’t it?

Rating: 4/5 – “Would you care for a jelly baby?”

UP NEXT – Torchwood: Escape to L.A.

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

[aion-rsa]

Clarice Episode 9 Review: Silence is Purgatory

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This Clarice review contains spoilers.

Clarice Episode 9

Clarice episode 9, “Silence is Purgatory,” offers a taste of temporary hell by exploring the connections of the show’s past and getting blocked from forward movement. The team is finally looking into the links between the River Murders and Alastor Pharmaceuticals. The company’s drug Reprisol is responsible for multiple cases of babies born with birth defects, and their well-connected attorney Joe Hudland (Raoul Bhaneja) keeps someone on the payroll just to kill anyone who steps forward.

“Silence is Purgatory” opens in the midst of the pre-shoe-leather phase of the investigation. The ViCAP team is working in the basement, out of sight from the prying eyes of the Bureau. They can’t even see each other that well. Even several levels beneath the FBI offices, behind closed doors, the agents are apparently still too wary to turn on the overhead lights. It makes it seem like they’re hiding something, and the ViCAP agents don’t are not fond of obscure references. Their first instinct is to shake down anyone who gives off even a faint whiff of a shadowy past.

When Clarice leans on Julia Lawson (Jen Richards), the corporate accountant for the pharmaceutical company, she opens up Pandora’s box, and the show takes on the sins of the source material, Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs. Serial killer Buffalo Bill was indeed a monster, but poisoned a well which runs deep in the country’s water supply. The procedural search for the destructive path of a lethal irregulated drug is an unintentional allegory to perceptions to identity itself.

Lawson has a problem with Agent Starling, and chooses to address it directly. She is transexual and the media blitz which Clarice rose after the Buffalo Bill case discounted the collateral damage. Every headline in every newspaper turned an entire demographic into monsters. “Psycho skins women, driven mad by transexual desire, that was the front page of ‘The Baltimore Herald,’” Lawson tells Clarice. The series has always been as much about the psychological aftermath of the Buffalo Bill case as it is on the crime being solved. The trans witness forces more self-reflection on Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds) than half a season of broken mirror therapy. It’s a bit ham-fisted and just short of soap operatic, but the series only has room for one diva and still follows procedures.

Read more

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How Clarice Continues Agent Starling’s Story

By Gabriel Bergmoser

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Clarice: How Does The Show Compare to Hannibal?

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Thumbscrews are an investigator’s best friend, suggests Agent Murray Clarke (Nick Sandow). That’s what investigations are all about. Finding, applying and tightening thumbscrews. Clarke implies you can get a masters of fine art in it at the CIA, but he can’t talk about that. Clarke is the most fun character on the show, and the episode’s representative everyman. Clarke always appears not to give a shit, dishes out the toughest of love, and takes every death very personally. Especially when he’s blaming himself specifically for it. Sandow is always doing two things at once. So, as much as we may click our tongues at how he’s got no tolerance when a buddy chips on a 16-year-old single malt, we doubly despise him for digging up all-too personal dirt. But it is designed this way.

We know Clarke is going to overstep his bounds early when Agent Esquivel (Lucca De Oliveira) tries to derail an immigration extortion tactic before it gets going. We are supposed to applaud him for nipping Deputy Assistant Attorney General Paul Krendler’s (Michael Cudlitz) intentional fall off the wagon in the Budweiser, but the audience and Clarice are only interested in changing the status quo. Even after he acknowledges he drives the drug rep Naomi too far, gets him no sympathy.

Agent Ardelia Mapp (Devyn Tyler) also makes good on her decision to help challenge the status quo. She and Agent Garrett (K.C. Collins) are working to get the Black Coalition’s case against the FBI ready for a lawyer. Amidst the listing of grievances, their exchange features one of the few moments of intentional character comedy in the series. Garrett says he will fake a hernia to join her at the lawyer’s office. She thinks that’s funny. Normally, it would be disastrous for this pair to wind up dating because it is the obvious clichéd move, but now we want to know what kinds of kink they might throw into the relationship.

Of course, the entire systemic discrimination suit hinges on a direct conflict with Clarice, why else would the show be named after her? She’s the center of so much drama, the series is beginning to seem like a sitcom. Clarice is also beginning to crush on her biggest lead. Tyson Conway is the cast off son of Nils Hagen, the man who actually owns the company which is at the center of the investigation. He tries to steer clear of self-pity, and she sees him as a comfortable place for pain to land. Clarice is one straw short of a busted hump, psychologically.

We are hoping Catherine Martin (Marnee Carpenter) will add that extra weight towards a relieving breakdown. The Buffalo Bill victim who was told to “put the lotion in the basket,” finally gets past the front door. The crime gave her an extreme case of agoraphobia. She is only now for the first time seeing her ex-fiancé since he disappeared from her life in the aftermath. The scene is painful. Catherine gets to dump her rage and throw all the guilt she wants. But she’s still stuck with the check at the end of the night, and winds up thanking her Attorney General mother for making more room in the womb of their mansion. Of course, the first thing she does when she gets home is call Clarice.

“Silence is Purgatory” moves the investigation into slightly more dangerous waters while connecting the dots of the agent’s therapy. The procedural behind Clarice proceeds in the plodding way of the genre. While it’s interesting to see the mental connections materialize through plot, it is still more garnish than nutrition.

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Clarice airs Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. on CBS.

The post Clarice Episode 9 Review: Silence is Purgatory appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[jobs-in-dubai-uae]

Dubai, UAE: Residents suffering food poisoning can report a suspected restaurant, food chain or product to Dubai Municipality for further investigation. The municipality has a dedicated hotline (800900), email address, and team that handles food poisoning cases by investigating the source of contaminated food through the collection of information from the patient, hospital, food supplier and food outlet. Cases of food poisoning are often under-reported, due to gaps in detection, surveillance and reporting, making it difficult for the municipality to record an accurate number of cases. However, a common misconception among people is that their last meal is the cause for their suffering, said Sultan Al Taher, head of Food Inspection at the municipality. “It is important to know that most food-borne illnesses do not develop immediately after you eat the food. What we do is investigate the meals that were eaten in the last 72 hours at the least,” explained Al Taher. Bobby Krishna, food studies and planning specialist at the Food Safety Department in Dubai Municipality, told Gulf News a person cannot identify whether the food poisoning was caused from a home-cooked meal or a restaurant unless multiple tests are done. “A report of the stool culture test is essential to confirm any foodborne disease. The report should have clear information about the agent that caused the illness including the name of the bacteria, virus, parasite etc,” said Krishna. Once a case is reported to the municipality, a team is given the responsibility to identify the source of contaminated food based on the evidence given, which must include a stool culture report. Outbreaks Krishna pointed out that in cases where multiple people are sick and share the same symptoms and onset times, the team looks at common meals and foods consumed by the patients to trace the source. If the investigation team detects outbreaks — two or more cases likely to be linked to the same food — they contact the hospitals visited by the patients to collect more information. “We then try and identify the meal that could have been contaminated through detailed epidemiological investigation that looks at the entire meal history of the person, at least for three to five days,” explained Krishna. He pointed out that food made from eggs are a common source of food poisoning when undercooked or infected. “Restaurants are just delivery points for food and every case doesn’t end in a restaurant. We aim to find the source of the problem — which at times could lead back to a farm — and then we proceed to fix it,” said Krishna. Once a product is identified to be the source, the municipality ensures it is taken off the shelves and its original outlet is contacted. A common example would be a contaminated salad being served at a restaurant. The same salad could have been supplied to 20 other restaurants by a supplier to whom the outbreak will be traced to. “In this case, the restaurant may not be liable,” said Krishna. Symptoms Gulf News also talked to Dr Atul Anand, a general physician in Dubai who pointed out that nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhoea are the most common symptoms of food poisoning. “Depending on the type of bacteria or organism causing the food poisoning, the onset can vary from two to three hours after the contaminated food is consumed or up to 12 hours after,” he said. While both viral and bacterial infections causing the food poisoning have the same symptoms, a bacterial infection must be treated with antibiotics. “Viral infections are more likely to take place in the colder seasons and are usually accompanied with diarrhoea, while bacterial infections are likely to rise in hotter temperatures, and need to be treated with medicine — at times intravenously. In both cases, a key result of food poisoning is dehydration,” said Dr Anand. He urged caution against severe dehydration, and advised people suffering from food poisoning to maintain an intake of fluids once the vomiting has stopped. “In the case of feeling worse after taking anti-emetic medicines, and rehydrating with fluids such as mineral water, oral hydrating solutions and soups, make sure to immediately see a doctor,” added Dr Anand. Elderly people, children and those suffering from diabetes or high blood pressure should see a doctor as soon as dehydration starts, as their bodies lack a compensatory mechanism. Box: To report a food poisoning case Call Dubai Municipality food safety hotline: 800900 Or email: foodpoisoning@dm.gov.ae How to avoid food poisoning 1. Wash hands thoroughly when handling or cooking food 2. Provide a hygienic environment for food storage and cooking 3. Food poisoning is most likely to be caused by non-vegetarian foods 4. Refrigerated food should be stored in temperatures between 2 and 6 degrees 5. Frozen food should be stored in sub-zero temperatures 6. Heated food should be cooled down to room temperature before it is refrigerated 7. Foods that will be consumed within 24 hours can be refrigerated 8. Foods to be consumed after 24 hours should be frozen 9. Change food habit and throw away suspected items if suffering from food poisoning 10. Food being transported from other countries during travel should be dealt with care as it has undergone different temperatures during transportation © Gulf News via Edarabia.com