#really liked Henry Ian Cusick on Lost and The 100

[howtosingit]

Obviously taking this with a grain of salt for now, but we might be meeting Enzo in season 5? 👀

[blogger360ncislarules]

The 100 knew how to do a redemption arc.

Throughout its seven-season run on The CW, post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama repeatedly doubled down on one of its many thought-provoking mantras: there are no good guys. The “good guys” often did terrible things in the name of survival, and the “bad guys” were rarely through-and-through evil (although they could be “cockroaches”).

Timed to the recent 10-year anniversary of the series premiere, we chatted with Richard Harmon, Lindsey Morgan, and Henry Ian Cusick about how they came to join the show, the extent to which Harmon and Cusick saw their characters as villains during the first season, and why they think The 100 has stuck around in the sci-fi genre.

Murphy wasn’t originally Murphy: he was “John #1,” and he wasn’t meant to live past the show’s second episode. Harmon recalled the process of first auditioning for the show: “I originally auditioned for the role of Bellamy, beautifully played by Bob Morley,” he said. “I remember auditioning for that and thinking, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m ever going to get this role.’ Lo and behold, I did not.” Weeks later, he got an audition for the roles of “John #1” and “John #2,” and after feeling confident that he’d booked it, he learned that he had. He was John #1.

Harmon said that despite his character’s predetermined Episode 2 death, he approached the first episode determined to do something different and have fun with the role. Thankfully, showrunner Jason Rothenberg was watching. “I guess he noticed that, liked what I was doing, and expanded the role in some rewrites during the shooting of the Pilot,” Harmon said, adding that half of what Murphy said in the aired Pilot wasn’t there in the original script. “When it got picked up to series, he emailed me personally—which was kind of a shocking thing as not a lead, to get an email from the creator of the show. He said, ‘I really liked what you did, how would you feel about not dying in the second episode? Could you stick around for the whole first season? Your last name will be Murphy, people will call you Murphy, and what do you think?’” And so went the story of how he booked “John #1”… and how “John #1” became John Murphy.

Katie Yu/The CW

First appearing in the show’s second episode rather than in the Pilot, Morgan wound up on The 100 through a whirlwind of correct timing and fate. She’d been waiting to hear whether she’d booked a role on Chicago P.D. when she auditioned for the part of Raven on Tuesday, chemistry-read with Thomas McDonnell [played Finn Collins] on Thursday, and was on a plane headed to Vancouver by Sunday. She later found out she wouldn’t have gotten the Chicago P.D. role. “It’s crazy to look back and imagine it happening any other way,” she said.

Similarly to Harmon’s “John #1,” Morgan’s Raven wasn’t meant to be a The 100 mainstay. Originally, Morgan said, Raven was meant to die after just five episodes—a shock, when one considers how integral the quick-thinking mechanic and tech genius became to the plot of the show. “I was on pins and needles, waiting to receive my death notice with each passing script,” Morgan said. After the Season 1 finale, Rothenberg made the offer to Morgan to stick around for Season 2. She’d been up for a role on a different show at that time. If she’d gotten it, Raven would’ve died from the gunshot wound dealt her by Murphy. Obviously, Raven survived. “The rest was history,” Morgan said. “As we all know, nothing can kill Raven Reyes.”

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For his part, Cusick mentioned that it was a sense of longing for Lost that led him to The 100. “It was Pilot season, and I had just finished something, and I was reading a bunch of Pilots,” he remembered. “The 100 turned up, and I thought it was very similar in tone to Lost, which I was missing. I read that and I said to my agent, ‘That’s a cool Pilot.’ I ended up having a meeting with [showrunner] Jason Rothenberg, and we had a chat, and he offered it to me.”

While he did almost float Clarke’s mother, Dr. Abby Griffin (Paige Turco}, in the Pilot, Cusick disagrees with the label of Kane as a villain and passionately defends him. Even in the show’s early days, he says he just viewed Kane as “more of a d**k.” Cusick recounts several things his character was accused of doing but never actually did—such as attempting to kill Jaha (Isaiah Washington)—and maintains that rather than being villainous, Kane was simply a stickler for the rules. “Other people were talking about him and badmouthing him, but he was just a man who was trying to save the human race,” Cusick said. “He went about it in a rather authoritarian, draconian way. He was very strict. And then when he arrived on Earth, he went ‘Oh, humanity is still around.’ Then he could go back to being who he really was. That’s my opinion.”

Whether viewers considered him a villain or a d**k, Kane undoubtedly softened up. His kindness and diplomacy helped establish peace with the grounders as he formed a friendship with Indra (Adina Porter), he and Abby fell in love, and he gradually became a father figure to the delinquents—especially Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley). “I really took to Bob quite quickly,” Cusick remembered. “We would joke around a lot. I would call him my ‘idiot son’ and stuff like that,” he said with a laugh. “We kind of cultivated that relationship, I thought, that we were like father and son. We enjoyed each other’s company, so that was easy to play.”

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Harmon, on the other hand, readily admitted he played Murphy as a villain in Season 1—so much so that he’d taken inspiration for Murphy and Bellamy’s relationship from Biblical literature. “I based [Murphy] loosely off of Lucifer, actually,” he said. “Bellamy was God, for this group, and I’m his right-hand favorite angel, but demon, really. Eventually I try to take too much power, just like Lucifer does in the Bible, and God smites me down. That’s when I get thrown out to the grounders in the wild and come back way later, with the sickness.”

When the show was picked up for a second season, Harmon and Rothenberg had another chat. “At the end of Season 1, Jason said, ‘Will you stick around for the long haul now going forward to Season 2?’” Harmon said. “And I was like, ‘Of course, I would love to, but how are you going to do that?’” Rothenberg, Harmon remembered, wanted him to get the audience on Murphy’s side. Harmon was up for the challenge, as long as he was given material to convince the audience that there was a good reason behind Murphy’s notable not-niceness. “Eventually, as the seasons progressed and the fans responded favorably to Murphy, all of my cuts were a good angle, and I was a little more tanned with dirt, and I was like, ‘I think they’re trying to, maybe, make me hot,” Harmon laughed. “I don’t think at that point in my career anyone had ever tried to make me attractive on-screen before. That was nice. That felt good.”

Raven Reyes was about as far from a villain as one could get, even though she, like every character, had to make incredibly difficult choices. Morgan has fond memories especially of Season 2, and portraying Raven’s journey with losing the use of her leg. “As an able-bodied actor, I felt a deep responsibility and honor towards playing a character with disabilities as accurately as I could,” she said. “I wanted to bring justice, nuance, complexity, and the best accuracy to her journey as I could, and hopefully share and showcase her truth, as well as the strength people with disabilities exhibit daily.”

Morgan, too, has fond memories of filming in the Vancouver wilderness. While filming with Cusick and the “adult” cast on the Ark put her inside in the warm studio (and closer to the snacks), she enjoyed being outside in the forest… and sneaking in an on-set nap when an opportunity presented itself. “I can, and will, nap anywhere,” she recalled. “Thomas [McDonnell] almost stepped on my head once, because I was napping on the floor of our cast tent. I blended into the ground.”

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Aside from his bond with Bellamy Blake, Kane’s other major connection on The 100 was his romance with Dr. Abby Griffin. Surprisingly, Cusick hadn’t known the writers intended to take the characters in that direction. “I remember Paige [Turco] saying to me, ‘I think they’re trying to get us together,’ and I was thinking, ‘No, that’s never going to happen. We need to be combative. That’s where the drama is,’” he said. In the end, Kane and Abby had a heartwarming love that lasted several seasons. Cusick thinks that not being told from the start about the romance angle only improved his performance. “The actors had no clue that was going to happen, so we were just playing our motivations, and our roles, and what we thought was right,” he said. “There was no hint of any flirtation or anything like that between the characters, so that’s when it happened. Maybe the audience saw it, I don’t know, but it was certainly a surprise to me.”

Unfortunately, Kane and Abby didn’t have the happy ending that many might’ve hoped for. Cusick departed the show in its sixth season, and Turco’s character was killed off in the Season 6 finale. While The 100 fans know all about heartbreak, it might add an extra layer of sadness to know that originally, Kane and Abby had been intended to have a more hopeful story. “My relationship with Abby was good, and people wanted us to get together,” Cusick reflected. “I think that would’ve happened, had I not left. I know that Jason [Rothenberg] said he wanted that to happen—he wanted us to get married, which would’ve been interesting.”

Cusick also directed the eleventh episode of Season 4, “The Other Side,” and the tenth episode of Season 5, “The Warriors Will.” When he thinks back on those experiences, he does so with appreciation for the show’s crew including director of photography Michael Blundell, and gratitude to Jason Rothenberg, director Dean White, and the cast. “Just in general, I never really got a chance to say this: I wanted to say thank you,” he said. “When I meet everyone at cons, I’m thinking about how we all went through this together. We all have relationships that are unique, because we went through that show. I’m always amazed when we meet up at cons by how fun they all are, and how nice it is to see them again.”

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On the subject of conventions, Harmon mentioned that he and Morley used to take it as a badge of honor when fans would tell them that they hated Murphy and Bellamy. Twitter death threats, too, Harmon learned to take in stride. “It got a little hectic at times, for sure,” he remembered. “If people wanted to hate you so much, I’m so grateful for that. That just means we did our job well.” Harmon also mentioned that he wished he’d gotten to keep Murphy’s jacket from Season 1. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know what happened to it. Morgan, on the other hand, has held onto a few of Raven’s iconic items—including her trademark red jacket and knee brace. “I joked that I was going to make a plaster cast out of my body and display them in my house,” she said. “I definitely didn’t do that, but I have them in a safe place.”

As for The 100’s staying power, Harmon, Morgan, and Cusick all pointed out its continued interrogation of what it means to be human, especially in heightened, life-or-death situations. While the show was airing, Harmon said he called it the “biggest show you’ve never heard of.” At this point, he no longer thinks that description is true—people have heard of it.

“It was cool to be on the biggest show you’ve never heard of, because people would be like, ‘What show?’ and then all of a sudden there’d be five people who’d go, ‘The 100? Yes!’” he remembered. “People who watched it fell in love with it. Or were livid with it. Either way.”

[valleydean]

lol i just watched the new episode of the 100 and it was the part when henry ian cusick’s character opened a hatch door into a bunker and i just started laughing out loud

[travllingbunny]

The 100:  6x09 What You Take With You

How amazing was this episode? It is, so far, one of the two best episodes of the season (alongside 6x07) and probably in my top 10 favorite The 100 episodes of all time.

It benefited from its focus on just three storylines and a limited number of characters, which allowed it to properly focus on the characters and their psychological and emotional journeys.

The title seems to be a reference to the Dagobah cave scene in The Empire Strikes Back, or rather, the dialogue right before it:

Luke: There is something not right here. I feel cold, death.

Yoda: That place… is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go.

Luke: What’s in there?

Yoda: Only what you take with you.

Luke ends up having a hallucination of fighting Darth Vader in the cave and killing him, only to take off his helmet and see his own face, in possibly the most famous movie scene of a character confronting their “Shadow” self.

So, when the episode titles for season 6 of The 100 were released, it wasn’t hard to guess that this episode would contain scenes of a character “facing their demons” in a fantasy sequence (and which character it would be, especially as we had seen glimpses of Octavia fighting the Blodreina version of herself in the trailer). As a fan of psychological character exploration through trippy fantasy sequences, I had high expectations from this episode regarding Octavia’s story – and they were completely fulfilled and maybe exceeded. I wasn’t expecting to see Charles Pike in Octavia’s hallucination soul-searching, and his appearance and how he was used was brilliant.

The other two, equally important storylines, were:

the continuation of the saga about the Bellamy/Clarke relationship through the story about the fight between Josephine and Clarke for control of Clarke’s body, and Bellamy’s attempts to save Clarke from real and certain death;

and the conclusion of the opposite storyline - about Abby crossing a lot of ethical lines to work with the Primes and use bodysnatching to resurrect Kane in another body. This was the final death of Marcus Kane, a tragic end of Kabby romance, but it also a fitting ending for Kane, with him asserting his own integrity and morality by choosing to die and refuse to be complicit in the practices of the Primes, but to instead start a fight against them. It will also probably be the turning point in Abby’s character arc. The resolution of this storyline has caused a lot of controversy and anger, which I don’t understand, since Kane’s decision was obvious and in-character, so much that I predicted it last week, because it was the only thing that made sense narratively and for Kane’s characterization.

More thoughts under the cut.

Octavia vs Blodreina

The fact we still don’t know what happened to Diyoza or to Octavia in the Anomaly makes me think that this is a plot that will carry over to season 7, after the bodysnatching business is wrapped up. And the more they postpone the resolution, the more hopeful I am for Diyoza to survive season 6.

Choosing the angry, violent red box instead of the calm green box is such an Octavia thing to do. But maybe it was the right thing in this case, as it let her face her demons head on and figure things out for herself.

The red butterflies scene was one of the many callbacks to season 1.

Pike’s role made sense because Octavia’s descent into darkness was not just prompted by the trauma of Lincoln’s death at Pike’s hands, but also because it started when she decided to murder Pike for revenge, making herself judge, jury and executioner. That was the first time she committed actual murder, as opposed to killing people in fight. She probably thought at the time, as a big portion of the fandom did, that Pike was a bad guy and had it coming. But one could now say the same thing about Octavia herself, and she is obviously aware of it. If Pike deserved to die, doesn’t she, too? Using the same standards, shouldn’t she be murdered for revenge by someone like James (the Wonkru guy from 6x02, who lost his mother in the gorge and blames Octavia fori t)? In fact, Octavia tried to get him to kill her, because, on some level, she thought she deserved death, too, even while she was pretending that she didn’t feel any guilt and trying to justify all her actions. Why should Bellamy ever forgive her for throwing him into the fighting pit to die? I can see many similarities between Octavia and Pike: both of them are fighters by nature, both were driven by the desire to save and protect people, both were angry and traumatized by what had been done to their people, and both were also prone to black-and-white thinking and harsh judgment of their enemies. As Octavia’s mind version of Pike pointed out, we are products of what we have done, and what has been done to us. Pike is an embodiment of both for Octavia. And Pike himself was a product of what the Ice Nation under Queen Nia had done to him – killing almost all of the people he grew up with, many right in front of him (including 15 children), which made him go into the woods to fight for months. Pike started pre-emptively seeing Grounders as enemies even when they were not, and eventually, as a Chancellor, started acting as a dictator and hunting for traitors in his camp. Octavia started by proclaiming everyone (or almost everyone – Echo didn’t count) her people, One people, but that eventually turned into tyranny and seeing enemies in everyone who disagreed or refused to do everything she asked of them. Pike condemned Lincoln to death and execute him for the same reasons Octavia as Blodreina condemned Bellamy, Indra and Gaia to the fighting pit: to maintain authority and show that rebellion is not allowed and will be punished by death. We may not have seen this put into words, but Octavia’s vision of Blodreina in Pike’s role, condemning/executing Pike the way he had Lincoln, showed her realization about herself. „Pike“ even reminded Octavia that he was trying to earn his redemption by doing good when she killed him. Of course, since Pike was really an enbodiment of a part of Octavia’s own mind, it is really something she has been thinking about and that she’s telling herself. It’s a level of self-reflection that I never expected to see from Octavia of the earlier seasons, and shows how much she’s grown.

So does she deserve redemption? As „Pike“ pointed out, it is not about deserving. You just need to make the decision to go and do good, and not be Blodreina anymore, shown by her symbolic killing of „Blodreina“. She is still to actually start her redemption arc, but getting into the right frame of mind and realizing she wants to change and do better was the necessary first step.

Kane’s goodbye

I’ve already written quite a bit about Abby’s emotional and ethical downfall and the tragic development of the Kabby relationship in seasons 5-6 here and I predicted that the storyline would end with Kane’s death by his own choice (and that Henry Ian Cusick would return to play Kane in a vision for his last scene), even though I didn’t guess when or how it would happen.

Unlike some other fans, I find this to be a very fitting ending for Marcus Kane. I don’t think of what he did as suicide, but as a sacrifice, or, more than anything, a refusal to legitimize and benefit from an evil practice that involves brainwashing people so they could be lambs easily led to slaughter, and then murdering them as lesser and disposable, so you could prolong your own life. He couldn’t fight against it, speak against it, while being in a stolen body himself. (There is a reason why Gabriel is ashamed to admit to his followers that he lives in a host body.) Everything about it was wrong to him, and went against everything he believes in. (Meeting Gavin’s widow and realizing that the Primes are lying to their people also played a role. As Gabriel confirmed in this episode, and as Kane 2.0 and the other Primes, no doubt, are aware, there is no trace of the host mind after the transfer – unless the transfer fails.)

Indra has finally been woken up! But is she staying on the ship now, and if so, when do we see her again? I’m glad she got to say goodbye to her friend before his death. I like the fact that Indra pointed out that both the Arkers and the Grouders had some disturbing practices of their own, but Kane gave the logical answer (something I was hoping someone would point out at any point) – the fact we did bad things in the past, doesn’t mean we should let evil things happen. That’s not how morality (or common sense) works.

The show loves angst, so of course, Kane’s death had to be exactly like Jake Griffin’s death (which we saw in the flashbacks in 1x03), and Abby had to witness it. But, as Raven pointed out, it is better for her if she gets to say goodbye. (Raven would know, since she never got to say goodbye to Finn or Shaw. Or Sinclair.) Kabby has been one of my favorite ships on the show – because it is one of the very few romantic relationships that was well developed, way before Kane and Abby got together. Their chemistry was obvious since season 1. And while Greyston Holt did a great job playing Kane 2.0, it only made sense that Henry Ian Cusick return to play Kane in that last scene, when Kane appeared to Abby the way she saw him in her mind-eye - which also made him feel like real Kane to the audience.  The scene was truly beautiful and sad, with Abby’s heartbreak, and Indra and Raven reciting the Ark prayer (with Indra adding the Grounder “Your fight is over”). I don’t think that Kane would really do the same to bring Abby back – or that Abby would have done it if she had been in a healthier state of mind, but I can see why he told Abby that. While he disagreed with her decision and couldn’t accept it, he showed understanding, empathy and love to her, while urging her to let him go and continue her life.

All in all, considering the tricky actor availability situation due to Cusick’s role on another show, I think that the writing staff have found a good way to give Kane a proper sendoff, and make it meaningful and highly relevant to this season’s themes and main plot.

In a way, it’s more Abby’s tragedy than Kane’s – he made the decision that was the only right one, one of the most in-character things he’s ever done, but Abby is still lost and needs to let go off Kane, really recover from addiction, and find her own sense of morality again.

The Kane/Abby storyline and relationship this season is juxtaposed to the Josephine/Gabriel story – and the Clarke/Bellamy story. We have seen bodysnatching as something people (Gabriel, Russell and Simone with Josephine, Abby with Kane) resort to in order to resurrect someone they love. But while Josephine couldn’t be happier about it – because she’s selfish and, let’s say, morally challenged, Kane, with his deep sense of morality, could never accept that. We’ve also seen a storyline about Bellamy doing everything to save Clarke – but while all of those are motivated by love, the big difference between what Bellamy is doing and what Abby has done (and what Gabriel initially did when he resurrected Josephine, at the expense of 40+ of the people he had raised from embryos) is that Bellamy is fighting against an evil act, to right a wrong, as opposed to doing evil or enabling evil.

Bellarkephine

Bellarke has always been the central relationship on the show, but it’s never been as front and center as it is this season. In 6x07, Clarke gave up on living at the moment when Josephine managed to convince her that Bellamy had given up on her and moved on and that he and everyone are better off without her, and the last few been about Bellamy being willing to do everything to get Clarke back. The show is being really obvious about Bellamy’s and Clarke’s feelings for other other, even more so than it was in the previous seasons (and I happen to think it was already quite obvious). It’s not the first time that other characters have called out those two on their feelings for each other (from Lexa noticing in season 2 that Clarke cares for Bellamy and worries about him more than about her other people, to ALIE!Raven in season 3, taunting Bellamy over being more devoted to Clarke than his girlfriend Gina, to Octavia calling out Bellamy in season 5 and calling Clarke another traitor who he loves), but now it is an integral part of the main story, the way it was not before.

I’ll say one thing, though – while it is undeniable, seeing his behavior over the previous few episodes. that Bellamy cares for Clarke more than anyone else at this point, as Josephine points out (and that statement implies that he cares for her more than his girlfriend, Echo), I think one should be fair and acknowledge that Clarke is in danger of certain and definite death, after a definite and short period of time, while the others back in Sanctum are only in danger of potential death, so I don’t think it would be fair if they begrudged Bellamy going off to save Clarke.

This dynamic was weird, because Bellamy was simultaneously not fond of (to put it mildly) of Josephine, but was incredibly tender and caring with her body, because it was Clarke’s body, and Clarke is still in there somewhere. The way he gently wiped JoClarke’s black blood and put his own, so the Children of Gabriel wouldn’t know she was a Nightblood, reminds me of Bellamy cutting himself to fool the Ark guards, so they wouldn’t know the blood belonged to Octavia, when she would accidentally cut herself.

Josephine said that love was the reason why Sanctum would be destroyed – implying not just that her father put everything in danger for his love for her (by putting her in Clarke’s body), but also that Bellamy’s love for Clarke and his determination to save would be the cause of Sanctum’s destruction. It’s the 3rd time that the word “love” has been used on the show to describe Bellamy’s and Clarke’s feelings for each other: the first time was in season 2 when Clarke said she was being weak when she tried to keep Bellamy from going to Mount Weather, because love is weakness; the second time was in season 5, when Octavia called out Bellamy on pleading for the life of a traitor who you love; and this is the third time.

The moment when Bellamy looked at Clarkephine when he knew Clarke could hear him, and paused before saying “I won’t let you die”, was one of those moments where Bellamy or Clarke seem to want to say more, or are saying a lot more, through or instead of a statement like “Hurry” or “Don’t feel bad about leaving me here”. Those two have always had their own way of saying ILY.

Bellamy replying “Tell me about it” when Josephine called the “weird” relationship between him and Clarke “exhausting” has to be one of the best meta moments on the show.

(BTW, I don’t think Bellamy actually wanted to kill Clarke in 1x02 – the first moment he could have let her die, he saved her. But maybe she thought so, or maybe Josephine saw her memories and drew that conclusion. Also, the show Josie is misusing the word “genocide” and should look up the definition.)

But after a while, what was Josephine trying to taunt Bellamy, turned into Josephine being moved by Bellamy’s love for Clarke – not because she’s a compassionate person (she’s not), but because it reminds her of Gabriel’s love she had and lost. We got her explicit confirmation that she has really been in love with him, since they got to the planet (which may have been the first time they met). And while we know, from his reactions in 6x08, that he is still in love with her (but she may not know that), he has still been trying to kill her for the last 70 years – because she is a villain and is largely responsible for maintaining a terrible system of oppression and murder. This is the main difference between Gabriel/Josephine and Bellarke: Clarke is actually not a villain, she is a hero. Josephine is the villain that some of the characters and a part of the fandom imagines Clarke to be, because they are not paying attention to the actual story.

I love the fact that Clarke used the Morse code, for the second time, but now to both mock Josephine with “Boohoo” and try to make Bellamy laugh, while confirming that she was able to hear them both.

It’s really amazing just how Bellarke-heavy this episode was, even though Clarke and Bellamy weren’t able to directly interact most of the time – and haven’t been since 6x04. The one moment when they did get a chance to interact, for some 10 seconds, was when Clarke temporarily took control over her body because Josephine realized she sucked at defending herself and had to let Clarke do it. And it was amazing – the way Eliza changed her expression, voice and demeanor and the way she looked at Bellamy, the way Bellamy immediately knew she was Clarke, the chemistry that was suddenly there again in full force when it was Bellamy and Clarke interacting, rather than Bellamy and Josephine. Clarke is determined to never leave Bellamy again (as we saw in 5x13, when she was not willing to leave him behind even while they were seconds away from missiles hitting), but this time, he was right that literally staying there would have killed her, so she did the smart thing and sneaked him the keys – allowing him to save himself, while he let her go to save herself.

My judgement of the Children of Gabriel after 6x03 still stands: morally ambiguous group, the right goal, but too murder-happy.

Josephine may be a 200+ old narcissistic, evil Prime that I want to die, but her interactions with Clarke are really fun. It was great to see Clarke get the upper hand, at least for a while, and be in control again. And I loved the fact that Clarke rubbed it into Josephine’s face that she had stolen some skills from her – and calling her out on the irony of Josephine complaining about it, while living in Clarke’s stolen body.

I can’t wait to see Josephine and Gabriel reunited, and Octavia and Clarke and Bellamy reunited – but I’m also looking forward to more of the Clarke/Josephine fight for control in the mindspace.

Rating: 10/10

[douxreviews]

The 100 - ‘The Old Man and the Anomaly’ Review

"I got a bad feeling about this."

I've heard that the best plans are fluid. They change as is necessary. By that yardstick, the race to save Clarke is maybe the best plan on the planet. Or uh... moon.

About last week... I have to acknowledge how disjointed my last review was. Sorry about it. If it helps, how I feel about that episode is still disjointed and confusing. In short, the attention to detail and beautifully woven clash of wills was great. I think it was my favorite episode of the season so far but I still feel like it was some kind of stand alone weirdness. I loved it but I wanted it to do more for the story. Does that make sense?

Anyway, on to the episode at hand.

There was a point when my mind was spinning. I thought Diyoza, Octavia, Jordan, Murphy and Kane would all be dead by the end of the episode. But surprisingly no. No one died – yet. Raven did the space walk and helped bring Kane back. I'm a little weary that the new actor can live up to what Henry Ian Cusick had been bringing to the table but if what Eliza Clarke is doing with Josephine is any indication, the casting folks know what they're doing. Can anyone tell me why she changed her mind? I wholeheartedly expected a doublecross. Murphy and Jordan are seriously injured. Also not good. Madi is guilty and caught but they probably won't kill her because they know what a powerful bargaining chip she will be.

Octavia, Diyoza and Gabriel (not Xavier) take a field trip into the woods. I think these are different scary woods than the scary woods they've been traipsing around in because we weren't getting the hallucinations before. I am loving the budding friendship between Diyoza and Octavia. I'm thinking Octavia hasn't had anyone to rely on since sometime in the bunker. Maybe a gal pal is just what she needs to start to heal and forgive herself and ask for forgiveness. Maybe not. It's been fun either way. But they do say that all good things must come to an end and it looks like the swirly just ate Diyoza. Oh no. It did spit Octavia back out so maybe there is a chance. Are the woods and the swirly connected? Does what happens to you in the swirly get decided by what you see in the woods? Why did Octavia make it out when no one else ever has?

All the big happenings were in Sanctum though. Josephine shenanigans. The girl is clearly unhinged and watching her manipulate people, including her dad, is almost poetic. She's the ultimate politician. Watching Emori trick her into a trap and Bellamy drag her ass out of Sanctum was pretty satisfying, but I'm a little worried about the mind juju she's about to work on him. Which of Clarke's memories is she going to use against him? The strong money is on being left to fight in the pit but I bet it gets worse. Josie is nothing if not resourceful. Jordan's continuous whining about a girl he knew for twelve minutes is really starting to grate on my nerves but when I think about it, he hasn't known any of these people for that much longer. Only through stories he heard from his parents, which does not a strong connection make.

And speaking of people being unhinged and getting on peoples nerves, Madi and Shedheida are going for some sort of gold medal in scorched earth asshole. Didn't Clarke's stories have some sort of cautionary tale about an eye for an eye retaliation? This is something else I'm waiting for clarification on. Is this all Madi? Mostly the dark commander? Probably a combination but who is influencing who? And why can't Lexa and the other commanders step in to play a little devil's advocate? I get that she's pissed. Is this what she thinks Clarke would do?

Bits and pieces

Octavia and Dioza have built a pretty solid bond. Being alone in the woods of your nightmares would bring any people together. I'm just a little shocked that it reads so naturally on screen. Like these two lone wolves have been building a relationship for many years and not a few weeks. How long have we been on this moon?

Ryker let Gabriel escape. Maybe even helped him? How many of the primes have a guilty conscience? Does that even matter? It hasn't moved them this far.

If Jackson survives this, they better start treating him like an endangered species. Abby is still on a steady decline into crazy town and I've lost count of the times that they've needed a surgeon. Note to self: make friends with surgeons in case of the apocalypse.

How naive is it to hope that Gaia shows up to save the day?

Diyoza: "First the old man cures you." Octavia: "Then you put a bullet in his brain." Diyoza: "Look at us finishing each other's thoughts."

Diyoza: "He loved her, didn't he? You can tell by the picture. She was just looking to get laid." Poor Gabriel.

Russell: "When the universe gives you a second chance, you take it."

Murphy: "So what do you say? Think you can love me forever?" and later... Emori: "My answer is yes. I will love you forever. Even if we die today."

Josephine: "Which brings us to another episode of no good choices."

Echo: "We got this." Josephine: "You so don't."

"For the glory and grace of the primes."

---

Laure Mack 

[thestagthatlovedthewolf]

This last weekend (+Thurday and Friday) was Comic Con Portugal, and I have things to share!!! This was the first time in Lisbon (better said, Oeiras, as they kept repeating because the “mayor” wanted some points), which to me worked much better because I do not have to spend money in hotels or long distance trains... The space was huge and outside, so it was very good they changed it to September :) But in terms of the organization, they really need to decide better who they put interviewing people, there was one guy that was just really bad, and I know Joe Reitman can’t do them all (but his with Dolph Lundgren was so great - he was just so happy and excited), but can’t you bring in Mário Augusto to do some of them (not just the Disney panels).

First of all to the Americans, there will be this short movie making some festivals in the US, called Sleepwalk by Filipe Melo, and I want to tell you if you have the chance, check it out!! It’s a beautiful story inspired by a comic I read either last week of 2017 or first one of 2018, I had gotten it for my Dad as a Christmas present; I’m not sure if the comic has been translated, but the movie is fully in English and the story is very related to America.

Continuing on what I got to watch, I watch The Passage!!! Probably my favorite thing of the all Comic Con, I’ve been hearing about it since the episode “Red Queen” of The 100, and then all the press Henry Ian Cusick has been doing for it - I was very curious and I was blown away... The show did not look like something I would like, I just wanted to look at Ian (and I must say seeing him in a big screen is pretty awesome), and his performance was great, but then the story is really interesting and they leave open so many questions in the pilot, that I’m intrigued. But the best thing was the girl’s performance, Saniyya Sidney was adorable and so funny in all the interviews I had seen, but she was great in the show - she was fun and sweet, she could also really hold herself in moments of emotional pain... Really looking forward to January and the rest of season 1 (and still hoping that this show does not mean the dead of Marcus Kane, because it’s not good enough to forgive that).

Also watched the pilot of Outpost and Siren, which I know has been out in the US, they were okay, but did not intrigued me to continue watching. Also watched the movie The House with a Clock in Its Walls and it was not great - the story was not that good... and the acting from the kid was not excellent, and Jack Black was not a funny character... so I would only advise if you’re in love with Cate Blanchett - she was very good!!

This part is over and I want to talk a bit about the panels. Dan Folger (Jacob from Fantastic Beast) is one of the funniest people ever, he just couldn’t stand still and he would get up and yell at nothing, and tell jokes - he has a podcast and he’s going to put both panels he did in there, so check it out :) It probably won’t be as funny as with the visual, but still pretty good.

Then my favorite Dichen Lachman (Anya from The 100 and in the picture above), she was so sweet and nice, and I was really close to the front, so I could really see her!! And I really love the way she talks about Anya, it seems to be a character she really enjoyed playing, and she really wished that there could have been more, she feels that it’s a character with a lot of unfinished business and she would like a “Grounders” prequel. She also talked a lot about Reileen from Altered Carbon, so I’m starting the show now!!

Nicholas Hoult (the Beast from X-Men), he was so sweet!! He hugged a girl and she hadn’t asked, she was just wearing one of those free hugs signs and he just offered and it was the best thing - the girl was just so shocked!! And he talked about Skins a lot, because that show was huge here!! And I think he said one of his favorite scenes to film was when they stole Chris’ body and drove across the town - they did not close the streets, so they saw funny reactions to driving with a coffin through the streets

Then Dolph Lundgren (Ivan Drago from Rocky IV), he was just so awesome!! His stories about Rocky were just so excellent!! And him sharing stories about his own life was just so good - did you know he has a degree in chemical engineering? I’m super excited for Creed 2!!

Finally, Elyes Gabel (Rakharo from Game of Thrones), but sadly there was only one Game of Thrones related question, everything else was Scorpion talk, which I know nothing about...

These were the actor panels, which I feel that are the ones that people would want to talk about. If you have any questions about one of them or want more details, send me an ask!!

I also cosplayed this year, only in the weekend (the other two days just used fandom shirts - The 100 and Star Wars), I went with Drusilla Blackthorn from The Shadowhunter Chronicles, specifically from The Dark Artifices - she’s my favorite character of that particular series, and overall in the entire Shadowhunter world, she’s the one I most identify with, the way she talks about her body rings so true and it’s not something I normally see in media, especially fantasy. And then on Sunday, Clarisse La Rue from Percy Jackson and she’s my favorite - I LOVE HER!!! And these two girls, dressed in Hogwarts uniforms, actually asked to take a photo with me!!!

And to end this very long post, here are some of the things I bought!!! First the tote bags (Indiana Jones and Star Wars) were free, being given out by the channel “Hollywood” during their awesome concert of movie music (also a Mission Impossible tote bag, but I gave that one to my dad)

Saga (Volume 8) by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples, it finally came out here!!! I’m so excited to read it!!!

I actually got some fanart this year, this “Leia and Han” one is so beautiful and I regretted not buying it last year :) And it’s by an artist going by Little Black Spot - they have a website, www.littleblackspot.com!!!

Then these two beautiful stickers - Leia and Poison Ivy - by Inês Barros (inesbarrosillustration in instagram). If you follow me, you’re probably a asoiaf fan, and if you like Sansa Stark and/or Daenerys Targaryen, check her out, because she has these beautiful prints of them!! (I really wished she had some of Arya - I found no prints of Arya at Comic Con...)

Two Daredevil comics and they were 6 euros each!!! 6 euros, guys!!! 12 total!!! That’s was so cheap.... they are in Brazilian, which I do not love, because it’s confusing at time, but I’ll take it for the price. Also they have Elektra and Medusa!!!

Three mugs - they are not all for me... I saw the Battlestar Galactica and I had to get it for my brother (BSG has so little merch...), and then they had a deal of three for 20 euros (one is 8 euros) and I was taken... The Winterfell one is obviously for me - it’s so beautiful!!!, and the Batman and Superman one is for my dad

Then I wanted some Lost merch, because I’ve just been deep into the show lately. There wasn’t much, actually two POPs - cheaper than usual - Kate and Jacob, but I only get POPs for characters I really love, and while I have a few favorites in Lost, the only one I would consider buying is if they ever make a Penny one, because I LOVE her so much!!! But I got this Dharma pin with all the stations!! It was between this one and a Dharma beer pin...

And then a Martell pin, because I lost the one I got last year... and my Stark one was feeling alone. I need everyone to know where my allegiances lie :)

Also got a lot of Japanese food for my brother, but by now he has eaten everything!! (And one of the drinks, he didn't even remember to let me take a sip...)

This post is actually done now, to conclude this it was an AMAZING for days, and my favorite was definitely Friday!!! Not too many people, or too little, Saga came out, I watched The Passage and I had the panels with Dan Folger, Nicholas Hoult and Dichen Lachman!!!

[truthbeetoldmedia]

The 100 5x12 "Damocles Pt 1" Review

Guys…..I don’t even know. This show was my favorite TV show in years, maybe ever until this season (well, I kinda didn’t love Season 4 but that finale was so amazing I was still hooked) but now I don’t even know how the show wants me to feel? Do the writers want us all to stop watching? This season went off the rails after episode 5x05 and I am not a happy camper so be prepared for a salty review.

The good:

“Say hello to my little friend.” Murphy quoting Scarface as he shoots the giant laser gun, only for him to screw it up and almost blow everyone up is grade A John Murphy content.

While I’m on that scene with the laser gun, I just want to say that Dean White has such an eye for cinematography and I loved the way this whole scene was shot. Same with the march through the gorge, this episode did nail directing!

Emori and Murphy exchanging little smiles after he uses the same screw up later to give them cover to escape in the rover. Post apocalyptic Bonnie and Clyde 4ever.

SHAW. Miles Zeke “I will break if they torture you” Shaw. He is a treasure guys, he would rather die by being electrocuted than live knowing he killed hundreds of people or was the reason Raven got tortured. Protect this man. I want him and Raven to spend forever together.

Echo reading Clarke to filth for leaving Bellamy to likely die in the fighting pit because she was angry. This will be extended into the “bad” and “ugly” section.

Monty calmly telling Echo he’s not doing what she wants him to do over the radio.

Abby and Clarke actually having an affectionate second as mom and daughter...even though it was still kinda empty.

Clarke FINALLY waking up and helping her friends...this will also show up in my bad/ugly section.

Indra and Gaia having an actual mother/daughter moment. ”I’m not leaving my daughter” I want them both to survive, they deserve to be happy with each other.

I loved Octavia finally realizing how bad of a leader she’s been, I do not want her to get off the hook that easy. She has made terrible decisions and they lead up to this first 10 minutes of the episode, with her loyal army getting butchered in front of her. Of course the first to die was the little boy she had taught to fight, Ethan being the symbol of Octavia’s “hope” for the future of her people, (I hate the word Wonkru) and all of them mowed down in front of her. But I also hate it took this to get through to her — Thelonious Jaha is so disappointed in her.

“Guess she’s not up for mother of the year.” Raven as she’s taking the shock collar off Madi, TRULY iconic.

BELLAMY BLAKE is consistently the only “good” part of this show for me anymore (aside from Monty, who is almost as absent as his criminally underutilized other half Harper), and this episode we saw Bellamy do what he does best! Protect his sister, save people, put others first; but also he stands up for himself and tells Octavia “This is is all your fault, all these people died because of you.” YES, SON! Let her have it! Don’t hold back! When Octavia says, “Do you want me to die?” And he just responds, “Yes,” we know he didn’t honestly mean that considering how much he tried to keep her alive this episode.

Bellamy’s pep talk to Gaia — “Keep fighting, if not for you then for her” — and him carrying her warmed my heart.

Octavia saying “Wonkru is broken, I broke it” and Indra just flat out saying “Yes you did.”

Clarke reminding Echo that she has blood on her hands. “Don’t think all those people you helped blow up in Mt Weather didn’t count because you were following orders.” I about stood up on my feet and clapped.

Also in this same scene Clarke’s face when Echo tells her Bellamy isn’t dead and he survived her betrayal, girl was SHOOK. And the exchange of “Don’t pretend like you care about Bellamy now” and Clarke interjecting “I ALWAYS cared” — too bad this is the extent of emotion she gets to show for Bellamy in the last two episodes...when in reality she should have been crying buckets of tears.

The last second rescue of Bellamy and Co. in the gorge right when you think Octavia’s “fight is over.” It was great to see the rover back in action Monty and crew saving their friends, I just wish Clarke was there too.

I do think this episode had good moments. BUT hold onto your hats, we are about to dive deep into some salt! And also some plot lines that they seem to be “retconning” for no reason except to give fanservice to a group of people far too late and in the worst way possible...without further ado:

The bad:

Well, there were several little things that I was honestly confused by.

Kane and Vinson...what was that scene for? What did it accomplish? It was so random — what were Vinson's motivations, why did he want Abby to keep being a pill head? I loved the way he went out and the acting between Henry Ian Cusick and Mike Dopud is fabulous but, honestly, it was pointless and had no real impact on the story, like half of the plot this season if I’m being honest.

Why is the Flame and how it interfaces with the commander the most inconsistently written plot this show has ever done? Raven spent half her time in Season 3B reading Becca’s journals and explaining how the Flame works — but now it seems to work any way the writers need it to? In episode 3x12 Monty asks Raven if the minds uploaded to the City of Light (which I’m assuming is a large scale version of the Flame where thousands of “consciousnesses” can be uploaded and exist at once since Becca designed both): “There’s a chance my mom’s still alive?” to which Raven replies, “Depends on your definition of alive.” In 5x12 when Madi so creepily channels “Lexa” it’s indeed not her but a saved version of her mind from before her death, so Madi should be able to theoretically access her memories BUT in no way should Lexa be conscious to what’s going on in the present and “speak through” Madi — If this were the case why didn’t Becca tell the previous commanders who she was? That the flame was tech and not a spirit? Why didn’t the commander during the first Mount Weather troubles tell the next one about how to defeat them or how to help them therefore make peace? Why didn’t they tell Lexa the “threat” that crashed to earth was actually 100 CHILDREN that didn’t want to die or kill they just wanted to survive? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE GUYS. Jason, if you happen to read this, EXPLAIN.

In the same episode we are told the flame is ALIE 2.0 made to merge with and enhance the brain of the “host” aka commander. She goes on to say the reason commanders didn’t know it was AI was because the program “degraded over time.” SO how pray tell did a 12 year old girl reset the password on this thing when the 15 or however many prior commanders couldn’t? EXPLAIN. How did she channel a commander when from what we’ve been told it’s never been done, or grounders wouldn’t be technology fearing, warring clans? This plot has more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese.

I’m gonna stop yelling about this, I promise. I just hate this whole plot and the Flame should’ve went up in flames during Praimfaya.

Killing Ethan. So Thelonious Jaha literally dies to save his adopted son, and he is the first casualty in the gorge? Really, writers? Jaha lost his biological son, Wells, grieved him for almost 5 seasons and in turn sacrifices his life to protect his surrogate son the way he couldn’t protect his biological one, and this is how Jaha is rewarded? I really can’t believe.

The general attitude the writers seem to have about Clarke’s emotions and love, etc. Yes, she can miss Lexa, BUT I don’t believe the levels she misses a person that she knew in total for 4 months and hated approximately 3 months and one day, but not still be gutted over losing her best friend of FIFTEEN YEARS, WELLS JAHA. Or her actual father, or Bellamy — her canon post-Wells best friend in the series — whom she thinks she left to DIE? And if she can forgive Lexa’s multiple betrayals so quick she should already have forgiven Bellamy and feel like the worst person, to be honest. This season has treated the character of Clarke Griffin poorly and she deserved better.

On that subject, why is Clarke a side character instead of the lead female character? Why is her storyline like post apocalyptic Mommy Dearest? Why is she yet again isolated from her friends and family? EXPLAIN.

Okay now that I’ve gotten the above off my chest we are gonna dive straight into

The ugly:

Phew! I tell ya what, this season has exhausted me mentally and emotionally and not for good reasons.

Clarke won’t remove the flame from Madi because she “promised her” but she will force a shock collar on her and shock her with the voltage that brings a full grown man to the ground? REALLY, YOU GUYS WENT THERE? Are any of you even parents?

The whole storyline that Madi can see and feel Lexa’s memories is a whole other level of ICK! I didn’t think I’d ever have to deal with on this show. There are so many ways the writers could have not “gone there” with this story: never letting Madi have the flame, making sure we understood Madi, a twelve-year-old child, could only see relevant memories of the commanders, etc., but no. Instead, they imply that the former “lover” of her “mom” can consciously “speak” through her and show/tell the child anything. It is disturbing and I cannot believe the writers actually went there and were okay with it. Again, I am shocked that some of these people have children because they are not treated well in this show. And the  parents are usually the worst offenders.

On that note, I’d like to mention Abby’s advice and Clarke LISTENING. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Abby, and I know she’s always “tried” but she has been for 90% of the show a terrible parent. You would not want to use her as a role model for good parenting, that’s for sure.

It’s not a for sure thing yet, but if that end scene of “saving” Bellamy, Gaia and Indra is Octavia’s “redemption” I am gonna pop a forehead vein. Bellamy and Clarke still get what they did seasons ago thrown in their faces daily. I expect this x 100 for Octavia because she actively chose to do all the hideous things she did. She is not a hero, she is a villain and should be treated as such for the rest of the season. She can get a “redemption” next season if she has to have one.

If you made it through this very critical review I applaud you (and if any of the writers or directors read this, know that I respect your talent; this ranting is because I know what you guys are capable of and it’s so much better than what I’ve see this season).

To end things on a slightly positive note, next week is the season finale! Can you believe it’s already here?! Also can you believe we’ve survived this VERY rocky season? There have definitely been great moment this season, just not enough. But here are the things I’m looking forward to  or hope happen next week:

We finally get to meet Shannon Kook’s character! I’ve been waiting to meet him for months!

Hopefully Bellamy and Clarke reconcile and reconnect, I miss their amazing bond and protectiveness of one another.

Hopefully Kane and Gaia are alive and healing?

After she helps Wonkru, I hope Madi has the flame removed and it gets destroyed, never to be mentioned again.

I hope Diyoza and her baby are A-OK and we will see them next season. Same goes for Shaw, I want him alive and happy being the sweet love Raven Reyes has always deserved.

I want Clarke to mend her relationships with all of her friends and people, to apologize and to accept apologies. I want her to feel loved, I am tired of her always being isolated.

I want Bellamy to feel loved and understood, especially by Clarke and not in a “shippy” way (though I’m all for it). I want her to acknowledge that she left him to die, that she sorely regrets it and that she loves him especially if she can express that kind of sentiment for a computer hard drive and someone she liked for two weeks of her life. Bellamy and Clarke deserve an entire episode to work through their stuff because their relationship is literally the central relationship of the entire series, and to not let them acknowledge what they mean to each other and make amends does the show and the characters a disservice.

I want the season to end with hope! This season in ways has been more depressing and frustrating than Season 3 ever dreamed of being. We need light at the end of the tunnel or Season 6 may have an audience of 17 people. Levity and hope don't take away from drama and angst if executed correctly. If you can’t write both sides into the same space it’s not a problem with your story, it’s a problem with who’s writing it.  

I will have hope that they can and will do better (the characters and the writers) until the end BUT I will still bring the salt when I need to.

I give this episode 3 bees because it had potential, great cinematography, and some great Murphy one liners. But it was overall flat and disappointing.

What were your thoughts of this episode? What are you hoping for in the finale? Comment below!

And tune in to the season finale next week! Our founder Sam will be live tweeting and writing up the finale review!

The 100 airs at 8/7c on The CW.

Gina’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝

[onceland]

'It's a great club:' Once Upon a Time and Lost stars talk 'Caps, Vancouver, and more

Source

VANCOUVER, BC – While he was busy seeking revenge on Rumpelstiltskin and falling in love with Emma Swan, maybe Captain Hook found some time for footy, too.

OK, maybe not.  

But Colin O’Donoghue, who plays Captain Hook in the popular TV series Once Upon a Time, has been an avid soccer supporter his whole life. And on Saturday afternoon at BC Place, the Irishman will be trading in his hook for a pair of cleats as he takes to the pitch for Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s Legends & Stars charity alumni match, in support of BC Children’s Hospital, alongside a number of 'Caps alumni and fellow actors.

“Well, I have season tickets to the Whitecaps,” O’Donoghue told whitecapsfc.com. “When Michael Coleman (who plays Happy in Once Upon a Time) told me he was thinking about arranging it, I was like ‘Yup, count me in.’ And I love football. I’m not very good, but I love it and it’ll be good fun.”

O’Donoghue said he’s been playing soccer for as long as he can remember. Never in a game like this, though, and he just broke his foot about five months ago.

Still, he didn’t have to think twice about this opportunity

“I’m not sure how well I’m going to do but it’s for a good cause,” O’Donoghue said. “I’ve got kids and they went to BC Women’s and Children’s so I think it’s the right thing to do.”

O’Donoghue, a supporter of Manchester United, moved to Vancouver about five years ago for the filming of Once Upon a Time – the show’s main set is based out of Steveston. That’s when he started to take an interest in Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

And he liked what he saw.

“I just missed football and when I heard that there was a professional team over here, I was like, ‘Yeah I’ll have to get tickets to it,’” said O’Donoghue, who referred to Alphonso Davies as a “real find” when asked if he has a favourite ‘Caps player. “The atmosphere is great, the way the players interact with the fans after the game and stuff like that is fantastic. I think it’s a great club.”

He’s quite fond of the city, too.

“I love Vancouver,” O’Donoghue said. “I think if I’m going to be anywhere except for Ireland, I’m happy to be here. It’s a beautiful city … I mean, I’m from Ireland so Ireland is always going to be home. But we’ve been here for five years so it’s as much home as anywhere now.”

O’Donoghue is one of a number of actors currently filming TV series in Vancouver who will be taking part in Saturday’s match. The whole event came together after a conversation between Michael Coleman (Happy/Once Upon a Time), Whitecaps FC president Bob Lenarduzzi, and Whitecaps FC club ambassador Carl Valentine, who attended a mutual event on Father’s Day.

“When I was a kid, they came to my elementary school and I got to kick a ball around with the fellows,” Coleman said. “So I told them how much that meant to me.”

And it spurred on from there.

“Some of the actors that are going to be here actually had their kids born at [BC Children’s Hospital],” Coleman added. “I myself lived there as a small child. It was a really easy event to get everybody associated with. And the Whitecaps are sort of the cool event to do in town.”

There has been overwhelming interest in the event thus far.

In addition to O’Donoghue, some of the actors who will be taking part include Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin/Once Upon a Time, Begbie/Trainspotting, Gaz/The Full Monty), KJ Apa (Archie Andrews/Riverdale), Ray Winstone (Mr. French/The Departed, Gal/Sexy Beast, Mac/Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), and Henry Ian Cusick (Marcus/The 100, Desmond/Lost).

“It’s to support BC Children’s Hospital, which is a great cause,” said Cusick when asked why he wanted to be involved. “I’m a big soccer fan. I play soccer. This has always been something I’ve wanted to do, one of these charity matches. You give me a ball, I’ll chase it.”

Like O’Donoghue, Cusick has been a footy fan his whole life.

Growing up in Scotland, Cusick has always been a supporter of Dundee United FC, though he said he has a “soft spot” for Manchester United and his favourite player was Mark Hughes.

Cusick is best known for his role as Desmond in Lost, but most recently he’s been starring as Marcus Kane in The 100, which is also filmed in Vancouver. In fact, Cusick said he lives near BC Place and tries to follow Whitecaps FC on TV as best he can.

“I’ve never played in a stadium like that before,” said Cusick, who referred to himself as a “utility player” or a “safe” right back. “I’m very excited about that. Also, hopefully if I get playing time, with professional players, the speed is probably going to be fantastic.”

Cusick said he wasn’t quite sure who the best celebrity player will be on Saturday, though he gave his vote to O’Donoghue because he’s “young and Irish.” O’Donoghue, on the other hand, opted for his fellow Once Upon a Time cast member Robert Carlyle – also known as Rumpelstiltskin, his arch-nemesis in the show.

“I think he was pretty nifty back in the day so we’ll have to wait and see,” O’Donoghue said.

“I’m just looking forward to playing in BC Place and having a laugh. As long as we can raise some money for the BC Women’s and Children’s Hospital, then that’s all that matters. We’ll just have a great day.”

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: LEGENDS & STARS CHARITY ALUMNI MATCH

The alumni match will take place on Saturday from 1:45 p.m. PT to 2:45 p.m. PT ahead of Vancouver’s Major League Soccer match against Columbus Crew SC, which kicks off at 4 p.m. PT. Fans can enter BC Place through Gate A beginning at 1:15 p.m. PT.

To purchase a ticket for the alumni match, fans must also have or purchase a ticket for the MLS match. No in-and-outs will be permitted between matches.

Tickets for the alumni match are on sale for $5, with all proceeds donated to BC Children’s Hospital.

TICKETS FOR ALUMNI MATCH ONLY: http://ow.ly/D4HP30eVOrV TICKETS FOR ALUMNI MATCH AND MLS MATCH (alumni match add-on will appear after you select your seats for the MLS match): http://ow.ly/hYzb30eVOxr

[kraft94dinner-blog]

The Passage

In 2009, I came across the first chapter of Justin Cronin’s trilogy. After reading the first couple pages, I could not put it down. The writing was moving and pulled me into the world of Amy Bellafonte and Agent Brad Wolgast. It soon became my favorite book. But with that being said, I never finished the second book. Things happen in life and I get easily distracted. All three books sit on my bookshelf collecting dust. Until, by complete accident, I was scrolling through popular shows looking for my next binge session and stopped at a show with the same title as a book I once loved. As I read the synopsis, memories of the characters I fell in love with and the chapters I felt I lived through myself came rushing back to me. As soon as I realized that this show was based on the same book I came across all those years ago, I knew I had to watch it. Call it fate, if you will. But for anybody who has watched something based off of a book they loved, you know to never have high expectations. The movie/show is never as good as the book. It’s a sad but true fact of life.

I sat for a few moments rereading the synopsis, trying to decide if it was worth it. Will the show ruin the book for me? Will I be devastated as they tear apart the characters, the back stories, the feelings I felt as I read it? Will it be worth it? I did what every person does in this situation. I googled it. I IMDB’d it. I researched it. Only some light research though. I didn’t want to ruin it before I even started it. And what I found drew me to the conclusion that I needed to try this show.

So I did. But before I start discussing my thoughts and opinions on the story, let me explain what I was getting myself into.

Spoilers.

First, the book. Justin Cronin weaves a tale of a young girl named Amy Bellafonte, who lived a sad and lonely life even before the events that unfold. Her mother is a sad waitress waiting for the life she always dreamed of when a man enters her restaurant. He is the epitome of her prince charming. His actions and words seduce her instantly and they spend the few days he is in town together. And then he is gone, just as fast as he appeared. Leaving the pretty young waitress to go back to his family, not knowing he had started another one. The waitress raised young Amy and eventually, the man came back. Same old story you hear. He was different. He stayed. He became angry. Violent. And then he left. Amy was raised by her mother, moving from hotel room to hotel room while her mother did everything she could to make money. Anything. Until one night, looking to make a buck, the waitress gets picked up by a young frat boy. She finds herself in a dangerous situation as most women do when they live such a dark life. To protect herself, she ends up shooting the frat boy with a pistol she keeps on her for such occasions. She runs. Knowing they will find her, she leaves Amy with a nice nun by the name of Lacey that she finds at a convent. And then she disappears.

Jump to a different story. The story of an agent by the name of Brad Wolgast. Serving his country by doing a sketchy job. He visits prisons and speaks with  death row inmates that are assigned to him. He is on number twelve at this time. An inmate named Anthony Carter. The man is a little slow. Uneducated and of color. He mowed the lawn for a nice lady who gave him iced tea. An accident happens and the nice lady ends up in a pool with lungs full of water. The man is innocent. We know that and even Brad Wolgast suspects. But that doesn’t matter. He came to do a job. He pitches Mr. Carter a deal. To live and maybe save lives. Who would turn that down? Number twelve is secured and Brad receives his next assignment. A young girl who was abandoned and has no family. The perfect candidate for the governments project.

This is where things get confusing. The Passage is full of many different characters and their stories. It jumps from time line to time line. Explaining the story of how Brad finds Amy but realizes he is doing something wrong so he goes rogue and tries to save her. You read Brad’s back story of how he had a young daughter who died and it ruined his life and his marriage, how Amy is his salvation. You read about Mr. Carter’s change and the experiments happening to death row inmates. You read about the scientist who finds a virus in South America that could cure any disease but instead causes a new species of vampires that all started with twelve death row inmates. You read about Amy’s unfortunate tale of trying to escape the government and failing, getting infected with the virus and becoming a super human that is separate from the monsters they created, better than what was created. You read about the destruction of the world that has been laid out in front of you. And while you read this horrific tale, the author is also leading you on a different journey, one completely created by what you are reading. Chapters jump from the origin of the virus, to the what the world has become years after it is created. 93 years after the virus was released, what is left of humanity is trying to survive in colonies. One of these colonies stumble across a young girl who is both vampire and not. Amy helps them discover how to destroy the creatures completely and eradicate the virus. And so begins the rest of the journey.

Seeing as I haven’t read books two and three, I am not sure what happens after they start their journey. But you can bet I will be reading the trilogy now to finish the story.

Now, the show. Most people do not like when a show differs from the book it is based on. But I prefer it. Yes, I like to see the book come to life and see another persons view on everything I had seen in my own mind. But I like being surprised. This is why I have a hard time with Game of Thrones. If a show follows the books so precisely, it gets boring. And you can no longer enjoy either again.

The changes made in The Passage was exactly what was needed to pull me into the show. Of course, there were things I didn’t like or I was unsure of. I think the only thing that really pissed me off about the show was Amy’s mother and her back story. My favorite chapter in the book was the one explaining what happens to the waitress and the frat boy. The writing was never better than those few pages. In the show, Amy doesn’t have a back story. She starts in a restaurant, betting on arm wrestling matches with some of the town children. And of course winning. She goes back to the hotel late at night to find an ambulance and her mother who had died from an overdose after having a fight with Amy.

Mostly, they kept to the book. But they kept it flowing instead of jumping back and forth from the future and now. They told you the origin first which I liked. Agent Brad Wolgast was exactly what I imagined and I was happy to find that I recognized the actor. I couldn’t place him so of course I looked him up. It was none other than Zack Morris from Saved By The Bell. He grew up. Quite nicely if I can be so crass. With this pleasant surprise came another one. Henry Ian Cusick. I am a fan of his work in The 100 and Lost. So to find him playing the scientist who started it all was amazing. Another pleasant surprise was the character, Lacey. As I progressed in the show, I started to assume her character was nonexistent. There was no convent. No nuns. Lacey’s character in the book was very important. She helped Amy and Brad along the way. She was a big part of their escape from the facility after the virus broke out. It would have been a loss if they had not included her. So when she appeared as an ex-nun and former military companion of Agent Brad Wolgast, I was overjoyed. She was badass and a little paranoid. Her role was small in the first season but she held promise for the next season. She teams up with the scientist, saving him from committing suicide after he realized he had doomed the world. They portrayed her as his savior and friend who will force him to correct the wrong he had created.

Another change that I am still unsure of was Babcock. This character in the book was one of the twelve. He was suppose to be big and mean and most importantly, male. Introducing Shauna Babcock in the show. Blonde. Beautiful. In love with the head of security. Her connection with Clark Richards (security dude and best friend to the agent) is inspiring seeing as she is a blood sucking monster in his eyes. But watching her penetrate his mind, toy with his emotions, and control his actions was perfect. I am unsure of how they will build on her character but the Babcock in the book was the first of the twelve to die and the reason the survivors realize that if they kill one of the twelve, they kill every single monster they created and the monsters their monsters created and so on.

I think the most astonishing thing for me in the show was how they will keep some of the characters. In the book, everyone you meet from the origin dies except Amy of course. But in the show, they find a cure. Although it isn’t really a cure. It turns those bitten into something different. Agent Brad Wolgast receives a treatment by Amy after he is bitten in the mountains after their escape. The agents wife, Lila, gets treatment when she is bitten in the facility the night the twelve escape. And the scientist injects himself with it instead of creating human experiments again, because we know how well that went the first time. I’m not sure what will happen to him because he wasn’t bitten first but I am excited to find out. And one of the most interesting of all of them was Clark Richards. Throughout the season, when Babcock visits Richards through telepathy (oh yeah, they can do that), she hints at the fact that each of the twelve gets one person. They do not give you any other information other than that. Until the last couple of episodes. Richards gets bitten during the escape and you are sure he is going to die. But Babcock is there, watching over him and entering his mind. She tells him that if he says yes to her, he can stay alive, that he will be her person. She explains that he will be normal other than the fact that he will live forever. He obviously says yes and lives, trying to put Babcock on a diet and control her. He doesn’t realize that she will always control him.

The ending of the first season was exactly what I expected with one small detail that surprised me. 97 years later ( not 93 but same dif), the world has died and those who have survived are in a colony. Amy narrates her letter to the agent after she left him. Her voice over follows the future Amy as she approaches the colony, speaking of how she knows he is alive and she is going to find him, find her family.

I give this show two thumbs up and highly recommend it to those who enjoy vampire horror/thriller. After reading many reviews online from those who read the book and those who haven’t, I noticed a trend of dislike among those who did read Justin Cronin’s trilogy. I hope this review will help those who are unsure if it’s worth it. But for those who have not read the book, I recommend trying both.

[insidearkadia]

4x11 “The Other Side”

”I must have missed the election that made you chancellor again.”--Bellamy Blake

A desperate Bellamy is a sassy Bellamy who was not accepting what Clarke and Jaha had done. Everyone knows that Bellamy would do anything for his sister. Everyone it seems but Clarke and Jaha, who put an often apathetic Murphy in charge of watching over Bellamy. Jaha really should have known better as Bellamy shot him to get to his sister on the drop ship. Bellamy deliberately tore up his wrists to gain access to Abby where the two worked together to get Bellamy out the door. Abby even drugged Jaha to get at the necessary controls. Even after a warning shot, Bellamy was not going to be stopped. “ You're gonna have to make it a kill shot. It's the only way you're gonna stop me,” he told Clarke. Clarke was desperate but not desperate enough to shoot Bellamy who reunited with his sister on the other side.

“This is Raven Reyes and I’m alive.”--Raven Reyes

We were treated to a teaser where Raven is reunited with either a hallucination or possibly a real person. There was a lot of speculation that it would be Finn, her ex boyfriend and first love. However we were rewarded with the much more apt person, Sinclair, the man who “took a chance on a zero-g mechanic with a heart defect.” Sinclair was Raven’s mentor and the one that believed in her the most. If anyone was going to help Raven work through the Allie brain problem, it would be this man. Sure enough, Raven was able to work through a solution that included killing herself in a pool of ice water and reviving herself in enough time so she did not become brain dead. There was a beautiful shot of the two touching hands on the wall of the pool before Raven died and then successfully revived herself. It was the good bye that Raven did not get last season and a beautiful send off for Sinclair.

“We are one clan. And this is our home.”--Octavia Blake

Octavia reunited the clans under the newly minted name, Wonkru (One Crew). Now she had to keep them at bay while she waited for Bellamy to open the door, an event she had no doubt would happen. However Octavia’s shining moment in this episode was dealing with Echo. Echo seemed pretty determined to pretend that Roan didn’t banish her for cheating last episode. Octavia put her in her place pretty quickly. She made sure Indra knew that Echo cheated and that Roan had banished her. Indra wanted Azgeda to be left out, long standing feud and all, but Octavia did not want to punish Azgeda for what Echo had done and what Roan did not condone. Echo still got what was coming to her and when it came time to enter the bunker, Octavia banished her from ever entering.

“That’s unsanitary.”--Jasper Jordan

Monty was desperate to get both his best friend and his best girl to the bunker plus anyone else willing to come. People were getting sick from the raising radiation levels and the non stop partying. The first casualty was Riley, rescued this season from farm station, who ended up partying too hard and died of an overdose. This lead Jasper to act like the Kool-Aid man of Jonestown and went to find the correct dose to have a painless death. Monty, clad in a suit to protect himself, finds Jasper staring out the window at the red moon which was another sign of the impeding doom. Jasper had already taken a lethal cocktail. Jasper told Monty how he felt and wanted Monty to tell him he loved him before Jasper passed away. Monty did but he was too late. Jasper found the peace he desperately was seeking since he lost Maya back in season 2. 

 “You’re not enough to make me want to live.”--Harper McIntyre

Harper seems ready and willing to die. Monty pours his heart out to her, declaring his love for her. In attempt to chase Monty away so he will leave her behind and go to the bunker, she tells him she doesn’t love him and that he isn’t enough. After Jasper dies, Monty goes back to the main room to find everyone else dead. He desperately tries to find Harper, mistaking another girl for her. Thankfully Harper found her will to live and Monty found her by the rover, suited up, and Harper told Monty her true feelings. Love in the face of death makes great storytelling. 

“Skaikru gets 100 beds, same as everybody else. Bellamy gets one of them. The rest is up to you. The death wave comes in 24 hours. You've got 12 to decide.”--Octavia Blake The episode ends with Wonkru inside the bunker and Jaha still arguing against what is decided. Octavia puts her foot down and now we come full circle to the original number of 100 members from Skaikru. Judging by the promos for next week, we will see the process on which they need to select 100 members out of about 500 people. 

This was an emotional episode as we said good bye to a beloved character and three others have another chance at life. The episode definitely ran us through the human gambit of emotions and we are feeling the desperation that everyone is feeling which only stands to ramp up in the next two episodes. 

Special shout out to Henry Ian Cusick for directing this fantastic episode. 

[100foreverfiles]

I’m going to rant about The 100.

* I did not watch this week’s ep. 

This show is completely losing it, and it’s disappointing because it had so much promise. This show is airing on the CW network, but squandered the chance to be a crossover success (similar to Jane the Virgin) by reaching a wider audience than teen viewers.

It began with an interesting - and unfortunately, now timely and relevant (thanks Trump!) - premise: the world was destroyed by nuclear explosions. The last remains of humanity were hovering in space waiting for Earth to be habitable. 

Clever! Intriguing! 

The show had a cast that included several Battlestar Galactica alums thanks to shooting in Vancouver:

Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) who played Sinclair. Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon) who played Diana Sydney. Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma) who played Dr. Lorelei Tsing. Aaron Kelly (Ty Olsson) who played Nyko. 

…to name a few. 

These familiar faces immediately attracted an older demographic, who had been in search of the next great space/dystopian drama. From Reddit to TV reviewers, people were calling it the “next Battlestar.” 

The show also had a handful of professional actors in the leads to help support a cast of younger unknowns and newcomers including longtime actors:

Isaiah Washington (you might recognize him from Grey’s and lots of movies)

Henry Ian Cusick, of Scandal and Lost most recently. 

Paige Turco of Person of Interest. 

After the first few teen-skewed “CW” episodes, The 100 found its footing. It began telling a story of a people, and the devastating consequences and emotional impact of what it meant to have to fight for survival. It showed the impossible choices and their weight, and asked you to think: what would I have done? 

The scene where they went to collect the bodies on Deck 15? Still burned into my mind. 

Clarke’s decision to save her mother at Mt. Weather - despite knowing she would kill innocent people in the process? A horrible worst-case-scenario thought experiment played out before your eyes.

And Maya’s haunting final words, “none of us is innocent,” spoke to the underlying truth that’s also the show’s central theme.

Or, “there are no good guys.”  

This statement was mirrored again when Abby tells Kane “everybody always does,” after Kane laments how Bellamy really believed he was doing the right thing. 

But the show has missed its mark in a number of key areas.

For starters, it failed to show how a (Trump-like) dictator of sorts, Pike, was able to establish power so quickly. 

After all, the existing leadership so far had managed to fight against nearly insurmountable odds: survival on a new world after a lifetime in space, having to feed and house their people, a dangerous unknown enemy, vicious animals, etc., etc. 

But the sky people were making their way towards peace with the grounders, and had even established a society of sorts - gardens were growing, there was a mess hall, booze, and even a piano! 

Clarke had just saved them from Mt. Weather, Kane was proving to be a great diplomat, and then BOOM, in comes Mr. Us-Vs.-Them Pike, who suddenly had half the camp’s support. How? 

It’s also unfathomable that Bellamy would have taken part in the grounder massacre. Remember this is a boy who JUST MURDERED hundreds of innocents at Mt. Weather. And despite how he was portrayed in S1, he’s basically a good person who knows the difference between right and wrong. 

The storyline says he was under Pike’s spell, but in reality, it was lazy writing. We were told this, not shown it. There needed to be a conflict, so one was written in without any respect to Bellamy’s history or character development. 

Being TOLD and not SHOWN is probably The 100′s greatest weakness. If it’s not a fight scene, The 100 doesn’t want to deal.

The show also proceeded to kill off its most intriguing and diverse characters, in just terribly written ways. Lexa (in a bury-your-gays meme) dies of an accidental bullet. Lincoln - who knows what’s what about survival - chooses to hang back for his certain death. Really? Lincoln was not dumb. He surely understood that his role as a bridge between the two peoples was of greater long-term worth to all of humanity, than his honorable intentions in remaining behind. 

Pike, meanwhile, is painted as a pure villain. He doesn’t at all have a convincing argument as to why war is better than peace, but somehow manages to commit atrocity after atrocity with nary a raised eyebrow from his early supporters. 

If he’s The 100′s Trump, then the show should have explained what exactly people thought could be achieved by electing a dictator. Did they really vote for war and more genocide? Or did the show just need a bad guy for a season? 

(Hint, it’s the latter).  

Then you have the show’s long and often tedious slog through grounder culture. 

Instead of a world-building scenario where history of the peoples of the earth is told through interpersonal relationships, politics, and cross-cultural exchanges, the story of the grounders is almost entirely about warfare and violence. 

This doesn’t jive at all with the fact that there was a grounder society - cities, villages, clans, religion, government, a justice system. You can’t constantly be warring and also develop this level of infrastructure and stability. 

And where is the backstory about why the clans separated, or what their shared values and differences are, or why Ice Nation became so brutal and calculated? 

Again, we’re told, not shown. Here are some clans. They like to fight. This one is bad.

Contrast this to S1 and the grounders exacting an eye-for-an-eye revenge leading to Clarke stabbing (and crying) over her misguided boyfriend du jour to achieve peace with the grounders and save Finn from suffering.

So many takeaways from that scene: 

Grounders believe in justice and punishment; acts of terrorism (Finn shot up innocent people, recall) have real world consequences; Clarke knew how to achieve both goals (saving Finn from suffering, placating the grounders) and did so despite the personal cost; Clarke is a real person with feelings; Lexa accepted Finn’s death was enough to satisfy the call for justice, because she didn’t want to have to deal with political cost of a protracted war with the sky people; Lexa is not a monster, but a real person with feelings. And Clarke was a mother-f’ing leader.

And all this was SHOWN through maybe a few minutes of action and acting and very little dialog. 

These past seasons, though, you have Clarke, the blonde-haired earth newcomer-turned-leader, falling for the commander/queen-like figure, and later “dressing up” like a grounder to hide out (that grounder hair, e.g. - it was hard not to equate it to white girl dreads). 

And in S4, you’ve got this lead character coldly sentencing a man to die for the purpose of testing an experimental drug, then trying to appropriate grounder religion under the guise of saving all the people at the expense of everyone’s dignity and humanity. 

What is this s***? 

Meanwhile, the show has killed off most of the adults that played notable roles (Diana, Kane’s mom, that savvy lady who ran the black market on the spaceship, people’s parents, Sinclair, Lincoln, Pike), turned them into jokes (Jaha), or just sidelined them while sometimes using them as plot devices (Kane, Abby, Jackson). The remaining grown-ups (and only established actors on this show) no longer have interpersonal relationships except as “mom” and “dad” figures to the kids, in Abby and Kane’s case. (And sometimes Jaha.) 

Can we please recall in S1, these people were actually running the entire space-born society? I get that this is a kid show, but these are still experienced leaders and would in reality be playing larger roles in this story if it wasn’t for this being a CW show. 

And while everyone just loves the whole daddy Kane trope, it’s diminishing to a character who had grown from unemotional autocrat to repentant sinner to peaceful ambassador to loving partner. Now he’s just the hey-there-kid-it’s-all-gonna-be-ok guy. 

And Abby has been painted as nothing more than a shrill mama bear who will do anything to save her daughter. 

I mean, she stops Clarke from taking the chip not because it’s massively insulting to grounder culture to try to cheat your way into their religious order, but because “we don’t even know if it will work.” 

And then there are the kids. 

Octavia. Ugh, she’s a fighter, not a lover! (Ha.) 

She doesn’t find a way to do any good following Lincoln’s death by - like, say, becoming an ambassador who tries to mend the relationships between grounders and sky people so leaders like Pike could never come to power again. Nope, she just kills people and uses sex to block out her sadness. What a great message for the kids watching the show! Aww, did life get hard? Turn evil! Don’t try to find any meaning in tragedy! 

And are we supposed to care about Harper and Monty now, by the way? I mean, I guess when you’ve killed off so much of the cast, you have to move team B into team A roles. But the whole of their relationship has been a few shots of them in bed, and little character development beyond Monty’s mommy-is-our-enemy problem? 

And Harper is suicidal because? Because why exactly? Because maybe these are very green writers creating this show and they wanted to write a “sad scene?” 

And good god, is Jasper the most annoying person ever because he knew a nice girl for a week or two, probably had his first-ever kiss, and then she died? Or is he the only one who has got it right? (“Fuck this show, I’m outta here!”)

The only good actor among the kids is Richard Harmon, whose resume is growing to support this. Lindsey Morgan will likely do well in action-girl type films (bat girl?), but she’s better when playing girl-who-is-awesomer-than-thou. Her emotional range needs work. (No, don’t tell me about the amazing scenes with Murphy, because he’s carrying her through them. And remember her awkward 2-episode relationship with that blond Wick dude? Yeah, no wonder they decided to pigeonhole her as kick-ass grrrl engineer.) 

Some of the supporting actors are okay, but definitely not-steal-the-show stars (beyond Carney obviously who did before leaving, or Ricky Whittle who is now leading American Gods). 

And some, I’m sorry, are just flat one-notes who are clearly still “perfecting their craft.” 

And that’s fine, everyone needs a starter show. But in that event, showrunners should pair them up MORE with the pros, because the kids can learn on the job and improve over time, while pros can carry a scene and give it weight and impact when the newbies cannot. 

A pro can express a range of emotions and clue you into their internal turmoil with just a look. (Remember Kane, saying “again” as Abby is lashed? He had one word of dialog that he said a couple of times. But damned if that wasn’t one of the show’s most harrowing scenes. A perfect conflict between the decentness inside him, and his need to re-establish order. And how terrible he felt doing the “right” thing.) 

But then you have Clarke who’s seems to only emote like a broken record now: “survive!” She committed genocide a few months ago, recall? Yet, she can’t seem to shed a tear for anything or anyone but dear, departed Lexa.  

Even while holding her mom who’s sobbing in her arms, she just seemed annoyed - like her mind was already onto “well, what’s plan B?” - rather than having any sort of reaction to the fact that she had just asked her own mother to basically (probably) watch her die. 

Sorry, she’s kind of a monster now. 

Finally, we have the show’s distaste for character development in favor of choreographed action sequences. 

Yes, fight scenes and battles can get the blood pumping, but they only have long-term impact when you are rooting for someone to win. But who are the good guys here? It’s arguably no longer the sky people (was it ever?), who have only committed multiple genocides since landing, and just tried co-op grounder religion as a political move. 

It’s hard to even want them to survive at this point. After all, wasn’t Polis a lovely bustling city before the sky people showed up? Market stalls with sunglasses and weird food, and kids running around! 

Meanwhile, the writing team’s Twitter feed is a continual stream of taunts about ooooh battle! ooooh war! which characters will die next?

Not only is this rude to the fans who have formed attachments to their favorites, it’s also the entirely wrong type of sentiment to be trying to strike at this time in our lives. The writers seem downright stoked about the fact that they can instill fear in the hearts of fans, when our very world is watching the fallout of terrorism, war and the real human cost of all that play out in front of our eyes.

We are seeing innocents rammed down with trucks, shot up in schools and public places. We’re watching dictators attack their own people, truth tellers jailed, and children suffer. We have a dangerous man in power in the U.S., who’s more concerned with ego and sticking it to the left than with getting up to speed on what his job really entails. 

So no, The 100 Writing team, war and terror should not painted as a “fun escape” for your little CW show. It should be shown as the very real, unholy piece of s*** awfulness that it truly is. And with every battle scene and every death, we should see the characters taking on the burden of living with the choices that led to the end of people’s lives. 

And frankly, wouldn’t that be a better fit for a group of people that’s supposedly interested in saving humanity? You know, seeing them actually caring about other human beings? 

[pendragaryen]

About guilt...

… and outstanding acting skills….

Bae killed me in this episode. AGAIN. I just…

Look, my personal situation isn’t the very best atm. In fact, i’m literally kind of going through the worst time of my life. And maybe it’s because of this simple fact that I’m so goddamn vulnerable right now. But… you see… Bob Morley, ladies and gents… He already DID a great job this season. Again and again he’s already proven that he’s just one of, if not THE best actor of The 100 - in S4 and even before. I… dunno how to even START to describe what his acting in the latest episode made me feel. But I try, even if there already are dozens of metas about it and no-one’s gonna read this anyway. I just need to get this off me.

To see Bob Morley’s Bellamy sitting in that Rover, not being able to rescue these poor guys out in that storm of black rain, alone and forlorn, completely lost in his guilt and fear and pain, forced to listen to the goddamn screams of the daddy and his already dying son over the radio, the screams of people he swore to protect and to rescue… It’s just too much. Far too much. For him - and for myself too. Something broke inside of me today. And this time, other than the times before, my tears didn’t stop falling. I cried throughout the rest of the ep and simply wasn’t able to stop myself. Seeing and most and for all HEARING him cry, his voice so goddamn hoarse and broken, barely a whisper when he told Kane that he failed, that he thinks that he’s CONSTANTLY failing, that he can’t rescue anyone, not even his own blood… Guys… It hurts. Something deep inside of me hurts like hell. And I almost thought that I could FEEL his pain atm. I couldn’t BREATHE because of it. That was not a healthy kind of crying I did. That wasn’t relieving. That was ACHING. And i’m still aching all over.

And not to mention Bell’s last words echoing the ones of Kane. Did he speak of himself here? This is not just about Octavia right? Did he say that he himself doesn’t WANT to be saved? I hate to admit that but… I think that’s what his eyes were telling Kane (and us) atm. At that point… he already was beyond tears. He just… stood there and cited Kanes words from before in an almost… stone-cold voice… I fear for him. I’m afraid what he might do now, that he really don’t know any limits now anymore, that he’ll head right into the next big dangerous situation so that he could die. Yes I think that at the end of this episode his greatest wish is just to die. That he doesn’t deserve to live anymore (what is new, Anne, but…), whereas others, who HE FAILED TO SAVE, are dead and gone now. (The only reason that he had not left the rover to die in the toxic rain was probably the hope to see Clarke again (well, I hope, bc she told him so… Gosh where is she when she’s most needed…)  From HIS point of view it must feel like he killed those guys out there. New deaths, new guilt, new pain. New blood added to the blood already staining his hands…

And this broke me. This BREAKS me. Not just my heart. My everything. And Bob Morley, bless him, he’s just SO BRILLIANT in what he’s doing, that I just want to grab his Bellamy by the shoulders and shake him, I just want to scream at his face that he’s valuable, that he’s beautiful and brave and kind in all his constant TRYING and STRUGGLING and SELF-FINDING. Bob Morley easily convinces me again and again of the authenticity of a Bellamy Blake. He’s so tangible for me. So downright true and believable. I’m so thankful that Bob Morley is our Bellamy Blake. He’s a blessing for this show. I can’t repeat it enough.

And now that I finally finished my crying, I just want to say that I loved this episode. It may not be the most exciting or mindblowing one of this season so far. But in all it’s (subtle) pain and struggling (and I’d especially like to point out the great performances of Henry Ian Cusick, Paige Turco, Luisa D’Oliveira and Chelsey Reist here too!!!) it was one of the most gripping ones up until now for me. Wow… Thank you Bobby. And again: Give bae all the awards in the world, please. Dat guy is so goddamn talented… Jfc

[sueboohscorner]

The 100 408 Recap "God Complex" #The100

Episode grade: 9

We open this week right where we left off: Baylis has been injected with the bone marrow treatment, and it's time to shove him in the radiation pressure cooker and see what happens. Our friends are all standing around awkwardly, acting like they are making a decision they've already made. Apparently, they are at least uncomfortable with the murder they're probably about to commit.

But Abby's all about moral theater, and it's suddenly easy to recall that she was complicit in all manner of cruelty and better-you-than-me sacrifice back when she served on the Ark council. Of course, they put him in the oven, and of course, the test is a failure. He dies in a spectacularly gross expulsion of Nightblood that they somehow get perfectly clean later, because what really matters is that they aren't surrounded by reminders of their actions.

Unfortunately, while they're cleaning up the corpse, they notice that the evidence points to his being not exactly who they thought he was. More to the point, not exactly who Emori told them he was. They realize they've killed a random dude rather than a cold-blooded torturer of children, and their emotional math goes straight to blaming Emori, because they are not prepared to accept this as their own moral black mark. 

Emori knows she's now the next test subject, and she and Murphy get locked up to prevent their interference in what's to come. Raven and Luna both object strenuously, but Luna's injured from her bone marrow extraction, so she can't get away, and Raven's objections are vocal (Raven's always injured).

They forcibly extract some more bone marrow for another test. "Welcome to Mount Weather," Raven snarls at Abby. Clarke is conflicted, but Roan assures her she's being a good leader.

Abby rationalizes, "First we survive, then we find our humanity again." Raven again invokes Mount Weather.

In a truly touching scene, Emori begs Murphy to pretend he's okay with this, so they won't automatically choose him for the next test. His love for her is the only thing that outweighs his survival instinct, though; he gives Clarke a blistering dose of reality about the line she's crossing.

It works, too. Clarke stops short of sticking Emori with the test injection, instead self-administering it. After they draw some blood to prove she's turned herself into a Nightblood, she's ready to go forward with the test, but Abby loses her mind and destroys the test chamber.

It turns out Abby has been having visions (the leftover ALIE in her brain), and she knew the test would fail. She was willing to keep play-acting that they had hope for a cure as long as someone else's life was on the line, but now that it's Clarke, she gives up the show. This is the moment when Abby loses her moral claim for all time, folks. Kane will have a hard time being with her if he hears this story.

Speaking of Kane, Jaha has convinced him to reach out to Indra for a meeting, because Jaha has renewed hope of finding the secret bunker that death cult built. Jaha says he's sure the previous bunker they found was a decoy to draw in the unworthy; he's sure of his theory, because it's what he would have done. It's a wonderfully true-to-the-character moment. Jaha is totally a cult leader at heart.

They meet up with a pissed-off Indra, no longer Kane's BFF since Azgeda made peace with Skaikru and started murdering Trikru. But he convinces her to introduce Jaha to her daughter Gaia, and they find the bunker. In an awesome Lost callback moment, Henry Ian Cusick is once again in the hatch.

Meanwhile, back at Arkadia, Jasper's being Jasper. He goes to collect those hallucinogenic nuts everyone went crazy from in S1, because he's throwing an End of the World rave. Bellamy gets kind of sucked in, because Bellamy loses his moral compass when he's away from Clarke and Octavia. 

This week was rough for our team. I'm beginning to think Abby will die this season, because she's way too far gone. What do you think? Is the bunker the true solution? How many people can it possibly hold, and who do you think should be left out? Cough-Jasper-cough.

[michaelamwrites]

Unity Days 2017: Eliza Taylor on Clarke’s Journey

(A little background-- I wrote this post for the website I write for, but the editor doesn’t like it and his notes consisted essentially of “make it better,” so I a) sent an application to Talk Nerdy With Us because I’ve had enough of his over-controlling self and b) am posting this here, because I’m really happy with it, and the editor doesn’t pay me, so I’m not gonna kiss up and make my writing lower-quality.

So, with that out of the way, here we go!)

"I think there comes a certain time in anyone’s life when something really, really tragic or awful happens, and you can kind of choose to let it define you, or you can rise above it and put it to good use," says Eliza Taylor of Clarke's mourning of Lexa. "And I think that's what she's doing."

Eliza, who plays Clarke Griffin in the CW's hit post-apocalyptic series The 100, attended Unity Events Canada's very first convention, Unity Days 2017 on Saturday, January 14th, and shared a little (spoiler-free, of course) info on Clarke's journey in season 4, which premieres on Wednesday, February 1st at 9/8c on the CW.

I was able to attend Unity Days, and had such a fun time connecting with the cast, fans, and other press members! We'll be posting loads of articles about our time there (edit: I’m not sure how much I’ll post on this tumblr--it depends on when I hear back from TNWU), split up by character and actor—so without further ado, here's what Eliza Taylor had to say about season 4 of  The 100! Panels were moderated by Jo Garfein, the creator of the charity Cancer Gets LOST, who did a spectacular job making sure everything went smoothly, and that everyone was listened to.

(x)

First up, let's talk relationships!

An audience member asked Eliza how she and Alycia Debnam-Carey prepared for the scene in the City of Light where Clarke and Lexa reunite, and asked if they improvised anything. Eliza answered that she and Alycia are very close friends, and it was a wonderful surprise to have her back. "We didn’t really prepare anything, we just did what we always do, which is work well together," she continued. They improvised some, but Eliza isn't certain if any of it made it into the final cut, as the producers like to stick with the script. "We've got a chemistry, and she's a delight to work with," she finished.

Clarke is notorious for not grieving very long, and just swallowing down her pain (see: Wells and Finn), so Jo asked if we'll see Clarke grieving Lexa at all in season 4. "Yeah. That's always a shade of her now," Eliza said. "She'll always be grieving. It was the love of her life."

[At this point Jess Harmon, who plays Niylah (who Clarke hooked up with in the season 3 premiere) walked onto the stage (wearing a Jarod Joseph shirt) and yelled, “The love of your LIFE?!?!?” to much laughter. Eliza asked if they could talk about it later, babe, but no, "Niylah" was too upset to have this discussion in private.]

(x)

Now, Lexa isn't the only one Clarke has lost. She's also lost Jake, Wells, and Finn, to name a few. An audience member asked if we would see Clarke grieving her other losses. "Yes," Eliza confirmed. "She feels grief and guilt."

Another member of the audience said, “So, obviously there’s been a lot of focus on Clarke’s relationships throughout the seasons. In season 4, do we get to see more of Clarke growing individually, outside of any relationship?” Eliza confirmed that we definitely will, adding, "Which I like, you know, she’s an independent woman!"

An audience member mentioned that "Clarke’s kind of got a bad track record with keeping her romantic partners alive" and asked if, if there's a new romance for her in season 4— “Will they live?” Eliza interjected. "That’s yet to be seen. I can’t answer! But yeah, I’ve really gotta stop killing the people I love. Not that I’M killing them, it’s like I’m cursed or something.”

Jessica Harmon wasn't the only person to crash Eliza's panel. The panel was supposed to be the "Princess Mechanic" panel, but Lindsey got called in to film more stuff for episode 4x11, so it became the Princess panel, or the Wanheda panel, or just the Eliza Taylor panel. Eliza told her castmates to crash her panel, so it wouldn't just be her up there all the time, so Ty Olsson (Nyko) dropped by for a visit. Ty had initially been booked as a guest for Unity Days, but had to cancel. He showed up after all, and got to visit with the fans.

(x)

Jo asked Eliza and Ty if they ever had any scenes together, and Eliza reminded us of a scene in episode 2x07, Long Into An Abyss. Lincoln was dying from withdrawal from the reaper drug (Eliza mimed his seizures) and Ty tried to end his suffering. "I was like, 'Babe. Whoa. I think I know what to do,'" Eliza finished.

“What’s your favorite phrase in Grounder?” Jo asked, bringing on some complaints from Eliza about the difficulty of learning lines in the language. The question really never got answered, but Ty told us that despite playing a grounder, he hasn't had to speak much of the Grounder language.

Jo brought up Clarke's age, so Eliza broke down the timeline to try and figure out just how old our hero is: "So, in the pilot, I won’t turn 18 for another month. And I think we’re about 8 months in at this point. Lookin’ good, youngster!" (Eliza Taylor, for comparison, is 27.)

(x)

Eliza concurred with Jo's summary of the theme for season 4: "Can we survive today, let alone survive the next crisis?" She told us that the season is "about…finding hope, I suppose, in a hopeless place." (Yes, she did start singing.) The major enemy in season 4 isn't the grounders, or the Mountain Men, or ALIE—it's going to be a war against nature. "People are basically either giving up, or fighting till the very end. It’s going to be interesting to see which characters fall into the ‘I’m sick of surviving’ category, and who fall into the ‘I’m gonna make something happen and save the human race’ category." You can probably guess which one Clarke chooses.

We learned that Eliza disliked being separated from the "adventure squad" or "Scooby gang" (or whatever you like to call the delinquents) in season 3, and enjoyed having the gang back together for season 4. We'll also see a return to the co-leadership of Bellamy and Clarke. Clarke's relationship with Bellamy isn't the only relationship we'll be seeing more of—Eliza and Paige (Abby Griffin) worked together more this season, and Clarke and Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) will have some adventures in figuring out their leadership roles. Speaking of Kane and Abby, we'll also get to see how Clarke reacts to her mother's new relationship with Kane. And there will be more of a mutual respect between the adults and the youngsters this season.

(x)

Jo asked about the physicality of season 4 as compared to season 3, and Eliza shared that she had been training a bunch, then learned that Clarke's role this season is more political. "I do have a lot of crazy stunts, but they’re very sporadic. In this season, she’s almost like a politician; she’s just trying to delegate and keep everyone together. So I love that there’s a lot less fighting for me and a lot more trying to use my words."

According to Eliza, “Clarke is influenced by her parents in the best way possible.” She gets her more emotional, compassionate side from her dad, and her stronger, more diplomatic side from her mom.

A particularly good—and well-thought-out—question from the audience was this: "Monty shared some of the blame with Clarke for Mount Weather—do you think Raven will share the blame for her role in destroying the City of Light in a similar way, and do you think Clarke and Raven will bond over that?"

We could tell that this won't happen, by Eliza's sheepish laughter when she said "That's a really good story point." Guess the writers missed that one. "I think there’s a lot of collateral damage after the City of Light is destroyed, for both of us," Eliza continued. "You do see us kind of connect, but maybe in more of a surprising way than you would imagine."

(x)

It seems that Clarke and Luna have a lot of scenes together this season, and Eliza loves that. “She’s like my soul sister, honestly," she says of Nadia Hilker, who portrays Luna. "Like, the second we met, we were like, ‘Oh, you’re my people.’ We are gonna be friends forever. I adore her, and working with her is a treat."

@ElizasBabyBlues on Twitter sent Jo a question for Eliza: “What do you think Clarke’s greatest strength is and what is her greatest weakness? And what are yours?” Eliza's response was, “Clarke’s greatest strength and weakness are her empathy and compassion. My greatest strength is not letting criticism get me down. I love acting. My greatest weakness is chocolate or champagne.That’s my perfect Friday night.”

A woman dressed in a season 1 Clarke cosplay asked Eliza what her favorite outfit of Clarke's is. Eliza excitedly told her that her favorite outfit is Clarke's season 1 outfit, the same one the woman was wearing, saying, "It felt most like Clarke."

(x)

The trait of Clarke's that resonates most with Eliza is her resilience. Her favorite line of Clarke's is, "Life should be about more than just surviving."

“When you play a character, it’s 80% you, and 20% what’s on the page,” she shared.

The cast and crew of The 100 was just finishing filming the season 4 finale when Eliza was at Unity Days (in fact, we heard that the reason she and Bob Morley were only there for one day was that they had to finish filming the finale the next day). Eliza tried to give us some teasers without spoiling anything, saying, "It’s been hell! The things they put us through in our season finales! It’s crazy; you’re gonna love it. A lot of crazy sh*t goes on."

(x)

“It’s like last year on crack," she continued. "We’re doing so much. I can’t really say much about it because it would ruin leading up to it for you, so I’m not gonna go on about what happens. But it’s really different, for us--it takes a real turn. There’s a huge twist, and I can’t wait for you to see it!”

Don't miss the season 4 premiere, entitled, "Echoes," Wednesday, February 1st at 9/8c on the CW, and stay tuned for more Unity Days coverage*!

*Possibly, depending on how this is received!

@unityeventscanada

[cogentranting]

The 100 1x11 Liveblog

The last episode had an unfortunate lack of Kane and Jaha

Do I actually think Murphy burned the food, or am I just going to blame him arbitrarily?

I’m really unclear what actually went down on the Ark. 

Wait the panther had scales?!

I was about to comment that I liked Myles, then he took an arrow to the chest. 

Trust Desmond, he’ll be your constant. 

The Others kidnapped the doctor to cure someone. Such Lost feels. 

I don’t even really understand why Sydney decided to ruin everything. She just kinda did. 

I have a sudden pressing need to know what Henry Ian Cusick’s actual accent is.... It’s British. I looked it up.

The girl’s name is Tris?! Is she divergent? Can she be controlled? 

That girl looks like 13, why was she on the bridge? And no she wasn’t. everyone they showed on that bridge was an adult male. 

So the grounders speak perfect English, except in a hundred years, they lost the word ‘doctor’ and replaced it with ‘healer’? 

That... is not what I expected Raven’s “offer [Bellamy] can’t refuse” to be. I don’t like it. And, yeah, he could refuse it. 

I need a full scale Jaha and Kane bromance.

How did the grounders forget so much medical knowledge? A sustainable human population survived but not one doctor or nurse or medical textbook?

I don’t like Clarke’s crying voice.

Tris dies in this too!

I like this guy chilling with Kane. No clue what his name is. He’ll probably die. 

Yeah, Kane totally burned his forearms to pieces. 

He cradled her face and now I ship it. 

Clarke don’t kill him, he seemed nice. He was chatting with you. Rude.

Hey Myles lived!

[douxreviews]

The 100 - ‘Sanctum’ Review

"Does anyone have anything better than we're back bitches?" "Let's do better."

How upset do you think Clarke and Murphy will be if I can't come up with a better opening line?

I'm pretty sure this comes up every season, but there were so many parallels and call backs to season one. It's interesting to see an even more back to basics Bellamy. In the beginning he was the head delinquent in charge and Clarke more or less did her leading from a little to the left. For a while she was front and center calling the shots. If she minds her minor demotion she seems to be handling it in a pretty understanding way. Letting everyone's digs roll off her back and still keeping it moving. The return to S1 form, isn't a carbon copy though. Bellamy is smarter now. Willing to think things through. An unwillingness to go in guns blazing and hope that the consequences are manageable is a trait he has learned. This is the same guy that tortured Lincoln and let the mob string Murphy up. I wonder how different things would have been if he'd taken this approach in the first place. Was peace with the grounders ever possible? Would the original 100 have been better or worse off? Or is free will a joke and it all would've wound down exactly the same. Is this too philosophical for the premiere of a show on the CW network? Sorry about it.

While I'm on the subject of everyone's favorite power couple. I realized recently that I need Clarke and Bellamy to stay at each others backs. I can't have anymore of them pulling guns on each other or turning each other over to fighting pits. To stay on board with the show, I need my dream team back. Not that I don't think they have issues to work through, because they do and I understand that they will continue to challenge each other and disagree. But no more backstabbing. This isn't The Real Housewives of Alpha Moon.

This time Murphy was the first to strip down for a swim mid-mission. In season one it was Octavia. Luckily for him he didn't get attacked by a giant worm or whatever. Unluckily for him, he didn't think to take his boots off. Who swims in boots? Now he's gotta drudge around in wet socks. I thought you are supposed to be a survivor Murphy? You're going to catch a cold. Or athlete's foot. Also... ick.

I forgot what Abby did to Raven last year until Raven reminded us. It makes me really not like Abby. Again. Ugh. And Raven's grudge against her surrogate mom is pretty reminiscent of the grudge Clarke was holding against her mom when she first went to the ground. Abby seriously did herself a favor by becoming such a skilled surgeon. Because as a mom and girlfriend and leader, she makes some seriously intense errors. Interestingly, I am still pissed at Abby for torturing Raven but not at Clarke for sacrificing Bellamy to the fighting pits. Does this mean I love Raven more than Bellamy? Poor guy. Maybe I'll be able to forgive Abby when Raven does. If she does. And in other very confusing plot points, we all agree that Octavia lost her mind right? Girl's been way off the reservation since she started shoving people down their friends and families throats. But Kane did side with the enemy and walk onekru into a slaughter. So what do we do? Who do we root for? Clarke and Bellamy probably.

Just when I was thinking how neatly Shaw was carving out a place for himself in the group dynamic, he went and got himself radiated. Poor Shaw. Poor, poor Raven. Shaw's death and Kane's not death both took me completely by surprise. Why bring back Henry Ian Cusick back just have him spit blood on Octavia and get thrown back in the deep freeze? I don't get it. Is he too expensive to sign on for too many episodes? And did they use Shaw only to remind us that Raven's happiness is as elusive as a utopian society?

I've been somewhat worried about where The 100 was going. There are only so many us vs. them plot cycles before we get bored I think. Sure the us and the them gets shaken up every once in a while but the song has been the same. Here we were dealing with all the characters we already know. I really enjoyed staying with them and dealing with their interpersonal baggage. It made the hour. Even though there was tension and it ended with an ominous fit of rage, it was almost a vacation watching them walk through the overly bright colors of the landscape and fantastical backdrops. Like they were all playing in real life candyland, outer space edition.

3.5 out of 4 episodes of Real Housewives of Alpha Moon

Bits and pieces

You guys, I forgot about the freaking premiere. Yikes. Bad reviewer!! Season 7 got greenlit before season 6 even premiered. That's gotta mean good things are in store for us. Right??

Clarke was third wheeling so hard. Or seventh wheeling as it were. Plus so many people were picking on her poor decision making skills last season. Maybe her and Nyla will get something going again?? She deserves someone to kiss away her mistakes too.

Who stole the drop ship? Should Abby and Octavia be setting up tea and automatic weapons for visitors??

I used to really hate John Murphy. Now he is one of my favorite characters.

I couldn't remember Echo's name for 3/4 of the hour. Whoops.

What side is Nyla on? Why did she wake Octavia up? Did she sabotage Kane's surgery?

Shaw: "She was like you." Raven: "Are you just trying to get me to have sex with you again?" Shaw: "When they offered me the Eligius 3 mission, everyone thought I was crazy. 24 earth years. If they offered it to me today, I wouldn't take it." Raven: "Yea. That'll do it."

Bellamy: "This time we won't shoot first." Murphy: "In that case, Clarke should stay here."

Abby: "Here we go again. God, I hate sending you to the ground."

Jackson: "Check it out. Alien life." Miller: "At least something is alive down here. WE are the aliens, by the way." Jackson: "Oh my God, we're aliens!!" They are real freaking cute.

Should we stop being so cute so we don't end up like Shaw??

Jackson: "We both did things in the bunker."

Laure Mack