What TV show did you last watch a season of on DVD/Blu-ray?

I'm glad I was able to just go straight onto Season 2 of this show and didn't have to wait. It appears we're going to get one of those voiceover things at the start of every episode this season that are designed to catch up people who've never watched the show and explain what it's about in a nutshell. These things tend to annoy me. I mean, if you haven't watched the show, I think even after hearing this voiceover recap, you're still going to be confused about stuff. And for those of us who've watched the show from the beginning, it's just hearing stuff we already know at the start of every episode. Having said that, I'd somehow missed the fact last season that the tiny blue glowing light that sometimes appears from Talon's temple was some sort of creature. So, I guess I can't be too down on the voiceover. I'm mildly amused that her voiceover says she was the last of the Blackbloods and then adds "...or so I've been told." (I guess she couldn't say "...but that was complete BULLSHIT!"). Then after the show recap, we get the 'Previously on...', which I guess focuses on what they deemed the 'most important' stuff that has come before. So, it's almost like two recaps...which seems a tad excessive, but whatever. 

This first episode of the season starts with Garret and his men finding Manbun and his female offsider in some dark dank place, there’s a wimpy soldier who doesn't want to go in...and maybe he was the only wise one of the lot, since the rest of the soldiers get slaughtered and then it looks like Garret's beaten Manbun as he says, "This is for Talon and your Queen..." only to get stabbed from behind by Manbun's female offsider. And it wasn't just a little stabbing either, as the sword comes out the centre of his chest (though I didn't recall seeing any actual blood on the blade). I always feel secondhand embarrassment for characters when they say, "This is for [insert name here]..." before they're about to off a bad guy as payback for what they did to another character, but then they themselves get offed (not that I really believe Garret's actually dead dead, of course. I'm guessing he's just mostly dead, but they're going to have a hell of a time explaining how he survived this. I guess MAGIC?). I keep waiting for the bad guy to be like, "What was for that person you mentioned? You dying? Yes, what a gift to them!" or some such. Anyway, this was certainly an unexpected way to begin the episode, and as disappointed as I am that the two villains are still breathing, I'm kind of glad that Garret wasn't the one to end Manbun's life, as Talon should really be the one to have that pleasure (here's hoping she gets to eventually).

Another thing I was slightly disappointed with was seeing Talon's hair had changed since the first season. It's much straighter now and doesn't have things attached to it making it look slightly Jack Sparrow-esque anymore. It's much more simplistic now. Of course, Jessica Green remains gorgeous no matter how her hair looks, but I just kind of liked the 'wildness' from Season 1. It's not a big deal, just something I noticed (though, really, this hairstyle kind of works against the character since she should have scarred ears but they obviously can't be bothered doing the ear makeup every episode and so her ears appear perfectly normal/unscarred). Apparently slack-arse Drag-girl Dragman hasn't been much use in the time that has passed since Season 1, as it appears she's only given Talon one demon's name to summon. A couple of things in this episode reminded me of the first episode of the show. One was the unexpected seemingly fatal blow to a lead character (in the first episode of last season it was Talon, and in this one it was Garret), another was the oddly-placed flashback (here it was a flashback to young Talon with the family that had 'adopted' her after her family/village were massacred), and sadly the third thing this episode had in common with the show's first episode was another poor Remmick bit the dust ( they seem to have it the hardest in this world. You certainly wouldn't want to be reincarnated as one). Though in this instance, young Talon isn't trying to save the Remmick or beat up the ones who killed it...she's the one who kills it (after the boy shoots too early, scaring it off, I held out hope this meant it would get to live...but no such luck.  Stop killing Remmicks, show! I don't wish to see them become the Direwolves of this series!). Young Talon appears to be the only one who is a skilled archer...though she looks like she feels bad about it, at least. The father tries to offer her consolation, saying they'll 'remember its life and be grateful' by filling their stomachs with it or whatever...but you know what would be even better? Allowing it to continue living its harmless Remmick life, damn it! .

So, this^ didn't make me overly fond of young Talon, but then when a guy who was a Blackblood like her offed the family (Talon really has no luck with families. I wonder if she'll go for the trifecta? There should be posters put up everywhere with her picture and saying 'DO NOT ADOPT THIS GIRL - SHE'LL GET YOU KILLED!'), she managed to recover some of her coolness points by throwing a knife at him and effectively offing him as easily as she offed the poor Remmick (so much for it getting to be remembered, since those who would've eaten it are now dead. Unless, of course, young Talon decided to eat all of it and sniffled, "I remember you/am grateful to you, Remmick." as she ate the whole thing by herself). The now-dead Blackblood guy wanted her to join him, but I guess he didn't factor in that offing her adoptive family would make her less likely to want to accept his offer. Anyway, it was almost like the show's first episode in that we spent a little bit of time in the 'present' at the beginning and then suddenly went into flashback mode for a while (it hasn't become any less abrupt/intrusive). When we cut back to the 'present', Talon uses the one demon name she's been given to summon it. However, it's not just a demon that steps through the glowing blue portal, but another Blackblood as well. Suffice to say she and Talon don't exactly see eye to eye on account of her wanting the tiny blue glowing light creature inside Talon's head. She gets her demon to knock Talon on her arse and tries to cut it out of her, but that doesn't work. Not a great first impression, new Blackblood lady (whose name is apparently 'Rebb' - though I had to look it up to find that out).

Other less interesting goings on in the episode included Gwynn having outlawed Colipsum but this just leads to even more drug-dealing going on than before which the Mistress (who seemingly replaces adoptive sons with relative ease, since she's already brought in a new one after one died last season) is, of course, involved with and Naya (who was the fool that released Manbun in last season's final because he promised to give her back her mum and sister...and she actually believed him) is constantly whispering in Gwynn's ear, influencing her and such. Disappointingly, Janzo seemed to be back to acting like he did in the first episode of the show (which was when he was at his most annoying). I find him a bit 'too much' when he's like this. He's talking to himself about Talon kissing him in last season's final and even mentions at one point the thought of Garret being out of the picture (little does he know this may be an actual possibility). Rebb takes the demon and Dragman, Talon has a conversation with Gwynn (who believes Talon's pissed that Garret was with her instead of Talon, but it's more she's pissed that Gwynn didn't let her off Manbun when she had the chance. There's also the fact that Gwynn seems to be using Talon, wanting her to summon up a demon army to fight the 'Prime Order' - ie. the main bad guys of the show - and it really feels like what was once a genuine friendship between them has now become Gwynn just thinking of Talon as a 'weapon' she can use to serve her own purposes. She might insist on removing her crown and such, but she still asserts her authority when she wants something), then Talon and Janzo go to meet with Rebb in the hope of getting the Dragman back, but instead Talon just gets knocked on her arse a couple of times by the demon (she gets knocked on her arse by Rebb too at one point). Once again it must be noted that this show avoids having their lead character come across as some expert fighter who never loses - and, in a way, that's admirable. However, if this keeps happening...it'll get old after a while. I'm hoping as the series progresses Talon will end up becoming the character who knocks everyone else on their arses, thereby showing her growth as a fighter.



Later, wimpy soldier comes to tell everyone that all the other non-wimpy soldiers died (that's what you get for being brave!) including Garret. Obviously, everyone's shook up and they react in different ways - Gwynn runs off tearily, Wythers (Garret's dad) beats up the wimpy soldier who delivered the news (because apparently he does believe in killing the messenger), while Talon tries to get drunk (and test whether she has Daenerys Targaryen's immunity to fire). She also wants to go with Wythers to get Garret back, but the difference between them is she believes he isn't dead while his dad thinks he's a rotting corpse by now. After some arguing, he manages to convince her to stay. He also talks to Gwynn about Garret, who they both lost. While I'm still not a fan of Wythers, it was nice to see him consoling Gwynn, and if they have more scenes together like that one, I might be able to tolerate him. This was a decent season premiere, it had some unexpected stuff and it felt as though the show's budget had increased a bit, as I noticed more sweeping shots of landscapes and a bigger 'scope' (like I'd guessed would happen back when watching the first episode of the show and it all seemed rather 'smallish'). The CGI on the demons still isn't the greatest, but it's not the worst CGI ever. I did think Jessica Green seemed more at ease in her role as Talon (which I'd also predicted would happen). So all in all, not a bad start to Season 2. 




I don't really have as much to say about the second episode as I did the Season 2 premiere. In this one the other Blackblood, Rebb, still wants the tiny blue glowing light creature inside Talon's head, Talon still wants the Dragman back, Rebb tells Talon about how her people went into the portal willingly and Talon’s clan were supposed to open it but didn’t, she says the prophecy about a Blackblood leading a demon army isn't about Talon and she thinks it's about herself (since she's a 'pureblood' Blackblood or whatever), so she will do the summoning of the demon army/bringing her people through the portal, but Talon's not down with that (though does start to doubt herself). There's the arrival of two new characters - one's Baron Tobin and the other is his most trusted council, Gertrusha (yes, that's apparently a name). Out of the two, the latter's probably the less annoying one, as it turns out she's the sister of the Mistress and between them 'Gerty' (as her sister calls her) isn't that bad. She's much more tolerable than the Misstress (whose name we learn is Elinor).

Tobin, though, is a cocky sonofabitch who amusingly has a conversation with Gwynn as he's outside the wall and she's up on the top of it (it would've been even funnier if they'd been shouting the whole time, but somehow they manage to hear each other over such a considerable distance even though they're only talking slightly louder than normal), then later he comes right out and asks Gwynn to marry him (whilst at the same time coming onto Naya who's standing right there next to Gwynn) and says how they'll be free to have other lovers even after they're married, he just wants a son from her. About the only entertaining part of this scene was Gwynn's wide-eyed reaction to all the stuff Tobin had the gall to say. It felt like they were going for a Jack Harkness from Doctor Who/Torchwood type of thing with him seemingly ready to shag anyone/anything, as he didn't just show an interest in Gwynn and Naya, but Elinor and Talon as well - that last one being his BIG mistake, as he didn't know what he was getting himself into when he tried coming onto her. She was already dealing with enough shit, and then him being a jerk to Janzo and knocking him down was the last straw. I was SO glad to see Talon give Tobin a well-deserved arse-whooping (after once again being knocked on her arse by Rebb earlier) - let's have more of this, please! 



Before this^, though, Gwynn had tasked Naya with turning Janzo into someone who Talon would be more interested in. It was basically like the scene out of Not Another Teen Movie where Mia Kirshner's character removes Janey Briggs' glasses and undoes her ponytail...only here Naya gives Janzo better hair and makes him stand up straight (that's pretty much it) and voilà! He suddenly looks like a different person. Kudos to the actor who plays Janzo, as he's clearly had this whole Clark Kent/Superman thing going on all this time. I was amused when one of Elinor's 'sons' (Munt) nearly got the fright of his life when he saw how different Janzo looked. Just as funny, though, was Talon simply giving Janzo a once-over and then going about business as usual. I was glad we got a Talon/Gwynn scene when they were playing cards together earlier, but clearly Talon was so over whatever Gwynn's trying to sell (and this attempt by Gwynn to have Naya turn Janzo into someone Talon would be interested in seems pretty sketchy to me. Like, somehow I don't think her motives are pure), then later Gwynn gets drunk and Janzo has a concoction that is the fastest-acting hangover cure EVER (it literally works in seconds!). The episode ends with Wythers arriving at the place where he expects to retrieve Garret's corpse, but instead finds just blood and his son's sword, then yells out for him...when he's clearly not there. What was he expecting, for Garret to just stumble out from around the corner and say, "What took you so long?". 

The third episode had a bit more going on in it, as Manbun went to visit three grey Pope-looking folk who are imaginatively called 'The Three' (hey, that reminds me of the vampire trio also called 'The Three' from BtVS...though these guys are even less imaginative, since their actual names in the credits at the end of the episode are 'One', 'Two' and 'Three'. There are so many potential jokes to be had at their expense. Did anyone ever ask if 'One' and 'Two' made 'Three'?). They naturally have to sit up on some high mantel (as ones in charge often do) and I thought I was losing my mind for a moment, because one second they'd appear to have full bodies, and then the next it would look like they were just upper torsos - it was really weird. I guess it was just a trick of the camera angles...but I think they would've been more interesting if they were talking half-torsos. One good thing about them is that they appear to have tiny red glowing light creatures in their heads (instead of Talon's tiny blue glowing light creature) that cause someone pain and Manbun winds up being on the receiving end of this pain they inflict. Anything that makes Manbun suffer is okay in my book. They sentence him to imprisonment in a teen tiny cell he won't even be able to lie down in. What about sitting? If he's stuck in a ninety-degree angle for a long period of time, I hope when he inevitably gets released he's at least stuck in a bent-over position. 




Before the fun of watching Manbun suffer, though, he brings in Garret who is still only mostly dead and then he's dragged away. Not sure how someone who got a sword through the centre of his chest is still breathing, but there's a healer woman named Sana who seems to have the magic touch which prevents him from dying. She also tells him that she had a hubby who was killed by a Blackblood and she wants revenge against them - though from her pretty basic description, the Blackblood could've been either Talon or Rebb. She then comes to Garret's rescue several times as he's dragged off and thrown in a cell to have the crap kicked out of him by a big hulking guy called 'the Tormenter' (really, the folks at this place have to be the least-creative name-thinker-upperers ever) and tells him that she sent word of him being alive to Gwynn, but she just sent word back saying Garret's already been replaced - which, thankfully, he's smart enough to not believe, but the fact that Sana reckons she's already fallen in love with him and kisses him makes me worry he's going to buy into her BS and want to do whatever it is the Grey Popes want him for. Then at the end, as if to prove that she's nothing but a LYING LIAR WHO LIES, it's revealed that her hubby is very much alive and he turns out to be the Tormenter, as she holds hands with him. It appears the Grey Popes' have different tiny glowing light creatures in their heads, and while there was a red one which caused pain, there's also a green one which heals Garret (so he did come back from death thanks to MAGIC like I predicted he would after all). What else is going on this episode? Well, Rebb still wants the tiny blue glowing light creature inside Talon's head (sing us another tune, Rebb!), while Gwynn wants Talon to summon the demon army and they lie in bed together, holding hands...



Seriously, show, DO something with this relationship and quit teasing it! Talon meets with Rebb, she agrees to give her the tiny blue glowing light creature inside her head in exchange for the Dragman, then starts to transfer the little critter to Rebb until she sees the Dragman shake her head and then puts a knife to Rebb's throat instead. Talon pays Rebb back for all the times she knocked her on her arse by knocking her out with a whack to the head. Too bad Talon didn't take care of her in a more permanent way, since she obviously regains consciousness and then goes to Gwynn, tells her how Talon isn't the one from the prophecy and offers to call the demon army for her like she'd wanted Talon to do. While this is happening, Talon and Janzo are working with the Dragman to get names of demons...which they write down on individual pieces of paper and leave out for anyone to find, so then (naturally) Rebb comes to take them and kills the Dragman in the process. It's almost comical the lengths this show goes to in an effort to obscure a child character being murdered, as Janzo's Plaguelings he keeps in cages block out the actual act of Rebb stabbing the Dragman, then later when Talon finds her, she's wrapped up in a blanket (which earlier Janzo used to hide her from Naya) and it's like they don't actually want to show a dead child character in the show (didn't we see dead ones when both families Talon lived with were offed?). Maybe it was just a case of them not having the Dragman actress available to play her character's corpse...but still, they could've gotten a body double or something, because it just looks like Talon's holding a sack in her arms and it's very awkward. Though Janzo's a good friend and even offers to bury the dead Dragman for Talon since she's had enough of burying people she knows. 

Unfortunately for Janzo, he's been getting bad advice from Naya (thanks to Gwynn's persistence in trying to get Talon and Janzo together) and at one point she tells him to practice what he'd say to Talon on her, he eventually finds things to compliment Talon on like her hair, but it's her eyes that he gets all poetic about...which Naya seems to get into, but he's all like, "Yeah, your eyes are fine, Naya, but they don't hold a candle to Talon's!". Then when he tries to complement Naya's eyes, he compares them to the brown of crushed dung beetles. After practicing on Naya, he later tries it out for real on Talon, and while they have a nice moment of just sitting together and holding hands, the whole poetic-eye-complimenting thing only elicits amusement from Talon. Now, one could view this on the surface as her being an inconsiderate/mean bitch...but as Naya tells Janzo later on when he's upset and storming off, it was probably more of a nervous laugh from Talon and that was her way of dealing with the compliment. On the one hand, she could be lying again, but on the other...I don't think Talon is actually nasty enough to intentionally hurt Janzo's feelings. Anyway, Naya then says he should kiss Talon and before he's able to, they discover that the Dragman's last useful act was to keep one demon name on a piece of paper in her hand (how the hell did Rebb not notice this when she was stabbing her to death?). Janzo thinks Talon should use the name and call forth the demon it belongs to, but Talon is suspicious that the name may have been purposely left behind by Rebb and it's actually one of her demon buddies' names - which would be bad. 





In the fourth episode, Janzo was still taking Naya's bad advice about changing himself in the hope that'd make Talon take an interest in him. When he was messing with his hair and Talon brushed it back down to how it normally was, it reminded me of the difference between 'laid-back Jim' and 'cool hip Jim' from American Pie (1999). Speaking of hair, I noticed Talon's wasn't as straight as it had been so far this season and now had some its old waviness to it. Unfortunately, despite Talon reassuring Janzo that he need not change anything about himself, he still persists in kissing her and he was lucky all she did was shove him away (it was somewhat amusing later on how Gwynn responded to learning about Naya's advice to Janzo about kissing Talon, as she reckoned he'd probably wind up with a fat lip or broken arm). He then asks whether she might start to feel something for him in, like, "10 or 20 moons" and she's all, "Maybe 30 or 40.", which gives him hope.





Poor Janzo. Talon tried to let him down easy, saying that if she did feel the feelings for him he wants her too, she'd be the luckiest person...but he really shouldn't be hanging around waiting for her feelings to maybe possibly change in the future. Of course, Naya's not helping things (plus there's the added complication of her clearly having a thing for Janzo as she tries to hook him up with Talon. That might be why every piece of advice she's given him has backfired - because she doesn't actually want him hooking up with Talon, so she's getting him to do the complete opposite of everything he should be doing). Thankfully, it's not just all relationship stuff taking up this episode. There are actual important things going on such as Rebb taking Gwynn hostage, Janzo telling Talon she should use the one name the now-dead Dragman gave her to summon a demon to fight Rebb, but at the same time he doesn't sound so sure about it (I liked the fact that she called him out on his wishy-washiness regarding what he was saying she should do), but then after she learns that Rebb's going to start playing 'This Little Piggy' with Gwynn's toes and sending them to her, Talon elects to do the demon-summoning.

Of course, not only does a demon step through the portal, but also another Blackblood along with it (at this point her voiceover recapping the show's basic premise needs to lose the "I'm the last Blackblood...or so I've been told." part and update it with "I'm FAR from the last Blackblood. Turns out there's a crapload more in another dimension and I ain't so special."). His name is Zed, he argues with Talon, as he has no incentive to lend her his demon who might die fighting Rebb's demon, Talon reckons she can't trust him and that if he does this, he'll have her trust, and the funniest part of their whole exchange was at the beginning of it when he asked about the points of her ears and she exclaimed she was sick of explaining about them. Meanwhile, Rebb's trying to get Gwynn to choose which toe she wants to lose first, but luckily for her she doesn't have to make that choice because...oh...it's just a drunken Tobin to the rescue. Towards the start of the episode, he'd thought the best present to give Gwynn was some lingerie, but naturally this didn't go over well with her (he then asked Naya if she wanted it), and there's one mildly amusing moment where he wonders if seeing Rebb's demon is a result of his drunkeness or not, before having his arse handed to him by said demon and then hilariously getting picked up and tossed out the window. 



Eventually Talon arrives and Zed lent her his demon whistle ring to call it...except when she tries it, no demon appears. So she and Rebb have a stand-off, with Talon saying once again that she'll give her the tiny blue glowing light creature inside her head in exchange for Gwynn being set free, Rebb only allows Gwynn to go part of the way, then gets Talon to drop not only her sword but also onto her knees, then finally the other demon answers Talon's call, showing up to fight Rebb's demon, they both go out the window and I thought they might've been dead (that would've been a rather lame death for two big bad demons), but then when Rebb's demon tries to get at Talon through the window, Zed shoots it with a big crossbow and Talon manages to stab Rebb in the back when she lunges for her. Talon's final words to her are about how she may not be the Blackblood in the prophecy...but neither is Rebb (on account of her now being dead). Apparently Zed's demon did survive and he's sent it out to go hunting in the woods (though not for humans), Talon tells him to cover/hide his ears, then takes him to the inn. Speaking of, there's been a yawn-worthy storyline going on this episode involving Elinor and her sister, and I can't stand Elinor since she treats both Janzo and her other 'son', Munt, like crap (even insulting what the latter's wearing even though she probably put him up to it). I think it's something about wanting respect, and trying to impress her sister or whatever. Honestly, I didn't care.

Garret's storyline isn't much better, since he's stuck in a cell nearby where Manbun is being held, who tells him the same thing that everyone else at the place they've being kept at has been telling him - ie. Gwynn's a 'false Queen' and the real one died. Garret's response to this remains "Nope!", but Manbun says the real Queen had a misshapen face (we later learn he told Garret this in exchange for receiving a larger cell and thus he gets Garret's cell. On the plus side, he still gets beaten up by the Tormenter for his trouble, and any pain inflicted upon Manbun is a good thing as far as I'm concerned). Garret not only doesn't believe this, but he also doesn't believe what Sana told him about Gwynn sending a letter back that said "Garret who? He's been replaced already!", so he asks for evidence of it and she goes to the guy who's been forging this made-up letter...which, considering he's only just finished it, should still have wet ink on it, but she presents it to Garret and he (disappointingly) takes it at face value. He feels betrayed by Gwynn and then later is stuck in a room where he pulls at the plaster on the wall to reveal a painting of the royal family which backs up Manbun's story since it depicts the young Queen with a misshapen face. These rather transparent attempts to get him to turn on Gwynn and everyone else appear to work, as he seems to buy all of it. Then again, he's been receiving red 'medicine' from Sana and that's probably causing him to be the highly suggestable type.

In the fifth episode, Talon and Gwynn talk, Talon glances at Gwynn's chest at least once, Gwynn wants her to send Zed and his demon back through the portal as she regards demons as 'monsters' after seeing them fight, Talon doesn't take too kindly to Gwynn trash-talking her people and their demons, saying she should learn their names, before exiting with a sarcastic bow that is basically an "F.U." to Gwynn. Dang it, guys, don't fight...go back to hanging out in bed together!




Janzo seems to be back to looking like his old self again (his hair, posture, etc) and has had enough of Naya’s advice, tells her about kissing Talon and how she said maybe in 30 or 40 moons she might love him (it was funny how Naya was shocked to learn he survived the kiss with Talon, after what Gwynn had told her last episode about how he'd be lucky to escape with just a fat lip/broken arm), he wonders why all women see him as just a 'friend', but then she gets him to show her how he kissed Talon, and I guess now she's trying to make it clear to Janzo how she feels about him (though stupidly leans against the cell bars where a Plagueling is being kept and almost gets herself bitten/stung), but he's either not getting it or simply ignoring it, still focused on Talon...who is spending time with Zed, who's ticked off that he can't go visit his demon and is blocked by guards. 

Wythers reunites with his son (I keep wondering why Garret calls his father by his name), they're both happy to see each other, but that only lasts a moment because Garret (who's still taking his red 'medicine') refuses to return with Wythers back to the outpost after all the stuff Sana has told him (ie. lied to him about), then he calls guards on his father who is thrown in prison and chats with Manbun, then by the end of the episode he's told by the Grey Popes to kill his father to show his loyalty to them...which he does (though since Garret himself survived a sword sticking out of his chest, I'm not sure if Wythers is dead dead or just mostly dead). He's also apparently going to be referred to now as the 'Blade Of The Three'. Lastly, and most boringly, Elinor's sister tells Tobin to clean up his act - which he does in the hope of being able to win over Gwynn. 

The sixth episode's title, 'Because She's Worth It', immediately made me think of the L'Oréal commercial slogan (too bad it wasn't an episode about Talon's hair and how it's been changing from wild to straight to wavy, etc - that might've been more interesting than what we got). Instead, Zed's demon has been killing livestock, Gwynn wants it dead, Talon says Gwynn should let her send it back through the portal rather than kill it (I appreciate that Talon always refers to the demon by name - which is 'Vikka' - as it shows that she no longer thinks of them as simply 'monsters' like Gwynn does), but Gwynn wants Zed gone too, though Talon ain't down with that, as he's helping her to figure out Blackblood-related stuff and whatnot (I think at one point he mentions the ancient USB she has is only part of the 'key' and they need to find the rest of it). I was glad that Talon was trying to keep Vikka alive (she's come a long way since sending her demon to his death when he saved her and her friends from Greyskins last season), and she tells Zed exactly that, but he doesn't want to send his demon back to the 'Plane of Ashes' (which is the world on the other side of the portal). To be fair, it doesn't sound very inviting, so I can understand Zed not wanting to go back there nor send Vikka back there either. I also don't blame Talon for taking offence at how Gwynn talks about the Blackbloods. It's a shame she's so close-minded about them, since not only did Vikka and Zed save her life, but Talon has saved her numerous times as well. Anyway, Zed tells Talon he can control Vikka but eventually she manages to convince him to use his demon whistle ring to send Vikka back through the portal - though he doesn't want to go at first and Zed has to be forceful and yell at him to go. Although he's sending him away away his own safety, it's still a sad moment , but I was just glad Vikka got to live. 

Apparently Janzo and Naya are now fully 'together', though I was amused by him shoving her aside when Talon appeared. He wants to go with Talon, but she wants him to stay, and all the while Naya is clearly jealous of Talon/the way Janzo feels about her (which isn't helped when Talon gives him a peck on the cheek before leaving). Meanwhile, Tobin proves to be not entirely useless/hopeless, as he cottons onto the fact that Naya is possibly the Prime Order's spy after she spills the drink she's serving onto him when he's having a meal with Gwynn and says they should kill whoever the bastard is (in reference to the spy). He then starts spying on her when she receives mail. This might actually be a halfway decent plotline for him, as I care more about someone finally figuring out Naya's up to no good more than I do about some feud he has with his cousin about taking over his lands (but Gwynn needs his cousin because he has an army). I thought it was ridiculous that Elinor, who started out as the 'Mistress' of the inn, is now seated at the right hand of Gwynn's throne. It seems she's moved WAY up in the hierarchy and I'm not even sure why/how this even happened. The fact that I don't like her character just adds to my annoyance that she's doing so well for herself all of a sudden. Also annoying was the fact that Janzo seemed way too casual whilst tying up Plaguelings out in the sun to test a theory about curing them. Like, they could've bitten/stung him at any point, but he didn't seem too concerned. Talon and Zed go into the woods, she makes a remark about him needing his demon for everything, then goes off to shoot a poor squirrel but thankfully it's saved due to her being distracted by seeing a soldier riding by on horseback...who turns out to be Garret. It would've been mildly amusing if she'd shot him (she'd have an 'out', as everyone already thought he was dead) and it probably would've been for the better too, considering what comes next. They have a happy reunion...that is until he pulls out a knife and stabs her in the side - so, YET AGAIN Talon gets stabbed. I've lost count of how many times this has happened now. Invest in armour, Talon! I see she does have some, though only on her arms and legs, when it's her torso that she needs to protect!




The seventh episode picks up right where the sixth left off, with Garret having stabbed Talon. She basically says "Garret, WTF?!" and manages to put up a half-decent fight despite having just been stabbed (hey, maybe it's happened so often by now that she's developed an immunity to it?), that is until he breaks her sword and then the tiny blue glowing light creature inside her head lights up and creates a portal. Given a choice between getting killed by Garret or the Plane of Ashes, she chooses the latter and dives through. We finally get to see the place...which more or less lives up to its name. I thought we were going to spend the episode seeing what Talon got up to there, which would've been far more interesting to what we actually got, which ended up being lame 'comedy' from Janzo and Munt, as they pondered why only the woman Plagueling was cured after being tied up in the sun but the men weren't, they don’t seem to care that the creature is out on the grass near them (like, I was expecting it to not be entirely dead and to bite/sting them - which they would've richly deserved for being so careless), and then Janzo talks about a date he wants to set up with Naya. This leads to Munt trying to kidnap her, but she makes him stop and says she'll go willingly...though he finishes off his kidnapping of her anyway. Janzo has a nice dinner set up for her, but she’s feeling guilty and he can tell something's wrong. Then after he's said nothing she tells him could change his feelings about her, she confesses to being the Prime Order spy and he can't believe it, she explains how Manbun had her mum and sister, then Janzo points out others had families too plus the fact that only a fool would've believed Manbun would keep his word about letting her mum and sister go if she did what he wanted (plus, they're probably already dead). While I totally understand Janzo's reaction to what Naya confessed, it's kind of funny how he reacted completely different to how he said he would when he was encouraging her to tell him what she'd done. 

Anyway, he wants Naya to tell Gwynn, she thinks the Queen will have her head, while he thinks Gwynn would be merciful. He eventually gives her an ultimatum - either she tells Gwynn what she did or he will. In the end, though, neither of them have a chance to because one of Tobin's goons he had following Naya saw her rip up a letter she'd received which proved her correspondence with the Prime Order (you brought this on yourself, Naya, by ripping the note up after leaving Janzo's lab and then dropping the pieces AT YOUR FEET. Like, maybe dispose of them elsewhere or burn the pieces or something) and has pieced the torn up letter back together (not sure how exactly), then they take her to Gwynn who naturally feels betrayed and she's all "Off with her head!", but Elinor (I still find it ridiculous that she's become the Queen's advisor and sits beside her throne when she was simply the owner of the inn not too long ago) wonders what the rush is and says they can pump Naya for information, which manages to convince Gwynn to keep her alive for a little longer and just have her imprisoned for the time being. Tobin’s cousin shows up and he's even less interesting/tolerable than Tobin is, they're still fighting about land, but Gwynn's so determined to have his army that she says she'll give Tobin's cousin all of Tobin's land. Tobin is like, "WTH?"...that is until Gwynn says he won't need land since he'll be married to a Queen and this is her way of accepting his marriage proposal. Gwynn’s new handmaiden sucks at doing her hair, she tries to do it herself, Janzo comes in and begs for Naya’s life to be spared, she refuses, Elinor comes in (Gwynn must have the most relaxed security ever, when people can just wander into her chambers unannounced), Janzo then begs her to convince Gwynn, she’s as useless as always (it's weird that she's all for Naya being executed when before it seemed like she was coming up with an excuse to spare Naya by convincing Gwynn to keep her alive for a while longer. I guess there were no ulterior motives and she really did just think Naya should be kept alive for information until they got what they needed from her) and then Janzo gets all upset and is like, "I don't even know who you are anymore!" (that's odd, since to me she seems like the same person she's been since the very first episode).

So, after failed attempts to have Naya's life spared, Janzo takes it upon himself to save her by drugging the guards with ale and written promises of free drinks at the inn for a year (which should've immediately set off alarm bells, but they seem to buy it), then setting her free and saying she must promise to never return. He mentions how it's just his luck that he'd finally find the woman for him and she has to go away (though if you were being cynical, you could almost look at this as being a convenient way he can get Naya out of the picture without hurting her feelings and then continue his pursuit of Talon...but I don't think he'd be capable of doing something like that). Gwynn is about to wed Tobin when not-dead Garret crashes the wedding and Gwynn immediately ditches her hubby-to-be, riding off with Garret who she should be immediately suspicious of when he says that she knew he was alive but just didn't care (referencing the letter that was supposedly sent by her, but was in fact forged). Since she's behind him on the horse, she could've grabbed his sword and knocked him out using the hilt of it or shoved him off the horse or something. Instead she just continues riding along with him and not doing anything to escape the clearly-not-himself Garret. I was very disappointed that we spent so little time with Talon in the Plane of Ashes. We see her accosted by three masked Blackbloods, she knocks one down and goes back through the portal, tells Zed what happened (he hasn't been much use, just hanging out waiting for her to return), they argue about going back to warn Gwynn about Garret, then Talon leaves and Zed follows (half-arsedly putting out his fire). This could've been an interesting episode if it'd focused on Talon, but instead she was hardly featured - which was massively disappointing since she's the character I care the most about and without her I don't think I'd really be that into this show. It's like they had this really intriguing idea (Talon in the Plane of Ashes) and decided to focus on everything but that. Very frustrating. 



In the eighth episode, Garret takes Gwynn to where there's soldiers waiting, she didn’t bother trying to knock him out/shove him off the horse or anything like I'd hoped she would, Tobin gets drunk after being dumped at the altar, Talon returns, Janzo lets her in on the big news - Garret’s ALIVE (which, of course, she already knows on account of him stabbing her), then he’s amusingly sarcastic about how everyone's so happy/glad that Garret’s back and not-dead. After Talon fills them in on Garret now being the Prime Order's bitch, Janzo wants to go after Garret with her, so does Tobin, but she says she works better alone...then wants Zed to come along, but he refuses. Janzo reckons flowers have an effect on the Plaguelings he's tied up out in the sun and at least one former Plagueling gets freed. Tobin ends up joining Talon after Janzo uses his fastest-acting hangover cure EVER on him, they fight Garret and his men, Talon does some fancy moves and then uses a sleeper hold on Garret (it was weird hearing Gwynn ask Talon if she was trying to kill him, sounding concerned for his welfare after he'd just tried to kill her and was trying to also kill Talon). Meanwhile, Tobin gets shot with three arrows in his upper torso and one in his leg (the guy shooting the arrows at Tobin took his sweet time with shooting a final - and what would've presumably been a fatal - arrow, then got a knife thrown at his back as the consequence of taking so long), it's up to Talon and Gwynn to save him, Gwynn's not much use, but Talon ponders "What would Janzo do?", then cauterises the wound with a hot knife as Gwynn holds Tobin. I was amused when Garret (who'd had his unconscious self slumped over the back of a horse), started regaining consciousness and Talon had to interrupt her helping Tobin to walk over and re-knock out Garret once again, before returned to helping Tobin. And nice job, director of this episode, for the shot of Talon getting off the horse once they return to the outpost. 




They lock Garret up (not sure how they didn't find his 'medicine' he regularly takes that keeps him highly suggestible/compliant to the Prime Order, as one presumes they should've frisked him before sticking him in a cell), Janzo compliments Talon and Gwynn on their job of ensuring Tobin didn't bleed out, Tobin's pretty quick to forgive Gwynn for ditching him on their wedding day to run off with Garret (who it turned out was crazy and wanted to kill her) after she admits to being stupid, selfish and unworthy of his rescue. She then finds out Naya escaped and even says to Janzo what I was thinking myself when he freed her last episode - who else would it have been? It's not like there was a long list of suspects who would've aided her. She commands Janzo to find a cure to the Plaguelings (what does she think he's been trying to do all this time?), get Garret back to normal and something else I can't remember, then she says she's going to think of a sentence/punishment for him (which is rather rude considering everything he's done to help her thus far). Talon's more understanding in regards to Janzo helping Naya escape, then the episode ends with her going to Zed and them heading off to wherever. There were two amusing moments earlier in the episode: one being when Garret pretended he was sorry and Talon pulled his head into the cell bars (saying that was for Gwynn), then poked him (saying that was for her). The other was when Janzo, sick of hearing Garret go on about Gwynn being the 'false Queen' or whatever, wrote something down for Garret to read and that was his way of telling him to STFU (complete with smiley face, which made it even more amusing).



Disappointingly, the ninth episode was another one with barely any Talon in it (which is really weird for a show where she's supposed to be the lead character. This has got to be one of the only shows I know of where the lead actress is featured so little, which is annoying since she is the main reason I'm watching). She’s just in the woods with Zed, they see a Bone Wolf carrying a baby, Zed kills poor wolfie who was just hungry (firstly, why is it just carrying the baby away and not simply chowing down? And secondly, maybe it found the kid abandoned in the woods and was going to raise it as its own - you ever think about that, Zed?), the kid's mother thanks Zed, but the father looks afraid of him and after the couple run off, Talon says as much to Zed, who asks about Talon opening the portal to let his demon, Vikka, return but she says no and he replies that it was worth a try. They talk about her cutting the tips off her ears and she touches his ear tips, which I guess is a turn-on because it looks like they eventually screw, then they find the other part of the key, join it with the ancient USB, it glows blue and Zed apparently has no idea what it’s doing.

Meanwhile, Janzo's trying to get Garret back to normal and threatens to sting him with a Plagueling parasite when he's had enough of him, but Garret calls his bluff (knowing Janzo wouldn't do such a thing) and Janzo concedes that he wouldn't...so he gets Munt to punch him instead. Speaking of Munt, there's a cheap visual joke of his large self riding off on a little donkey later on that was obviously intended to be 'hilarious' but, honestly, anything to do with him or Elinor (who sent her sister packing this episode, which sucks since I preferred her to Elinor) alternates between annoying and boring me. An incompetent guard, who is on duty and meant to be watching over Garret, falls asleep and this gives Garret the opportunity to remove his shirt (which is totally just for plot purposes and no other reason), as he uses it on his cell bars along with something else he uses to twist it around with the intention of bending the bars, but then Janzo comes in, gives the incompetent guard an earful for being so useless and informs Garret that his shirt is no match for the cell bars (though I was sure I saw one slightly move). Janzo finally manages to find the 'medicine' Garret's been taking and throws it in the fire - which is pretty much the only smart thing he does this episode, because he hasn't learned his lesson about incompetent guards on guarding duty, as later on another incompetent guard is asleep and this time Garret succeeds in his escape. This wasn't an overly interesting episode (and I blame that on Talon being separated from all the characters at the outpost).

Thankfully, the tenth episode's a bit more interesting. After Garret's escaped, thanks to the only guards available for guard duty being the useless/sleepy variety, he sneaks into Gwynn's room and is about to stab her with a sword (seriously, WORST GUARDS EVER. Gwynn should totally off all those guards who nearly let their Queen be murdered the first chance she gets), but he suddenly remembers their previous interactions and although he tries, he can't bring himself to off her (obviously not-taking his 'medicine', which Janzo threw in the fire last episode, has helped curb his murderous intent), then he finds a family picture that's like the painting he saw when he was imprisoned by the Prime Order except in it her face appears normal, which makes him realise the misshapen face painting was a trick. She eventually wakes up and asks him what he's up to, he admits he was about to skewer her and he feels really bad about it...so now he's going to skewer himself. She manages to convince him not to do that, then once he's moved on from feeling suicidal he naturally wants revenge on those who turned him into an assassin, Gwynn wants him to stay, at one point he mentions that he offed his father (who I guess *is* dead dead?), they keep arguing about it until episode's end when he finally does leave, but not before seeing Gwynn and Tobin holding hands (maybe he'll off Tobin and be all, "Oops. I guess I wasn't fully cured after all."?). 



Speaking of Tobin, his cousin's army is something they now need to defeat (I haven't really been paying much attention to that whole plotline) and Janzo comes up with the brilliant plan of releasing all the Plaguelings he's been keeping to do experiments on so they can bite/sting the army (as he's confirmed most of the army are likely taking Colipsum - which is the secret ingredient one needs to become a Plagueling along with being bitten/stung by one), but since he is close to finding a cure...it'll all be FINE (maybe) and they won't be Plaguelings for long (hopefully). They do exactly this, but Tobin's cousin ends up a Plagueling and Tobin's forced to stab him in the mouth so that he doesn't get bitten/stung himself (I always wonder how they manage to stab this parasite that's flailing about and NOT get bitten/stung by them). Elinor also gets bitten/stung (which is her own stupid fault for not paying attention to where she was standing), and how I wish this would mean the end of her, but I'm sure she'll be cured. Though apparently Janzo still has a little ways to go before finding a working cure since one he tried earlier just killed the guy (he talks to a couple of former Plaguelings and discovers their diet may be the key to why the cure worked on them and not others). Speaking of cures, Janzo was mildly amusing with his reactions to 'cured' Garret, since he sees him roaming free and freaks out, but Garret reassures him that he won't harm him...though when Janzo keeps talking too much Garret does exactly what he said he wouldn't, grabbing Janzo's arm roughly (though he apologises for it), so clearly he's not fully cured. Naya, meanwhile, goes to talk to Manbun about freeing her mum and sister, but he reveals the thing everyone but Naya knew - that they're already dead, so then she stabs him (hopefully he's dead dead). 

Even though it still feels like Talon isn't in nearly enough of the episode, at least it seemed as though there was more of her this episode than the previous one (plus, we got to see her with her snazzy green hood up, which it seems rarely ever happens). After they've slept together, she and Zed go to use the key/ancient USB, it looks like there's nothing there, but then Talon spots something (just as well Zed had her with him, otherwise it seemed like he would've given up pretty easily), there's a tiny green bug that bites him and then it disintegrates and he now has a tiny purple glowing light creature inside him just like Talon has a blue one. He says he doesn’t know what it does, but later when he goes to answer the call of nature he finds some soldiers around a campfire and mentally tells one of them to stick his hand in the fire. When he returns to Talon, he sees she's about to be crushed with a rock courtesy of a Greyskin who's stumbled across her. Zed mind-controls it into staying still while Talon kills it, she then wants to know what that was all about but Zed won't tell her he has this power. However, later on after he continues to pester Talon about opening the portal and she still refuses, Zed resorts to trying to mind-control her into doing it but she isn't affected since she has a tiny blue glowing light creature of her own which protects her, though now she knows what power Zed's has given him and due to his betrayal, she fights him. He cuts her, but she finally gives him what he's wanted all this time - ie. the portal reopened...except instead of bringing anyone through it, she kicks Zed into it before it closes. Once again she finds herself bleeding. It's a shame Zed turned out to be no good, as I actually didn't mind him with Talon.






The eleventh episode begins with wounded Talon walking over to a tree to sit down after her fight with Zed, but she doesn't even get to rest for a minute before soldiers turn up and question her. She tries to act like she was just taking a break but they see her bleeding black blood (do a better job of covering up your wounds, Talon) and then give her the rest she was longing for by knocking her out. When she awakens, Garret has appeared and she thinks he's still the jerk who stabbed her last time she saw him. Well, he's still a jerk, but this time he wants to help her out. He pulls out the "I'm the Blade Of The Three." card to get the soldiers to let him stick around and the one he talks to says they're going to get all the glory for taking Talon to the Prime Order together. However, when they stop to camp, Garret is tasked with interrogating Talon not with words, but with a knife. Then follows an amusing sequence with Garret surreptitiously cutting her ropes and explaining that he's cured whilst pretending to torture her for information. What makes it so funny is Talon clearly doesn't know the right level for pretending she's being tortured and goes over-the-top after Garret complained she wasn't pretending enough, then she gets even more annoyed with him than she already was and demands he make up his mind (which I can totally understand). It's not very often we get to see Talon being funny, and what I liked about it was that they didn't go overboard with annoying music or whatever to beat you over the head with the fact that this is supposed to be FUNNY (like they sometimes do with Janzo, Elinor or Munt). Here it was just played 'straight', but I personally found it pretty amusing. I also loved that because she was still mad, Talon decided to criticise Garret's abilities with a knife vs a sword (ie. he sucks with the former and is better with the latter). Eventually, the soldier who tasked Garret with torturing Talon realises something's up, but by then Garret has freed her and they both fight the soldiers, saving each other in the process.



Nothing else in this episode was quite as entertaining for me as that^ scene. It's good to have Garret back to being his non-assassiny self (though now he's on a mission to go make the Prime Order pay for forcing him to off his father and try to kill Talon/Gwynn. I worried about the two horses they just left as they went off in a boat, but hopefully they were safe). Someone else who seemed to return to their 'old' self was Janzo, who was acting much more like how he did in the first episode of the show once again and I'm not really fond of him when he's all over-the-top like this, as he shouts/yells a lot and laughs like a crazy person and is just TOO MUCH. I prefer subtler Janzo. Anyway, on the plus side he at least called out his 'mum' for the crap way she's treated him all his life, but then unfortunately we were subjected to a long drawn-out boring story about how he once got sick but wouldn't give up finding a cure and then eventually discovered it was horse manure which he covered himself in and supposedly the reason Elinor kept him around was because of his brilliance. So? What does she want, a medal? Just because she thought he could be of use to her? I know this scene was supposed to be a heartfelt one or whatever between 'mother' and 'son', but Elinor has proven time and time again all she really cares about is herself and she's constantly treating Janzo terribly, then will change her tune when he does something that can be of benefit to her, but will turn on a dime and be back to insulting him whenever he does something that displeases her. Speaking of displeasing her, he's led Gwynn to Elinor's stash of Colipsum she's been making (despite Gwynn outlawing it) and all the profits from it, then when he tells her this, she's halfway through insulting him before he reminds her that if she wants to be cured from being a Plagueling/let out of her cell, she best not insult him again. Honestly, I was really hoping Elinor would bite the dust, but I know I'm not that lucky.

Janzo's doing his best to discover what the cure is, trying different things, then goes outside to where he tied the Plaguelings up and there's an insect called a 'sting-fly' buzzing about, he gets stung (I think), then he remembers the ex-Plaguelings he questioned in a previous episode were scratching large lumps on their bodies and that's when he works it out, then he proceeds to go stick a sack over Elinor's head with sting-flies in it, she gets stung and has huge bites all over her face (which aren't fun to look at, but anything that causes her discomfort is fine by me), he has to go find more and they only sleep at nighttime (I could totally relate to him going on about how them sleeping during the day would make things too easy, since I often say the same thing to myself - that something has to OF COURSE be difficult and couldn't be easy, could it?). Anyway, he finds a nest, climbs a tree, cuts down the nest, falls from the tree (and is miraculously okay), then a horde of Plaguelings turn up and he breaks the nest to free the sting-flies. Next time we see him, he's covered in the huge nasty-looking bites but seems joyful, as it means now Gwynn has more people on her side (though these ex-Plaguelings he brings back with him don't look as though they'd be much use in a fight). However, Gwynn's still holding a grudge against him and has him locked up next to Elinor (who's now cured) and she's her usual unpleasant self to him, which is really rough for poor Janzo who's just basically saved everyone from becoming Plaguelings.

Of course, part of the reason Gwynn hasn't eased up on her punishment of Janzo is because she's dealing with some dweeb who's turned up claiming to be her brother, she says he died but he reckons he survived the same way she did (ie. with swapsies!), so she tests him, asking questions only her bro would know the answer to, which he manages to answer, plus he's also got their father's cane, and despite Tobin's suspicions, she gives clearly-fake-bro a chance. When they were reminiscing about having tied a fork to the tail of their gardener's cat, I thought, "Wow...you were really awful little shits.", and they're not much better in the 'present' since Gwynn allows clearly-fake-bro to sit beside her throne and actually have input on her decision-making when it comes to Janzo (after clearly-fake-bro referred to Janzo as a 'little man' I thought, "You're one to talk, you little shit!" since Janzo's taller than he is). The one funny part was Janzo exclaiming "WHO is this?!" in reference to the annoying turd. The episode ends with the Prime Order testing out a weapon (which is a bomb) and Naya (who has been hovering around during the episode, but I can't remember what she did for most of it) is watching the weapon demonstration from afar. At the same time, Talon and Garret are pretending to be getting married and want to get inside the gate (Talon made it clear to Garret beforehand that she hated this plan). They just 'um' and 'uh' their way through the line of questioning (it's not particularly funny. Their earlier scene was much better) until the big explosion distracts the guard enough to let them through. Garret's healer, Sana, is watching the demonstration along with One (out of the three Grey Popes). 

The twelfth episode involves Naya asking to see Gwynn, she tells her about the explosive device (weird that it sounds so farfetched to Gwynn considering everything else that goes on in this world), then she has Naya thrown in a cell for her trouble, she tells Janzo (who's in the cell next to her. Elinor's in a cell as well and is her usual annoying self/won’t shut up, though Janzo tells her to), he finds it hard to believe at first too until she describes it, then he tries to convince Gwynn and echoes my own thoughts by saying that such a device is no crazier than Plaguelings, other dimensions, etc. She sort of half-believes him, but he asks if it bothers her that she locks up all her useful friends, Gwynn's clearly-fake-bro is a dick to Janzo who asks to be taken back to his cell (I think he once again says something like "I don't even know who you are anymore!" which he'd previously said to Elinor in an earlier episode, then says again here - this time directed at Gwynn. At this rate everyone at the outpost will wind up being someone he 'doesn't even know anymore' eventually), then once Janzo's left the room, Gwynn's clearly-fake-bro says he knows a guy who knows an alchemist and if they pay him enough gold they can find out how to stop explosive device (thus confirming such a thing exists). Earlier at dinner he and Gwynn talked about a friend they had they nicknamed 'Fat Sammy', and Gwynn's clearly-fake-bro informs Tobin that he's now filling the role of 'Fat Sammy'. Thankfully, it later appears that Gwynn's not so stupid after all, as although her clearly-fake-bro's got the gold and is ready to leave, she’s been holding off letting him go until the brother of her fake father turns up and he knows full-well that the annoying turd is NOT Gwynn's real brother (YOU DON'T SAY?) because he actually witnessed the real brother's death, Gwynn's now-confirmed-fake-bro is taken away, she works out that his real identity is that of 'Fat Sammy', she says he could’ve lived with her if he'd just come to her/not pretended to be her brother, then she sentences him to death, but her fake uncle talks about her fake father being the sort of person who was into beheadings like she seemingly is now, and I guess that puts doubt in her mind (poor Gwynn. NONE of her 'family' are actually real family members).

Janzo and Naya talk in their cells, he asks about how she went with finding her mum and sister, she admits they’re dead like he said they would be, he asks their names, Elinor recognises the mother's name and says Naya is Janzo’s sister she sold, then and laughs arse off as they recoil. Later, though, Janzo says he’s glad he found her/has a sister, she stumbles over her words (as he does) and they say the word 'twins' in unison...which I guess is all that's needed to confirm it? As Elinor points out, at least all they did was kiss (it's no worse than Luke/Leia, then). Meanwhile, Garret goes to get his revenge on the Prime Order and ends up fighting the Tormenter after leaving Talon stuck outside to fight guards by herself, though she does some good moves and eventually gets through, whereas Garret's getting beaten up by the Tormenter but eventually kills him, saying that was for his father (dude, YOU killed your father, so you should totally pick up where you left off with preparing to stab yourself when you were in Gwynn's room and say, "This is for you, dad!" as you do it). Talon gets there just in time to see the Tormenter on the ground dead (Garret could totally lie and say it was an easy kill if he wanted, though his injuries probably tell another story), she doesn't say, "Thanks for leaving me stuck outside to fight off a bunch of guards by myself, arsehole." to Garret, then they go to confront Grey Pope #1 and his tiny red glowing light creature inside his head causes Garret pain, but that trick doesn’t work on Talon (thanks to her tiny blue glowing light creature), so she amusingly just walks over and simply stabs him, saying his tiny red glowing light creature inside his head will die with him, but after she and Garret have left, Sana turns up and gives Grey Pope #1 a large injection in his chest Pulp Fiction-style to revive him for a few seconds so his tiny red glowing light creature inside his head will transfer to her. So, now Sana is Grey Pope #1 (complete with grey face paint) and she kills the guards who sucked at their job, which Talon and Garret observe from afar. 

The thirteenth episode/season final begins with Gwynn suddenly having a change of heart and freeing her 'friends' she imprisoned. I know Elinor describing this change of heart as being like Gwynn has suddenly had a stick removed from her arse was meant to be amusing, but I was glad there's still one person who acts appropriately towards the Queen (whether she deserves it or not) and that is Naya. I just find it ridiculous how Elinor talks to Gwynn, whereas with Janzo I can at least understand it. Wouldn't anyone else be punished for talking the way Elinor does to Gwynn? Anyway, Gwynn apologises and lets them all go but can't find 'Fat Sammy'. It was amusing when she thought now Janzo and Naya could be together and the two of them got very awkward (I imagine Gwynn probably wondered why Janzo nicked off as quickly as possible and didn't stick around to hug/kiss Naya once she was freed). I wonder if Gwynn will ever learn they're siblings? One person who does learn of the sibling relationship is Munt, who was already so happy at the thought of Naya becoming his sister if she married Janzo, but then once it's made clear that ain't never gonna happen...he's just as happy to learn Naya's his sister in a different way. Though his happiness is short-lived, since Janzo's sending Naya away for her safety or whatever. A cynical person could view it as him wanting Naya out of the picture now that Talon has returned, but I don't think that was his motivation. She's returned with Garret to inform Gwynn of the explosive device Sana demonstrated at the end of the eleventh episode. I still find it a bit weird that they all act like this is something they can barely comprehend when they know about smaller explosives...so why can't they fathom it's just one of those but on a much larger scale?

Anyway, Tobin's all about leaving the outpost, whereas Gwynn wants to stay, Talon could summon that demon army she's been prophesied to release, but Gwynn questions her ability to control them, though Talon reckons the Blackbloods who'd come with them could control them. Gwynn points out that of the three Blackbloods she's met, Talon has been the only trustworthy one (she mentioned to Gwynn how Zed betrayed her). Gwynn finds her 'Fat Sammy', she once again mentions how he should've just come to her and not tried to deceive her/steal her gold and he's all, "Um...is it too late for me to do that now?". Speaking of stealing gold, that's what Elinor plans to do and this is why I can't like her character - the fact that she's just out for herself all the time and this is what she does as soon as she has her freedom. Everyone starts leaving the outpost except for Gwynn and all the other main/recurring characters, who remain (after Janzo gave her an idea). They look out at the vast army of Sana's, and then when said army comes inside the outpost, Gwynn gives them one more chance to leave, but they naturally refuse, so then the gate comes down (separating the ones inside the walls from the ones outside) and all the soldiers she has at her disposal attack the Prime Order soldiers. Clearly the show's budget has increased, as I don't think they ever would've been able to manage a big fight scene like this in Season 1.



Everyone fights, though Gwynn mostly just stands there until 'Fat Sammy' gets injured whilst saving her and I was hoping he was done for. Someone else who I was hoping would be a casualty was Elinor, as she's nicking off with her gold she's stolen from Gwynn and only stops when she sees Janzo's in trouble. She knifes a guy a couple times, but then he turns it on her and knifes her back. Munt loses it and starts bashing the guy's head against the ground. Elinor points out she finally did something selfless and this was what she got, then utters something that doesn't make much sense and Janzo doesn't understand/asks for clarification (why is it characters that die always waste their final breaths saying something vague/cryptic instead of just saying what they mean in the simplest way possible? I hardly think it'd take that many more words). Anyway, I can't say I felt the least bit sad during this scene. I was just happy that I finally got my wish and Elinor's annoying character was dead at long last. Angry Munt goes and helps everyone fight the soldiers with his hammer and eventually it seems they've won the first round, but then they see Sana has backup armies. This is when Janzo helps to formulate a plan, as he's built a peanut bomb (seriously, that's what it looked like to me - a peanut shell) and they're going to plant it in the enemy's camp because of what he worked out dying Elinor was actually saying.  

The backup armies are about to attack and Gwynn finally gets that maybe it's time to retreat, so she and everyone else go seek shelter whilst leaving Talon alone (this seems to keep happening - first Garret, then Gwynn - great 'friends' Talon has). Meanwhile, Janzo and Garret sneak underneath the enemy camp, there's some awkwardness as Garret has to hold up Janzo to plant his peanut bomb, it creates a hole for Garret to climb out, he goes to pay Sana a visit (she's thankfully ditched the grey face paint which really wasn't doing her any favours), she says she's sent her tiny red glowing light creature from inside her head back to the Prime Order...and that doesn't seem very wise, as she's just counting on Garret loving her or whatever to prevent him from killing her. To no one's surprise but her, he sticks a knife in her gut and reminds her that she made him kill his father. That's the end of Sana. Back at the outpost, Talon realises now is the time to summon that demon army and so she opens up the portal, I think Vikka is the first demon to come back through and then Zed soon follows. It doesn't seem to take much to convince him to get the other demons and Blackbloods who come through to fight against the soldiers (who get let inside the outpost thanks to them having a man on the inside who opened the gate). I wonder why the other Blackbloods were so quick to fight a war they weren't a part of for people they don't even know against an enemy whose fight wasn't even with them?

More fighting ensues, the demons are pretty useful, but once Garret and Janzo set off Sana's explosive device in the camp, the explosion's SO BIG it reaches the gates of the outpost and I think even some Blackbloods and demons are caught in the explosion (I don't care so much about the Blackbloods, but those poor demons ). When the dust settles, it appears one of the casualties was possibly Vikka (I know he had yellow colouring on him and one of the dead demons has yellow too...though maybe more than one has the same colouring? Here's hoping), which I was sad about since Talon had saved his life by having him sent back through the portal earlier in the season and now he only got released from it to die. It's weird that we didn't hear Zed mention Vikka being dead or Talon offering her condolences to him (maybe that means he's alive? Though if so, it's odd that he wasn't standing beside Zed). Gwynn and everyone else come back out from where they were hiding to thank the Blackbloods, but it appears Zed and his people didn't do it out of the kindness of their hearts, as he claims Blackbloods built the outpost and he then gives Talon an ultimatum - to stand with him and the rest of their people or with the humans (who it sounds like aren't going to have a very fun time since they've now got Blackbloods and demons to contend with). Betrayal!



I read comments complaining about this season final and the ending, saying how it wasn't as epic as they expected or that the ending was 'predictable' or whatever. I myself didn't really have a problem with the episode. Just like when I started watching the episode, I accepted that this show isn't like other 'bigger' shows so you have to reduce your expectations somewhat. Still, this season did show an increase in budget and has clearly opened up the world, exploring more places, characters, etc. I'm still annoyed that there were episodes where Talon hardly seemed to be in them, but I think she's grown as a character and I liked seeing her interaction with the different characters. Garret and Gwynn weren't particularly likeable this season, but I can't really blame the former since he was brainwashed whereas with the latter, she wasn't brainwashed (though she did have people trying to influence her one way or the other, so I guess they're partly to blame for her actions). I miss the Gwynn from early in Season 1 before we found out she was royalty and I especially miss her friendship with Talon. They were good together and it's a shame that now they're often at odds with each other. Janzo is...well...Janzo. He's good when interacting with Talon (so long as it's not about him trying to get with her. They have a nice friendship and I don't wish to see that ruined with 'romance', though she's made it clear to him that won't be happening anytime in the near future so it's best he moves on), and I do think he and Garret can make a good team when they're not vying for the affections of Talon. I'm very interested to see how Janzo will be now that he doesn't have Elinor constantly putting him down/berating him. These^ are the four characters I care most about in the show.

As for the rest...despite what Naya did, I actually ended up not-minding her. It's too bad that just as Janzo learned his sister was alive, she leaves and we don't get to see much of their sibling relationship (which would be interesting to explore considering prior to discovering they were related, they had feelings for each other). I didn't like Tobin to begin with, but he became a bit more tolerable towards the end of the season. I also didn't mind Zed...until he turned out to be 'bad'. Here's hoping he can still recover and turn back to being 'good' again, as I liked how he interacted with Talon. As previously mentioned, I'm glad that Elinor, Manbun and (to a lesser extent) Wythers are all gone now...but with those last two I didn't even know they were actually dead for really reals until quite a few episodes after they apparently died. I blame that on the fact that the show has demonstrated characters can be brought back from the dead, so as a result I'm constantly wondering if a character who seemed dead isn't actually. These characters' deaths might've had more impact if A) I'd known for sure that they'd really died at the time, and B) If I actually cared about them, but since I didn't, it was more of an "Oh well." sort of reaction. I'm hoping 'Fat Sammy' will soon join them at the start of next season. As for this season...it had its good moment and its not-so-good moments, but I still liked it quite a bit. Unlike the space of time between watching the first two seasons (which was very brief since I went from the first straight onto the second), I'm going to have to wait a fair while for Season 3 to be released here on DVD/Blu-ray (as I don't think that season's even finished airing in American yet). I just hope they do release the next season here, as with some shows I've never gotten see later seasons because they never bothered to release them where I am. I like this show, flaws and all. It's not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be.

I'd bought this quite some time ago, but just hadn't gotten around to watching it because of the many other unwatched DVDs/Blu-rays I had, then I finally decided I might as well watch it at long last. I'd watched the original Roswell series back when it aired on TV here (though I'd missed at least one episode - a rather important one, I later found out - and probably more). I got the original show in a complete series boxset on DVD ages ago and started rewatching Season 1, but got sidetracked and didn't finish it. Hopefully I will at some point. I didn't really remember much of the show itself, but I remembered certain plot points, and more than anything I remembered the main characters/what they were like...which was probably why it took a while to get used to the actors playing the roles in this series (I also kept getting confused about who was related to who some of the time). Also, there was the fact that the same characters in this show appeared to be 'older' and in some ways this show almost felt like a sequel series, but then would have things happen for the first time like it was starting fresh. It was like a weird sequel/reboot hybrid. I'm not sure why this show decided to 'age up' the characters since they seemed to get involved in the same melodrama that the characters in the original show did, except at least in that one they had the excuse for acting like teenagers because that's what they were supposed to be (even though, as is always the case with shows in a high school setting, the characters were played by actors who were a lot older than high school age), whereas having the characters in this show acting like that when they were adults just seemed weird. Anyway, I preferred some of the versions of the characters in this show to the original versions. 

I never liked Shiri Appleby in the original much (then again, I'm just not a fan of her as an actress in general. It took me watching her many years later in the series UnREAL to discover that she was capable of playing a role where I didn't find her totally annoying or boring), so someone else playing her role in this show was the easiest for me to overcome, as I was wanting to actually like Liz (who in the original show had the last name of Parker but here it's Ortecho) and the actress who portrayed her. After having recently watched four seasons of Riverdale with the damn Jughead voiceover, I wasn't particularly in the mood for watching another show that was going to begin and end every episode with a voiceover again (at least they changed it up by having a couple of other characters do the voiceover at the beginning of some of the later episodes). Liz's voiceovers seemed pretty generic, and her introduction scene involving her getting pulled over and ranting about why that was (before she realised it was Max pulling her over) felt eye-rollingly heavy-handed, but as the first episode continued, I warmed up to her a bit more. One of the scenes I do have a fairly clear memory of from the original show was Max saving Liz after she got shot, except here the café was closed for the night and the only person who was there with her when the shooting happened was Max, whereas in the original it happened with other people around (so there was more urgency/danger of Max getting found out). I definitely remembered the part about Max pouring ketchup on her as the excuse for why she had red on her shirt after he'd healed her, but I also recalled in the old version that he told her the cover story to use as he desperately rushed to get out of there. This time around, it seemed like he thought he'd covered it up pretty well but missed the fact that there was a bullet hole in her shirt, which she quickly noted. Another change from the original show was the famous tabasco sauce (which the aliens needed to consume) being replaced with...nail polish remover? I would think them consuming that in public would draw more attention than consuming copious amounts of tabasco sauce ever would.



I was glad that they didn't draw out Liz learning aliens were real and that Max was one (along with Michael and Isobel), as it happened within the first episode (though we missed the amusing moment from the original show with Max simply pointing upwards in response to Liz asking where he was from and her thinking that meant "up North"). One thing that was interesting about the Liz/Max relationship in this version was that because he'd healed her, he left not only the handprint (which I was familiar with from the original show), but also the feelings he had for her...which meant she was feeling 'echoes' of those feelings (it took me a long while to discover their 'ship name' is apparently 'Echo' and that it's not so much in reference to the 'echoes' that he speaks about regarding his feelings and her feeling those feelings, but more a mashup of their last names. Honestly, I think the feelings being 'echoes' as the reason for their shipper name is better). Anyway, Liz seemed to take the news of aliens being real pretty well (and I was glad to hear her ask if Michael and Isobel had the same powers as Max, though was annoyed he avoided answering the question when she asked that). Of course, there were the inevitable roadblocks to them getting together. She was mostly focused on the death of her sister, Rosa. Apparently she'd gotten two other girls killed and the whole town blamed Liz and her dad/her family for it - that seemed to be what she cared about most, which is understandable, but then once she learned that the alien trio had been behind the coverup/setup of her sister, she (justifiably) was angry and wanted nothing to do with Max, Michael and Isobel. It's to Liz's credit that she was still able to talk to them/help them out even after it appeared Isobel was to blame for most of what happened (with Max and Michael being the ones who covered it up). Despite her getting mad at Max and the other two, I never hated her for it. She had good reason to be, and yes, Max saved her...but that didn't undo his part in the coverup of Rosa's death and being blamed for the deaths for getting the other two girls killed. 

I think Liz actually handled things pretty well, considering all the bombshells that were dropped on her. I also appreciated that they had her being a scientist in this show and she used her science-y knowledge to help the aliens out at times...though she also created a serum to stop them being able to use their powers once she found out about Isobel and how dangerous she could be with getting into the minds of people/influencing them. I don't hold it against her, though, and she helped them out on more than a few occasions too. At times she could be a bit annoying, but I think it's safe to say I liked her more than the original show's Liz (which I realise is probably an 'unpopular' opinion), but I mainly chalk that up to the fact that I prefer Jeanine Mason to Shiri Appleby and I think they made this Liz a lot more proactive/useful with her being involved in all the science stuff and whatnot. What I really liked was her interaction with characters other than Max - seeing her dynamics with Michael, Isobel, Kyle and even Max's cop partner, Cameron (who I'll get to later), helped keep things interesting so it wasn't just Liz/Max drama all the time. I also liked towards the end of the season after the reveal of who was REALLY behind the murders, where Liz saved the aliens' butts quite a bit, as she was pretty awesome. I also enjoyed her scenes with her dad and especially with her sister via flashbacks, as I really bought the sisterly relationship between Jeanine Mason's Liz and Amber Midthunder (who I recognised from the series Legion, which unfortunately it appears I'll never get to see past the first season of, because they haven't released any other seasons of it here) who played Rosa (I thought she did a good job of making her character feel fully fleshed out even with only a small amount of screentime). With how Season 1 ended, I hope we get many more scenes with the two of them. It's kind of a shame that the episode ended with Liz barely having time to be happy about Rosa being brought back before she had all her happiness taken away by and was back to being sad due to Max seemingly having sacrificed himself to bring her sister back to life.

Speaking of Max, I was already familiar with Nathan Parsons (now going by 'Nathan Dean Parsons' on this show...which I found slightly disappointing, as his original name would make me think of The Alan Parsons Project and I'd keep thinking of him as 'The Nathan Parsons Project') from The Originals, where I knew him as 'Werewolf Jackson', and I'd seen him in some other things as well, so he was the first familiar face I saw in this show. Some people seem to have a problem with his voice/acting, but I never have. I think he's fine...and that's how I felt about his interpretation of Max Evans. He's an older version, working as a cop, and he seemed to have a bit more of an obsession with Liz than I remember the previous version having, which could've been interpreted as a tad creepy, but one thing I'll say is at least I found him less boring than I did Jason Behr's version. With him, he seemed so dull/unenthused with every line delivery he uttered and I remember thinking he left more of an impression in his one guest-starring role in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer than he did during all of the original Roswell series (for me, anyway). Though, to be fair to him, maybe I need to finish rewatching the original series and see if he actually emoted as the show went on. Anyway, NDP was certainly able to show emotions here...one might say almost 'too much', as he did quite a bit of yelling at times (though some of it was warranted) and this Max's version of his powers being used was SO DRAMATIC - ie. yelling in pain, lights blowing out, explosions of electricity, etc. It seems rather inconvenient if he needs to ever use them in public, as at least original series Max just did the handprint thing and that was it (from what I can remember). 

One thing about Max that didn't exactly paint him in a good light was his coverup/setup of Rosa's death/her being behind the car accident that killed two other girls and made the whole town turn on Liz and her dad. I get he was protecting Isobel, but surely he could've come up with something else besides sticking Rosa behind the wheel, and having all three girls get  flambéed in the car by Michael to hide the fact that it appeared Isobel had killed all of them. Anyway, Max did make questionable choices throughout the season, but I still more or less liked him (at least most of the time). I enjoyed his interaction with not only Liz, Michael and Isobel, but also Jenna Cameron (played by Riley Voelkel, who was in The Originals along with NDP, where she played Freya). I wish we could've gotten more of them, as I actually found Cameron to be a really good character. While I was still getting used to all these new actors playing roles I'd seen portrayed by different actors previously, Cameron was a new role I hadn't seen before and so Riley Voelkel was able to make it her own from the start and I had no other version to compare her to. It also helped that she was given some good one-liners and just seemed to be playing the role effortlessly. There was an 'easiness' to her character, she felt more 'natural' than most and made her character instantly likeable. I was glad to see another recogniseable face in this show, but was bummed that she left by the end of the season. I enjoyed seeing her interact with characters other than Max as well, such as Liz, Isobel, Alex, Kyle - I wished there could've been more of that, as they had different/interesting dynamics. I was glad she turned out to be cool and didn't allow Alex's father, who was blackmailing her into doing shady shit for him (by holding her sister over her head), to control her. She helped out the aliens (another character who seemed pretty accepting of them, and fairly quickly too. It was refreshing having all the characters who found out about the aliens not freak out much upon learning the 'secret'. In fact, Michael and Isobel freaked out WAY more in regards to Liz learning the secret than any of the humans freaked out after learning aliens were real. And then later in the season where it seemed like almost all the main cast were in on the not-so-secret 'secret', it almost became like it was no big thing) and was one of the best characters in the show. I actually thought Max was a bit of a jerk to her at times, but she was pretty mature about them gettin' it on despite the fact that he was still clearly in love with Liz and had never really moved on.



I found it interesting in the season final that Max seemed to get really enthusiastic/happy towards the end of the episode, after the bad guy had been defeated. It was like Max had suddenly lost his broodiness/angst, but he also decided to listen to what the bad guy had told him about utilising his powers more than he had been and used them to bring Rosa back to life (after she'd been discovered in the bad guy's alien pod), which was good for Rosa...but bad for Max, as it appeared he was now dead in her place. I think it's a safe bet that he's not actually for really reals dead...but they did a good job of making it appear for a second like he possibly could be. I wonder now that he showed off his Thor-like powers with summoning lightning to off the bad guy whether we'll ever see that again or whether it was a one-off? I was glad he took the stance that the bad guy needed to die, unlike Michael who cared more about getting answers about their heritage, etc and was being stupid, which let the bad guy get away to do more harm. When that happened, I thought to myself that if anyone else died, it'd be on Michael for allowing the bad guy to escape. Speaking of Michael, I can't say I was that fussed on this show's version of the character. I mean, I wasn't that fond of Brendan Fehr's version either (who always seemed to be grumpy), but it took me a lot longer to get accustomed to this one than that one. This show's Michael came on WAY too strong in the first episode (or even the first few episodes) and it wasn't until he started interacting with Max and Isobel more and they felt more like the alien trio from the original series that I found him tolerable. I also thought he and Alex together were pretty boring, so in comparison him and Maria were actually alright (though certainly nowhere near as good as the original Michael/Maria relationship/dynamic. Those two just worked, whereas this Michael I didn't get much from with either of his pairings). He was also stupid at the end of the season when he wanted to let the bad guy go in the hopes of getting answers (and worse, he was going against Max who was telling him how much he considered Michael family). I think the most interesting dynamic Michael had was with Liz, since they weren't exactly fond of each other, but kind of begrudgingly got along eventually.

Katherine Heigl's Isobel was one of the characters from the original show I thought I remembered quite well, especially the way she acted, so this version's one felt like a more extreme version of her. The other one could be on Max's case at times about Liz, keeping their secret, etc...but this one seemed like she could murder Liz at times (at least in the first few episodes, though I guess that made it easier to believe she could've been responsible for the deaths of Rosa and the other girls). There was that scene where she and Michael acted like hired goons who'd come to 'persuade' a certain person to leave town - in this case Liz - and Max was justified in being angry at both of them, as their behaviour wasn't cool. However, as the season went on, Isobel appeared to show some vulnerability and we saw that she wasn't always acting like her true self. I wondered what was going on, since she seemed to have a split personality and that would've definitely been something new/that wasn't in the original show (that I can recall), but then it was revealed her husband, Noah, was the bad guy/fourth alien/one responsible for making Isobel kill Rosa and the other two girls. I think this massive betrayal made her quite sympathetic and she became easier to like the more she interacted with the other characters. She showed she was capable of being decent/caring, and I was happy to hear her be all "Call me when he's dead." in reference to her murderer hubby. The way they did her being in other characters' minds (and them in hers) was interesting. I had vague recollections of Isobel in the original show having mind powers but only after I was reminded of it when watching this one. People seem to be quick to label what she does as 'mindrape', but as she keeps clarifying, she doesn't make anyone do anything they weren't wanting to do in the first place. I liken it to Clark on Red Kryptonite in Smallville - that just removed his inhibitions, and I think that's more or less what she's doing here. Also, how boring of an alien would she be if she never used her power? Though, thankfully, by the end of the season it looked like all three of them were discovering they could do more than they first thought, so hopefully she'll focus on the non-mind/influencing powers next season.



The human characters (who weren't Cameron) didn't interest me a whole lot. Heather Hemmens as Maria was fine (though, again, she really has a ways to go before she matches the original show's version of the character. Majandra Delfino's version of Maria DeLuca was one of the highlights from the old series), Kyle just felt like a slightly less-angry version of Tyler Lockwood (who Michael Trevino played in The Vampire Diaries and The Originals)...at least in the beginning, anyway. As this season progressed, he showed he had more layers to him and he was best when interacting with characters such as Liz, Isobel, Alex and Cameron. Speaking of, this show's Alex (played by Tyler Blackburn, who I knew from Pretty Little Liars) was the hardest to wrap my head around, since he was the complete opposite of Colin Hanks' interpretation from the original series. I didn't find him particularly interesting, especially not with Michael, but he got a bit more interesting when he interacted with the other non-Michael characters. That seemed to be a pattern for quite a few of the characters in this show - if one was supposed to be in a relationship with another, then I didn't find those two particularly interesting, but then when they interacted with anyone else, I thought they improved. There were some exceptions to that rule, of course, such as Alex's father who was one character I never thought got any better/more interesting. He was just a homophobic, alien-hating stereotype played by an actor who, to me, seemed like he was bored playing the role most of the time. I'm not even sure why he's a 'regular' in the show. They could easily cut him back to being 'recurring' and it'd make little difference. Actually, scratch that, it'd be an improvement if we saw less of him. Talk about a boring bad guy. More interesting in the bad guy role was the actor playing Noah, who'd seemed like such a decent person and good hubby to Isobel, but then it was revealed he was an alien (which, really, should've been obvious to me when he barely reacted to seeing the pods...but somehow I didn't think of it at the time, though I did realise he was the fourth alien/murderer before it was actually revealed in the show, so that's something at least). He was actually quite effectively creepy (I had to laugh at one of the episodes, after the reveal of him being bad, having the title 'Creep' - since that was indeed what he was. I actually appreciated all the 90's song titles for episodes in the season. Hopefully they can stick with that pattern), though I was glad they didn't drag out him being around to cause more trouble/deaths and that Max finally ended him in the season final.

Some things that surprised me were Sheriff Valenti getting gender-swapped in this show (and not being as involved in the story as William Sadler's version was), a blonde Claudia Black guest-starring as Max and Isobel's adoptive mum (though, sadly, she only appeared in the one episode. I'm hoping we'll see more of her) and Kayla Ewell (completing the TVD/TO reunion, since she played Vicki in TVD) popping up in a cameo as the young version of Michael's mum in the season final...before all the aliens trapped at the facility seemingly got taken out via an explosion. Another casualty I felt a bit sorry for was the alien conspiracy nut who turned out to actually not be off his rocker after all (so, naturally, he wound up dead). I'm not one of those people who was so obsessed with the original series that I automatically objected to this reboot/remake/whatever-you-want-to-call-it once the news of it being made was first announced. While I watched all three seasons of the old show on TV (albeit missing some episodes here and there), it was never a something that I thought was in the same league as BtVS. However, when I started rewatching Season 1 on DVD quite a while back, I was kind of getting into it again (as it'd been so long since I first watched it). It was almost like watching it anew. This show was somewhat similar in that there was stuff I recognised and was familiar with...but then also a lot of stuff that was 'new' too. Some things I felt this show did 'better' than the original show and some things I thought it did 'worse'. Same with the characters. Do I like this show more or less than the original series? To make an informed decision about that, I think I'll have to finish rewatching the old show first. Judging this series by itself/without comparing it to the original...I thought it was alright, though wasn't blown away. I felt this first season started off slowly, but finally got going around episode 6 when we had the flashbacks to the alien trio as teenagers (the actors who played them did a good job and made me wonder why they didn't just have this show be based around them instead of aging them up) and we got some answers as to what really happened with Rosa's murder. The season's ending promised some interesting developments (not to mention it managed to work in the original show's theme song - albeit a cover. I should also mention the other songs used throughout the season were pretty good too. I especially appreciated hearing one from Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album...and not one of the 'obvious' songs either), but I can't say I'm 'anxiously awaiting' Season 2. Though since I'm hoping they do eventually end up releasing it here and it doesn't become one of countless shows that I've started on DVD/Blu-ray only to find that the later seasons aren't ever going to be released for whatever reason (I hate it when they do that), I guess I must actually somewhat care about seeing Season 2 (and am not just simply indifferent to whether we get it or not) and that means I do in fact like it.

’Pilot’ 
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Episodes 2 - 9



Episodes 10 - 22