What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Ready Steady Cut: https://readysteadycut.com/2021/06/17/recap-black-summer-season-2-episode-8-the-ending-explained-netflix-series/

Black Summer S2 Ep 8: The Plane

Daniel Hart

June 17, 2021


Season 2 ends on a strong note with impressive action sequences and a satisfactory ending to make audiences want more.

While this season has been hit and miss, the last two chapters have been strong, sealing the justification for a possible third season. We certainly wouldn’t grumble.

The opening of the finale sees Ray, with blood streaming down his face — he’s calling everyone disgusting and claims they would have gotten on the plane if they all listened to him. He asks the person he’s looking at to open the door and claims he has been dead for a long time. The title screen “Arrival” pops up. Rose and Anna make it to the airstrip — the conversation of Spears comes up, and Anna tells Rose she did what her mother couldn’t. She doesn’t want to rot in a place like her father, and her mother tells her to shut her mouth. They can’t argue for long because Boone, the zombie, chases them.

The merging of groups

And then, all the work of season 2 merges, with everyone focusing on the airstrip after a difficult battle against the winter weather.

The title screen “The Airstrip” pops up. A bird-eye view shot shows that Anna and Rose are not alone; every group that has been on this long journey is coming to the airstrip. The title screen “Old Friends” pops up. Mance reunites with the women from his old group and asks them if they are ready. Suddenly gunshots are fired, and one of the women (Natalie) falls — they have to go to her aid. Mance tells Jase that they have to go as it’s too late for Natalie — unfortunately, Jase ends up been eaten by Natalie, the zombie.

It’s getting tense

The title screen “New Friends” pops up. Anna and Rose bump into Ray and Sun, and Rose offers them food. Ray wants their gun, so they drop their weapons. There’s no time to figure each other out as zombies run after them, so they have to merge as a group to help each other. Rose is about to point her gun at Ray, but she’s told by someone else to put her gun down. The title screen “The Deal” pops up. Boone is with another group, and he’s cuffed — he tries telling the group that he was right, and says “a deal is a deal”. However, the leader kills him.

Ray is betrayed by his own

The title screen “Flare” pops up. We are back in the hangar, and the other group leader takes off Rose’s weapons. They hit Ray despite being acquaintances. The other group leader says they can’t all go on the plane, and only the best can come. Ray is beaten by the men he was once leading, and Sun cries watching. Anna is asked to grab the first aid kit, so she gives it to the group and secretly gives Rose a flare gun.

Everything in the finale demonstrates how humans can be so flawed in desperate situations; even when they are close to the plane, they still can’t work together to find freedom.

A plane arrives

A few zombies breach the hangar — Ray, Rose, Anna, and Sun end up outside, and Ray locks the men in. Ray calls them all greedy f***s, and says they turned into animals. He tells them all that they aren’t going anywhere anymore because they f****d up. Suddenly, they see a plane heading their way, so Ray lowers his gun. The plane lands, so Rose uses her flare gun and shoots at a vehicle near Ray, and it explodes. The explosion throws Rose back, and she wails in pain. Anna tells her mother to get up as they need to go, but Rose clearly cannot stand up because of her injured leg. She tells her daughter to go and points a pistol at her head — as Anna runs away, she sobs, but she calms down eventually as she hears the plane.
Sun makes it, and Mance impressively fights off every single zombie

The title screen “The Plane” pops up. The remaining survivors, Sun and Anna, reach the plane — Sun begs Anna to get on, but she hesitates, and the zombies catch up to her. She runs as Sun heads inside, and the plane door shuts and sets off — Sun made it on; she’s free. The title screen “Mance” pops up. Mance sees the plane set off but then sees Anna running away from zombies, so he distracts them and fights them off while running away. In one of the hangars, he fights them all off one by one. The camera shots in this sequence are impressive — he manages to kill them all.

It’s surprising how the best part of this episode was Mance fighting off all the zombies.
The wild west

Mance makes it outside, exhausted, and taking in the fresh air and sunset, and he kills another zombie. The title screen “Departure” pops up. Rose hasn’t killed herself as the episode first implied, and Ray crawls nearby, aiming his weapon at her. She looks to her right and sees her daughter Anna — just like Spears said — “look after your mother”. The mother and daughter look at each other while there’s a wild west situation going on — Ray and Rose pointing their guns squarely at each other like a nuclear deterrent.
The ending of Black Summer season 2, episode 8

Anna runs over to a car and turns it on; Ray finally puts down his gun, so Rose lays down and rests. The title screen “The Pilot” pops up, and we are on the plane with Sun. The pilot speaks to Sun in Korean from the cockpit — she’s surprised that the pilot can speak a little Korean, and she’s overwhelmed with happiness to finally be able to speak to someone. Sun asks about the others, but he tells her that all that matters is what’s ahead — she laughs and looks outside the window before falling asleep.

Let’s reflect

There’s plenty to think about for season 3:

We would hope that the series explores where Sun ends up, especially after all the anticipation of getting on a plane.

What will happen to Rose and Ray? It feels like they have both given up.

Anna waits nearby in a car — is she waiting for Rose to get in? Why was she just sat there?

As for Mance, will he join Rose and Anna?

It feels like Rose will have an integral role in season 3 still, as they did not kill her off in season 2, despite being very close to her demise.

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/black-sails-xxii-review/

Black Sails S3 Ep 4

By TS Rhodes|February 14, 2016|

In the last episode, the pirates were lined up against Woods Rodgers, ready for the fight of the decade. Then Hornigold came in and read out the offer of pardon, and it was over just like that. The fourth episode of Black Sails season 3, “XXII,” starts with pirates knocking on the door of the fort, ready to turn Charles Vane in for the ransom put on his head.

Last week, Flint, Silver, and company were dying of hunger and thirst. Now they’re on an island, eating and drinking and suddenly captured by a colony of escaped slaves, giving them a whole new set of problems.

Just like that.

Actually, I’d like to say, yet again, what a beautiful show this is. Sailing ships, the sea, the island, every bit of cinematography just glows. The CG is utterly convincing, too. After last episode’s storm, we are treated to beautiful sailing ships that can’t possibly be real. This has got to be one of the most beautiful shows on TV.

I’m very, very pleased to see that Jack Rackham found his balls. He’s acting like a real pirate at last. It’s also good to see (and some damn fine writing and acting) the relationship between Jack and Vane. After all, these two ran a pirate ship together as captain and quartermaster. No they aren’t the same person (“Godspeed, Charles.” “Fuck you, Jack.”) But they have been a team. They still are. When Vane needed help, I half expected the sword that rescues him to belong to Jack.

Well, maybe a little less than half. And, to tell the truth, I’d still rather have Blackbeard on my side in a dirty fight than Jack Rackham.

One of the other things that Black Sails does very well is draw attention to its pertinent character points without beating us over the head. It’s entirely natural for Vane to have a moment when he learns that it was Eleanor who put the price on his head, and its entirely natural for him to think out loud that Eleanor showed herself to him.

Likewise, we see Vane show himself to Eleanor. His guidance of the fire ship takes it in a veering path into another of Roger’s fleet sends a clear message. This is what passes for flirting among the bloody-minded pirates of the world (and Eleanor IS a pirate, though I still don’t like her most.) So take note folks.

It’s a lovely mix of history and imagination, as so much of Black Sails is. The historical Vane fought Roger’s takeover of Nassau with fire ships.

Back on Treasure Island (and I still believe it’s Treasure Island, due in no small part to the fact that we’ve now established that its location is a Big Secret) we get another mix of fantasy and reality.

The Maroons were real people. Not quite as African as shown here. Maroons were an alliance between Caribbean natives and escaped African slaves. And the majority of the slaves who successfully escaped were Africans captured in inter-tribal wars. Essentially the Europeans bought a bunch of soldiers and sold them in a group to plantation owners. These people, who came with their own military experience, were at an advantage when it came to breaking free.

Later, slave dealers learned to buy mixed lots of slaves, people from different tribes who often did not speak the same languages and could not band together.

This group of Maroons seems to be entirely or almost entirely African. Their village is a large one, but we do find out that it has been growing because of more than childbirth. The most famous group of real Maroons, on Jamaica, was ruled by a woman named Nanny. She’s the only registered hero in Jamaican history who was female.

So the background that Flint and Silver find themselves in is historic. But one of the new characters is fantasy. Ben Gunn is the man left marooned (no pun intended) on Treasure Island after Flint buries his treasure.

It was great to hear Ben’s Irish accent. The Irish built a lot of history in the Caribbean, often being sold into slavery there by the English, and they served on a lot of pirate ships. (Trivia: listen carefully to the accent of Jamaica. Does it sound like a mix of Irish and African voices? Maybe that’s because it is.)

Like most of Black Sails, this episode is driving at a point. Is it better to take what freedom you are offered, or to put your heart’s blood on the line to get the freedom you want? The pirates are facing this issue on Nassau, and Jack Rackham is kind enough to spell it out for us while he and Anne sit in a cave, plotting their next move. Jack wants history. There’s no doubt where his heart lies.

The Maroons are fighting out this same issue, in a slightly different way. Do they hide, or do they seek vengeance and fight? But the Maroons, a mirror of the pirates, are being forced into a decision due to the loss of their outside supplier and protector.

The Maroon queen loses her husband, the Maroon princess her father. Even if Mr. Scott does not die, his effectiveness is over. Among other things, the autonomy that a black man had on an island of pirates is much greater than that of a black man born a slave, who is dealing with the “good people of the world.” The powers that be see him as less than human.

Flint, ever tortured and still talking to the dead Miranda (who’s much more sensible than he is) can ask out loud the problem on everyone’s mind. Is it wrong to fight against the pardons? Isn’t this what he fought for when he was McGraw?

The point here, which Flint will probably take too long to see, is that when a person’s point of view changes, they change as a person. Silver has learned to think of others besides himself. Flint needs to find out who he’s going to become.

At one point, the Maroon Queen asks, “Would you take the word of a pirate?” Well, seeing what else the world has to offer, I for one probably would.

from Decider: https://decider.com/2022/03/06/outlander-season-6-episode-1-recap/

Outlander S6 Ep 1: Echoes

By Jennifer Still @jenniferlstill
Mar 6, 2022 at 9:15am

When last we left Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) in the 18th century at the end of Outlander Season 5, things were in a rather precarious state. Claire had thankfully survived a brutal kidnap and rape from Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy) and his crew and was safe — at least for the moment — back in Jamie’s arms. However, Fraser’s Ridge and the territory at large is on the brink of revolution, so it was clear back in the Season 5 finale that safety and relative peace was short-lived. Given the way the “Echoes” kicks off, that certainly seems to be the case.

The first 20 or so minutes of the episode take us back 20 years to 1753 when Jamie has just arrived at Ardsmuir prison following the Jacobite uprising. There’s a whole group of men there who fought but failed against the English, but there’s a divide even among these men as some are Catholics and others are Protestants. On the Protestant side is Thomas Christie, who seems to have something of an understanding with Governor Harry Quarry (Jay Villiers) who runs the place. Quarry deems Christie a “more decent sort” than Jamie but does notice and acknowledge that Jamie holds power among the prisoners. Jamie and Christie don’t really see eye to eye but there does seem to be somewhat of a mutual albeit begrudging respect between the men. In any case, Jamie’s fortune changes soon after when Quarry grants his request to become a freemason and transform the prison to a lodge (though not before Jamie takes a serious flogging for a piece of tartan placed gifted to a prisoner in memorium). Seems Quarry wasn’t all that into being a prison governor after all.

Flash forward to North Carolina in 1773. Claire is sleeping restfully, only Jamie finds it incredibly hard to wake her. When she finally comes to, she’s thrilled. It seems she’s found a way to produce ether, which she tells Jamie puts the user in something “deeper than sleep,” making it much easier and less painful to perform surgery when needed. If you’re thinking, “Hmm… Claire has a lot of untapped trauma, this could be dangerous!” then you get a prize because you’re 100% right.

Jamie shares that Major McDonald, who took over for the old Governor, wants him to come on board as an Indian agent to represent the Crown and improve relations with the Cherokee tribe. Claire wants him to say no and he says he will, but spoiler alert: by the end of the episode, he’ll change his mind. In the meantime, Jamie insists on following Claire everywhere she goes, clearly concerned about her safety and mental/emotional wellbeing ever since the kidnapping. She insists she’s okay, which can definitely be translated to mean the exact opposite.

It soon becomes clear why we started the episode with the Ardsmuir flashback. It’s only Thomas Christie come to find Jamie in Fraser’s Ridge! Jamie apparently sent out a very talked-about invite for anyone from his Ardsmuir days to come and join him in settling in Fraser’s Ridge and Christie decided to take him up on the offer. He’s brought his two children, Malva (Jessica Reynolds) and Allan (Alexander Vlahos) (who are more like young adults really), along with him. Their mother is dead, and while the reason is never discussed explicitly, anyone who’s read the books will know that she was hanged for the murder of Christie’s brother, Edgar.

Now seems as good a time as any to mention that Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) are still around, though there’s only a quick glimpse of Jemmy in this episode. Brianna has been working on her designs here and there but given what happened to her mother for being “ahead of her time,” she’s a bit hesitant to publicize it much. It’s hard to say what Roger is up to these days, though he is the one who welcomes Christie to Fraser’s Ridge since Jamie and Claire are out running errands when his camp arrives.

At one point, Young Ian (John Bell) decides to take Allan hunting and notices and admires his gun powder horn. It’s a bit of a nothing scene, or it would be if it didn’t serve two distinct purposes: showing us that Richard Brown (Chris Larkin), that awful Lionel’s brother, is still around sneering and being generally The Worst and also showing that Allan seems to have sticky fingers.

Richard brings his whole motley crew of self-proclaimed law enforcement officers over to Fraser’s Ridge later that day and says he’s there to arrest Allan for stealing a powder horn with his brother’s initials engraved in them. Christie asks Richard to allow him to bestow discipline on his son personally, but Richard thinks that Jamie should do it, and that a just punishment would be 10 lashes. As basically the entire settlement of Fraser’s Ridge looks on, Jamie does exactly that. The sense of foreboding here is pretty powerful. Things are not going to end well with Richard Brown.

By the end of the episode, we get a glimpse into Claire’s current state of mind. Seeing Richard has triggered terrible nightmares for her, though it’s likely she was already having them. She wakes up hyperventilating but insists she’s fine and just needs a cup of tea. However, she instead mixes herself up a dose of ether and knocks herself out in the bed in the other room. It’s going to be a tough ride this season for Claire, that’s for sure. Caitriona Balfe has pretty much said as much in recent interviews, so this will be interesting to see.

A few other thoughts:

Malva is doing a lot of sniffing around Claire, particularly when it comes to her medical work. She asks a lot of questions and doesn’t come across as particularly trustworthy, though what she’s up to remains to be seen.

It wouldn’t be an Outlander season premiere if we didn’t have a steamy Claire and Jamie sex scene. The one in “Echoes” was relatively short for them and still very loving and romantic, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it was also somewhat uncomfortable knowing how traumatized Claire still is.

Marsali (Lauren Lyle) is still extremely pregnant and Fergus (Cesar Domboy) is now a drunk, which is always great. She told Claire in this episode that the baby hasn’t been moving much but that they never do when they’re nearly ready. Let’s hope this isn’t a foreshadowing of something really bad for her.

from TV Fanatic: https://www.tvfanatic.com/2020/01/evil-season-1-episode-13-review-book-27/

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

Evil S1 Ep 13: Book 27

by Jessica Lerner 
January 31, 2020 


It always comes back to possession.

As much as the series flirted with other supernatural occurences, EVIL Season 1 Episode 13 really hammered home that demons and possession are at the heart of this series.

Even knowing this, I still didn't see that cliffhanger coming.


Of all the characters to possibly be possessed Kristen never crossed my mind.


Acosta seemed like a more feasible choice, especially given his struggles with drug use.

Acosta: I’m glad we’re talking again.
Kristen: Were we not?
Acosta: For a minute there.
Kristen: I’m glad too.

It wouldn't have been surprising if he had unknowingly been in communication with a demon while on one of his drug-induced vision quests.

In fact, that storyline could have touched upon the very real dangers associated with drugs and addiction, but it may have been too on the nose for a priest-in-training to be possessed.


Having a skeptic being possessed by a demon is almost better in a way, as it subverts the expected.

While we don't know for sure that Kristen is possessed, there's some pretty damning evidence against her.

The rosary burning her hand and the blood on her stockings could be dismissed, but the revelation that Orson Leroux is dead kicked things up to a whole other level.

This was a serial killer who just had his conviction overturned, and the first thing he did was harass Kristen.

I'm not sure Leroux got the memo that making amends doesn't include showing up to her house, filing a false assault report against her, calling her on the phone, and breaking into her home just to leave a gift basket.

Or should I clarify that the regular 12 Steps doesn't include those things; who knows what they teach you in demonic therapy?


George: It’s George. Did I wake you?
Kristen: No, I was waiting for you.

All of those things would have been enough to make a normal person weary.

As for a demonically possessed person, well, he or she may take an ice ax and bludgeon said serial killer to death. Who knows?


There's also a part of me that wonders if Kristen isn't being possessed but rather being made to think she is.

Townsend could have easily framed her for Leroux's death -- he did make a copy of her keys after all -- and there are plenty of non-supernatural ways to gaslight someone.

Either way, it seems like next season will focus on trying to make sense of the last few minutes.

As for making sense of things, the season finale attempted to connect the dots with most of the past "cases of the week."

There was a lot of information thrown out at once, but it seems as if Acosta's visions were trying to point him to RSM Fertility, a fertility clinic where Kristen and others used to get pregnant via IVF.

Father: Unfortunately, what this woman is asking for is impossible. An unborn child cannot be possessed.
Acosta: But isn’t a child a cognizant creation even in the womb? If not, then why is abortion a sin.
Father: But no demon can possess a person until that person gives an invitation, and un unborn child lacks that ability. I’m sorry.
Ben: I’m sorry, wait, so you can’t perform an exorcism because the fetus can’t choose, right?
Father: The unborn child.
Ben: OK, right. So what if it’s an infestation?
Father: Infestation of what?
Ben: The womb.
Acosta: Ben’s right. You can exorcise the womb even if the fetus isn’t possessed.

At least three other "cases of the week," including this episode's, can be traced back to the fertility clinic, but what interests me more is that Lexis was conceived using IVF.

Of all of Kristen's daughters, she has been the one most "suspectible" to evil.


It was Lexis who Sheryl managed to convince to hit the child bullying her with a rock.

At the time, I thought Sheryl was being unduly influenced by Townsend, but what if Lexis was "poisoned"?

Acosta's theory about psychopaths "tinkering" with fertilized eggs to poison the next generation sounds really out there, from a scientific standpoint.

Sure, it means sense on paper that it would be easier to scientifically create bad people rather than trying to entice them as adults, but at what point does that stop sounding like bad fan fiction?

Besides, the series has shown that demonic therapy can work wonders on turning normal everyday people into psychopathic monsters.

It's also probably a lot cheaper.

Sheryl: Baby, I’m sorry but you don’t get to determine who I date.
Kristen: You lied to me, mother. You kept seeing Leland, and you kept feeding him information.
Sheryl: Kristen, this is not a war. I’m not feeding anybody anything. I’m just talking with my lover.
Kristen: Oh my god. He’s a psychopath.

The only way I can see Acosta's theory being plausible is if demons are somehow able to corrupt the embryos.

This sort of interpretation relies solely on the belief that demons are real and possessions and exorcisms are possible.


To me, that's the only way the writers could get me on board with this theory.

Unless, The Powers That Be explicitly state the Sixty are somehow monkeying with the embryos, I'm going to remain skeptic.

Either way, this "big revelation" fell flat.

It was as if the writers were trying to find a way to connect everything but upon realizing all the puzzle pieces didn't line up, they just chose the ones that would fit.


Yes, the chosen "cases of the week" did coincide well with the fertility clinic angle, but I'm still left wondering about the prophet Grace, the Poveglia Codex, and the Sixty.

There was no movement on any of those fronts, which was disappointing, as I consider those to be more intriguing elements of the overarching mythology.

Ben: So what are we thinking?
Acosta: I think I understand.
Ben: What?
Acosta: Matthew 13: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.’
Ben: David, I don’t get parables. Just tell me.
Acosta: These are the weeds. The eggs. The slaughter of the innocents isn’t killing 2-year-olds; it’s corrupting the eggs.
Ben: It’s like ‘The Boys from Brazil.’
Acosta: What is that?
Ben: My own parable. It’s a movie about these people. They’re trying to clone little Hitlers from his DNA.

In a way, I almost wish EVIL Season 1 Episode 12 was the season finale.

While this episode had its share of strong and shocking moments, I felt the penultimate episode was just better overall.

Some stray thoughts:

Does anyone want to place bets on the demon possessing Kristen? My guess is it's either George or the demonic therapist who I was informed isn't Satan. I do hope it's George though, as those scenes are always fun. Plus, it could explain why George's sometimes in her dreams.

Is it also possible that Sheryl is possessed by a demon too, or just under Townsend's spell? What other reason could there be for her choosing her boyfriend fiancee she's known a matter of weeks over her daughter and grandchildren.

Even if Sheryl wasn't marrying a demonic psychopath, you'd think her daughter's feelings on the matter might hold some weight.

Weren't we supposed to figure out by this episode how all of the numbers in the episode titles connect somehow, or did I just make that up?

Midsommar (2019)

from Roger Ebert: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/midsommar-2019

Midsommar

Tomris Laffly
July 01, 2019

One thing is certain: writer/director Ari Aster comprehends stifling dread in the most profound sense. Via a grief-soaked story of ancestral vulnerability (you can’t pick your relatives, can you?), his terrifying and startlingly confident debut “Hereditary” proved as much. Sure, the film’s demonic mythology, skillfully gory images and creepy miniature models cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski’s camera fiendishly navigated were all stuff of nightmares. But equally frightening in “Hereditary” was the grudge-filled and deeply claustrophobic domestic helplessness Aster infused into every shot and line of dialogue.



The filmmaker fidgets with that peculiar breathlessness once again throughout “Midsommar,” a terrifically juicy, apocalyptic cinematic sacrament that dances around a fruitless relationship in dizzying circles. We are not stuffed inside a cavernous house of horrors this time around. But be prepared to feel equally suffocated by a ravenous family (albeit, a chosen, cultish kind) all the same. In the midst of wide-open pastoral surroundings we may be, but Aster still wants us to crave and kick for oxygen, perhaps in a less claustrophobic and more agoraphobic fashion. The tangible dread in “Midsommar”—oftentimes alleviated by welcome flashes of comedy, always charged by tight choreography and Pogorzelski’s atmospheric compositions—is so recognizably out of “Hereditary” that you'll immediately distinguish the connective headspace responsible for both tales.

And yet, this superb psychedelic thriller sowed somewhere amid an outdoorsy “mother!,” a blindingly lit “Dogville” and fine, a contemporary “The Wicker Man,” is different by way of Aster’s loosened thematic restraint. You won’t exactly feel lost while disemboweling Aster’s inviting beast, but you can certainly argue that the sun never sets on the film’s cosmically vast subject matter: reaping notions of (white) male privilege, American entitlement (that literally pisses on what’s not theirs) and most prominently, female empowerment. And this is also a fitting way to describe the location where most of the story unfolds, under nearly 24-hour sun. We are in a remote, hidden-from-view Swedish village nested somewhere in Hälsingland, among tranquilly dressed Hårga folk who celebrate summer through initially quaint, but increasingly bizarre and downright petrifying rituals. There is only a slack sense of yesterday and tomorrow in Aster’s locale of choice where an endless string of hallucinatory traditions are exercised in broad daylight.

The folkloric practices start off appealingly enough—a misleading gust of peace (superbly countered by The Haxan Cloak’s skin-crawling score) breezes in the air while heady drugs dissolve in tempting cups of tea. But how did we even get here and find ourselves among these hippy-dippy proceedings cloaked in white linen? Well, we followed Florence Pugh, Aster’s second fearless female lead after Toni Collette, playing a grieving character marked by something unspeakable. In a deeply scarred, emotionally unrestricted performance—you might hear her screams in your nightmares—Pugh plays Dani, a graduate student aiming to put some distance between herself and an extreme case of trauma involving her bipolar sister. (A stunning prologue unravels the details of the tragic ordeal with top-shelf narrative economy.) And Dani isn’t on her own. In fact, she embarks upon the picturesque Scandinavian adventure as an outsider at first, tagging along some fellow scholars of academia, a group that includes her self-absorbed longtime boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor, convincingly egotistical). Also in the clan are Christian’s buddies Josh (William Jackson Harper)—headed to the festivities for academic research—the blabber-mouthed Mark (Will Poulter, so hysterically douchey that he earns the jester’s cap he’d wear later on), and Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), the brainchild of the operation as well as a member of the makeshift family that would host the group.



When the clique arrives in Sweden and joins others alongside Connie and Simon, a couple played by Ellora Torchia and Archie Madekwe respectively, Aster forgoes the aforesaid narrative economy for something sinister. Aided by production designer Henrik Svensson’s deceptively simple work and Andrea Flesch’s distressingly repetitive, angelically Nordic-embroidered costumes, he establishes a creepy sense of being stuck amid compartmentalized fields of boxy sleeping huts, triangular temples and elaborate dining settings. Soon enough (but never hurriedly), the flower-power euphoria thins out in “Midsommar.” Victimized people vanish one after the other and giggles assume an even more uncomfortable dimension—you will reach the climax of your sniggers during a truly hilarious mating ceremony that puts the last nail in the coffin of Dani’s doomed relationship with Christian. It all sounds crazy, but you can barely blame the clueless tourists for not making a more concerted effort to escape, or at least to decipher the cult’s ulterior motives. The sneaky hex Aster casts has that tight a grip, on both the characters and the audience.

Some will be troubled by the excess in “Midsommar.” The unburdened surplus of lengthy customs does overshadow some of the film’s potentially ripe avenues of interest, such as the scholarly rivalry between Christian and Josh, as well as racial dynamics that are only briefly hinted at. But the invigorating reward here is the ultimate sovereignty you will find in Dani, a surrogate for any woman who ever excused an inconsiderate male, rationalized his unkind words or thoughtless non-apologies. Pugh knows it in the film's liberating final shot. And you will know it too, so intensely that her freedom might just feel like therapy.

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

 from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Free_(Dexter)

Dexter S1 Ep 12: Born Free

Dexter rushes to find Debra, having discovered that her boyfriend Rudy is the Ice Truck Killer. Since the killer had always sent secret messages to Dexter, he searches his apartment for clues that Rudy could have left, finding a picture of the shipping container where his mother was killed. When Dexter is about to leave, Doakes and LaGuerta arrive, telling him that they think Rudy stabbed Batista. Doakes insists that Dexter knows something, and he reveals that the blood on Batista's collar matched Rudy's. After the pair leave, Dexter goes to search for the shipping container. At the station, LaGuerta orders a search for Rudy. Matthews walks in and introduces Esmee Pascal, the new lieutenant replacing her.

At the shipping yard, Dexter breaks into the container in the picture, only to find it full of bananas. Doakes appears and asks him what he is doing. After a fist fight between the two, a foreman arrives and orders them to leave. Doakes tells Dexter that he knows that he is up to something, and says that he will be watching him. Meanwhile, Rita is contacted by an imprisoned Paul, who contends that Dexter knocked him out and set him up. She is visited by Paul's Narcotics Anonymous sponsor, who attempts to convince her that Paul is telling the truth. In a final plea, Paul calls Rita and tells her to search their house for a shoe which he believes came off when Dexter knocked him out. Rita hangs up, but discovers the shoe while taking out the trash.

After finding a clue at Rudy's house, Dexter arrives at the house of his biological mother, Laura Moser. Flashbacks reveal that Rudy, whose real name is Brian Moser, is in fact Dexter's brother. He also witnessed the murder of their mother, but did not repress the memory; instead, he grew up in a mental institution and was treated for antisocial personality disorder. Dexter meets Brian in their childhood home, where he is keeping Debra. He intends to kill Debra with Dexter as a sort of "family reunion", but Dexter stops him. As Doakes and the police close in on the house, Brian escapes through a trap door and Dexter is left with Debra, appearing to have saved her.

Doakes tries to question Dexter about his involvement, but is stopped by an indignant Debra, who says that Dexter is a hero. Dexter accompanies her to the hospital before the two return to Dexter's apartment. In the middle of the night, Brian breaks in and attempts to stab Debra, only to find a prosthetic body in her place; Dexter then chokes him unconscious with a garrote. In the refrigeration unit in Brian's apartment, Dexter ties him to the killing table with plastic wrap. After an emotionally charged conversation, Dexter slices his brother's throat and leaves him upside down to drain, staging it as a suicide. Dexter and Debra arrive at a crime scene, and he imagines what it would be like if everyone knew and happily accepted the truth about him.

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-expanse-season-3-episode-9-review-intransigence/

The Expanse S3 Ep 9: Intransigence

By Michael Ahr

June 7, 2018|

The Expanse slows things down this week the same way the Ring has its speed limit, but the narrative still holds its impact as it embarks on the mystery of the pocket universe that the Rocinante finds itself in. Exploring what it means for each of the system factions to cross the threshold will no doubt be explored as the finale nears, but in the meantime, it’s important to take a breath to unpack the motivation behind Melba’s frame job and to allow Holden to formulate a plan in this foreign environment. All of the emotional beats of “Intransigence” follow this same pacing to create another well-told story.

Thankfully, it didn’t take Amos long to figure out that Cohen the camera guy was behind the malfunctioning comms and weapons, and it was enjoyable as always to see the mechanic employ his unique skills to try to fix the problem. To all appearances, Cohen is telling the truth about not knowing exactly what he did, and sending both him and Monica out the airlock to appeal to the Martians on the Xuesen, who also have entered the Ring, seems an appropriately coarse consequence for Amos to employ, and it’s not a terrible plan at that.

After all, Holden’s original conclusion before Miller showed up was to hope the MCRN could be reasoned with. The Xuesen acts as a narrative device to explain the nature of the bubble with its speed limit, a nucleus that pulls in anything that breaks that limit, and an edge that leads to oblivion, raising the stakes for the Rocinante, which has nowhere to flee. The arrival of Miller provides another course of action, though, crazy as it may be. Although it was pleasant to hear the detective simulacrum speaking more clearly (yet still needing to use metaphors to communicate), we can only guess what sending Holden to the nucleus will do. The setup, however, was nicely executed leading to an unexpected result.

The same could be said for Naomi’s journey in this episode. Ashford continues to be enigmatically both a reasonable man and a zealous advocate for the Belt, but it’s wonderful to see his advice to Naomi turned around on him. He discourages her from indulging in nostalgia about her time with the Inners, but he ends up making her realize she left the Rocinante because of her rosy memories about her time with the OPA. Her departure from Drummer is a painful one, especially after the captain gave such a rousing speech, but it’s also encouraging to note that, although Ashford clearly tattles on her plan to take a skiff, Drummer allows Naomi to return to the Roci.

Meanwhile, Melba’s story starts to paint the picture of why all this mayhem occurred in the first place, although forcing everyone into the Ring certainly isn’t the result the technician was hoping for. As the daughter of Jules-Pierre Mao, who was just brought low by the plan to create hybrids with the protomolecule in the first half of the season, it makes perfect sense that she would seek revenge against the man she thinks caused her family’s fall from grace. Just as the flashbacks seemed to indicate, Melba is a proud woman who doesn’t take well to humiliation.

But of course she’s also trying to prove herself to her father. To be seen as nothing but a party planner while her sister Julie gets Jules-Pierre’s respect despite being openly defiant of him must have resulted in some complicated feelings for Melba, especially once Julie became protomolecule fodder, so even though she seems pretty well put together, there’s clearly a well of hurt inside her. The fact that she would send a message to her dad through Ren’s family shows that the potential her father-figure boss saw in her is something she desperately wanted from her own real parent. Her tale is a satisfying unfolding of a pivotal motivation for the current main conflict in The Expanse.

Melba’s interactions with Anna continue to be rather superficial, but we’re definitely being set up for more there. Anna’s compulsion to stay with the Thomas Prince as it heads into the unknown seems to fit with what we know about the pastor, who seems to love her family but can’t resist any world-changing events that she has a chance to be a part of. It’s interesting to see her passion for pioneering contrasted with Hector’s self-preservation, and when he says he wants to rejoin his family as part of the UNN’s evacuation of civilians, he must just really be scared, just as the soldier who risks being charged with desertion evidently is.

Avasarala’s detached messages about the evacuation make us miss her presence in person, but in the meantime, we’ve got Miss Fagan to occupy our attention. In earlier episodes, she seemed to be simply a vapid spouse of a wealthy politician, but her admission to Anna that she’s an aging debutante seeking thrills wherever she can get them is refreshingly honest. As Anna admits to her that she also wants to stay to experience this miracle of first contact, it’s easy to see how these two unlikely companions might bond with each other moving forward.

And so the stage is set with the many ships that entered the Ring alongside the Behemoth. Naomi may be headed back to her family, but Holden has left the ship with Miller as his guide; Anna and her companions are now surrounded by military; Monica and Cohen presumably are with the Martians; and we mustn’t forget that Bobbie is on the Xuesen, which seeks to capture Holden on behalf of Mars. How will the new setting inside the pocket universe of the Ring change the dynamics of the story? Events in The Expanse did slow down a bit, but the shift in the action still promises plenty of intrigue and adventure to come.