Doctor Who (Season 7)

Show: Doctor Who

Season: 7

Episodes: 14

Showrunner: Steven Moffat

Released: 2011-2013

Rating: 4/5

Basic Plot: The further adventures of the time traveling alien adventurer and his companions.
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The Mystery of Clara
The Doctor is introduced to Clara in the episode "Asylum of the Daleks". Not much of a mystery about her as she's clearly killed by the end of the episode. The thing that got people talking was the fact that the same actress was to reprise her role as the new companion in the 2012 Christmas Special. For the first half of Season 7 there is no real mention of Clara aside from "Asylum of the Daleks" as the focus for that part of the Season was the remaining time with the Ponds. With the second half of the Season underway, Clara takes center stage as 'the impossible girl'. There were so many theories going around of who/what she really was and it made me love my fellow Whovians for being so clever (though the good majority turned out to be wrong). Finding out who Clara is makes sense and gives some great callbacks to the Classic Doctor Who Era. Well...not so much callbacks as using clips from the Classic Doctor Who Era.

Letting go of Amy and Rory Pond
Amy and Rory were my first two companions of the Doctor. Yes, I watched other Seasons where there were different companions. But when I started to watch new episodes of Doctor Who they were the first ones I traveled with. I knew this Season would see the end of them and I was worried. When they left the show I needed a couple of tissues. The episode was very well done and it gave the duo a proper farewell. It highlighted Rory's love of Amy and Amy's love of Rory. The fact that they couldn't stand to be apart from each other, even when staying together meant death. The episodes building up to the duo's farewell were very well put together. When I cried that they had left it was a good pain. Not happy or giving me peace of mind. But a good pain nonetheless.

The Christmas Specials
The first of this Season's Christmas Specials ("The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe") was a poor episode. I don't like saying this, especially when I made a big deal about watching it with my fiance (well he slept during the good majority of it, he's not a Whovian poor soul). It didn't really capture me but I was pleased when the Doctor reunited with Amy and Rory at the end of the episode. The second Christmas Special of this Season ("The Snowmen") was much better. Besides bringing back the Great Intelligence (I've heard the same 'being' was in Classic Doctor Who), it also introduced us to Clara. Both would play a large part in the second half of this Season.

Final Thoughts
Overall this was a good Season. Long time companions were given a proper farewell and there was a mystery about the new companion to explore. Madame Vestra and Jenny were great to see onscreen together. They are lesbians (though they are also different species) that are married. "The Crimson Horror" showcased how well a spinoff of the pair would work. This Season pulled at all the right heartstrings and ended with a cliffhanger that won't be answered for many months. While "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" wasn't a good episode, there were more good than bad episodes. "Asylum of the Daleks" and "The Angels Take Manhattan" being two of them.

Supernatural (Season 8)

Show: Supernatural

Season: 8

Episodes: 23

Created By: Eric Kripke

Released: 2012-2013

Rating: 3.5/5

Basic Plot: The Winchester brothers attempt to close the Gates of Hell forever.
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Ending a Let Down
I'll start off by saying that the Season 8 Finale was wonderful. Had its ups and downs but, overall, was good. However, the main plot of this Season was closing the Gates of Hell. I won't say here if the brothers managed to close them or not. What I will do is bring up Season 5 of Fringe and how important the device (that the Fringe Team spent all Season getting parts to build, around half of the time not even knowing what it would do) was at the end. That's about how I felt when the closing the Gates of Hell plotline was concluded.

Sam and Dean's Relationship
The whole of Supernatural is based around Sam and Dean's brotherly relationship. If they weren't working together, there would be no show. Yes, there might be stuff happening, but the show known as Supernatural would be no more. This season has the two brothers seeming to take their relationship to an unhealthy level. I don't mind Sam getting a normal life during the beginning of the Season, what I have a problem with is that he never looked for Dean (who had been sent to Purgatory at the end of the previous Season). This caused the brothers to be farther apart than before and it was painful. Mainly because it seemed Sam had been written out of character for it to happen. Sam ends up making Dean lose contact with a friend and Dean texts from Amelia's phone to stop Sam from interfering with a job. However, only what Dean did is shown by the other characters to be wrong while what Sam did is okay. Luckily, by the middle of the Season their relationship is back to normal. The too close, co-dependent Winchester normal. Though the Finale brings back the fact that Sam seems to have a need for Dean to care only about him (which is unhealthy as sibling love is a great thing, but it shouldn't stop other relationships from forming). All in all, though, the Season ended with the Winchester brothers having a much improved relationship from the start of the Season.

Meg's Death
Now I do ship Megstiel, but that isn't the reason Meg's death bothers me. Meg is a character who is female and has survived many odds. Odds where other female characters have failed. So the death of such a long running character had to be handled with delicacy. Right? Nope. Now, Castiel not knowing that Meg died loving him is a good pain. That's a pain that hurts and burns, but is still a good pain. What isn't good is that Meg is basically tossed aside with neither Sam nor Dean having a word for her. I can understand the brothers not liking her, as she's been a villain in the past, but not acknowledging the one who saved your ass is unforgivable. A long running character needs a good death scene.

Final Thoughts
This was the first Supernatural Season I kept up with. In other words, I dvred each episode and watched them as soon as I could. I would've done this last Season, but Fringe and Supernatural came on at the same time. And I like Fringe more. So I went into this Season with no knowledge of how the Season would end. It was a great ride and when the Season Finale came up I was jumping up with fangirl glee when the "Carry on my Wayward Song" portion came up in the beginning. While there were some great moments of this season (Charlie getting a backstory that had nothing to do with her being a lesbian, the Winchester brothers getting a secret lair, and the Trials among other things) there were also some bad things (Meg's death, Sam being written out of character during the beginning of the Season, and the episode "Bitten" [don't believe I did a vlog of that episode, suffice it to say it's my least favorite Supernatural episode so far] among other things). With the Finale there is some hope that next Season will be full of lovely pain.

Sushi, Sake, and Tanuki: Love and Leaving 4

For a few minutes I looked at my kill. I was glad that the Eastern was dead and Yomosa was now safe. Probably not forever, but for now she could have some peace. She climbed off of me and looked at the dead dragon. I wish I knew human expressions better so I could decipher why her muscles were reacting like they were.

I shifted back into my main human male form and then walked over to my love. The Eastern looked very different from this level. It was not merely a foe and could be mistaken for a demigod. Humans were very different in so many ways.

I put an arm around Yomosa and she put her head onto my chest. I let her have a few minutes of looking at the Eastern before I started speaking.

"It won't come for you again." I told her.

"I know it won't." Yomosa said softly. "But there will be others, won't there? Things much worse than this?"

I wanted to tell her that this was as bad as it was going to get. There would be nothing else that would be worse. But Akumie was a goddess and I couldn't lie to the woman beside me.

"Yes." I replied simply.

I kissed the top of Yomosa's head to try and calm her. I was better equipped to fight the forces of Akumie than Yomosa would ever be. But my lover had shown herself to be brave and remarkable on her own. That wouldn't change the fact that she had been thrown into a new lifestyle quickly. A lifestyle that meant fighting and facing your fears so that death wouldn't claim you. It was understandable why Yomosa was nervous now.

"Is the Akumie you mentioned the same one that this creature meant?" Yomosa finally asked.

"Yes." I said and was about to stop there but had to continue. "Its and my Akumie are one and the same. She was angered that I used her for sex and she has never forgiven me since. Only now is she coming after me."

But had it only been for sex or had there been something more? Something that I had ignored because Sajoki's ghost had still haunted me back then?

"Why won't she come after you personally? Is she too frightened of you?" Yomosa asked.

I let out a small chuckle at the thought. A goddess being afraid of an obake would be a sight to see.

"No, there must be another reason. She must be banished from Japan or something else must be keeping her from attacking us directly." I answered.

"So if we leave Japan there's a chance we might have to face Akumie ourselves?" Yomosa timidly asked.

"Yes. Do you still want to follow me?"

"Until the end of time." She answered and we embraced. I enjoyed feeling the warmth and found it a comfort. Even if I were to die in a second I would face death with the knowledge that someone had loved me in life. That someone was willing to die by my side.

We finally ended our embrace and stood in silence looking at each other. I didn't know how I looked to her but I knew how she looked to me. A strong and loyal woman that I had ripped from her intended husband, given to Hijunaki, had killed Hijunaki to keep safe, and now loved me like I didn't deserve.

We nodded and walked side by side down to the harbor. She stayed a foot away from me so I would have room to attack if need be. Any joy that could be found racing each other had been taken away.

Upon arriving at the harbor we were glanced at by uninterested eyes. By the expressions of the people there, they hadn't noticed that I wasn't human and just that two Easterns had attacked each other. They didn't look to be questioning why but just trying to get back to business.
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Links To Places About Sushi, Sake, and Tanuki

Hannibal "Fromage" Review

Hannibal faces off against another killer and Will goes more crazy.

Supernatural "Sacrifice" Review

I talk about the Season 8 Finale of Supernatural. I ramble on a little bit...

Hannigram (Everything You Want)

Series: Hannibal (tv series)

Pairing: Hannigram

Plot: Hannibal Lecter is a complicated man. On one hand he is perfectly fine with the life he is living. On the other hand Will Graham represents the man he wants to be and yet doesn't care to be.

Shipping Confessions: Jesse Flores x Riley Dawson (TSCC)

Again we find ourselves at the doorsteps of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. There are just so many reasons to come back to this show. As this is another edition of Shipping Confessions, we are looking at yet another non-canon ship from this masterpiece of a television series.

I say that I like femslash because I find myself attracted to femslash pairings easier than slash or heterosexual ships. I don't mean that I have more femslash pairings than any other kind of pairing, just that there is something special I feel towards femslash pairings. I don't fetishize these kinds of pairings to the point it affects my perception of real people, like some others do.

I never bought into the relationship between Jesse Flores and Derek Reese. The pairing made Derek dumber just so the pairing would work. However, I can't deny that it's a canon ship. But who I pair Jesse with in the show is not canon and yet works so much better.

I pair Jesse up with Riley Dawson. Not because they are two girls but because they fit so nicely together.

This is a ship in which only one of the pairing holds any real power. Jesse Flores is that person. She is a conniving woman that isn't afraid to do the darkest things in order to see her plan completed. Jesse decides to go back in time with Riley Dawson in a plot to have John Connor kill/destroy Cameron.

While Jesse x Derek is canon I believe she does not really love the older Reese boy. I think it is the fact that she is using him that she gets worried about him not being with her. Any feelings she had for her Derek (Jesse and Derek are from two different timelines, long story short) were lost when she decided to enact her plan.

Jesse has a great hatred for Terminators and so didn't like how close Cameron got to John Connor in her future. So destroying an influence that pushed the Resistance in the wrong direction was something Jesse didn't mind doing. However, she forgot that Cameron and John were both close and the Terminator put John in the center of her universe.

Riley Dawson was basically a nobody in the Resistance and Jesse chose her. It would seem that Jesse chose Riley for no other reason than she thought the girl would be attractive to John and didn't question authority.

In other words: it would seem as though Jesse thought of Riley as nothing more than a weakling.

However, there is some part of Jesse that wants to drop the facade and abandon her plan. There was something else to her choosing Riley to be part of her plan than just to be attractive to John. She chose Riley because the girl was also attractive to her.

Riley Dawson is a pitiful character. She is one that doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the Terminator Universe. I think this makes her unlikable to a lot of the Terminator fanbase as well as to the Jameron (John Connor x Cameron) Shippers.

To me, though, I just she her as pitiful. I think she accepted not because she's a weak character, but because she felt attracted to Jesse. Here's a good looking woman telling Riley she wants the girl to come with her. So Riley follows.

Riley stays with Jesse partly because she is weak and being abused by the older woman, but also because she loves Jesse. Riley must sense that Jesse isn't as open to a relationship as she is, so she acts like a good little girl. She follows the plan.

Riley never loves John, but pretends to because she loves Jesse. She believes that if she follows the plan Jesse will love her. There is at least one point where she was physically abused and another point where she just loses it. But she handles it all because she loves Jesse and believes there is no one else that can love her.

The scene where Jesse kills Riley is just full of tension. Riley has found out that Jesse's plan revolves around Cameron killing Riley. So Riley goes to Jesse because she feels betrayed. Riley feels so betrayed and so lost that death is the only way out.

The woman she loved was willing to sacrifice her. Riley had also been thinking of suicide (including one scene where she cut herself in the bathroom) because she just could not handle there being a Judgement Day. That what she had seen in the future was going to happen again.

So when Jesse killed her she was happy. Because if she couldn't have Jesse, at least she didn't have to live in a world that she was terrified of.

Jesse didn't like killing Riley. She only did it because of her warped sense of duty. She had to kill Riley or the girl would tell John about the plan. After she kills Riley, Jesse pauses before she takes the body out. Jesse knows she loves Riley and is disgusted at herself for what she did.

Jesse even swims at the pool her and Riley used to go to. While this may seem cruel, it is probably Jesse's way of dealing with the guilt. She recalls why she did what she did and feels close to Riley.

Jesse and Riley don't have a perfect relationship by any stretch of the imagination. Both have faults that ultimately destroyed both of them, but they did love each other. They both cared about each other. It's just neither could do what was necessary for them to find peace with each other.

Jesse is my least favorite TSCC character and Riley is despised by most of the fandom. However, I like Jesse only as she relates to this ship and believe Riley is given much more hate than she deserves.

What is up for the next Shipping Confessions? We go into the show Revolution and explore a type of pairing that some people might consider "gross" and "perverted". But I consider okay since it's in the realm of fiction.