Tuesday, April 2, 2013

The Walking Dead "Welcome to the Tombs" Review

Season 3 ends with many bangs!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Inbetween: Death of the Five 6

Today was the day. Or night. Depending on where you were at the moment. Me I was on a cliff on Atlan during the daytime. The stormy sea below me raged its never ending war on the cliff face. I should've been on the space station, but I needed to mediate alone. Alone with no chance of anyone interrupting me.

This place on Atlan was one not many came to. And, when those beings did come to this area, they never talked to strangers. All anyone did was mediate. Yes, there were a few Younglings that came here to party, but they wouldn't talk to me. They'd either party or have sex. Very rarely did they try to communicate with strangers.

Where I was standing now was where I had originally landed when the planet was still very young. I hadn't interfered with how the planet grew, but I was still glad of how it had turned out.

The Five would die soon. The Five, the only remaining survivors of my people, would die soon. The salty sea air and crashing waves could only calm me so much. I could stay here or go somewhere else and leave the Jedi Master right where he had started. He'd know who and what I was, but he would find that it wouldn't be worth trying to track me down.

Qui-Gon Jinn had admitted his feelings for me and I had the same feelings for him. If the Five had been better friends I wouldn't give them up for a man I had just met. However, their continued existence could spell doom for this galaxy. It would be wiser to finally kill them than let them live.

I stretched out my mind to my cabin on the space station and teleported back to there. The cool rush of teleportation filled my every piece of being and then went away when I arrived. I heard a gentle knocking and turned my attention to the door.

I opened the door and the Jedi Master was there.

"I tried contacting you, Rinn," He said. "I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Come in." I said and he came in. I shut the door behind him. "I had to go somewhere to meditate. I didn't want to be disturbed."

"Are you thinking about going back on your word?"

"If I was I wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be having this conversation. Besides, I was meditating to make my resolve of showing you the Heart of the Darkness stronger."

Qui-Gon paused a moment. "Did you go to the ship?"

I shook my head. "No, I went somewhere that reminded me of who I was and that the Five are dangerous."

"Atlan."

I nodded. "Atlan." There were a precious few moments of silence before I next spoke. "I assume you have been making preparations of your own."

A smirk came onto Qui-Gon's face. He had decided on doing that instead of questioning me about how I had convinced myself. After a few seconds his face returned to its serious look. "You can just give me the co-ordinates. You don't need to come with me." He said. "Whatever happens on the Heart of Darkness doesn't need to concern you."

"Even if I took you up on your offer I would still be responsible for what happens." I replied. "If the Five die then I killed them. Not with my hands, but with yours. If you die then I will have lead you to your death. I don't know which one would be worse."

"But you wouldn't need to see them in their last few moments of life." The Jedi Master said. "You don't need to encounter the pain yourself."

"Qui-Gon, I am not a coward." I replied. "I have faced darkness and I am not afraid to do so again. And with something so important it would not be fit for me to be in the background. I need to be part of this. Whether it fills me with joy or sorrow."

Qui-Gon nodded his understanding and we walked to the small ship we would use to take us to the Heart of the Darkness. While walking I felt Master Jinn's pity for me. He knew what I was risking and yet wasn't afraid of the fact that I could go back on my promise.
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Friday, March 22, 2013

Inbetween: Death of the Five 5

The silence began to unnerve me more than the Massacre ever did. Senseless violence and losing myself in hate was much preferable to this silence between myself and the Jedi Master. At least in the Massacre there was some clear goal. It wasn't a good or noble goal, but it was a goal nonetheless.

"I'm not holding back because I want to stop you from completing your mission." I said and leaned back in my chair. It wasn't my chair but sitting on it gave me some form of ownership, if only in my mind. "It's just that I don't betray friends. I have a sense of loyalty that not many have. Not just in the present, but also in the past. Hell, my own friends didn't have the same loyalty as I do."

"But then are they really friends if they don't respect you?" Qui-Gon asked.

"When you have friends sometimes you and them don't see eye to eye. Doesn't mean you and them aren't friends."

"Rinn, friends don't always see eye to eye. But they don't try and kill each other." Qui-Gon said and looked at me. It seemed as though he looked into me and was pushing me to also look into myself. But I didn't want to. I didn't have to.

"Sometimes there are misunderstandings." I replied. "Qui-Gon, they weren't in control of themselves. They didn't know what they were doing."

"Are you talking about friends or abusers?"

Finally my feelings for the Jedi Master made me tell  him. I could've found someone else to tell within a week or year, but I had to tell Qui-Gon. Some strange, forgotten urge was making me tell him the truth.

"You know how I told you that I have few real human emotions left?" I asked and Qui-Gon nodded. "What I feel towards the Five is one of the few human emotions I still have. The feeling of loyalty I have towards them is one of the few things I have left to cling onto. If I lose the Five what do I have left? If I kill them, will I become less than I already am?"

Qui-Gon touched my arm and gave me the same type of look he had given me before. But instead of a penetrating gaze, it was a look of comfort. It said that even if I had no one else, I had him. That what I was starting to feel now for the Jedi Master would be reciprocated by him. That I had nothing to worry about.

"I need to hear you say it." I finally said and touched his hand that was on me.

"You still have m-you still have Atlan." Qui-Gon said. I don't know what had made him make the slip. It might've been my touch or it might've been too hard for him not to say it at one point. I wasn't a fellow Jedi and he had no certainty of seeing me when he woke up in the morning. "Whatever you lose when killing the Five, you still have Atlan to hold onto."

I thought for a moment before speaking. "You are right, Master Jinn, I do have Atlan to hold onto." I replied. "I will show you where the Heart of the Darkness is so you can get back to more important matters."

But it wasn't because of Atlan that I had agree to show Qui-Gon where the Heart of the Darkness was located. It was because of Qui-Gon himself.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Pretty Little Liars (Season 3)

Show: Pretty Little Liars

Season: 3

Episodes: 24

Developed By: I. Marlene King

Released: 2012-2013

Rating: 3/5

Plot: Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, whilst unraveling the mystery of the murder of their best friend.
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Spody and Ezria
Now I was a big Ezria fan once the show started. It was a nice, cheesy student-teacher relationship. In real life this would be different but Ezria (Ezra and Aria) brought me back to the days of high school where I crushed on some of my teachers. However, by Season 3 this relationship has grown very stale. The only interesting thing is finding out Ezra had a kid by a former girlfriend. By the end of the Season it seems like Ezria is finally over, which makes me sad and happy at the same time. Spody (Spencer and Toby) went through some interesting events this Season. It was revealed that Toby is on the A team and you never really trust him after that. Now I know that Toby was revealed to be a good guy in the finale but I don't trust him. He played Spencer for awhile and he might just be doing the same thing again. I love me some Spody, but I can't trust Toby again. Unless he proves himself to be good next Season.

Everyone is A
This Season really brought the paranoia up a couple of notches. This is surprising considering that all this series is about is paranoia. Anyone could be out to get you. You find out that Mona is not the only A and that there is an a team. This leaves you guessing who is working for A and who isn't. You think that Mona is near the top of the food chain but she isn't (neither she nor Toby know who Red Coat is). For the majority of the Season you think that Mona is running a large group but it seems to just be her and Toby. Maybe next Season it'll be revealed that Red Coat (she is revealed to be Allison but then later it's pointed out that Red Coat was probably just wearing a mask...King, that's not how you do a reveal. That's really half-assing it) is actually in charge of a huge group of people. I mean, two people couldn't be causing as much chaos to the Liars as has happened over the course of this series.

Getting Peaceful About Paily
Now I love me some Emaya (Emily and Maya) but Maya is dead and Emily had to move on. My dislike of Paily wasn't because I was mad that Emily was no longer with Maya (her being with a dead girl is just downright creepy). It was because I didn't trust Paige or how her relationship with Emily started. Before Paige came out as a lesbian, she nearly drowned Emily and was just a general ass to her. So when she's suddenly revealed as both a lesbian and admirer of Emily, it just came off as strange. However, this Season has cemented the fact that Paige truly cares for Emily. That Paige only has her lover's best interests at heart. However, I'd love to see Paige as a villain. Not because I want to tear Paily apart, but because Paige has made slight evil gestures (like when Jenna came to talk to Emily one night) that make me want her to go evil to see more of them.

Final Thoughts
There were some things in this season I loved: Spencer going crazy, the intense amount of paranoia, really crazy scenarios (Meredith going nuts and drugging Aria among them), and Ezria dealing with some struggles that seem to have really torn them apart. Throughout this Season it did seem odd that Mona's A team was really her and Toby who were being lead by Red Coat. The fact that Red Coat wasn't fully revealed and it felt like I was supposed to be happy that I got anything. However, I like tuning in each week to see what happens. I hope next season to find out who Red Coat really is, if this is really the end of Ezria, see Paige go evil, and to see if Toby is really a good guy. Of course there are many other things I want to know (and see), but those are some of the main ones.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Continuum (Season 1)

Dates mentioned here are for the airing of the show in the US. Though SyFy says this is an original series, it was originally aired in Canada. For giving us this show: We thank you, Canada!

Show: Continuum

Season: 1

Episodes: 10

Developed By: Simon Barry

Released: 2013

Rating: 5/5

Plot: A detective from the year 2077 finds herself trapped in present day Vancouver and searching for ruthless criminals from the future.
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Time Travel
As you can tell, this show is a time travel one. And you know what that means! The people from the future acting incredibly stupid with all the technology here in the present! Oh, wait, sorry. This show actually does the confusion people in the future would face when going back in time good. Don't get me wrong, Kiera Cameron doesn't know how to work a car or about blue tooths (teeth?). However, every instance of confusion she has is dealt with realistically and is not done over the top. You don't know how great that is to see in a work of fiction.

Relationships (Non-Romantic)
When Kiera goes back in time she quickly gets into communications with Alec Sadler, a teenager. Alec, from Kiera's 2077, is the owner of a very large corporation. But, for now, he's a teenager with an amazing grasp on technology. Throughout the Season (not counting the Season Finale) you think that Kiera being sent back in time was an accident. But Future Alec seems to have had a part in it (the Season ends with Alec about to tell Kiera but then it goes to credits, cliffhangers can be a bitch). The one person from Liber8 (a terrorist group from the future) that Kiera seems to spend any time with is Matthew Kellog. Their relationship is interesting as it's one full of love-hate. One where Kiera is never sure if she can trust him.

Kiera's Trust Issues
Kiera is a good character and a joy to follow through her many adventures. But she doesn't do a good job at trusting people. She doesn't even seem to fully trust Alec who is the only ally she has that really knows her. You could say Kellog is an ally, but he is seen both hurting and helping Kiera during different points in the Season. Finally, Carlos Fonnegra is her police partner who she seems to like. It never gets to an actual relationship but it is heavily hinted that she wants it to happen. However, with one of Kiera's comments to Kellog, it might be because she still considers herself married (even if her husband is in a future she'll never get back to). Those are her trust issues with other people, but she also seems to rely heavily on her technology. For a little period of time she has to deal with working without her suit (it was damaged in a fight) and has her putting faith more in herself than her technology. An interesting if short lived story arch.

Final Thoughts
If there is one thing I'd thank Canada for, it's this show. I was recommended this because I'm a Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and this is a time traveling show. The main villains of this series (Liber8) aren't pure evil. They have a good goal and so you start to sympathize with them. And at the end of this season you realize Liber8's true purpose might be something much bigger than you first thought. Also, Kagame looks eerily similar to an English Professor I had back in college. Hi, Wilt! I cannot wait until Season 2 comes to the US and I can feed this addiction. If you want a really well done Sci-Fi series, check this one out. You owe it to yourself.