Elementary "Solve for X" Review

I talk about this math driven episode.

Revolution "There Will Be Blood" Review

I discuss sassy Chewie and other things about this episode.

Mini-LP: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Parts 7 & 8)

I talk over the credits and give my opinions on sometimes relevant things.



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Mini-LP: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Table of Contents

Animorphs Re-Read: #2 The Visitor (Chapters 5-8)

Chapter 5

Rachel can't say what she wants to to the guy since she is too far along in her African elephant morph. She still tries to, though. The guy that was chasing her is freaked out and runs like the devil is chasing him.

Once the guy is gone Rachel demorphs. She was wearing loose clothing so that wasn't destroyed. However, her shoes were and now it's raining. Good going, Xena Warrior Princess. You not only risked the Yeerks finding out about you but also have to walk home barefoot.

Luckily Melissa offers her a ride. That's the good news. The bad news is that Chapman, her father, is driving. Only now does Rachel realize how stupid she was for morphing without concern for who was watching and how the information could get out that she can morph. This puts not only her life at risk, but the lives of her friends.

Rachel tries to say no, but Chapman insists. It's a very awkward car ride for Rachel as she tries not to stare at the back of Chapman's head. Rachel keeps thinking about the fact that there is a Yeerk in Melissa's father's head. That Chapman isn't Chapman. That's he being controlled. Dominated.

Melissa asks about the guy and if he was bothering Rachel. Rachel tries to lie, but it's a really lame lie. Chapman points out that the guy ran away really scared. Then he says that he knows where she lives. Rachel, already being terrified that Chapman saw her and that Melissa might be a Controller, thinks that Chapman is threatening her.

It turns out that Chapman was not threatening her, but merely assuring her about his ability to get to her house.

Rachel exits the car and tells Melissa she does want to hang out. When Melissa points out that Rachel's shoes are unusable now, Rachel jokes about really needing to go shopping. Chapman gets an unreadable expression on his face. Rachel goes into her house being shaken, but alive.

Rachel goes down to the kitchen and sees her mother. Rachel brings up the point that her mother is a lawyer and divorced from her father. She says that her mother does her work in the kitchen so that Rachel doesn't feel abandoned by her.

Rachel's mother asks how Rachel got home. Rachel replies that Melissa and Chapman gave her a ride home. She leaves out the part about morphing part-way into an African elephant to scare off a guy.

Sara and Jordan, Rachel's sisters, are watching a scary movie. Rachel's mother brings up the point that they'll have trouble sleeping. Rachel's mother says that Rachel wasn't like that. I am laughing along with Rachel. Rachel's life now involves things creepy enough to compare to any horror movie. Though the really creepy shit doesn't come until later.

Rachel refrains from talking about her new life as an Animorph and asks what's for dinner. Rachel's mother replies that she's sorry that she can't make dinner and that Rachel should just order something. I like Rachel's jab at her mother's cooking ability.

After dinner Rachel calls her fellow Animorphs and gives a cover story over the phone. She has to be careful as the Yeerks are watching. Also when she calls Jake she points out, yet again, that Tom is a Controller.

Rachel tells them about Melissa, about her run in with the guy, and leaves out the fact that she was taken home by Chapman. She says she's glad she didn't tell the whole story as Marco is sane and yells at her for morphing in public.

Marco points out that the guy could've been a Controller and Rachel brings up the point that the Yeerks are only interested in people in power. Jake counters by pointing out that Tom isn't in a position of power. Marco then continues by saying that if the guy ran to someone that was a Controller Rachel would've stopped the Animorphs before they truly started their fight.

Rachel notices that her whole life is now one big lie. Rachel admits she's wrong to the group, but Marco still wants to yell at her stupidity. Jake tells him to stop and Cassie makes a joke about the incident. Ah, Cassie the Peacemaker.

Jake says they can't use Rachel to get close to Melissa and therefore get close to Chapman. This is due to Melissa being weird and possibly a Controller. Rachel suggests morphing into small animals and hiding out in the Chapman house.

Marco says that's stupid as when Jake morphing into a lizard he lost his tail. Oh, come on! That wasn't causing Jake any real harm, just creeped him out. Marco and Rachel both say that morphing into a cockroach would be gross. Let me just spend a few minutes trying to stop my laughter.

Rachel also says that a cockroach's senses probably won't be useful for spying. They all turn to Cassie for answers and the moralist is just in shock. She points out that she doesn't take care of cockroaches in the Rehabilitation Clinic.

Rachel, along with the rest of the Animorphs, thinks about how hopeless their situation looks. But, unlike her compatriots, she's driven to complete this goal to make sure Chapman doesn't suspect her of being anything other than a normal teenage girl.

I'll take a moment here to talk about how Tobias must feel. [Oh, yes, friends. Don't make a system so I'll know when you're having a meeting discussing how to strike back at the Yeerks. It's not like I was the most adamant to fight against the alien invasion when Elfangor crash landed. Never mind that I'm having to keep my humanity while the hawk part of me tries to take over. Yes, I'm completely fine.]

Now back to our regularly scheduled Re-Read:

Rachel looks at some pictures in her room. We find out that Rachel's Dad is a weatherman on TV. Rachel focuses on a picture of her and Melissa. Jake asks why Rachel is showing such interest in that photo. She says that Melissa has a cat.


Chapter 6

The Animorphs are scouting the Chapman house. A perfectly normal house that doesn't hint that at least one member of the household has an alien from another planet in their head.

Marco decides to joke and say that he was afraid of Chapman before they found out he was a Controller. Rachel asks if Marco is still upset over the detention Chapman gave him for listening to his CD player in class and singing. Marco says that if Chapman was human he wouldn't have given him such a long detention.

I have been conflicted about liking Marco, but I am loving him in this scene!

Cassie brings up the point that they haven't figured out how to get Melissa's cat outside. She points out that waiting in the bushes would take too much time. Tobias asks what the cat looks like and Rachel says the cat's name is Fluffer McKitty (Marco points out the name is stupid). I get that the name of the cat had to be said, but the placement doesn't make sense to me.

Rachel describes the cat to Tobias and he flies away to look for the adorably named cat. I mean badly named cat!

Rachel realizes that they should've morphed another cat to get Fluffer out of the house. Marco, of course, makes fun of this idea. Rachel brings up the fact that Tobias' first morph, the first morph ANY of them did, was of a cat. I think she brings this up because she has feelings for bird-boy. I think this because it seems out of place otherwise.

Cassie reminds Rachel that she'll need to stay in character as a cat. If a non-Controller saw a cat acting oddly they'd think nothing of it. But Chapman is a Controller and he would notice.

Tobias says he's spotter Fluffer and lands on a branch. Rachel then commences fangirling over Tobias' red-hot...er..red-hawk body.

Rachel is surprised that Tobias found the cat. He starts to list some animals he spotted while flying around and ends with rats. Marco is surprised that there are rats in 'suburbia' and Tobias then proceeds to talking about how delicious they would be to eat. Marco then goes too far by joking that he won't be friends with someone who eats rats.

Rachel tells Marco to shut up while Jake makes a joke that says the basic same thing.

The reason Marco's jab crossed the line is because none of the other Animorphs know what Tobias is going through. None of the other Animorphs have been stuck in morph and Tobias has been in red-tailed hawk morph for over a week.

I forget the series (possibly Earthsea by Ursual K LeGuin) where those who change into animals are in danger of forgetting who they are if they stay in animal form too long.

Marco apologizes to bird-boy. Or at least his version of an apology.

Tobias then leads the Animorphs to Fluffer. Cassie remarks how odd they look following Tobias. They finally see Fluffer and Marco reminds Rachel that she needs the cat carrier. Rachel says that she doesn't as she'll bring Fluffer over to the others once she gets the cat.

Rachel tries to call Fluffer to her and he doesn't want to. It turns out that Fluffer is a tomcat which means it'll be painful/hard to catch him. Cassie says that even if Fluffer has been fixed, he's out at night in hunting mode which means things could quickly get painful.

Rachel doesn't think Cassie is correct and attempts to pet the cat. This ends with Rachel getting scratched and Fluffer running up a tree. Cassie says that gloves would've been a good idea, Jake asks how things are going, and I'm just sitting here laughing.

Marco and Jake start giggling. Rachel says that acquiring Fluffer was supposed to be the easy part. She then requests Tobias' help. Bird-boy says that no way is he going to try and catch an angry tomcat. Rachel says that she doesn't want Tobias to do that, she wants him to get her a mouse.


Chapter 7

Tobias announces he has a baby mouse and asks if Rachel is ready. Rachel mentally calms herself down. She catches the mouse when Tobias tosses it to her. When Cassie says they should get rabies shots I am confused. Morphing heals your wounds, so rabies wouldn't be a problem and morphing would probably erase the shots anyways.

Cassie says that Tobias caught a full grown shrew and not a baby mouse. When it's asked if that's a bad thing, she replies that she doesn't know. Marco then makes a crack about Rachel being a shrew. Rachel then tells everyone to be quiet so she can acquire the shrew.

Rachel tells the readers what DNA is and how you acquire a morph. She says it's easy to concentrate but the shrew is gross.

Once Rachel finishes acquiring the shrew Jake questions the plan and Marco agrees. Cassie warns Rachel about how cats eat shrew. That sometimes they play with them and, at other times, they just kill them outright. Tobias privately thought-speaks to Rachel to reassure her that he'll be keeping a very close eye on her.

Rachel then morphs into the shrew. She says she doesn't know how the morphing technology works and all she knows is that it does work. She mentions that some morphs you can sort of feel pain, but not quite. The shrew is one of those morphs.

When she finishes morphing she feels the shrew's fear. Cassie asks how Rachel is holding up. Rachel is not holding up at all and the shrew mind takes over. She starts to run as Cassie yells at her to get control. Rachel knows Cassie is right, but the fear is just too great. There is also hunger, too.

Tobias tells Rachel to take control from the shrew mind. But she can't. She escapes the Animorphs and then a shadow descends on her. Oh, goody! Is it Fluffer? Cute, nice Fluffer?


Chapter 8

Nope, it's Tobias. Dammit! I mean...yeah?

Tobias swoops down and picks up Rachel in his talons. He tells her to calm down and take control. It's actually pretty sweet how she talks about focusing on Tobias' thought-speak.

Rachel says that she is okay and then Tobias asks if he hurt her. She says no. Aw, you two!

Jake then asks if Rachel is okay. Rachel talks about how the shrew is scared while neither her elephant or bald eagle morphs were. Cassie explains that they have mostly stuck to dominant animals as morphs.

Rachel says to just get this part of the mission over with as she's not enjoying herself. Marco remarks how she still looks nervous. Rachel openly admits she's nervous but that she still wants to do her plan.

Marco picks up Rachel and says she looks lovely. Oh, Marco, I can't tell if you're trying to hit on her or poke fun at her.

Marco puts Rachel at the base of the tree that Fluffer is in. Rachel says for the others to stand back. Jake says that they have to be able to get between her and Fluffer. Rachel, being Rachel, says she can kick Fluffer's butt. If there's one shrew I had to bet on, I'd bet on Rachel.

Rachel comments on how much waiting is sucking. The fact is that both her and the shrew mind are both scared.

Finally Fluffer makes his move and Rachel freezes. The others don't and they manage to get Fluffer into the cat carrier. Of course they get slightly injured in the process. Marco is the only one to make a fuss out of being scratched.

Rachel makes sure to demorph as quickly as possible.

Once Rachel fully demorphs she says she is never going to do the shrew morph again. Jake says he should've done his lizard morph, but Rachel points out that would've creeped him out. He counters by saying that now she is the one who's creeped out. Jake then continues that she'll recover and at least she didn't eat a spider.

Rachel says to just let her acquire Fluffer and Cassie wonders if it's good for Rachel to acquire two morphs in one night. Jake says, again, that he shouldn't have let her acquire the shrew. Rachel then tells Jake that he has never been able to tell her what to do.

Rachel then goes to acquire Fluffer and seems cocky about doing so. I don't blame her as she didn't have a great time in her shrew morph. After she acquires him she sees Cassie smiling at her. The moralist says that Rachel seems like her old self but she now has four animals inside her (aka four morphs). Cassie also wonders about if there's a limit to how many morphs you can have. Marco, ever the voice of optimism in the group, says that they'll find out at the worst possible time.

The point of a limit on the number of morphs makes Rachel reflect on how odd morphing is. How much of a weapon the power to morph is.

Rachel says she'll acquire Fluffer now, but that the rest of the mission will have to wait until later. Jake agrees and it appears that he worries for Rachel.

They let Fluffer out of the carrier and Marco makes a joke about the cat eating Rachel's shrew. This disturbs Rachel for obvious reasons.
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Animorphs Re-Read Table of Contents

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "0-8-4" Review

I review the second episode of this tv show!

The Green: Last Chance and Epilogue

I give the final vlog for my original series The Green.


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The Green
Main The Green Links

Animorphs Re-Read: #2 The Visitor (Chapters 1-4)

Chapter 1

This book is narrated by Rachel.

And it starts off with the classic 'I can't tell you who we are or where we live'. Maybe this book won't be so bad after all! And then she talks about what she saw at the Yeerk pool at the end of the previous book when she mentions that infestation is worse than death.

Rachel says she still feels normal but she can do things a normal kid can't and thinks about things a normal kid doesn't.

Rachel is in her bald eagle morph and riding the thermal. It's described as fun and then quickly turns dark as she thinks about the Yeerk mother ship. That it could be above their head in outer space. I guess Applegate decided not to try and fool her readers that this is going to be a happy book.

Rachel explains what the Yeerks are and why they are invading Earth. She says that the Andalites are going to stop the Yeerks, but for now she and her friends are the only ones that can stop them. They're the only ones that know about the Yeerks.

She goes back to happy thoughts of her and the rest of the Animorphs flying. Jake is in his falcon morph and so has to flap his wings more often than the others.

Oh, shit, it looks like Rachel is about to talk about how Tobias is stuck in morph. Excuse me as I need to prepare for this by drinking an entire bottle of absinthe.

Tobias asks Rachel if she wants to try a dive. She only agrees because she doesn't like turning down a challenge.

Rachel gets a rush out of diving and then realizes she could die. It's not like her elephant morph where she could demorph and be fine. If she demorphs this far up she will die. And then she starts imagining this scenario.

Tobias tells Rachel to just let the eagle mind take over. Rachel then explains how when you morph an animal you get part of them in you. This means you have to deal with them. Sometimes you have to take control, sometimes you can't, and sometimes you have to work with it. I like this part of morphing meaning you really turn into the animal.

Jake, in his Peregrine falcon morph, can dive faster than Rachel. His wings are better at diving. This makes Rachel jealous. This is funny to me.

The fun is stopped by two guys shooting at them. So they don't just have to worry about Yeerks, they have to worry about actual people.

Rachel is pissed off because a bald eagle is an endangered species. She then comes up with a plan to not get shot down. She mentions, again, that there are times to let the animal mind take over and times to take control.

Rachel comes up with a plan and then dives. She mentions that a dive at a lower altitude is much scarier than taking a dive at a higher altitude. I am jealous of the bald eagle's eyesight as I am near sighted and have to wear glasses. I bet a near sighted bald eagle could still see better than me.

Rachel feels a thrill as she flies through the forest. She is very extreme!

Now I can see their plan: get right into the faces of the fuckers who were shooting at them!

Rachel goes for one of the guns and Tobias goes for the guy with the ponytail. Rachel flies off with the gun and Marco flies off with a beer can (he says something about the two people being too young to drink).

Rachel drops the gun a mile out at sea while Marco is a show off who throws the can into a trash can.

Cassie reminds them that the two hour limit is coming up. Rachel reminds the readers that after two hours you're stuck in morph. So glad that didn't happen to Tobias!


Chapter 2

The Animorphs go to the run-down church where they had originally morphed from. I never noticed this before, but: ABANDONED construction site and RUN-DOWN church.

Coincidence? Probably.

Cassie checks the time and saw they spent an hour and a half in morph. She thinks they should never spend longer than an hour and a half in morph.

When Rachel starts to demorph she wishes that she could affect her hair by morphing. She looks over to Jake and thinks that morphing looks really creepy. That people would panic if they didn't know everything would be alright at the end of the process.

Rachel looks at Marco demorphing and thinks it's gross. Marco, ever the joker, tells her that she doesn't look so good herself while demorphing. Rachel believes Marco and is glad she doesn't have a mirror.

So the mind of the animal you morph doesn't stay with you until you return to your original form? I somehow thought that while demorphing you are stuck with the animal mind until you finish the process.

Marco calls Rachel 'chicken legs' due to how her legs are looking in the demorphing process. Rachel points out that his legs look nearly as ridiculous as hers so he doesn't have room to speak.

Turns out that between books #1 and #2 that they had all learned how to morph into clothing like Cassie did in #1. They can only morph skintight clothing like leotards. Doesn't help them with clothing to keep warm or walk around in, but makes it so they don't see each other naked every time they demorph.

Rachel describes Jake and it turns out he still hasn't gotten over eating a spider while in lizard morph (which makes me oddly happy). Right now, though, he is talking about how great being a falcon is. He talks about he felt like he was freed when he morphed into a falcon.

Cassie, who is talented at controlling the morphing and demorphing processes, makes it so that her wings are the last things to go away. She spreads her wings/arms and it makes her look like an angel. I'm sure Jake has plans of what he'd like to do with that angel.

Then Jake asks if she could still fly. She points out that she weighs too much for flight to be possible.

Marco complains about how they all look horrible while morphing while Cassie gets to look like an angel.

Rachel talks about how her and Cassie have been friends for awhile. She goes into how Cassie doesn't care about what she wears. I connect with Cassie on a spiritual level with her views on clothing. I still don't give a shit about what I wear. I will reuse every piece of clothing, but underwear, before washing.

Rachel then goes how into animals Cassie's family is. That her father uses the barn as a Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic and her mother works at The Gardens. The Gardens is like Busch Gardens. Rachel thinks that it's Cassie's family that makes her talented at morphing.

Rachel doesn't consider herself Ms, Fashion but she is fashionable enough to make others thinks she's stuck up. She considers it an accident that she looks good. She also says she puts the most importance on the head while Cassie puts the most importance on the heart. Why am I wanting to ship them?

Rachel says that Cassie is the peacemaker of the group.

Marco tells Jake that he's glad to have his weak human eyesight since sometimes girls look better from far away. I don't get why Rachel calls him for being sexiest as sometimes people do look better far away than close up.  It's a sad but true fact. Though the use of skank does give Rachel a reason for getting annoyed (as I don't like the term 'slut' purely because it doesn't make sense, but that's a rant for a whole 'nother post).

Marco tries to save himself by pointing out that he looks taller from far away. He is embarrassed for being short. Rachel retorts that his height isn't the problem, it's the fact that people will eventually hear him talk.

Marco smiles and Rachel remarks that he just likes to provoke people. She does admit, though, that he is really smart and nice. She says that Marco and Jake are best friends. Marco thinks that the Animorphs should quit fighting, but she is unsure if he's serious or not.

Jake, Rachel, and Cassie complain about having to go back to their boring human lives after demorphing. Then they realize that what they said was careless, thoughtless, and mean sounding. Tobias is trapped in the form of a hawk and will never be able to become human again.


Chapter 3

Rachel mentions that morphing takes a lot out of a person. So Elfangor not morphing to heal his wounds make sense. Morphing isn't just this ability you can use without tiring yourself out.

Remember in The Invasion where I talked about the rules of thought-speak being changed and me being confused the first time reading this book? Here is the scene that made me confused. Now humans can only thought-speak while in morph. This is shown as the reason for not talking to Tobias as he flies overhead.

Marco starts a conversation about how they'd use their morphing abilities if they didn't have to worry about fighting/hiding their identities from the Yeerks. Marco, of course, would go into showbiz. Stuff like tv shows and movies. Hey, maybe if Marco comes to this Earth we could have a good quality Animorphs tv show (minus the parts where he decides to inflate his ego)!

Cassie, the moralist, said they'd be hot in horror movies. She is so true in that fact. She also can control her morphing ability, making it almost like an art form, that she could do wonders for a horror movie.

Jake brings up that they could also be stuntmen. They could jump off a high building and just morph into a bird so they wouldn't go SPLAT on the ground. Marco then gets really mad at the Yeerks for ruining his chance at showbiz and having supermodels all over him. Rachel jokes that the supermodels would only love Marco when he's morphed and then leave when he demorphs (as he'd have to do). Love their love/hate relationship!

The Animorphs walk by the abandoned construction site and Rachel recounts the events of the first book. Rachel ends her talk about the events of the first book where Visser Three ate Elfangor. She says if the reader wants to know about that to ask Jake (who narrated the first book).

Rachel notices Cassie crying and the moralist ends up talking about how she's having nightmares about the Yeerk pool. Cassie says that what's worse than the hosts screaming is when they stop because the Yeerk has re-entered them and taken control. Mind you these are thirteen year olds having to deal with the nightmares that would be hard for adults to handle.

Rachel tells the reader that they went to the Yeerk pool to rescue Tom and failed. They had tried to rescue Tom because he's Jake's brother. Tom is Jake's reason for fighting the Yeerks. Cassie tells Jake that someday they'll rescue Tom. Jake is embarrassed when he strokes Cassie's head and then backs away and Cassie knows it's because men don't like showing their true feelings. Er...okay?

Rachel sees Tobias land somewhere in the abandoned construction site, but can't tell where. However, she is certain that Tobias has landed where the Andalite died. She talks about how Tobias and Elfangor seemed to share a special connection in those few moments. None of the Animorphs yet know that Elfangor is Tobias' true father.

Rachel comments that they need to get back at the Yeerks as her feelings for Tobias get to her. Marco points out they already tried getting at the Yeerks and lost. Lost horribly at that. Rachel says they didn't lose, they gave the Yeerks a reason to fear them. Marco believes that isn't true and that Visser Three isn't slightly phased by them.

Rachel says that the Yeerks don't know they're human children. Because they can morph, the Yeerks think that they are Andalites and so the invaders are nervous. Jake says that Rachel is right but they shouldn't go back down to the Yeerk pool. Besides the obvious, the door to the Animorphs' first taste of nightmare fuel is gone.

Rachel argues that they can still follow Tom when his Yeerk goes to feed. Jake says to leave Tom out of it since if attention is brought to Jake's brother the Yeerks might decide to kill him. This is such a hard and mature decision for Jake to make. To allow his brother to stay infested in the hopes that one day he'll be able to be rescued. Because to continue to try and rescue Tom would mean Tom would have a better likelihood of being killed.

Marco, of course, is angry about still having to fight. He asks what is so important that they would continue to risk their lives. Cassie brings up the point about freedom. You know so all of humanity doesn't become taken over by the Yeerks.

Jake points out that they can find out more about the Yeerk invasion by going after Chapman, who is the Assistant Principal of the Animorphs' high school. Rachel knows the suggestion that Jake is going to make and says it for him. Jake wants to go after Melissa Chapman so they can go after Chapman.

Rachel says that Melissa used to be her friend but has been acting differently lately. Is she a Controller too?

Rachel says to the group that she doesn't like the idea of using a friend that way. Marco brings up the fact that Rachel suddenly is saying no and what about him? Rachel says he's not her friend but quickly says she was joking. Reminding Marco that he's a fellow Animorph and Melissa is just an innocent bystander.

Jake reminds Rachel that Melissa is Chapman's daughter which makes her involved whether she likes it or not. Rachel realizes Jake is correct. This doesn't make Rachel feel any better, though.

Chapter 4

Rachel mentions the mall and, I admit, I started wanting to go to malls because of this series. Before you start to tell me how insane that sounds just remember I was around ten years old when this series started.

She talks about how her gymnastic class at the YMCA isn't for getting ready to go to the Olympics, though she used to dream of being a famous gymnast one day. Rachel, in present day, doesn't have the build of a gymnast but a model.

Rachel says that her, and her fellow classmates in the gymnast class, aren't serious but do it for fun and exercise. She says she feels clumsy and that's a reason she does the class. She also say it's cool being a gymnast and compares it to flying. Yes, flying does win.

Melissa Chapman is the exception since she does look like a gymnast. Rachel uses the word pale too much in Melissa's initial description. Melissa doesn't greet Rachel as warmly as she used to.

They greet each other with common phrases, but Rachel wants to go forward on her mission. Melissa blushes when Rachel suggests going to the mall. Why do I have a sudden urge to ship these two? I swear I wasn't like this back in the good old days!

Rachel tries to sound casual, but Melissa says no. Rachel uses the term 'trapped animal' to describe her former friend. So Melissa isn't a Controller then...yes, I do know the answer but I don't like to spoil the ending too much.

Rachel is about to let Melissa go but then remembers that hanging with her former friend isn't something she wants to do, but has to do. Chapman is one of the Animorphs' most deadly enemies.

Rachel starts to demand Melissa say what is wrong. Though Melissa says things are fine, her expression shows that something isn't right. Rachel mentally reprimands herself for not noticing that something was wrong with her former friend earlier. She is only now noticing something is wrong with Melissa because that's her job right now.

Because of the thoughts going on in Rachel's head she is hardly able to concentrate on the lesson at hand. Because of that she hurts herself and Melissa is her old self for a precious few seconds. When Melissa goes back to her new self Rachel wonders if her former friend is a Controller.

Rachel doesn't go to the mall as the thoughts of the new Melissa keep on haunting her. Here is a girl who is not only feeling guilty about not being close to a former friend but fearing her former friend has been taken over by a Yeerk.

A guy calls to Rachel, trying to pick the Animorph up. As Rachel runs from the college guy she starts to morph. She doesn't morph all the way but stops when she thinks she looks creepy enough. I get that Rachel is young, scared, and so doesn't realize that morphing in front of someone is incredibly dangerous. The person might not be a Controller now but they might in the future and/or they'll give the information about a young person morphing to a Controller.
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Animorphs Re-Read Table of Contents