Supernatural

Bloody Mary: Season 1, Episode 5, Wriite by: Ron Milbauer & Terri Hughes Burton

                This episode begins with a game of truth or dare at a little girl’s slumber party. One of the girls picks “dare” and is dared to say “Bloody Mary” three times in the bathroom mirror. We then see the girl’s father in the upstairs bathroom mirror, where he sees a reflection of himself while his eyes are being scratched out; suddenly his eyes start bleeding. The girl’s sister, Donna, comes home to find her father lying on the floor dead with his eyes gouged out. In the next scene, Sam and Dean have arrived in the town to investigate the strange death. They first visit the father’s daughters, where they learn the little girl was playing Bloody Mary that night. Curious, Sam and Dean go up to the bathroom where the father died; however, they are interrupted when Donna’s friend, Charlie, catches them and demands to know why they are snooping. Sam and Dean explain to Charlie that Donna’s father may not, as she had thought, died of a stroke.  The next day Charlie, still pretty wigged out about what she had learned, calls her friend Jill and tells her that the father might have been killed by Bloody Mary. Jill then goes to the bathroom mirror where she says “Bloody Mary” three times, thenscreams. Charlie is listening over the phone line and is really freaked out, but when she hears Jill’s mocking laugh, she hangs up, believing Jill was simply mocking her. Later that night, Jill is at her mirror and, looking at her reflection, sees her eyes being scratched out. The next thing we know Jill is dead with her eyes gouged out. Charlie calls Sam and Dean telling them everything. Sam and Dean ask to get into Jill’s room to see if there is any evidence.  Sam finds the name of a little boy written on the mirror. It belongsto a boy Jill killed in a hit and run accident.  The trio then goes over to Donna’s house to see if anything is written on the mirror. They see Donna’s mother’s name, implying that the father killed his own wife. At school,Charlie decides to tell Donna about Mary; Donna gets so upset she says Bloody Mary in the bathroom mirror. Charlie starts to see Bloody Mary and calls Sam and Dean. Charlie tells them she walked out on her boyfriend and he killed himself and that is why Mary is hunting her. Sam comes up with an idea to kill Mary, suggesting they summon her and then smash the mirror.However, when Sam goes to a mirror and summons Mary, she overpowers him. Just as he is about to get his eyes gouged out, Dean comes running in and smashes the mirror.

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Comment:

In my opinion, this episode from season one is one of the scariest episodes of Supernatural. Unfortunately, in more recent episodes, the creators have moved away from this concept, and made the episodes more serious.  That takes away from some of the fantasy and therefore the fun. But I still love the new episodes.

I appreciate how the creators have researched the legends involving Bloody Mary, many of which have her gouging people’s eyes out.  The episode takes an old legend, but makes the more realistic and therefore scarier.

What is fun about this episode is that it takes a game many girls have played at slumber parties and the next time they play it – if they dare -- the game will be even scarier.  

Hey! Stay tuned for my post next week!

Torchwood 

                                               (Adam is the creep dude in the background)

Adam: Season Two, Episode Five, Written by: Catherine Tregenna

​This episode starts with Gwen Cooper returning to Torchwood from vacation. She sees someone in her work area; it’s not one of her colleagues, so she freaks out. Her coworkers, Jack and Ianto, rush over to Gwen thinking something’s wrong, but they notice nothing unusual. “Whois this?” Gwen asks, shocked that they’re not shocked, “Adam, remember, he’s worked here for three years.” Jack replies. Adam, the new guy, then touches Gwen on hershoulder, and then Gwen believes that Adam has been there for years. (The viewers all know something’s up now, what with the touching and the fact we have never seen him before.) Worried about Gwen, Jack and Ianto take her home. When they get to Gwen’s house, Gwen finds somebody in the house, and starts attacking him. Jack and Ianto come in yelling, “It’s Rhys!” (Gwen’s fiancée). Gwen does not remember Rhys at all, so Jack and Ianto take her back to Torchwood to take some tests to find out where her memories have gone. (Gee, I wonder whose fault that is!) As they keep a close eye on Gwen, Ianto realizes something; he never has talked about Adam in his records.Right when he is going to mention this to Jack, Adam comes up.  Adam is suspicious that Ianto knows something, and starts accusing Ianto of a number of murders. Ianto denies these accusations but then Adam touches him andIanto believes him. Ianto starts to panic because he knows he could never have murdered someone but he can’t deny his memory. Ianto runs up to Jack, wanting to resign because he thinks he himself is a criminal. This is the final straw for Jack; two of his best friends are going insane. Jack realizes something; these memory mess-ups happen right after Adam touches the person. Jack does some research and discovers Adam has only popped up three days ago. Jack then hunts down Adam, demanding to what he is. It turns out that Adam is an alien who feeds off of people’s memories. Jack then threatens to kill Adam if he ever returns. Later, Jack drugs his friends and himself so they have no idea what happened over the past three days.

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Comments:

-This episode, when you watch it, is a filler episode,but is one of my absolute favorite episodes. I love how the writers, who built up these characters to be indestructible, just tear the characters down with this one alien showing that they are not as indestructible as we think.

-I love Ianto! And seeing him break down makes me love him even more! Ianto is probably the sweetest character on television, and to introduce a character who can convince him that he is a monster, well you just can’t help but hate him.

-Rhys does not concern himself with the world of aliens or monsters, so he is just plain freaked -out. I feel so bad for Rhys because here is the person he loves and she can’t remember him. Yes, Jack and Ianto feel sorry for Gwen and Rhys, but they are aware are they can bring her memory back.  Rhys doesn’t know this and has to live in the fear that the love of his life might be gone.

That Captain Jack Harknees episode is from Torchwood.

Captain Jack Harkness: Season 1, Episode 12, Written by: Catherine Tregenna

This episode starts out with Captain Jack Harkness and Tosh Sato investigating an abandoned dance hall, which is said to be haunted by ghosts. Suddenly they slip through a time portal and they are back in the year 1941. They find themselves in the middle of a World War Two shipping-off party. While here, they hear a familiar name, Captain JackHarkness. This makes zero sense to Tosh because Jack’s age has always been a mystery she thinks she may now find out what has happened in Jack’s past to make him immortal. (Unless you have seen Doctor Who. Spoiler Alert!  Too make a long story short, Rose, who was possessed by the TARDIS at the time, brought Jack back to life.) But Tosh does not find out because this is a different Captain Jack Harkness in 1941, although he is the man whose identity Jack stole after 1941 Jack died. Jack then realizes that tomorrow is the day when 1941 Jack goes off to war and dies. When Jack realizes this he goes and talks to the other Jack to get to know the person whose identityhe has stolen. While Jack and Jack are talking, they notice they are both attracted to one another. But this is weird for the 1941 Jack because it is the 1940’s and being gay is taboo. Meanwhile, Tosh is finding out how to get back to the present, and she realizes she needs to make another portal. As she tries to work out how to get them back to the present, Jack and Jack’s romance blossoms, Jack asks 1941Jack to dance. As everyone stares at him, wondering what he will say, 1941 Jack walks up to Jack. Jack and 1941 Jack dance together! But just, the portal returns and Tosh runs to it dragging Jack with her. Before he leaves he runs back to1941 Jack and passionately kisses him. Then he steps into the portal, never to see the first Captain Jack Harknessagain.

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Comments:

-I love this episode because is the first really good episodes of Torchwood.  Before this episode, I wasn’t quite sure I was a fan.

-This is a really sad episode because not only does the present day Jack have to leave his love, but the 1941 Jack got over his fear of what everyone else would think of his homosexuality and then it’s taken away in an instant, shortly before he dies.

-I think this episode was really cleverly done.  Even though the viewer knows how present day Jack became immortal, we are still learning about his past.  I like how it was set up for us to think we would learn more about that past, but then the writers tricked us.

Hey guys, stay tuned for next week's posts!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

 

Normal Again: Season 6, Episode 17, Written by: Diego Gutierrez

                 This episode begins, as many do, with Buffy Summers fighting a demon in a park. The demon stabs Buffy with a needle-like skewer and suddenly Buffy is in a mental hospital getting a shot.  She comes to, dazed and confused, Buffy is in the park and the demon is nowhere to be seen. Buffy walks home but she keeps having flashes of herself in a mental hospital. Later, Buffy is talking with her friends when she collapses. She then finds herself back in the hospital with a doctor telling her that everything is a lie, that she has been in this hospital for six years. Buffy’s parents then come in, which confuses her even more because Buffy’s father left years ago and her mother had recently died. The doctor tells Buffy’s parents that Buffy has been schizophrenic for six years and that she has made up this world of demons to cope with the fact she is insane. When Buffy awakens she is back in her house. She is telling her friends everything that has happened in the hospital, and she reveals that, in the past, she actually spent a short time in a mental hospital, and is wondering if she did ever leave. Buffy’s friends try to convince her that being home is reality and that the belief that she was back in the hospital, is the result of the demon stab, but Buffy just will not believe them. Later, her friends make an antidote that will fix all this, but Buffy refuses to take it because she chooses the other world over the real one; Buffy then tells the doctor in the other world that she wants to be rid of this world of demons. The doctor says that Buffy needs to destroy everything that draws her to that world, including friends and family. Buffy then ties up her friends and family, who are desperately trying to convince her that this is reality now. Buffy’s mother, in the other hospital world, tells Buffy that she can fight the harshness of the world because she has those who love her.  Buffy applies this advice to the real world and unties her friends, to show that she choose reality over the hospital.

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Comments:

-  This is a fabulous episode because it shows Buffy’s inner conflicts with the world around her and that she knows if anyone else spoke of demons they would most likely be in a mental hospital.

-The fact that this episode is called Normal Again implies that Buffy knows how messed up her life really is and that, deep down, she wants a normal life. It shows the basic challenge Buffy faces – the choice between being “normal” or being in a hellish reality with those she loves.

 -  The fact that Buffy’s parents are both at the hospital is a big reason why Buffy wants to stay in the hospital world.  Her father was absent most of her life and so her mother was even more important to her.  Her mother’s sudden death has left Buffy feeling alone.  A part of her would give anything to have her parents back.

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

 

 

Hush: Season 4, Episode 10, Written by: Joss Whedon

 

                This episode starts out with Buffy Summers napping in class, and while she is sleeping, she has a prophetic dream. In the dream she sees a little girl holding a weirdly- designed box.  The girl was singing a strange rhyme about creatures known as “The Gentlemen.” Startled, Buffy calls her mentor, Giles, who says he will look into it. But he did not get started soon enough and that night, while everyone is asleep, these Gentlemen begin wandering through town sending out white wisps that float through the atmosphere, jumping from person to person. In the morning, Buffy wakes up and goes about her normal business, but when she tries to talk to her friend, Willow, she realizes that neither of them can speak! Distressed, they run outside and discover that no one can talk! Buffy and Willow race to Giles’s house to see if he knows what is happening.  Giles makes the assumption that it has to do with the Gentlemen Buffy dreamt of. The next night, the Gentlemen return, but this time they are not stealing voices, they are stealing hearts. This is the missing clue Giles needs.  With it, he discovers the plan of The Gentlemen -- they are gathering seven hearts to complete a ritual, and they take away voices so that no one can hear the screams of the victims. Giles finds out that the way to defeat he Gentlemen is for them to hear a human scream. The next night Buffy decides to follow one of The Gentlemen to the lair where the voices are kept in the weirdly designed box. She fights her way through all of the Gentlemen to get to the box, and when she finally gets there, Buffy smashes the box into bits. When Buffy smashes the box her voice returns, and when her voice returns she screams until the Gentlemen explode.

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Comments:

- This episode is awesome! The fact that they don’t talk in this episode reveals two things about the show:  first, the acting in this show is incredible and second, the show is awesome even without dialogue!

 

-This episode might sound familiar.  That’s because it is based on a Grimm fairy tale.  I like how Joss Whedon, the director, wanted to do this episode so much that he made the effort to find the perfect story in which it made sense to have no dialogue.  Otherwise, it could have been gimmicky.

 

-  In the Grimm fairy tale the scream that saves the day comes from a princess.  In this episode, it is Buffy’s scream that saves the day.  Joss Whedon is making clear his belief that women have the power to save the day.

Hey guys! Stay tuned for my new post next week!

Sherlock

 

 

The Reichenbach Falls ; Season Two, Episode Three, Written by; Stephen Thompson

This is the depressing and amazing finale to season two of Sherlock. It starts out with John Watson talking to his therapist.  The therapist is trying to make John admit something, when finally John mumbles that Sherlock Holmes is dead. We then go back about six months earlier, when Sherlock had become a local celebrity, attracting the attention of James Moriarty, Sherlock’s archenemy. Moriarty, to attract Sherlock’s attention, broke into the museum where the Crown Jewels were kept, and at the same time, broke into the Tower of London and let convicts out of the high security prison. Thereafter, Moriarty went to see Sherlock and told him that he owes Sherlock a fall to his death; he then leaves. Sherlock and John did not hear from Moriarty for another five months or so. During this period, they found a new case involving missing children, which Sherlock solved rather quickly. When Sherlock began to ask questions of one of the children, she began shrieking at the sight of Sherlock. This made one of the police officers Sherlock worked with suspicious; it is thus revealed that this was Moriarty’s plan -- to make everyone question Sherlock. It worked. The police showed up at Sherlock’s apartment, but Sherlock and John refuse to go quietly and made a run it. As both Sherlock and John were running, Sherlock realized that this was the beginning of Moriarty’s plan, and that he was about to die. Sherlock decided he would die on the rooftop of the local hospital. Sherlock met Moriarty, who proposed a deal -- all three of Sherlock friends would die unless Sherlock jumped off the building. Sherlock was just about to jump when he realized Moriarty was bluffing because he noticed that Moriarty had not given a sign to tell the gunmen to shoot. Right after Sherlock points that out, Moriarty gave the signal, i.e., Moriarty killed himself.  At this point, Sherlock knew he had to commit suicide to save his friends, but just as he was about to jump John called to him. Sherlock gave his farewells to John and then jumped. But as we see John going to Sherlock’s gravestone, the camera pans over to a figure watching him -- it’s Sherlock!!!

 

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Comments

 

-I did not include in the summary the scene where Sherlock asks for Molly Hooper’s help.  Although this doesn’t advance the plot, I feel this is important because it shows that Sherlock really does care for Molly, even though he always acts cold and pushes Molly away.  In this moment, Molly realizes that Sherlock cares for her.

Here is a link to watch the adorable Molly Hopper scene!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48WI7SsPn6A

 

 

-I loved the phone scene Sherlock and John had before Sherlock jumped.  It showed how much their friendship meant to each other and far Sherlock would go to protect his friend.

-This episode is depressing, but it is wonderful because it reveals so much emotion that I don’t think Sherlock even realized he had. 

Sherlock 

The Great Game Season 1, Episode 3, Written by Mark Gatiss

                This episode is the season finale to the first season.  Sherlock receives phone calls from an anonymous source, giving him time limits for solving his current cases, threatening that if he doesn’t, in each instance, someone will die. In the first call, Sherlock is told that, in the next twelve hours, he must solve the murder of a boy that occurred years earlier, or an old woman will die. Sherlock discovers the boy was poisoned through eczema medication; the old woman is released. The next puzzle is solving how a man disappeared from his car, and Sherlock only has eight hours to do so. He solves this one fairly quickly, finding out that the missing man’s insurance agent was recently on vacation, which leads Sherlock to conclude he helped the missing man disappear.  Again, the victim is released. The third call tells Sherlock to find out, in the next ten hours, how a local celebrity was killed. Sherlock and John Watson visit the celebrity’s housekeeper, who does not seem that broken over his boss’s death. Sherlock notices that the celebrity has had many Botox injections, and pins the death on the housekeeper for Botox poisoning.  However, even though Sherlock successfully solved the crime, the identified victim died because he started describing the caller to Sherlock. In the fourth and final call Sherlock is instructed to find out how it was obvious that a certain painting is a fake.   Sherlock has only ten seconds to analyze every detail and find the mistake, or a child will die. At the very last second, Sherlock notices the mistake -- there is a star there that should not be. Sherlock then meets the anonymous caller to gloat -- which never ends well -- and finds John with a bomb strapped to him. He has to give up a flash drive to the anonymous caller to save John. The caller is revealed to be James Moriarty, who has his gunmen ready to shoot, but, out of nowhere, Sherlock pulls out his gun and points it at the bomb, that is strapped to John. 

My comments

- I like the fact that this is all from John's perspective, which is more of a compliment to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle than the show, because like in the books we get to see how Sherlock deducing things  out of thin air.

- It amazes me that a man, fictional or real, could do what Sherlock does. He can just look at a person, for example, in the second case he just looked at the man and could read the history of this man.

- In this episode, Sherlock actually did meet Moriarty earlier, but it was so unimportant to Sherlock it did not really fit in the summary.I love Moriarty because he is almost exactly like Sherlock-- he's a super genius, he easily gets bored with everyone, and he commits crimes because he is bored; the only thing dividing them is that they are separated by good and evil.