TV Recap

    Hey guys, sorry about not posting yesterday.  I totally forgot:(  I'm going to try to keep myself on track by putting reminders in my phone so that I can keep up with things.  I very rarely sit at my computer these days and with everything else going on in my life at the moment I've found it difficult to stay on track.  I am planning a little mini vacation for myself when the holidays come around, so that'll be nice.  ANYWAY, I meant to do a recap yesterday of the TV shows I've been keeping up with lately, so here we go.  Beyond this point are SPOILERS, so if you're not caught up, don't read!

(greenarrowtv.com)

    Arrow was big last week because of Constantine making a cameo appearance.  My husband loved that show and when it was cancelled, he wasn't too happy.  Needless to say he's been given a second chance and it did not disappoint.  We left off with Team Arrow trying to figure out the best way to approach the now loose Sarah after attempts to talk her down failed.  Thea realized that her blood-lust was directed towards her, because Thea was the one who killed her under Merlin's influence.  Thea decided she wanted to let Sarah kill her in order to cure her blood-lust because Thea felt that she was the only one who understood what Sarah was going through.  Thea's blood-lust cannot be cured because the person who killed her is already dead and she can't avenge herself.  Obviously the rest of the team didn't like this idea, so Oliver called in some back-up in the form of an old friend.
    They showed flashbacks to when Oliver was back on his old friend The Island and Constantine happened to be held at gunpoint by his commanding officer.  Constantine took Oliver hostage and drove him to a location where he knew there was a magical artifact that he needed.  Oliver saved his life Indiana Jones style, which meant Constantine owed him a favor.  Back in the present, Constantine devised a plan that would allow Oliver and Laurel to go inside Sarah's mind to retrieve her soul.  In the end, everyone is successful and Sarah is returned to her normal state.  Diggle receives closure about his dead brother and Felicity discovers that Ray is still alive.  A lot happened this past week, so I can't wait to see where this goes.  I believe Constantine will be a crucial part of defeating Dahrk, but we'll see.

(movietralerreviews.net)

    Agents of SHIELD was also full of surprising revelations last week.  We see Agent May return to the team under circumstances beyond her control.  Andrew, her ex husband, was involved in an explosion that killed several members of the newly-formed Hydra group, sent by Ward.  May and Bobbi team up in this episode and it was awesome!  This was the first time Bobbi had returned to the field since last season, so she was still unsure of herself in the beginning.  May and Bobbi make a great team and May was able to talk Bobbi into relinquishing her fear.  Meanwhile, Skye, (I still can't call her Daisy...it's too weird), and the rest of the gang are trailing Coulson as he meets up with the leader of the ATCU.  They discover that she's putting the Inhumans she captures into a sort of stasis in order to bide time for finding a cure.  We also find out that she lost her husband to cancer and refuses to let the Inhumans deal with their troubling abilities without at least trying to help them.  Noble, but is she really doing the right thing?
    The real shocker in this episode, which I kind of saw coming, is the reveal of the human identity of Lash.  After Skye saw Lash turn back into a human a few episodes ago, she didn't want to let it go.  As they search for the answers, May is actually the one to find out the truth from a dying Von Strucker.  We see in a flashback to the explosion that Andrew is actually Lash and caused the explosion that killed everyone inside the store.  This also explains how he could have survived such an explosion.  We're probably going to be dealing with this revelation when May and Bobbi return from their mission.  May is currently the only one who knows about Andrew, so it's unlikely that she will tell anyone until she has a chance to talk to him herself, knowing the truth will set everyone into a panic.  Inhumans everywhere!

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    Flash was interesting last week.  I've been waiting for Barry to ask Patty out for awhile now, so I'm glad they finally worked that in.  Unfortunately, the poor bastard was blind for most of the date, thanks to a run-in with our newest Inhuman bad person, who looks identical to Linda Park, one of Barry's ex-girlfriends from last season and Iris's friend in the newsroom.  While they deal with Linda's doppelganger, everyone is dealing with working alongside the Earth 2 Harrison Wells.  Although this version of Dr. Wells is identical to the one Barry defeated last season, they have very different personalities.  No one is comfortable, but they have to learn to work together in order to defeat this season's villain, Zoom.  Dr. Wells even helps Cisco, (albeit not kindly), reveal his new powers to the rest of the team, shocking everyone, including Cisco.  In the end, Dr. Light is captured with Cisco's psychic help before she can kill Linda, Barry gets the girl after regaining his eye sight and Cisco introduces himself to an attractive barista, who will turn out to become Hawkgirl this season and continue on to the spin-off Legends of Tomorrow with The Atom and the White Canary from Arrow.  When every episode of Flash introduces a new character, you have to learn how to keep track of the ones who aren't temporary.

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    Lastly, Once threw us for a loop last weekend as well, introducing us to the original Dark One, aka Nimue, who was Merlin's lost love.  As Merlin and Emma search for the last ember of Prometheus in order to reforge the sword, (I will never get tired of saying that), to wipe out Emma's darkness.  While on their quest, Merlin recounts his past, including the day he discovered the Holy Grail and inadvertently created Arthur's future kingdom.  He also discovers he has magic and eternal life, which he uses to help the people in his ever-growing village.  There he meets Nimue, who has fled her town after a murderous lunatic set fire to everything and killed everyone in order to find the grail.  Merlin falls for her and they devise a plan to turn the cup into a sword in order to wipe out Merlin's magic so they can be together for one life.  Nimue ends up betraying Merlin for revenge against the man who destroyed her village and becomes the first Dark One, having taken the man's heart and crushed it.  The rest of the gang stage a break in of Arthur's castle in order to get the sword.  As usual, they're betrayed by Zelena and sent away before completing their task.  As we move back to present day in Storybrooke, we see that Emma has both pieces of the sword and is able to put them together.  She encounters all her past Dark Ones, including Nimue, who watch her put the sword back together.  Emma briefly recalls when Merlin told her as a child to "leave the sword alone," which she doesn't end up doing anyway.  We'll see what happens in the two-hour show this weekend, but I have a feeling Emma knows what she's doing.  Merlin and Emma talked about whether or not a dark force can overcome itself in the right circumstances and Merlin hints that maybe someday there will be someone strong enough to break the darkness for good.  I have a feeling it'll be Emma, but we'll see.

    So that's all I have for recaps this week.  For someone who doesn't watch a lot of TV, I'm finding that the TV I am watching is sufficient and engaging enough to keep my interest.  I've also been adjusting my November TBR to accommodate my new obsession, which is The Mortal Instruments series.  I read the first book in a day, so I'm hoping to finish the series by the end of this month.  I plan on doing an author spotlight tomorrow on Cassandra Clare, so more on that then.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

Nerdy Recap

    Hey everyone!  I apologize, (again), for not posting on Tuesday.  I've had a lot going on and I've gotten back to working on my unfinished colloquium, which is supposed to be done at the beginning of December.  That being said, I'm going to try to make an effort to remember to post on the days I've set aside, if not for your sake, then for mine, just to have some sort of distraction at least.  I'll be moving my Nerd Alert to next Tuesday and in the meantime I thought that today could be a recap of the TV I've been catching up on.  We're talking Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Arrow.

    Although I don't have cable, I do have a Hulu and a Netflix account, (like any normal person would), but that means I have to watch my shows the day after they air, which puts me at a slight disadvantage.  Regardless, my husband and I try to get caught up as soon as possible and we just caught up with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D last night.  Oh my Lord has it gotten complicated!  For those of you who aren't aware, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D follows a team of people from the Marvel universe who work closely with the Marvel superheroes and tie in directly with The Avengers, etc.  We're entering season three now and things have gone haywire from where they started in season one.  Season two's finale tied in directly with the beginning of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was awesome!  Marvel is working to connect the cinematic and television universes together and they are doing a great job so far.  Beyond this point are SPOILERS galore, so aver your eyes, unless you're an Inhuman!

(comicbookmovie.com)

    Anyway, season two also ended with Simmons getting sucked into an inter-dimensional alien portal monolith, (otherwise known as a giant, black rock which can liquefy at random).  At the beginning of this season, we see Fitz attempting to discover the mysteries of the alien stone and try to get his true love out of her prison.  We find out that she's actually alive at the end of the first episode of this season, which aroused more questions, like where the hell is she?  We also get introduced to the Advanced Threat Containment Unit, (ATCU), created by the government to fill the empty hole left by the destruction of the old S.H.I.E.L.D.  Episode two saw more of Fitz scrambling to get into the portal, breaking an old Asgardian ally out of prison to travel to a remote English castle to experiment with ancient technology.  Needless to say it was risky business, but Fitz was willing to do anything to get Simmons back.  Meanwhile, Skye/Daisy, (I'm never going to get used to her name change), is still searching for Lincoln, who's now on the run from everybody, thanks to this new agency attempting to flush him out with press coverage.  We see Simmons and Fitz finally reunited after a harrowing rescue ordeal with the help of Daisy's quake abilities.  Episode three saw Simmons in recovery mode, trying to fight off the horror of surviving that hell hole mystery planet.  Fitz tries to show her that he's kept everything as she left it, but Bobbi mentions that maybe she needs some change, something different to make her feel more comfortable and move on from her ordeal.  So, naturally, Fitz uses his long-standing reservation at a nice restaurant to clear the air, only she spends the evening crying on his shoulder.  The ATCU is still on the hunt for Lincoln and that poor bastard can't trust anybody but Daisy now, so he ends up giving in and finally asking for help, but not before he accidentally kills a friend of his.  And kisses Daisy, which I've wanted to happen for awhile now and I'm SO GLAD it did!  But now they have to find him again... Also, Ward is back in the picture, trying to reform Hydra with the son of von Strucker.  This should be a very interesting season indeed.

(screenrant.com)

  Arrow has only had two episodes so far and I've only seen the first one, (we'll be catching up tonight with Flash and Arrow).  Season three saw the disengagement of the team Oliver led with him fleeing into suburbia to a life of quiet and quiche.  That didn't last long.  Season four begins with the gang disarming a truck full of vagrants, with Speedy, aka Thea, joining their task force in a nice red getup.  Soon they discover this goes far over their heads and the city is now in danger, thanks to Damien Dahrk, the villain of season four.  I've heard he's a force to be reckoned with in the comics, so we'll see if that plays out in the show, but so far, I fear him completely.  He has some modifications to the comic version of himself, including mystic powers far beyond those of most professional human beings, which incapacitate his victims easily, including Oliver.  We see Oliver attempt to propose to Felicity before being interrupted by Laurel and Diggle, asking for his help.  I really hope it doesn't take him the whole season to propose to her or I'm literally going to scream.  We've been waiting for this for FOUR SEASONS NOW GUYS.  Also, what concerns me is the end scene, with Oliver at a grave site in the near future, six months from the present.  We don't see whose grave it is, but Oliver swears painful vengeance on whoever is responsible for the death.  WHO COULD IT BE?!?  I can't even begin to discuss the theories I have for this cliff hanger.  For one, it could be Felicity, just because the CW people are cruel and refuse to satisfy the fan shipping we all want to happen and to destroy Oliver once and for all.  Another option would be Diggle, since his warrior outfit is literally the worst and he still has to forgive Oliver for what he did to his family last season, so there's obvious tension there.  Then there's Thea, an obvious choice because it's his only remaining family and it would devastate him to lose his beloved sister.  Those are my three choices for who ends up dying, probably by the end of the season, so we'll have a lot of time to think about it before they actually show us who it is.  I'm excited and frustrated at the same time.

(comicbook.com)

    So there you have it, my recap and slight reviews of Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D so far.  I'm looking forward to following these series this season because I feel like they've both reached their apex.  It can only get better from here.  I've also reached season three in The Vampire Diaries after only a week of excessive late-night Netflix binge-watching.  I've even hooked my husband into watching it with me, (against his better judgement).  I'm addicted now, so if I keep going like this I should be able to catch up before the newer seventh season is over.  Fingers crossed!  What about you guys?  Do you watch Arrow or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D?  Vampire Diaries?  Thoughts on any and all of these shows can be left down in the comments!  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.