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.

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  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.

Beware the Ides of March

    Hello again!  It's Thursday already and oh, how the tides have turned.  Tuesday I was filled with hope and happiness and today not so much.  A lot has happened and by now I've already been able to remedy some of my situation, but even I can't work miracles.
    First off, I've had a sinus migraine for the last two days, which would've been great if I were still on vacation and didn't have stuff to do.  For instance, the two revisions I have to do on the papers I passed in before vacation, which I thought would be fine.  I always think my work is satisfactory and when I miss the mark on something I get frustrated and disheartened.  Who wants to do a revision?  Nobody.  Then, to add to my disappointment, one of my prospective teachers for my internship contacted me to let me know she was no longer interested in working with me.  Now I only have two teachers left in my remaining intern pool and I'm hoping they don't crap out on me because I have no other options.  I'm starting to panic because the form is due by next week and I'm already down by one.  What's to stop the other two teachers from backing out on me too?  This whole situation has been awkward from the start and only makes me more anxious.  I just want this to be over and know where I'm going already.

    On top of all THAT, I was (mis)informed about my eligibility for financial aid and REALLY started to panic because of the amount of money I would need to pay for my internship.  Thankfully I fixed everything with the financial aid office and am covered for next year with at least half time status.  With my job situation still in limbo, it was hard for me to envision paying off a personal loan without any money coming in.  Speaking of jobs, I found out through my potential employer that one of my references, (my old boss), got transferred, so his contact information I had been giving to other potential employers was invalid, which caused a lot more problems for me than he did originally...  With ALL of that stuff having happened in the last few days, this weekend will be a welcome relief, at least for a little while.  I went from elated to struggling within 24 hours and it wasn't fun.  At this point, I've accepted the fact that revisions are a necessary part of school and shouldn't be viewed as a punishment.  The fact that I don't have a particular due date helps too.  I'm in a much more positive mood now that I've assessed my situation and applied the necessary patchwork solutions for now.  You wouldn't think my life would be this hectic and stressful without a job to burden me even more.

Hidden Harley Quinn foreshadowing?

    All of that aside, I have two new television reviews for you this time.  As some of you might remember, I believe I've mentioned the fact that I watch Arrow on the CW every Thursday, (because it airs on Wednesday and I watch everything on Hulu Plus).  It's really one of the only good shows on that channel, which is frequently plagued by good-looking murderous teens who always seem to end up at a dark club.  Anyway, Arrow follows a traditional DC comic book storyline about a green-hooded vigilante figure protecting his city from injustice.  If you've been following the series, you should be caught up to what I'm about to say about this week's episode.  If you aren't, then I suggest you should start from the beginning, especially if you're looking for a new show to watch.  Watch out for these spoilers!  We left off with Oliver agonizing over the realization of Slade being alive and ready to kill his entire family, but we don't really focus on that in this episode.  It was all about the Suicide Squad, (another DC reference).  Including Diggle and his ex-wife/lover, (weird), there are also con men involved in this team of ruffians.  They end up dealing with an old terrorist "ally" of Diggles when they find out he's harboring some sort of chemical weapon that I'm still unsure about.  The whole story line was great, but the best part, by far, was one scene in the base where we hear one sentence uttered by what we can only assume is the Harley Quinn, judging by her very familiar tone.  Although it may just be a one-time gig for my favorite DC villain, there's always potential in these shows, so we'll see.

    The other show I watched tonight was The 100, which premiered its pilot episode this week.  According to the description and from what I gathered from the show, it centers on a small cluster of humans on a space shuttle almost a hundred years after a nuclear disaster destroyed the Earth.  Obviously some people escaped to form this group and they are attempting to maintain the population to keep themselves alive for as long as they can, (or until they find a habitable planet).  Cue the imprisoned teens, 100 of them, sent to Earth to test the environment, because they're "expendable."  The range of their crimes vary from serious murders to mindless pranks to just having been born.  The teens touch down on Earth, not knowing what they'll encounter or how much radiation they'll be exposed to, but their reactions were priceless.  Even though the premise seems very "Hunger Games" like, there were a few issues I spotted.  One being the obviously pretty cast, although that doesn't hold true for everyone this time.  I do like the fact that one of the original April O'Neils from the 80s TMNT movies is one of the main characters.  Unrealistic attack sequences left me scratching my head, (why didn't she lose her leg in that monster's mouth?).  And the kids' rebellion screamed Lord of the Flies.  It's only the pilot, so I will keep watching because it seems interesting and very unnatural for the CW, but I'm hopeful for it's success.  If anyone else wants to sound off on this or on the developments in Arrow thus far, you can do so in the comments below.
    Well, sadly that's all I have for this week.  Like I said, I'm looking forward to this weekend because I actually have plans.  I have a baby shower on Saturday and dinner with family Sunday, so it should be a good time.  Hopefully I'll have more good news by next week, but we'll see.  I'm getting tired of saying that and then coming up with nothing, so I won't be making any more promises.  I'm just going to enjoy the time I have to myself and keep looking forward.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.

OOPS...TV Stuff

    Hey guys, so I'm going to apologize early for this one because I honestly haven't even picked up Divergent and totally got wrapped up in other things so far this week.  Sorry!  I'm also currently a chapter away from finishing the first installment of the Game of Thrones series and I hate starting a different book while I'm still working on another one.  I promise to have a mild review with questions/concerns up by next Thursday.

    My distractions were also partially due to the fact that I got roped in to a new television program on Hulu called Reign on the CW.  If you are unfamiliar with the show, it supposedly follows a fictional version of Mary, Queen of Scots through her adolescent years as she attempts to save her country by forging an alliance through marriage with France.  So far it's been less than historical, however it's a nice plot line with all the made-up characters that never existed.  I will be tuning in for the second half of season one on the 23rd.

    Also on my radar for television, (as this has been a lazy week of roaming about the house with little to nothing to keep me busy), is the new season of The Bachelor, which I've already warned you about.  The only reason I'm watching is because of Juan Pablo, which is somewhat obvious.  Also, I've heard that there's a Phi Mu girl amongst the potential bachelorettes, so I will be following her progress as she is automatically my favorite by default.  I will not be able to live tweet the show, however, due to the fact that I have no cable and have been watching online the day after it airs.  As soon as there's a show on Sundays that I enjoy, I will be live tweeting that.

(DIOS MIO...)

    In addition to the new Bachelor, Cougar Town has returned for a fifth season and I could not be more excited!  I have loved this show since its inception and I think it's hilarious.  If I had to rank it, it would fall somewhere around New Girl in my "favorite comedy" pool.  I can't wait to see how they work the new plot line of this season!

    Well, that's basically it.  TV has been controlling my life now that everyone is coming back from their winter break.  Castle returned this week, (tearing at my heart strings), as well as Agents of Shield and Bones set to return this coming Monday with How I Met Your Mother.  I have a lot more that I'm following with new shows popping up on my radar every few days, but I'm only morally invested in a select few.
    I enjoy these shows because of the variations in plot structure and character developments as it pertains to my knowledge about the two.  I think TV does lend itself to a larger infrastructure of literacy that we have yet to explore, but try telling that to an "obese" child addicted to Adventure Time who spends hours of uncultured time on the couch some some Cheetos...  I'm sure I'll learn more about the differences as I continue my digital literacy studies next semester, but for now I'll just let TV be entertainment.  I only have about a week left before I start my last two classes and I want to make the most of this downtime while I have it.  Again, sorry this post is short!  If you have any questions or just want to talk about any of the shows I listed or any of the ones you watch, let me know in the comments or Twitter or anywhere really.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.