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.

Recaps and Chill

    Hey guys!  Sorry I didn't post yesterday.  I got side tracked after work.  I'll be cramming two blog posts into one this week because I have my internship tomorrow and I need to work on preparing myself for a second job interview on Friday.  Next week should be back to normal.  Today, I thought I would recap my weekend, which included the Powderkeg Beer and Chili Festival in my hometown of Exeter, NH and the second episode of Once Upon a Time, because I promised do some TV recaps.

(powderkegbeerfest.com)

    My husband and I attend the Beer and Chili festival every year and it's a really great time!  This year was the fourth year of the festival and it has grown leaps and bounds since it started back in 2011.  The festival brings craft beer brewers and local restaurants together to create the perfect fall atmosphere.  Local restaurants will compete to see who's chili reigns supreme in the area while beers from all over New England service the milling public.  I really enjoy getting to taste not only the chili from some of my favorite places, but also beers and ciders that I would normally not have access to.  Two words: FREE PRETZELS.  I highly recommend attending any local fall festivals in your area.  It's a great chance to celebrate the season and sample some local fare with friends.

    So, as you know, I'm a huge OUAT fan and this season is starting off incredibly Dark Swan.  For those of you who haven't caught up with the current season yet, SPOILERS AHEAD.
    At this point, Emma is struggling to balance her light and darkness with her new-found power while her poor family is stuck trying to figure out a way to save her.  We were introduced to Merida in the very first episode as she runs into Emma and eventually agrees to help her find her way to Merlin.  The Storybrooke gang is still blissfully unaware where Emma is and Hook deceives his way into accidentally helping Zelena get out of her imprisonment.  At the end of the first episode, the gang rides a tornado into the Enchanted Forest in the hopes of finding Emma and Merlin, but end up running into the Camelot Crew.  Flash forward to a few weeks later and they're all back in Storeybrooke, at Granny's, with Emma in full Dark Swan mode, turning dwarfs to stone.  What the hell happened?

(comicbook.com)

    Last weekend's episode revealed a little more about the gang's missing memories.  This episode included a lot of back and forth between present day evil Dark Swan Emma and when they were back in Camelot adjusting to court life yet again.  Regina has claimed herself to be the new Savior, unsure of whether or not she can actually do the job like Emma had.  Henry believes in her, (obviously), but how much influence does he really have?  Robin is taken by a random Fury who shows up to claim a debt owed to it by Regina, (supposedly), and she spends most of the episode trying to figure out a way around it.  Belle sheds some light on the situation because book smarts and Regina finds out she must trade a life for Robins if he's to be saved.  Instead of trying to sacrifice herself again, Snow, Charming and Hook all contribute to the Fury's sacrifice in order to free Robin.  In another area of the woods, Hook is still trying to get Emma back to normal, to no avail, and Emma happens to have the sword AND the dagger in order to reforge the blade that was broken, (see what I did there?).  Needless to say, it's not as easy as it looks and the spirit of Evil Rumple is still trying to help her turn over to the dark side and do what no other Dark One has ever accomplished: free themselves of everyone they've ever loved so they can become completely submerged in the darkness.  Scary, right?  I don't think that will happen to Emma, but I bet she gets really close.  We'll have to see what happens next.
    My favorite part of last week's episode was actually Henry, my precious cinnamon roll, and his NEW LADY FRIEND VIOLET.  I keep forgetting Henry is actually probably like 15 by now and so ready to have a love interest in this show.  I still see him like I did in the first season when he was ADORABLE so I'm not sure if this was just for this episode to break up the tension or a recurring plot line, but whatever it is I'm totally shipping Violenry/Henlet (?).  Help me out here with a ship name please.

(pinterest.com)

    While we're talking about shows we're obsessed with, I'll mention that I've been perusing Netflix for a show to binge watch this month, something relatively scary, maybe supernatural in nature and nothing that will give me nightmares.  I started watching Supernatural, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly, however I've found that Vampire Diaries is my new favorite guilty pleasure show to Netflix and chill to and I'm ashamed to say that I am hopelessly addicted after only 6 episodes.  You would think that it would scream Twilight TV, but it doesn't.  In fact, there are points in the show so far that have blatantly made fun of Twilight, so I approve of that wholeheartedly.  I have no idea what's going to happen to my free time now, but I'm willing to run with it.  TVD is entering it's 7th season, as opposed to Supernatural, which is entering it's 11th season, (SO MANY EPISODES TO WATCH).  I don't think I mentioned either of these shows in my frequently watched series post a few days ago, but I'm going with it!  Which one would you watch?  Are you team Vampire Diaries or Team Supernatural?  Let's discuss.

    That's all I have for this week.  I'm putting most of my energy into Netflix and preparing for my interview tomorrow, so wish me luck!  Next week I'll have a new Nerd Alert and an Author Spotlight for you.  Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.