TV season 2015/2016: Lost and found

The 2015/2016 TV season was rather dull, aside from just a few surprises. Those surprises however were mostly the networks, cancelling new shows right and left, and not the quality of the shows themselves. Let’s recap.

Reign: 3x18 “Spiders in a Jar”

Knox: “They're like two spiders in a jar. They can't coexist, they can't let the other survive.

Still, sometimes someone needs to give the jar a good shake.”

Wow! The episode, being a season finale, can not afford not to surprise and usually the death toll is quite high, and Reign has never been shy when it comes to killing off its characters. But wow! Even though the deaths became obvious as the episode went forward, they were still shocking and I couldn’t believe they would kill some of the favorites. Wow!

Reign: 3x17 “Intruders”

"My queen. My light. My love."

Who was the intruder in this one? Mary storming into her own castle ruining Knox' plan? Claude’s ex in the person of Martel de Guise falling onto our heads with the revenge of his own? Narcisse sneaking into Lola’s chambers dressed like a priest? All of them? None of them? Honestly, I have no idea. Do you? And who comes up with these titles?

Reign: 3x16 “Clans”

Narcisse: “What the hell kind of country do you have here?”

This one reminded me of a kindergarten… all of a sudden the adults were busy elsewhere and kids were left alone to run free and be kids and get themselves into lots of troubles.

Grimm: 5x21/22 “The Beginning of the End”

Eve: “We're in the wrong place.”

In keeping with a tradition Grimm ended its fifth year with a two hour finale, and in keeping with the same tradition I was going to review them separately. But since, for the first time, it actually was a two hour finale non-stop, I will also break the tradition and review the finale as one big episode instead of two. Is everyone on the same page? Let’s talk then.

Reign: 3x15 “Safe Passage”

Catherine: “Your destiny lies in Scotland. It always has.”

So, not getting to Scotland,are we? Not, bloody likely!

Reign: 3x14 “To the Death”

Greer: “What odd turns our lives have taken.”

Well, to be entirely honest, I’m not quite sure what has happened here. One thing is clear - everything has so drastically changed since Mary and her four ladies in waiting came to France. Also, things seem to have come full circle.

Grimm: 5x20 “Bad Night”

Nick: “I don't think there are gonna be any winners in this one.”

Well, we are headed towards final two episodes, and everything is set up for a big take down. Knowing Grimm, someone will die. Or loose their head. Or both.

Reign: 3x13 “Strange Bedfellows”

Catherine: “I see the Vatican pushing around female monarchs, and I don't appreciate it one bit.”

Bravo, Catherine! Bravo, Lord Dudley! That pretty much sums up my feelings about this episode.

Grimm: 5x19 “The Taming of the Wu”

“I have to protect you”

A lot of things happened in this one; I loved some parts more, some less. Mostly, a successful hour, but a Wu centric episode was not what I expected.

Reign: 3x12 “No Way Out”

"Your debt will be paid."

It is difficult to follow any timeline with Reign. In between the two episodes Mary managed to go to Rome and get back. How long was she gone? How long would it have taken to travel this distance in 1560s?

Reign: 3x11 “Succession”

Mary: “Now I am a guest at court, an ornamental queen, here and in Scotland.”

We have spent so little time on Scotland, all the bad news were given through third parties, all the protests and uprisings were happening off screen, and over three seasons we literally spent like five minutes in Scotland, so it is difficult to be sympathetic.

Grimm: 5x18 “Good to the Bone”

Hank: “We're associating with some very unsavory characters.”

Wow, what a convoluted, disjointed and inconsistent episode with a very yak case of the week.  I’m not entirely sure I liked any of it.

Grimm: 5x17 “Inugami”

Rosalee: “She's got to be the one to tell you, otherwise there won't be any trust at all.”

That seems to be a common theme lately. Trust. Or the lack of it. Or rather the lack of communication. Everybody is talking, but to the wrong people. The only one who is sharing is Eve, who is also spying on everybody, which, I guess, makes it easier to know who to spill the next piece of information.

Reign: 3x10 “Bruises That Lie”

Leith: “You'll never be more than what people say that you are. You can pretend otherwise, but the world won't pretend with you.”

The romantic in me absolutely loved this episode.

Grimm: 5x16 “The Believer”

Rachel: “Well, a few surprises can be fun”

You don’t say!

Reign: 3x09 “Wedlock”

Gideon: “I never said I was a good man, but one can receive good advice from a bad person.”

It occurred to me that we spent an awful amount of time on marriages that weren’t supposed to happen, unless they were willing to radically rewrite history.

Grimm: 5x15 “Skin Deep”

Hank: “I didn't know beauty qualified as talent.”

Neither did I. But the lesson to take from this one is - never take anything from strangers and never go to their home or place of work alone at night.

Grimm: 5x14 “Lycanthropia”

Rachel: “You need to be on the right side of history.”

What is the right side of history, though? Any side in any conflict is always convinced they are the good ones and what they are doing is the right thing. 

Reign: 3x08 “Our Undoing”

Lola: “But sometimes, one does things one wouldn't normally do, for the people they love.”

Oh, the things we do in the name of love.... 

Grimm: 5x13 “Silence of the Slams”

Rosalee: “…yada, yada, yada...”

Yep, there was too much of excitement lately, let’s water it down a bit and have boxing in masks, we haven’t had one of those in a long while.

Reign: 3x07 “The Hound and the Hare”

Bash: “Will you risk it all with me?”

Much better. The previous episode left me so disappointed that I wasn’t eager to watch the next one. Like at all. Skeptical at first, I was laughing like an idiot by the end of it. You have to agree, it was fun, especially with all the doom and gloom lately. I don’t remember when was the last time I laughed so hard watching Reign. Probably not since Catherine and Henry were scrubbing blood off the castle’s floor. How ironic, considering circumstances.

Grimm: 5x12 “Into the Schwarzwald”

Monroe: “Okay, there better be something inside that.”

Well, this was not as entertaining as the previous one. Episode was rather flat, like reflecting upon events that happened, and not as much events happening. Let’s reflect then.  

Grimm: 5x11 “Key Move”

Adalind: “This is a fantasy someone had 800 years ago”

Well, this just might be my all time favorite Grimm episode. The next one marks 100, and it should be even better. Hold still my heart.

Grimm: 5x10 “Map of the Seven Knights”

Hank: “Looks like we got our trailer back.”

Well, that was an episode full of mythology goodness… and then some. Let’s discuss.

Grimm: 5x09 “Star-Crossed”

Nick: “Don’t go there”

So, you are a Grimm and you live in the world were Wesen and demons exist; you have witnessed all sorts of supernatural events, your girlfriend was brought back from the dead, yet a ritual to influence weather and summon the rain that involved human sacrifices strictly aligned with the points of the Plough is where you draw the line... Seriously, Nick?

Grimm: 5x08 “A Reptile Dysfunction”

Nick: “We're at war. And nobody knows it.”

Riots are happening all over the world yet two out of (how many?) Grimms, super powerful revived Hexenbiest and Meisner and Co. are all in Portland, where the situation is a picnic compared to the rest of the world. Is Portland somehow unique in this sense? At least we now have a clear explanation of why the Black Claw is doing all this - they want a world run by Wesen... Got it!

Grimm: 5x07 “Eve of Destruction”

“I have been bent and broken, but, I hope, into a better shape”

“They call me Eve”

Yep, she’s back and judging by the opening credits she’s here to stay. Those who read my reviews know that Juliette is not a favorite, so what does it say about the episode when she is the best part of it? I was equally surprised!

2016: Midseason Premieres

Even though I try to pay attention sometimes some TV series just manage to pass me by. I discover them later, sometimes years later. This year I had some time on my hands due to the long holidays and I decided to see what networks have to offer us in terms of midseason premieres. As usual, no spoilers. 

Continuum - Series Finale

Kiera: "In the fairy tales I've read, the hero enters the cave to slay the dragon. Not to join him."

Yet on more occasions than one she entered the cave to join the dragon and more than few times the dragon deserved it. Don’t you love it when characters you are supposed to hate and those you are supposed to like switch places or join each other? Read on to hear my thoughts about this time-travel loopy loop in general and the finale specifically.

2015: My 50 shades of awesome, weird and mediocre

In the year 2015 Merlin slept with agent Scully (really, The Fall?), Paul Young became the President of the United States (or what’s left of it on The Last Ship) and I will never be able to look at Alicia Florrick’s brother the same way again (thank you Chicago PD). There were lots of beginnings but also some ends. One stings in particular. Adieu, Downton Abbey. You will be missed.  

I love sci-fi as a genre and I’m there for any apocalyptic series. Literally, anything supernatural/horror that the Powers That Be decide to throw my way, I will be watching. I love the shows centered on what happens after the earth is invaded, whoever is behind it, be that aliens, vampires, demons or just regular humans. There is something desperately beautiful about people trying to survive in horrible circumstances and build their life again and deal with all sorts of issues that come with that. The spirit of human nature is never more attractive. That is why a lot of series in my list are from this category. The only exception is still The Walking Dead. I tried it. Twice. Both times couldn’t get past the pilot. I guess zombies is where I draw the line. 

So here are my 50 shades of awesome, weird and mediocre. And all that falls in between. No spoilers, just some basic info and my random thoughts. So read on.