American Horror Story: Coven 3.06 Review: Don't Mess With Spirit Boards

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of American Horror Story: Coven, entitled ‘The Axeman Cometh’, here’s where I suggest that is what you do before proceeding ahead. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Well, we’re halfway through the season. I do like the material they’ve created this season, but each episode doesn’t quite feel like one full episode. Like tonight’s episode, it felt like half an episode rather than an entire episode with a clearly written beginning, middle, and end. There’s no horror to this season, I thought they’d at least be well written episodes. It’s like one half of an episode is the end to the last, and the other half is the beginning to the next episode. It’d be one thing if all of the episodes were out at once, but it’s aggravating when I have to wait a week to see some sense of conclusion.

One thing I do enjoy this season are some of the characters. Like I believe I mentioned in my review of last week’s episode, Zoe started out as such a scared, little girl, and has really grown into this strong witch that wants to fight to survive. At this point, I honestly don’t care if they say otherwise; Zoe is the next Supreme in my books. Nan is also an interesting character, definitely a step up from the minutely annoying Addie. Queenie, on the other hand, is a character I don’t like. At all. She’s moronic, believing Fiona when she’s obviously being manipulated, and then the way she acted with Bastien. Fiona I’m back and forth on. Her selfishness doesn’t make her much of a redeeming character, but the way she’s trying to step up for Cordelia gives me some hope in her. Cordelia, on the other hand, is definitely better than Paulson’s character last season, but so far I still prefer her character from season one. I’m not much of one to think Paulson is a strong enough actress to carry a season, or have as heavy a role as she has had these last two seasons. Kyle I’m still intrigued by, but I’m still waiting for him to get over this lack of being able to speak. And then Misty I was much happier with when she was fawning over Zoe and wanting to find her tribe, rather than bringing back Myrtle. But I did enjoy her for the most part this week.

So the husband is a witch hunter. That makes more sense now, with the redhead from last week and how he killed her. Still, I’m not quite certain why he would work for Marie Leveau if he’s a witch hunter, this series does state she is a witch, just of a different kind. This does make this come together a bit better, though. I always find this series has stronger second halves of the seasons, when the writing gets clearer and is strung together better. That’s definitely a touchy tactic when it could just as easily fail by causing a series to shed viewership. Nonetheless, I still end up watching the season.

All in all, I do find the writing is stronger as this season goes on, but there isn’t much horror to it. The stories are interesting, but this series is called American Horror Story, not American Story. After the first season, I expected more, but I suppose intriguing storytelling will have to suffice. It does have its sparing moments, but maybe it’s because I have a lamp on so that I’m able to write notes, but its just not getting to me at all. And my house is actually haunted. Although I suppose that might make this season seem less scary, even with that ax man added in. Still, I hold out hope that it will get better. It is, after all, a hell of a lot better than last season.

My rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Best Line:

“You released him?” – Queenie questions. “I told him I would! I lied.” – Zoe explains, diabolically.

All right, that’s all for tonight folks. Check back in tomorrow for my reviews of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, The Vampire Diaries, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Crazy Ones. Good night to all you other night workers out there!

Revenge 3.06 Review: Honesty is More Powerful than Manipulation

For all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of Revenge, entitled ‘Dissolution’, this is the only point where I will suggest that is what you do before reading ahead. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Despite my enjoyment of the final moments between Emily, Nolan, and Jack, this was not as great an episode as last week’s. Sure, I can understand the creative angle driven to write this episode the way it was written, I was a little disappointed in the way certain things were chosen to go.

For starters, Nolan and Patrick only had two episodes kind of together, and I was actually rooting for them and loved them together, but that’s basically down with now. I feel like Patrick just got here, and now he’s being rushed away, despite the possibilities and normalcy his character brought to the show. Yes, he has a weird relationship with his mother, and yes, he tried to kill Conrad, but that doesn’t mean he needed to be written out for a time. I was really liking his character, and how happy he seemed to be making Nolan, someone who really needed it, so I’m sad that this is the way that was chosen, at least at this early point where it almost feels like they made a mistake in the way they’ve written things and are thus fixing them.

Another thing, the chemistry between Daniel and Sarah is so much more obvious than between Emily and him. They have a sense of passion between them that is impossible for Emily with Daniel. But I know that the wedding is gone through with, so what’s the point in dangling this possibility that would be so much better for him than Emily. Emily’s lack of emotions, and almost lack of personality, sometimes makes it hard for me to root for her revengenda, plus the way her plans always seem to be infiltrated before she can fully act them out. It makes it a little strained.

Charlotte was also getting under my skin this week. She’s trying to “protect” her brother from marrying “the wrong woman” and it just makes her seem too much like her mother. I liked seeing her grow into becoming her own, manipulating woman, but we already have a Victoria, and for the most part I want her to be taken down, so I don’t really want Charlotte to end up that way too. It’s disheartening to see a maturing woman become a miniature, almost identical, person to an existing character that isn’t all that great. Victoria has her place, but I don’t want Charlotte to take over that place when Victoria is eventually taken down.

While I was a little weirded out and confused by the way the dialogue was written between Nolan and Jack in the bar, I was happy that they were able to work things out.  It was difficult to follow, but I got the gist of what was going on, and I’m glad they were able to work towards a place of friendship again, because I absolutely adore their friendship, especially the way it was in the first season. It’s nice to see that working out for the both of them, it really appears as though they need each other.

I’m not sure how I feel about this whole Aiden and Emily thing going on. I was under the impression that he was there only to help her get things done, but now they’re back together. I know she has no liking for Daniel, ever since he learned of the cover up of her father’s wrongful incarceration and did nothing about it, but I still feel like her and Jack would be better suited than Aiden and her. It almost seems like, at this point, she’s manipulating Aiden to keep him in line and helping her, but that she’s not trying to manipulate Jack anymore. I did finally realize why he’s pretending to help Victoria, pushing her in the direction Emily needs her to be in, but that’s still not enough for me to feel like Aiden and her need to be the way they are.

All in all, a solid episode of television, although my own creative vision of this series didn’t quite fall in line with the showrunner’s this week. Alas, I’ll leave it up to him to decide what is best for this series, so long as it keeps me interested, doesn’t outstay its welcome, and doesn’t become completely moronic that it alienates me and its vast audience. For now I will keep mum about it, and will look forward to the day we learn who shoots Emily, or if it really is the staging for Victoria being blamed for Emily Thorne’s death.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Maybe I was too tired with this and Once to catch any pop out lines, but there were none I felt impressive enough to jot down. So this is my final review of the night. Check back tomorrow night for my reviews of How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Sleepy Hollow, and The Blacklist. Otherwise, good night everyone.

Once Upon A Time 3.06 Review: There Are Such Things As Second Chances

All those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of Once Upon A Time, entitled ‘Ariel’, here’s where I suggest that you do that before reading ahead. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed at your own discretion.

Once Upon A Time finally delved into The Little Mermaid treasure trove with our very own Ariel, Eric, and Ursula. JoAnna Garcia Swisher played the titular character in this week’s episode, and while I wasn’t as convinced with the casting decision as a lot of people seemed to be, being that she appeared a little older than she should’ve been, I was pleasantly surprised. Of the three new fabled characters we met this week – although we didn’t completely meet the real Ursula – she was the one I was happiest with. She was actually good at portraying the innocent, yet curious mermaid, and wasn’t half bad by this series standards. Eric, on the other hand, was a little ridiculously written. Maybe there is a thing such as love at first sight, but the way the prince was played and written just made me see him as a kind of dud with no personality. They’re kind of ruining my second favourite Disney movie, after already ruining my first (Beauty and the Beast).

For the most part this week, I wasn’t all that happy with the flashback scenes. Sure I liked the way Ariel’s personality was portrayed, at least in the beginning, but the way Regina pretended to be Ursula was like the actress was trying to mimic the animated movie character instead of making it her own person. Plus Regina was just way too overdone in the flashbacks. It’s like this series is trying to be over-the-top when it comes to acting and writing. Also, while the octopus tentacles looked decently realistic, the actress looked ridiculous pretending to be Ursula, especially with how fake that hair looked.

Elsewhere in the episode, I was happy to see Hook actually tell the Charmings that Neal is both alive, and in Neverland. He doesn’t seem to be going back to his conniving self, he appears to be turning into a better man because of Emma, and that’s something that I love. So basically, everyone – except for Regina – makes their way towards where the trail to Neal leads, and have to reveal their darkest secret. David’s was obvious, but Snow’s was saddening because of David’s secret. Complete squeal moment when it came to Hook’s, who never thought he could love again. Good on the writers to make it so that everyone doesn’t just get one True Love, a person can find another, that makes it possible for them to back themselves into a wall. Emma’s secret was little less encouraging, mostly because I’d’ve expected hers to be about how she didn’t know if she could forgive Neal for leaving her and not coming back for her when he’d learned she’d broken the curse. But then, maybe that’s already been dealt with. I am excited to see this love triangle going ahead, mostly because it isn’t the center of the universe in this series – unlike The Vampire Diaries – and because, like with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I keep going back and forth with who I want her to be with. I think, I think I want her to be with Hook, but then Neal so obviously loves her too, and I loved Emma’s flashback scene last year when they were falling in love. It’s a complete conundrum for me, but it keeps me watching, so I commend the writers for being able to do that.

All in all, I was happier with the present day scenes wherever Emma was involved, as well as Hook. Ariel is also a curious character going forward that I’d like to see more of, but Eric needs more personality, not sure how happy I am about his casting. Pan, while not inherent in this episode, was good as always, and it was interesting to learn Belle wasn’t a figment of Rumplestiltskin’s imagination, but Pan’s shadow. And while it does create for interesting possibilities with Rumple and Regina working together, there wasn’t much to it this week that was any good.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

No lines jumped out at me this week, so I’ll just say that I took a break between reviews and watched the episode ‘The Zeppo’ of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so here this is now. I’m off to go write up the review for Revenge now, so stay tuned.

New Girl 3.06 Review: Best Friends With Batman

Anyone that has yet to watch tonight’s episode of New Girl, entitled ‘Keaton’, then I suggest you go do so now. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed at your own discretion.

Okay, this one’s going to be quick, because I don’t think I have much to say about this show anymore. Much, much, MUCH better than last week, but that wouldn’t be all that hard to do because last week’s episode made me very angry. But then, this week the episode was still irritating, so maybe it wasn’t all that much better.

Seriously, I thought Coach was supposed to be back by now. That’s really the only reason I’m still watching this show, for his episodes to come and go. I’m betting it’ll either be the next episode, or the episode after that, being that Schmidt did move out – albeit, only across the hall. Coach needs to get here soon, or this series needs to start to be written better.

I’m already sick of Jess and Nick’s relationship, Winston is now beginning to get on my nerves, and Schmidt has been on Friends I can watch over and over again, even if I’ve just watched it, this series I can barely watch once.

my nerves since last season. This series really can’t last much longer under this format. They really need to get a new showrunner to come in and stir things up.

My rating: 6 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Jessica damn Day!” – Winston yells.

“Bat mobile.” – Cece corrects. “Batman mobile.” – Jess replies. “Bat mobile.” – Cece restates. “Batman mobile.” – Jess again replies.

Okay, I’m off to watch Trophy Wife. After that it’s The Originals. Then it’s Supernatural all the way. Stay tuned.