My Review of "Dexter By Design"

Written by Jeff Lindsay
Released in 2009

Dexter: “Debs, Dad set it up this way. He knew what he was doing.”
Deb: “Did he? Or are you making that up? And even if he did set it up, was he right to do it that way? Or was he just another bitter, burned-out cop?”
Dexter: “He was Harry, he was your father. Of course he was right.”
Deb: “I need more than that.”
Dexter: “What if there isn’t any more?”

I feel so pleased with myself I could squee a little. I’ve managed to get all four books of the series read and there’s only two more weeks for the third season on FXUK (Friday 10pm from April 24^th) to contend with.

The fourth book should see Dexter mumbling his way through domestic bliss but much to his relief, there’s a serial killer on the loose and they enjoy nothing more than turning their victims into quite an exhibition. Well, it does help explain the ‘design’ element of this book.

Besides Dexter’ s often described his own work as art so it makes sense that someone else would be similarly view the carnage they’re unloading the same way. Plus it also tied in nicely with the art pieces that we got to see in the first few chapters of the book.

The book’s strongest point occurred earlier on when Deb finally had it out with her brother over his killer tendencies. She’s not exactly been shy in twisting the knife and she doesn’t hold back in telling Dexter that she’s uncertain of whether or not she should arrest him or not.

Fortunately this isn’t something that we have to put up with throughout the entire book because Deb does end getting stabbed by Alex Doncevic, the lover of the book’s main murderer, Brandon Weiss, so she’s largely out of commission here. Still, you do get some nice scenes with Dexter and Chutsky at the hospital.

As for Weiss, he’s not the most engaging of villains but he’s creative enough to leave footage of Dexter on YouTube and when snatching Cody and Astor didn’t work for him, he nearly made an exhibition out of Rita. His death is pretty satisfying though but aside from the video stuff, he doesn’t feel like the biggest threat Dexter’s face, even if he nearly succeeded in dismantling Dexter’s ready made family.

Married life isn’t really all that explored in the book. Rita’s either clueless or victimised by Weiss and Cody and Astor are still determined to make a splash and kill something with Dexter being reluctant to teach them immediately. However they are once again needed when Dexter had his little altercation with Weiss.

As for the ending, I’ll presume that Rita’s pregnant, which I know for definite is a plot that is going to be addressed in the third season. How having a biological child will affect Dexter is going serve an interesting purpose in the fifth book. I can assume that there will be another after this.

- Doakes made another appearance and with a little computer, he can communicate with Dexter.

- Chutsky tried to enlist Dexter in actually killing Weiss at one point. Maybe Dexter could confess his killer tendencies to him.

- Deb’s partner Coulter both took a dislike to Dexter and suspected him of not being quite right.

- Rita’s disapproval of the Mona Lisa was the first time Dexter acknowledged that she could surprise him.

- The tagline for this book was “Bad blood runs deep”.

Quote, Unquote

Brandon (singing to Dexter): “Until one day, Brandon Weiss will get this fellow and I promise he will not be saved by luck. There is nothing you can do to escape me. Because you have made me a crazy fuck. A crazy fuck. A crazy fuck. When you killed Alex – I became – a crazy fuck.”

If you’re a lucky European then you could’ve bought “Dexter By Design” months before its US release (I’m guessing it’s being held back to tie in with Season 4 on Showtime). It’s a good book, fun in parts but not the best from the series either.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of "Dexter In The Dark"

Written by Jeff Lindsay
Released in 2007

Dexter: “You got caught. What happens when you get caught?”
Cody: “Time out?”
Dexter: “Uh-huh. And if you’re thirty years old?”

Third book into the series and it’s easier to get settled into Dexter’s world and while I haven’t seen the third season of the show yet, I do know that apart from impending nuptials, this book is a different beast altogether.

On one hand, it’s arguably stronger than the first two books but on the other, it’s also the weakest of the three that I have read, even if it is still thoroughly enjoyable and engaging like the show itself.

It’s strength is in the interpersonal relationships that Dexter has with certain people. For one thing, if the previous two books only hinted at Deb being aware of Dexter’s killer tendencies, then this one has the decency to spell it out in detail and greatly it does.

Halfway through the book there’s a beautiful scene where Deb openly admitted her difficulties in understanding Dexter’s need to kill as well as her horror when he discussed the Dark Passenger element of him. Better still is that you get a moment where Dexter actually stands up to Deb as well.

Even though Deb’s foul mouthed tirades and permanent scowling at her brother have gotten beyond old at this point, her reactions to what Dexter told her about himself however are believable and I’d have a harder time in believing Deb if she readily accepted this side to brother. Maybe at some eventual point she will but for now, the fact that she barely tolerates it is something relatable.

Then there’s Cody and Astor. The previous book threw hints about them having their own Dark Passengers and this book put Dexter in the awkward position of having to train them, something which he didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about having to do, even if he was duty bound.

The kids themselves didn’t exactly make things easy for Dexter. When they weren’t pestering him to train them up, they got caught taping a cat to a workbench by Rita. I have to admit that Dexter did manage to deal with that scenario a lot better than I expected him to do so.

There was also the wedding to Rita, something which Dexter found as interesting as pulling teeth. In the series we’ve been given the strong impression that he genuinely loves her whereas third book in, she still comes across as his beard, one that he even married towards.

The story with the loss of his Dark Passenger (which managed to return on Dexter’s wedding day) was a good way of looking at his psyche. Dexter went through long passages of the book trying to wonder if he could function at all without the Passenger. He even made some sloppy mistakes as well so there is a level of dependency on his darker scene.

The plot with Moloch followers and their various dismemberment of many people didn’t thrill. It was by far the weakest threat we’ve had in the book and the resolution to it was a massive let down. It’s a job the personal stuff kept momentum because this fizzled very fast.

- Doakes briefly appeared in this book and recognised that Cody had a Passenger. He didn’t seem to recognise Astor’s.

- Deb is still dating Kyle, who only briefly appeared in this story as well.

- I loved that Masuka had a fear of expensive wedding caterer Manny Borque. Dexter commented on Masuka faking emotions a lot in this book.

- I’m actually surprised that neither Paul nor Gail have really surfaced in this book, what with Rita marrying Dexter.

- Parts of the book’s viewpoint where on The Watcher as he stalked Dexter.

- The tagline for this book was “No peace for the wicked”.

Quote, Unquote

The Watcher: “You have something inside you that represents a threat to us. We plan to get rid of it and you.”
Dexter: “Actually, that thing isn’t there anymore.”

A good book but like I’ve said, it’s interpersonal stuff rather than the villains of the piece that kept things going for me. Also can we please have more on characters like Angel?

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of The Sarah Jane Adventures: "From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love"

Written by Gareth Roberts And Clayton Hickman
Directed by Joss Agnew

Clyde: “You’re a Slitheen.”
Eranius: “Whatever gave you that idea? It’s not like I got a big zipper on my head.”

When the Doctor Who universe isn’t making itself known during the Children In Need, it’s decided to come up trumps for Comic Relief 2009. Of course by that, I mean giving us a nice little scene from The Sarah Jane Adventures for a change.

When I heard that both the Slitheen and K9 were going to feature, I had mixed reactions. I really shouldn’t because while I’m still not particularly taken with the Slitheen, they are better handled in Sarah Jane’s world compared to The Doctor’s.

Casting Ronnie Corbett in the little scene made for a good treat. He interacted brilliantly with the cast and had a wonderful back and forth dynamic with both Rani and Clyde mostly.

Also due to the night in question, the scene was largely light and the Slitheen were played for laughs. Despite the fact that it was the first time that Rani had to interact with them, she wasn’t particularly impressed and even got in a wonderful joke at the Slitheen’s expense.

Eranius’s big plan wasn’t that big. He simply wanted K9 to help him rule the universe and even having the gang detained briefly enough wasn’t enough to stop him. In the end, K9 sent him far away and Sarah Jane mused about the encounter being strange. For Sarah Jane, it’s probably not that strange when you really think about it.

- The writer/director credits weren’t actually shown. I found them out from the March 2009 issue of DWM.

- Naturally it was David Tennant and Davina McCall who introduced this scene as they were on presenting duties for Comic Relief.

- Any chance this little scene can feature on the Season 2 DVD for the series?

- K9 got a Red Nose at the end of the episode. The gang got them on headpieces earlier on.

Quote, Unquote

Luke: “What are these?”
Eranius: “We didn’t know what to get you. Humans are very fickle to buy for.”

As mini-scenes go, this was a hoot. Now all we have to do is wait another month for a new episode of Doctor Who. That being said, Sarah Jane should do more of these little gems.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of Buffy The Vampire Slayer's 8x23: "Predators And Prey"

Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Artwork by Georges Jeanty

Andrew (re Buffy and the gang): “The thing about the slayer organisation is that we’re not just co-workers. We’re family. The bonds between us are tight and unbreakable. You hurt one of us; you’re taking on all of us. It’s like our guiding principle. Nothing comes between us.”

Out of the all the characters being deemed a solo shot, one I wasn’t looking forward to was one involving Andrew. I’ve mentioned in past reviews that I dislike the character and these comics have done little to change my mind.

However seeing as the writers have thankfully only used him sparingly, I suppose we were due an actual issue where he’d come out to shine and this was the very issue. Everything opened with Andrew talking wistfully about finding a place in the gang that he once schemed against.

I could scoff but given the time period that has passed, there had to be a reason why he was still around. Buffy and company must like him enough to have him trained up as a watcher and entrusted with enough slayers and he was sort of useful during the final days of Sunnydale.

That being said, Andrew’s infectious enthusiasm can be hard to come to grips and that’s certainly evident when Buffy threatened to make him eat a door just because he slammed. The funny part however was Buffy having to apologise to Andrew for her harsh remark.

Of course Andrew does actually have a use and that’s to inform Buffy that one of Simone’s bad slayers has been tracked down. Given that Simone hasn’t been mentioned since “A Beautiful Sunset”, it’s nice to get some continuity on her but don’t expect a resolution that will satisfy you as a reader.

Because of this information, Andrew proposed a road trip and Buffy volunteered herself, despite Xander pointing out the obvious. Would you want to be travelling with Andrew for a lengthy period of time? Points to Buffy for actually thinking that Andrew wouldn’t pose a major problem.

And to be fair, he doesn’t really but he certainly went into overdrive on their journey to Italy. I mean I get that Andrew is enthusiastic about his TV loves and loathes but it would’ve been nice to actually know something about the character’s sexuality.

A lot of viewers (myself included) have been speculating for years that Andrew is gay. His lack of commentary on Daniel Craig in swim trunks could be denial or maybe Andrew actually is asexual. Would the series actually be brave enough to address asexuality in a serious manner without moralising or mockery? Massive points of bravery if they could.

Moving from possible sexual identities, the focus shifted back to Simone. From what I’ve seen, Simone is little more than a mouthy, volatile little idiot has now decided to use the public’s hatred for slayers to her own benefits. Maybe I’m a terrible person but I pretty much want this character killed by the end of the season.

However the other problem Buffy and Andrew faced was saving Nisha from the Ragna demon’s web. A floaty bubblegum pink effect was cute and Nisha’s every bit as unpleasant as her crappy leader. However despite her less than charming bedside manner, she was pretty adept with the Ragna demon’s history.

Another thing she was adept with was telling Buffy in no uncertain terms that Andrew was responsible for the creature existing again. It’s things like this that alienates viewers from sympathising with Andrew. If he knew how dangerous these creatures were, why on Earth did he feel the need to make one?

Okay, I know he wanted to capture Simone and I can’t blame him for that but there were other more logical ways in which he could achieve that objective. Needless to say that Buffy was pretty miffed with him so I suppose the interruption of Simone should’ve been viewed as a good thing really.

Bad girl slayers might make for good adversaries but Simone just doesn’t have the chops of Faith during her heydays or psycho brat Gigi. However she is quick to assault both Andrew and Buffy and when she’s not nerd dissing, she was more than happy to remind both Buffy and Andrew that the public hate slayers.

What’s more annoying is that Simone is pretty efficient for a slayer I can’t muster real interest in. She managed to slap both Buffy and Andrew, throw in some decent insults and hard facts and also rescued both Nisha and the Ragna demon without breaking a sweat. Well she did have magic on her side as well.

As for Andrew, I’m really glad that he does feel guilty for Simone’s descent. While I don’t actually believer he caused it, from what we’ve seen, Andrew hasn’t been all that effective as a watcher. All we’ve seen him do is make some lame Star Wars references and that would drive anyone to distraction after a while, not just Simone.

However it was nice that Buffy didn’t hold him responsible. Some people just can’t handle power and Simone is one of them. She’s let it go to her head that even if she had been assigned a more competent watcher like Giles or Robin, the same outcome would’ve happened.

Plus I even understand why Andrew elected not to be so forthcoming with Buffy over the Ragna demon. Given that “Storyteller” was an incredibly contrived way of attempting to redeem the character; I have to at least believe that since we’ve first seen him that Andrew is genuinely trying to atone.

In Season Seven I had a hard time believing that he cared about the Scoobies and that if given the opportunity, he would end up selling them out to The First Evil. Now I do believe that he cares for them and the fact that Buffy believes in him is also reason to believe it too.

As for Simone, with the world hating slayers and her giving them an increased bad reputation, it’s not surprising that she’d find a nice Italian island to take over. She even managed to scare all of the villagers out of there and as a result, the bloody village looks like it’s been hit by a nuclear bomb.

There are plenty of things you should probably say before going into battle but I’m pretty sure that commenting on your boss’s hairdo and taste in men is not the kind of things I would have in mind but this is Andrew and he does tend to be unpredictable. Buffy surprisingly enough seemed non-plussed by his assessments.

Similarly no-plussed was Simone, who delighted in telling Buffy and Andrew that she was expecting their company. Well, it would have extremely impolite of Buffy not to show up unannounced and share a few lethal smacks with the latest slayer to fall off the wagon.

Simone’s guff about admiring Buffy however was just yawn inducing. I don’t care if Simone does admire Buffy and I’m more than annoyed that Simone continued to justify her actions with the world’s fear of slayers as an excuse. Simone, you’re just a psycho in need of putting down and fast.

Of course Simone does surprise a little in this story. She made the promise of actually stopping if Buffy handed Andrew to her on a platter. Chance of that being genuinely true are slim to none so my bet is that Simone wanted to torture the crap out of Andrew.

Simone’s not the kind of person to take responsibility for her actions and she more or less blamed Andrew, which is rich, given that he really didn’t put her on the path she chose to take. This isn’t a Faith redux. Simone isn’t lacking the support here so her descent doesn’t feel as tragic.

That’s good because it meant that I could watch the fight scenes between Buffy and Simone without feeling the sort of conflict when I used to watch similar scenes with Buffy and Faith. Simone’s arrogance about Buffy being past it made her look like a dunce and then she had to realise that half her slayer army were actually working for Buffy on the sly.

The other massively debateable thing in this issue was Buffy locking Simone and her band of bad girl slayers with a loose Ragna demon. It should be as harsh or as shocking as when Angel locked Holland, Lindsay and Lilah in with Darla and Drusilla in “Reunion” but I’m not sure if it is. Buffy should’ve technically ‘arrested’ Simone, even if she could take on all of the slayers and given the island back to it’s villagers there and then.

The last panel between Buffy and Andrew did serve as a decent coda. He messed up with the Ragna demon but had the good sense to draw up a list of it’s weaknesses for Buffy and he was surprisingly curious when she told him he was part of the family. Although this comic didn’t suddenly convert me into an Andrew fan, at least it didn’t feel forced in terms of the character’s characterisation if you catch my drift.

Also in “Predators And Prey”

The cover I got was with Buffy and Simone duelling. The James Bond styled cover with her and Andrew did look cute though.

Buffy: “Andrew, if you slam that door one more time, I will make you eat it.”
Willow: “Buffy!”
Buffy (to Andrew): “Sorry. That may have come out sounding harsh.”

It seems that Simone has been robbing the odd bank, military base and the occasional hot topic since we last saw her.

Xander (re road trip): “Buff, you sure about this? Hours and hours of travel time with Andrew? Really?”
Buffy: “Come on, he’s matured. I can absolutely handle him.”

Buffy: “You said Daniel Craig. I like Daniel Craig. I get Daniel Craig. He’s so…”
Andrew: “…Gritty and real?”
Buffy: “Um, sure. Oh! And that thing where he’s running on rooftops and cranes? I’ve done that and I was still scared for him.”

Andrew referenced Superman, Star Wars (go figure), Battlestar Galactica, V For Vendetta, the Smurfs and Mad Men of all things. I’m surprised Drew Z. Greenberg didn’t throw in a Dexter reference while he was at it.

Andrew: “Well, well, well, Nisha. I see we’ve gotten ourselves into quite a jam.”
Nisha: “I’m gonna get my foot into quite your ass soon as I’m free, you tiny …”

Simone: “’Beaming’ right, that’s what you Stargate nerds call it?”
Andrew: “It’s Star Trek, hag. Were you not listening to any of my lectures?”

Buffy made a reference to Charlotte Web when she saw the Ragna monster’s web, which was made of pipes.

Andrew: “Can I just point out that I was trying to do the right thing?”
Buffy: “Seriously? This seems like the time? When we’re about to walk in there?”

Simone: “Way I see it, now there are two kinds of people in the world. The ones who fear us so much, they hope someone kills us all and the ones so stupid, they want to be the ones to try. I don’t have much use for either.”
Buffy: “So you think the answer is taking over an island.”

Andrew was wearing a Britannia sweater during his later scenes with Simone and I can’t help but notice that the Ragna demon was depicted victim like in Simone’s captivity.

Buffy: “I’ve been doing this longer than you. Which means I’m more experienced, so you’re done.”
Simone: “And I’m younger than you. Which means I’m faster, so you’re fucked. This one is a real gun.”

Andrew: “But you were right. I lied to you.”
Buffy: “Yeah, you’re part of the family. Get used to screwing up for good reasons. It’s what we do. Swing by when you’ve got the specs written up. We’ll take a look.”
Andrew (to himself): “I’m part of the family?”

The next issue, “Safe” (Faith/Giles return – yay) is out on April 1^st. Interesting day to release a comic.

“Predators And Prey” is the kind of issue that might not grab you on first sight. Several reads though and it does improve but I do feel we’re getting off lightly with the fallout of slayers being vilified because of vampires. Hopefully the last two issues will give this arc a stronger/darker end.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of "Dearly Devoted Dexter"

Written by Jeff Lindsay
Released in 2005

Dexter: “I don’t know what I’ll do when you’re dead.”
Harry: “You’ll do fine.”
Dexter: “There’s so much to remember.”
Harry: “You’ll remember it.”

As soon as I finished the first book, I made the conscious effort not to delay reading the second. Given that the second season of the series itself went its own way than being bound to the book’s structure, it would be fun to see what Dexter got up in his second scribed adventure.

The first thing that did stand out was Doakes stalking Dexter. Not only did this make things difficult for Dexter but it also served as an interesting point. On the series when Doakes did this, it didn’t feel as extreme. I know it sort of rendered Dexter from killing those who deserved it but here it felt worse.

Mainly because it forced Dexter into some sense of domesticity that he couldn’t bear. The idea of him being another regular Joe staring at the TV and guzzling bored the shit out of him and as a reader, I wasn’t particularly that gripped with it either.

At least the book to its credit went some way into exploring the Dexter/Doakes dynamic. Both of them see a darkness in each other that intrigued and alarmed the respective other person. Dexter believed that Doakes found him responsible for LaGuerta’s death and Doakes past also came back to haunt him in more ways than one.

While the second season offered us the crazy Lila as a villain, this book is far more satisfying with Dr Danco, a demented torture expert whose been mutilating the several men who betrayed him back in El Salvador.

Every now and then I’m given a pleasant reminder of how squeamish even I can be and the description of the acts that Danco performed on his victims was enough to make me glad I didn’t see this on screen. Severed arms and legs are bad enough but adding severed lips, tongues and teeth into the mix and I’m just grateful that I was never eating during the time I was reading this book.

Dexter himself is no less impressed by Danco’s methods and it finally put him in a position where he could outsmart Doakes and learn more about his enemy. It also meant that because Deb had developed feelings for Doakes’ former comrade Kyle Chutsky (who lost some appendages thanks to Danco) that Dexter was forced to deal with his sister’s overbearing emotions.

As much as I like Deb in the series, I’m not particularly warming to her in the books. I wonder why that it. It also doesn’t help that Dexter doesn’t stand up to her but at least this book made it more clear that Deb was aware of Dexter’s “Dark Passenger” so to speak.

The final confrontation between Dexter and Danco is great. There’s a lot of black humour and unlike Biney, there’s no escape for Danco. Nope, thanks to Deb, he’s killed on the spot and also for Dexter’s joy, Doakes is so badly mutilated that he no longer poses a threat to Dexter.

- There were seven intended victims of Danco’s. From what I’ve gathered, Danco only successfully dismembered two of them. He didn’t get to complete his work on Kyle or Doakes.

- Rita found Kyle’s ring and mistook it for a proposal. Vince throwing Dexter a stag party added some lightness to the book.

- Doakes first name was Albert and he was in his forties. Danco had ‘Treachery’ as a description for him.

- The book featured a nice flashback with Harry during his final days.

- Dexter noticed that Cody had a bit of a “Dark Passenger” in him. The series has also addressed this but the book was more blatant about it.

- The tagline for this book was “Serial killer or family man? Or both?”

Quote, Unquote

Dr Danco: “All right then. I believe you came here alone. Although I am curious about why.”
Dexter: “I wanted to study your technique.”
Dr Danco: “Oh, good. I’ll be happy to show you – firsthand. And then feet.”

A fun second book, with some truly visceral moments but a lot of the characters (aside from Deb and Doakes in this one) still feel like ciphers. Can we have some more on them, please?

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of "Darkly Dreaming Dexter"

Written by Jeff Lindsay
Released in 2004

Dexter (to himself): “I know it is a nearly human weakness and it may be no more than ordinary sentimentality but I have always loved funerals.”

Making the error of watching the first two seasons of the series before reading the book, I’ve decided to amend things by trying to read all four books prior to FXUK airing the third season in late April 2009.

Most of the first season was based on the debut book, “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” and as an opening novel goes, Jeff Lindsay really has come up with a compelling character. Dexter is a serial killer who kills those who deserve. It’s as natural to him as breathing and something that he is deeply unapologetic for as well.

The book opened up with luring a choir master to his death. Unlike fellow serial killers, Dexter has a certain level of standards. Innocent people are strictly off the menu and the idea of murdering a child is one that disgusts him in a big way. Of course within the book, Dexter is adamant about being dead inside.

However when he butchers the choir master at the start, there is an emotional reaction to his response. He also seemed to have a similar emotional response when he murdered Jaworski half way through the book as well.

Like with the series, this book is also focused on a specific target for Dexter called the Tamiami Slasher (aka the Ice Truck Killer). This dude’s going around murdering various prostitutes and making sure that Dexter had enough clues to try and track him. This guy’s every bit as proud of his work as Dexter and there’s a fan boy type of admiration that Dexter exhibits for the guy, unaware that they’re related.

I suppose if you have to go with a downside is that killer is introduced far too late into the book and while it made sense for Dexter to let his own brother go in the end (Brian/Biney), the series score bigger points with the way they chose to handle the character during the first season.

From book to screen, Dexter still translates incredibly well but some of the other characters have very little to do. Angel and Masuka are little more than ciphers, Harry got some brief enough flashbacks and Rita only popped in and out but at least we’re clear on how Dexter feels (or not) about her in this story.

Deb is probably the only character who appeared as much in the book as Dexter, which made sense given that she seemed to be always interacting with him. My only grievance is that Deb did seem to rely too much on Dexter and his hunches in her desperate bid to get out of vice.

In terms of antagonists, Doakes is surprisingly underused. He only appeared in a few pages and mostly made snide remarks while LaGuerta went from overtly flirtatious with Dexter to wanting to put him behind bars. I suppose we should actually be grateful that Biney wound up killing her instead. We should also be grateful that the series has done a better job with that particular character as well.

- LaGuerta went by the name of Migdia in this book. Dexter mentioned various times that she was good at police politics while also noting that Deb wasn’t.

- Paul’s abuse of Rita was referenced but Paul himself doesn’t grace his presence in the book.

- Dexter’s love of food was nicely touched upon, though we don’t get much on his boat.

- At the end of the book it’s made clear that Deb is aware of Dexter’s dark self. Actually in earlier chapters, she’s pretty suspicious of Dexter.

- Dexter refers to himself as Dark Passenger a lot in the book.

- The tagline for this book was “A serial killer with a heart … be grateful it’s not yours.”

Quote, Unquote

Brian: “Do I have to remind you of the importance of family?”
Dexter: “No, no, no I can’t. Not Deborah.”
Brian: “Too bad. I’m so disappointed.”

Overall a very good opening novel to what has become one of the best series on TV. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone. The humour, the wry observations are all beautifully there.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of Angel's 6x18: "Aftermath Part 1"

Written by Kelly Armstrong
Artwork by Dave Ross

Angel: “Screening process?”
Kate: “I think it still needs a few requirements.”

With a fortnight passed since “After The Fall” finally came to an end, the start of “Aftermath” doesn’t waste much time in reminding readers that things have changed for Angel.

Given that there’s a bit of bounty on his head with every demon lord works his salt, Angel seemed more worried about the lack of attempts on his life. It’s almost as if he had a death wish on his hands. Angel, you’re not going to make much of a difference if you’re dead.

Within a minute of discussing the dearth in assassins on his tail, a gang of them came out of the woodwork to try and kill Angel. Having Angel battle some good old fashioned demons is good, even if Angel isn’t particular cheerful about having a few baddies to take out.

In fact Angel did mope a bit about not being able to make much of a difference. It also didn’t help that he couldn’t get past being reminded that he could make things tip in the favour of evil as well.

He also got a reminder of his actions when he first arrived in LA. However the vampire who reminded him of that wasn’t banking on Angel killing him but it gave Angel the idea to try and rebuild a gang in a fevered bid to escape those haranguing him now that he’s famous.

So who could possibly join Angel’s little gang? Wesley, Fred and Cordelia are all gone and everyone else is caught up in trying to get themselves sorted out. Even Connor isn’t particularly game for the idea of teaming up with his father but his motives are believable.

Angel isn’t surprising when he didn’t push the issue with Connor. I think Angel more than understood why his son and friends would want some time out. Their experiences in hell may have been frustrating as a reader but they’re certainly enough to make you want to opt for a quieter existence.

However one person who did have no problem in wanting to help out was Kate. We saw her back in “After The Fall Part 7” and honestly, I did presume she was permanently gone but her reunion with Angel is certainly a highlight. Look Angel, yet another blonde woman slaying the big bads.

It also didn’t Kate all that long to offer her services to Angel either. Given that they’ve probably not have had contact with each other since “Epiphany”, it’s nice that Angel agreed to let Kate help him out. We already know that her demon fighting skills have improved and it’s not like he’s got anyone else either.

Watching the pair of them trying to set up business cards was endearing as are Kate’s motives for wanting to help people. Plus she’s quick in both promoting the new Angel Investigations and finding somewhere for her and Angel to set up base. Let’s just say that a church is as good a location as anywhere else.

Plus with all of that, there was much discussion of screening. I’m pretty sure that’s both applicable to cases and potential employees and we certainly got some question worthy assignments with this one. More questionable though are those two members from the city council.

Although they’re not in this story long, they were annoying and it did feel like they were insisting upon Angel to join them in keeping LA clean from demons. However that’s not as bad as the growing list of unwanted folk who want Angel for their own uses.

In fact Angel got bombarded by so many wasters that it took him a while to spot a real threat. This could’ve been a major drawback but it’s understandable that when Angel relented and did join up with the city council that he could demand an officer round the corner. Given how fanatical that Angel’s fans have become in a short space of time, I don’t blame Kate for being extra precautious.

Of course the more interesting note is how this issue ended. When is a panther not a panther? Well, when it can morph into a mystery woman with a stake aimed for Angel’s back. I don’t know who this lady is but I’m certainly intrigued.

Also in “Aftermath Part 1”

The cover I got was by Nick Runge with Angel wielding a sword and a leopard by his side. I think it’s one of the series best covers.

Angel: “Fine, then you can take him a message. Take them all a message.”
Demon: “I’m not talking -”
Angel: “You don’t need to. Your corpse is the message. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear someone in real danger.”

I noticed that with this issue there was a little note on the cover that this isn’t intended for anyone under 13.

Angel: “I like making a difference. Helping out.”
Demon: “That prophecy I heard says you will help out. On our side.”
Angel: “Don’t remind me.”

Angel (to himself): “Even after a month of normalcy, everything remains changed. No more hiding in the shadows. No more hiding what I am. Back to the beginning. Back to when I used to do some good.”

Funnily enough this issue also had some more promotional pictures for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse. I wonder will Buffy’s “Predators And Prey” will also do the same.

Connor: “There’s another team? Is that a good … I mean … if you need someone to watch your back now and then, I’m there, but I really need to find a job on my own, make some money, get a better place.”
Angel: “I could help with that.”
Connor: “I’d rather you didn’t.”

Angel: “Kate?”
Kate: “Been a while, huh?”
Angel: “It has. You look -”
Kate: “Different? Don’t recognise me without a scowl, I bet. Word is you’re reopening Angel Investigations. Thought maybe I could help.”

We saw Gunn drive off in a car with Illyria, Spike somewhere else and Lorne in a café of sorts. Connor’s also refusing to take Gwen’s calls.

Kate (to Angel): “After I left LA … things changed. I realised what I missed most about leaving the force. Helping people. I want to do that again.”

Kate: “At least there were demons this time and someone was in danger.”
Angel: “I don’t count.”

Kate was drawn very strangely in this comic. It’s like the artist thought she was younger than she actually is.

Male Council Member: “I told you it wouldn’t work.”
Female Council Member: “No sense of responsibility these days.”

Kate (re demon): “A little help here.”
Angel: “He’s human, Kate. Don’t play it up for my sake.”

There was another ad for Doctor Who’s “The Whispering Gallery” in this issue. They might want to start doing some Doctor/Donna stories fairly soon.

Kate: “I want an ordinance making it illegal to interfere with Angel or his work.”
Male Council Member: “A city wide restraining order.”
Female Council Member: “Highly irregular.”
Kate: “He saved the city from hell. Make an exception.”

There was no release date given for “Aftermath Part 2” but Buffy’s “Predators And Prey” comes out on March 4^th.

For an opening issue, “Aftermath Part 1” sets up a nice story nicely. It’s kind of weird that we started with a smaller cast yet again but perhaps it works better in hindsight, given that we’ve got so many characters that are resurfacing in later issues.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of Angel's 6x17: "After The Fall Part 17"

Written by Brian Lynch
Artwork by Franco Urru

Nina (re people): “Do they always just stare?”
Angel: “Nah, some say hello. Some hand me wads of cash. I’m not bragging. I’m not happy about it. The last thing I want is more attention.”

Out of every vampire who would enjoy fame the least; it’s no shock that Angel would be that very vampire. He’s always liked being the ‘behind the scenes’ guy and being ‘centre stage’ is going to take some getting used to.

Whether it’s at an information office or a local library, Angel’s got a gaggle of admirers and investigating Wolfram And Hart’s mystery disappearance at least has people considering demonic foul play. There has to be an upside to Angel’s fame. He just needs to find out what that could possibly be.

Nina herself, who’s been savagely underused in the seventeen part arc even shows up to express how impressed she is with Angel’s rise to celebrity. Angel used this scene as an excuse to brood more about how hard things have become for him hunting wise but at least he told Nina to enjoy her humanity.

The many advantages of being back to regular LA are that for Nina, she no longer had to be in permanent wolf mode. With any luck, the upcoming “Aftermath” arc will give her something meaty to do. I think Nina has probably earned that as a character.

Also with Groo taking Cordy the dragon off Angel’s hands, the brooding vampire could certainly do with the help. It’s nice that Groo got a brief scene here and I really loved how Angel told him to treat the dragon like an equal partner. I’d happily trade Spike or Illyria if we could’ve kept the dragon but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

Wolfram And Hart’s disappearance is an interesting conundrum though. I can’t believe they’ve really gone in the same sense that I can’t believe their disappearance will be good for Angel in the long run. Wolfram And Hart have invested too much in Angel to let him go but I’m sure upcoming issues will go into that quibble much better.

With Angel and the gang back in LA, that meant certain returns as well. We saw Gwen on the beach with Nate again. Also again was her pointing out that she can’t be touched. Is Gwen going to try and atone for her misguided helping with Gunn? I think under the circumstances, Angel and company will probably forgive her.

There was also a brief moment with Spike and Illyria about town but one of the most touching moments is the library tribute to Fred and Wesley. Because both characters are dead and not coming back, I hope that like Angel the both of them are together in some way. I know logically they can’t be but you can’t help but hope for it no less.

Another beautiful moment in the comic is Angel musing about Cordelia. He did this in an earlier issue but given that he’s also had an encounter with her, its sweet that he might think she’s communicating with him in some way. Even when he cynically brushed it off, it was still a beautiful moment. I think those two pages made me sad again for losing three of the show’s strongest characters.

However if there’s one thing that can take you out of sadness, its Spike getting into a fist fight with KR’PH. Yes that annoying jellyfish monster from the first issue is back and while he did make an effort to eliminate Spike, the stupid demon was outmatched yet again.

Of course Spike now has Betta George on his team and the only reason that KR’PH didn’t get killed was because the demon had information for Angel. Thanks to everything been taken out of hell, every demon Lord wants kill Angel yet again. Okay, hardly shocking news but reasonably effective.

Even more effective is the knowledge that striking down Angel’s nearest and dearest is the best way to hurt him. Immediately that should’ve made Connor the principal target but given that Gunn must’ve pissed off a lot of demons during his crazed campaign in hell, it made sense that he would be sought after.

Also if KR’PH wasn’t enough, there’s the return of Burges and his bratty kid. Burges didn’t waste time in making with the threats but Angel at least tried reasoning. Funny thing is that both he and Burges have the father thing going for them. The only difference was that Burges seemed more interested in slaughter than bonding with his kid.

He also made the dumb of pointing out that anything could happen. In a fight with Angel, Burges could deliver a lot of damage but against Illyria and he’d died for sure. Illyria also had no problems with making threats but at least her ones were deadly serious, something which Burges understood by backing off.

Angel’s scene with a comatose Gunn however was a bit too brief. I suppose we should be glad that we didn’t get a repeated performance from “Forgiving” but I was kind of hoping for more. The writers can’t leave Gunn in a coma for that long, can they? Arguably, should they?

Luckily it’s not all dark in this issue. There’s plenty of car with Angel, Spike and Betta George with all three managing to tease each other. Angel and Spike will never be bosom buddies but there is a mutual respect there that both of them have for the other. You don’t have to have Betta George’s abilities to see that.

The last panel however does stick with Angel believing that he’s destined to do much worse but for the time, he’s around to help. Hopefully Angel can find a way of defeating his destiny. I think he’s endured more than enough for one lifetime.

Also in “After The Fall Part 17”

On the main cover we had Angel, Spike, Cordelia, the dragon, Wesley, Illyria, Spider, Nina, Gwen, Nate, Kate, Connor, Lorne, Groo, Gunn, various people and demons and the Hyperion.

Angel: “Thank you for helping me with research, Nina. I know it’s not as exciting as.”
Nina: “T-Rex/Dragon battles? True. But now that I can’t be she-wolf 24/7, libraries are slightly more my speed. You know what I miss? Not the super sense of smell really but the claws. They were cool, admit it.”
Angel: “Enjoy your humanity.”

We learned in this issue that Groo’s flying horse was also called Cordelia. Blimey.

Angel (to Cordelia the dragon): “You’ll like Groosalugg. He freed you during the battle with the lord’s champions, remember? That was nice of him. And, um, you both recently died and got resurrected so you have that in common.”

Groo: “Of course. Does she have a name?”
Angel: “Yes it’s – Cordelia.”
Groo: “My. Groosalugg has two Cordys.”

There was an ad in this issue for both Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse, like with Buffy’s “Swell”.

Angel (re Fred/Wesley): “I miss them. Every day, I miss them. Every time I think of them, I hope for the same thing. Let them be together. Wherever they are, they’ve earned it. They deserve it.”

Spike (re KR’PH): “Jell-O’s got a point, George. The proper advertising and you could be next year’s number one Christmas boutique item.”
Betta George: “Hilarious. Maybe a little respect is in order. This handsome fish did save Los Angeles or does someone not remember when I brought down Ill-”

The LA public library had a dedication to Wesley and Fred by naming a wing after them. Aw.

Spike (to Angel): “Beside you have other fish to fry.”
Betta George: “Racist. So racist.”

Betta George: “You just thanked each other in your head!. Simultaneously!”
Spike: “Hey, what? Whatever.”
Angel: “The fish is thinking all crazy.”
Betta George: “Boys. Boys. Boys. Baby steps, I guess.”

There was another ad for the Spike: After The Fall four parter and Doctor Who’s “The Whispering Gallery”. I only mention ads that pique my interest.

Illyria (re Gunn): “He was important to her. He was important to everyone around her. Though if he ever awakes, I may challenge him to armed combat for striking me down in hell. At which point, he will surely fall. Until then, you let him rest and rebuild his strength. Heed my words. The last Lord who ventured into Silverlake did not.”

Angel (to himself): “My name is Angel. I’ve done very bad things. I’ve been told I’m destined to do worse. But for now … I’m here to help.”

The next issue, the start of the six parter, “Aftermath” is available on February 25^th.

Seventeen issues of a largely frustrating and drawn out arc, “After The Fall Part 17” serves as a fairly satisfying coda to the series. I’m not entirely if it’s a huge set up for “Aftermath” however given that very little has actually been disclosed but it’s still pretty enjoyable no less.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Buffy The Vampire Slayer's 8x22: "Swell"

Written by Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by Georges Jeanty

Kennedy (re dynamite): “Sure that’s enough?”
Satsu: “If not, we’ll try Plan B.”
Kennedy: “What’s Plan B?”
Swell: “Same as “A”. You die.”

With all later comics taking a pairing dynamic, the second part of this vampires are martyrs arc continues to deliver on the severity of such a public revelation. If things keep getting so popular, Harmony might have to do a crossover with The Hills, MTV’s other soulless big hitter.

This issue nicely takes us back to Tokyo where there’s a busload of casualties and you don’t need to speak Japanese to realise that some poor sod is screaming big monster. However for those confused, Satsu is happy to play translator when she isn’t bemoaning fellow slayer’s Ayumi’s inability to duck.

In Ayumi’s defence, it’s a little hard to duck when the demon wanting to make mincemeat out of you happens to possess four arms that they have no problem in using. In fact the demon in question doesn’t pause long enough to continue it’s attack.

Satsu might have been reasonably lucky in managing to slice off one the demon’s arms but even her ducking skills aren’t that potent today. Luckily for her, the arrival of Kennedy means the demon’s knocked out temporarily. Well, luck might be stretching it just a bit.

I find it amazing that in the space of twenty two issues it’s only now that Kennedy and Satsu are actually interacting. Ever since Buffy and Satsu were caught sleeping with each other in “Wolves At The Gate Part 1”, both Willow and Kennedy have voiced more than enough opinions on Buffy’s sexuality.

Kennedy even admitted back in “Time Of Your Life Part 1” that she thought Buffy was a homophobe and even expressed some jealousy over Buffy and Willow’s friendship. Although Satsu may or may not have been aware of this, she’s certainly not that pleased to see Kennedy.

Also much as I like Satsu, Kennedy raises a good point. When it comes to bratty behaviour, Kennedy really is an expert and Satsu does herself no favours by immediately going on the defensive. That being said, she does have every right to be suspicious as to why Kennedy wants to do her evaluation.

It also doesn’t take Kennedy long to start immediately spouting off about Satsu’s tryst with Buffy. In fact Kennedy goes a little overboard in stating to Satsu that Buffy is straight in spite of recent events. In a way, Kennedy’s probably saying what a lot of readers said when they read “Wolves At The Gate Part 1” but she does come across as unnecessarily pushing about it.

There’s no denying that Buffy is indeed a heterosexual woman (unless there’s something that Joss Whedon wants to tell us later) but I don’t really see what business it is of Kennedy’s either. While it’s clear that time apart hasn’t diminished Satsu’s feelings for Buffy, I think Satsu is more than aware that Buffy isn’t going to come out.

More importantly when Kennedy isn’t taking it upon herself to dispense love advice, her and Satsu do undercover a bag from the now three armed demon. A million different things could’ve been in that bag but Vampy Cats were probably not the thing I would’ve guessed.

Harmony’s increased popularity has now seen merchandising with these little critters and Satsu’s disgust is understandable. There is nothing cute about the spiel Harmony’s been spinning the general public about vampires and this nasty little product is further evidence.

When we’re not seeing three armed Gunyarr-San getting killed by a giant Vampy Cat, one of the furry little buggers decides to slope around and claim itself a victim. Who better a victim to claim than Satsu of course, given how much she knows about Buffy and company?

You could tell that Satsu was first possessed with the huge smile. The Geisha ensemble was then a vital second clue. The main event was having Satsu go into graphic detail about her history. I wish I could say it was shocking that Satsu’s parents weren’t accepting of her sexuality but unfortunately, it’s something that I could’ve telegraphed.

However the biggest crunch is when Satsu started going on about making babies and citing slayers are aggressive. Plus she gave Kennedy one hell of a backhand before Kennedy managed to get the Vampy Cat out of Satsu’s stomach by making her sick.

So aside from hating slayers, Vampy Cats are also sexist homophobes. In other words, these are definitely one little batch of critters that should not be on sale any time. Needless to say while Satsu manages to stop the same Vampy Cat from possessing Kennedy, she’s also rather horrified by what’s she wearing. Clearly that furisode was one item that Satsu wasn’t planning on wearing any time soon.

It’s also not great that when she learned what else the Vampy Cat made her do, she gets a bigger desire to hit something a lot. In fact, Satsu is quite aggressive in this area but she’s gracious enough to thank Kennedy for saving her butt as well.

The worst news comes however when another slayer realises that 500,000 worth of Vampy Cats are heading to Scotland. Gee, I wonder who could’ve possibly made that particular order. It also neatly explained why the Vampy Cat possessed Satsu for a brief time.

Because of this, Satsu and Kennedy decide to take matters into their own hands and when you’ve got dynamite at your disposal, there’s a certain amount of damage that can also happen as well.

The problem is that the Vampy Cats themselves are also quick on the attack. They spot Kennedy and Satsu instantly and begin attacking with expert ease. As another reviewer recently pointed out, there’s also a rather disturbing rape metaphor with the way the Vampy Cats try to force themselves inside Kennedy.

Given that Steven S. DeKnight gave us a literal and disturbing rape scene in “Seeing Red”, this is still quite uncomfortable to read. In fact these creatures really are fuelled with a hatred that even usurps certain Big Bads we’ve had in the series. The “Swell” part of this comic then comes into play with a big giant Vampy Cat.

A little scarier (but still sort of silly) than it’s smaller creations, it’s not much of a shock that Twilight is then revealed to be behind the Vampy Cats heading for Scotland. Satsu herself is pretty unfazed by the reveal as well.

It makes sense that Twilight would find some way of capitalizing on Harmony’s outing of vampires. For all we know, she could be another member of his beleaguered gang that consists of the government, Amy, Warren and Riley. The Swell themselves are also more than happy to continue spouting anti-Slayer stuff.

However one of the better parts of this issue was Satsu’s solution for defeating the Swell. It’s always handy to have a submarine at the ready and the Swell gets defeated nicely by Satsu’s acquisition of a submarine. Kennedy wasn’t the only smiling with glee in that moment.

The last two pages briefly give us some Buffy and Xander action. You’ve got Harmony on a talk show lamenting about the dangers of slayers and Satsu wondering why Harmony hasn’t been killed off yet.

Buffy’s reasons for keeping Harmony alive are believable. Killing Harmony turns her into a bigger villain and thanks to them not stopping Harmony earlier on; all slayers are public enemies for the time being. More interesting is that Buffy tells Satsu that they need to concentrate on being more human than less.

Satsu reacted to this by ditching her cinnamon lip gloss in probably a further attempt to get Buffy out of her system. Kennedy did start this issue by telling Satsu to move on from Buffy so she should be at least satisfied that Satsu took heed of her. As for me, I’m hoping that this isn’t the last we see of the girl.

Also in “Swell”

The cover I got was the one with Kennedy and Satsu all sword play outside the latter’s base of operation.

Slayer: “What’s your plan?”
Satsu: “Blood. Screaming. The usual.”

I noticed that the cover of these comics are now saying Executive Producer Joss Whedon.

Kennedy: “Satsu, you were promoted to cell leader like two minutes ago. Standard op to run a performance review. Especially since your report on the Korean incident was beyond vague.”
Satsu: “If Buffy wants to review my ass she can do it herself. Won’t be the first time.”

Satsu (re Buffy): “It wasn’t just wrinkles. It was true love.”
Kennedy: “Yeah, yeah. Everybody knows the story. Your kiss brought Buffy out of a mystical coma. But Sleeping Beauty wasn’t gay and neither is Buffy. Despite recently taking a skinny dip in that pool.”

Anyone notice the “Grrr! Argh!” with the Vampy Cats?

Kennedy (to Satsu, re Buffy): “You had a thing, I get it! Time to towel off and face the hetero. You’re gay, Buffy’s not. My advice? Lose the cinnamon lippy gloss you laid on her and try kissing someone who can give you their heart. Not just their body.”

Satsu: “Vampires aren’t cute and fluffy! And a kitty cat? Come on!”
Kennedy: “Since that idiot Harmony’s reality show took off, everybody’s obsessed with fangs and lumpy foreheads. Public’s swallowing their undead bull by the handful.”

Kennedy seems to wear a lot of blues and greens in these comic books. I’ve been re-reading the other ones she’s appeared in.

Slayer: “Ducking is just as important as the hitting, Ayumi. More. Duck, don’t get hit.”
Ayumi: “That thing had four arms. I ducked the first three.”

Kennedy: “I don’t know what the Geisha’s gotten into you but maybe we oughta mosey down to your resident witch and-”
Satsu (possessed): “Take your stinking paws off me, you dirty damn slayer.”

Kennedy made something of an issue about Satsu’s beds and coffee before spotting the girl in her furisode.

Satsu: “Oh God, my stomach.”
Kennedy: “Maybe you should have stayed behind.”
Satsu (re Vampy Cat): “Screw that. Whole bottle of mouthwash and I can still taste that furry little bastard. I want to hit something. A lot.”

Swell: “We are the Swell! We are legion! The slayer blight will be cleansed in a sea of blood. Twilight commands it! Hail Twilight!”
Kennedy: “Twilight?”
Satsu: “Figures a bunch of stuffed assholes would be working for that tool.”

We got an ad for both Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse, the latter starting at long last on Friday February 13th, 9pm on FOX.

Kennedy: “You have a freaking sub?”
Satsu: “Bunch of vamps took it from the Koreans. I took it back.”
Kennedy: “You could have mentioned that in your report.”
Satsu: “Was gonna. After I got done playing with it.”
Kennedy: “Your eval’s so getting a smiley face.”

Buffy (to Satsu): “We need to stop being whatever we’ve been and focus on being more than human or the less-than is gonna win. Keep the sub handy. I think we’re gonna need it.”
Kennedy: “Not the hey-guess-what?-you-turned-me-gay speech you were probably hoping for, huh?”

Harmony’s outing of vampires has spilled over to the “After The Fall” comics on Angel to interesting effect.

Satsu: “Let’s go shopping.”
Kennedy: “Shopping?”
Satsu: “Buffy’s right. The world’s coming apart. It’s time to stop being who we were and get a new flavour.”

The next issue, “Predators And Prey” comes out on March 4th.

Although I’m more into this arc than the previous one, “Swell” loses points for way too much emphasis on ovaries and sexuality speak. Steven S. DeKnight is a good writer but there were times in this issue where I felt he should’ve dialled it down a little.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Angel's 6x16: "After The Fall Part 16"

Written by Brian Lynch
Artwork by Franco Urru

Stranger (to Angel): “I saw you in action, back … a while ago. I was a slave. For Burge, he’s the one with the lobster claws. Anyway Burge made us go to the battle with the dinosaur and the exploding and what have you. You, uh, you freed me. Heh, you freed everyone.”

As hell gets further and further suckier with each passing issue, a ray of light is finally offered as “After The Fall” limps to a conclusion. Last issue we saw Angel faced with the death of Connor so needless to say that his mood has been somewhat tempered because of it.

Connor’s death has Angel suffer yet more grief and even Gunn, the very creature responsible for Connor’s demise is telling everyone to let Angel. Wesley tries to get Angel back on track but Spike stops him in his tracks. As a reader, I’m personally looking for Angel to get his own back.

He certainly entertains the idea of ending everyone in sight. Wolfram and Hart through a dragon are content with taunting Angel on a ridiculous level. They even up their cruelty in joking about sprucing Connor’s body up.

Angel’s reaction to shove a sword through the bloody thing’s throat. His desire for a bloodbath is certainly there and once again, you’ve got Wesley wanting to stop him and Spike insisting that Angel should be allowed to work through his grief. I’m actually undecided as to which one of them has the more valid point.

The one thing that is still being rammed at us is that Wolfram and Hart are able to kill Angel. Wesley gets that out of their army of minion and because of all the crazy shit that’s been happening here, they’re willing to reach into Angel’s timeline and put him in a place where he isn’t in as bad a predicament.

Wesley does wonder about the slayers but Angel thinks more of Gunn and there’s a realisation that once everything is reverted that Wesley will no longer cease to exist. Seeing as this whole arc hasn’t done much for him, that might not be a bad thing but it lacks dramatically as a send off to the character.

There is some fun teasing from Spike about the closeness of Angel and Wesley. If you’re a slash bunny you might have gotten a wicked laugh from it but Spike is put to better use by helping keep the army back while Angel and Gunn square for another confrontation.

Even despite all of the evidence that he’s been seriously played, Gunn still believes that there’s a part of him that was right all along. He’s also still willing to lay the blame solely on Angel but this time around, it’s Angel who continues to gain the upper hand in all of this.

Also against the orders of an evil law firm, Angel is still determined to get his point across with Gunn. Wolfram and Hart still threaten Angel but even they can’t be dumb enough to realise that Angel seems done with falling in line. As for Gunn, he certainly gets the crap kicked out of him before he gets to effectively kill Angel all over again.

As plans go, it’s a good one from Angel – get Gunn to end his own timeline so Wolfram and Hart have no choice but to return him to his natural time and it’s one that Spike also realises as quickly, prior to saying goodbye to Wesley. Still there’s a nice moment between them in regards to Fred and Illyria.

As for being returned to the last few minutes of “Not Fade Away”, I know that Retconning isn’t well looked upon but I’m happy with the idea no less. With all of the knowledge of the hell they’ve endured, Angel, Spike and Illyria make an effort to stay on top of things.

The first big thing then for Angel is save Gunn from being turned into a vampire because God knows how crap that development was. Having Spike and Illyria doing battle with all the other demons certainly made things easier for Angel. Heck, even Illyria is keen to see Gunn survive.

Two interesting things do happen towards the last four pages of this issue. The first one being the disappearance of Wolfram And Hart. The evil law firm’s building is no more and it’ll be interesting to discover how or why this has come to be. Surely, they’ll have to resurface to create more anguish for the Angel team.

The other interesting bit is that the Angel and Buffy verses collide. Because of Harmony publicly outing vampires, Angel is now seen in a much positive light and the people in the hospital and the street recognise him.

Angel’s reaction upon knowing that the public are privy of supernatural creatures is brilliant. He’s got every right to be worried but his worry is also sidelined for the fact that him and Connor have a brilliant reunion scene. That is easily the best thing about this issue.

Also in “After The Fall Part 16”

The cover had shards of glass with various characters and images from the previous issue.

Angel (re Wolfram and Hart): “Killing them won’t bring my son back. Won’t make Gunn whole. Won’t help Illyria. It won’t save Los Angeles. But I want a bloodbath. I want them to suffer.”

I’m pretty sure there’s another brief cameo from Nina somewhere in this comic or maybe it was just one of the random slayers.

Wesley: “Being your friend and fighting by your side has been an honour. Now go.”
Angel: “Thank you, rogue demon hunter.”

Spike: “What’s that all about? If he wasn’t see through, you would’ve kissed, wouldn’t you? I got that vibe.”
Angel: “Spike, I’m gonna need you to keep the army back.”
Spike: “Why?”
Angel: “Can’t say out loud. You’re going to have to trust me.”

We got more raining of fire in this comic as if we didn’t need any more reminders that we’re in hell folks.

Gunn: “I’m not going to do it, Angel. There’s a reason it’s all about you. You’re cause and effect all rolled up into one.”

Angel (to himself): “It took the death of my son to get us to this point. I love Connor. I love my friends and I love this city. I’d die a thousand deaths to save any of them but I think I’m only going to have die once.”

There were some nice ads for both Terminator: Salvation and Star Trek comics in this issue.

Illyria: “Do you need transportation? I could strong arm the dragon into doing my bidding.”
Spike: “I think he’ll do it on his own accord.”

Illyria: “Buildings do not just disappear as if they have never existed.”
Spike: “Right because that would be the weirdest thing we’ve seen all month. Or in the last couple of hours or at this very moment.”

There’s a good interview with Brian Lynch on this arc and one with Kelly Armstrong on the upcoming “Aftermath” series.

Connor (to Angel): “Nah, it’s fine. You just moved on up. From urban legend to just plain legend.”

February 2009 will see the release of both “After The Fall Part 17” and “Aftermath Part 1”.

As we edge towards the end of this arc, I find myself a tad exhausted with it. “After The Fall Part 16” was certainly better than the previous two issues but I’m still a touch disappointed. Maybe “Aftermath” will rock, I really hope it does.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Catherine Tate On The Sunday Night Project – January 2009

I think most people know the drill by now regarding reviews for this particular show. It’s not something I normally review but if there’s someone from Doctor Who hosting it, I make the exception and following Billie Piper, David Tennant (twice) and John Barrowman, we’ve got another person from the fave sci-fi series on hosting duties.

This time around it’s Catherine Tate and given that’s been a while since she’s been on TV (I think her last TV appearance was the tribute to Geoffrey Perkins), I have to admit I had high expectations for her episode, which delivered of course.

Catherine might get a lot of flack from her hit sketch show as well as a reasonable amount of praise but one thing I’ve found evident is that the woman is naturally funny. She had me in stitches when her and David Tennant were on Jonathan Ross back in April last year and suffice to say, she does play a blinder here as well.

Hosting the news segment is always going to be funny but it didn’t surprise that the first five minutes would see Alan and Justin needle her about Doctor Who, including of course her own thoughts on Matt Smith being cast as the Eleventh Doctor. Much as I like Alan, he does tend to take the piss out of sci-fi stuff a bit too much and it’s kind of sad that we do get to hear about the more negative aspects of fandom in moments like this.

Catherine admitted herself that she was a bit stunned when she learned that a minority of viewers really didn’t want her on Season 4 of Doctor Who. I have to admit that I had reservations but I’ve also admitted on enough occasions how brilliant she turned out to be.

More interesting was her mentioning that one fan wanted to paint her breasts. As a Doctor Who fan who collects certain merchandise (DVDs, actions figures, some books) and has dabbled in some fan fiction writing (nothing overtly slashy I hasten to add), I do have to ask – where do these people come from? That being said, Catherine did seem to deflect the fan’s request pretty well.

In terms of the sketches, there was some fun to be had. Catherine did make for a rather fetching Doctor and Justin looked pretty close to “The Runaway Bride” Donna as best he could while Alan missed the point and posed as Lauren. The Big Brother sketch also raised a smile but taking the piss out Big Brothers has always one of the reasons why I keep watching this show. Plus the Lady Gaga one did stir some thoughts of Little Britain for obvious reasons.

Of course, there were some interesting tid bits revealed about Catherine during the show – one of them being that she’s not a great cook. This provided a decent source of comedy when she, Alan and Justin did a Celebrity Come Eat With Me but she still managed to beat the pair of them. Seeing as I’m unlikely to pose a threat to Gordon Ramsay culinary wise, I’m not exactly going to criticise her for.

The quiz section was definitely another good moments. It was nice that we got another Doctor Who person with Bernard Cribbins and Catherine’s definitely not above shocking an 80 year old man when he gets something wrong. The question though however was a bit too brief and I was kind of hoping that we would’ve gotten more on that.

I suppose the reason why is that aside from being asked if she was bullied at school for being ginger or if she had a nickname on the Doctor Who set, I was kind of hoping if someone was going to ask if she was coming back to Doctor Who but given that filming has now started for the 2009 specials, I’m sure I’ll find out the answer to that in due course.

- The quiz section is missing. I have to admit to being glad with that seeing as I usually tended to tune out during those. The Local News part is a decent replacement.

- Alan and Justin did a spoof of sorts of the Donna/Naked Doctor scene from “Journey’s End”.
- Catherine admitted that originally Tony Blair wanted to do a sketch with Nan but she pointed out that you don’t win with Nan. She also joked (presumably) about maybe doing something for Comic Relief.
- Catherine’s Mutya impression was a bit Lauren-esque or was that just me? I still think Coolio’s a bit of a div though.
- No prank segment in this episode. Those are the parts I tend to enjoy with this series.
- Imagine being a girl in a school full of 300 boys. Wow.

Quote Of The Episode

Catherine Tate (about Matt Smith as The Doctor): “He’ll be the first Doctor to travel in the TARDIS with his parents”.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Buffy The Vampire Slayer's 8x21: "Harmonic Divergence"

Written by Jane Espenson
Artwork by Georges Jeanty

Harmony (to herself): “Here’s the thing about fame. It’s good to touch.”

If someone had to escape LA before it became Hell on Earth as well as the crappiness that is “After The Fall”, then Harmony is surely one of the more surprising of candidates.

I’ve never really been a big fan of Harmony and she really didn’t do much to fill that Cordelia shaped void in Angel’s fifth season, even if she did have some good moments in episodes such as “You’re Welcome” and “Shells”.

The Harmony we see now however is far from living in hell. In fact, her only problem seems to be getting into Elite the nightclub due to their policy of not letting dogs in the premise. Surprisingly enough Harmony decides not to throw a hissy and leaves rather discretely. For Harmony, this has got to be a first of sorts.

However her hunger for fame (which as far as I’m concerned is hardly a character stretch – she is after all Cordelia without the life lessons) does lead her into meeting up with Andy Dick of all people. Sadly for Andy, their encounter in a dark alley pretty much winds up with him being dead by the end of it.

Of course Harmony being the self centred madam she is thinks she’s nabbed a rather cute headshot of herself when we’re not being treated to a description of her eyes, hair and lips. Yeah, I’ve never thought of Harmony in that way before and this certainly isn’t going to make me start now.

The biggest reveal however is that Harmony’s killing of Andy Dick is that vampires are now known in the public. However instead of being feared, which is what you normally expect they’ve managed to become something of a zeitgeist.

Harmony’s more than thrilled to take such credit for her innovation and wastes no time in wrangling herself an agent. Most would be starlets would prostitute themselves. Harmony doesn’t bother with such old fashioned techniques but why would you when it’s so much easier to just vamp them on sight?

By doing that, Harmony gets an agent and also manages to get herself a bloody show for MTV. Yeah, these are the same people who’ve given such dreck as The Hills, so even if I still want to stake Harmony, her series can’t be as dire as that, right? Plus, she does make a convincing argument when she pitches herself as the hero and villain of the series, Harmony Bites.

From the look of it, Harmony Bites isn’t exactly something to jump up and down about in excitement. Mostly, it’s just Harmony being her dippy self and endearing herself to a public who should really know better by now when it comes to these kinds of shows.

Naturally because she manages to become a household name in such a short space of time, Buffy and Willow become very worried. My problem here is that while conveying concern is good and all, neither of them actually do anything to immediately stop Harmony in her tracks.

Instead the focus seems to be on yet another recently activated slayer. Like the poor girl in “The Chain”, this one also doesn’t warrant a name, so immediately you feel that she’s going to be a dead Slayer by the end of the story. More than that, she comes from a dangerous gang who are not happy that she’s eager to leave them.

In fact they decide to beat her to a pulp and it’s only when the slayer stuff kicks in does the girl successfully fight them off. The one thing that it’s interesting about this girl is her joy of being liberated from one gang, only to realise that another one will only be too eager to take her in sooner rather than later.

The other gang is obviously a reference to Buffy and her band of slayers and our nameless girl decides that she can’t be bothered looking for them. Unfortunately for her, they send Andrew of all people to find her and like the general audience, she’s not pleased to see him.

My hatred for Andrew has softened a bit with these comics. He’s not quite as annoying as he was in Season Seven of the series and the writers have been wise in only using him sparingly but when it comes to meeting slayers, he really does lack certain finesse with getting them on side.

He might have some essential points about certain slayers becoming corrupted without a stable influence to guide them but he did come across as rather condescending as well and to be fair, Buffy herself wasn’t any much better on the phone to the girl as well.

If the girl was unconvinced by Andrew, then she should’ve been convinced by what Buffy had to say. I know with so many slayers getting activated out there that it’s got to be hard to keep sounding sincere when recruit them but I just got the impression that Buffy wasn’t making the effort here.

In other words, I don’t blame the other girl for throwing the phone back at Andrew and storming off. Plus given that she just got out of a vicious gang without being seriously injured, her reticence to become a part of any other family is understandable to put it mildly.

There’s further celebrations of this girl having her freedom when she gets a new tattoo over the gang one she had but it’s the arrival of Harmony and her entourage at this parlour that nicely sets up some good moments. Of course, Harmony’s going to be dumb enough to talk about the place being so “grubby and authentic”.

More importantly, though is the return of Clem. With so many characters reappearing in this series, I knew that at some point we would’ve seen Clem but I wasn’t him to be acting like Harmony’s gay best friend for her crappy reality show. Plus he was totally pestering her to get a tattoo as well and she didn’t seem all that interested.

A bigger dilemma however was having our unnamed slayer discover that Harmony was a vampire. Given that this girl was vowing to stake the undead without joining Team Buffy, I have to admit that Harmony is slightly a high brow target – which totally means she’s going to get killed a collector of unicorn paraphernalia.

Scoring an invite to a party to do the deed however is easy when you’re hot. Security on the other hand are less easy to pull the wool over so our nameless girl needs to be careful of slaying Harmony. You just know that she’s going to fail and leafing through the pages is a car crash waiting to happen as a result.

For the most part, the girl just tries to blend in and even manages to tolerate one of those sad cases who seems to get off on vampires draining them. These are probably the same people who’d find the Twilight novels complicated as well but at least filming on the latest episode of Harmony Bites takes place.

Storyline wise, it’s not gripping but it fits Harmony’s profile. Some deluded lad wants her to sire him so they can be together forever but she’d rather play the field. Maybe Harmony has a point. Most of the men in her life do end wanting to kill her but that’s more to do with her being a general annoyance rather than the danger she poses to society.

Nameless slayer on the other hand is less patient to see if Harmony is going to sire herself a soul mate and decides to simply just kill with the handy stake she made on the spot. Seeing Harmony drop her puppies before tussling with the girl raised an immature giggle but that’s not a bad thing people.

As fights go, this girlie one isn’t the best we’ve seen but newbie slayer’s heart is at least in the right place. She wants to protect people from the likes of Harmony but she handled this badly and not only does Harmony use her stake against her but she also drains her in front of a captive audience.

When you’ve got even Andrew realising that murder isn’t entertainment, you just know that Harmony’s crossed a further. By rights, this should’ve earned her a good staking but given that her murder of slayer caused ratings gold for her show, the position of slayers is put in a bad light.

For this however I do have to blame Buffy. She didn’t act soon enough and thanks to Harmony’s media manipulation, she’s practically shot her band of slayers in the bloody foot. The only question is, does Harmony’s glorification of vampires benefit Twilight’s anti-slayer/magic cause or not? Undoubtedly, we should find out sooner rather than later.

Also in “Harmonic Divergence”

The main cover for this issue included Harmony with her two dogs on each arm.

Harmony (re her dogs): “Oh, can you really say no to this perky pair?”
Bouncer: “No animals in the club.”

You gotta love Jane Espenson for managing to cheekily get in the headline – Hot Vamp Gets Tastes Of A. Dick. Just priceless!

Producer: “Hmm … I dunno. Seems like it needs a villain.”
Harmony: “No, see, that’s the hook! With me, you’ve got a hero … with a villain built in.”

Buffy (upon realising Harmony’s famous): “What the hell?”
Willow: “Pffft. She’s no Tina Fey.”

Harmony Bites can be viewed weeknights at 7pm on MTV. Funny that she bemoans the billboard approach a little.

Unnamed Slayer: “I feel totally free. But I figure it won’t last. If I know anything about good luck, it’s that something always shows up to take it away.”

Andrew: “Hi. Can we talk about your destiny?”
Unnamed Slayer: “Oh, crap.”

Andrew and Vi’s commercial from “The Chain” is briefly seen again in this issue beside another TV screen showing a gorilla.

Buffy: “We’ll protect you. We’ll train you. You’ll be part of a family … togetherness! Unity! Sisterhood!”
Unnamed Slayer: “I understand those words. I’ve hear ‘em before. I’ll slay the hell out of vampires but I ain’t joining no other bunch of girls. I’m doing this alone.”

Unnamed Slayer: “What the pink hell is this?”
Cameraman: “It’s Harmony. You know her show, Harmony Bites, right?”
Unnamed Slayer: “Um … no.”
Cameraman: “That’s okay. It’s probably not gonna make it. Reality show about a vampire, only nothing much ever happens.”

Some of the tattoo designs included a Buffy and a Fantastic Four logo as well as a five by five one.

Random Girl (to Unnamed Slayer): “Oh maybe you’ll get lucky tonight, though. It’s fun when it happens. It’s like you feel weaker but you feel like that’s okay.”

Harmony: “It’s my party and I can have more than one date if I want to!”
Guy: “But I want to be something special to you! Come on; turn me into a vampire like you and we can be together forever.”
Harmony: “I don’t know if you deserve that.”

One of the other celebrities we got in this story was Anderson Cooper and Andrew’s a fan of Spiceworld of all movies to be into.

Harmony (re Unnamed Slayer): “I’m terrified. This girl is clearly a slayer. People are gonna like slayers, right? This could really hurt my show.”

Willow: “Buffy, it seems like the world doesn’t know we’re the good guys.”
Buffy: “No. They do. They have to. Right? They can tell who’s wearing the white hats?”

The second part of this arc is called “Swell” and it’s released on February 4th.

As a start to the first part of a new arc and plot inconsistencies aside (would the general public be that accepting of vampires so quickly?), “Harmonic Divergence” is a mostly fun issue to read. Jane Espenson’s writing is on good form and I’m looking forward to seeing where this further progresses as a story.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

The Remnants Of 2008

Best Show (UK): Doctor Who. Because apparently I’m easy that way and this show really did deserve it.

Worst Show (UK): Rock Rivals. Because whoever came up with this deserves a swift kick in the back side. TV at its most pointless.

Best Show (US): Dexter. Because the second season really went above and beyond the levels of excellence I wasn’t expecting.

Worst Show (US): Gossip Girl. Because it continued a trend of bad US teen shows that doesn’t seem to be letting up.

Best Villain: Benjamin Linus in Lost. Seriously this guy just ruins you by being in his company or by being related to him.

Worst Villain: Eden Lord in Nip/Tuck. Poorly written character played by a very weak actress and that’s me being nice.

Best Spin-Off Series: Ashes To Ashes. I know some might strongly disagree but I had fun watching this series unfold.

Best TV Death: Chris Miles in Skins. Top marks to Joe Dempsie throughout the second season for his consistently brilliant performances as the pill popping teen.

Worst TV Death: Elle Bishop in Heroes. Poorly realised in my opinion. Surely the girl could’ve been kept around for Fugitives at least.

Shocking TV Moment: David Tennant announcing his Doctor Who departure and now, the casting of Matt Smith as his successor. Both surprising, neither bad.

Sexiest Male On TV: Gareth David-Lloyd in Torchwood. What can I say – I love Ianto like everyone else. Sometimes it’s good to heed the majority.

Sexiest Female On TV: Kristin Bell in Heroes. She’s just got that certain something I can’t put my finger on.

Excellent Use Of Flashback: The Torchwood episode “Fragments”. Everything you wanted to know about Jack, Owen, Ianto and Toshiko joining Torchwood got nicely explained here.

Best Finale: Doctor Who’s “The Stolen Earth”/“Journey’s End”. Yes, it reeked of fan fiction but I still adored both episodes. Lost and Brothers And Sisters came a close second/third.

Yes, Kids Are Annoying: The Scavo twins in Desperate Housewives. Less really is more if you catch my drift.

Neither Use, Nor Ornament: Holly Harper in Brothers And Sisters. Get rid, get rid, get rid and did I mention – get rid!

Good Reality TV: The Apprentice. Still amusing as far as I’m concerned and even the Irish version was fun to watch.

Bad Reality TV: Big Brother 9. Just plain abysmal.

Best Gay Couple: Kevin Walker/Scotty Wandall in Brothers And Sisters. And this is coming from someone who originally wasn’t that keen on the latter.

Worst Gay Couple: Julia McNamara/Olivia Lord in Nip/Tuck. Every couple on this show is bad nowadays and these two continued the trend.

Best Straight Couple: Dexter Morgan/Rita Bennett in Dexter. The second year certainly went further in giving them depth as a union.

Worst Straight Couple: Julia McNamara/Christian Troy in Nip/Tuck. Again, every single couple on this show is bad nowadays and these two did even more than any other pairing.

Best Guest Appearance: Julian Bleach in Doctor Who. Davros might have been overshadowed by his creations but Bleach made for an excellent presence in the season finale.

Worst Guest Appearance: Victoria Beckham in Ugly Betty. I know she didn’t exactly have a demanding role but she could’ve at least made the effort.

Industrious Character: Maria LaGuerta in Dexter. Who else would play on a co-worker’s paranoia in order to get their job back?

Lax Character: Tommy Walker in Brothers And Sisters. Not a criticism on Balthazar Getty but Tommy does seem to do damn all on the show.

Killed Too Soon: Danielle and Alex in Lost. Their deaths might have made more of an impact if they had been fleshed out better as characters.

Difficult Season: Heroes. Season Two was literally in some places a chore to watch and Season Three has been pretty hit and miss in certain places.

Best Revamp: Lost and its use of flash forwards. Who would’ve thought this would have worked as well as it did?

Worst Revamp: Nip/Tuck moving to LA. Less interesting patients and some irritating moments from our main players.

Good Show Producer: Bryan Fuller. Apparently he’s going to fix Heroes.

Bad Show Producer: Tim Kring. You’ll never make friends if you refer to your audiences as halfwits.

Best Male Character: Dexter Morgan in Dexter. Because of him, I can no longer criticise people who find the likes of Tony Soprano appealing.

Worst Male Character: Peter Petrelli in Heroes. Only because there’s so much whinging I can take from this character.

Best Female Character: Donna Noble in Doctor Who. I was stupid, Donna rocks, end of story.

Worst Female Character: Lana Lang in Smallville. How not to write a female character on a sci-fi show.

Most Improved Show: Torchwood. Season Two went above and beyond in silencing critics.

Least Improved Show: Nip/Tuck. Season Five was a hot mess and I’m not sure the remaining eight episodes will fix it. Then again, I hope I’m wrong.

Best TV Partnership: The Doctor/Donna Noble in Doctor Who. Alex Drake/Gene Hunt come a close second though.

Worst TV Partnership: Gabriel ‘Sylar’ Gray/Elle Bishop in Heroes. Clearly Sylar doesn’t play well with others, even with ones he sleeps with and then murders.

Best Use Of Music: Skins. Some pretty excellent choices throughout the second year, especially in the last few episodes.

Best Cancellation: Moonlight. Bland, boring vampire show deservedly got staked.

Worst Cancellation: Pushing Daisies. Surely ABC could’ve given this another chance.

HoYay Award: Merlin/Arthur in Merlin. Undoubtedly inspiring a lot of seedy fan fiction in its wake as well.

Good Use Of Retcon: Sara not being dead in Prison Break. I like her and she’s been good in the fourth season.

Bad Use Of Retcon: Rebecca not being a Walker in Brothers And Sisters. Poor judgement on the writers’ part.

2009 Hopeful: Dollhouse, which will hopefully not have the same fate as Firefly when it premieres in February.