My Review of Gotham's 2x08: "Tonight's The Night"

Written by Jim Barnes
Directed by Jeffrey Hunt

Barbara: "Make you? Jim, you long to kill me. Do it, Jim. Do me."
Gordon: "Don't take another step."

This week in terms of batshit craziness, Barbara well and truly excelled herself that I was both a little impressed and a lot creeped out by her. Her obsession with Gordon really took a hold of her this week that she allowed herself to be manipulated by Theo into handing herself over to GCPD and then forcing her ex-boyfriend into a trap and the possible wedding for hell. It really was as bonkers and scripted as it could've been.

The thing was though, the episode made a point, maybe too much of one that Gordon knew Barbara was leading him into a trap all along and yet, the guy willing put his head in the noose, didn't he? Gordon's recklessness would be enough to give Clara Oswald a moment of pause and this season, it's almost become a rather unfunny joke at times.

Morally, you want to root for the guy but when he continuously makes decisions that are beyond fucking stupid, you just wish someone - anyone would literally slap some sense into him. In this episode alone we had Leslie, Barnes, Bullock and even Barbara all calling Gordon out on his own lunacy but all four of them might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the good it would've done them.

Speaking of Leslie, this show is in horrible danger of putting her in the same damn role that Barbara suffered from too before ditching her sanity. Leslie is a lot more deserving than just getting captured by Barbara and calling Gordon out on his stupidity from time to time. Give her something better to do, show. For God's sake, have her interact with Bruce Wayne a bit more or something.

As for Barbara - this was a fun episode for Erin Richards. She got to have a whale of a time as the seductive, kind of pathetic, absolutely dangerous and ultimately nutty Bridezilla from hell with Barbara this week. It was easily her best performance and the show managed to sideline it's annoying trend of bumping off female character by not having Babs kick the bucket when she fell off the church roof. I guess she'll be around for another while to be a thorn in Gordon and Leslie's sides.

The rest of the episode though wasn't as great. Theo's manipulation of Bruce came a little too swiftly for my liking but at least it was turned on it's head when Gordon was able to rescue Mayor James (seriously, who cares about that guy?) and pin his abduction on Theo, which means this whole arc should be coming to a conclusion within the next few episodes.

Last but not least - Nygma's officially become a serial killer. While trying to get rid of Kringle's body, he ended up killing someone else and then the episode ended with him and Oswald getting reacquainted. I'm not gonna lie - I really hate that they've made Nygma into a killer and it reeks of laziness but I love the idea of him and Oswald becoming friends though.

Also in "Tonight's The Night"

The opening Gordon/Barbara/Leslie dream sequence with puking birds and Oswald as a priest was utterly sublime. That type of bonkers is what this show can thrive on.

Barbara: "I love my present. Does it mean what I think it means?"
Theo: "Yes my dear. Today's the day you get to kill Jim Gordon."

Come to think of it, wouldn't Today's The Day have made more sense as a title for this episode?

Barbara: "I knew it. I knew you still had feelings for me."
Gordon: "Of course I have feelings. Talk to me."

Leslie (to Gordon): "You see an abyss and you run towards it. That's not healthy."

Barnes didn't notice that Leslie got kidnapped and that both Nygma and Kringle weren't at work? Of course not.

Bruce: "You want my company."
Theo: "I want to clean up Gotham. Protect it's citizens, return the city to what it was but I can't do it without your help."

Nygma: "For a secluded forest, this place sure has a lot of foot traffic."

No Selina or Butch this week. Or Dent or Lucious either. Why were the latter two made regulars when they've barely featured at all?

Leslie (re Gordon): "I know who he is."
Barbara: "How could you when he doesn't even know? He is incapable of being honest with himself, let alone anyone else."

Nygma: "Mr Penguin?"
Oswald: "Help me please."

Chronology: Not long from where Mommy's Little Monster left off.

An entertaining episode, but in spite of the manic joy of Barbara going nuttier than usual and Theo's storyline coming to a conclusion, Tonight's The Night did highlight a few gnawing problems this show continues to have - Gordon's reckless and the general treatment of it's female characters. On both fronts, this show needs to massively improve.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Doctor Who's 9x08: "The Zygon Inversion"

Written by Peter Harness And Steven Moffat
Directed by Daniel Nettheim

Osgood (to the Doctor): "Does it matter which is which?"
Osgood: "All that matters is that Osgood lives."

And the answer as to whether Osgood is either human or Zygon will remain a mystery for another day and I definitely think there will be another day, even if Osgood herself turned down the chance to become a companion in this absolutely incredible episode.

It's something of a shame that she did though between I really could watch a whole series with the Doctor and Petronella Osgood (yup, that's her name) and it would probably one of the best we'll have ever had to boot. For now though, I'm just grateful that the second part of this Zygon adventure managed to excel and surpass the first part of it rather effortlessly.

The Doctor and Osgood survived being blasted out of the sky by Bonnie courtesy of Clara's subconscious kicking in at the right time. Upon surviving, the pair made their way through London, encounter one of Bonnie's side projects - a half human/Zygon man (look, there's that hybrid theme again) who just wanted to live in peace but ultimately took his own life when he felt he couldn't do so before the pair of them manage to pull a few tricks with Bonnie in relation to the Osgood box.

The Osgood box. It was never going to be a straightforward sort of thing but this was one of those times where the twists and turns truly shined because it highlighted the single mindedness in both Bonnie - determined to start a war and Kate, similarly determined to take out the Zygons in order to protect her own planet.

The scenes in the Black Archives are going to go down as some of the most iconic scenes in this show's 52 year history and certainly some of the most timely of ones too. The Doctor's whole speech about what war truly meant was some of the harrowing pieces of television I've watched in a while and Peter Capaldi gave his most definitive performance as the Doctor in the two series he's been in the role. It's an amazing scene, one that genuinely made hairs stand on the back of my neck and a moment that begs to rewatched as many times as humanly possible.

It's also a scene that's so stirring that it offered a satisfying of resolving the issue. I do like though that Bonnie wasn't immediately won over by the Doctor's anti-war speech (he did liken her to a spoiled child) but the gradual way in which his words began to take effect and wear down her resolve was beautifully handled and felt pretty believable to me.

Speaking of Bonnie - this was a good episode for Jenna Coleman, maybe her best one this series. Clara was still pretty underutilised (as she has been this series) but Coleman got to shine as the more calmly sinister Zygon and the back and forth between Clara and Bonnie was a good acting exercise for Coleman to say the least. However the hints towards Clara being a dead woman walking (if she isn't already dead) have never felt more obvious than in this one as well.

As for the rest of the episode, scaling the focus back to London worked more in the episode's favour and certainly helped to keep things significantly more focused as all the main players were drawn closer to each other in order to prevent Bonnie's plan from coming to fruition. Also after being a bit underused in previous story, I felt that Kate came a little more into her own with this story. She even got to channel a familiar saying from her father too, which was hard not to love during a particular moment.

Also in "The Zygon Inversion"

Loved all the dream like tropes we had in Clara's mind, even though the black toothpaste slightly grossed me out.

Bonnie (to Etoine): "If we cannot hide, we must fight. You are going to be the first. The first to make the humans see."

Osgood was pretty clear that she'd shoot the Doctor if she was the baddie, didn't she? I also liked the fact that she didn't know what TARDIS actually stood for.

Osgood: "Never really met Clara. Pretty strong, yeah?"
The Doctor: "She was amazing."

Bonnie: "There's no point in turning over. There's nothing better on the other side. I could erase your mind."
Clara: "Then why haven't you?"

Of course there would be two Osgood boxes - the blue and the red. Not sure if I liked Kate's memory erased when Bonnie's wasn't though.

Bonnie: "You think you're calling my bluff."
Clara: "I am calling your bluff."

Clara: "This is not a war you can win."
Bonnie: "Then we will die in the fire instead of living in chains."

There was some controversy in relation to the plane sequence due to recent real life circumstances but to be fair, this episode was written and filmed months ago.

The Doctor: "How did you survive?"
Kate: "Five rounds rapid."

What actually happened to Rebecca Front's Colonel Walsh? She seemed to disappear from this altogether. Offscreen death or retreat?

The Doctor: "Do you know what thinking is? It's just a fancy word for changing your mind."
Bonnie: "I will not change my mind."

The Doctor (to Bonnie): "I forgive you. After all you've done, I forgive you."

Chronology: From where The Zygon Invasion left off.

Well, this was truly exceptional. The Zygon Inversion truly hit a series high in terms of drama with this beyond satisfying conclusion to one of the most topical stories we've had on the show in such a while. Peter Capaldi gave his best performance ever but let's also praise Jenna Coleman, Ingrid Oliver and Jemma Redgrave, all of whom were on fine form too.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Doctor Who/Class - Recent Rumours/Spoilers Addressed

With five episodes left in the ninth series of Doctor Who and Jenna Coleman's departure as Clara Oswald looming, discussions have been circulating about the show's current situation. So let's clarify some things.

 - First of all, there will be a tenth series comprising of 12 episodes and a Christmas special, starring Peter Capaldi. Filming should begin at some point in 2016, but when pressed into revealing when it will air, Steven Moffat was unable to confirm.
- He has said, contrary to a published rumour in The Mirror that the show will not be halved.
- More interesting though is that both Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi have agreed that the show is airing in too late a time slot and would prefer an earlier one. Take the hint, BBC.
- The next companion will be someone new and not a previous recurring character (no Osgood or Shona then). Capaldi even cited wanting a working class companion like Rose Tyler.

After weeks of various and contradicting spoilers, it's nice to have some confirmation but until the ninth series and possibly the Christmas special with River Song actually air, I have a feeling we'll be waiting for definitive confirmation as to what will film and what will actually air in the next year or two.

Personally, I really do suspect that most of Series 10 at best will film in 2016 but that the series itself will air during Autumn 2016 and Spring 2017 with a Christmas special sandwiched between, in a similar manner to how the seventh series was dealt with in 2012 and 2013. I also think it'll end up being a swansong for both Moffat and Capaldi but that's speculation on my part, not an actual spoiler.

In terms of a new companion, I echo Capaldi's sentiments but I also think it might be a good idea to have two companions as well - introduce a new female companion in the first half and then a male companion in the second half of Series 10 and have both of them from different times and not romantically involved with each other.

I'm also hoping that with the BBC losing The Voice as well that the show will eventually move back to Spring because it's becoming increasingly clear that it's struggling in an Autumn slot at the moment.

Meanwhile the upcoming Coal Hill based spin-off, Class has had some little spoilers revealing but it still seems like things are early days with that show at the moment ....

- Patrick Ness hasn't confirmed whether or not the show will feature any guest appearances from Peter Capaldi, though to be honest I would be shocked if he doesn't at least cameo in one episode.
- According to Ness's own Twitter account, he's written a scene that is disgusting and evil for one episode, which sounds intriguing.
- The emphasis is going to be primarily on new characters, monsters and situations here.
- He already knows the last line of the first season, which is something that he cites as to doing with his books.

I'm still a little mixed on this show and I do get Ness's urge to do something new but at the same time, the odd familiar element here and there to remind people that Class exists in the same universe as Doctor Who wouldn't be a bad thing either.

Hopefully by the time the upcoming finale Heaven Sent/Hell Bent has aired, we'll have some more concrete details on both the main series and upcoming spin-off.

Doctor Who Spoilers/Rumours: http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/

Doctor Who currently airs Saturdays on BBC1 and BBC America until December 5th.

Recap/Review: How To Get Away With Murder's 2x07: I Want You To Die

Well, that escalated rather quickly, didn't it? And there's still two episodes after this one to go as well.

Written by Warren Hsu Leonard
Directed by Kevin Bray

How's Your Night: Oh, Oliver. Of course there was going to have to be a time when his good intentioned helping out with the gang (how cool was it that Annalise thanked him?) was going to backfire on him and helping to snare the crazed Philip backfired spectacularly as instead of going for the honey trap that is Connor (whose overprotectiveness was bloody sweet this week), Philip decided to face off and possibly kidnap Oliver instead. The trailer for next week has me more worried for Oliver's safety than who might have actually shot Annalise for once. Oh and that comment Frank made about wanting to spank Oliver over Connor - quote of the week, right?

It's Him: Ever since this show began there's been an ongoing suspicion that Annalise might be Wes's real mother and in a way this episode seemed to hint at that or at least at the fact that Annalise knows a lot about Wes than she's been letting on so far. Eve, when she wasn't making sure that Nate didn't get sent to prison for his wife's death gently confronted Annalise on the issue and I assume the next two episodes will give us the actual answer though. Speaking of Eve and repeating myself yet again - please don't let her be the one to shoot Annalise. Thanks show. And let Oliver be alive too.

Looking At You Differently: The mystery of Trotter Lake was resolved here - Asher is thankfully not a rapist but he was too drunk to stop his friends from raping Tiffany though which managed to disgust Bonnie along with the fact that she's aware of Asher knowing about her past. The confrontation scene between Bonnie and Asher though was nothing on the one between the former and Annalise. Bonnie went pure psycho during that scene, even telling Annalise that she wanted her dead. This dark version of Bonnie is a lot more interesting to watch but I'm not assuming she's the one who'll pull the trigger on Annalise. As for Sinclair, I think it might have been Bonnie if that last moment of this episode was anything to go by.

No Worries: This week Laurel found herself mostly being put out by Annalise being snarky towards her, which at this point you'd think she'd be desensitised to. Of course, Laurel assumed that Annalise was bothered about her sleeping with Frank but it turns out that Laurel just isn't a worry for Annalise, which should be a compliment. Laurel did have some slightly better material using her smarts to solve the case and there seems to be a her/Wes and Connor/Michaela division in the flashforwards too.

Stalky Ones: While this episode was gripping, the case of the week wasn't particularly exciting for me. It involved a stalking ex-husband unwilling to move on from his former wife and driving her current husband to suicide. Granted there was a few unexpected twists and Laurel showed her smarts amidst everyone else's doubts but it was easily the weakest link of an otherwise gripping episode.

Next week, the search for Oliver is on as Connor assumes the worst.

Recap/Review: American Horror Story: Hotel - Room Service

It's still Halloween and this week we've got the most pretentious guests from hell and an outbreak of kiddie vampires to find either terrifying or annoying, depending on your mood.

Written by Ned Martel
Directed by Michael Goi

Pate Ala Catfood: Because Ryan Murphy likes working with various people on other projects and timing with Lea Michele playing someone slightly different on Scream Queens, former Glee heartthrob Darren Criss wound up in the Hotel Cortez this week with a girlfriend. The pair of them were a bunch of obnoxious hipsters who grated on newly made vampire Iris's last nerve until she gloriously snapped and killed the pair in a manner less gruesome than previous kills on this show. I'm calling it now - Criss will be back as a regular next season like Matt Bomer has been this year. I'd almost be shocked if he wasn't to be honest. As for Kathy Bates, this was without a doubt her best episode this season as Iris truly came to life as a character now that she's a member of the undead.

Save One Child, Doom Many Others: When it comes to this whole new vampire lark, you think maybe we should get a scene where Tristan, Iris and Alex all sit down and compare notes? Anyways, this week Alex mucked up royally by using her new blood to save a patient and therefore infecting several other kids as vampires, which is not a plot that I care to see much more of but inevitably will have to though. When Alex wasn't messing up royally she was forced into obeying the Countess's house rules and become the new governess to Holden and the rest of the kids. For a tiny moment, Alex also expressed some brief interest in her estranged husband but that quickly dissipated.

Blacking Out: Speaking of John - still not his week. His attempts of telling a very bored looking Robert Knepper that he had a dinner party with America's most famous and dead of serial killers wasn't believed, effectively losing his job and he had some rather nasty hate sex with Sally, which wasn't particularly riveting or racy to watch. Oh and some more allusions to him possibly being the Ten Commandments Killer was made in this episode by Sally making a point of John's blackouts and whatnot.

A Little Yelp: After getting Miss Evers backstory last week, this week it was Liz Taylor's turn as we journeyed back into 1984 where Liz was an unhappy married medical rep named Nick who visited the Cortez, had the pleasure of meeting the Countess who killed his homophobic fellow reps (this episode emphasised that Nick/Liz isn't gay) and got Nick to embrace his true identity. Without a doubt Liz has become the best character that Denis O'Hare has played on the series so far and his scenes with Kathy Bates and Lady Gaga were utterly superb to watch.

Plotting Vengeance: Following their absences last week (and this week there was no Will, March, Scarlett or Evers), we briefly got a look into Donovan and Ramona who kind of flirted with each other and quickly deduced the invisible Iris would be a perfect inside man for their revenge against the Countess. Yeah, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Given that Ramona and Liz quickly sussed that Iris is now a vampire, it looked like the Countess picked up on it too, following a cryptic exchange between her and Alex towards the end of this one. On the other hand, it does look like Ramona isn't going to waste too much time though.

Next week, John loses himself so more, Ramona and the Countess face off and could Will be a dead man walking?

My Review of Empire's 2x06: "A High Hope For A Low Heaven"

Written by Robert Munic
Directed by Mario Van Peebles

Hakeem: "Can't be worse than the nightmare of being your son."
Lucious: "I ain't your momma, watch how you talk to me."

We got a week's break and with the promise of a serious storyline once the show returned, I was a little surprised that Hakeem's kidnapping plot kind of fizzled out a little in a way. We didn't even get to see both Cookie and Lucious saving their son. Instead his captives let him go somewhere else and he sloped off to have sex with Anika offscreen instead.

I should give the show credit though. There was a solid focus on Hakeem dealing with the trauma - lashing out at his family (Lucious mainly) and being unable to focus on a song that he wrote with his girl band before Laura was able to get him to get his shit together on stage, after that rather moving moment with Jamal, Andre and Hakeem as the brothers banded together.

As for the kidnappers - I should've suspected Laz because the idea of Cookie actually wanting to use those guys as muscle for Hakeem was so ludicrous and I'm glad that Hakeem's blow up when faced with them was a way of highlighting that stupidity as well. The reveal of Laz at the end when Cookie started to have sex with him though was done particularly well. She really does know how to pick them, doesn't she?

As for Lucious - I think he was genuinely trying to help this week in his own divisive sort of way. Lyon Dynasty aren't going to last and if Cookie wasn't so stubborn, she'd admit that and Lucious did try several times to actually reach out to Hakeem, only then to turn his focus onto the volatile Freda instead, whom he saw something of a kindred spirit in.

The rest of the episode seemed to focus on Andre trying to find his place (or be put in his place) within the company by testing out the acts and encouraging Becky's rapper boyfriend, J Poppa to embrace his religious side within his music. Now with this storyline, I'm on Becky and Lucious's side here. Andre did seem like he was forcing the issue a tad.

Also in "A High Hope For A Low Heaven"

The writers really don't know what to do with Anika this season. I'm not sure why she was even featured in this episode.

Hakeem: "This video is proof of life. I'm still here."

I'm relieved that it was Laz who was involved in Hakeem's kidnapping. For a moment, it really could've been Lucious.

Lucious (re Jameson): "There's all kinds of vampires in this business. Some will suck your blood and some will suck your -"
Jamal: "Don't do that."

Lucious: "I don't want you back, Cookie, just Hakeem and if you love him like you say you love him, Cookie, you gotta want that for him."

We met Jameson in this episode - a gay man who might be able to help Jamal break away from his niche marketing. No Michael, Tiana or Rhonda this week though.

Cookie: "You gonna be my wolf slayer?"
Laz: "That's right."

Andre: "You put me in charge."
Lucious: "I put you in your place. Don't confuse the two."

Standout music: Hakeem and his girl band's "Runnin'" and Jamal's "You Broke Love".

Cookie (to Laz): "Make me forget about everything that happened this week."

Chronology: Not long from where Be True left off.

Not the best episode we had this season. I kind of felt like A High Hope For A Low Heaven rushed through too many things for my liking and the pacing seemed a bit off in parts and even some of the Cookie/Lucious moments fell a little flat for me. Hopefully just a minor blip though.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Gotham's 2x07: "Mommy Little Monster"

Written by Robert Hull
Directed by Kenneth Fink

Theo: "Any last words?"
Oswald: "I'm gonna kill you."

And you know, I think Oswald just might because the way things went down in this episode, I really cannot see how the writers can mine anything else out of the Galavans for another fifteen episodes. Perhaps Gotham is going to go down the Once Upon A Time route with a main antagonist every half season.

This week not only did Theo incur Oswald's wrath by having Tabitha callously kill his mother but even Gordon found himself seeing through Theo's bullshit and by the end of the episode, he was openly declaring war on Theo. Does Gordon ever learn? Either way, Theo might want to get a move on with his big scheme against Bruce because while Oswald's attempt failed this week, you just know he's going to succeed fairly soon though.

I did like the audacious way in which Oswald chose to strike at Theo though. It almost worked and having an army of Penguins to partially throw Gordon and Tabitha off was actually a little inspired. Unfortunately Bullock ended up being the one to get Oswald's way but with Gordon also on the warpath, at least we know that Theo's days could be numbered a little sooner than expected.

Personally I'm fine with that. I like him enough as a villain but both Tabitha and Silver are just annoying - the former still not developed beyond sadistic henchwoman and the latter who managed to piss off Selina and alienate Bruce from Selina though. Also considering that we know of other future developments on the horizon, maybe the writers are being smart if they conclude this arc sooner than later.

Keeping with developments - Butch is back to his old self and needless to say, he's pissed at Oswald and also desperate to set up his own gang. I like Butch, I really do but he isn't a crime boss and never will be. Victor only had to threaten to kill his men to show how weak Butch is in any role that extends his usual one. I think like a few other characters, there's a very high possibility that Butch won't make it out of this season alive either.

Sticking with the dead - the psychological torture that Nygma put himself through when it came to hiding Kringle's body was interesting enough. I still think this split personality thing is a story for Two Face and I don't like the idea of the future Riddler just killing people all the time (it's not his character) but props to Cory Michael Smith who was just as great in this episode as Robin Lord Taylor was playing a heartbroken and vengeful Penguin. I just wish though the writers were being a bit more creative with Nygma's descent into darkness.

Also in "Mommy's Little Monster"

I liked that Selina made Alfred squirm over hitting her a few weeks ago. Alfred more than deserved that one.

Theo (to Oswald): "And I thought you understood the meaning of consequences."

Nicholas D'Agosto returned as Harvey Dent but mainly he was there to be Theo's supporter. I hope they know what to do with Dent this season.

Gertrud (to Oswald): "You were always such a good boy."

Nygma: "You went to my work last night?"
Nygma: "Technically you did. I was just in the driver's seat."

Martinez was killed by Tabitha this week. This has to be the worst strike force going.

Silver: "You come around here again, that would be bad for you."
Selina: "Who the hell are you?"
Silver: "I'm Bruce's friend. His only friend."

Oswald (re Theo): "He dies tonight."

Victor is now giving people a minute to do one before he goes all gun happy on anyone remaining there. I guess that's reasonable for someone like him.

Nygma: "Why are you doing this?"
Nygma: "Because it's fun and it's good for you."

No Barbara in this episode but going by the trailer for next week, it looks like we're going to get a lot of her next week.

Oswald: "One of us is going to die tonight. I've made my peace with that. I suggest the next Mayor does the same as well."

Chronology: Not long from where By Fire left off.

A solid episode. Mommy's Little Monster sadly bumped off Gertrud and continued with a slightly annoying trend of taking out too many female characters for my liking as well. I'm still iffy on the way Nygma's storyline is going and the Galavan storyline does seem like it's on the way of heading towards it's natural conclusion as well.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Doctor Who's 9x07: "The Zygon Invasion"

Written by Peter Harness
Directed by Daniel Nettheim

Osgood: "Any race is capable of the best and the worst."

Doctor Who and polemic themed episodes are not that uncommon but it's arguably been a while since we've last really had one and you can't get anymore topical than this one as writer Peter Harness uses the fragile peace treaty between the human and Zygon races as a means of shining a not particularly subtle commentary on our own current political system and attitudes towards those different from us.

Acting as a direct sequel to the events of The Day Of The Doctor, this episode opened with a brief recap of that story and then continued with both Osgood and her Zygon 'sister' narrating about the best and worst of every race while setting up the tone for the treaty being broken and a nightmare scenerio to be unleashed. When Osgood then got kidnapped by some rogue Zygons in New Mexico, it was time for the Doctor to step in, go to UNIT and try to stop things from getting spectacularly bad, which was easier said that done.

UNIT do have something of a history of wanting to bomb things without thinking it through at times and for the second time we've met her, Kate seemed to share her father's desire for doing that, leading to a conflict of opinion between her and the Doctor as the Zygons killed their own commanders and decided to declare war on the human race.

While the episode was far from subtle about it, I do like that the Doctor was able to distinguish between a splinter group of Zygons and the whole lot of them, even if it did seem at times that both sides were a little too war happy for their own good. It wasn't Kate happy to blow the crap out of the Zygons as Rebecca Front's Colonel Walsh also seemed more than enthused for doing the same thing too.

I do like though that most of the characters were split into groups. Kate headed to the town of Truth Or Consequences in New Mexico (which actually exists) and was fooled by a Zygon posing as a policewoman named Lisa while the Doctor met up with Walsh at a UNIT HQ in Turmezistan (actually a made up place) where a group of Zygons easily overpowered Walsh's soldiers while the Doctor and Osgood themselves were reunited.

I thought during the previous series finale that Peter Capaldi and Ingrid Oliver shared some good chemistry with each other and this episode confirmed it again for me. There's such a natural chemistry between the pair of them that regardless of Osgood's outcome, I wouldn't mind her becoming the companion for next series.

The nature as to whether or not, the Doctor rescued the real Osgood or her Zygon sister is left a little ambiguous. Osgood herself refused to answer the question, though alluded to be both, which kept with the ongoing hybrid theme of the series so far. I am hoping though that the next episode will give a more definitive answer but at least the Doctor and Osgood managed to get a Zygon on board the presidential plane in order to get more information about the shape shifting race's plan.

As for Clara - this kind of wasn't her episode, was it? The reveal at the end with the Zygon taking her form and calling herself Bonnie was probably the most predictable thing about the whole episode and while 'Bonnie' took some great pleasure in killing off poor Jac, I kind of felt that evil Clara was on par with Clone Martha from the Sontaran story in Series 4.

However the final few minutes of this episode were truly something else. It really did look like the Zygons had totally won everything and the moment where Bonnie herself decided to blow the Doctor's plane out of the sky was definitely a tantalising moment to end this episode on.

Also in "The Zygon Invasion"

Is it me or have the Doctor and Clara spent more time apart than actually together this series?

Osgood 1: "I am Osgood."
Osgood 2: "I am also Osgood."

The scenes in Clara's apartment block with the family and the little boy really did feel like something out of a horror movie.

Osgood: "There will be truth or there will be consequences."

Clara: "Did you just call yourself Doctor Disco?"

Osgood's video was a little harrowing in parts and she did mention that Zygons no longer need people alive in order to maintain the copy - something previously covered in a Big Finish story.

Kate: "You left us with an impossible situation."
The Doctor: "Yeah, I know. It's called peace."

Clara: "Who took it?"
Kate: Somebody with a TARDIS."

Harry Sullivan was alluded to in this episode and we saw a picture of the First Doctor at the training camp. Osgood also showed some Seventh Doctor love with her outfit this week.

Walsh (to the Doctor): "It's not paranoia when it's real."

Jac (to Clara): "Doesn't it feel sometimes that everything's coming to an end?"

Standout music: The Doctor's guitar version of "Amazing Grace" was actually pretty good. Still not too keen on the guitar though.

Zygon (to the Doctor/Osgood): "We want the world."

Bonnie (to the Zygons): "Kill the traitors."

Chronology: I assume it's 2015 London/New Mexico/Turmezistan, right?

Easily one of the most topical episodes in recent history and while The Zygon Invasion wasn't subtle about it at all, it was however gripping. One of the most taut and tense of episodes and easily providing one of the best uses for the Zygons, I'd even go as far as to say, this was also one of UNIT's most interesting stories too. Here's hoping the second part only elevates the story though.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Written And Directed by Wes Craven

Children: "One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab your crucifix. Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. Nine, ten, never sleep again."

And to finish off my series of Halloween themed reviews for the last few days would be this little creepy gem from the early 1980s. If Michael Myers, Leatherface and Jason Voorhes aren't enough to scare the bejesus out of you, then Freddy Krueger has to, given that even in sleep you're not especially safe from the guy.

In this movie (and it's many, many sequels), former child killer Freddy (Robert Englund) met a violent death at the hands of a community he terrorised years ago only for his spirit to haunt the dreams of the neighbourhood's teenage population and subsequently murder them in their sleeps. 

The ball got rolling in a spectacular fashion when Tina (Amanda Wyss) became the first onscreen victim, quickly followed by her boyfriend Rod (Jsu Garcia) and then both Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and Glen (Johnny Depp) found themselves in danger.

Like with a few classics, this was not a movie I saw as a child but one I caught up with in later years and it's pretty easy to see why it's stood the test of time, inspired many parodies as well as an easily forgotten remake back in 2010.

The idea of a killer being able to kill you in your sleep is as terrifying a concept as you can imagine and Craven certainly amped up the scares throughout this movie as Nancy became the final girl and was forced to risk her own life in order to stop Freddy's reign of terror once and for all.

It's an extremely compelling battle of wits between the frightened teenage girl and the heavily burned serial killer and definitely one that took an unexpected twist as the final moment neatly showed us.

- Parts of this movie were inspired by a childhood bully that Craven had, which is a little unsettling, isn't it?
- The creepy jump rope song for Freddy certainly added to the terror of this movie for me.
- Despite the terror he inspires, Freddy doesn't actually have a lot of screentime. That also added to his effectiveness as a threat.
- It took three years for this movie to actually be made. The script was written in 1981 but it took a while for a studio willing to shoot the movie, which took 30 days.

Another classic of a movie and a conclusion this year to my Halloween themed blogs. A Nightmare On Elm Street is a perfect viewing for tonight in lieu of anything else on television but you might want to sleep with a light on afterwards.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Recap/Review: American Horror Story: Hotel - Devil's Night

Today is Halloween and three days ago, this show maintained it's tradition by pushing out something for the time as John had an interesting dinner with some of America's famous of killers.

Written by Jennifer Salt
Directed by Loni Peristere

Absinthe Makes The Mind Go Crazier: Getting ditched by his family for Halloween, John Lowe should've been at a loose end but it seems that Mr March had other ideas for the dashing detective and invited him to a lovely dinner party. If by lovely, you don't mind spending time with Aileen Wuornos (Lily Rabe), John Wayne Gacy Jr (John Carroll Lynch), Jeffrey Dahmer (Seth Gabel), Richard Ramirez (Anthony Ruivivar) and the Zodiac Killer as they taunt the crap out of you and murder two men also in front of you. With the way March kept going on about John's potential, I have a horrible feeling that the people Lowe is disgusted by will end up becoming people he'll have something in common with. Could John actually be the Ten Commandments killer? This episode kind of implied it, didn't it?

America's Most Wanted: As if the Hotel Cortez wasn't messed up in general, it seems that Devil's Night is an annual tradition in which all the killers in question (and possibly John now) are personally invited by Mr March to enjoy themselves as we learn that he sparked their murderous tendencies when they were alive. The casting for all the killer was absolutely spot but both Lily Rabe and especially Seth Gabel had a remarking resemblance to both Wuornos and Dahmer, that it made things just that extra creepy. Seeing Rabe once again on this show and following the cancellation of The Whispers - can we please have her as a regular next season?

Protector, Not So Much: Four episodes in and Sally proves yet again, that she's a walking liability. If she's not shooting you up with China White or sewing you into mattresses, she's literally walking you to your death. This week and as part of a yearly deal to be left alone, she drugs up a smug businessman and hands him over to March and company and while the poor bastard is getting stabbed to death, Sally's too busy further worming her way into John's affections. As repellent as Sally is as a character, I am finding Paulson to be her consistently brilliant self in this role though.

Losing A Child: This season has had a theme of lost children - the Lowes with Holden and even Iris with Donovan to a degree and keeping with the theme, we learned in flashbacks to 1925 that Miss Evers (real name Hazel) had her own son snatched and killed by Gordon Northcott and it's a story that she partially revealed to John at the start of this episode. I guess it kind of explains her current actions and it certainly gave Mare Winningham some wonderful material to play off on. Now that we have Miss Evers backstory, can we now have Liz Taylor?

Two Mothers: And this week when Holden wasn't snacking on poor Jasper, Alex was confronting the woman responsible for her son being a vampire. I have to admit, I really liked the scenes with Alex and the Countess (minus that one scene where Tristan smacked the former) as the pair of them bonded and clashed over motherhood. The result of Alex choosing to become a vampire to be with Holden might have been predictable as anything but I am interested to see where this will go in the next few episodes though. Missing from this episode however was Will, Donovan, Iris and Ramona who were probably having just as crazy a Halloween as everyone else but only offscreen of course.

Next week, Iris has to hide her vampirism from a suspicious Countess and a certain Warbler checks in.

My Review of Dracula (1992)

Written by Bram Stroker And James V. Hart
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Dracula: "I am the monster that breathing men would kill. I am Dracula."

Like his other horror literary counterparts, Dracula has been adapted so many times and in so many ways that you could be somewhat desensitised to Bram Stoker's infamous bloodsucker, somewhat based on the sadistic Vlad the Impaler but out of all adaptations, this particular movie for me remains one of the most iconic and memorable.

Released in the early 1990s, this version of the bloodsucker is mostly faithful to Stoker's iconic novel as solicitor Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) takes a business trip to Transylvania where he meets the infamous Count (Gary Oldman) and it's a struggle for him to get out of the castle and back to his beloved Mina (Winona Ryder) to whom Dracula quickly has taken an obsession to.

If you wanted the original sensual and destructive vampire/human relationship, then the Count and his pursuit of Mina is where to be. It's an interesting and deadly story as the Count makes his presence known in England and even takes delight in tormenting and changing Mina's best friend, Lucy (Sadie Frost) into a creature of the night before Mina finds herself conflicted between her relationship with Jonathan and growing feelings for the most dangerous vampire of all time.

Of course, Dracula's pursuit of Mina does however make him a target of not only a vengeful Jonathan and Lucy's suitors - Quincy, Seward and Holmwood but also the most famous of vampire hunters - Van Helsing, played with relish by Sir Anthony Hopkins as Dracula finds his stay in England and obsession with Mina coming to a rather bloody end.

In a way, it's almost lucky we got this version in the nineties because I honestly think what we've get nowadays would be so much more anemic by comparison. Oldman is utterly superb in the lead role - genuinely menacing, alluring, dangerous, cruel and tragic and Ryder herself is actually quite superb as the more innocent but smart and sympathetic Mina. Reeves does well enough as Jonathan but I do think he's overshadowed a little by the rest of his cast members at times.

- Watch the commentary for this movie. A lot of the things that Coppola says are pretty mind blowing, especially about Keanu's casting for the role of Harker.
- This was originally meant to be a television movie before Winona showed it to Coppola.
- Some of the cinematography in this movie is truly stunning - the blood red skies, the fog sequences, the snowy Transylvania towards the end.
- Other actors considered for Dracula include Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicholas Cage to name a few.

There have been many adaptations of this book but for me, Coppola's Dracula is definitely the most definitive of adaptations and one that has yet to be better as well. Primarily faithful to the source material itself but adding a little more, this movie is a classic.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Recap/Review: How To Get Away With Murder's 2x06: Two Birds, One Millstone

And this week, we got some more revelations, including a potentially unpleasant one with one of the Keating Five and one of the more sensible characters making an error too.

Written by Mike Foley
Directed by Mike Listo

Trotters Revealed: Or is it. Thanks to Sinclair, who felt rather spiteful this week, we and Bonnie know that Tiffany was gang raped and somehow Asher has a role in it. Personally I will really be shocked if it turns out that Asher is a rapist but I have a feeling it's going to revealed that Asher have known about Tiffany's attack and was pressured into keeping his mouth shut. Either way, it's not good and Bonnie herself looked shaken by the news as well. However it does explain why Asher has been so anxious this season and it gives him possible motive for later killing Sinclair as well. It should also be noted that we didn't see anything of him in the flash forwards as well.

Lady Killer: On the other hand, the flash forwards did have a lot of focus on Frank, who seemed pretty freaked out over Annalise getting shot. Oddly enough, I like seeing Frank panic a bit. He's often too cool for his own good, so having a moment here where he genuinely panicked was a nice change of pace. When he wasn't worried about his boss being a corpse, he was also disposing of Catherine's body in the forest. Except unlike Lila and Rebecca, this episode ended with informing us that Catherine was very much alive. In the present though he was mostly having sex with Laurel, introducing her to his chaotic family when he wasn't giving Wes the side eye as well.

Trusting Women: So Wes has issues with women. I thought that was pretty obvious but this episode seemed more keen on drilling that fact in a bit more in case audiences hadn't picked up on it beforehand. His obsession with Rebecca being dead continues to piss off the rest of his classmates, we got a tiny bit of an insight into his relationship. Then there's his ongoing issues with Annalise which are inevitably going to worsen when he realises that yet again, she's lying to him about Rebecca. Oh dear.

Watching Him Watching You: You know what, I have to say - if this show kills off Oliver, it will hit me hard. I absolutely adore the guy and outside of the two main LGBT couples in Sense8, Connor/Oliver are the best LGBT couple on television at the moment and every time they're given a scene together, it's an automatic highlight. This week we learned that Catherine/Caleb's racist aunt had a son named Philip she gave up for adoption. Oliver decided to do some more research on the guy and Connor freaked out for good cause - Philip is now watching the pair of them. Seriously writers, don't kill off Oliver. That guy is too adorable (and hot) to die.

The Wife Did It: In less than two seasons, this show has handled LGBT issues and characters in a way that other shows should pay attention to and with this episode, we were introduced to a trans character named Jill who killed her abusive husband in self defence and who was also revealed into having a prior history with Annalise. The case was fairly straightforward compared to some past ones and I really enjoyed the rapport between Jill and Annalise as they bonded over terrible husbands and secret lives. Another plot in this episode also included the offscreen death of Nate's wife and the growing anger he's developing towards Annalise.

Next week, Eve's back (yay) Sinclair and Annalise go at it and Laurel and Frank's not so secret relationship is known to more people.

My Review of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Written by Jim Sharman And Richard O'Brien
Directed by Jim Sharman

Frank: "It's not easy having a good time! Even smiling makes my face ache!"

It's been a good 40 years since the release of this one and needless to say, it's a movie that is both an all time classic and something everyone has an awareness of, even if they've never seen it. Myself, this was a movie that I've seen properly in recent years and have watched over and over because it genuinely is that brilliant and absolutely bizarre in equal measures.

Merging horror, science fiction, comedy, drama and musical in a manner so effortless it's rarely been repeated since, this movie sees a rather sickly sweet couple Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Saradon) forced to spend the night at a rather creepy castle, owned by a "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania" named Dr Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) and his band of misfits.

Now this is a movie with so many bright and vibrant characters, it's almost hard to keep up in a way but each of the characters are truly sublime though. Curry practically steals the whole thing as Frank - going from playful, charming, homicidal, jealous, seductive, vulnerable and even a touch sympathetic at some point too while his servants Riff Raff (Richard O'Brien), Magenta (Patricia Quinn) and Columbia (Nell Campbell) are also a forced to be reckoned with.

Then there's Rocky himself - the cute, perfect Adonis like creation of Frank's that managed to create some accidental havoc of his own while both Janet and Brad themselves are given something of a sexual awakening the deeper they get involved with Frank and his minions.

Of course, the most memorable moments of the movies involve the actual musical numbers themselves. Whether it's The Time Warp, Damnit Janet, There's a Light (Over At The Frankenstein Place), Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me, Planet Schmanet Janet and Science Fiction/Double Feature, you'll certainly know them and you'll certain find yourself singing along to them, whether you'd want to or not. I don't think there's ever been a musical where every single has truly stood out for me.

As for the alien plot of the movie - it's not always the strongest bit and the conclusion does seem a little rushed at the end but there's so much madness and fun to this whole movie that it almost doesn't matter. There's a reason why this movie is such a classic and if you've never seen it before, do yourself a favour and seek it out.

- I was surprised to read that this movie was critically panned upon initial release but it has become a midnight classic at cinemas nowadays.
- There's a sort of sequel called Shock Treatment that focuses on Brad and Janet but it bombed and didn't feature the original cast.
- One of the more underrated roles in the movie is the role of the Criminologist, who does the narration.
- Just check the wikipedia page to see the true impact this movie has made. It even has a page dedicated it's own cult following.

An absolute classic of a movie - The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of the best and without a doubt, one of the maddest movies you will ever watch in your life but it's also one of the few movies where you really do owe it to yourself to watch as well, especially during this spooky week.

Rating: 10 out of 10

My Review of The Craft (1996)

Written by Peter Filardi And Andrew Fleming
Directed by Andrew Fleming

Nancy: "What's going on? Why aren't you dead?"
Sarah: "Manon. He came to me. Saved me. Oh, and by the way. He wanted me to give you a message. You're in big shit. He says you've abused the gifts that he's given you, and now you're going to have to pay the price."

With Halloween around the corner, the next few days I'm going to do some appropriate reviews and one of my favourite movies from the late 1990s was this witching delight as four outcast teenage girls bond and eventually clash over their use of magic and invoking the spirit of Manon to boot.

The girls in question include cynical goth Nancy (Fairuza Balk), newly arrived to LA, Sarah (Robin Tunney) swimmer Rochelle (Rachel True) and scarred Bonnie (Neve Campbell) - the four of whom get deeper and deeper into the art of magic, first with some small spells and then others resulting in death and a nasty fellow student losing her hair.

The big story in the movie however was the power dynamic between Nancy and Sarah. It seemed subtle at first but it's really there from the moment the two of them interact as the former succumbs to the darker side of things while the latter - the more naturally gifted witch is forced into conquering some deep seated fears in order to save herself and overthrow Nancy too.

Out of the four main characters, it is the rivalry and contrasts between Sarah and Nancy that fuel the movie and the way it at times impact both Bonnie and Rochelle. It's a superbly cast movie with some truly terrific performances from both Tunney and Balk and it certainly has tackled witchcraft far better than more recent movies.

The rest of the characters though don't have much to do, other than fill in certain tropes or in Chris's case also get killed off in a suitably nasty way by Nancy but given the charms off the four leading ladies, I really don't find that much of a bad thing to be honest.

- Needless to say, a remake of this movie is currently being planned.
- Fairuza Balk is (or was) a Wiccan in real life while this movie was being made.
- Prior to it being the theme for Charmed, the Smiths song How Soon Is Now was used in this movie.
- During the invocation scene we see Nancy with a snake, Sarah with a budgie, Bonnie with a butterfly and Rochelle with a clown fish.

One of my favourite movies and certainly one with one of the more darker takes on witchcraft, The Craft is a superb movie, led brilliantly by all four actresses in question and in my honest opinion, something of an underrated gem as well.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Taking On New Identities

Kind of thematic considering nearly all the shows I'm about to cover in this blog. Some of this is UK/US/Irish paced.

Arrow: I've caught the first two episodes and the show has had something of a mini revamp. Oliver has managed to dial his usual dour self down a few notches, adopted the moniker of Green Arrow and even seems to actually enjoy with Felicity. Unfortunately the flashbacks are still adding nothing interesting to the show but on the plus side, Damien Darhk is already a better foe than Ras was last season, we've got a gay Mr Terrific in the making and Thea and Laurel just work well together whether it's kicking bad guy butt or deciding to bring Sara back from the dead.

Jekyll And Hyde: You have to give it to ITV. Their attempts of creating their own Doctor Who effect have had mixed results. Primeval managed to last a decent five series and be fairly enjoyable but Demons was pretty much an abomination of a series and as for this series - well, it's potentially the strongest candidate ITV have done so far and we're only an episode in. Charlie Higson has done a fantastic imagining of the classic story and Tom Bateman is seriously brilliant in both roles. Definitely a winner for me.

Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD: Okay, this has yet to air on Channel 4 but RTE2 (for Irish viewers) have so far aired the first two episodes of the show's third season and it's been a little bit of a slow burner. Mostly we've seen Skye complete her transformation into Daisy as she recruited more Inhumans while Ward spent time rebuilding Hydra and Fitz rescued Simmons from that weird dimension place she was in between seasons. There is some great stuff with May in the second episode though Coulson just kind of seems to be there at the moment.

Once Upon A Time: I've only seen the first three episodes so far (will catch up within the next week) and I have to admit, I'm not really that compelled by anything as of yet. In larger roles, the dwarves are actually annoying and Emma's foray into darkness hasn't been quite as dark as I'd hope it would be. I'm also not too blown away by the Camelot arc as of yet but on the plus side, I do like Merida from the little I've seen so far. Maybe the episodes awaiting me are a lot better.

Supergirl: I resisted the urge to watch the pilot when it was leaked several months ago but today, I finally caught and I loved it. Yes, there have been stronger pilots and there certainly were moments similar to The Flash and Smallville but this show genuinely deserves to be successfully. The feminist commentary/misogynistic opening baddie might have been hammered home a little too much but Melissa Benoist is going to be the definitive Supergirl for a lot of people and in this episode alone, she embodied everything about the character. Kara is the superhero we need and with 12 million viewers tuning in, CBS have produced a show worth the weekly watch.

The Flash: Ah, the show that now has become so timey wimey, even Steven Moffat would struggle to keep up with this. The first two episodes of Season 2 have been a joy. I might not have liked the swift way that Ronnie was dispatched or Henry left but everything else though has been a charm. The arrival of Jay Garrick certainly has added to proceedings and the looming threats of Zoom and Wells eventual return to our world are keeping things pretty interesting as well. With all these superhero shows flying high at the moment, it's a great time to be a fan of the genre, isn't it?

- Michelle Gomez will play a mysterious character named The Lady in an upcoming episode of Gotham. Nathan Darrow has been cast as Victor Fries for the show.
- Barbara Hershey will be returning for Once Upon A Time's 100th episode.
- Henry Czerny has been cast as the Toyman for Supergirl.
- HBO have cancelled The Brink after one season.
- Sherlock's upcoming special, The Abominable Bride will air on BBC1 and Masterpiece on New Year's Day.
- Bryan Fuller is to revive anthology series, Amazing Stories for NBC.
- ABC have cancelled The Whispers after one season.
- Gilmore Girls is being revived for Netflix as a series of four 90 minute episodes.
- Ryan Murphy and Gwyneth Paltrow may be working on a new show about a former 1990s hitmaker called One Hit Wonder.
- Empire creator Lee Daniels is planning a show about a girlband named Star.

My Review of Gotham's 2x06: "By Fire"

Written by Rebecca Perry Cutter
Directed by TJ Scott

Selina: "You don't sound like yourself."
Bridgit: "I'm not myself anymore. I'm free, just like you told me."

Six episodes in and these mini arcs that the show seems intent on doing have been such a godsend. While this arc might have been shorter than the Maniax one, Gotham finally made me interested in Firefly as a character where previous iterations haven't quite mustered it.

In this episode, we saw Selina determined to help Bridgit in the best way possible. First by getting her to rob a sex slave den so that Bridgit could get enough money to leave the city but when she got caught by her awful brothers, Selina reluctantly agreed to help Gordon in order to help her own friend from making a massive mistake.

Of course, Selina was too late. Bridgit got a taste of power and tired of being terrorised by her brothers, she decided to kill them before going back to rescue the girls from the den and punish the men. Unfortunately this was where everything went to pot and Bridgit became a victim of her own success and ended up being set alight as well.

While this resulted in things becoming more hostile between Gordon and a disillusioned Selina, it actually turned out that Bridgit survived her burning and has not only become fireproof (her suit melted into her) but she's also underground Indian Hill (remember that?) in a creepy place where it looks like some superpowered potential threats are being housed.

Of course Bridgit's story wasn't the only one to take such a deadly turn in this episode. Nygma's relationship with Kringle finally looked like it was going to progress to a lovely place until he decided that confession was good for the soul. It seems that learning your current boyfriend bumped off your former abusive boyfriend is a bit of a no-no for Kristin.

Unfortunately it also led to the annoying trope of Nygma inadvertently killing Kristin, which I really wished the writers had avoided. I know Kristin was probably going to die at some point and that her death would be a thing to tip Nygma over the edge but why did she have to die at his hands? Not all of Batman's rogue gallery of villains are serial killers. I really wish they wouldn't go down that route with Nygma when they're being creative with other villains.

As for the other plots this week - we did have Oswald and Butch working their way into getting back Gertrud as the latter managed to get in with the Galavans before getting the crap whipped out of him by Tabitha. On the plus side, at least Oswald and Butch know where the former's mother is being held but six episodes in and I still don't have a good handle on Tabitha. Aside from being a bit of a sadist, the writers haven't really done anything interesting with her yet. Theo on the other hand, continues to be interesting and this week, he really did work overtime to get into Bruce's good books.

Also in "By Fire"

Not going to accuse this show of sexism but despite the feminist talk, there was a lot of stuff that jarred - Tabitha still not having anything decent to do, Kringle's too quick death and Leslie being a captive yet again.

Theo (re Butch): "What do you think ladies?"
Tabitha: "I think he's cute. Like a sad bear."

Barbara recalled her previous encounter with Butch when he was trying to get in with the Galavans.

Bridgit (re girls): "We need to help them."
Selina: "We need to help you because you killed a cop, remember?"

Selina (to traffickers): "And for the record, y'all suck."

Silver reappeared in this episode. I don't think it's too much of a stretch that she's a willing pawn in Theo's overall scheme. Oh and it was nice seeing Ivy too.

Bullock: "Should I call the children's home or get a candy bar and have someone forget to watch you?"
Ivy: "Candy bar."

Selina: "No offence, Jim but I like my chances better than yours."
Gordon (re Bridgit): "Why get involved? Why risk your neck? Who is this girl to you?"

We saw the beginnings of an eventual ethics clash between Gordon and Barnes in this episode as well. The latter's black and white approach is going to be a problem later on I bet.

Oswald (to Butch): "Go find my mother before I chop off your other hand."

Selina: "You're cute for a doctor."
Leslie: "Thanks. You're cute for a gangster."

Chronology: Not long from where Scarification left off.

An interesting episode most definitely. By Fire mostly concluded the Firefly arc for the time being but it set up much more of interest though - Indian Hill's experiments, Nygma's further descent into darkness, a future conflict with Gordon/Barnes and Theo getting his claws into Bruce.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Doctor Who's 9x06: "The Woman Who Lived"

Written by Catherine Tregenna
Directed by Ed Bazalgette

Ashildr (to the Doctor): "My own companion. Singular. Unattached. Alone."

And to slightly prepare for the fact that we are going to have a future with the 12th Doctor that will not feature Clara, this episode not only saw the English teacher being relegated to only just a scene at the end where her impending exit was further hinted at but also saw the Doctor being reunited with a familiar face in a different time.

It's interesting that the show decided to address the consequences of giving Ashildr immortality straightaway rather than leaving it for later in the series or even the next one but nonetheless, the Doctor's jaunt to 1651 England saw him coming face to face with legendary highwayman known as the Knightmare or better yet, Ashildr, who is initially surprised then annoyed to see the Doctor once again.

It seems that in the 800 years since their last meeting Ashildr has lived many lives and gone by many names and loved and lost various children and other people, which has been enough to harden her and steal from the rich as a means of excitement and also something to provide a bit of conflict with her and the Doctor.

Another thing to provide some conflict in this episode would be an alien amulet that Ashildr and her accomplice, Leandro (or Lenny the Lion if you're feeling childish) are both after, only with different motives but then again, so is the Doctor. The dilemma however stemmed from the fact that in order for the amulet to be used to help Ashildr and Leandro get out of 17th century England, someone has to die instead.

The would be sacrifice in question came in the form of rival highwayman and general numpty, Sam Swift as played by Rufus Hound. Silly risque jokes aside and a kiss scene I could've done without seeing, I have to admit that Swift is one of my least favourite guest characters in a while and I wasn't particularly heartbroken over the idea of him being used as potential cannon fodder to further the plot this week. However as soon as Leandro's evil (and predictable) intentions were revealed, it didn't take much for both the Doctor and Ashildr to put their issues to one side, band together to save the day and potentially give Swift a new lease of life to boot.

The strength of this episode was it's dealing with immortality. The Doctor's motives for not wanting to travel with Ashildr made enough sense and harkened back to some of his conflicting past issues with Jack (who rightly got a mention in this episode) and I liked that Ashildr understood that in the end. I also liked the way the both of them talked about mayflies and how that tied into Clara as well.

Also in "The Woman Who Lived"

This is the first time since Series 4 that we've had a female writer for the show. We've also got Sarah Dollard's episode to look forward to in a few weeks time too.

The Doctor: "You?"
Ashildr: "Yes, it is me. What took you so long, old man?"

Ashildr went by the name of Lady Me in this episode. Maisie Williams is even credited as Me in the closing credits for this one.

The Doctor: "How many people have you killed?"
Ashildr: "You'll have to check my diary."

The Doctor: "What could be worse than losing your own children?"
Ashildr: "I keep that entry to remind me not to have any more."

Lady Me had a loyal servant named Clayton, who she initially was going to use for her scheme before deciding on Swift.

Ashildr (re Clara): "Why haven't you made her immortal?"
The Doctor: "Look how you turned out."

Ashildr (to the Doctor): "I'm not looking for a husband, you oaf. I'm looking to get out of town."

Catherine Tregenna who wrote this episode, also penned four episodes during the first two series of Torchwood.

Ashildr: "You didn't save my life, Doctor. You trapped me inside it."

Sam: "What are you playing for my lady?"
Ashildr: "To make it quick."

There was a nice reference to the Terileptils from the Fifth Doctor story, The Visitation.

The Doctor: "I think I'm glad I saved you."
Ashildr: "I think everyone will be."

Clara: "So where are you gonna take me?"
The Doctor: "Wherever you want."

Chronology: 1651 England and 800 years after the events of The Girl Who Died. Ashildr will be back in Face The Raven, folks.

This was certainly an interesting episode. The Woman Who Lived wasn't strictly a concluding part to a two parter story like the first four episodes have been but given how prominent Ashildr was and how vital the events of the previous episode were too, it wasn't exactly a total standalone either. Some of the humour misfired a bit (anything from Sam Swift) and Leandro was another great looking but slightly wasted alien antagonist. However the episode had a superb team with both Peter Capaldi and Maisie Williams delivering wonderfully and it was nice to see the consequences of one person's immortality getting a satisfactory exploration too.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Recap/Review: How To Get Away With Murder's 2x05: Meet Bonnie

With the character named in this episode, some new information on a particular player surfaced as further chaos and mistrust happened between the main players this week.

Written by Sarah L. Thompson
Directed by Stephen Cragg

Making A Statement: As we learned in flashbacks, it seems that Asher and Bonnie also had roles in the night of Annalise's shooting and Sinclair's death. In the present day, Asher was struggling with protecting Bonnie's 'secret', until Annalise dove into the situation to ensure his silence. Back to the flashbacks though, we saw Bonnie cleaning blood off herself while Asher went to the police to make a confession. Now I don't know what he's about to confess to but I'm glad that Asher has a role in this season's murder storyline.

The Woman Of The Hour: Well, the episode was named after Bonnie and her desperation to keep Asher sweet and protect Annalise was the main focus of this whole episode. I was hoping that we'd have gotten more of a backstory for Bonnie though than the brief moment where Annalise showed Asher some genuinely unsettling footage. It kind of explains why Bonnie might be devoted to Annalise but I do hope there's more insight and scope to come with the character over the next few weeks.

Bye Levi: How do you solve an obstacle (or asset?) like Levi? Um, you frame him for drugs if you're Annalise and Frank and then watch as Connor, Michaela and Laurel get rightly pissed off when they learn that Levi and Wes have been working together and the former is Rebecca's foster brother. Actually between Connor's growing antagonism towards Annalise and the rest of the Keating lot fearful of what Asher knows and their growing mistrust of Wes, I'll be surprised if they don't all try to kill each other before this season actually ends.

Day Drinking, Hacking, Orgies And Inflammatory Videos: Keeping with the Keating lot, some progress was made with Caleb and Catherine's case which involved a video of their dead aunt proving herself to be a racist old bat. Which should've helped them but it seems that Sinclair and the judge were quick to dismiss the potential evidence of the siblings due to the way they thought Annalise acquired the damning video. Then we had moments of Connor getting drunk at work, suggesting an orgy with the rest of the Keating lot when Oliver himself wasn't wondering he isn't being paid for the amount of hacking he's done on Annalise's behalf.

Frankly Clever: Frank showed off how clever he was this week with the long game he played with both Wes and Levi and how the latter got arrested while at the same time providing back up for both Bonnie and Annalise while also getting cosy with Laurel down the basement. Other than that, we also had some other choice moments such as Sinclair scolding Asher on morality and murder as well as Nate fessing up to Annalise that the kids think she killed Rebecca to boot.

Next week, everyone's getting fired.