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Showing posts with label #WinterFinale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #WinterFinale. Show all posts

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Biggie Asked Who Shot Ya... Annalise? #HowToGetAwayWithMurder #HTGAWM #WinterFinale #ABC

Biggie Asked Who Shot Ya... Annalise? #HowToGetAwayWithMurder #HTGAWM #WinterFinale #ABC

All pictures courtesy of ABC 


Though I was only going to do one show's winter finale (#WinterFinale) this week--Heroes Reborn--I just couldn't resist talking about Ms. Keating as she capped off the craziest TGIT (#TGIT) night since... well, last year's TGIT winter finales. With that said, Holy Crap! They shot her on purpose.

Sorry, I jumped ahead of myself there. Let's start near the beginning. Last week's episode revealed that Bonnie was the one who pushed prosecutor Sinclair off the roof. The woman's dead body landed in front of Michaela (is it weird that I can never remember her name) and Connor as they looked to be escaping from something. It was also revealed that the Asian girl making up the second half of the adopted sibling duo accused of their parents' murder not only knew this third guy Philip (their adopted aunt's incestuous son) but that she seemed to hang with him, maybe even like him as he had a personal painting of hers in his room. Michaela slept with the adopted brother, after which he revealed that tucked inside of a venting grate in what looked like an old rich person's study was a gun. And this was where we picked up.

It should also be noted at this time that the secondary plot of the season concerning rich boy Asher and his judge father played huge in this episode and the insanity that took place. This all stemmed from the prosecutor blackmailing Asher into testifying against Annalise or else she would expose and possibly seek prosecution on Trotter Lake--an incident where he as president of a fraternity didn't stop his fellow bros from raping a girl, ultimately ruining her life and forcing his father to bury the embarrassing floundering of his son's judgment. Now back to the episode at hand.


Suspecting that the gun may have been the one his adopted sister used to slay their billionaire white parents, the Black guy frets over what he should do with the gun. Michaela foolishly calls Connor who tells her that they shouldn't touch it and leave it be. He also tells them to call Annalise but Michaela doesn't want to do that because Anna would have to expose it to the prosecutor, which would just blow their case to pieces. Like an idiot, the Black guy grabs the gun, puts his prints all over it and says that he wants to destroy it.
Finally someone wises up and calls Annalise over to the mansion. She agrees with Connor that they should never have moved the gun and that putting it back would only tamper with evidence a second time. Scheming, she sees the gun as a Robert Frostian fork, forcing her to separate herself from representing one of the siblings, because it's possible one of them is guilty. Since the brother currently stands before her, he lucks out and gets her representation, though she did give him the chance to get his own lawyer.

Meanwhile, the Asian girl is out of there faster than Speed Racer. The hunt for her is on as they need to question her about the weapon. She goes to a motel where she is supposed to meet Philip later. Speaking of, Philip starts the day sitting in the police station but when suspicions about his record arise, the office cameras get checked, revealing Nate had tampered with the boy's record, switching his record with that of someone else in order to help Annalise. Already two-times pissed from not having gotten him and/or Annalise on Sam's murder, Sinclair wants to see him burn for obstruction and tampering. He loses his mind on her and gets loud, causing her to file a harassment complaint as she felt threatened by the muscular bald Black man... or turned on. Not saying it's a race thing, just saying I didn't quite see "nothing but fear" in her eyes. Even more to my theory, later when he files a complaint against the DA's office for harassment himself (they've been trying to pin all sorts of crimes on him), she invites him into her car to talk, yet she feared for her life hours earlier? Please. She must have been bumping some old school Stevie Wonder in the back of her mind thinking about how chocolatey, Wesley Snipes dark this man was, but that's none of my business.

Did He Just Run Someone Over Or See That Mama June Sextape
What was important is that he willingly got into her car and agreed to a mutual dropping of charges. Bad mistake. Hours later as she is leaving to go home around eight that night, who else but Asher shows up. Why is he there and pissed? Because earlier in the day cops discovered his dad Smurf-blue in his office as he hung from a rope: suicide. To save Asher from testifying against Bonnie for killing Sam--a cover-up for Wes and the others that really killed the man--Annalise had to give the DA something juicier. What better than a corrupt judge bending the law to protect his son. But neither Asher nor his father knew this, leading to the old man's death and Asher blaming Sinclair who had her hand all up in his business. I mean, all up in there!

Her attitude one of nonchalant, "your father did it to himself," I could care less-ness, he snaps and backs over her with his car, killing her probably instantly. He calls Bonnie, his older lady sex buddy and Annalise's right hand woman. Unfortunately she can't move unless Annalise makes that hand puppet gesture to make her talk. She calls Annalise just as the woman learns of the news of Nate, Asher's father and Frank being unable to figure out where this Asian girl is until now.

In one of the most brilliantly shot scenes of the show, Annalise breaks down a scheme to save Nate, to clear her client the young Black guy, to save Asher and to make Sinclair's death look like something that no one had much of anything to do with. Her plan is as follows: bring Sinclair's dead body to the house under the guise that she invited the woman there to discuss the startling new evidence of the gun; once there, throw the already dead body off the roof and make it look like she was either pushed by Asian girl or she fall off by accident; clean and disinfect her car of any DNA left behind by Nate; clean and disinfect Asher's car from having hit her; find the Asian girl and drug her with something either so powerful that she appears to have committed suicide, or powerful enough to send her into a blackout state where she could have tried to kill Annalise; and finally, take a bullet in the leg after calling the police and telling them that the Asian girl attacked and tried to kill her and Sinclair. Yeah, craziness.

Not only does this all have to come together perfectly, but the thing that stood out to me as something they completely missed was the forensic evidence left on Sinclair's body. If she got hit by Asher's car and ended up under his chassis, most likely she has flakes of paint, tire rubber, undercarriage metal and/or leaked fluids somewhere on her body. Even if the impact of her body upon the ground when they dropped her from the roof pulverized her bones and exploded her organs enough, she would have been in full rigor mortis by then and a decent pathologist would know that. Where's Rosewood and Bones when you need them? Oh, right. They're on FOX. I digress.

The biggest mystery since the first episode of the season has been who shot Annalise. After hanging up from 9-1-1, we got the answer with Latina girl and Michaela both turning down the opportunity. Connor, the morally corrupt gay guy from last year who somewhere along the line grew a conscience, also turns her down. Even Wes at first says no, but like all we viewers should have known from jump, he gives into the madness and shoots her in the stomach when she finally admits that Rebecca has been dead this whole time. The only reason he doesn't finish the job with a bullet to her head is because she calls out the name Kristoff, leading to a flashback years earlier.


Who is Kristoff? Wes is Kristoff, sitting in an interrogation room as someone struggles to tell him what happened to his mother. Behind the viewing glass stands Annalise in her best Moesha 90s braids/twists and Famke as her girlfriend back then. And so ends the twisty goodness of HTGAWM for 2015. When will it return? TGIT won't be back until February 11th. Mark you calendars now people.

Why Do You Always Have That Same Look On Your Face? 

What do you think? Was that a good end for the first half of the season? Was the shooter who you expected? Do you think that they'll get caught from all the clear oversights of evidence on Sinclair's body? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking
If you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind#DARKER#BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "who shot me, but you punks didn't finish. Now you 'bout to feel the wrath of a menace. Sucka, I hit 'em up!"



P.S. If I started with Biggie it was only right that I end it with a Tupac reference, right? I'll think of a better, more original sign-off next time.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

So Most Women Want To Be Mistresses? #Scandal #ABC #WinterFinale #WhatTheHellShonda

So Most Women Want To Be Mistresses? #Scandal #ABC #WinterFinale #WhatTheHellShonda


All pictures courtesy of ABC 


What the hell, Shonda (#WhatTheHellShonda). After a few days to digest and ruminate on the winter finale (#WinterFinale) of Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder (recap coming tomorrow or later today), I could only develop one question and not in the OMG-goodness kind of way. This episode was just... I don't even know how to explain it. Cringe-worthy? Check! Not what we anticipated? Sorta check! What we wanted to see? Hell no! But it did tie into my thoughts and theories I was going to write about in a few weeks. I'll write about it now while everyone still has yet to find their mind after losing it watching that episode.

Jake shot him in the head. Sweet Revenge!

To begin, I have to give Scandal (#Scandal) and Shonda some credit for not killing off their devil played by the black guy. Having already killed off not one but two black guys (sometimes we still miss you, Columbus Short; Russell, we hardly knew ye) it was refreshing to see one of them stay around and alive, even though his living is a disappointment fan-wise. The whole story with Rowan being kidnapped by Huck and sitting in some abandoned factory with him while they did nothing was such a let down that I had to rewind my DVR twice just to see that I hadn't missed something. You mean to tell me that Huck didn't even cut off a big toe? After all that he just drops him off back at home? And then Jake comes and goes inside to have Christmas dinner with him? What. The. Hell? Didn't this same dude try to have you both killed at one point? No, he isn't family no matter how much he's brainwashed you so why treat him this way. I mean, Caesar and Brutus were like brothers and even Brutus didn't have a problem plunging that knife into ol' dude's back (or front, I can't remember the specifics). The only possible satisfying end to his story that I can see is if Liv or her mother finally do him in.

Murray Christmas! 

Then there's the rest of the story. Spotlighting Mellie's struggle as a junior senator, while great, I think might have done a disservice in some ways to some viewers. Look, I'm a story/TV/movie/book junkie so I'll keep watching something usually until the wheels fall off (I don't like not finishing things I've started), but I know tons of people don't like politics in their show even when it's a show about politics. Mellie's filibustering for the non-discretionary funding of Planned Parenthood is current and moving but I didn't feel like it shed a great light on modern feminism, at least when it concerned the rest of the show. First off, there was little mention of the big issue surrounding the defunding even if it does only make up 3% of what Planned Parenthood does--abortions. It wasn't an impassioned speech about all the other things the organization does (something which would have actually benefited viewers who don't know) and when that very topic is brought up we get a cut-away to something else. That, coupled with Liv's turn at the end, made it feel like the whole recent Planned Parenthood brouhaha was "totally about abortion" even though everyone said and the producers probably even agree that "it had nothing to do with abortion." Was anyone else confused?

As expected, because Liv saw Mellie's stand as one of female empowerment, and because she was bored to tears with her one-week stay in the White House, she tries helping her once adversary to remain on the floor so the budget wouldn't be passed by midnight. Mellie does succeed but I wonder at what cost to her political career going forward. She's not an old head here, she doesn't have any allies from what they've shown so far (at least not in the senate), there are tons of burned bridges left in ruin between her and her husband's staff and she just called every congress member out on their own BS funding. While she's made a name for herself to the public, inside Congress where it matters she's basically done nothing to ingratiate herself into a clique, and sadly, cliques are how things get done in Washington.

Side note: Is red the only color Mellie can wear anymore? Literally almost every week she's in red. 

Now, to move on to the most heart-wrenching part of the episode, Liv and Fitz. Where do I begin? To start, Liv has only been living in the White House for a few days, or weeks at the most. The previous episode where Fitz had her stuff moved in also had the Christmas tree up already so it's gotta be somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yet, even in that short amount of time she's shown as bored, mopey and disdainful for everything about being there. She hasn't even given herself or the situation time to settle. The countless holiday parties are getting to her as she reacts almost as bad to being asked about a cookie recipe as she did when she learned of her father's involvement with B6-13. What unrighteousness is this to have to engage in seasonal chit-chat with another woman, as if the men are constantly talking about the most important things ever. I got news for you people, the people who talk the most about politics and what needs to happen in this country are actually political pundits, not politicians unless they're being called onto a talk show. Why do you think nothing ever really gets done in D.C.? You think that people so obsessed with their jobs would take so many vacations or "recesses" from voting or would have time to make small talk about their March Madness brackets, or try to crack jokes about each other at those correspondents' dinners? Hell no! There's other stuff to do and talk about all the time. Yet, Liv doesn't see it this way.

Falling into the duties of a housewife, Olivia sees to more Christmas decorations, makes sure she gets those cookies to that lady and spends much of her time doing absolutely nothing but watching Mellie do the pee-dance on live television. It's become painfully apparent that the world truly doesn't revolve around her. Mind-blowing! In her boredom does she call her office to see if they have a case? No. What about seeing where Huck is or where her father is? Nope. Instead she wallows, briefly pulling her self from the self-imposed muck to help Mellie.

Forget the months I took off work to do nothing multiple times, I've been here a few weeks and I'm already going crazy.

Finally, when she is to be with Fitz at another dinner that night, she skips it to apparently have an abortion? What? Hold on, so she was pregnant with Fitz's baby, the love of her life's baby, the all-time great man Fitzgerald Grant's baby, the one who she enslaved with her... everything's baby and she gets rid of it? And without even telling him? Whoa! OK. As if that isn't shocking enough, and in-line with Mellie's story about Planned Parenthood and how, yes, the funding really is about abortion and nothing else that they saw fit to cover, she then comes home to have an argument with him.

Not just an argument, it's the argument. In the most side-eye inducing, side-chicky, narcissistic slut walk drivel ever, she expresses how she now feels trapped by him and that it's his fault, he's punishing her because she let out the man that killed his son; that she only got the good parts of him and not all of him before, and now that she sees all of who and what he is, she doesn't want it. Quite possibly the biggest sigh I've ever sighed escaped from my mouth. It's over. Their five season love affair is ended by a few weeks of actually having him, of actually living with him, of actually being his woman and he, her man. And she moves out of the White House and back into her place. And this is why I had my theory from literally episode three of this series. And this is why some people are so quick to blame gold-diggers and side chicks.


My theory has always been that Olivia Pope never (read: never ever ever) wanted to be the main woman. She does not want to be the wife, nor does she even want to be the only girlfriend. She always wanted to be and still wants to be the mistress. Now, I still enjoy viewing and discussing shows in common with my family members, mainly my mother. She could not fathom why a woman, especially of Liv's ilk, could want such a position. I explained just as Liv said in her speech that when you're the mistress you have it easier than the wife. You get the hot sex, you get spoiled and treated the way he used to treat his wife in the early days, you get his happy side. What you don't get our the expectations that come with being his wife, you possibly don't have to take care of his kids (every situation is different) and you don't get the back and forth nagging until the relationship is ready to end. Oh, but what about all the heartache and the pain and blah blah blah! All of that wraps itself up into passion. In other words, that not only becomes tolerated but welcomed because "that's how they know it's real." Since the man is doing something forbidden you know that you're getting the bad boy side of him and let's not act like the bad boy motif is something only found in books and never in real life.

I know, this is not only a longer post than usual, but it's probably pissing some long-time fans off, but know that this "love story" that the show has been billed as was never between Fitz and Liv. It was between Liv and the idea of being wanted uncontrollably by a man who can't fully have her. The fact that he is the president does not matter. Her job really does not matter. Yes, she spun it as some new age feminist BS (really, look back at the earlier feminists to compare and contrast) that no matter what she did, she'd lose her identity behind him. Because, you know, nobody even hears about Michelle Obama. I don't even think she's done anything with her husband's platform since he's been in office, right? God forbid that she claim stake on how she wants to be the first lady. Liv doesn't even bother to try to be different than those women before her, instead giving up because none of it is what she wants in the moment. And why? Because she's always wanted to be the mistress, be the one who is pined over, searched for, sought after, but never fully gotten. Their past break-ups were never her trying to spare his career or her own, but served only to keep him at arm's length whenever things got too close to being real. She doesn't want real, she wants fantasy.

People with sense. Real adults. People who are actually in love. Want me to go on?

Trust that they will probably write the character in a way that suggests she just "wasn't ready" for things with Fitz at the time, but that's not the real story. The truth--and here's what I've always expected to happen come the end of this series--is that she is not that white hatted person she so desperately wants to be. The truth is that she is just as ruthless as her father, even more so than her mother. The truth is that the only realistic end to the series is for her to end up not just without Fitz, not just alone, but unhappy because that is actually what she deserves. See, it's not just enough for her to be alone because being alone or single is no great punishment, but she has to be unhappy too. Why? Because she has flirted not just with Fitz, but with love personified far too often not to end up having "love" break her heart.

What do you think? I know there are plenty of fans out there who I'm sure disagree with a lot of what I said, so sound off if you're on both sides. Did you think that the fallback argument of blaming Fitz for this was good, or did it just make her look like a whiny baby? Were you just as shocked as I was about the abortion? Do you still want to see Olitz live to see Vermont? Or are you starting to lean toward my expected ending? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking
If you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind#DARKER#BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "when a rich man want ya, and your current man can't do nothin' for ya. Ohhh! These *** ain't loyal."


P.S. OK, admittedly the thoughts and lyrics from that great philosopher Chris Brown is taking it too far into misogyny. I apologize, but don't say that you didn't unexpected laugh when you realized, "is this fool quotin' Chris Brown? What the...?" I think of a better sign-off next time.

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Friday, November 20, 2015

So The Future Kinda Looks Like Nevada #HeroesReborn #NBC #WinterFinale

So The Future Kinda Looks Like Nevada #HeroesReborn #NBC #WinterFinale

All pictures courtesy of NBC 


It has been a long week, ladies and gentlemen and I am thoroughly exhausted. I'll be speaking about my activities from the previous week in and upcoming post but for now just know that my days were spent doing manual labor from 10am to 7pm just in my yard for my "vacation." Then I came in and would still try to work and do some blogging. Maddening stuff. Anyway, with all my day time consumed I would have lost my mind had I not been able to relax with some prime time TV of my fave shows' winter finales (#WinterFinale).
One such show was Heroes Reborn (#HeroesReborn). After the past few episodes in which it was revealed the history of Tommy, the weird white eskimo girl that turned out to be his sister, the Katana Girl and a slew of other secrets (really, if you haven't been keeping up you've got to take the weekend to binge), this week the show turned its eye toward the future.


A brief glimpse at earth over 7,000 years into the future from last week with Katana Girl continued into this week as she approached the oasis city in the barren wasteland that was the remains of earth. Remembering that she was a digital manifestation, a mimicking program based off of a real live girl who was dying, she wondered how she suddenly appeared from nowhere several thousand years after her initial creation. Wasting little time, she immediately starts kicking butt in the new city, this gateway to the future, she comes across her own father or rather the guy who created her. Not only does he introduce her to the real life girl on which she's based, he gives her a new mission similar to the old one to find and save the time traveler who is now Tommy and not Hiro.

Speaking of, Tommy awakes to the house (read: lair) of the evil Renautas CEO lady. Giving him a hell of a pitch that even made me think she was one of the good guys (still think she might be), she convinces him to take them to the future so they can see her plan to save the world and how it's going. The future the same as with Katana Girl, he sees nothing for miles until they go to the future city. There, he encounters tons of scientist and other worker bees trying to grow crops, recreate genetic biodiversity and replenish the world of it's secondary life (if humans are thought of as the primary). She also tells him that his "father" Hiro was helping her with transporting these things through time. While she doesn't fully reveal her plan for a specific list of people she wants to go, she feels the boy is thoroughly convinced after their tour and will actually help. And he does want to help until Katana Girl rescues him.


Meanwhile, back in current times Noah and his granddaughter start their pilgrimage back to Odessa as was planned long ago. While on the way, they re-encounter Zachary Levi's character as he wants only to help after Malina saved his life. Though Noah refuses his help, he figures it is best to follow (read: stalk) them in a not-so-conspicuous vehicle. When they all run into a traffic jam on the highway caused by some great ominous black cloud that is powerful enough to lift whole cars, Malina jumps out the car and does her thing. As a side note, am I the only one who still doesn't fully understand her powers? What the hell does she do? Is she like a more tuned-in, more powerful Storm from X-men? Don't know.

The black cloud nearly proves too much, even tossing a car Noah's way before she finally stops it. Noah's life is save, we're assuming by Tommy as he is instantly transported out of there before the car smashes him. Malina then has to leave with Zachary Levi because some non-Evos are rallying their hatred.


Finally, the farm story where Malina's old guardian Farah, her ex-Bf(?) Carlos and evil lady's daughter have all wound up brings back another vet of the series, the mind reader. While Carlos is concerned with escaping with his nephew, Malina is concerned with escaping with her life and evil lady's daughter is concerned with screwing up her mother's plans by finding the leader of this underground Evo resistance group, all the mind reader cares about is if he's on the list to go to the future. After a little torture and threats of killing Carlos in front of Malina, the two manage to escape when he's called away to a doppleganger evil lady. Not much sense or connection is really made between what is being done on the farm and the rest of the story, however, all three of the good guys are united as they try leaving the compounding. And that was when the producers/writers decided to give us the old Matrix sequels treatment and put up the "To Be Continued" script over a black screen. Sorry, people, but with only three episodes left we'll have to wait until January 9th to for more answers to the questions we all have.

Am I on the list? Please tell me I am. 

What do you think? Do you think that Renautas is actually good in a sense and that Noah and the others will somehow come together with them to save the world? Do you think Malina's powers can save the world? And what about Katana Girl? Were you surprised to see her again? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking
If you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind#DARKER#BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "There's only one week between now and Gobble Day. Be prepared for anything... especially that cranberry sauce in a can stuff. That's delicious."


P.S. Having just finished off a half bag of chips, I am very hungry right now. Unfortunately, I'm also very sleepy and I have to cook dinner. I'll think of something better next time.

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