Geekscape Recaps: ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ – Marooned

by jake108March 4, 2016

Note: Check out our recaps of last week’s episodes of The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow!

While Arrow and The Flash are away, Legends of Tomorrow continues its run in exciting fashion. Last night, we had more than a few easter eggs, found out the Waverider could travel into deep space, and we were dealt a pretty big cliffhanger. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Eve Baxter

The majority of the episode involves Rip and company boarding a Time Master ship that’s sending out a distress call. Quickly, Rip and co find out that the ship has been boarded by Space Pirates. The ship’s real captain, Eve Baxter, had been taken prisoner. In the cell, we find out that Baxter is up to date when it comes to news regarding Rip Hunter. From her immediate perspective, Rip is a fugitive on the run from the Time Masters. She makes her allegiance clear, something that eventually changes by the end of the episode. Baxter is also probably a nod to Bonnie Baxter, one of Rip’s colleagues.

In the comics, Baxter is a scientist. After being ousted from her previous group of colleagues, Baxter joins Rip in his time-traveling adventures.

Acheron

Baxter’s ship, the Acheron, is possibly named after a Greek River. In Greek mythology, it is believed that there are five rivers in the Underworld. Acheron is known as the River of Pain. If you’re not into that sort of stuff, Acheron is also the name one of the moons orbiting Calpamos in the fictional Alien/Blade Runner universe.

Black Pirate

The Space Pirates were headed by one man, Jon Valor. While Jon Valor’s comic iteration has little to no resemblance of who we saw last night, it’s impossible to ignore just what the creative team did with the character.

In the comics, Black Pirate is a 16th century hero that is wrongfully charged with the murder of his son. Upon execution, Valor casts a spell that would enable him and his crew to never rest until his name is cleared.

See? Big difference.

Imperiex

During the episode, Rip Hunter made reference to the “Imperix onslaught.” Of course, Rip was just trying to scare Valor into thinking Ray Palmer was a legendary warrior, but for those of you that don’t know, Imperix was a pretty big enemy to the Justice League and life as we know it.

Imperix came to our solar system with the intention of hollowing it out so that he may create anew. This caused the Justice League not only to align with Lex Luthor, but with Darkseid and Warworld too. This cosmic event ended with Superman throwing Warworld, Brainiac 13, and Imperix through a Boomtube created by Darksied, which then sent them back to the big bang. That was a mouth full.

Kanjar Ro

Rip made another reference to Kanjar Ro, a villain of Superman’s and the Justice League. His reference came at another point in which he was trying to intimidate Valor. In the comics, Kanjar Ro is a schemer. He plots and eventually enacts these grand plans.

In one case, his sister became warden of a prison that would house super-villains on another planet. In this case, Kanjar Ro was casting a net to catch all of the Justice League’s enemies and use them for his own bidding.

Heat Wave

The fate of Heat Wave will ultimately have to be shown next week, or at a later date. It’s impossible to say what exactly happened, but I doubt Snart actually killed his partner. Much of the episode built up to this and for those of you who have been watching The Flash, this confrontation has been a long time coming.

Heat Wave and Captain Cold’s relationship has always been clear to us: Cold is the brains and Mick is the muscle. Mick has always been relying on Snart and his mind to get them jobs and conduct heists. That isn’t to say Mick doesn’t have a brain either though. In any case, Mick had it with Snart’s orders and the confrontation ensued. If anything, I would think Snart froze Mick or froze his legs so that the ice would eventually melt and Mick would be free to go. Exactly where and when he was dropped off is also an important question. Regardless, I sincerely hope we haven’t seen the last of Mick Rory.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-u8O3Aomc0

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Taken

by jake108February 24, 2016

Note: Catch our recaps of last week’s Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and last night’s episode of The Flash!

Luckily for us, we were once again treated to a solid episode of Arrow and will now have to wait until next month to see what will become of H.I.V.E., Olicity, Merlyn, and Star City. This entire season, it seems that the show has been afraid of doing something to change the formula up, or something irreversible for that matter. Tonight, Arrow took a step in the right direction.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Vixen

We got our first live-action appearance of another beloved DC hero in Vixen. In the comics, Vixen is a respected businesswoman, a model, and a warrior. Thanks to the Tantu Totem, she is able to wield the power of pretty much the entire animal kingdom. The history of the totem derives from legend, mainly being that the totem was created with the purpose of protecting the innocent. In regards to Arrow‘s continuity, it would seem that Darhk has had some experience with the totem in the past and knows full well of its capabilities. In this episode, Darhk made reference to seeing it before. As we know Darhk has had an usual long life, which was evidenced in an earlier episode of Legends of Tomorrow. Through history, the totem was then passed down through generations until it reached the McCabe’s, and then Mari McCabe herself.

Vixen has also been affiliated with the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Birds of Prey. As far as the Arrow‘s continuity goes, Vixen has appeared in an animated series that is cannon with both Arrow and The Flash. You can find these episodes here.

Magical Artifacts

Finally, we found out the source of Darhk’s power. We first got a glimpse of how Darhk was fueling his magic in the first episode of the season. With the help of Vixen, the artifact that was powering Darhk was destroyed, rendering him extremely vulnerable. Oliver took him down and Darhk is now behind bars.

However, it is foolish for anyone to think Darhk doesn’t have some kind back up totem stored away. I’m not saying he’ll come back with the same powers, but it’s unlike Darhk not to have any contingencies.

Constantine

It’s always nice to hear what Constantine has been up to since his appearance on Arrow earlier this season. When Team Arrow was looking to Oliver for external help, Constantine’s name was brought up. Oliver responded by saying Constantine was in Hell. Sounds about right.

Since then, Constantine’s presence on the show has had a ripple effect in the present, and in Oliver’s flashbacks. In this episode, the tattoo Constantine gave Oliver on his abdomen glowed when Reiter opened up an entrance to a cave. After spooky-scary Conklin showed up, Oliver was granted passage into whatever that cave leads to.

Merlyn

At the end of the episode, it was revealed that Malcolm Merlyn abducted William at a play to get on Darhk’s good side. While this action appears to be so on the surface, under-the-surface, it would appear as if Merlyn may be making a play at a bigger role.

Since the League of Assassin’s has been disbanded, Merlyn hasn’t been quite ready for retirement. Instead, I think Merlyn is going to make a strong push to assume Darhk’s reign as a sort of General in the ranks of H.I.V.E. We do know that Darhk wasn’t the sole authority in H.I.V.E., but rather answered to a committee of sorts. It doesn’t matter if the committee was afraid of Darhk, now that he’s behind bars and all, so what better opportunity for Merlyn to jump at the chance at playing the committee to allow him assume control of H.I.V.E.? I mean, he already has Ra’s Al Ghul on his resumé. In the coming weeks, I think we can expect Merlyn going full villain again, which may lead to showdown between Darhk, Oliver, and H.I.V.E. entirely. Sprinkle in a little Deathstroke in there, and it may look like we’re in for an adventure within the next 7 episodes.

Felicity

Well, that didn’t last too long. The end of Oliver and Felicity’s relationship came to an end with this episode, and for good reason. Oliver has lied a lot over the last four seasons and Felicity has had enough? Will they get back together? Probably. Will it happen soon? Probably not. I can see awkwardness between Felicity and Oliver for the remainder of the season, up until we find out who’s in the grave.

Who’s in the Grave?!

I haven’t changed my stance on exactly who’s in the grave. I firmly believe is Donna, Felicity’s mom. However, I would like to propose a new theory as to who’s responsible for whoever is in the grave. This whole season, we’ve been building up to who’s in the grave assuming Damien Darhk is the one who committed the murder. Should Merlyn make the push and assume leadership of H.I.V.E., I believe it will be Merlyn who is responsible for who’s in the grave.

Think about it. Aside from whoever is six feet under, what’s making Oliver even more distraught could be the person responsible. Oliver remarks at the gravesite his intention to kill again and how dark everything has become. A couple of episodes back, Oliver and Merlyn saw eye-to-eye when it came to helping Thea. That relationship fell apart when Oliver bested Merlyn in combat and took the League of Assassins leadership away from him. Merlyn did not hide the fact that he is incredibly angry with Oliver and made his feelings clear. Not only that, but his relationship with Thea also fell apart at the end of this episode. With his ties severed, we now have a enraged nothing-to-live-for Malcolm Merlyn hellbent on destroying Oliver Queen and everything he stands for. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the showdown.

Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – King Shark

by jake108February 24, 2016

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

What you see above is one of the many interactions between The Flash and Hunter Zolomon, otherwise known as Zoom. Tonight, we were dealt with a very good episode in having the return of King Shark and the reveal of Zoom’s identity. However, just when you think you have it all nailed down, one tug and your entire theory becomes unraveled. But don’t worry, this is a place where we can all come together and just try and figure out what the hell is going on in this show.

King Shark

King Shark made a return this week, and with the help of Diggle and Lyla, Flash was able to bring him down for good. Lyla, who I should mention had a formal introduction as the head of A.R.G.U.S. this episode, was not as harsh as Waller would have been.

It should also be noted that under Lyla’s leadership, we’re starting to learn some of A.R.G.U.S.’ secrets. For instance, Lyla let slip that A.R.G.U.S. had been tracking meta-humans since the particle accelerator explosion. This isn’t surprising, considering Waller created the Suicide Squad we became accustomed to in Arrow. Had the Squad lived on, we could only expect that Waller would have much preferred to have Meta’s on the team. In the comics, King Shark is a vital member of the Suicide Squad.

Aside from having super-strength and being an excellent swimmer, King Shark is villainous in nature. He has been a part of a few groups, namely the Society of Super Villains and the Suicide Squad, but King Shark usually keeps to himself. Will we seem him again? Initially, I said “No.” This time, I’m going with yes.

Caitlin

Caitlin has had arguably the strongest development this season. Since the show’s beginning, Caitlin has had a roller-coaster of emotions. And now, having been bamboozled by Zoom (more on that in a bit), Caitlin is now put into a place where she can have a huge impact later this season, and in the show.

It was also brought up again that Caitlin does not have the Meta-Human gene, and thus cannot gain any Meta powers. Does this mean she’ll never become Killer Frost in Earth 1? Honestly, I wouldn’t count that out just yet.

Breaches

They’re done. They’re closed forever. This is what we were told at the start of the episode. This may remain true for the rest of the season, but the fact of the matter remains that Barry WILL go back to Earth 2, and he WILL meet Zoom again. Now, it’s just a matter of how.

Looking at the facts, we know Barry is due to have a run in with Supergirl in the crossover event, “World’s Finest.” When Barry and co travled to Earth-2, we saw that Supergirl was indeed on another Earth. We also know there are an infinite amount of Earths. It’s entirely possible here that Team Flash develops a way to travel different Earths, but it’s not a sure bet. In this case, Barry accidentally travels to Supergirl’s Earth, which would be Earth-3 or 4…

All we really need to know is that when it comes to Team Flash, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Zoom

Well, Zoom is Hunter Zolomon disguised as Earth-2 Jay Garrick. According to Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg, Zoom was able to embed himself as a member of Team Flash from the beginning.

For Barry and the others, as much as they were stung by Wells/Thawne’s betrayal, he had been their mentor and friend and they all felt that vacuum when he was gone. Jay had been watching them and knew that so he was able to masterfully step into the role each of them needed. He became a friend and mentor to Barry. A love interest to the heartbroken Caitlin. He skillfully played them all.

In my first recap, I pointed out how odd it was seeing Jay Garrick taking pictures of Barry.

For all we know, Jay Garrick is Professor Zoom in disguise. The pictures could have been used to show Atom Smasher who The Flash was. After all, Atom Smasher did say he had been dealt a curveball when Barry appeared at his hideout, claiming, “I thought I was going to have to come looking for you.”

I have since brought up my suspicions through the last few weeks and it has all culminated to tonight’s reveal. Still, I am extremely confident that there’s more to this than meets the eye. Now, we’re going to transition into a number of theories as to how this is all possible, who the man in the mask is, and how it’s all connected. I cannot guarantee your sanity by end of this article.

First, let’s look at the facts. Hunter Zolomon is indeed Zoom. The Jay Garrick that was a part of Team Flash on Earth-1 needed the speedforce to stay alive. Zoom was after Barry’s speed as well. According to Fake-Garrick, his grandfather fought in the War of the Americas on Earth-2. The Masked Man used a POW tap code to communicate. Now, onto the theories…

Twin Theory – This theory is straight out of a telenovela. It goes a little something like this: On Earth-1, there are a set of Jay Garrick twins. One, of course, is Jay Garrick, and the other is Hunter Zolomon. These set of twins also exist on Earth-2. Bear with me, but this theory suggests that Earth-2 Hunter Zolomon is Zoom. Earth-2 Jay Garrick is currently the man in the mask. Earth-1 Jay Garrick is the one seen on the bench seen a couple of weeks back and Earth-1 Zolomon is MIA.

All of this coincides with the fact that Earth-2 Zolomon has been parading around as Earth-2 Jay Garrick to trick Team Flash on Earth-1.

Shape-Shifting Tech – Last season, we witnessed Eobard Thawne use a piece of technology on Earth-1 Harrison Wells that allowed him to steal his appearance in order to speed up the creation of the particle accelerator. Is it possible that Zolomon used this piece of tech on Earth-2 Jay Garrick in order to trick Team Flash into trusting him? In this theory, the real Jay Garrick is still the one in the mask.

Clones – A common motif in cloning stories is that the clone itself suffers from some sort of degenerative ailment. The Jay Garrick we thought we knew was dying. He needed speed to stay alive. Is it possible Zolomon cloned Jay Garrick, making the clone version of Garrick incompetent in the process? Cloning is not out of the realm of DC and in Arrow, we did see a clue to Cadmus’ existence. As a mentor, Garrick didn’t do much for Barry. He also conveniently lost his speed. Zoom rushed to phase his arm through the breach, hoping to kill either Wells or Barry, but instead killed Garrick. This was obviously not Zoom’s plan.

Rival – Still with me? Great. Rival’s alias is Edward Clariss. In the comics, Clariss was obsessed with Garrick and his speed. When he believed he recreated the formula that gave Garrick his speed, he was rejected by everyone around him. Clariss fell to a dark place and became a criminal with the help of his formula.

This formula granted Clariss speedster-like powers, but only for a time. Sound familiar?

Infinite Earths – For the simple minded, the events can be explained as so: Hunter Zolomon is on Earth-1 and has no powers. Jay Garrick is The Flash of Earth-2. Hunter Zolomon is Zoom, and Garrick of Earth-3. The Masked Man is Jay Garrick of Earth-4. Yes, it’s a bit of stretch, but so have most of the theories that have been published here.

The Masked Man

We have to wait a full three weeks before The Flash returns. I briefly mentioned this above, but I wanted to expand on it a bit more before leaving you all. If Zolomon has been parading around as Garrick in Earth-1, then he would have to earn the trust of Team Flash. One such way, aside from filling in the mentor role for Barry and love-interest for Caitlin, is to fill in backstory with details. These details can range from the important ones, such as the story he told Team Flash of when he fought Zoom just before arriving on Earth-1, to minute details like the origins of his helmet.

If you remember way back, what we presume to be Fake-Garrick mentioned that his helmet belonged to his grandfather who fought in The War of the Americas. I am convinced that The War of the Americas was a real event on Earth-2, however, I don’t think Garrick’s grandfather fought in it. In the comics, Garrick is often portrayed as an older, more experienced Flash. I believe we haven’t seen the real Jay Garrick’s face yet because it’s behind the mask. If Garrick fought in the war, then it makes total sense that the Masked Man used a POW tap code in an effort to communicate with Barry and Jesse. It also makes sense that the code was used to spell out “Jay Garrick.” When Barry reacted by telling him that he had been working with Jay Garrick all along, the Masked Man looked extremely distraught and angered. I think this is because the Masked Man was trying to tell Barry his name, and not the name of Zoom.

https://youtu.be/ZXamlee0H1I

Overall, I strongly believe we’re due to see the real Jay Garrick soon. It’s going to be fun seeing just how they explain this in the coming episodes.

Did I miss anything? Have something to add? Don’t be afraid to comment! See you in three weeks!

Catch our recaps of last week’s episodes of The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ – Fail Safe

by jake108February 19, 2016

Note: Check our recaps of The Flash, Arrow, and last week’s Legends of Tomorrow!

It seems with every week, this show ramps up the action, special effects, drama. ‘Fail Safe’ did not disappoint. It what was touted to be the second biggest prison break for both Captain Cold and Heat Wave, we were also treated the reconciliation between Jackson and Stein which will most definitely lead to a stronger bond between the two. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Team Building in a Gulag

Palmer finally got through to Mick, even if Mick didn’t react to Palmer’s good deeds until the tail end of the episode. While this episode was a continuation of last week’s adventure, a number of steps were taken by all team members in developing as characters. Palmer, however, developed the least, but had the most impact on changing the way Heat Wave thinks regarding the rest of the team. Cold has showed he has a heart and cares for others, aside from Mick, but Mick was the last one that had limited his caring to his gun and Cold. Palmer took a couple of beatings, one for Mick, and this lead to us seeing another side of Mick we had not yet seen.

Jackson and Stein came to a mutual understanding this episode. We also saw Stein overpower Valentina and stop her from using Firestorm powers on Jackson. This was mostly surprising because we’re just coming off a couple of weeks in Earth-2 in which Cisco encountered Deathstorm in The Flash. Cisco asks about Stein, and Ronnie remarks that he hasn’t heard Stein’s voice in a long time. Turns out, all Stein really needed was some words of encouragement.

Sara Lance

Sara was asked to kill Stien, if rescuing him became impossible. Cold repeatedly tried to convince her that she did not have to rush and pull the trigger on Stien. The resolution came when Cold told Sara that she “wasn’t that person anymore.” Sara is on a path to discovering herself yet again. Throughout her life, she has been subjected to what others have been telling her in regards to her purpose. In the first part of her life, she was Laurel’s little sister, and Oliver’s secret lover. Having had the experience on Lian-Yu, she was then brought into the League of Assassin’s by Nyssa Al Ghul.

After spending years as a killer, and an assassin on the run, Sara died. Her being brought back to life via the Lazarus Pit had its setbacks, namely the bloodlust, but the resurrection was more about her physical self living again. Now, while traveling through time, Sara is resurrecting who she is on the inside and coming into her own. Doing this is allowing her to combat her bloodlust through sheer will. Time will tell if she grows ill eventually like Thea did in the last couple of weeks of Arrow.

Star City 2046

With something this big, it’s hard not to look ahead. The rubble that is Star City appears to be caused by Savage and his forces, should the Legends fail. It’s likely that the Arrow we saw at the end of the episode was either Oliver’s son, Connor Hawke, or yet another sidekick that has yet to be seen.

As we know, Oliver has one son right now, William, but William doesn’t fit the description of the Connor Hawke found in the comics.

Another thing worth pointing out is the “Smoak” building, which seems to suggest Felicity had a rewarding career in taking over Palmer tech and Queen Consolidated. It could also mean that Felicity stepped away from Team Arrow and formed her own company.

Next week is shaping up to be a fan-favorite episode. I know I’m looking forward to it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEgd6_92etw

That’s all for this week! As always, thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Code of Silence

by jake108February 18, 2016

Note: Check out our recaps of The Flash and last week’s Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow!

Arrow continues its upswing this week with another solid episode in “Code of Silence.” The show is shaping up to have a pretty large payoff between Damien Darhk and Oliver Queen in the battle for Star City. While the show’s producers and the general public have formed a concusses that this season will be a little lighter than previous ones, I’m thinking it may be one of the darhkest. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Lance

An attempt was made on Captain Lance’s life at the start of the episode by a new team employed by Darhk himself. This Demolition Team’s sole purpose is to go around Star City, strategically place timed bombs, and trap targets inside a crumbling building. It’s a little excessive, sure, but they did give Team Arrow a run for their money and maybe a collapsed lung or two when Diggle took that sledgehammer to the chest.

After the first attempt, Lance went into hiding in Team Arrow’s lair, fearing for his life. In an effort to secure Donna’s (Felicity’s Mom) safety, he hid the truth from her and put some distance between himself and her. By the end of the episode, they had reconciled and everything was okay again once Lance told her the whole truth. And with that, Donna has taken yet another step into this dangerous world of Darhk vs. Queen.

Demolition Team

The team had a brief stint in the comics as hired villains. Nothing is really known about how the team got together or their individual histories, but one thing is for certain: Most of them were killed by OMAC’s (Cyborgs created by Brainiac that take over human bodies) during the Infinite Crisis.

In the show, it looks like they’ll be spending lots of time in Iron Heights.

Diggle and Lyla

Is it me, or has Diggle been a little mean lately? He’s probably not getting enough sleep due to baby duty, oh and because Lyla is now the head of A.R.G.U.S. With Waller’s death, Lyla has stepped up in what will most definitely be a reoccurring asset to Team Arrow and Flash.

While I am still bummed about the death of Waller, I hope Lyla is written well enough to show a different A.R.G.U.S. under her leadership.

Damien Darhk

At the start of the episode, Darhk and the committee that he sorta(?) answers to is about to begin Phase 4. What’s important to recognize here is that Merlyn has dropped by to join Darhk’s campaign. Last week, I was overjoyed at the notion of Merlyn becoming full-time villain again. Looks like we didn’t have to wait long.

After Darhk’s wife loss the debate by a landslide, the office is likely going to go to Oliver Queen. However, my first thought at the notion of a debate was that Darhk’s wife would suddenly bring up William, Oliver’s son. Looks like Darhk is playing this one close to the chest as it is revealed that he already has William in his possession. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if William is used publicly as leverage, but Darhk has the potential to be even more sinister.

As of right now, the only people that know about William are Barry, Thea, Darhk, and Merlyn. It’s easy to jump to conclusions as to who’s in the grave, but I maintain the theory I’ve had for more than a few weeks.

Who’s in the Grave?!

William seems like the likely candidate. The second most-likely candidate is William’s mom, Samantha. We don’t know exactly what happened to her when Darhk obtained William, but it probably wasn’t good. Leaving her alive would leave yet another loose end open, but Darhk has struggling to kill Lance for a couple of months now, so she might actually be fine. I think William’s identity will be revealed to the whole team. Felicity will be hurt, at first, because Oliver did so much to hide it. Felicity’s mom, Donna, will probably react the same way because of her history with Felicity’s father. However, now that she see’s the side of lying for your own protection, she may come to terms with it rather quickly as well, and love William as her own grandson.

This love, as it has been displayed numerous times this season and season’s past, has the potential to put herself in danger if it means saving the loved one. This was foreshadowed in this week’s episode when Donna was ready to head back into the building to help Oliver clear it of innocent civilians during the bomb scare. With that, I maintain that Donna sacrifices her life, possibly for William, and ends up in the grave by the end of the season. William, whether her mom is alive or not, will probably have to go under a different alias from here on out. That name will probably be Connor Hawke.

Aside from all that, Mr. Terrific developed a piece of technology that can be implanted into Felicity’s spine, enabling her to walk again. This also follows the notion that the show is afraid of making drastic changes to its main cast, meaning Team Arrow is essentially safe and won’t be in any real danger this season. We already saw this with Thea, Felicity, and the rest of Team Arrow as they were trapped in the gas chamber earlier this season. In order to figure out who’s in the grave, we’ll have to really hone in on minor characters, such as Donna and William.

That’s all for this week! As always, thanks for reading!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxPY40aFqgc

Geekscape Recaps: “The Flash” – Escape From Earth-2

by jake108February 17, 2016

Note: Catch our recaps of last week’s episodes of The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow!

Last night, we got the second part of a two-part event revolving around a trip to Earth-2. While this episode didn’t have nearly as many easter eggs as last week, we got unbearably close to learning Zoom’s identity. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Earth-2

After Barry was captured and put in a cell near Jesse Quick and the masked man, efforts on behalf of Wells, Iris, and Cisco began immediately. With the help of Earth-2 Barry, the gang was able to locate Killer Frost and sorta convinced her to lead them to Zoom’s lair. I say “sorta” because later on, it was revealed that Frost had intended to bring Wells and co to Zoom’s lair all along. However, she double-crossed Zoom and froze him long enough for the group to get back to Star Labs and travel across the last breach.

Before the breach was fully closed, Zoom’s arm came out, phasing through Jay Garrick’s chest and taking the body back into Earth-2. We can assume that Killer Frost eventually ran out of juice and is now dead. We can also assume that Garrick is now also dead. That leaves Wells and Jesse Quick having to start new lives on Earth 1.

As for Earth-2 Barry and Iris, they plan on joining Barry’s parents in Atlantis in an effort to hide from Zoom. While Iris is probably the most competent officer in Earth-2’s CCPD, having lost her father and surviving multiple encounters with Zoom himself, she deserves some time off. If anywhere on Earth-2 is safe, it’s probably Atlantis. This is especially true if we are to assume Atlantis is under Aquaman’s protection.

In any case, it’s unfortunate that the Justice Society of America, which would be Earth-2’s version of the Justice League, has not formed yet. And if they have, I’m sure they won’t be too happy with the death of Jay Garrick.

Velocity-9 and Jesse Quick

For a while now, we’ve been constantly getting teased with the eventual appearance of Jesse Quick. It is with great hope that we also see her father, Johnny Quick, suit up as a speedster too. In the show, obviously Johnny Quick would come in the form of Wells. I’m still holding out for a Johnny and Jesse Quick, Flash, and Kid Flash vs Zoom showdown.

Velocity-9 and the next iterations may be the key for the Quick family getting their speedster-like powers. Only time will tell.

Zoom

Now we get to the most important aspect of last night’s episode: Who is Zoom? We have multiple candidates, and quite honestly, this show has me guessing still. When it’s all said and done, I’ll look back at this season fondly having known that the creative team behind this show did a great job keeping Zoom’s identity under wraps. Let’s go through the list:

Jay Garrick was my very first suspect in trying to guess Zoom’s identity. However, I think it makes more sense if we’ve actually been watching Hunter Zolomon parading around as Garrick this whole time. Last season, The Reverse-Flash introduced the notion of a speed mirage in which a speedster was able to appear in two places at the same time. Since Zoom is undeniably faster, an advanced speed mirage could be the answer as to why Jay Garrick interacted with Team Flash even while Zoom was on the playing field.

Garrick’s supposed death could also have easily been the product of a speed mirage as well. Pretty easy to disguise after pulling the body back in through the breach.

Eddie Thawne is another suspect as to who Zoom could be. We haven’t seen Eddie alive since the season one finale in which Eddie shot himself to prevent the Reverse-Flash from ever being born. His body was then sucked up into the singularity caused by Eddie’s action. It’s important to note that the singularity was blue, like Zoom, and was then lost. Zoom’s hatred for heroes falls in line with Eddie’s frame of mind. After shooting himself, Eddie told Iris something along the lines of wanting to be a hero in her eyes. After being mentally tortured by the Reverse-Flash, his relationship with Barry grew sour, knowing that he could never match Barry’s heroism because he didn’t have powers.

Now, having obtained powers similar to Barry’s, it’s possible Eddie wants to do away with Flash for good. Zoom constant uses phrases like “Heroes die” and “I am the fastest man alive.” The latter is something Barry is known for on Earth 1 and is even referred to as such by a number of people.

Henry Allen is another suspect among fans. While I don’t think Earth-1 Henry Allen has a shot at being Zoom, I do believe Earth-2 Henry Allen should be up for consideration. We haven’t seen him in Earth-2 yet, but are lead to believe that he is currently vacationing with Barry’s mom in Atlantis.

The Masked Man

There are many guesses as to who is trapped in the cell. From the looks of the hair though, I would have to guess it’s either Eddie Thawne or the real Jay Garrick. From last night’s episode, we gathered that the prisoner spelled out the name “JAY” using a complex POW pattern system. This is interesting because none of the character’s have been affiliated with any type of war. However, Jay Garrick knowing this pattern makes the most sense.

Early on in the season, Garrick made an off-handed comment about his helmet having once belonged to his grandfather as he served in the War of the Americas. If Zolomon was posing as Garrick, it would make sense that Zolomon would drop this little tidbit in an effort to provide backstory to his own persona in an effort to get Team Flash to trust him.

That’s all for this week! As always, thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ – White Knights

by jake108February 11, 2016

Note: Check out our recaps of this week’s episodes of The Flash, Arrow, and last week’s Legends of Tomorrow!

Legends of Tomorrow continues to ramp up the action and adventure with another episode this week. Along with some great one-liners, we were also treated to the return of Chronos, an appearance by a time master, and a very charming Captain Cold. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

The episode begins with the team traveling to Washington in 1986 to steal some documents detailing the whereabouts of Vandal Savage. After a mission inside the Pentagon, the team was able to acquire said documents, which then lead them to Soviet Russia.

After ingesting translators, the team was able to go down to the USSR and go incognito long enough to steal a key card that would lead to a secret Soviet lab. In that lab, Stein found that Savage, using the USSR, was trying to create their own version of a Firestorm.

The team is eventually split up in yet another mismanaged mission spearheaded by Rip Hunter. Next week, however, we’re getting an episode in which Captain Cold and company must rescue his friend, Mick, from a impenetrable Russian Gulag. Truly, this will be the ultimate prison break.

Kendra and Sara

Early on in the episode, Kendra kinda lost her cool at the Pentagon. She went into a full berserk mode and started clawing eyes out left and right. It took Firestorm to subdue her by flying her out of the mission area. After that episode, Rip tasked Sara to try and coach her up on controlling her rage.

Their first practice didn’t go as planned and Sara’s bloodlust started to show. This spooked Sara, which caused Kendra to speak to Rip about the ordeal. Rip then suggested that his original idea was for them to help each other with their inner-demons. It makes sense, and by the end of this season, it would be nice if Sara was able to have a handle on her bloodlust enough to be able to let it out at her will, instead of it taking over entirely. While we know there is a cure for her bloodlust, something we found out last night on Arrow, I can see Sara not wanting to change anything about herself when it’s all said and done.

Chronos

The time-traveling bounty hunter was at it again this episode. Rip was able to dodge Chronos’ first attempt at capturing Rip and his team. After being shot down by Russian jets, Chronos probably crash landed in a forest not too far from where Rip made his crash landing. It can be assumed that Chronos’ ship was heavily damaged and called for aid.

The back up showed up in the from of a Time Master, who journeyed from the Vanishing Point. They offered Rip a way out, but ultimately they planned to betray him all along. This instance solidifies that the Time Masters will not listen to Rip’s reasoning and solely care about keeping the timeline intact.

Firestorm

The Firestorm drama showed up in a big way tonight. Along with coming to terms with being kidnapped and forced to embark on this mission, Jax made it evident that he was angry with Stein, which lead to numerous instances in which Jax would not take Stein’s advice. After their heavy argument, Stein confessed to Ray Palmer that he could not bear to lose another Firestorm partner.

Ronnie Raymond, the first Firestorm, died last season in The Flash when he scarified himself to close a vortex, saving Central City and the world. After that, Stein realized that it was his partners who were continually putting themsleves in harms way. In an effort to keep them safe, Stein does the only thing he knows how to do and lectures Jax before, during, and after missions. However, this time was different in that Stein was purposely mean to Jax in order to get a point across.

All of this culminated in Stein sacrificing himself to complete the mission in the USSR secret lab. Upon discovering that the Soviets planned on creating their own Firestorm, Stein risked his life scuttling the Soviet’s tools. His effort resulted in getting captured, along with Heat Wave and Ray Palmer.

Before we leave on this, it’s entirely possible we will see the Soviet’s version of Firestorm in the form of Svarozhich. Svarozhich was a character in the comics, one that fought Firestorm briefly before being absorbed by him entirely. Svarozhich was a soulless clone created by the USSR to wreak havoc on their foes. Eventually, Svarozhich would cease to exist, but his powers were used for good.

USSR 1986

Take this with a grain of salt, but one of the tie-in’s between the show and our history comes in the form of an event that actually happened in January 1986. Dubbed “Height 611 UFO Incident,” this event came in the form of UFO crash in near some mountains. Sound familiar?

That’s all for this week! Did I miss something? Don’t be afraid to comment! As always, thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Sins of the Father

by jake108February 10, 2016

Note: Check out last week’s recaps of Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and last night’s episode of The Flash!

Fortunately for us, Arrow seems to be on an upswing. While Star City seems to be in chaos at all times, Oliver and Team Arrow devised a way to solve and prevent and full on League of Assassins Civil War. Let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

League of Assassins

The episode starts off rather quickly. This is something that is to be appreciated since this League business will not be drawn out over the course of two or three episodes. Nyssa tries, at first, to get Oliver to do her bidding. In her perspective, Oliver must appease her because technicially, in the League’s eyes, they are husband and wife. For the remaineder of the episode, Nyssa awkwardly referred to Oliver as “husband.”

Nyssa, armed with League loyalists, threatens to set Star City as the stage for their Civil War, should Merlyn not step down. This happens for what seems a couple of nights. Their war began for a couple of reasons, but mainly because Merlyn was not comfortable giving Nyssa the power that comes with controlling the League of Assassins. At first, Merlyn had the very good point of questioning where this Lotus elixir came from in the first place. This, unfortunately, was never answered. Katana was missing in action as well after seemingly giving up the Lotus freely to Nyssa.

The dispute ends when Oliver takes up the fight, in Nyssa’s place, and defeats Merlyn, Nyssa becomes Ra’s Al Ghul for a night before disbanding the League entirely. And so, after losing his title, along with his hand, Merlyn has become a full-on villain again.

This is great for the show in many ways and I hope Merlyn continues to scheme in the shadows until next season. For now, he’s told Damien Darhk about Oliver’s biggest secret: William.

Who’s in the Grave?!

The theory of the week would suggest that it’s Oliver’s son, William. When William was introduced into Arrow, I honestly thought he wouldn’t resurface until a little ways down the road. Well, it looks like William is going to need more than his Flash action figure in order to stay safe from Darhk’s assault.

Of course, Oliver probably won’t know until it’s too late. Still, I don’t think William is in the grave. If anything, he might escape and be forced to change his name, along with his mother. The new alias? Connor Hawke.

Calculator

The side plot this episode dealt with Felicity’s daddy issues. Some interesting tidbits dropped this episode. First, it was revelaed that Felicity’s father has been gone for eighteen years. During that time, it’s assumed that the Calculator was a criminal for hire. He would routinely do hacks for money. Some of these hacks were documented by him and put onto a USB drive. In an effort to get Felicity to trust him, he gave her some of the jobs he did.

However, by the end of the episode, Felicity found that her father had not really changed and got Star City Police to arrest him. I’m sure this earned a seal of approval from Felicity’s mom, who also told Felicity how he left her with no money and no job.

Calculator will be going away, but I doubt it will be for long. Earlier this episode, Calculator did mention that he was hired to do the job he did last week. His employer is probably in a high position of power and may even be Damien Darhk. Regardless, Calculator won’t be in prison for long.

Geekscape Recaps: ‘The Flash’ – Welcome to Earth-2

by jake108February 9, 2016

Note: Check out last week’s recaps of The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow!

Wow. I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but I’ll have to revise any past statement made regarding the best episode of this series because tonight’s episode is definitely the best this show has ever seen. There is so much here to unpack, and we’ll get though all of it together. I promise. Hold me…

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

We all knew Earth-2 would be arriving this week, but what we didn’t know is that we would have an introduction to the infinite earths. I joke about it a lot, and up until now, we’ve only had two earths confirmed. After tonight, it’s safe to say DC’s Infinite Earth’s has shown up in a big way. First, let’s take a look at what Garrick described as “Everything.”

Green Arrow

There’s a chance we’ll never see this version of the Green Arrow, but I doubt that. With the way DCTV is going, I’m sure we’ll see this Green Arrow someway or somehow. However, there are some important things to recognize here. First, that doesn’t look a whole like Oliver. I’ve previously written about Oliver’s son, Connor Hawke, taking up the mantle of the Green Arrow. Here, that looks to be the case.

The metallic looking arm also looks a tad bit interesting. For all we know, this could be Oliver Queen, just at a future date.

Earth _ Flash

Back in the 90’s, DC had another Flash tv show that had good run. I’ve also previously written about this show before and it tying into The Flash we know today. Up until now, the only thing linking the two shows was the Trickster.

What’s key here is the fact that in the 90’s television show, The Flash was played by the same actor playing Barry’s dad now in The Flash. Could we see his dad suit up one more time from another Earth to take on Zoom? We can dream.

Supergirl

It was recently announced that The Flash and Supergirl would have a crossover next month, leaving many to speculate just how they would connect the two shows. Well, it looks like we have our answer.

Supergirl is indeed taking place on another Earth, but is still connected to the Infinite Earths in the DC Universe. That just makes the crossover that much more exciting.

Grodd

Grodd is currently being groomed to become an extremely formidable foe in the future. Here, it looks like Grodd has come into his own, and has embraced his position in Gorilla City.

Jonah Hex

Legends of Tomorrow will be heading to the wild west at some point this season. Hex’s ‘Wanted’ poster hangs in Rip Hunter’s ship as well. Before we see any of that though, it appears we’ve been treated to a glimpse at what’s to come.

The Legion of Super Heroes

This was perhaps the biggest reveal this episode. Previous to this, there has been no mention of the Legion of Super Heroes. For those unfamiliar with them, the Legion of Super Heroes is comprised of young adults aiming to fight injustice and criminal activity on a galactic scale. Each member is given a ring that allows the wearer to fly, fly though an atmosphere, and fly in outer-space.

Currently, the only non-member that uses the ring is, of course, Booster Gold. In the comics, Rip Hunter’s father is also Booster Gold. There has been no announcement of an appearance to be made by Gold, but may be one is incoming. After all, the Legends of Tomorrow can very well visit the 30th century, which is where the Legion of Super Heroes reside.

Infinite Earths

Lastly, I wanted to point out the bubbles seen while Barry, Cisco, and Harry are traveling to Earth 2. First off, those aren’t bubbles; They’re all individual Earths.

You should also notice that each Earth is connected, meaning that everything and everyone in this universe is also connected.

Earth 2

When the gang shows up to Earth 2, they immediately notice the differences between the two Earths. Everything from people’s clothes, the cars they drive, the architecture, and even professions belonging to Earth 1 dopplegangers are wildly different. For example, Floyd Lawton, who previously died on Arrow as Deadshot, made an appearance in Earth 2 as Detective Iris West’s partner. We found this out while the criminal David Singh, who is the police captain in Earth 1, was being processed at CCPD. Another significant change was Joe West’s profession as a Jazz musician, something that suits him a little too well.

However, if there’s one thing I’m really excited about, it’s Mayor Snart. I know I have no place to ask more of this show, but I would be eternally grateful if we could see Mayor Leonard Snart standing toe-to-toe with Zoom.

Barry and Iris eventually go to their Earth 2 home, where Barry gets a good look at where his doppleganger resides. In an emotional twist, Iris informs Barry that his mother called. Barry heads to the phone and we also get a look at some of most dialed numbers in the Allen residence.

While those are indeed Leaguers, it’s impossible to say for certain that each of them live up to their alter-egos. And while we’re on that subject, did anyone notice that the Not-Justice-League mural was missing from the Earth 2 Central City Police Station?

Through Barry’s conversation with his mother, we also learned that civilian travel to Atlantis is indeed a thing. We’ve known about Atlantis for a while now because Jay Garrick already dropped that bomb a few episodes back, referencing that he has a bestie from Atlantis.

Deathstorm and Killer Frost

Ronnie Raymond returned, only not in a good way. Deathstorm, from Earth 2, aides Killer Frost in trying to find the “breacher” in Earth 2. After a couple of bouts with Barry, we quickly learn that Deathstorm is just as powerful as his Firestorm counterpart. What’s even more troubling is that we also learned the whereabouts of Martin Stein. According to Deathstorm, he hasn’t heard Stein’s voice in quite some time. This could mean that either Ronnie has learned to suppress Stein’s control entirely, or Stein died while trapped in Ronnie’s body. Either way, Earth 2 Ronnie wasn’t a nice guy.

Killer Frost was the only villain not to be killed by Zoom in Earth 2. While she did play a good villain, Frost is extremely afraid of Zoom. She eventually escaped after Zoom left with Barry. Since Zoom was quick to kill Deathstorm, it’s entirely possible Iris and Harry convince Frost to tell them the whereabouts of Zoom and his prisoners.

Reverb and Vibe

Cisco met his doppleganger in Earth 2, and had some surprising results. Aside from Reverb being able to harness more power, Cisco was able to see what he could become.

During the meeting, Reverb displayed some powers I’m sure Cisco wouldn’t mind using. Unfortunately, Reverb tried to take control from Zoom and paid the price in doing so.

Earth 2 Prison

The episode ends with Barry being trapped in Zoom’s prison. Barry wakes up to the sound of tapping on glass. This is coming from the adjacent cell next to Barry. It’s clear that whoever that is, their tapping is in morse code.

If you’re wondering what this mysterious figure is saying, I’ll save you the trouble. The tapping translates to “Zoom is – ” The messenger is of course cut of by the arrival of Zoom. However, next week, this prisoner will will have a key role in revealing more about who or what Zoom is. It’s also entirely possible that this prisoner is a speedster himself. It would make sense that any other speedsters Zoom catches would be imprisoned here for a time while Zoom drains them of the speedforce. The mask is also very peculiar. We’re just going to have to wait and see, but if I had to guess, it’s someone we know under that mask.

Earth 1

Back on Earth 1, Adam Fells, a meta-human that has the ability to cause earthquakes, demands to fight The Flash. With Barry gone, Garrick must fill the void and become The Flash on Earth 1. The only problem is, Garrick doesn’t have his speed. Garrick finally levels with Caitlin and basically confesses that he became a velocity 6 addict on his Earth. Now, this is interesting because Garrick has maintained the story that Zoom stole his speed where in fact it was velocity 6 the whole time. On top of that, the effects of velocity 6 have been slowly killing Garrick as well. This change in story is a little suspicious, considering the possibility Garrick can be Zoom.

Regardless, Garrick decides to hit the velocity serum again and fights Geomancer. The speedforce effects wear off, leaving Garrick vulnerable. Joe ends up saving him and Geomancer runs off to fight another day.

That’s all for this week! Did I miss something? Don’t be afraid to comment below! As always, thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘Arrow’ – Unchained

by jake108February 3, 2016

Note: Check out our recaps of The Flash, and last week’s Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow!

Well, it looks like we’re in for a roller coaster of a season. Last week, I wasn’t shy by expressing my disappointment in where the show was going and how the show’s characters were being treated. This week, however, we were treated to a pretty good episode. We had multiple appearances by prominent DC characters and yet another candidate for our “Who’s in the grave?!” segment. So let’s get to it!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

This episode moved steadily along. While I felt the flashback scenes were a little dull and frankly tiresome, the plot and subplots happening in the present day was welcomed with open arms. First, we’ll start with Felicity’s dad.

The Calculator

We knew it was coming. Even if you caught on right before Felicity muttered, “Dad,” the reveal was still pretty great. In the comics, Calculator is pretty evil. In his first go at being a super-villain, he would travel the country, fighting any hero he came across. Whenever he lost, he would have his suit analyze whatever hero was fighting him and would then return to engage in another fight. This time, because of his suit, he was able to win. In doing so, he was able to take down the likes of Atom, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Elongated Man. Eventually, he was caught and was forced to serve nine life sentences. However, he didn’t stay behind bars for long.

Calculator eventually caught on to the fact that heroes were talking into an earpiece whenever they were out on the field. After investigating, he found that these heroes were talking to Oracle. This inspired Calculator to become an “Oracle” of sorts, only for super-villains instead. In this sense, he became Oracle’s greatest enemy. With his genius-level intellect, Calculator was able to recruit, hire, and even work with a variety of super-villains. This lead to a membership in The Society of Super-Villains, where he also recruited the likes of Mr. Freeze.

Calculator is very much a Gotham villain, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen a case like this on Arrow. Also in the comics, Calculator does indeed have a daughter. Wendy is a graduate of MIT. Afterward, she got a job working at Titans Tower. There, she helped rebuild Cyborg. After an attack by Wonderdog, Wendy was sent into a coma. She eventually recovered, but was paralyzed from the waist down. Currently, Wendy works under the name Proxy. In this sense, Proxy closely resembles Felicity.

Cadmus

During Calculator’s attack, the “internet nuke” was planted physically on a console. Before Roy destroyed it, we got a good look at some of the parts labeling.

It’s unclear if one of these parts was stolen from Cadmus, or if Cadmus is working with the Calculator in some way. In any case, an appearance by Cadmus is huge. In the comics and various DC storylines, Cadmus is responsible for genetic cloning, most notably Superman. Cadmus is directly responsible in creating Superboy and Golden Guardian, while also being responsible for the death of Ted Kord, aka Blue Beetle. In the Justice League cartoons, it was also revealed that Terry McGinnis, aka Batman Beyond, was also in part created by Cadmus to ensure that Batman would live on past Bruce Wayne. It’s also important to note that Amanda Waller has been involved with Cadmus in some sense. With any luck, maybe it was Waller’s clone that was killed last week. Wishful thinking, I suppose. Still, the fact that Cadmus exists in the Arrowverse is really exciting. I would expect to hear from them in the future.

Lotus

One of the subplots this episode involved Nyssa running around looking for something called the Lotus. By the end of the episode, we found out that Lotus is in fact a counter-agent to the Lazarus Pit, developed by the League’s enemies. These enemies, I presume, currently back Nyssa. After all, she informed her colleauge that should she not retrieve the Lotus, to “tell the others that the war is over.” It was also really cool to see Katana guarding what we presume to be Lotus in Japan. I honestly thought Katana was gonna go the way of Waller and get unnecessarily killed off to make room for her theatrical counterpart. Luckily, that wasn’t the case.

Nyssa claims that it can cure Thea, who is slowly dying, but only if Ollie kills Merlyn. Once again, Oliver is faced with a difficult decision. If only Sara Lance could take a break from time traveling and let Nyssa know she’s been demon free since 2015.

Mr. Terrific T-Sphere

It was awesome to see Curtis attempt to hold his own against Arsenal. In the fight, he threw his prototype T-Sphere. While it did backfire, the fact that it works to some extent is reason to be excited. Here’s to hoping he has a more stable sphere by the end of this season!

Oliver’s Son

During this episode, we heard Oliver remark on how going back and forth between Star City and Central City has been one of the many distractions causing him to lose focus on Thea. While this could just be a remark on the crossover event a few weeks ago, I took it as Oliver making reference to his trips visiting his secret son. This was a nice shout-out, and it’s one that will eventually have a large payoff.

Who’s in the Grave?!

Well, add Thea Queen to the list of candidates. Thea is slowly dying because she’s not killing anyone. This week, Oliver set up a meeting with Darhk in hopes of offering a trade to save Thea’s life. It’s hard to gauge exactly what Oliver was willing to trade. I highly doubt he would offer himself has a trade, because that didn’t really work out last time. Instead, I think Oliver was and is willing to give up in the mayoral race for Star City, thus relinquishing his control of the city as Oliver Queen to Darhk’s wife. It’s a risky trade, but one I know Oliver would take.

While Thea is in a coma, I still find it hard to believe that she’s the one in the grave. For now, I’m sticking by the theory that the person in the grave is Felicity’s mom.

That’s all for this week! As always, thanks for reading!

Geekscape Recaps: ‘American Crime’ Season 2 Premiere

by Alexandra GallarzaDecember 18, 2015

American Crime’s anticipated second season won’t premiere until January 6th, but you can watch if for free right now via iTunes.

American Crime is an anthology series – the title remains the same while the season’s topic changes. Last season it centered on a murder while investigating the world in which we live in and how race is seen in America. This season the topic is sexual assault – did it happen, who did it, and what happens when it’s essentially brushed under the rug?

The topic of rape is brought up in the first thirty seconds when 911 gets a dispatch call from a distraught woman who wants to report the act. Throughout the episode we get the first few pieces of the puzzle as to why the call was placed. We find out who placed the call, why she placed the call, and we as viewers can only imagine the repercussions that will follow.

From the beginning of the episode we know it’s going to be a sensitive topic. The victim is high school aged, a transfer student, a kid with little to no friends – except his girlfriend who has baggage of her own to deal with. We meet the key players – the adults who will deal with the situation – the Coach, the victim’s mother, and the Headmistress. There are three worlds, three sets of lives that in their own bring drama.

The Coach, played with Timothy Hutton, has a daughter who is a cheerleader, a wife who is a photographer, and a team of boys who are teenagers and adolescents. He is honored at a charity event for bringing his team to victor multiple times over his six-year tenure at the school and it is evident that his team idolizes him, respects him, which is why the Headmistress tasks him with the duty of talking to his boys about the allegations that arise.

Anne, the victim’s mother, is played by Lili Taylor. She’s a working, single mom who wants nothing but the best for her son Taylor. She sent him to the expensive school so he could get the best education. Her world starts to teeter when she’s brought into speak with the dean over photos that appeared on social media, leading to her son’s suspension. After begging her son to show her the photos and being denied she turns to her son’s girlfriend who gives her what she wants. The photos. She approaches her son about it and after claims of not knowing what happens to him she goes to the Headmistress at the school.

The Headmistress, Leslie Graham, played by Felicity Huffman, is very protective of her school, of her teachers, of her students. She takes down a detailed report of what happened, alleged by Taylor’s mother and has the Coach look into it. Not wanting to call it rape, Huffman’s character directs Taylor’s mother to tread carefully on how she uses the word until they know what happened. Huffman’s character all but points fingers at the boy and claims that he was coherent enough to know what happened and didn’t stop it.

Upset that her son is being blamed for what happened, Taylor’s mother goes into the lobby of the school, calls 911 and says “I want to report a rape.”

American Crimes premieres January 6^th 2016 on ABC.

https://youtu.be/Y6DaAtKEJ8E

A First Timer’s Convention Experience: Fan Expo Vancouver 2014

by Derek KraneveldtMay 1, 2014

This is the awesome story of my first convention adventure at this year’s Fan Expo Vancouver! Yay, more Pop! figures!

So, since this was my first expo or convention ever, I was pretty ecstatic for the whole experience. I’d heard tales of (my boyfriend) Derek’s many experiences at other conventions like San Diego Comic-Con, Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, and Emerald City Comic-Con and I was obviously pretty envious! I decided I really wanted to attend one of these functions for myself and possibly even cosplay if I could gather up enough courage. Thankfully, Derek looked up some conventions that were close by and came up with Fan Expo Vancouver, which was very convenient since it was just a ferry ride away and rather affordable. I was super excited at this point, but also frustrated since it was about 3 months away (I’m not the most patient person in the world and I enjoy doing fun things so yeah, frustration) but this also gave me more time to get a costume together.

Thankfully, I got my costume all finished in time and I felt like I actually did a pretty good job. I was really quite proud of what I came up with (and very rarely have I been proud of something I made), so I was pretty confident and excited to wear my costume at the expo.

Since Derek and I live on an island, we had to take a ferry over to Vancouver, which I personally find quite peaceful, beautiful, relaxing and lovely (and long and annoying). Mostly, I was just excited to be heading out on an adventure with my boyfriend. The weather was wonderful the first day and I was just praying that it would stay that way throughout the weekend…it wasn’t quite as nice the following days, but it didn’t ruin any fun, that’s for sure. After the ferry, both Derek and I were rushing out of the harbour to get onto our bus that would take us pretty much right up to our hotel. Thanks to Derek’s horrible travelling skills we got a little lost and walked a couple extra blocks than we would’ve had to otherwise, but eventually we arrived at the hotel. We were a little early to check in, but we were able to leave our bags so that we could go out and explore some of Vancouver’s many restaurants. Some delicious, fresh Ramen noodles was our first meal there, and after that we had some time to check out the mall and get another good, long walk in. You see, I’m kind of lazy and don’t get much exercise these days, so this, for me, was pretty rough. Derek however, runs all the time and is just super cool like that so he had a fine time. We got back to the hotel and checked in. It wasn’t amazing, we had to climb pretty well about eleven floors to get to our room, (the elevator was out of service) though, that meant a cheaper stay for us, plus the room was actually very nice and cozy. Also, being on the top floor, we had an awesome view of downtown Vancouver.

We were nearing Fan Expo floor opening, and I was already trying to imagine what it would be like. All the people dressed up, the super awesome celebrities, and (hopefully) all the cool Pop! figures, and Totoro things and Minecraft things and… yeah, I was into buying things, that’s for sure.

So, we arrived. The Convention Centre was beautiful. It was clean and gigantic. It had some wonderful tile work, and interesting wood art hanging from the crazy high ceilings. Now that I think of it, I should’ve taken pictures! Damn. Anyways, it was a sweet building, and to me, fit perfectly for a convention. Once we got down to the show floor entrance area, Derek headed over to the special Press table to get his pass, while I headed down to get my super fresh Fan Expo shirt, bag with the Assassins Creed guy on it, lanyard and wristband. I was pretty pumped at this point, but decided to wait a half hour so that I could walk into the expo with Derek for my first experience. (since I got the premium pass I could go in 2 hours earlier, but we got to the convention centre a little later so that I wouldn’t have to wait so long for Derek to be allowed in).

Then, we were in. The first thing I could smell was the wonderful little mini donut stand, that sat right there at the entrance just drawing you in with that lovely donuty smell… but I wasn’t really all that interested in food at that point. I could already see a few of the booths. From what I could see, they were covered in merchandise. So much colour and busyness, it drew me right in. I was ready to spend lots of dough right then and there! Derek was smart though and suggested that we take a look at all the booths first, keeping in mind the things you wanted the most and to watch the pricing, because you could literally find a toy at one booth that seemed a pretty decent price, only to find the same one at another booth for much cheaper. I saw a Sailor Mercury figurine for fifty-something at one of the first booths I saw, but then saw the exact same one for about forty-something. That’s probably the first big lesson about conventions that stuck with me.

As we were zigzagging through, dodging people, wings, huge horns, armor, wigs, and weapons, I saw many many things I was eager to purchase (I wanted that little Totoro backpack so badly, I tell ya). I saw some gorgeous artwork done by people I had never heard of before. There’s so much hidden talent, I was amazed! It was really fun to flip through portfolios and just let my eyes wander. I ended up buying a beautiful print of a griffin. I was so excited to get it up on my wall at home and it actually motivated me to get back into drawing and possibly painting.

After exploring the booths rather thoroughly, I had decided we check out a Cosplay Panel to have some sit down time, but also because Cosplay is something I really want to get into. Unfortunately the panel wasn’t all that well organized and most of it was improv, but it was interesting to hear what the panelists had to say about their Cosplaying adventures, on making the costumes, and also wearing them. When the panel was over, it was the end of the first day. Though I was a little sad the first day was already over, I was super excited for the next day, being the longest day, with the most people and cosplayers! I as well was going to be dressing up, as San Princess Mononoke. I felt both nervous and ecstatic at the thought of what the next day could bring.

That night, we went out on the town to find some dinner. After walking up and down Robson Street, like 28 times it felt like, we both finally decided on this cool little Mongolian BBQ restaurant. It was pretty awesome. The chef dude was right at the front window just showing off his fresh cooking skills. The process was pretty neat as well. It was somewhat of a buffet like style. You would get one bowl and you could fill it with your choice of meat, veggies, noodles and a massive selection of sauces, and when you were finished filling it, you would just leave your bowl with your table number underneath it on a little counter by the chef. When he had finished cooking it, one of the waitresses would bring it back up to you. It was a lovely meal, and was actually quite healthy too. I really enjoyed it and was so happy to be out with Derek exploring new foods.

After, we got back up to our hotel room we watched a little South Park and then went to sleep, not too late, to make sure we had enough energy for the next day.

It was saturday! The day I decided I would dress up. I was nervous I’m not gonna lie, yet I was very pleased with my costume and was rather confident in it! Derek didn’t dress up unfortunately, but hey, he’s still super awesome.

We both wanted to have a good breakfast that morning, so we decided on waffles…or something like that anyways. Derek using one of his many cool apps, found a little place nearby called Waffles n’ Berries. There we had two wonderful, pretty much gourmet, Belgian waffles. Probably the best we’d both ever had.

Eventually we made it back to Fan Expo once again. It was pretty chilly on the way there, and unfortunately Princess Mononoke doesn’t really wear a big sweater or jacket of some sort, so I had to suck it up and play the part. I’m sure she doesn’t fear the cold so why would I?

Saturday was definitely the best day. There were so many more Cosplayers and just so many more people altogether which made it a little claustrophobic, but also all the more exciting. Derek and I both went around again to check up on the merchandise, to see what needed buying, hehe. I actually had several people ask to take pictures with me too, even after being there for just an hour! I’m not gonna lie, I was really hoping at least one person would ask for a picture. After a couple hours of looking around together, we decided we should split up for a bit since he wanted to flip through comic boxes and I was busy trying to pick out earrings for pretty well 20 minutes at that point. Apparently we agreed on meeting up again at the mini donuts, but of course I didn’t get the whole message or something so I ended up waiting upstairs (also, Derek’s signal was crap so that didn’t help) We did find each other eventually though and that’s when we decided we would check out the Sailor Moon Salute panel.

Neither of us were quite sure what it was going to be, but I’ve always liked Sailor Moon and thought it’d be interesting to see and nice to sit down and relax for a while. It ended up being pretty fun and quite touching. This very devoted Sailor Moon cosplaying fan who was hosting the solute gave us a little dance he learned from watching many of the Sailor Moon musicals, which I had no idea existed, and sang along to the Japanese lyrics as well! That was a fun way to start off, but then they had this big burly guy step up onto the platform. He talked about this little 7 year old girl named Dawn who was a huge fan of Sailor Moon. He talked about how she had passed away from stage 3 cancer and her only wish was to see the famous Sailor Moon team, which thankfully she did get to meet. It was tough to hear, but it was a beautiful thing that team did for little Dawn. It’s remarkable to see such devoted fans so invested in what they love. Even if it’s just an anime, a show, a book, it can mean so much to them, they found beauty in the little things, it’s quite inspiring. So that was definitely a great thing to see and was a cool experience.

After the panel, we settled for a little more merchandise/comic book hunting until we both found ourselves famished and ready to chow down. That’s when we headed over to a food court that was conveniently placed just across the road from the Convention Centre. Derek saw Fat Burger right away which reminded him of one of his many food adventures during SDCC. while I was aiming towards something more like some good ol’ barbecue pork and noodles! (I love noodles). The food court was so full of Fan Expo goers though, it took an annoyingly long amount of time for Derek to get his burger, I was pretty well finished with my noodles by the time he found me. Once Derek was finished and we were both stocked up on energy, we set back to examine the paraphernalia and books some more and spent the next few hours doing that!

That evening we planned to see the Masquerade, where the cosplayers (who signed up for it) got to show off their hard work. It was impressive to see what people came up with, even some of the younger ones! I managed to get a few videos but with it pretty much at full zoom the quality wasn’t spectacular. Then, when the masquerade portion was finished with, the judges left to go do their deciding and left us with these kind of horrible “singers” who sang renditions of popular/geeky music. Derek and I sat there for probably at least an hour hoping it would soon come to an end, but I decided I had enough (and also felt like I possibly might hurl suddenly) and could care less about the results at that point, I mean, it doesn’t really matter who wins right? It’s the costumes themselves that are fan-tastic!

By that time, another Fan Expo day had come and gone, Derek and I left in search of some food, ‘cause at that time it had actually been quite a while since we had last eaten. Fresh Slice Pizza is where we ended up having dinner. I was still all dressed up and felt kind of awkward, and I could tell Derek wasn’t really enjoying his “fresh” cold pizza, however, it was still quite a memorable moment. And I myself, didn’t really have a problem with the pizza (mine was delicious).

We climbed up our eleven stories once again to settle down and get some of our things packed. We decided we’d take a sea plane back home (a twenty minute ride rather than an hour and a half ferry ride) on the last day to give us more time at the expo and still make it back in time for Easter dinner. It was kind of a bummer, the weekend felt like it flew by and it sucked because I don’t remember the last time I’ve had that much fun. I also didn’t dress up the last day cause I wanted to be super comfortable (and didn’t necessarily want to wear my costume on the plane) because there were still a few more things I wanted to check out at the booths, and I wanted to explore the artist alley a little more thoroughly before leaving. I’m pretty sure I ended up spending more that day than any of the other two haha. In the beginning I didn’t even think there was much more I needed (wanted), but with me, I guess there always is.

The last few hours flew by and before I knew it we were on our super terrifying, turbulence filled sea plane ride back to our wee island. Though I was upset it was all over, I was happy with how it all worked out and definitely happy with all my purchases! (my horse mask in particular, and the last three Adventure Time Pop! Figures I needed for my collection!)

I had the time of my life at Fan Expo and already miss it so much! I was in awe at just how much stuff was there and the amazing art that a lot of artists had to show. There were so many dedicated fans there, such as the man who was really into his Sailor Moon stuff. I appreciate your commitment! And I’d like to thank those people who took photos with me, I just felt really special.

Also, I want to thank my lovely boyfriend, Derek, for encouraging me to dress up and just for making the whole amazing Fan Expo weekend come together! I want to go to so many more now and build up my costume making skills! I’m undoubtably going to go to a convention in the States! I WILL, ONE DAY!

We Had A Blast At Last Weekend’s Fan Expo Vancouver: Here’s Our Recap!

by Derek KraneveldtApril 27, 2014

Last weekend marked a HUGE start to a jam-packed convention season, with WonderCon in Anaheim, Sakuracon in Seattle, and Fan Expo in Vancouver all running concurrently from Friday through Sunday.

As I’ll be heading down to San Diego for Comic-Con in July, another trip across the border wasn’t in the cards for me this month (I’m located on Vancouver Island, Canada, if you weren’t already aware). So, I hopped on a ferry, grabbed a bus, and ended up here: the Vancouver Convention Centre. My ever-growing-in-geekiness girlfriend joined me for this one, as she’s never been to a convention before, and was super interested after hearing my many stories from last year’s SDCC and Stan Lee’s Comikaze. She even cosplayed (which you’ll learn all about in her special guest post which should be up in the next day or two).

I don’t spend much time in Vancouver, so I’d never actually had the pleasure of seeing its convention centre before. The building was absolutely incredible, to the level of possibly being the nicest building that I’ve ever entered. Seriously, check out the photo gallery on the building’s official website, and you’ll see what I mean.

Of course, I wasn’t here for the building. I was here to see what Fan Expo Vancouver’s 162,000 sq. ft of booths, exhibitors, artists, guests, panels, and more had to offer.

There were also a few specific single issues that I planned on hunting down:

1) The very first issue of Y: The Last Man, especially since series artist and Vancouver native Pia Guerra had a table in artist’s alley. – I failed on this front… apparently there wasn’t a single retailer on the show floor that had a copy. Y is my favourite comic book series, and so this is an issue that I’ve wanted for years.

2) The first issue of Vol 1. of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Spidey has been my favourite hero since I was a small child, but this is the series that got me really into comics. I’ve always wanted a copy of the first issue, and artist Mark Bagley was also at the convention. Sadly, I failed here too.

3) Saga chapter one. I read the first issue digitally before adding the book to my physical pull list. Of course, at the point chapter one was impossible to find a first print of. I succeeded here, got a great deal on the issue, and it was signed by artist Fiona Staples too.

Tickets for the Expo went on sale a couple of months before the show opened, and for such a well put together event, I was quite impressed with the price of entry. A pass for the entire weekend ran just $69, while a ‘premium’ pass was $99 and included a t-shirt, bag, collectible badge, and lanyard, along with entry through an exclusive entrance (which exited right by the mini-donut stand) and entry two hours before regular ticket holders. Have kids? They got in for free with your ticket purchase. Very cool.

The shirt included with the premium pass.

Once we picked up our tickets, we walked through the premium (and press, apparently) entrance and were welcomed by a spacious, well laid out show floor. The celebrity autograph and photo op area were wide open, meaning that even if you weren’t interested in paying an autograph fee, you could still get a glimpse of any of the many celebrities in attendance. Those lines got very long, very fast, which meant that there was plenty of room to peruse through the 98+ exhibitor booths (and that’s not including artist’s alley). The aisles were wide, and even at the expo’s busiest times (read: the entirety of Saturday), you had room to move, which is more than you could expect from SDCC and Comikaze. I loved this aspect, as there was never a moment of Fan Expo that wasn’t calm, relaxed, and fun (or maybe it’s just Canadian), while the other aforementioned cons can be outright confusing and overwhelming at (most) times.

Interested in looking at the layout or seeing what events Fan Expo had to offer? Click here for the official schedule.

I spent the majority of the first day following my ecstatic girlfriend while she obsessed over Pop! figures (her newest addiction), studied each and every item at each an every booth (or at least what seemed like it), and excitedly talked to nearly every artist in artist’s alley. It was awesome to see, and reminded me of the perplexed awe that I felt both at my first convention (Emerald City Comic-Con in 2009), and especially last year at my first SDCC.

Once the show floor closed for the night, we walked around Vancouver’s famous Robson street in search of a neat dining experience unlike one that we’d find on Vancouver Island. We ended up at a Mongolian BBQ, which boasted a ridiculously affordable healthy meal that basically had us filling a dish with vegetables, meats and sauces in whatever portions we desired, before the restaurant’s chef cooked it up in front of you. The food was delicious, and more than filling, all for under $10.

The next morning we left our hotel, grabbed some delicious (especially since I’d never had one before) Belgian waffles from a small cafe fittingly titled Waffles N’ Berries, and then headed back to the show floor. Today, we (of course) spent a lot of time on the floor (I did the lion’s share of my book hunting… and failing, today), but also decided to see what Fan Expo’s panels had to offer. Hayley donned the cosplay garb that she’d been working on for the last month (again, look for a guest post about that soon), and it looked great, and a ton of people asked her for photos, so while she was absurdly nervous while dressing up, she was nothing but confident when she arrived.

First we went to a Sailor Moon 20th anniversary panel. This one wasn’t my idea, as I’ve never really read (or watched) anything from the Sailor Moon universe. I’m very glad that I attended it however, as it was one of the best examples of fan community and passion that I’ve ever witnessed. The panel started with the somber announcement of the passing of a 7 year old Sailor Moon superfan named Dawn. Dawn was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, and one of her final wishes was to be visited by the Sailor Moon team. Here’s the video of the visit:

Post by Anime Evolution.

Dawn passed away just a few weeks before Fan Expo. It was extremely heartbreaking to see the group member, who was a full grown man who looked as though he could easily take me in a fight (not that it would be particularly hard), break into tears and simply find himself too overwhelmed to continue speaking. It brought the entire room to tears, and was truly an inspirational moment of realization of just what fandom and community mean.

The multimedia panel continued with video clips from the multitude of Sailor Moon musicals (which I didn’t know existed, but they actually looked pretty cool), and the little known revelation that a new musical is in the works. Then we were shown some godawful footage from Toon Maker’s version of Sailor Moon. It was an animated/live-action hybrid, and it almost existed, here’s the video:

During the video, the room filled with Sailor Moon fans and cosplayers gasped and laughed at the worst imaginable version of the thing that they loved so much. It was pretty hilarious, but also extremely scary that something so bad nearly existed.

After the panel we grabbed some lunch (FatBurger, naturally) and went back to the show floor. This time we met WolfCop (check out the hilarious trailer here), and then split up for a bit so Hayley could look for more Pop! figures and so I could flip through long boxes. Good fun.

Before the show closed, we headed up to Ballroom A, where the Fan Expo’s first Masquerade was being held. This was essentially a cosplay contest with a hilarious MC, and for the most part it was a fantastic way to see some of the convention’s best costumes. Costumers walked the stage for the better part of 90 minutes (including the opening children’s group, which was ridiculously cute). There were some amazing costumes here, and I wish that I’d had a better camera on me at the time to snap some photos of them. The were just two issues that I had with the Masquerade; first being that a substantial portion of the entrants didn’t show up (why the hell would you sign up if you weren’t planning to make it), and second being that following the final entrant walking the stage, the judges left to talk about who should win… and then they didn’t return for over an hour. We actually left before the judges returned, as the room was reduced to non-performers heading onstage to sing terrible renditions of hit songs.

We were pretty tired that night from a 12+ hour stint at the Convention Centre, so instead of searching from another unique restaurant, we grabbed a few slices of pizza from a nearby Fresh Slice… which was possibly the worst pizza that I’ve ever had in my life. It came out of the ‘hot case’ ice cold, and I’m not overly sure that these doughy pieces of trash were ever blessed by heat.

The third and final day of the expo arrived, and we took it pretty easy this time around. We split up again so Hayley could look at more collectibles and I could yet again flip through longboxes. Being Easter Sunday, the floor wasn’t nearly as busy at this time, so I used the opportunity to go and meet The Walking Dead co-creator and original artist Tony Moore. Being a huge The Walking Dead fan, I obviously love his work, and Tony had for sale a variety of gorgeous TWD and non-TWD prints, and some incredible decked out sketch covers like the one below. I very nearly picked up one of these covers, but it was $600 I thought better put towards my San Diego trip.

I instead picked up a great print (though my first choice was sold out), and also got to grab a quick photo (see below). We chatted about the television series for a few minutes, and essentially agreed on the fact that the show does a lot of things right, but also does a lot of things wrong. He was really nice and approachable, and getting to meet and chat with Tony was probably the highlight of the convention for me.

Aside from looking at a lot of expensive comics that afternoon (I very nearly picked up a 9.9 CGC copy of The Walking Dead #1, but then realized that I just cleared my Visa, and I definitely don’t need to max it out again so soon), we did our rounds a few more times, grabbed some more mini donuts, and checked out more phenomenal cosplay. The show floor closed one last time, so we hopped on a sea plane back to Vancouver Island (which was much bumpier than usual), and went for Easter dinner.

Overall, Fan Expo Vancouver was a stellar and affordable convention, and was an absolutely fan-tastic (ha) time. If you’re anywhere near the west coast of Canada next April, I wouldn’t hesitate to spend my weekend there. I did snap a few cosplay photos (among others) during the weekend, so check those out below, and let us know what you think!

Brony Breakdown: MLP Season 4 Premiere!

by Shane O'HareNovember 25, 2013

If you’re a fan of MLP like we at Geekscape are, then you were more than elated when Season 4 of our beloved cartoon premiered this Saturday. We were greeted with two wondrous, BACK TO BACK episodes, kicking off the newest season with a bang! There be SPOILERS here on out so if you haven’t watched it then GO DO IT!

We’re greeted with a lovely scene of the Mane Six, trying to teach the newly winged Twilight how to fly. See, if you didn’t remember, she became a PRINCESS! A Unicorn with wings is an Alicorn (or Peggacorn, viewers may choose their mythical animal naming convention on their own accord). Her friends are more than excited to help her with her Royal Duties, and all bow and praise her as the new Princess of Ponyville. This is when we are reminded of this show’s very positive qualities. Twilight is a very humble individual and doesn’t feel that she deserves to be worshiped. Her friends bowing to her just doesn’t feel right. We can see that even though she has changed physically (dem wings baby), she hasn’t gotten up to the level of Princess emotionally or mentally. Yeah, I am getting next level on the deconstruction of this cartoon horse.

We are soon thrust quickly into the plot. Our dear Twilight has to get things ready for the Summer Sun Celebration. Yeah, we’re getting some season one call backs here. The Mane Six all pack up and head to Canterlot to help their friend with the preparations. Here we get a few glimpses of some evil afoot. Black, devilish looking vines come cropping up out of the ground. They seem to have an objective. An EVIL objective, but that is for later on. While the entire city is getting all hyped up for the Summer Sun Celebration, Twilight’s friends decide they need to go back to Ponyville to get their town’s own party ready. This is when Twilight is faced with another new daunting change in her life as Princess. Isolation; her friends all seem to eagerly leave her in the city. In reality they’re excited and happy for Twilight and just want to celebrate with her.

On the eve of the celebration, Twilight wakes up in the middle of the night to something very out of the ordinary. The Moon and the Sun are both in the sky, like together. So of course the citizens of the city begin to flip their proverbial Horse Apples. We are quickly informed that Princess Celestia and Luna are both MIA, thus explaining the Moon/Sun issue. When it is decided for Twilight that she is in charge, due to the fact she is the only Princess around. I mean, they COULD go get Cadence, but she is written off as being “too busy” running the Crystal Empire. I’m sure she’d find the time to rescue the two horses in charge of controlling the day night cycle, but whatever. Twilight, the President pro tempore of the Senate, quickly jumps to action. This is where I start to get impressed with the show’s writing again. Her timid, shyness is quickly replaced with a fast-acting plan-making pony. She orders the citizens of Canterlot to bunker up and wait while she goes to Ponyville to get the show’s Deus Ex Machina. The Elements of Harmony, which are stored in her library back at home.

MLP S4E01 (2) — Is it really a good idea to keep the most powerful defensive magic items unattended in a library?

She quickly returns to Ponyville to see it overrun with mischievous happenings and the evil vines from before. The Mane Six are soon reunited and they gear up with the Elements of Harmony. All the “pranking” magic that is plaguing the town gives Twilight an idea of who is the culprit. She summons up some heavy looking magic and who of all people shows up but Discord! Voice amazingly by the one and only John de Lancie. After a back and forth, we’ve come to the conclusion that he is NOT the cause of the evil goings on! What ever will the Mane Six do? The vines all seem to be coming from the Everfree Forest, so the team gets all Fellowship of The Ring on us and gets ready to go adventuring, but not before they run into Zecora, the voodoo witch doctor Zebra that lives in the woods. She produces a potion that only an Alicorn can activate, and once activated will grant the user the ability to find the source of the evil goings ons. Of course Twilight zaps it and doses up with the magical stuff. What follows is a series of narrative plot points dumped in our laps. We are shown, through Twilight’s eyes, three major events in the Equestria Timeline. Starting with the more recent, turning of Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon and following banishment. Then the first defeat of Discord, and finishing it all up with where Celestia first found the Elements of Harmony.

Many years ago the great Princess harvested the Elements from the Tree of Harmony. The only magic powerful enough to defeat Discord, she says that the Tree has enough magic in it to keep things in…harmony. Well it appears that magic has run out! The team now has their objective, find the Tree of Harmony and fix it. Soon into the journey it is decided that this is dangerous work, too dangerous for the likes of Royalty, and Twilight is sent back to the safety of the town. The feeling of abandonment hits Twilight harder than Rob Ford hits an innocent constituent. She finds comfort and personal growth help from the strangest of places, Discord! She soon realizes that splitting up the Deus Ex Machina in the name of royal safety. She braves the bramble once again and joins up with her friends.

The Fellowship soon finds the Tree of Harmony and it is in a bad way. The evil vines have sucked its energy away. The only way to fix things is to return the Elements to the Tree. Sacrificing the writers get out of jail free card for the sake of plot. WHAT A TWIST! Twilight gives the Tree back the Elements and once powered up, it pushes back the evil and Celestia and Luna are returned safely. The Tree then buds a new flower and inside of it is a crystal box with six key holes. Season 4’s plot is then dumped in our laps. No one knows where the keys are but they all know that they must find them, for some reason. Back at town we soon find out that the evil vines were actually planted by Discord way back in his first tussle with Celestia. He just figured it wouldn’t take this long for them to kick in. OH YOU!

MLP S4E01 (1) — The Tree of Harmony in all it’s glory!

Hard cut back to Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration. Just as it is wrapping up, the once embarrassed Twilight jumps in to give the ceremony a little bit of Swag, and joins Luna and Celestia on stage, she finally accepted her roll as princess. Credits.

Final Thoughts

First off, this was a long read and if you made it this far I commend you. It being a double episode full of plot and narrative it really was a lot to cover. I was giddy as a schoolgirl when the show started, and had a visible smile on when the end credits rolled. I was a little leery about the direction the show was going; the coronation of Twilight was rumored to be the cause of Hasbro executives wanting to sell more toys (as well as the idea of the Equestria Girls movie). The writers of the show really know how to create something charming together. This premiere was intelligent, funny and really showed Twilight’s growth into the big shoes (or tiara) that a Princess needs to wear. I am very excited to see what happens next week, and you can be sure that I will have plenty to say about it!

Calgary Expo 2013: The Recap

by FushnaMay 1, 2013

Having started only eight years ago, the Calgary Expo is still a relatively new convention. In that time however, it’s come to be the second largest in Canada. This year the event sold out three weeks before the doors opened, and this is the second year in a row where tickets have sold out completely. Last year’s gathering was a bit more turbulent, as people who bought weekend or VIP passes couldn’t get in. From the people I spoke to over this past weekend, there were vast improvements from the previous year, but the Calgary Expo is still experiencing a few growing pains.

Just a few of the convention's attendees. — Just a few of the convention’s attendees.

The home of the Calgary Expo is the BMO Centre on the stampede grounds. This year they expanded to include the Big Four building as well. Between the two buildings there were really three sections; the Big Four had registration, photo ops, and the gaming zone, while the BMO Centre had the show floor, panels, and the autograph/entertainment area. The two buildings were helpful in making the event a success this year, but there were still some problems. First, you would stop into the basement of the Big Four building to get your badge. From there they funnel you upstairs to where the gamer’s lounge and food court was. By doing this they were able to prevent people from trying to act like salmon by pushing through the crowds to get out. The only downfall with this was that the basement is also where they’re holding the photo ops which were all scheduled by times, which is all fine and dandy, but if your photo op was at a time when there was a line to get into the building, you weren’t getting in right away. The volunteers were pretty good about getting people who were in line to their photo op on time by pulling them out and bypassing the line altogether.

A major complaint about the expo in 2012, were the lines and utter disorganisation of it all. I’m pleased to say that it was fixed this year (but of course, there were still some issues). The show opened daily at 10:00, and on average there were about 6,000 people waiting outside to be the first to get in. This is common behaviour for all the cons I’ve been to, the only problem with this is that you lined up for what you wanted to see and there would be different lines for the different things to do. At the Calgary Expo they had two lines: one at each of the main entrances in the morning. There were enough entrances to have one for the panels that start at 10:00, one for the autographs, and one for the show floor. The organisers didn’t open the doors for the attendees until promptly at 10:00. I spoke with Lindsay who had arrived at 08:00 to try and get Nathan Fillion’s autograph; she was amongst the first 200 people into the autograph area and went right to the line for Nathan. When she arrived, the volunteers had shut down the line so she couldn’t get in it. The only people that were in line were the volunteers and people with press badges. These people were able to bypass the lines to get into the building and in turn get in line for autographs before the paying attendees even entered the expo. When the line cleared and the volunteers were letting people into it again, Lindsay said that she was able to get into the line, but shortly afterwards one of the volunteers told her and everyone else in line that they couldn’t line up yet. Immediately after they got output of the line the volunteers were letting people in again. Lindsay did eventually get into the line and finally received her autograph, but it took nearly an hour just to get into the lineup.

Consent Sign — An important message from the Calgary Expo

The panels at the Calgary Expo were top notch; with over 50 guests including Stan Lee and Carrie Fisher, few expected them to be bad. A few announcements were made in Calgary, including Wil Wheaton revealing that he will be hosting another season of Second Watch. There were also a few firsts, including the first time the two ladies who have played Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton and Lena Headey) have ever met. For the most part, the panels in Calgary were just to get the fans close to the stars of their favourite shows and movies. In fact during the Q&A portion of the Game of Thrones panel one person asked for spoilers and got booed off the microphone. With the major panels aside from Game of Thrones, Supernatural, and Doctor Who, the rest were cancelled series or old movies, which isn’t a bad thing, as it allows fans to relive the experience of watching those shows and films. I would have loved to be at the Terminator panel just to see them all together again.

'Arrow's John Barrowman — ‘Arrow’s John Barrowman

For the readers who have never been to a convention, the Calgary Expo is definitely a good starter con. As it gets older, it grows bigger and learns from the mistakes that it made each previous year. The calibre of stars that attend continues to get better and it’s no wonder that in its eight year history it has grown to be the second largest comic expo in Canada. I look forward to seeing the Calgary Expo grow over the next five years. Due to the BMO Centre’s capacity, I don’t foresee the Calgary Expo becoming the largest in Canada, but it’s well on its way to becoming the best.