After he was abandoned by everyone Darius disappeared from the Oval Office. Grace and Harris find out that he's gone.

A lot has changed. Well some things, but not everything. I would do anything for you.

tucker: co-wrote 1x03 dead in the water, 1x12 faith, 1x14 nightmare, 1x21 salvation (all with sera gamble); wrote 2x04 children shouldn’t play with dead things, 2x10 hunted, 2x16 roadkill, 2x20 what is and what should never be

shiban: co-wrote 1x20 dead man's blood (with cathryn humphris); wrote 1x06 skin, 1x07 hook man, 1x11 scarecrow, 1x15 the benders, 2x02 everybody loves a clown, 2x09 croatoan, 2x15 tall tales, 2x19 folsom prison blues

humphris: co-wrote 1x20 dead man's blood (with john shiban), 3x10 dream a little dream of me (with sera gamble); wrote 2x07 the usual suspects, 2x14 born under a bad sign, 3x05 bedtime stories, 4x04 metamorphosis, 4x14 sex and violence

carver: co-wrote 3x04 sin city (with robert singer); wrote 3x08 a very supernatural christmas, 3x11 mystery spot, 3x14 long-distance call, 4x03 in the beginning, 4x11 family remains, 4x15 death takes a holiday, 4x20 the rapture, 5x03 free to be you and me, 5x08 changing channels, 5x15 dead men don’t wear plaid, 5x18 point of no return; came back as showrunner for seasons 8-11 and wrote the first episodes of each as well as the s8-10 finales

Edvard's Supernatural Guide: 2x12 Nightshifter

Episode 2x12 Nightshifter is Ben Edlund’s second screenplay for Supernatural, and similarly to 2x05 Simon Said it is not a stand-out episode, at least in my opinion. It is one of the fan-favourites, but it generally leaves me cool: 1x06 Skin had a better shapeshifter, and it has only been a handful of episodes since Dean and Sam’s last run-in with the police in 2x07 The Usual Suspects. It is one I considered skipping, but after deciding not to I saw that there are some aspects of it which I do enjoy.

The main thing which stood out about this episode was the rapport Dean and Ron had. Ron is presented as a loon and conspiracy theorist whom people dismiss. The police called him a ‘post-traumatic case’ and Sam talked to him like he is an idiot. He is a bit of an idiot, but not because of his conviction that ‘mandroids’ exist or his wall covered in maps and pictures. We are probably supposed to think he is off his rocker, but given the context of the show taking place in a world where the supernatural (pun intended) is very much alive and hunters such as Dean, Sam, and John do exactly what Ron did in order to find and kill monsters, Ron ends up looking like he is on the right track but is lacking one of two vital bits of information. If someone were to see John’s maps in 1x01 Pilot or 1x21 Salvation without knowing that monsters exist, s/he would think him a madman. Dean himself points this out to Sam after meeting Ron.

Dean and Sam visit Ron while investigating a string of apparent thefts and suicides. Ron was a security guard at a jewellery shop which was robbed by one of his colleagues named Juan. Ron copied the security tapes before the police took the originals as evidence, and based on his seeing Juan’s eyes flash in the videos, he eventually concluded Juan was not Juan but a mandroid. Whilst sitting across from Ron in their FBI get-up, Dean and Sam’s reactions to him are quite different. For all that he claims to think there is something wrong with him, and all the times later in the show he will call himself a freak and such, Sam gives the impression of being a completely normal, average, typical guy listening to somebody whom he regards as several different kinds of deficient. His entire bearing is unsympathetic and cold.

Dean on the other hand seems almost perfectly at ease with Ron, and is capable of meeting him on his own wavelength. This is far from the only time Dean will show a kinship with people others deem ‘crazy’, 1x10 Asylum being a particularly striking example. Sam seems like a neurotypical person impatiently listening to an autistic guy talk about his hyperfixation, whereas Dean is the other autistic guy who gets it.

This is why what you show is more important than what you tell. You can tell me Sam is a ‘freak’ as much as you want, but if I see something which says the opposite, I am going to trust what I see.

Anyway, Sam decided unilaterally to essentially tell Ron he was crazy and that he was just trying to avoid accepting that his friend robbed a band and killed somebody. Dean looked completely taken aback by this, apparently convinced Sam would induct Ron into the hunters’ life. Why Sam thought it unnecessary to consult Dean in the hallway for a minute or two before telling Ron anything is beyond me, but it ended up being a very bad idea.

Sam’s idea ended up getting people killed, but this time the blame cannot be placed at his feet. Unlike all the times he refused to pull the bloody trigger, he could not have known that Ron would lock himself in the bank with a rifle and a load of hostages. I wrote earlier that Ron is a bit of an idiot, and the reason for that is his complete obliviousness regarding the consequences of his choices. He took a bank hostage with a rifle, failed to ensure that nobody contacted the outside world, and was surprised to learn that the police had shown up with SWAT teams. On top of that, he was told to stay out of the light, but what did he do? Stood in the light long enough for a sniper to ventilate him. He also sounded utterly clueless when speaking to the police on the phone. That is all his responsibility, and given his incompetence, his death was no great surprise.

That being said, it could perhaps have been avoided had Ron been furnished with a bit of knowledge about the truth behind the ‘mandroids’ before things escalated like they did. Ron’s actions were those of a desperate man driven into a corner. Had Sam done what Dean clearly wanted to do, they could perhaps have worked with Ron, or told them the truth about why they were there and what they were hunting.

The hunting life is an apt metaphor for living with any kind of serious trauma, mental illness, or neurodiversity. Hunters are inducted into the life either through a horrific event (personal trauma) or through being raised in the life by parents and carers (generational trauma), and those not inducted into the life cannot see what is hiding at the periphery. They also cannot see the hunters fighting ‘demons’ and ‘monsters’ every day of their lives, and would say they are crazy if the hunters told them what they were dealing with.

Ron had been introduced to the hunting life through witnessing a shifter in the shape of his friend rob his bank, beat him up, then apparently die by suicide afterwards. Dean wanted to extend Ron a hand of understanding and support, but Sam decided it best to keep Ron in the dark in order to keep him safe. If Ron knew about monsters etc, he would just go after them, or so Sam concluded. This might seem like wisdom were it not for the fact that monsters find people regardless of whether they know about them or not. How many people in this show have been victimised by the supernatural out of the blue through no fault of their own?

Sam’s decision is akin to telling somebody who been through a traumatic event that their flashbacks and triggers are not actual problems at all, that it is all in their head and they should ignore it, because actually understanding, acknowledging, and facing the monsters in your mind might be dangerous. Never mind the fact that forewarned is forearmed and that the monsters are there anyway. Sam really should have learnt by now that decisions he makes end up getting people hurt and killed, but Dean could and should have gainsaid him right then and there.

This seems to be a trait of Dean’s which is likely related to his tendency to abase himself and apologise for Sam’s mistakes in order to keep Sam with him. Dean does not likeactualarguments with Sam and generally avoids them if he can. He snarks and takes occasional potshots, but he generally tries to avoid head-on conflict with Sam. I wonder whether this is a trait of Jensen’s which the writers started writing into Dean’s character, since Jensen is also conflict-averse.

Returning to Ron, his hijacking of the bank is like a traumatised, mistreated person finally snapping and doing something irrevocably moronic out of anger, hopelessness, and even fear. “You don’t believe me,” he says. “Nobody believes me. How could they?” When looked at like this, Ron’s reaction to learning he is not crazy is completely understandable: he had spent weeks being told he was insane and had ended up thinking that about himself. He believed he was the problem, even while simultaneously being able to see the evidence that led to his conclusions right in front of him. Relief was his response when he finally learnt the truth. He had finally been given proof that he was not crazy, that his grasp on reality was not faulty, and that everybody else had been wrong to dismiss him. After having spent years being sneered at, mocked, and called delusional by a certain section of the Supernatural fandom, every single time Jensen and Misha say something at conventions which as good as confirms I and millions of others were right to see the subtext, I feel relieved.

Note once again that it is Dean who manages to get through to Ron in the bank. Dean is very compliant with Ron’s demands, but does not humbly submit. Rather he takes advantage of the situation to build what little rapport with him he can, then win him over by saying ‘I believe you. You’re not crazy. There really is something inside this bank.’

While Dean is busy saving the day, the purported main protagonist of this show Sam is useless. This is of course not a problem in itself, but given it is so often Dean doing the dirty work and getting beaten up while Sam gets to swoop in at the end and save the day with minimal effort, it emphasises Sam’s weakness. It is funny, then, that Sam’s response to Ron is to try shouting at him when Ron has the rifle pointed at him. Was this in the script or was it Jared’s acting choice? Either way, it emphasised Sam’s powerless in that situation. He did exactly the same in 8x06 Southern Comfort when civilwar!Dean pointed his pistol at Sam. Maybe it was a fear response.

And yes, I did notice Dean’s smug told you so look at Sam when Ron said ‘You SHUT UP! I ain’t talkin to you, I don’t like you!’ That line filled me with a warm, giddy, tingling sensation. It was almost physical, like when Sam got flung across the room in 1x09 Home. After Sam’s behaviour for the last few episodes and Kripke’s refusal to allow him face the consequences of his douchebaggery (including in this very episode), that was the least of what Sam deserved. I also noticed Sam give Dean a weird look when the guy frisking Dean found a silver blade tucked into his boot, as if it is a bad idea to be armed when investigating the bank they know a shapeshifter is targeting. What even is Sam? Why do he? And how?

Returning to Ron, It is hard for me to say Ron did not deserve understanding or sympathy after holding a bank up with a rifle because he did not intend to kill anybody and he had been driven into that state of desperation by people’s dismissal of him, including Sam. Maybe my thirty one years of experience as a neurodivergent homosexual have made it too easy for me to associate with the outsiders and rejects because somebody has to. I suppose he is a bit of a warning to people both with and without similar experiences.

Anyway, he died about halfway through the episode. The entire situation of the bank being locked down and surrounded by police and snipers was his responsibility, and there really was no way he was going free afterwards unless it was with Dean and Sam. I still do not want to say he got what he deserved, because he was just a misguided fool with no understanding of what he was getting himself into. Still, he died a stupid death which could have been avoided had he been more conscientious about staying out of the light. He seemed to die quickly, and it was touching to see Dean insist on commiserating with and paying what respects he could to Ron’s dead body before taking his dropped rifle.

Dean was right to say Ron did a good job tracking the shapeshifter. If he had been able to enter the hunting life, he might have been a good working partner for Ash in tracking monsters and coördinating hunts. I wonder also whether Dean’s seeming affinity for Ron is based in seeing a kinship of a sort: both are ‘weirdos’ on the fringes of society fighting things nobody else even knows about or wants to acknowledge. Dean certainly seemed affected by Ron’s death, but then again Dean blames himself for every single person he is unable to save.

After just over 2,000 words and almost five pages of discussing Ron and Dean, it is time for something I really did not like in this episode: the police and the FBI. By Loki’s fuzzy navel, I do not care about law enforcement in a show like Supernatural. I like The X-Files and Hannibal, and the few occasions the police were involved in Buffy and Angel were effective, in part because it was so sparing. But if the premise of a show is a conflict on the margins of society between monsters and humans, there is very little suspense or interest in being wanted by the FBI. The show is not going to end with the brothers being locked in prison to live out their days, or being sentenced to execution in Texas, so why should I care? An ending like that would be almost as risible and insulting as a vampire wearing a clown mask impaling Dean on a conveniently placed iron spike in a barn in the final episode of the show. Can you even imagine anything that stupid happening? The only thing which would make it even stupider would be if one of the vampires from 1x20 Dead Man’s Blood came back and the audience was expected to remember who she is.

Henriksen is presented as a serious threat and challenge to Dean and Sam, as well as a ruthless commander of his forces and a total douche to the local policemen. The fact he knows a lot about Dean and Sam’s past as well as John’s is supposed unsettle the viewer, as it does Dean. However, even one year after this episode was aired, the storyline was completely redundant. Henriksen appears in perhaps one or two episodes after this, and then 3x12 Jus in Bello happens. Goodbye, Henriksen.

The effect of this is to further frustrate me: this banal intrusion in my supernatural show demands my attention and insists on itself, but ultimately leads absolutely nowhere. The heavy-handed music cue and Dean’s repeated statement ‘We are so screwed’ after he and Sam escape in SWAT uniforms is also supposed to build suspense, which would be fine if this were The X-Files. The episode set up a cat-and-mouse conflict between Dean and Henriksen which got abandoned, probably because Kripke is a big fan of introducing plots and then dropping them.

It was also a bad idea for Henriksen to tell Dean over the phone that he has one hour to hand himself over, and then to tell his men they are going into the bank in five minutes. That is a good way to get a lot of people killed.

As for the shifter, its counterpart in 1x06 Skin was a Dean mirror, made obvious by the fact it spent a large section of the episode masquerading as Dean. The shifter in that episode was used to explore middle-class, white-skinned American suburbia’s fears and anxieties surrounding poor, working-class men and heterosexuals’ (especially women’s) fears of bisexual men. The shifter in this episode does not transform into Dean or anybody Dean-adjacent, but does spend a lot of the time as women and minority men. The link between this shifter and Dean is much more tenuous than in 1x06 Skin, and to be honest far less interesting. No Hannibal-references here, unfortunately.

Paula R. Stiles’s suggestion is that maybe it reflects or exaggerates prejudices Dean has or could have towards said groups, but I do not really think it is that deep for once. Dean was raised in a homosocial environment with little opportunity for social interaction with women and girls. He is shown throughout the show to be charming enough to make women swoon, but he does not really socialise with women much. Even when he was in the god-awful, anhedonic forced performance of a relationship with Lisa in series six, he did not really seem to have anything particularly real or deep with her. There was also his neighbour who had been buying him drinks for a year, so… Dean generally treats women the same as men, but he seems more emotionally distant from women. Taken to an extreme, this could become misogyny, but what relevance does that have to bank robberies and jewellery heists? I have no idea.

Perhaps it could be interpreted as a metaphor for middle-class white-skinned Americans’ possible discomfort and apprehension of minority men who rob their banks and jewellery shops, then kill their women, but I do not care nearly enough about this episode to bother going into more depth on that subject. It ain’t that deep.

While talking to the policeman, Henriksen essentially called Dean a monster and a bigger threat to the hostages than anything else in the bank. I am not of the same opinion, but Dean does show some behaviour in this episode which is cause for concern. Let me take the scenic route before telling you what that is.

Soon after Ron takes everybody hostage, he gets most of them to hole up in the bank’s vault whilst following Dean’s advice and keeping him at hand. One of the people in the vault is a young woman named Sherri whose fawning fan-girling of Dean – ‘he is so brave – sounds exactly like me in these analyses.

The events of the episode lead Dean to eventually find Sherri’s dead body on the floor in the office (wearing only a nightie, or whatever that item of women’s clothing is called) with her throat cut. He and Sam take what they assume to be shifter!Sherri out of the vault and into the office, where she sees her dead body, screams, and faints. Dean wasted no time in preparing to stab her with the silver letter opener, and would have done so had Sam not stayed Dean’s hand and worked out that the dead body was actually the shifter pretending.

The concerning behaviour here was the ease with which Dean was about to murder a person. He justifiably thought her a shapeshifter and most people would have come to the same conclusion Dean did. Some people say Sam is the brains of the operation, but I disagree. Dean is just sometimes quicker to action and quicker to make decisions which is sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing. Remember, Sam’s indecisiveness and hesitation keeps preventing him from firing the bloody gun. This time, however, Sam being slower to action worked to their advantage and prevented Dean killing an actual innocent. Dean is not a monster, but seeing how easy it would have been for him to stab something which looked like a normal human is a clear indication that he could one day become a monster.

Like I said ages ago, Dean really should have been the Big Bad at some point. Not Dean possessed by an angel, or Dean turned into a demon, just Dean. Regular, normal Dean as an antagonist.

Sam was mostly annoying when he did anything in this episode. He did prevent Dean becoming an actual murderer (The Loquacious Terminator from 1x22 Devil’s Trap does not count, he was possessed by a demon at the time and left little recourse. Beverley in 2x09 Croatoan is debatable since she was very likely still infected. Sherri would have been a murder, though). Other than saving Dean from becoming an actual murderer, Sam was unnecessarily shouty, aggressive, and pissy throughout.

As this analysis comes to a close, it is time to discuss another issue, that being Sam. Yes, Dear Reader, I am going to bitch about Sam. I have already discussed his unwise unilateral decision to keep Ron in the dark, but immediately after that Dean starts giving him a hard time, then rather quickly becomes agreeable and compliant to a point where I thought ‘That is not what Dean would say in that situation’. Sam claimed it better to be kept in the dark and be safe than know about monsters and get killed, but that is utter horse crap because the shifter kills people in this episode who presumably knew nothing about monsters, as has been happening since 1x01 Pilot. Dean knows this, but rather than saying so, agreed it probably for the best that Ron not be told the truth.

One good thing about this episode is that Sam’s choices are shown to have negative consequences and characters make sure he knows it. Dean gets irritated with Sam for making him go into the bank without weapons (though why did Dean comply? He took the colt with him in 1x22 Devil’s Trap), and Ron makes it very clearly that he does not like Sam.

If there had been more of this on the show, and if Sam had learnt from his bad behaviour, I might have been able to like him at some point, but such is alas not the case.

And the last thing before I finish: I do not it when the cold open shows us an exciting, tense, dramatic scene, and then goes back in time 24 hours or something. It makes the actual episode feel slow and less interesting.

Thus endeth this analysis. Next is another script by Sera Gamble which is seen as a spiritual successor to 1x12 Faith by many, but which falls far short of that in my estimation.

And did I forget to mention Dean’s we little outfit?

#Salvation 2x07 "The Madness of King Tanz" Season 2 Episode 7 Sneak Peek Promotional Photos & Synopsis #SalvationCBS 

13 Day Countdown to Season 4 ↳ Day 1: Favorite Season - Season 2 “They’ll need every trick in the book”

You explained the infinite

The Boys, Frenchie x Kimiko. Takes place in 2x07. Expands on Kimiko teaching Frenchie her sign language, which is a storyline I LOVE and cannot get enough of. Could be part 1 of a series? Maybe? We’ll see. Title from “Saturn” by Sleeping at Last. 

******

The first word she teaches him is gun.

The second is sorry.

******

He's smiling at her, his hands still cradled around an imaginary gun -- his mind marveling at the first concrete step in a new direction for them -- when she stands up and crouches down in front of him.

He brings his hands gently down in front of him, resting them on his knees as he stares intently at her. There's a gentleness in her eyes that he's missed, his heart fluttering in a way he isn't sure he's allowed any more.

She puts one hand on her chest, then slowly reaches out with the other to put it over his heart. His breath catches as she settles her hand on his chest, his heart leaping up into his throat. He initiates almost all the contact between the two of them, and the simple act of her doing it instead makes him remember how much he thinks about it (how much he craves it).

She looks up at him with eyes filled with something that isn't quite sorrow, isn't quite shame, but as deeply felt as either of them. He stares at her, trying to parse through her expression, the weight of her hand on his heart, and the word settles on him slowly.

"Sorry?" He asks, cocking his head at her.

She nods, and presses her hand into his chest once more, her eyes dropping down.

He wraps his own hand around the one resting on his chest and squeezes, waiting for her to look back up at him.

"Kimiko," he says softly, the mon coeur hidden between the syllables of her name. He wants to brush back the strand of hair that’s fallen across her face. He wants to trace the slope of her cheek, the curve of her jaw. He wants to feel the softness of her skin against his fingertips. He wants, he wants, he wants.

He settles for brushing his thumb against the ridges of her fingers instead.

"You do not need to apologize to me. I was the one who needed to apologize."

She gives him a small smile and curls her hand into a fist, then sticks out her thumb and pinky and tilts it back and forth.

Before he can try to figure out what it means, she points to herself, then makes a downward clawing motion with one finger lengthwise down her wrist before pointing at him.

"You...hurt me?" He asks, trying to put the motions together as best he can.

She nods, then puts her hand back on her chest and presses the one on his own chest once again.

"You were hurting. And I..." He trails off and gives her a sardonic smile. "I hurt you, too. I didn’t know how to let you grieve." He shakes his head, frustrated at the way his explanations sound like excuses. He starts again, but stops when she shakes her head at him.

She lifts her hand off his chest and starts to make a series of complicated gestures, then stops when she sees the confusion that he's sure is clear on his face.

He opens his mouth to apologize, but stops when she puts a finger against his lips.

His entire body stills as he takes a sharp intake of breath. After weeks of holding himself away from her -- and with the aching memory of his ill-timed, ill-advised kiss still heavy in his mind -- the feel of her hand pressing against his lips somehow narrows his vision and expands every sensation all at once.

She moves her hand away from his face, and somehow that both makes it easier and harder to breathe. She makes the motion for sorry again, the pressure light against his chest, and looks at him searchingly, her dark brown eyes staring intently into his own.

He knows now what she’s saying, but also finds himself thinking that her apology isn’t for what happened between them -- or, maybe, not just for what happened between them -- but for all he’d done and kept hidden from her. For what he could never run away from. For all the anger and shame and guilt he’d carried these years, that he wore like an old, ill-fitting coat he didn’t know how to let go of.

After a long moment, he nods, then mirrors the movement, his own hand settling lightly over hers on his chest.

“Me too, mon coeur,” he murmurs, filling those words with all the sorrow for everyone he didn’t save, all his regret at making her a symbol for his own salvation -- for filling in the gaps between them with his own need for redemption.  

Too late he realizes he's called her mon coeur for the first time in weeks, the words slipping out before he can help himself. He’s tempted to apologize, but the bright smile that blooms across her face when she hears it dissolves the impulse completely and spreads warmth through his veins.

He smiles back at her and thinks that even though everything around them is shit in ten different kinds of ways right now, he feels at peace in a way he doesn’t think he’s ever really felt before.

******

By the time they leave the rooftop later that night -- some nondescript men in black sent from Mallory coming to relieve them -- he’s learned the names of all the weapons they carry with them, the different times of the day, can sign all of her favorite foods he’s cooked for her, knows please and thank you and are you ok and has memorized who, what, when, where, why, how, if, that, there and this along with a few necessary phrases that include them.

Most precious of all, he learns the name of her brother and the nickname that she had for him -- mouse. There’s some story or two there, he’s sure of it, but the sorrow in her eyes is still too near, and the conversation that passes between them is still too limited, to give it the attention it deserves.  

Still, he signs thank you when she shares that hidden part of her past with him, then says, “I’d be happy to hear more about him, whenever you would like.”

Kimiko gives him a small smile at that, though it’s sad at the edges in a way that makes his heart ache. She signs a short phrase to him that, a moment later, he’s pleased to figure out means I’d like that.

******

Before she heads off to her room for the night, he gently taps her on the shoulder and signs, do you want crepes tomorrow?

Or, he thinks he does, only he figures he must not have said it all correctly because she gives him a questioning look and asks if he means right now.

He shakes his head and says, “No, sorry, I meant for breakfast tomorrow.”

She smiles warmly at him, then signs back, I would like crepes, along with another word -- or set of words -- that he has to puzzle through for a moment.

He signs it back to himself and, after a moment, he recognizes one part of it -- the word for day -- with the other seeming like it could be eating.

He looks back up at her.

“This is...breakfast?” He asks, mimicking her previous movements.

She smiles widely and nods.

Do you want crepes for breakfast? He signs again, then grins at her when she signs back, I do, but I’ll help you.

I’d like that, he signs -- or tries to, at least. He’s only working off his memory of seeing it once, after all.

It must be close enough, because she smiles and nods at him again, then, after a moment, reaches out and rearranges his hand -- uncurling his pinkie so that it extends out and turning his entire hand so that his palm faces up.

It’s not the first time she’s reached out to correct his hand or finger placement today -- both why not and apple tart had been particularly tricky for him to remember for whatever reason -- but here, in the intimacy of this place they’ve been living for the past few months, in the dimness of the room and the quiet of this moment, her touch sets off a wave of emotions he’s spent the last few weeks trying to lock away from himself.

He takes a deep, shuddering breath in and lets it out again slowly, forcing his heels to grow roots into the ground to keep himself from stepping in closer to her, twisting his free hand in the edge of his jacket to stop himself from reaching up to rest his hand gently against her cheek, tucking his thumb against his palm to keep himself from imaging the feel of brushing it against the curve of her cheekbone.

He takes another long breathe in and forces his eyes away from where her fingertips are resting against the pulsepoint at his wrist.

“Good night, mon coeur,” he says softly, afraid that speaking any louder would give away everything he’s feeling right now.

She lets her hand slip from around his wrist, her thumb tracing a line up his palm in a way that he thinks (wishes, hopes) is intentional, and signs good night back to him. He watches her head to room, and smiles so widely his cheeks hurt when she turns back one last time to look at him before she closes the door behind her.

“Are they -- ?” He hears Starlight begin to ask in a low voice.

“In a wholly undefined, somewhat strange, yet deeply committed relationship with one another?” Hughie finishes in a matter of fact tone. “Yes, they are.”

He sees Starlight shrug out of the corner of his eye.

“Doesn’t really look like it’s all that undefined,” she says quietly.

He doesn’t hear what Hughie says in response, because in the next moment M.M. comes up behind him.

“So, I take it you two have made up then?”

He turns to look at the other man, who genuinely does look glad for him.

He nods, and he knows the smile on his face must be goofy as shit right now but he doesn’t give a single fuck.

“She taught me the word gun today in her sign language.”

M.M. laughs.

“Of course you’d find that charming.” M.M. glances at Kimiko’s door. “Looks like she taught you a whole helluva lot more than gun though.”

“The congresswoman spent a lot of time watching TV today -- Real Housewives of Orange County, I believe -- so we had time.” He holds his hands up in front of him. “But we also kept watch, too, otherwise I would have learned more.”

“Relax, Frenchie, I’m not accusing you of being derelict in your duties or some shit. I’m just glad you two have figured out --.” He gestures between him and Kimiko’s door. “You know, whatever fuck was going on between the two of you.” He clears his throat. “So, uh, don’t worry about guard duty tomorrow morning -- Hughie, Starlight and I can take a shift.”

“Oui?”

M.M. nods.

“It’ll be easier to learn a new language if you don’t have to spend half your time worrying about having to protect Neuman from some dumb fuck or supe.”

He grins widely at M.M. then reaches up and gives him a big kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you, M.M.” He gives the man another kiss on the cheek before M.M. manages to push him off. “And for that, we will make you extra crepes tomorrow morning for breakfast.”

M.M. smiles.

“See, that’s why it’s good you two have made up. You haven’t made shit for breakfast for weeks.”

“So you admit you like my cooking.”

“I admit that I like not having to cook.” He smirks as he says it, then softens the expression into a genuine smile. “I am glad that you two figured whatever the fuck was going on out. Having someone to share your shit with…” He shrugs, his eyes getting that faraway look Frenchie recognizes as one he gets when he thinks of his wife and daughter. “That matters. You two deserve to have that for yourselves, and I’m glad you have it with each other.”

“Aww, M.M, you really do care.”

He goes to kiss him again, but is roughly pushed away by the other man.

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t forget to put nutella on my crepes.”

Once Upon a Time 3x07 “Dark Hollow” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x15 2x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22 3x01 3x02 3x03 3x04 3x05 3x06

Well, we officially have a love triangle going on, although Emma seems to want no part of it. Ariel and Belle make quite the plucky duo. And who would have guessed that Peter Pan was keeping John and Michael Darling alive for his own nefarious plan? On the plus side, Rumple now has ammo to capture Pan, thus ensuring he can come home to Belle.

Summary: Neal tells the group how he used the coconut to get off of Neverland the first time, which leads himself, Hook, and Emma into Dark Hollow to capture a shadow. Ariel and Belle search for Pandora’s Box for Ariel to bring back to Neverland, but are held up by an unlikely pair.

Opening: Clock Tower

New Characters: 

John and Michael Darling: We really don’t find out too much about them. Basically, Pan has kidnapped their sister, Wendy, presumably allowed them to grow up enough to be able to do things for him, and now they need to get and destroy Pandora’s Box in order to get Wendy back. They are obviously very loyal to Wendy, and blame themselves for her predicament. Fortunately, Belle convinces them (after setting a coal cart on them), that they are the winning side and they can beat Pan with Pandora’s Box.

Character Observations:

Henry: He is convinced that Pan is hiding his family from him. Henry wants to know where Pan goes when he disappears from camp if it’s not to see his family hidden somewhere. Henry tells Pan he’s going to find out what it is. Oh, Henry. The first rule of trying to find out if someone’s hiding something, is not to tell them that you think they’re hiding something. Pan sends Felix to get ‘supplies’ and so Henry follows him, in the least stealthy way possible. He’s practically breathing down Felix’s neck he’s so close. He even does the classic step on a twig and hide move so Felix doesn’t catch him. Henry eventually finds the tree house(?) that Pan has put Wendy into (Felix drops a bag of apples in front of the ladder). He wonders why she’s so far away from camp and she tells him that she’s sick and Pan doesn’t want anyone else to catch it. Wendy also tells him she’s sick because the magic of Neverland is fading. Then she tells him how much he looks like his father, and that she knew him when he was a boy. Wendy then tells him he needs to leave so he doesn’t get sick and he promises to come back for her. He ‘runs’ into Pan on the way back to camp and confronts him about Wendy. Pan pretends he hid Wendy from him because he didn’t want Henry to know that because magic is dying, so is a young girl. Henry buys this hook, line, and sinker, and now wants to know how he can help save magic. Pan tells him it’s not how but where and leads him to Skull Rock, where the heart of the truest believer will be their salvation. Pan feeds into Henry’s wannabe hero complex by telling him saving magic will require heroism and sacrifice, and if Henry doesn’t realize that by sacrifice that means him, then I don’t know if he’s worth saving.

Belle: She’s obviously upset about Rumple leaving and going to sacrifice himself, even if it is for his grandson. Archie, the Blue Fairy, and the dwarfs see that she is upset and discover that Rumple left her with a cloaking spell to protect the spell. It’s the first spell she’s ever cast so she’s nervous. Blue Fairy tells her she needs to believe in herself (do spells not work if you don’t believe in them?), and it looks like it won’t work for a hot second, but then it does, and a huge cloaking dome encapsulates Storybrooke. Five days and four rejected cheeseburgers later, Archie is trying to psychoanalyze Belle in Granny’s (with his first question being ‘You miss him, don’t you?’ Well, duh!) Belle is upset because Rumple has gone off to his death and she feels like she can’t do anything to help him. Archie reminds her that she helped put up the cloaking spell, but pouring a potion over rocks apparently isn’t that big of a deal in her eyes. Archie tells her that she’s protecting the town from outsiders, but she thinks that was just a distraction because he doesn’t really need her. Which is when Leroy brings Ariel over with the news that Rumple needs her. Ariel hands her the sand dollar Rumple gave her and Belle is confused about what she’s supposed to do with it. She finally figures out that it holds a message from Rumple that gives clues as to how to find Pandora’s Box. Belle’s just excited that Rumple wants her help. I have to roll my eyes over this whole thing. The Belle that we saw in the Enchanted Forest knew her worth. She used books and her smarts to find the Yaoguai and figure out that he was the enchanted Prince Phillip in The Outsider. Yet here she has self-doubt because the man she loves didn’t take him with her to find his grandson? And she only gets her mojo back because he needs her? Ugh! Belle finally figures out that placing the chipped tea cup in it’s normal place in the cupboard activates a secret panel on the floor which is where he keeps Pandora’s Box. Which is, of course, when John and Michael come in with their guns, tie up Belle and Ariel , and take the box. Belle tries to convince them that they don’t know who they’re working for, but they are quite aware that Pan is their boss and that Greg and Tamara were patsies for their plan, which confuses her even more. They leave with the box. Belle laments about how every time she tries to be a hero she fails (I’m sure Prince Phillip would disagree). Belle figures out that they can get out of the ropes if Ariel gets her fins back, and somehow this words (not sure how considering they were mainly tied up around their chests, but okay). Belle figures out the men went to the mines to destroy the box with one of the dwarfs' pick axes. Belle tries to play on their sympathies by telling them that people they care about will die if they destroy the box, but they tell her they have the same issue if they don’t destroy the box. At least Belle is smart enough to send a coal cart careening their way to stop them from destroying the box.  Belle finally convinces them that Rumple will be able to stop Pan, thus freeing their sister, and that’s when we find out, officially, that they are John and Michael Darling. Belle says goodbye to Ariel at the shore and is happy that Rumple will be able to defeat Pan and come home to her.

Neal/Emma/Hook: Oh look, the love triangle no one asked for. Anyway, Neal informs them that he escaped with Pan’s Shadow, but Emma doesn’t think they’ll be able to get it because they can’t get near Pan. Hook informs her his shadow is an entity unto itself, so they don’t actually need to get anywhere near Pan. Neal is actually thankful that Hook is going with them to find the shadow, since he knows the island just as well as Neal. Emma asks Mary Margaret when she’s going to forgive David since she’s still giving him the cold shoulder. Emma understands where David is coming from, not wanting to jeopardize the mission with his problems. Mary Margaret tells her to be careful with Neal and Hook since they both have feelings for her. Emma doesn’t want to deal with that. All she cares about is Henry. The trio head back to Neal’s cave to find the coconut. Emma goes to find where it’s hidden and Hook has a really awkward conversation with Neal about his and Emma’s kiss, assuming that Emma had told him. Neal tries to play it off as Emma being too focused on getting their son back (and also throwing in his face the fact that they have a son together), but you can see the hurt in his eyes that Emma kissed Hook and didn’t tell him, especially after he told her he’d fight for them. Emma brings the coconut to them and Neal says it’s not a star map but a way to trap Pan’s Shadow. Neal tells them they have to go to Dark Hollow. Hook looks frightened, Emma wonders why it couldn’t have a happier name. Hook tells her that it’s basically where the Shadows live and all light is snuffed out. They get to a particularly dense piece of jungle and Emma takes out Neal’s cutlass that Hook gave her in The Heart of the Truest Believer, almost slicing Hook who is behind her. Neal thinks she found it in the cave, but she tells him Hook gave it to her. Hook says he thought Emma might want something to remember him by, but Neal reminds him that he’s there now and goes off to hack the jungle brush. Emma wants to know what that was all about and he tells her he accidentally told Neal about their kiss. Emma wants to know why he would assume she’d told him, and Hook thought that maybe it meant something to her. Poor Hook. He’s really looking for some validation that it wasn’t a one time thing. She tells him that it meant a lot that he told them Neal was alive. He tells her it was a test from Pan, to see if he’d choose an old friend over the woman they both wanted. She’s impressed because he’s a pirate. For the first time, Hook looks upset over being called a pirate, or that Emma only sees him as one. He tells her that when he wins her heart, and he will win her heart, it won’t involve any trickery. It will be because she wants him. And I’m just going to cry in the corner now, because that is the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. Emma takes a minute to catch her breath over that confession, and tells him that it’s not a contest. Hook tells her she’ll have to choose and she says she only has to choose how to save her son. Hook tells her she’ll get him back because he’s never seen her fail, and Emma is just glowing from all the faith he has in her, because, let’s face it, no one, especially Neal, has ever had this much faith in her. Neal interrupts their little moment when he’s finally found Dark Hollow. Neal explains that they’ll light the candle in the coconut and the Shadows will be drawn to it. Once in the coconut, they put the lid on and they have a trapped Shadow. Neal tries to light the candle with a Zippo, but it’s too windy. Hook gets impatient and tries to steal the lighter, and then he and Neal start fighting over it like children. Yep, that’s definitely the way to impress Emma. Even Emma calls them out over it. They lose the lighter in the scuffle and then the Shadows come and take the men and try to rip out their shadows. Emma is hunched in a corner of some logs freaking the eff out. Eventually she remembers that she has magic, and after a few false starts, manages to light the candle and catch Pan’s Shadow. She is very impressed with herself. Neal wants to know how she managed to do it and is not happy that Regina is teaching Emma magic. Emma has now gone from impressed to stunned. I find it pretty ironic that Neal left the Enchanted Forest to get away from magic, and now the girl he’s fighting for has it. Emma is pissed off at both Neal and Hook for their behavior. Hook feels the need to tell her that it wasn’t the lighter they were fighting over and she just looks at him like he’s the biggest idiot in the world. She tells them the only person she is choosing is Henry (this always reminds me of the 90210 moment where Kelly chooses herself, rather than choose between Brandon or Dylan). At least both Hook and Neal look properly chagrined. When they get to Tink’s place, Neal comes in like the conquering hero, like he did all the work when all he did was almost get himself killed. Neal and Tink have a lot of chemistry going on there. Maybe he can forget Emma and get with Tink instead. Problem solved. Anyway, Hook angrily states that they did it, and wonders if Tink will now help them (you can tell he’s angry because he’s popping all the letters when he speaks). Tink finally agrees to work with them now that they have an exit plan. Neal apologizes again to Emma and agrees that they need to put Henry first. 

Mary Margaret/David: Mary Margaret is not speaking to David and he’s not happy about it, but he knows he’s in the dog house, so he doesn’t push it. While the love triangle goes off to find Pan’s Shadow, Mary Margaret and David head to Tink’s tree house to let her know about the plan. David tried to get her to talk to him, but she’s not ready. He tries to defend his decision not to tell her, but she just keeps heading to Tink’s. David changes tactics by pointing out the nice places in the jungle that he could build a hut. Mary Margaret just gets annoyed by that. She just continues on. David actually calls her Snow to get her attention, and eventually tells her that she needs to say something, anything. That gets Mary Margaret going. She wants to know why she needs to say something when he didn’t say a word to her about his being poisoned. He wanted to find a cure and then he wouldn’t have to say anything and worry anyone. Mary Margaret points out that he was cured and he still didn’t say anything. David finally tells her he was scared. Mary Margaret thinks he was scared that she wouldn’t stay with him, but David was actually scared that she would. He didn’t want to force her to stay with him. Mary Margaret says love means staying together, but David says it also means sacrifice. Mary Margaret says she’ll happily stay and dodge poison arrows and Lost Boys with him, as long as they’re together.  She tells him he didn’t believe in them, and he needs to believe. David apologizes. And this is a really sweet scene between these two. It’s no wonder they’re married in real life. They pull off being a married couple so well. It seems these two lovebirds have finally made up.

Regina/Rumple: Rumple has drawn some kind of map to get Ariel to Storybrooke. She says she would have to cross several realms, but she can do it. He enchants a sand dollar for her to give to Belle with instructions. Ariel asks Regina where she’ll find Eric, but Regina tells her she needs to bring the box first, and then she’ll tell her that information. She tells Ariel incentives are important. Ugh! She’s a grown mermaid, not a kid Henry’s age. That was very condescending. Ariel wonders how she’ll know Regina will uphold her end of the bargain, and Regina says she’ll just have to trust her. Considering what Regina did to her last time, I’m surprised Ariel took the deal. Regina and Rumple discuss whether Rumple truly believes Belle will come through for them. Regina realizes Rumple truly loves Belle. She seems shocked that he could love someone. Rumple takes her tone to mean she’s jealous. Regina scoffs at being jealous of Belle, but Rumple accuses her of being jealous that he has someone and she doesn’t. Luckily, Ariel arrives before Regina can either ruminate on her feelings or send a fireball at him. Rumple seems shocked that they actually managed to get the box to him. Regina magicks Ariel’s bracelet so she can have legs whenever she wants. Ariel tells them about Wendy and the Darlings and that Belle wants them to try and rescue Wendy. Regina doesn’t want to stray from the mission to save Henry, but Ariel reminds her that without her and Belle, they wouldn’t have the box to save Henry. Rumple says they’ll do their best and Regina isn’t happy about another side mission interfering with her trying to save her son. Rumple tells Ariel to tell Belle he loves her and will see her again. Regina looks like she isn’t too sure about that last part.

Pan/Wendy: Pan basically manipulates Henry into believing magic is dying and he’s the only one who can save it by making Wendy lie about being sick because of magic dying. Wendy doesn’t like lying to Henry (especially since he’s Bae’s son). Pan finally has Henry right where he wants him.

Questions:

Did Rumple give Belle a spell or a potion? Or was it instructions as to what to do with the potion? Because a spell usually involves some chanting or saying of instructions, and all Belle did was pour the potion into the vein of fairy dust.

Is Rumple drawing a portal map to Storybrooke? How would he know how the mermaid portals work?

Does Ariel normally live in Neverland waters? How does Pan know when she leaves? Is it because she was sitting on the rock?

Ok, seriously, how does Pan communicate with people not in Neverland?

When did Rumple ‘record’ the sand dollar message for Belle? Or is it just a magic message?

When did Rumple have time to set up the hiding of Pandora’s Box and the teacup to activate it? Did he think that Belle would be the only person to have access to it, or was it just a sweet reminder for himself?

Why is it so light in Dark Hollow? When the lanterns went out it didn’t change the lighting level at all.

Why is the Shadow attracted to light? In Second Star to the Right Bae used a match to scare the Shadow into dropping him in the water. 

What are the holes for in the coconut? To let the shadow breathe?

How the hell does Belle walk in the mines in 6 inch stiletto heels? I get that they didn’t have a lot of time, but she couldn’t have found a pair of flats or some boots?

Why is Belle always so confused when villains have personal stakes in the game? She had no idea about Milah’s true death in The Outsider with Hook, and now she’s completely stunned that Pan is forcing the Darlings to help him because he has their sister.

How has Pan kept the Darling boys alive all this time? Were they in Neverland until the time was right for them to ‘grow up’?

Why did Pan take Wendy? What purpose does she serve him? He obviously doesn’t care for her like in the books and movies.

Does Wendy really think Henry looks like Bae, or did she just tell him that to help believe?

Observations:

It has been five days since Emma and crew went to Neverland.

I don’t know why, but Belle’s blue nailpolish bugs me. It doesn’t seem in character for her to have blue nailpoilsh.

There’s a teddy bear keychain hanging from the dash of the Darling’s car.

What luck that the Darlings just happened to be trying to get into Storybrooke at the exact time that Belle was casting the cloaking spell.

The Darling’s license plate is from Minnesota.

Ariel’s bracelet is only enchanted for 24 hours.

Pan senses when Ariel leaves Neverland.

There’s a No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service policy at Granny’s.

Emma and crew rescued Neal from the Echo Caves the day before according to David.

Pandora’s Box contains the World’s Greatest Evil.

Emma only yells Hook’s name when the Shadows take him and Neal.

I’m going to assume that it took longer to rip Hook and Neal’s shadows from their bodies because they’re from the Enchanted Forest, whereas when they just ripped Greg’s from his body in a few seconds, it was because he was from The Land Without Magic.

John uses Happy’s axe when he attempts to destroy Pandora’s Box.

Wendy looks pretty good considering she’s been in a box for over a century.

It looks like Pan finally has his plan moving into place, now that he has Henry believing, Emma is not playing into the love triangle at the moment, and both David and Mary Margaret will be staying in Neverland once this is all over. Rumple now has Pandora’s Box, so let’s hope he is able to use it and actually defeat Pan.

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Crisis on Infinite Earths, Parts 1,2,3 - Arrow Music Notes

While many events and cameos took place during the first bunch of episodes, this review will focus primarily on Oliver’s journey and sacrifice…with a little detour about Smallville and Superman Returns near the end. (After all, John Williams themes were used. How can I not talk about that?)

Oliver Queen and Sacrifice

The whole of Season 8 has been leading up to Oliver Queen’s death.  In fact, the biggest surprise to fans (including myself) was that it happened in the first episode.  While many people had expectations for Crisis and the end of Arrow, one of mine was that the music “Sacrifice” would be used for Oliver’s death which we all knew would be a noble sacrifice to save many.  I was quite pleased to hear that theme being used in that way.  However, I was also correct in mu guess that his Arrow theme would be used as he died.  But before we jump into that, I want to go through why “Sacrifice” was used for crucial moment but also in two other moments in Crisis.

Sometimes the titles of themes are just as important as the events they hearken back to but in this case, they are connected.  This theme has been the journey of loss and becoming a hero for Oliver.  The loss that made him a hero and overcoming guilt and grief.  It intertwines saying goodbye to Tommy, his mother, Laurel, Sara, William and Felicity as well as the call to keep fighting, to choose good, and show the best parts of himself.  

“Sacrifice”/“Not Going to Make it” was first heard in 1x23 (in strings) as everything came to a head with the Undertaking.  Quentin said goodbye to Laurel telling that he loved her, about to sacrifice himself to save the city in trying to stop the earthquake machine, Roy and Thea saved people in the bus, and Tommy saved Laurel only to die himself.  Oliver’s mission was to save the city not expecting to live but he failed. Not only that but he lost his best friend who had hated him and his vigilante life.  This was not the sacrifice Oliver expected to happen and it rocked him to the core, staying with him and influencing him to no longer kill, to do things a new way. 

Part of the theme within “Sacrifice” is “Just Listen” (1x08) where he showed Sara’s grave to Helena, recognizing that he hadn’t been a good person and how that affected those around him, including Sara’s death.  This bit is also used in “I who Failed” (1x09), “Salvation” (1x18, when he saves Roy: “Give him a second chance”), “Killing Count” (2x07 - rescuing Felicity but breaking his vow to kill after Tommy’s death), “Reveal to Roy” (2x12 - revealing his identity to Roy to break him out of the Mirakiru haze), “Taking a Hand” (4x13 - defeating Malcolm for good, bringing things full circle from his fight in 1x23), and in 6x13 when Oliver saved William and the city from a bomb attack by Cayden James. This part of the theme is a theme of both failures and second chances, saving those he loved and providing justice as well.  It is the actions of a man becoming a hero, believing in others, providing protection and safety, getting up from failures and trying again.

The inner part of “Just Listen” and his guilt over Sara’s death spills over into the future, alternate earth Oliver.  “Sacrifice” plays both in Legends 1x06 when Sara meets the angrier bitter version and in the first Crisis episode as she speaks to a shaken, older, emptier Oliver who feels a great deal of guilt for bringing her on the Gambit.  She tells him that it was destiny and her decision but also that they both became the best versions of themselves.  Her (and our) Oliver became a hero, a father, and a husband while she is loving adventures through time and space. She reminds him that he is a good man on every earth (we are going to ignore the Nazi version for now).

While Sara gives hope to these broken future Olivers, it was Felicity who helped our Oliver grow in his hero journey, giving hope when he had about given up: “Oliver Gives Up”/The Essence of Heroism.” The electronic background is different for this version of the “Sacrifice” theme and a little slower in the strings but it still reflects Oliver’s despair mixed with light and hope, redeeming the theme of loss.  Oliver sees no way to beat Slade, having lost his mother, seeing the city over run with Mirakiru soldiers, seeing no way other than his own death to save those he loves by giving up and over to Slade.  Felicity reminds him that he is not done fighting, he is not alone, and then tells him that she believes in him.  Tommy had hated him for being a vigilante but Felicity tells him that he is a hero, giving him strength with her faith in him.  This theme of faith in the darkness returns in “One hand tied” in 2x23, where once again Oliver feels stuck in a corner seeing only one way for things to end and Felicity suggests a different way of making Slade outthink him.  It is through this suggestion and belief that they defeat Slade together.

The theme returns in 4x18 during Laurel’s death “Canary flies away,”  a reversal from 1x23 when Quentin was saying goodbye and now instead, it is Laurel who died.  It also harkened back to the loss of Tommy in flashbacks to his funeral in 4x19 (in the piano) as Laurel spoke about how both she and Oliver loved him, the theme connecting Tommy’s death with how he saved Laurel and also how much Tommy’s death affected Oliver to the point where he couldn’t even fully attend the funeral.  (Which also happened with his mother.) The loss of Laurel affected the whole team, this time leaving Quentin and Diggle with guilt, and Oliver with grief over losing someone close to him.  He had grown enough to know that it was not his fault however and helped to recognize her as a hero to the city during her funeral.

A bit of “Sacrifice” plays at the end of “Leaving the Hallucination” (5x08) when Oliver leaves the alien hallucination, hearing the words and voices of all those that he lost and loved spurring him on to be the hero that he is, including Felicity’s words from 2x22.  He could have stayed in a world where his parents were alive but he chose reality because his journey as a hero was not over yet.

Oliver becomes confronted with another kind of sacrifice as he faces trial and jail in 6x21 and 6x23.  In 6x21, he doesn’t want to admit to being the Green Arrow and face prison because he was hoping for a life with Felicity and William at some point “Never a Normal Life.”  Felicity reminds him that they fight for each other (harkening back to 2x22…you are not alone) but he cannot handle the idea of putting a target on them.  The idea of losing her and William is intolerable.  While he was acquitted for that moment, this comes back in 6x23: “What a cost.”  He gives himself up to protect his family and the team, sacrificing himself to protect them as he says goodbye to William with Felicity in the background.  Not quite sacrificing his life the way he expected to in 1x23 or 2x22 but still offering his life to protect those he loved most.  It is an Oliver who fights to live for his family, who has been giving second chances in love and family. This is a man who has grown in accepting life and fighting for the good parts instead of just fighting the bad. This is emphasized in 7x21 as a dream/hallucination version of Tommy gives a speech of hope.  While Tommy never came back from the grave, he has heard Tommy forgive him through dreams and the like.  Here the theme “Sacrifice” returns again as Tommy tells Oliver to show the best parts of himself: loyalty, courage, selflessness, compassion.  

These are the essences of being a hero and the core of who Oliver is and has become. The journey of loss and guilt turned his despairing guilt of sacrifice into selflessness, having courage to choose and put others first, having loyalty towards his friends like Barry and Kara, having compassion to save all earths.  He had been confronted with the fact that his death could help save numerous earths including his wife and children.  He knew that a sacrifice was necessary to help them survive, even more pressing now that he has his adult Mia in front of him.  That is why Oliver didn’t hesitate to fight the time/space demons to help as many people survive the earth 38 evacuation.  He had no idea that that was not the way the Monitor had foreseen his death.  He took his future into his own hands, stoping the Monitor long enough to help a billion people survive even to his own demise.  Which is why “Sacrifice” plays as Oliver fights even without arrows and facing them without a bow.  It is the heart of a hero, fighting to give everything he has to protect others, sacrificing himself so that others might live.  (Side note: this wasn’t my favorite musical version of this theme.  I do realize the drum kit and electric bass gave it a cool badass aspect, harkening back to the pilot sound, but it didn’t carry the emotional weight that I would have liked.  I did like that the melody was played in the heroic sound of the horns as well as the strings though. That was quite fitting).

Oliver’s actual death with Mia and the other heroes around him was a mixture of new and old music.  A little bit of “Sacrifice” returns as the Monitor tells them that Oliver saved 1 billion people. A theme based on an upward scale in the violas and cellos played throughout. changing after the scale each time, matching his goodbyes to Barry and Kara versus goodbye to Mia.  This natural minor scale (a minor scale that doesn’t change notes from the key signature) fits with the core sound and harmonic nature of Arrow since its inception. There are melodies throughout Arrow based on a scale in strings like “Honor Memory” (1x02) or “I forgot who I was” (1x05) and many of the repeating aspects of the fighting Arrow music include 4 notes of a scale since the pilot “Five Years”.  So while using almost all of the scale is unusual, it still fits with the musical landscape especially as it is accompanied by horns (heroism) and toms (percussion) giving it a weight and gravitas.  As he closes his eyes, the horn holds on to a major chord for a little bit giving Oliver a little peace in saying goodbye. What brings more pathos is changing the scale to a melodic minor scale after he dies.  It’s almost jarring because it doesn’t fit with what we are used to, signifying that things aren’t right.  The Arrow theme plays over it as the Monitor tells them it wasn’t supposed to be like that.  It highlights the tragedy of losing our beloved hero too soon, both for the team but also for us as an audience.  A bell also tolls at the beginning of that scale after Oliver’s death.  The horn plays Oliver’s hero theme as it pans away looking at Oliver.

As tragic as this was, it turned out not to be the end of Oliver’s journey.  Mia, Sara, Barry, Constantine, and Diggle all work on bringing back Oliver (more on that in a bit).  After they find Oliver’s soul in purgatory and bring him back to himself, they meet the Spectre (Jim Corrigan) who tells Oliver that it is his destiny to become Spectre to save everyone.  As this happens, the version of “Sacrifice”/“Never a Normal Life” plays as Oliver tells Diggle and Mia that it is ok.  He chooses to sacrifice coming back with his closest friend/brother and his daughter to once again save them all.  Mia begins to say “I love you” but is cut off as they disappear back to the ship, telling Sara that he chose to stay behind.  Each time, it is a choice that Oliver has to make and he does so willingly because Oliver loves deeply and will do what is right to save others no matter the cost.

Oliver, Sara, and Mia

Near the beginning of Crisis, Sara and Oliver have a brief moment together on Earth 38 where Sara comments on parent Oliver and while it is a little weird, it looks good on him.  The theme “The Real Me” (2x01) plays in the horn which first played when Oliver started to fit into his cooperate job, bringing in Walter against Isabel, having family to help him.  She comments that he isn’t what he seemed to be and he answers that most people fail to see the real him. Many people had an idea of what Oliver seemed to be but Sara is one of the few who has known Oliver the longest in all his forms: playboy, vigilante, now a parent.  Sara and Oliver genuinely care about each other and have been through the good, the bad, and the ugly.  She is happy to see this new side of her friend.

Oliver also has a brief moment with Mia, giving her own Green Arrow suit as a variation of Oliver’s hero horn theme (no 2 - the descending one) plays.  Drum-kit and strings play, giving a sound of new beginnings (drum-kit was used in the pilot as we see Oliver in the suit for the first time) and then Mia’s Blackstar theme plays in electric guitar as she is left looking at the suit when Oliver leaves.

Mia and Barry take Oliver’s death the hardest, determined to find a way to bring him back.  They enlist the help of Sara and Constantine to find a Lazarus Pit, who both have their reservations considering they have been down this road before with Sara.  Once they find a Lazarus Pit and put Oliver into it, the music hearkens back to Nanda Parbat when Sara and Thea had been put into the Lazarus pit.  The female vocal and choir sings as crazy Oliver leaps out with a repeated electric bass note to add to the tension and adrenaline.  

Cameos - primarily Superman

One of the fun parts about the Crossovers is all the musical themes that return and get woven together, like Supergirl and Batwoman’s themes interweaving as they face off each other in the 3rd episode.  Not only were a lot of characters brought in for small or longer cameos but most of their musical themes were as well (which is quite impressive from a copyright side).  While I needed help identifying the Batman characters, thanks to @jorahtheandal​, I did recognize their themes from the various shows and movies.  However, the ones that made me excited were the Smallville cameos and Superman Returns.  My first introduction into the world of DC were through those two and “Lois and Clark.”  I loved hearing the sounds of Smalliville again especially in the clarinet.  There weren’t a lot of winds in this Crisis (the orchestra was made up of strings and brass) but that made moments like this even more special.  Smallville had two composers and the second, Louis Febre, used a lot of solo winds, especially clarinet for the Clois theme and the feeling of home during seasons 7-10.  It felt like truly returning home to the Kent farm and you could feel the warmth of the love Clark and Lois had for each other and the farm. (“The Proposal” is a good example of the solo winds used on the Smallville soundtrack)

Even more impressive was the fact that Blake Neely and team got permission to use John Williams’ themes for Superman.  While the main Superman theme was used throughout Superman Returns, the love theme was not used much.  (Superman Returns was written by John Ottman since John Williams was busy with Star Wars).  However, in the second episode of Crisis, both the love theme for Lois and Superman and Superman’s main brass theme by John Williams appeared, definitely cementing that Brandon Routh’s Superman was a continuation of Christopher Reeve’s Superman.  It was a lot of fun to hear those themes as he interacted with Earth 38’s Superman and Lois, especially when Clark switches into the Superman suit and his iconic brass theme is heard. 

Other notable themes heard included Danny Elfman’s Batman theme at the beginning as well as his Flash theme for the ‘90s Flash TV show when Barry from earth 90 died.  Black Lightning made an appearance in the 3rd episode along with his theme which was cool.  The Crisis had its own theme of doom in the brass as well as the heroes banding together to fight against the Crisis (heard in trumpets) throughout the episodes.  While Crisis on Earth-X is still my favorite both story-wise and musically, this definitely had some cool moments.

@dust2dust34 @academyofshipping @smoakmonster @ah-maa-zing @herskirtsarentthatshort @dmichellewrites @almondblossomme @withgraceandlight99 @jorahandal

hello there, i have a question for you and well to your followers if they want to reply there, do you think as a christian is wrong to watch lucifer? cause honestly i didn't see it that way until a friend tell me it was wrong and now i don't know if i should watch s4 or not, it make me feel a little guilty idk, what do you think? im sorry if i bother or if this seem stupid i'm 15 and i go to a catholic school so haha i still need a lot to learn i guess

The short answer? No.

Never feel like your faith-based questions are stupid. They’re important questions that you actually need to have. As you get older, your relationship to God will start to change and it’s important to get answers now so your faith can still support you in the future.

I haven’t practiced my faith in a long time, but I still consider myself Christian so from one Christian to another, here’s my long answer: never feel guilty about watching a show like Lucifer. The Bible preaches forgiveness of our sins, redemption for our most wretched, and benevolent love for ourselves and others. All of these attributes are in Lucifer. At its core, Lucifer is a show about redemption and salvation. The Devil, evil incarnate, wants to become a better man. I don’t think God would frown upon anyone trying to make positive changes, even if that person is the Devil himself.

If you’re feeling guilty because you’re watching a show where they paint the Devil in a flattering light, just remember that half of the time, Lucifer is depicted in the worst light possible. He may be our protagonist/anti-hero, but he is in no way the audience’s role model. Multiple characters including Dan, Chloe, and Ella have all viewed Lucifer’s most “desirable” traits (smoking, alcoholism, drug use, hedonism to the point of isolation and avoidance, and even his wealth) as harmful at one point or another. Lucifer constantly messes up and constantly says the wrong thing. However, like I said before, that doesn’t make him irredeemable. He’s always stressing things like consent (see 1x10) and always want to make sure other people are cared for before he indulges. Lucifer is always honest and, while he enjoys punishment from time to time, does not like seeing innocent people hurt. In fact, Lucifer almost kills himself grieving for Uriel’s murder in 2x05 and 2x06.

On that note, the show promotes good mental health and seeking help (whether it’s faith-based or therapy-based) when you find yourself in a situation you can’t pull yourself out of. The show wants you to talk about the things it’s difficult to talk about. Lucifer hits on self-hatred, guilt, and the importance of forgiving yourself. All of these things, while unpleasant, are healthy things to discuss in order to help us reach spiritual satisfaction. 

Additionally, Lucifer as a show has some good role models for Christians. Ella is a very faith-driven character without pushing her beliefs onto others, as well as accepting others’ viewpoints. In 1x09 we see Father Frank, another very positive Christian figure. He accepts Lucifer and even views him as worthy of forgiveness in the eyes of God. Even God himself is never really depicted as “bad” per-say. Lucifer hurls a few insults here and there, but that is not reflective of the show itself. 

I say watch season 4 and take notes. I honestly think every Christian should watch Lucifer. It’s probably the most Christian show out there right now. It has all of Christianity’s main beliefs and it presents them in a way that’s very easy to comprehend. It’s a show that teaches us love and compassion (see 1x12, 2x07, 2x12) and it’s also a show that teaches us that everyone deserves a chance at redemption in their current life and the afterlife.

Darius having a drink -Part XX-

with a very presidential coffe cup this time 😅

Although, wouldn't it be super interesting if Rayla is forced to choose between Callum and the world? She either hesitates again (and saves Callum) or stops someone who is a danger to life and love itself (like Runaan would have).

I mean, I think that's exactly what it's leading up to. However, I don't think Rayla is going to save Callum through hesitation (and I'm not sure if I think her hesitation will be what allows Callum - under possession - to free Aaravos, but we'll have to see). More details on various scenarios Callum could free Aaravos under / Rayla's response(s) here

Rayla's trolley problem - one life over potentially many - has been her most continual character conflict over the course of the series ("You let him live but you killed us all" in 1x01; "if I don't come back, you and Ezran can get Zym to Xadia" in 2x07; "You all die or just the wretched evil human dies" in 3x01; "You and Ezran should take Zym, but I can't leave [...] I have to stay and defend the dragon queen" in 3x09; saving Zym over her own life in 3x09), with Rayla always saving/sparing the life of the individual even when that would mean losing/risking her life and turning against her family/loved ones. Save one important exception - leaving the drake behind in 4x05 with "We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake." (More on TDP's continual trolley problem as a conflict here.)

This is because to Rayla, a single life is worth defending, saving, and sparing. She failed as an assassin because she's overly compassionate; what she labels hesitance, the show itself labels as mercy, doubly pointed out by Ezran: "You saw he was afraid. And you knew he was a person, just like you." And Rayla still - still - likely considers that a mistake & a moment of inevitable weakness: "It was my fault we were discovered" (3x03) / "I failed them, I let them all down. They're right to reject me" (3x04) / "The face glowering back at her wasn't an assassin, and it never would be" (Chasing Shadows) / "Oh no, I messed up again!" (4x06).

Losing Callum has also been a consistent fear of hers since 2x02 and has just continually grown since then: "I'm afraid of hurting him" / "I can't lose you like this, you mean too much to me!" / "I risked losing the best thing I ever had: you" / "You think I meant to hurt Callum? That was the last thing I wanted!"

So I think like anything else, her not killing Callum while he's brainwashed will have a few different levels to it:

Self sacrifice because we know Rayla doesn't care about what happens to her / if he hurts her, she just wants to save him.

At the same time a refusal to sacrifice what she wants/loves most (for once) and thus 'undoing' her choice in TTM in a lot of ways

The aforementioned Runaan parallels, although I feel like the possession scene may borrow more from Bloodmoon Huntress even if Runaan may be pushing her to be more like him from 1x01-1x03, but we'll have to see

Emphasizes her opposition in Aaravos in regards to the role/place she has in Callum's life

If she spares/saves Callum, she's honouring her own decision to spare Marcos tenfold, and realizing it wasn't mistake. That's one of the reasons I lean towards Rayla 1) making an active choice about it in the end (even if she may hesitate at first) and 2) her choice to be merciful ultimately not being what leads to disaster (re: Aaravos' release), but being in Callum's hands instead (especially if she's been injured) in how he responds.

Other metas / tags adjacent to this that may be of interest to you

TDP’s Perpetual Trolley Problem (S1-S4)

I need you to kill me

Light and darkness motif

Rayla's role as Callum's salvation and destruction (a pre-S4 meta)

Rayla’s Position In The Narrative as a Dual Antagonist (s1-s4) 

Subset: salvation and destruction

Devil and the lovers (Aaravos, Rayla, and Callum tag)

The best 100

1. Swan Song (5x22) 2. All Hell Breaks Loose: Part 1 (2x21) 3. All Hell Breaks Loose: Part 2 (2x22) 4. The Man Who Knew Too Much (6x22) 5. The Born Again Identity (7x17) 6. My Bloody Valentine (5x14) 7. Hunted (2x10) 8. Mystery Spot (3x11) 9. Playthings (2x11) 10. Croatoan (2x09) 11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (4x09)  12. A Very Supernatural Christmas (3x08) 13. Pilot (1x01) 14. The Devil You Know (5x20) 15. The Benders (1x15) 16. It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester (4x07) 17. Shadow (1x16) 18. Repo Man (7x15) 19. When the Levee Breaks (4x21) 20.  Heart (2x17) 21.  Faith (1x12) 22. Devil's Trap (1x22) 23. Fresh Blood (3x07) 24. Born Under a Bad Sign (2x14) 25. Provenance (1x19) 26. Scarecrow (1x11) 27. After School Special (4x13) 28. Phantom Traveler (1x04) 29. Red Meat (11x17) 30. The Curious Case of Dean Winchester (5x07) 31.  Just My Imagination (11x08) 32. Point of No Return (5x18) 33. Death Takes a Holiday (4x15) 34. Form and Void (11x02) 35. Home (1x09)  36. Two Minutes to Midnight (5x21) 37. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (5x15) 38. The End (5x04) 39. Nightshifter (2x12)   40. Bloodlust (2x03) 41. Long Distance Call (3x14) 42. Bloody Mary (1x05) 43. Free to Be You and Me (5x03) 44. Everybody Loves a Clown (2x02) 45. Unforgiven (6x13) 46. Sex and Violence (4x14) 47. Tall Tales (2x15) 48. Metamorphosis (4x04) 49. The Raid (12.14) 50. Keep Calm and Go on. (12.01) 51. Nightmare (1x14) 52. The Third Man (6x03) 53. As Time Goes By (8x12) 54. Everybody Hates Hitler (8x13) 55. Bedtime Stories (3x05) 56. Caged Heat (6x10) 57. Lucifer Rising (4x22) 58. On the Head of a Pin (4x16) 59. Dream a Little Dream of Me (3x10) 60. Clap Your Hands If You Believe (6x09) 61. Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie (7x14) 62. American Nightmare (12.04) 63. The Girl Next Door (7x03) 

65. The Usual Suspects (2x07)

66.  Dead Man's Blood (1x20)

67. How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters (7x09)

68. And Then There Were None (6x16)

69. Wishful Thinking (4x08)

70. Dark Side of the Moon (5x16)

71. Simon Said (2x05)

72. You Can't Handle the Truth (6x06)

73. Good God, Y'all (5x02)

74. Fallen Idols (5x05)

75. Road Trip (9x10)

76. Houses of the Holy (2x13)

77. Salvation (1x21)

78. Out with the Old (7x16)

79. Trial and Error (8x14)

80. The Werther Project (10x19)

81. Inside Man (10x17)

82. Safe House (11x16)

83. Our Little World (11x06)

84.   Sacrifice (08x23) 

85.  Monster Movie (4x05)

86.  Crossroad Blues (2x08)

87.  The Great Escapist (8x21)

88.  Hello, Cruel World (7x02)

89.  Weekend at Bobby's (6x04)

90.  I Believe The Children Are Our Future (5x06)

91.   Swap Meat (5x12)

92. Remember the Titans (8x16)

93. Yellow Fever (4x06)

94. Malleus Maleficarum (3x09)

95. Folsom Prison Blues (2x19

96. Frontierland (6x18)

97. Defending Your Life (7x04)

98. Abandon All Hope (5x10)

99. Time After Time (7x12)

100. The Devil in the Details (11x10)

Spoilers for Salvation 2x07

What an amazing episode!

It's always very entertaining to see the rest of the characters in Salvation trying to keep up with Darius’ brilliant mind. And when they eventually figure out that they can't? He's labeled insane. Repeatedly, as if saying it often enough will convince the audience that, this time, it's really true.

Darius is not insane, he never acted like he was disconnected from reality; what sometimes does happen is that he loses the patient to wait on a reality that is moving too slow for his intellect.

I mean, we're talking about a man who constructed a brilliant scientist avatar, probably as a hobby! And now that 'avatar' will allow him to get back inside Tanz Industries with an open invitation!

So, insane? Not one bit! But I can't wait to find out where his crazy plan is taking us!

Also... is it weird to find that older, disguised version of Santiago hot as hell?

Lore’s StackedNatural Reviews by Episode: Seasons 1 - 3

Here is the StackedNatural Masterpost!

Seasons 4 - 6

Seasons 7 - 9

Seasons 10 - 12

Seasons 13 - 15

Season 1

1x01: Pilot

1x02: Wendigo

1x03: Dead in the Water

1x04: Phantom Traveler

1x05: Bloody Mary

1x06: Skin

1x07: Hook Man

1x08: Bugs

1x09: Home

1x10: Asylum

1x11: Scarecrow

1x12: Faith

1x13: Route 666

1x14: Nightmare

1x15: The Benders

1x16: Shadow

1x17: Hell House

1x18: Something Wicked

1x19: Provenance

1x20: Dead Man’s Blood

1x21: Salvation

1x22: Devil's Trap

Season 2

2x01: In My Time of Dying

2x02: Everybody Loves a Clown

2x03: Bloodlust

2x04: Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things

2x05: Simon Said

2x06: No Exit

2x07: The Usual Suspects

2x08: Crossroad Blues

2x09: Croatoan

2x10: Hunted

2x11: Playthings

2x12: Nightshifter

2x13: Houses of the Holy

2x14: Born Under a Bad Sign

2x15: Tall Tales

2x16: Roadkill

2x17: Heart

2x18: Hollywood Babylon

2x19: Folsom Prison Blues

2x20: What Is and What Should Never Be

2x21: All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 1)

2x22: All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 2)

Season 3

3x01: The Magnificent Seven

3x02: The Kids Are Alright

3x03: Bad Day at Black Rock

3x04: Sin City

3x05: Bedtime Stories

3x06: Red Sky at Morning

3x07: Fresh Blood

3x08: A Very Supernatural Christmas

3x09: Malleus Maleficarum

3x10: Dream a Little Dream of Me

3x11: Mystery Spot

3x12: Jus in Bello

3x13: Ghostfacers!

3x14: Long Distance Call

3x15: Time Is on My Side

3x16: No Rest For The Wicked

I am watching Salvation 2x07 "The Madness of King Tanz"